unix systems administration

[gopunk]

so i have this job where people call up and i figure out what's wrong with their accounts. 90% of the time it's user error, but for the other 10%, i figure i ought to learn more than i know. can anybody recommend some resources? preferably not expensive books since i'm just a college student. i'm looking for something that can explain gpw and all that jazz pretty well. thanks!

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Which OS? Solaris? HP-UX?

 

[BDawg]

Try the bible of sysadmins.

O'Reilly Essential Systems Administration

This book got me through lots of my rough early days. It's a pretty good foundation to build on. I also try to get books for each of the unix systems too though (BSD, Solaris, IRIX).

 

[gopunk]

how do you tell what kind of unix you're running?

 

[mrCide]

uname -a? heh

 

[Bulldoggy]

uname or uname -a for more advanced output

 

[gopunk]

k, i'm using ibm aix. or at least i assume it's ibm. it just says aix.

 

[BigJohnKC]

I bought an old copy of unix for dummies when I was learning unix. Since it's unix, it doesn't change much, so even a five year old version of unix for dummies will give you lots of info that you might use in the future. In fact, I just pulled my old book out recently to solve some problem my friend had, and the book told the answer right away! Else try the newsgroups (I'm sure there are some great ones out there for unix), or go onto any IRC server and join #linux - you'll find a bunch of experts there. Good luck!

 

[desy]

Unix for Dummies is OK
So is Unix in a Nutshell
All I remember from my AIX days is very on very off devices

 

[BDawg]

I have a pretty good AIX book entitled, _Simply AIX 4.3_.

 

[Nitemare]

<< I have a pretty good AIX book entitled, _Simply AIX 4.3_. >>



Sounds like a nice book, any chance I can get an isbn or place where you got it from?

 

[nord1899]

My uname output: CYGWIN32/NT. What *nix is that? ;-)

Anyway, a good starter Unix book is "The Underground Guide to Unix" by John Montgomery (Amazon Link). Its a few years old now, but hey, Unix hasn't really changed that much in the past few years (well the CLI hasn't, GUI's have). The book even has a sense of humor that most geeks can appreciate.

Also, lots of people swear by the O'Reilly books out there on lots of topics, not just Unix. Collecting your favorites can get expensive though.

Not sure about AIX specifically though.

 

[gopunk]

Sounds like a nice book, any chance I can get an isbn or place where you got it from?

i think you can find it on amazon...

thanks for the help guys. i think i'll look into some of those books... but what about websites? any tutorial type websites?

 

[BDawg]

ISBN? Sure thing.

0-13-021344-6

You're lucky I keep all of the fun books at work.

 

[Nitemare]

The AIX Survival Guide got pretty good reviews at Amazon, too

 

[AmigaMan]

I use the Waite Group's Unix Primer Plus as a reference. Whats funny is my dad bought it back in 1990 when he was getting his Master's degree and here I am 10 years later using it in my job as a programmer. I really only use it for the VI reference card that came with it because as we all know, VI ROCKS!

<--- puts on flame suit, and runs away from the "other" text editor guys