Book to learn server management?

[mahjong]

Dear Webmasters,

I'm in linux and vps hosting for more than a year now. I always used kloxo on my vps-s, and ubuntu as a desktop on my home environment.

After all the time i decided to leave all the panels for web server and try to build/manage a server of my own from scratch (a lowendbox). Now, i used tutorials which succesfully helped to build those systems, but...

Different developers and different webmasters (on different level) writing codes (with different level of reliability and security).

Now after all the looting and patching my code with already written examples (without a high understanding of it) i would love to learn web server management from the scratch.

So are there any books or tutorials, that i can print for myself to learn (i like to read them on buses or when i can't use a laptop)? I know it is hard, but i would love to learn only stuff, that is needed for a web server to run safely/securely and effectively. I know there are books of linux with 1000+ pages, the same with web servers like apache and nginx - but i would love to find a tutorial which writes down just the basic and most important knowledge so i can setup a site without a panel which is secure and runs with just the bare minimum.

Basically i want to setup those lowendbox without any self-install scripts and full understanding of what i'm doing. My current problems are mainly around permissions and security (which is linked with user permissions too)

Thank you in advance for any advices!

mahjong Reviewed by mahjong on 16th Nov 2011. Book to learn server management? Dear Webmasters, I'm in linux and vps hosting for more than a year now. I always used kloxo on my vps-s, and ubuntu as a desktop on my home environment. After all the time i decided to leave all the panels for web server and try to build/manage a server of my own from scratch (a lowendbox). Now, i used tutorials which succesfully helped to build those systems, but... Different developers and different webmasters (on different level) writing codes (with different level of reliability Rating: 5

[Sp32]

I learnt everything I know by setting all my own stuff up. I started on cPanel shared hosting, went to cPanel VPS, then went to a dedicated server. From there I learnt how to used Webmin, after that I had to set up BIND, Apache and Name Servers. Then I set up Mail servers and FTP.

From there I just seemed to pick things up as I went along, things kept becoming more clear as each step I took. It was like at first I didn't really understand anything that I was doing but eventually the penny dropped and everything started making sense. I've never been a fan of reading books, I've always been a more kinaesthetic learner, where I learn it whilst I do it. I can watch and learn quite well also. Just search for short videos on what you are doing to learn it, sorry I couldn't be of more use.

Now I can do SSH commands quite fluently and don't really need help from people when it comes to stuff like that, of course there is stuff I haven't learnt yet but I mean, the small bits are the easy bits, it's getting the general overall knowledge under your belt which you probably have.

[Lock Down]

Just do a google search for linux server tutorial . There will be many find the one easisest for you to understand and then try using it either on a server you have set up at home or your server online.

[mahjong]

Hi!

Yes, i usually do that like you two, too (with tutorials and forums), but i have a new job where i have to travel more, so i want to learn while traveling, to spend the time more effectively. That would be a reason i need a book.

Also, sometimes i find it that two tutorials (writers of the tutorials) are conflicting each other (in terms of options, or optimal configuration) so i thought maybe there is a book which can help to decide/will give me stable basis knowledge.

Well it seems i will have to learn it the classical way (task specific tutorials, manuals, and lot of experimenting - of course i don't want to skip that part and i like to do that, but my work don't really let me do it in weekdays.)

At least, if you could help me, what are the main topics needed to learn to run a webserver:
installing php5 and extensions (what extensions are needed? like zend?) and configuration, mysql (maybe phpmyadmin) and configuration, nginx and configuration, bind and configuration, email and configuration, linux users and permissions, configuring firewall...

about security: chrooting bind,secure temp, securing ssh

Are there any more topic that i should learn about, and is important for a low end vps?
Also please post me some reliable up to date sources where you think i can find information about this. I know google, i can use google, but the internet is so full of outdated and not effective setups, that i find it kind of hard to learn the whole thing while maintaining security and effectivity.

