Beginning Ubuntu LTS Server Administration: From Novice to Professional

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"Covering basic installation, the author suggests no less than three different types of filesystems for a general server: ext2, ext3 and XFS. XFS is a high performance filesystem for handling large files and smooth data transfers, not an ideal choice for a file and print server. Perhaps a section on which filesystem types are best for specific server roles would be more informative for someone new to GNU/Linux filesystems.

"Advancing through the chapters, there are minor technical errors as well as some unusual descriptions of GNU/Linux terms and concepts. For example, the book correctly indicates that most system scripts are executed with the dash shell; more correctly described as a POSIX-compliant implementation of the Bourne shell (/bin/sh). The author incorrectly states that dash is the default shell for all users. The Bourne-Again Shell (bash) is the default shell for users, which is correctly reported in later chapters.

"The overview on updating and maintaining packages doesn't explain clearly the relationship of the dpkg package management program and APT, the Advanced Package Tool, and how APT relies on and works with dpkg. When explaining how to compile and install software from sources, the author explains how to install the GNU Compiler Collection (gcc), which on its own will not be sufficient. In practice the recommendation is to install the build-essential packages, which include tools and utilities (as well as gcc) needed to compile programs."

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