I’d like recommendations for books for a system administrator.
Posted by methsc1ence@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 34 comments
I want to become a system administrator and deepen my understanding of the fundamentals of system administration, Linux, and everything related to it.
CashBoxBandit@reddit
Time management for systems administrators is a great one.
OReilly_Learning@reddit
Here’s the book online
eel3918@reddit
Read the preview, looks like my life, but how relevant is it after 21 years?
Jaki_Shell@reddit
Agreed - Everyone in the industry should read this.
WRX_manning@reddit
Jurassic Park. The 1993 movie is a classic. But the book goes so much more indepth into the parks systems - their breadth of control, the logic behind their development, the business and biotechnical challenges that were solved with technology. And the absolute chaos that reigns down when controls, redundancy and failsafes aren’t implemented into a critical systems design. Lurk arround this forum long enough and you will see the themes from JP still brought up daily. They maybe look different today, but the push/pull between cost vs profit centers and IT as the middleground - stuck between siloed admins and cheap management, is still omnipresent some 35 years later. Its a great read and I highly recommend to any sytem admin.
valar12@reddit
Learn DNS. https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/dns-and-bind/0596100574/
FormerLaugh3780@reddit
War and Peace
RussEfarmer@reddit
Practice of System and Network Administration Third Edition is probably my favorite, it's not super technical but exposes you to all the foundational concepts you need to know as an admin. Then it's up to you to dive into them deeper.
DonkeyHodie@reddit
I use sections of this book to help train junior staff.
IFarmZombies@reddit
There is no books comrade, get a help desk job break shit fix it and get promoted
captkrahs@reddit
Get promoted?
Secret_Account07@reddit
Unironically this
Chumpybump@reddit
What i see all the time is people just don't understand the fundamentals. Like, how does a computer work? OSI model/layers, tcp/ip, etc etc
DontTakePeopleSrsly@reddit
This drives me crazy with people trying to do things in an application that are handled by transport or session layers.
AmiDeplorabilis@reddit
Time Management for System Administrators, by Thomas Limoncelli (O'Reilly books)
North-Creative@reddit
Not a book, but try Linuxzoo.net. Awesome training ground, made by a prof from Ediburgh U, I believe, and goes through a lot of sysadmin tasks. And free, too.
Books, I would name the Phoenix Project. Also, the same guy who made "Time Management for System Administrators", also did 2 books on system administration and devops.
zantehood@reddit
BOFH
harrywwc@reddit
the "UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook" is pretty well the "go to" resource that should probably be on your (everyones!) bookshelf.
The 5th Edition (2017 - ISBN: 978-0-13-427755-4) is the 'current' edition, but I understand that there is a new edition being prepared and scheduled for release about this time next year.
The 5th Edition will occasionally turn up in sales on Humble Bundle (where I scored my eBook version - have the 4th in dead-tree ;')
BigCatsAreYes@reddit
This is the most trash and outdated handbook of all time.
Even in the latest edition they don’t even include a way to set static up address on a Linux system.
They used a email server from 1980 that no longer exists to do demo email set up.
It’s a joke.
Bogus1989@reddit
this comment made me LUL. thats wild
harrywwc@reddit
Hence the new edition coming
Intelligent-Magician@reddit
i am pretty sure, it´s a bot
excitedsolutions@reddit
Non-technical but great for mindset - The Phoenix Project.
Joestac@reddit
Should almost be required material.
Hot_Direction7888@reddit
Look at the job requirements and get ready from there. Best up to date book.
connexionwithal@reddit
Books will have so much shit you will never touch. Better to just start with a homelab.
Downtown-Gate7867@reddit
plenty of books walk you through things that you can create in a homelab
connexionwithal@reddit
Yeah but they usually have too wide a spread because how does the author know what os or type of homelab you have? Thinking it’s better to do problem-based learning here.
prematurepost@reddit
The Phoenix Project is surprisingly engaging tbh. It doesn’t even read like a technical book, it feels more like an office crisis management novel.
Resident-War8004@reddit
thanks! I will purchase it!
ProfessionalEven296@reddit
This. I was advised to read it when I was given charge of a devops department, and it’s invaluable. Still reread it occasionally.
BigCatsAreYes@reddit
They don’t exist. There is no good modern Linux book.
Even training like code amadey are very very primitive.
The only way is to install Linux yourself and start configuring a web server, email server, etc and read the manuals and set up guides along the way.
It’s an insane way to do it. But literally not decent exists. Either they’re wayy too vague, or wayy out of date from 30 years ago.
xendr0me@reddit
"Real Life Experience" by Dr. Hardknocks.
bruteforcenet@reddit
Not sure on books but there’s some great courses on Codecademy. Start with the comp science pathway, then do some of the Microsoft and Linux certain. Really a good system admin has a strong understanding conceptually of the whole stack but you don’t have to know every micro detail. Problem solving and critical thinking is more important. The ability to learn quickly too.