Networking & Operating Systems
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- Just off the Presses
"Solaris 8: The Complete Reference," "Windows System
Policy Editor," "Think Unix"
- What's Hot? Networking & Operating
Systems bestsellers at press time
- What's Hot in Software?
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- Recommended Reading
"Microsoft Windows 2000 MCSE Core Requirements Training
Kit"
- Almost Published
Books that are selling even before they've been printed
- Know This
Bluetooth and beyond
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JUST OFF THE PRESSES
 "Solaris
8: The Complete Reference"
by Sriranga Veeraraghavan and Paul Watters
Robust and well supported, Solaris is the choice of many administrators
who need to provide high reliability and considerable computational
might to their users. "Solaris
8: The Complete Reference" documents the latest version of Sun's
flagship operating system by explaining how Solaris approaches its
various responsibilities and telling administrators precisely what
they need to do to extract maximum performance from their servers
and workstations. Troubleshooting is central to the approach here--it's
not thrown in as an afterthought. In recognition of the fact that
it's a diverse world out there, the book discusses the proper integration
of Solaris with Windows NT.  Read
more
 "Windows
System Policy Editor"
by Stacey Anderson-Redick
Effective system administration requires careful regulation of user
rights and access privileges, with an eye toward maximizing system
reliability. Stated another way, users can be ignorant, foolish, and
malicious; and, if you don't protect your systems from tampering,
bad things will happen to your computers very soon. In "Windows
System Policy Editor," Stacy Anderson-Redick explains Microsoft's
top tool for combating user idiocy. She explains how to use the program
itself, and offers advice on designing group and user-rights policies
that work. She also documents System Policy Editor templates for Microsoft
Office, Internet Explorer, and several other applications that commonly
are found on corporate networks. Read
more
 "Think
Unix"
by Jon Lasser
Unix: Operating system or modifier of consciousness? It's both, actually,
if used properly. That's the message that Jon Lasser puts forth in
"Think
Unix," an introduction to all of the Unix flavors and their shell
interfaces. With a lot of explanations frequently punctuated with
commands that you can try, Lasser shares his knowledge of Unix's flexible
and powerful approach to problems. He really seems to enjoy explaining
alternate approaches to problems; as he proceeds, he gives details
of the commands that are involved in each. He also encourages readers
to learn by solving problems on their own. You'll love this one if
you've used Unix just enough to realize how shallow your knowledge
is. Read
more
WHAT'S HOT?
At the top of this month's Networking & Operating Systems bestsellers
list are books for developing WAP, protecting your network from hackers,
and making Linux clusters work for you.
 "Professional
WAP"
by Charles Arehart, Nirmal Chidambaram, Alex Homer, et al.
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and its related technologies
are emerging as the standard way of creating network-wise software
for wireless computing devices, such as mobile telephones. Wrox
Press's crack team of programmer-writers has put together a winner
in "Professional
WAP." To a greater extent than any other WAP book on the market,
this volume shows readers how to do real work by using WAP, Wireless
Markup Language (WML), WMLScript, and various toolkits and servers
that ease wireless application development. Read
more
 "Hack
Proofing Your Network"
by Ryan Russell
From the publisher: "Systems and software packages are being connected
to the Internet at an astounding rate. Many of these systems and packages
were not designed with security in mind. IT professionals need to
keep their systems secure: this book shows them how to make a meaningful
security assessment of their own systems by thinking like a hacker.
Using forensics-based analysis, this book gives the reader insight
to the mind of a hacker." Read
more
 "Building
Linux Clusters"
by David HM Spector
Subtitled "Scaling Linux for Scientific and Enterprise Applications,"
"Building
Linux Clusters" is an eye-popper. Build your own supercomputer
out of obsolete PCs by using a free OS: it's the stuff geek dreams
are made of. This book discusses complex modeling, virtual-world creation,
and image generation; shows readers how to choose hardware; and explains
cluster topologies. As the author notes, Linux clusters regularly
make the list of the world's top 500 supercomputers. Not bad for a
free system. Read
more
WHAT'S HOT IN SOFTWARE?
 VMware
2.0 for Linux
VMware, Inc.
Have you ever wanted to run multiple operating systems on your Linux
box? VMware creates a virtual system on your PC, so that you can share
files, send e-mail, and run all of your familiar software. VMware
is great also for developers or QA engineers who need to test programs
or isolate problems under a number of environments. Possible operating
systems range from Windows 98 to FreeBSD to multiple versions of Linux.
Read
more
 Mac
OS 9.0
If you're itching to get your hands on the just-released Mac OS X
Public Beta, you'll first need to upgrade to OS 9, if you don't already
have it. Not only is OS 9 an outstanding and stable operating system,
it's also required to install the OS X beta. And, if you can judge
a book by its cover, just looking at the OS 9 box will give you a
good clue as to what's inside. The large orange "9" under a magnifying
glass, which is the symbol for Apple's new Sherlock 2, is a clue that
this is the highlight of the newest operating system for the Mac.
Read
more
 Black
Ice Defender
Macmillan Publishing USA
Firewalls are all the rage these days, what with the exponentially
increasing number of new Internet users, not to mention concern about
virtual trespassers. Black Ice Defender combines firewall and intrusion-detection
technologies to deliver protection for home users, and helps prevent
access to your PC anytime that you're on the Internet. With easy-to-configure
levels of protection, you can install, configure, and customize Black
Ice in a matter of seconds. Read
more
RECOMMENDED READING
It's here: "Microsoft
Windows 2000 MCSE Core Requirements Training Kit," the Microsoft-recommended
suite of training materials for use in preparing for the required
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) exams, as modified to
reflect the new technologies of Windows 2000. Addressing the capabilities
and operational characteristics of Windows 2000 Server and Professional,
this kit pays particular attention to Active Directory, the most exciting
and unfamiliar new feature of Windows 2000, and makes extensive use
of hands-on exercises in its presentation of the knowledge that the
test requires. This four-book boxed set comes with a 120-day evaluation
version of Windows 2000 Server to use in your experiments. Read
more
ALMOST PUBLISHED
What will Networking & Operating Systems gurus be reading next? These
guides have garnered the most orders from Amazon.com customers--even
before they've been published.
 "Hacking
Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions, Second Edition"
by Joel Scambray, Stuart McClure, and George Kurtz
Publication date: October 2000
Whenever Hollywood does a movie in which someone breaks into a computer,
the hacking scenes are completely laughable to anyone who knows
the first thing about computer security. Think of "Hacking
Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions" as a computer
thriller for people with a clue. This is a technical book, certainly--URLs,
procedures, and bits of advice take the place of plot and characters--but
the information about hackers' tools will leave you wondering exactly
how vulnerable your system is. This updated edition will help you
keep ahead of the hacker curve. Read
more
"Understanding
the Linux Kernel"
by Marco Cesati and Daniel Plerre Bovet
Publication date: November 8, 2000
The Linux kernel holds the key to using this robust and effective
tool for developing for different environments. "Understanding
the Linux Kernel" explains the workings of the kernel source code--including
memory management, synchronization, signals, interrupts, timing, program
execution, the Virtual File System, and so on--and how they correspond
to utilities that already are known commonly to Unix users and developers.
Read
more
KNOW THIS: BLUETOOTH AND BEYOND
As the standards develop for industry's fastest-growing field, you'll
find the need to update your bookshelves also growing. We've put together
a booklist of the best new and upcoming titles in wireless communications--you'll
be able also to pre-order the eagerly awaited books on the emerging
Bluetooth standard. Read
more
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