Rating: 
Summary: Works for me
Review: This book explains in detail, various open source programs used for
network administration.The author uses Solaris syntax for the majority of the examples of
installation, configuration and use of the programs. The book is arranged in 10 chapters covering the following subjects: 1. Intro to Network Administration
2. SNMP
3. MRTG
4. NEO
5. Netflow
6. OAK
7. Service Monitoring
8. TCPDUMP
9. Basic Tools
10. Custom Tools I really liked the way the author methodically described all of the major
"W's". Who What When Why and Where. He gives a brief background on each
program, and tells you what is typically used for. The When/Why/Where is
answered as well, and the amount of detail is more than just a beginner
may need but not too much as to bore or confuse the reader. In each section, similar, alternative tools to the main one described are
listed at the end of each chapter to compare and contrast the strengths
and weaknesses of the tools. The author does a great job of referencing specific websites and RFC's to
obtain all the tools listed. Regular expressions, shell scripting and
Perl is touched on as well. If you're looking for an introduction to network administration tools,
this is the book to get. A suggestion I'd have for a 2nd edition edit would be: Flesh out the section on the uses for MRTG(other than tracking bandwidth)
as well as database options such as RRD, and do the same for the NAGIOS
description.
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