O'Reilly Network Weblogs: Linux Cookbook is now on store shelves!

Published on The O'Reilly Network (http://www.oreillynet.com/)
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/6018

Linux Cookbook is now on store shelves!

by Carla Schroder
Dec. 4, 2004
URL: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxckbk/

Today I received my actual printed copy of my actual book, the "Linux Cookbook." This is a thrill beyond measure. It was a long hard slog, and many times I found myself wishing I'd committed to something simpler, like walking across the US on my hands. But it's done, and I believe that this is the primo Linux user's and system administrator's howto book. No fluff, just dive in and get the job done.

My favorite chapters are the mail server chapters, which cover setting up POP3 and IMAP servers, adding encryption, SMTP-authentication, Webmail, running mailing lists, and managing spam and viruses. You're not left hanging after setting up Postfix, this is a complete howto.

You'll also find how to set up and run a DNS server using djbdns. Yes, BIND is covered too, but I feel that djbdns is the superior choice.

There is a simple way to share both Linux and Windows printers on a LAN using CUPS and Samba. Knoppix gets its own chapter, including how to use it for safe, up-to-date virus scans of Windows systems. There are detailed chapters on installing and upgrading software on both RPM and Debian systems. You'll find wonderful custom scripts that do these things:

add libraries that were installed from sources to your RPM database
add masses of users, or do bulk password changes
find all the documentation on your system that belongs to a particular program; all the readmes, installs, HTML documents, man and info pages- everything, no matter what weird places they might be trapped in.

Also covered are using version control systems, cross-platform file sharing, building a Samba domain controller, building a Linux printer server for both Linux and Windows clients, setting up secure user-accessible backup repositories, how to read man and info pages, secure remote access with ssh and keychain, discovering hardware from outside the box, patching, customizing, and upgrading kernels, and lots more.

A word on title confusion: as most of you know there is another Linux Cookbook, by Michael Stutz, on No Starch Press. Mr. Stutz recently released the second edition of his book, which is much expanded and improved from the first edition. There is very little overlap between the two, and Mr. Stutz's book is quite good, so my recommended remedy for confusion is to buy both of them.

Carla Schroder is a self-taught Linux and Windows sysadmin and the author of the Linux Cookbook.