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This section includes various resources that can be used to learn more about the philosophy of system administration and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux-specific subject matter discussed in this chapter.
The following resources are installed in the course of a typical Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation and can help you learn more about the subject matter discussed in this chapter.
crontab(1) and crontab(5) man pages — Learn how to schedule commands and scripts for automatic execution at regular intervals.
at(1) man page — Learn how to schedule commands and scripts for execution at a later time.
bash(1) man page — Learn more about the default shell and shell script writing.
perl(1) man page — Review pointers to the many man pages that make up perl's online documentation.
python(1) man page — Learn more about options, files, and environment variables controlling the Python interpreter.
gedit(1) man page and Help menu entry — Learn how to edit text files with this graphical text editor.
emacs(1) man page — Learn more about this highly-flexible text editor, including how to run its online tutorial.
vim(1) man page — Learn how to use this powerful text editor.
Mozilla Help Contents menu entry — Learn how to edit HTML files, read mail, and browse the Web.
evolution(1) man page and Help menu entry — Learn how to manage your email with this graphical email client.
mutt(1) man page and files in /usr/share/doc/mutt-<version> — Learn how to manage your email with this text-based email client.
pam(8) man page and files in /usr/share/doc/pam-<version> — Learn how authentication takes place under Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/pam/ — The Linux-PAM project homepage.
http://www.usenix.org/ — The USENIX homepage. A professional organization dedicated to bringing together computer professionals of all types and fostering improved communication and innovation.
http://www.sage.org/ — The System Administrators Guild homepage. A USENIX special technical group that is a good resource for all system administrators responsible for Linux (or Linux-like) operating systems.
http://www.python.org/ — The Python Language Website. An excellent site for learning more about Python.
http://www.perl.org/ — The Perl Mongers Website. A good place to start learning about Perl and connecting with the Perl community.
http://www.rpm.org/ — The RPM Package Manager homepage. The most comprehensive website for learning about RPM.
Most books on system administration do little to cover the philosophy behind the job. However, the following books do have sections that give a bit more depth to the issues that were discussed here:
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Reference Guide; Red Hat, Inc. — Provides an overview of locations of key system files, user and group settings, and PAM configuration.
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Security Guide; Red Hat, Inc. — Contains a comprehensive discussion of many security-related issues for Red Hat Enterprise Linux system administrators.
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Administration Guide; Red Hat, Inc. — Includes chapters on managing users and groups, automating tasks, and managing log files.
Linux Administration Handbook by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, and Trent R. Hein; Prentice Hall — Provides a good section on the policies and politics side of system administration, including several "what-if" discussions concerning ethics.
Linux System Administration: A User's Guide by Marcel Gagne; Addison Wesley Professional — Contains a good chapter on automating various tasks.
Solaris System Management by John Philcox; New Riders Publishing — Although not specifically written for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (or even Linux in general), and using the term "system manager" instead of "system administrator," this book provides a 70-page overview of the many roles that system administrators play in a typical organization.