Softpanorama (slightly skeptical) Open Source Software Educational Society

May the source be with you, but remember the KISS principle ;-) Softpanorama Search

Special Edition Using Solaris 9 by NIIT

Special Edition Using Solaris 9  by NIIT

Looks like rewrite of SA-239 textbook; useful for SA14A and SA-15 exams, January 6, 2005
 

Table of Contents

Sample chapter: The Solaris Interactive Installation. Related chapters:

• Solaris 9 System Startup and Shutdown By Bill Calkins.
• Burn CDs with the Solaris 8 Operating Environment

This book looks like a diligent attempt to rewrite Sun's SA-239 course textbook as a university textbook for NIIT audience :-). Although far from being original, this is not a bad book in general if you are preparing to the certification exam SA14A, and, partially, SA15A. It can serve as a compliment to Darell Ambro book althouth Calkin's Inside Solaris is similar and cheaper (used).

This is not a good introductory book; as an introductory book Sobell's A Practical Guide to Solaris is a better (and cheaper) deal. This is mainly a certification preparation book. 

The general style is of a rather boring, faceless compilation written by several authors: lacking any real insights into enterprise Solaris environment. Still the contents of book covers most of SA14A certification exam and a llarge part of SA15A exam fairly well. Due to several authors involved and the level of approximation of SA-239 textbook contents is very uneven. There are some good chapters like Ch 8 "Understanding Solaris file system". There are several very bad chapters as Ch 14. Managing Printing (that demonstrates the author lack of understanding of this subsystem and its actual use in enterprise environment, this is just a poor digest of a corresponding SA-239 textbook chapter).

Most are in grey area. As I mentioned above from the text of most chapters (for example Ch. 11. "Managing Users and Groups") it is clear that this is a compilation and the author(s) never administered Solaris servers in a real enterprise environment, which is so typical for many university textbooks (again, the authors are from NIIT).