1. Chapter 1 Introduction to System Administration

   1. Thinking About System Administration

   2. Becoming Superuser

   3. Communicating with Users

   4. About Menus and GUIs

   5. Where Does the Time Go?

2. Chapter 2 The Unix Way

   1. Files

   2. Processes

   3. Devices

3. Chapter 3 Essential AdministrativeTools and Techniques

   1. Getting the Most from Common Commands

   2. Essential Administrative Techniques

4. Chapter 4 Startup and Shutdown

   1. About the Unix Boot Process

   2. Initialization Files and Boot Scripts

   3. Shutting Down a Unix System

   4. Troubleshooting: Handling Crashes and Boot Failures

5. Chapter 5 TCP/IP Networking

   1. Understanding TCP/IP Networking

   2. Adding a New Network Host

   3. Network Testing and Troubleshooting

6. Chapter 6 Managing Users and Groups

   1. Unix Users and Groups

   2. Managing User Accounts

   3. Administrative Tools for Managing User Accounts

   4. Administering User Passwords

   5. User Authentication with PAM

   6. LDAP: Using a Directory Service for User Authentication

7. Chapter 7 Security

   1. Prelude: What's Wrong with This Picture?

   2. Thinking About Security

   3. User Authentication Revisited

   4. Protecting Files and the Filesystem

   5. Role-Based Access Control

   6. Network Security

   7. Hardening Unix Systems

   8. Detecting Problems

8. Chapter 8 Managing Network Services

   1. Managing DNS Servers

   2. Routing Daemons

   3. Configuring a DHCP Server

   4. Time Synchronization with NTP

   5. Managing Network Daemons under AIX

   6. Monitoring the Network

9. Chapter 9 Electronic Mail

   1. About Electronic Mail

   2. Configuring User Mail Programs

   3. Configuring Access Agents

   4. Configuring the Transport Agent

   5. Retrieving Mail Messages

   6. Mail Filtering with procmail

   7. A Few Final Tools

10. Chapter 10 Filesystems and Disks

    1. Filesystem Types

    2. Managing Filesystems

    3. From Disks to Filesystems

    4. Sharing Filesystems

11. Chapter 11 Backup and Restore

    1. Planning for Disasters and Everyday Needs

    2. Backup Media

    3. Backing Up Files and Filesystems

    4. Restoring Files from Backups

    5. Making Table of Contents Files

    6. Network Backup Systems

    7. Backing Up and Restoring the System Filesystems

12. Chapter 12 Serial Lines and Devices

    1. About Serial Lines

    2. Specifying Terminal Characteristics

    3. Adding a New Serial Device

    4. Troubleshooting Terminal Problems

    5. Controlling Access to Serial Lines

    6. HP-UX and Tru64 Terminal Line Attributes

    7. The HylaFAX Fax Service

    8. USB Devices

13. Chapter 13 Printers and the Spooling Subsystem

    1. The BSD Spooling Facility

    2. System V Printing

    3. The AIX Spooling Facility

    4. Troubleshooting Printers

    5. Sharing Printers with Windows Systems

    6. LPRng

    7. CUPS

    8. Font Management Under X

14. Chapter 14 Automating Administrative Tasks

    1. Creating Effective Shell Scripts

    2. Perl: An Alternate Administrative Language

    3. Expect: Automating Interactive Programs

    4. When Only C Will Do

    5. Automating Complex Configuration Tasks with Cfengine

    6. Stem: Simplified Creation of Client-Server Applications

    7. Adding Local man Pages

15. Chapter 15 Managing System Resources

    1. Thinking About System Performance

    2. Monitoring and Controlling Processes

    3. Managing CPU Resources

    4. Managing Memory

    5. Disk I/O Performance Issues

    6. Monitoring and Managing Disk Space Usage

    7. Network Performance

16. Chapter 16 Configuring and Building Kernels

    1. FreeBSD and Tru64

    2. HP-UX

    3. Linux

    4. Solaris

    5. AIX System Parameters

17. Chapter 17 Accounting

    1. Standard Accounting Files

    2. BSD-Style Accounting: FreeBSD, Linux, and AIX

    3. System V-Style Accounting: AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris

    4. Printing Accounting

18. Chapter 18 The Profession of System Administration

    1. SAGE: The System Administrators Guild

    2. Administrative Virtues

1. Appendix A Administrative Shell Programming

   1. Basic Syntax

   2. The if Statement

   3. Other Control Structures

   4. Getting Input: The read Command

   5. Other Useful Commands

   6. Shell Functions

2. Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal featured on the cover of Essential System Administration, Third Edition, is an armadillo. This insect-eating mammal is native to South America and has spread through the southern United States. Unlike most insectivores, the armadillo has teeth-rootless pegs set far back in its mouth. These teeth allow it to supplement its diet of termites, scorpions, and other insects with snakes, poultry, fruit, and eggs.

The armadillo's name, "little armored thing," was given to it by the Spanish when they invaded the New World. This "armor" is an outer layer consisting of numerous bony plates with a horny covering. This shell is hinged at the middle of the back, allowing the front and hind sections freedom of movement. In some species, this covering extends over the face and tail as well as the torso and limbs.

Armadillos range in size from the great armadillo, at 5 feet in length, to the fairy armadillo, at 5 inches. The most common of the armadillos, the 9-banded armadillo, is about the size of a house cat. Leanne Soylemez was the production editor and copyeditor for Essential System Administration, Third Edition. Sheryl Avruch, Jane Ellin, Colleen Gorman, and Darren Kelly provided quality control. Æleen Frisch wrote the index.

The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The note and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing.

The book also still benefits from the work that Sheryl Avruch, Nicole Gipson, Seth Maislin, Kismet McDonough, Lenny Muellner, Kiersten Nauman, Dominic Newman, Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary, Chris Reilley, Mike Sierra, Ellen Siever, Mary Anne Weeks Mayo, Norm Walsh, and Frank Willison did on the second edition, and that Kismet McDonough and Ellie Cutler performed on the first edition. Edie Freedman designed the cover of the book, forever linking system administration and armadillos.