Unix System Administration Handbook
by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass, Trent R. Hein · first published 1989
12mentions
6recommended by
12HN commenters
2009–2026first – last mentioned
50% recommend50% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Broad, thorough reference for Unix and Linux system administration, cited as a standard starting point and a go-to 'bible' for working sysadmins learning the job.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook, Fifth Edition is today’s definitive guide to installing, configuring and maintaining any Unix or Linux system -- including the systems that provide core Internet and cloud infrastructure.
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…Environment by Kernighan and Pike is the book that got me going. There are a few things in there that don't exist now but it is the most concise easy-to-read book for new *nix users. For administration the UNIX System Administration Handbook by Nemeth, Snyder, Seebass, and Hein is how I got started. Newer editions of this book cover Linux specifically.
on “How to Learn Unix Tools” ↗The network equipment producers use cheapest programmers, which never ever will read Red Book ( http://www.amazon.com/UNIX-System-Administration-Handbook-3r... ), or File System Hierarchy Standard, or any other standard. My mobile phone (Motorola A1200 with MontaVista Linux) has "root" user with empty password. It was very non-trivial to change password,…
on “New worm can infect home modem/routers” ↗I like the Evi Nemeth book for admin: http://www.amazon.com/UNIX-System-Administration-Handbook-3r...
on “Sysadmin mistakes start-ups make” ↗Get some books on Unix admin. Nemeth et al's "Unix System Administration Handbook", and its Linux version are usually a good start. The most recent edition is coming out in 17 days: http://amzn.com/0131480057 You will also need a bunch of O'Reilly books.
on “Ask HN: Managing my own server.” ↗…few stories there), later I also saw it mentioned in an early part of the O'Reilly book Unix System Administration by Aileen Frisch. Very good book, as is another book (thick one) by Nemeth et al - the Unix System Administration Handbook (later there was a Linux edition too).
on “Linux pioneer Munich poised to ditch open source and return to Windows” ↗The UNIX System Administration Handbook was the bible when I got started out. A tremendous book with a sizable legacy.
on “How to Learn Unix Tools” ↗…password management practices, and site administrators can choose to impose these. No, Microsoft did not come up with those policies. As I replied to Kyle on Mastodon, my copy of the late Evi Nemeth's UNIX System Administration Handbook 2nd ed, (1995) has a discussion of password aging (automated timed-out passwords) on pages 95 & 544. She's not a fan, but the capabilitiy exists and is noted on Solaris, Irix, and BSDI. She does recommend…
on “Microsoft ruined passwords, now aims for a passwordless future” ↗OK, I found bit more from UNIX System Administration Handbook Third Edition (Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass, Trent R. Hein, with even more authors mentioned) 2001 book following: "134 UNIX System Administration Handbook ... The lost+found directory…
on “What is the purpose of the lost+found folder in Linux and Unix?” ↗…me laugh. I always described it as feeling like a collector/completist, but lawyer works too. Visitors to my home office (back in the dark ages) would often comment on the growing set of editions of "UNIX System Administration Handbook", lined up side by side on my shelf. Honestly at some point in editions 3 through 6, I was just buying the new ones for the shelf art. RIP Evi Nemeth.
on “Ask HN: Best book to learn C in 2022?” ↗I’m sure there are better/free resources, but 30 years ago I got my jumpstart on those topics via what was then the UNIX System Administration Handbook https://browse-prod-us-east-1.pmc.pearsonprd.tech/en-us/subj...
on “Fantastic Learning Resources” ↗…respectability and ethics around it (around the early 2000s, of course the early BOFH-era sysadmins were much more cowboy-like), compared at least with the modern devops, etc. There was a whole chapter in The UNIX System Administration Handbook dedicated to professional ethics and ethical responsibility. These days, SREs and devops people will happily maintain the servers of any kind of company, it doesn't matter how much user data is legally…
on “League of Professional System Administrators - Board to Dissolve Organization” ↗If they have a budget, they would certainly buy books on request. As a teen I got my local city library to acquire copies of The White Book (K&R), SICP, Stevens' TCP/IP Illustrated, UNIX System Administration Handbook, and many more. Unfortunately, those books were all "culled" for lack of use. Since the start of COVID, tho, I've put in many requests and they now have (embarrassingly) many current, and hopefully long…
on “Now that information is free, what's a college campus for?” ↗