[Sp32]

Hi, I completely understand your situation as I have very long bus rides twice a day. Learning stuff like installing php5 is easy, and the same with extensions, all you have to do is google something like "yum install php5 zend" or "apt-get install php5 zend" and it will give you the exact command you'll be looking for, a lot of the stuff is referenced by server administrators as you won't need to memorise them. I'd suggest if you know Ubuntu try CentOS, if you know CentOS try Fedora.

When it comes to optimising I think that's a lot down to personal preference and it depends on your server. If you have a very powerful server and just want to run WordPress you aren't really going to need to do anything to speed it up. But if you wanted to you can just google "optimise centos speed" and stuff like that, the sentence in the quotes doesn't make grammatical sense but it doesn't need to as google filters out short common words and it only looks for keywords.

I don't really know a lot about configuring firewalls so I can't help you out there. I know of a site that has a lot of useful stuff that robert420 reminded me of the other day:

http://www.howtoforge.com/

[Lock Down]

Well here are some:

Books for Learning Unix

The goal of this page is to help programmers who want to become fluent Unix users. Although my Unix of choice is Linux, open systems don't buy you much if you're locked into one particular platform; you benefit the most from competition if you and your programs are comfortable with any mainline implementation of Unix (namely, Linux, Solaris, BSD, and MacOS/X). The books recommended below tend to reflect this opinion.
Be sure to read the reviews before buying.
Books on Using Unix

These can help you get started with interactive use of the shell and tools like grep and vi.

• "Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours", 3rd edition, by Dave Taylor. Good for folks who want a structured approach.
  Links: author's page, example chapter, fatbrain.com, Amazon.
• "Think UNIX", by Jon Lasser. A slightly more advanced introduction to Unix anno 2000.
  Links: author's page.
• "The Unix Programming Environment", by Kernighan and Pike. A good introduction to Unix anno 1984. It's a bit like reading Middle English. Don't buy it new -- but if you find a copy cheap, read it to see what Unix looked like before graphics and the Internet, and what C programming looked like before ANSI C.
  Links: author's page, half.com, Amazon.

Books on System Administration

There's a fine line between a fluent Unix user and a Unix system administrator. Once you've learned the basics, dive into how the system works with this book.

• "Unix System Administration Handbook" by Nemeth, Snyder, Seebass, and Hein, 3rd Edition (2001).
  Links: www.admin.com (authors' page), fatbrain.com, Amazon.
• "Teach Yourself Unix System Administration in 24 Hours", also by Dave Taylor. (I haven't read it, but Slashdot liked it.)
  Links: author's page.

Books on Shell Programming / Shell Scripting

One huge part of learning how to use Unix is learning how to write shell scripts. In my opinion, one should stick to the least common denominator when writing shell scripts: portable Bourne shell syntax. This can be run by any popular shell (Bash, Korn), which is a big plus when writing scripts for others to run. Given the limitation of the #! magic mechanism, it's best to start one's shell scripts with #!/bin/sh and try not to care which shell is running your script.
The books recommended below tend to reflect the above opinion.

• "Linux & Unix Shell Programming" by David Tansley.
  Links: Publisher, fatbrain.com, Amazon.
• "Portable Shell Programming" by Bruce Blinn.
  Links: Publisher, examples, examples as tarfile, fatbrain.com, Amazon.
• "Teach Yourself Shell Programming in 24 Hours" by Sriranga Veeraraghavan.
  Links: author's page, fatbrain.com, Amazon.
• "Unix Shell Programming" by Stephen G. Kochan and Patrick H. Wood
  Said to be a classic.
  Links: Amazon. bookpool.

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[mahjong]

Thanks for all the answers and help!

[newuploader]

Try this mate --> http://www.freeos.com/guides/lsst/

"Linux Shell Scripting Tutorial v1.05r3
A Beginner's handbook"

I'm learning too

[Lock Down]

You are welcome.