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BOOK REVIEW
By GREG SWAIN
Complete reference
for Red Hat Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux & Fedora
Edition: The Complete Reference,
by Richard L. Peterson. Published
2004. Soft covers, 800+ pages, DVD,
185 x 230mm. ISBN 0-07-223075-4.
$89.00.
While there’s a wealth of information about Linux in its various
guises on the Internet, the information is scattered like confetti. And
of course, individual articles are
often incomplete, disorganised or
out of date.
In short, you can waste an awful lot of time trying to track down
that vital how-to information for a
special Linux project or just to learn
how Linux works.
This comprehensive reference
book fixes that problem, at least as
it applies to recent Red Hat Linux
Enterprise and Fedora editions. But
don’t be put off if Red Hat doesn’t
happen to be your favourite Linux
flavour – the bulk of the information
in this handy volume applies to
other Linux flavours as well.
This reviewer has long been a fan
of Linux for its stability, its massive
range of applications and its low
cost. Indeed, most applications are
open source and can be downloaded
from the Internet for free. And no
matter which flavour of Linux you
buy, a vast range of applications
will be included with the operating
system on the CD or DVD (unlike
Windows, where you have to pay
extra).
Puzzled already? Just think of
Linux as an alternative operating
system to Windows (complete with
a graphical interface) and you have
the basic idea.
This book includes detailed information on just about any subject
involving Red Hat Linux you care
to nominate. It’s divided into seven
parts with 38 chapters and it doesn’t
make the mistake of assuming that
46 Silicon Chip
you’re an experienced user
or a guru. Instead, it begins
by explaining what Linux is,
then describes the installation procedure for Red Hat
and Fedora Core Linux.
From there, it moves on
to describing how the interface works, particularly
as it relates to the two
main graphical environments, KDE and Gnome.
It then gives details on
command line basics, system
configuration and network set-up.
This information includes setting up a small local area network
(LAN), setting up a virtual private
network (VPN), and making a DSL
(digital subscriber line) or wireless
connection to an Internet Service
Provider.
Although it’s also suitable for
beginners, most people interested
in this book will have at least some
knowledge of the capabilities of
Linux. Want to set up an FTP server
for your business or even for use at
home? Chapter 21 shows you how,
with detailed descriptions on deploying the alternative VSFTP and
ProFTPd FTP server applications.
How about a web server? Chapter
22 has that covered. Or maybe you
want to set up a DNS server, or a
DHCP server, or a file and print
server – it’s all there.
Or how about a mail server?
Chapter 24 has the goods here, with
detailed descriptions on deploying
the alternative Postfix and Sendmail
MTAs (Mail Transfer Agents).
But that’s all just the tip of the
iceberg. Other sections of this book
detail network security, network
administration tools, user management, journaling file systems, software and file system management,
system and user administration
(including configuration files and
permissions), hard disk management (eg, creating RAID and LVM
volumes) and firewalls.
Indeed, Linux is an excellent
choice when it comes to creating
secure firewalls. It’s also easy to
configure for network address translation (NAT) and IP masquerading,
so that users on a private network
can share an ADSL or cable Internet
connection. Chapter 19 has all the
details on this.
As a matter of interest, many people with broadband Internet access
now use a Linux box at home to act as
a firewall and to provide access sharing. Once set up, the box is typically
left running 24 hours a day.
A Linux system also makes a
great workstation, whether it be
for basic office work, multimedia,
email or just browsing the net (and
the necessary applications are
all included on the CD). As such,
there’s lots of information on office
and database applications (including OpenOffice, Koffice and SQL
database systems), plus descriptions
of popular Linux-based web, FTP,
email and newsreader clients. These
applications, along with the abovementioned server applications, are
all automatically installed when
you install Linux (or they can be
installed later).
As mentioned above, the book is
logically divided into seven parts,
with separate chapters in each part.
These parts are: Part 1 – Getting
Started; Part 2 – Environments; Part
3 – Applications; Part 4 – Security;
siliconchip.com.au
Part 5 – Red Hat Servers; Part 6 –
System Administration; and Part
7 – Network Administration.
The individual chapters are as
follows: Chapter 1 – Introduction to
Red Hat Linux; Chapter 2 – Installing Red Hat and Fedora Core Linux;
Chapter 3 – Interface Basics; Chapter 4 – Red Hat System Configuration; Chapter 6 – Red Hat Network
Configuration; Chapter 6 – Gnome;
Chapter 7 – The K Desktop Environment (KDE); Chapter 8 – The Shell;
Chapter 9 – Shell Configuration;
Chapter 10 – Managing Linux Files,
Directories and Archives; Chapter
11 – Office and Database Applications; Chapter 12 – Graphics Tools
and Multimedia; Chapter 13 – Mail
and News Clients; Chapter 14 –
Web, FTP and Java Clients; Chapter
15 – Network Tools; Chapter 16
– Security; Chapter 17 – Internet
Protocol Security (Ipsec); Chapter
18 – Secure Shell and Kerberos;
Chapter 19 – Network Firewalls
(Netfilter); Chapter 20 – Server Management; Chapter 21 – FTP Servers;
Chapter 22 – Web Servers (Apache);
Chapter 23 – Proxy Servers (Squid);
Chapter 24 – Mail Servers (SMTP,
POP and IMAP); Chapter 25 – Print
Servers; Chapter 26 – News and
search servers; Chapter 27 – Basic
System Administration; Chapter
28 – Managing Users; Chapter 29 –
Software Management; Chapter 30
– File System Management; Chapter
31 – Raid and LVM; Chapter 32 –
Devices and Modules; Chapter 33
– Kernel Administration; Chapter
34 – Domain Name System; Chapter
35 – DHCP Server; Chapter 36 –
NFS and NIS; Chapter 37 – Samba;
Chapter 38 – Administering TCP/
IP Networks; Appendix A – About
the DVD-ROM.
Finally, the book includes a comprehensive index and comes with
a bonus DVD that contains the Red
Hat Fedora Core distribution, plus
over 1500 applications (and the corresponding source code).
In short, this is a book for both
novices and advanced users alike. It
contains a wealth of information and
will prove particularly invaluable to
anyone involved in looking after a
Linux system or network. It’s available from SILICON CHIP Publications
– see advert this issue. (G.S.)
siliconchip.com.au
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March 2005 47
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