Unix® and Linux® System Administration Handbook, Fourth Edition

1. Where to Start

An awful lot of UNIX and Linux information is available these days, so we’ve designed this book to occupy a specific niche in the ecosystem of man pages, blogs, magazines, books, and other reference materials that address the needs of system administrators.

First, it’s an orientation guide. It reviews the major administrative systems, identifies the different pieces of each, and explains how they work together. In the many cases where you must choose between various implementations of a concept, we describe the advantages and drawbacks of the major players.

Second, it’s a quick-reference handbook that summarizes what you need ...