1. Chapter 1 Introduction

   1. System Administration Is a Craft

   2. How Perl Can Help

   3. This Book Will Show You How

   4. What You Need

   5. Locating and Installing Modules

   6. It's Not Easy Being Omnipotent

   7. References for More Information

2. Chapter 2 Filesystems

   1. Perl to the Rescue

   2. Filesystem Differences

   3. Walking or Traversing the Filesystem

   4. Walking the Filesystem Using the File::Find Module

   5. Manipulating Disk Quotas

   6. Querying Filesystem Usage

   7. Module Information for This Chapter

   8. References for More Information

3. Chapter 3 User Accounts

   1. Unix User Identity

   2. Windows NT/2000 User Identity

   3. Building an Account System to Manage Users

   4. Module Information for This Chapter

   5. References for More Information

4. Chapter 4 User Activity

   1. MacOS Process Control

   2. NT/2000 Process Control

   3. Unix Process Control

   4. Tracking File and Network Operations

   5. Module Information for This Chapter

   6. References for More Information

5. Chapter 5 TCP/IP Name Services

   1. Host Files

   2. NIS, NIS+, and WINS

   3. Domain Name Service (DNS)

   4. Module Information for This Chapter

   5. References for More Information

6. Chapter 6 Directory Services

   1. What's a Directory?

   2. Finger: A Simple Directory Service

   3. The WHOIS Directory Service

   4. LDAP: A Sophisticated Directory Service

   5. ADSI (Active Directory Service Interfaces)

   6. Module Information for This Chapter

   7. References for More Information

7. Chapter 7 SQL Database Administration

   1. Interacting with an SQL Server from Perl

   2. Using the DBI Framework

   3. Using the ODBC Framework

   4. Server Documentation

   5. Database Logins

   6. Monitoring Server Health

   7. Module Information for This Chapter

   8. References for More Information

8. Chapter 8 Electronic Mail

   1. Sending Mail

   2. Common Mistakes in Sending Email

   3. Receiving Mail

   4. Module Information for This Chapter

   5. References for More Information

9. Chapter 9 Log Files

   1. Text Logs

   2. Binary Log Files

   3. Stateful and Stateless Data

   4. Disk Space Problems

   5. Log Analysis

   6. Module Information for This Chapter

   7. References for More Information

10. Chapter 10 Security and Network Monitoring

    1. Noticing Unexpected or Unauthorized Changes

    2. Noticing Suspicious Activities

    3. SNMP

    4. Danger on the Wire

    5. Preventing Suspicious Activities

    6. Module Information for This Chapter

    7. References for More Information

1. Appendix A The Five-Minute RCS Tutorial

   1. References for More Information

2. Appendix B The Ten-Minute LDAP Tutorial

   1. LDAP Data Organization

3. Appendix C The Eight-Minute XML Tutorial

   1. XML Is a Markup Language

   2. XML Is Picky

   3. Two Key XML Terms

   4. Leftovers

4. Appendix D The Fifteen-Minute SQL Tutorial

   1. Creating /Deleting Databases and Tables

   2. Inserting Data into a Table

   3. Querying Information

   4. Changing Table Information

   5. Relating Tables to Each Other

   6. SQL Stragglers

5. Appendix E The Twenty-Minute SNMP Tutorial

   1. SNMP in Practice

6. 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 on the cover of Perl for System Administration is a sea otter. North American sea otters make their homes along the Pacific coast, near the kelp beds containing the shellfish that make up the majority of their diet. Sea otters can be found in great numbers in Alaska, and on beaches as far south as California.

Sea otters are agile and intelligent mammals, and are known to make ingenious use of tools. Floating on their backs, they hold a shellfish such as a mussel or abalone on their bellies, and use a rock to break the shell.

Intensely social, sea otters gather to float in groups called rafts. They are excellent swimmers, propelling themselves swiftly through the water with their flipper-like, webbed back paws. Their thick fur provides them with efficient insulation in the water. At times, their existence has been threatened as they have been mercilessly hunted to near extinction for their fur. Colleen Gorman was the production editor and copyeditor for Perl for System Administration. Jane Ellin was the proofreader. Mary Sheehan and Emily Quill provided quality control. Molly Shangraw, Maeve O'Meara, Gabe Weiss, Mary Sheehan, and Darren Kelly provided production support. Nancy Crumpton wrote the index.

Hanna Dyer designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is an original illustration created by Lorrie LeJeune. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 3.32 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

Alicia Cech and David Futato designed the interior layout based on a series design by Nancy Priest. Mike Sierra and David Futato implemented the design in FrameMaker 5.5.6. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Rhon Porter using Macromedia FreeHand 8 and Adobe Photoshop 5. This colophon was written by Colleen Gorman.

Whenever possible, our books use RepKover™, a durable and flexible lay-flat binding. If the page count exceeds RepKover's limit, perfect binding is used.