Red Hat Linux 7 Server

Rating:
Summary: Is this a cruel joke?
Review: As i wanted to start learning all about this great alternative operating system and enter the linux world i purchased this great book based on good reviews and the author's name

The idea is that following the step by step instructions you can setup a linux server
I did, and the server almost worked but there are a few points to bear in mind and i hope mr kabir will address them in an update

My main disappointment was that emphasis is entirely on command prompt interface with little mention to the gui part of the o.s.
All i wanted is to setup an intranet and i consider myself a not so bad user, but some of the settings are not very clear and chapters with "Intranet" in their title are not really addressing such a technology clearly or in depth
Inclusion of some Case studies could have been beneficial.
Nevertheless a power user will be able to find his way through

For a Linux beginner i recommend the book as a second book after having gained some experience with the o.s.
I found the book suitable for above average to power users

Overall the content was very helpful and i think mr kabir is one of the best authorities on the subject
any drawback is most certainly because i am new to linux and i am sticking to this beautiful o s that respects our intelligence

Rating:
Summary: Confusingly Horrid Book!
Review: Being new to Linux but familiar in NT and Novell, I was assigned a project to bring up a Linux based webserver. I went around hunting for a book and after flipping through a few pages I bought Kabir's book. The other althernatives were either outdated or too shallow. There weren't much choices at that point of time. After using the book for about a month, I'm horribly disappointed with my progress which is almost close to nowhere near by goal of setting up a Linux based Web Server. His materials in chapters like Setting up Internet/Intranet services were confusing and lengthly. The book more or less has one single minded way of doing things which the reader is expected to follow to the letter. Often times I did this and found that it still doesn't work!!! Even the Installation section was pretty lame. I had to advise from our local Linux consultant just to get me started. After that I tried to setup the FTP service again using Kabir's book as my guide. Boy was I completely horrified to find myself once again, after deligently keying in all the steps in the book, stuck with no explanations on why it doesn't work. Some of his typo errors even exist in the scripts!!! Imagine being a beginner and having to figure out what went wrong. I highly advise readers to stay far far away from this book. This book is not for the faint hearted. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: I called Redhat concerning a server problem I was having. I spoke with 3 techs over 3 days. I asked each what was their favorite resource for Linux 7. EACH told me that everyone there has Kabir's Red Hat Linux 7 Server on their desk.

I asked about typos (other reviews up here) and they said they were minor and the info was too good. I figured if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me.

I bought it - I'm a better Admin for it! If your are a Linux Admin get this book. Great Book.

Rating:
Summary: Used by ALL RedHat support technicians!
Review: I called Redhat concerning a server problem I was having. I spoke with 3 techs over 3 days. I asked each what was their favorite resource for Linux 7. EACH told me that everyone there has Kabir's Red Hat Linux 7 Server on their desk.

I asked about typos (other reviews up here) and they said they were minor and the info was too good. I figured if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me.

I bought it - I'm a better Admin for it! If your are a Linux Admin get this book. Great Book.

Rating:
Summary: Very useful if you already know a little about Linux
Review: I have worked with linux for a little over 3 years now, and I have read SO MANY books on server administration. After all the practical experience of personally creating over 7 networks from scratch, including 3 integrated Windows 2000/RedHat networks, the only one I refer to after all that time on a regular basis is Kabir's RedHat Linux Server book. This book (Red Hat 7 Server) is just as good if not better as his last one on Red Hat 6, and addresses some good things about system v architecture, apache, sendmail, and a particularly useful section on system security. The book for RH 6 was reccommended to me by one of my professors at in the Computer Science department at Georgia Tech who was a Linux guru, and I've been forever in his debt since. If you are interested in a fantastic book that explains how things work as well as tells you step by step on how to get things working, purchase this book. If you don't, you will do yourself a great injustice. Many many thanks Mr. Kabir!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Server Book!
Review: I was looking through the Linux books for a solid server book and found Kabir's book to be the most complete one!

His writing style is totally fluid and conversational, which is my type!

I wanted to run a Web server on Linux to access my home (DSL) machine from work and his Apache chapter did the job!

I noticed on Amazon that Kabir also wrote the Apache Server Bible. I hope he has a Apache 2 book coming soon. I am definitely going for his books.

Rating:
Summary: Prof. Linux trainer, sys-admin, and RHCE says, "THE BEST!"
Review: I've been looking for "best books" in various categories for quite some time. This is the one that I recommend to everyone who takes my Linux Sys-Admin 101 training course.

No.. it's not for your average MSCE point-n-clicker. And if you're JUST barely getting into Linux, dip your toes in the pool with a book like "Learning Red Hat Linux" (O'Reilly) or "Linux for Dummies, 2nd ed".. Both are great beginner Linux books. Or, if you're already an NT/wk admin, check out
"Linux for Windows Nt/2000 Administrators : The Secret Decoder Ring". I've heard that most Win-admins like that one as an intro to Linux.

But I train at the largest Linux data center in the world (over 4,000 servers on line). And almost ALL of our sys admins use Kabir's book as their "best choice" Red Hat ref.

I just had to comment on this after I saw the two poor reviews above and say, "Thanks Kabir! You've done a GREAT job again!" 8v)

But as previously eluded to, for new folks, there are several paradigms that people not familiar with UN*X will need to beef up on before just cracking Kabir's book cold. For example, things like UN*X SysV vs BSD norms, the concept of "every thing's a file" (in UN*X in general), navigating the command line, using vi/vim, shell scripts, user accounts, basic multi-user and multitasking concepts, flat (text) configuration files instead of a single monolithic registry/hive, etc. After you have some of this stuff under your belt and a little bit of experience... THEN pick up Kabir's book and enjoy the wonderful way that he lays things out and presents the concepts, and drills down into each.

I've been following his stuff since the 6.x version. And am going out tomorrow to get the new 7.x version (I hear that there's both a desktop flavor and a server flavor now! cool! ;).

Anyway.. just wanted to add my two cents and let folks know that if you have already been introduced to Linux or know some other flavor of UN*X... that this is considered "THE REFERENCE" for most people in the business of making money with (RH) Linux.

Hope this helps.

Thomas Weeks

Rating:
Summary: Not useful unless already experienced
Review: While the CD included with the book are version 7.0, the installation screen shots are from an older version. Most of the install processes are the typical woefully inadequate, glossed-over, out-dated procedures for v6 through a command line. No showing of a typical server hardware installation, which is the main subject of book, other than two generalized pages.

While he includes listings for the bootup and shutdown processes, he does precious little in explaining the goings on and / or contrasting the listings with different hardware.

Then he has the ubiquous 60 pg alphabetical listing of common CLI commands in a reference format. Not in a sequence to do useful things.

Then he explains LinuxConf working under Gnome or KDE, which seems fairly useful and lucid, LinuxConf v1.19. Most of the rest of the book is CLI based commands as well as using LinuxConf for admin tasks including network, dns, email, ftp, apache, and nfs.

For Server specific tasks, he includes a 95 pg chapter configuring an Apache webserver, a 21 pg chapter configuring of MySQL, and a 35 pg chapter on a multi-server network using commercial Radware's WSD Pro.

A discussion on Linux GUI, Xwindows using Xfree86 and Gnome, is tacked on at the end of the book.