Linux Cookbook Book Review

Practical Advice for Linux Users & Administrators

Linux Cookbook covers a wide area of Linux topics including using Linux in a desktop version with X-Windows and using it from command line just like you would a server.

Linux Cookbook is more of ‘How To’ book than specific chapters which lead you through certain topics. Each chapter is about a certain topic or area, but each chapter is divided into short pages of how to do this or that, such as Starting Apache at Boot or Deleting a User.

Linux Cookbook contains 24 chapters covering areas such as backup and recovery, version control, setting up a mail server and running the apache web server.

The book focuses on Red Hat, Fedora and Debian Linux distributions, so not so good if you are running Suse, but still a lot of the content is still usable across all Linux versions. The book also touches on Knoppix and other distributions of Linux.

Linux Cookbook is a great book if you need to find out how to do something fast and I could see this being a good reference book, as the book tells you exactly how to complete a task without you having to wade through pages of introductions etc and then find the information you need.

Linux Cookbook is not so much a beginners guide book to Linux, but it does include some areas that are for beginners, although this very much depends on your knowledge of certain areas of Linux, as you may be a home user, but you want to run your own mail server or learn about apache, or perhaps how to network your Linux machine and swap files with Windows etc using Samba.

Each subsection of every chapter introduces a topic or question that needs to be answered, in the section the problem is outlined, and then the solution is offered, as well as a discussion area and other links for further information and reading.

Linux Cookbook is a great reference book for all users and administrators, it is especially a good book if you have certain areas you want to learn about or problems you need to tackle.

Linux Cookbook covers:

Finding documentation
Location and installing software
Starting and Stopping Linux
Managing users and groups
Managing files, disk partitions and upgrading the Linux Kernel
Patching, customizing, and upgrading the Linux kernel
Getting involved in CD and DVD recording
Managing the boot loader and creating a dual boot machine
Using Knoppix for system resuce and recovery
Configuring Video
Building a mail server that free from spam and malware
Running an Apache web server
Printing and printer sharing
Integrating Linux and Windows