Sair Linux and GNU Certification Level I, Installation and Configuration, 2nd Edition - Softcover

The Sair Linux and GNU Certification book is too short to cover the installation of all the Linux flavors in any sort of detail, and so this book can serve a dual purpose: It can be a good jumping-off point for the novice as an introductory text, or it can do double duty as a refresher guide for the experienced Linux sysop. Those who have some hands-on Linux knowledge and are looking for a comprehensive resource to fill in the gaps, however, will be disappointed--since this is by no means a one-stop shop for getting certified.

The book itself is arranged in an erratic fashion that might annoy some readers: The first part is a "learning" section that discusses various issues like the differences between Linux shells, basic shell commands, LILO, and so on. When you've finished reading through this informational text, the second half of the book abruptly morphs into a set of lab exercises, most of which are about the very commands and procedures that you finished reading about chapters ago. It's a little strange to have the book tell you all about what redirection symbols are used for on page 58, and then walk you through the exercise on how to use them almost 200 pages later. It makes for a tougher read, and a little more effort in the way of integration might have helped reinforce the simpler topics.

The "learning" chapters are written in a dry but generally readable style, and the book definitely does its best to try to wrangle the seven million variances among Linux flavors into one tome. The strengths of this book lie in commands and troubleshooting. The shell commands are gone over in a fair amount of detail, listing not only what they're used for but when, and showing how the most significant options make your life easier when using, say, grep or cp. There's also a fair amount of real-life experience given here, starting with the obvious dangers of putting a "." in the wrong place and destroying your entire file system, then ramping up to potential security holes in a poorly written path statement. A troubleshooting section is something that's sadly lacking from a lot of certification guides--an entire chapter that goes over the most common errors you'll encounter and how to fix them. For novices, who often tear their hair out over "obvious" mistakes that experienced techies see in an instant, this is a godsend.

The weak spot of the book is pretty much where you'd expect it to be: Installing the many flavors of Linux can be--let's not mince words--a stone-cold pain in the neck when it comes to getting Linux to recognize odd hardware or trying to set up a dual-boot system with multiple hard drives and CD-ROMs. The section on PC architecture is weak, and doesn't really tell you how to troubleshoot a botched installation, aside from recommending that you look for the latest device drivers on Yahoo! or HotBot. Considering that many flavors of Linux ask hardware questions that really need to be answered correctly, a much more expanded section on PC architecture would have been nice. The "advanced topics" section is also badly named, since the topics are overviews that are so general that they may actually be dangerous--for example, IP class addressing is covered but not subnetting, which could cause problems further down the line for someone who doesn't know anything about IP addresses at all.

The tutorial sections are passable, but not spectacular. They're short and don't cover all the options, but they get the point across for what each command and procedure does. A few are truncated a little too much--the two-page "Create a Dual-Boot System with Linux and Windows" section seems a little optimistic, to say the least--but most are just right. The only truly infuriating thing here is that the end of each chapter has two questions on the lab exercise, which are then answered, but then poses between one and three advanced questions which are not answered. Hope you can find the answers somewhere in here!

On the bright side, the book does come with a large, 100-question sample test to help you hone your skills, and the questions are fairly tough if not jaw-droppers.

In short, this book has a lot of ground to cover, and even at 500 pages there just isn't enough space to cover everything that really needs to be hit for this exam; frankly, even a 1,000-page book might not be able to encompass everything you need to know. As an introductory guide, it's quirky but usable; as a last-minute refresher, it covers things at a fairly abstract level but should jog your brain cells appropriately. Make this your first book or your last, but don't make it your only study guide for the exam. --William Steinmetz

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* Compare proprietary versus open source software licenses
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* Learn to use common shell editing commands
* Install run-time device drivers
* Configure a printer capabilities file and a printer filter
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