Practice of System and Network Administration, The

Five years ago, The Practice of System and Network Administration set the industry standard for the best practices of system and network administration, independent of specific platforms or technologies. In this long-awaited update, the authors again draw on their extensive personal experience to share the six key principles of site design and support practices: simplicity, clarity, generality, automation, communication, and basics first. In addition to discussing system administrators' major areas of responsibility within the context of these principles, they tackle the "soft skills" necessary for today's workplace.

Inside, you'll find advice on topics such as

The key elements your networks/systems need that will make all other services run betterBuilding and running reliable, scalable services, including email, printing, and remote accessCreating and enforcing security policies Upgrading thousands of hosts without creating havocPlanning for and performing flawless scheduled maintenance windowsManaging superior helpdesks, customer care, and avoiding the temporary fix trapBuilding data centers that prevent problemsDesigning networks for speed and reliabilityEmail scaling and security issuesWhy building a backup system isn't about backupsMonitoring what you have and predicting what you will needHow to stay technical and how not to be pushed into managementReal-world technical management issues, including morale, organization building, coaching, maintaining positive visibility, and communicating with nontechnical managementPersonal skill techniques, including secrets for getting more done each day, dealing with less-technical people, ethical dilemmas, managing your boss, and loving your jobSystem administration salary negotiation tips

In addition to extensive updates to this time-proven content, this edition has also been reorganized so you can better find what you need. Chapters have been regrouped according to introductory material, foundation elements, change processes, common service offerings, and management practices.

Readers will also find new topics, including

ForensicsAutomationWeb servicesData storageDocumentationNew operation systems

Chapters are divided into The Basics and The Icing. The Basics are those key elements that, when done right, make every other aspect of the job easier--such as starting all new hosts with the same configuration and picking the right things to automate first. The Icing sections contain all those powerful things that can be done on top of the basics to wow customers and managers.