With 28 new chapters, the third edition of The Practice of System and Network Administration innovates yet again! Revised with thousands of updates and clarifications based on reader feedback, this new edition also incorporates DevOps strategies even for non-DevOps environments.
Whether you use Linux, Unix, or Windows, this new edition describes the essential practices previously handed down only from mentor to protégé. This wonderfully lucid, often funny cornucopia of information introduces beginners to advanced frameworks valuable for their entire career, yet is structured to help even experts through difficult projects.
Other books tell you what commands to type. This book teaches you the cross-platform strategies that are timeless!
- DevOps techniques: Apply DevOps principles to enterprise IT infrastructure, even in environments without developers
- Game-changing strategies: New ways to deliver results faster with less stress
- Fleet management: A comprehensive guide to managing your fleet of desktops, laptops, servers and mobile devices
- Service management: How to design, launch, upgrade and migrate services
- Measurable improvement: Assess your operational effectiveness; a forty-page, pain-free assessment system you can start using today to raise the quality of all services
- Design guides: Best practices for networks, data centers, email, storage, monitoring, backups and more
- Management skills: Organization design, communication, negotiation, ethics, hiring and firing, and more
Have you ever had any of these problems?
- Have you been surprised to discover your backup tapes are blank?
- Ever spent a year launching a new service only to be told the users hate it?
- Do you have more incoming support requests than you can handle?
- Do you spend more time fixing problems than building the next awesome thing?
- Have you suffered from a botched migration of thousands of users to a new service?
- Does your company rely on a computer that, if it died, can't be rebuilt?
- Is your network a fragile mess that breaks any time you try to improve it?
- Is there a periodic "hell month" that happens twice a year? Twelve times a year?
- Do you find out about problems when your users call you to complain?
- Does your corporate "Change Review Board" terrify you?
- Does each division of your company have their own broken way of doing things?
- Do you fear that automation will replace you, or break more than it fixes?
- Are you underpaid and overworked?
No vague "management speak" or empty platitudes. This comprehensive guide provides real solutions that prevent these problems and more!
Autorentext
Thomas A. Limoncelli is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and system administrator with more than twenty years of experience at companies like Google, Bell Labs, and StackOverflow.com.
Christina J. Hogan has more than twenty years of experience in system administration and network engineering, from Silicon Valley to Italy and Switzerland. She has a master's degree in computer science, a doctorate in aeronautical engineering, and has been part of a Formula 1 racing team.
Strata R. Chalup has more than twenty-five years of experience in Silicon Valley, focusing on IT strategy, best-practices, and scalable infrastructures at firms that include Apple, Sun, Cisco, McAfee, and Palm.
Inhalt
Preface xxxix
Acknowledgments xlvii
About the Authors li
Part I: Game-Changing Strategies 1
Chapter 1: Climbing Out of the Hole 3
1.1 Organizing WIP 5
1.2 Eliminating Time Sinkholes 12
1.3 DevOps 16
1.4 DevOps Without Devs 16
1.5 Bottlenecks 18
1.6 Getting Started 20
1.7 Summary 21
Exercises 22
Chapter 2: The Small Batches Principle 23
2.1 The Carpenter Analogy 23
2.2 Fixing Hell Month 24
2.3 Improving Emergency Failovers 26
2.4 Launching Early and Often 29
2.5 Summary 34
Exercises 34
Chapter 3: Pets and Cattle 37
3.1 The Pets and Cattle Analogy 37
3.2 Scaling 39
3.3 Desktops as Cattle 40
3.4 Server Hardware as Cattle 41
3.5 Pets Store State 43
3.6 Isolating State 44
3.7 Generic Processes 47
3.8 Moving Variations to the End 51
3.9 Automation 53
3.10 Summary 53
Exercises 54
Chapter 4: Infrastructure as Code 55
4.1 Programmable Infrastructure 56
4.2 Tracking Changes 57
4.3 Benefits of Infrastructure as Code 59
4.4 Principles of Infrastructure as Code 62
4.5 Configuration Management Tools 63
4.6 Example Infrastructure as Code Systems 67
4.7 Bringing Infrastructure as Code to Your Organization 71
4.8 Infrastructure as Code for Enhanced Collaboration 72
4.9 Downsides to Infrastructure as Code 73
4.10 Automation Myths 74
4.11 Summary 75
Exercises 76
Part II: Workstation Fleet Management 77
Chapter 5: Workstation Architecture 79
5.1 Fungibility 80
5.2 Hardware 82
5.3 Operating System 82
5.4 Network Configuration 84
5.5 Accounts and Authorization 86
5.6 Data Storage 89
5.7 OS Updates 93
5.8 Security 94
5.9 Logging 97
5.10 Summary 98
Exercises 99
Chapter 6: Workstation Hardware Strategies 101
6.1 Physical Workstations 101
6.2 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 105
6.3 Bring Your Own Device 110
6.4 Summary 113
Exercises 114
Chapter 7: Workstation Software Life Cycle 117
7.1 Life of a Machine 117
7.2 OS Installation 120
7.3 OS Configuration 120
7.4 Updating the System Software and Applications 123
7.5 Rolling Out Changes . . . Carefully 128
7.6 Disposal 130
7.7 Summary 134
Exercises 135
Chapter 8: OS Installation Strategies 137
8.1 Consistency Is More Important Than Perfection 138
8.2 Installation Strategies 142
8.3 Test-Driven Configuration Development 147
8.4 Automating in Steps 148
8.5 When Not to Automate 152
8.6 Vendor Support of OS Installation 152
8.7 Should You Trust the Vendor's Installation? 154
8.8 Summary 154
Exercises 155
Chapter 9: Workstation Service Definition 157
9.1 Basic Service Definition 157
9.2 Refresh Cycles 161
9.3 Tiered Support Levels 165
9.4 Workstations as a Managed Service 168
9.5 Summary 170
Exercises 171
Chapter 10: Workstation Fleet Logistics 173
10.1 What Employees See 173
10.2 What Employees Don't See 174
10.3 Configuration Management Database 183
10.4 Small-Scale Fleet Logistics 186
10.5 Summary 188
Exercises 188
Chapter 11: Workstation Standardization 191
11.1 Involving Customers Early 192
11.2 Releasing Early and Iterating 193
11.3 Having a Transition Interval (Overlap) 193
11.4 Ratcheting 194
11.5 Setting a Cut-Off Date 195
11.6 Adapting for Your Corporate Culture 195
11.7 Leveraging the Path of Least Resistance 196
11.8 Summary 198
Exercises 199
Chapter 12: Onboarding 201
12.1 Making a Good First Impression 201
12.2 IT Responsibilities 203
12.3 Five Keys to Successful Onboarding 203
12.4 Cadence Changes 212