The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Grok-ing Linux on an IT/Sysadmin level.
TxdoHawk
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Preword: This is very help/advice-ish, I know, but I never get decent responses over there as far as tech-related things go.
I'm two semesters away from a college degree in Business Information Systems. BIS is a very catch-all major that imparts both business and non-programming computer-related knowledge on a student.
The problem is, my college sucks, and they teach you almost nothing that isn't very high-level theory-based, so almost nothing I have learned has any practical value in the real world. So while I finish up my degree, I need to start honing my skills to a fine point.
One of my good NJ friends works for a small company that involves currency trading, or something like that. He's essentially one of their sysadmins, so him and I have been doing a lot of talking about what his job entails, and what I should be learning before I go out looking for serious jobs.
Anyway, here's my point: He reccomends I install some flavor of Linux on a box, and get used to configuring different kinds of servers, security, things like that, things I'd need to know if I ever have to work with UNIX/Linux systems somewhere along my career path. My request for advice is two-fold. I need:
1. Reccomendations on reading material. I want something that will give me the basics (this doesn't need to be too too simple, I grew up on dos so I am familiar with command line systems), and then once I've gotten the ropes, I need access to information on doing sysadmin-ish things I'd have to do. Ideally, I'd love one giant book that encompasses basic show you the ropes stuff, then the big important stuff, and throws in a distribution on CD/DVD to boot, but I wouldn't mind one good book on the basics, one good book on advanced stuff, and having to download a distribution myself, if that would be a better way to go.
2. Reccomendations on hardware. I want to build a low-end box to slap Linux on. I was thinking a single-core Athlon 64, 512mb ram, and get a motherboard that has lots of onboard things that popular distributions of Linux play nice with. Good idea? Bad idea?
Thank you in advance for your help.
I'm two semesters away from a college degree in Business Information Systems. BIS is a very catch-all major that imparts both business and non-programming computer-related knowledge on a student.
The problem is, my college sucks, and they teach you almost nothing that isn't very high-level theory-based, so almost nothing I have learned has any practical value in the real world. So while I finish up my degree, I need to start honing my skills to a fine point.
One of my good NJ friends works for a small company that involves currency trading, or something like that. He's essentially one of their sysadmins, so him and I have been doing a lot of talking about what his job entails, and what I should be learning before I go out looking for serious jobs.
Anyway, here's my point: He reccomends I install some flavor of Linux on a box, and get used to configuring different kinds of servers, security, things like that, things I'd need to know if I ever have to work with UNIX/Linux systems somewhere along my career path. My request for advice is two-fold. I need:
1. Reccomendations on reading material. I want something that will give me the basics (this doesn't need to be too too simple, I grew up on dos so I am familiar with command line systems), and then once I've gotten the ropes, I need access to information on doing sysadmin-ish things I'd have to do. Ideally, I'd love one giant book that encompasses basic show you the ropes stuff, then the big important stuff, and throws in a distribution on CD/DVD to boot, but I wouldn't mind one good book on the basics, one good book on advanced stuff, and having to download a distribution myself, if that would be a better way to go.
2. Reccomendations on hardware. I want to build a low-end box to slap Linux on. I was thinking a single-core Athlon 64, 512mb ram, and get a motherboard that has lots of onboard things that popular distributions of Linux play nice with. Good idea? Bad idea?
Thank you in advance for your help.
TxdoHawk on
0
Posts
That way you'll run up against problems that you'll have to fix, which will teach you more than just reading the manuals will.
It might be useful for you to look into VMware Server as well, since you'll probably be wanting to set up lots of machines. VMware will let you assemble them all on one box, and even run two concurrently in a virtual network. Plus, if you misconfigure something to the extent that a VM won't boot, It's easier to fix than if your physical computer is nerfed.