Noah Gift - Python for Unix and Linux System Administration

I dedicate this book to Dr. Joseph E. Bogen , my mom , and my wife, Leahthree people who have loved me and believed in me when it counted the most.

Noah

I dedicate this book to my wife, Debra, and my children, Zane and Justus. You encouraged me, bore with me with great patience, and gave me many smiles along the journey of writing this book. This book is as much yours as it is mine.

Jeremy

I was excited to preview this book on using Python for system administration. I remembered how I felt when I discovered Python after many years of programming in other languages: it was like a breath of spring air and the warmth of the sun after a long winter indoors. Code was suddenly easy and fun to write again, and I finished programs much more quickly than before.

As a system administrator, most of my own Python use is for system and network management tasks. I already knew how useful a good book focusing on system administration with Python would be. I am happy to say that this is that book. Overall, Noah and Jeremy have created an interesting, intelligent work on Python that is planted firmly in the system administration sphere. I found the book both very useful and enjoyable to read.

The two opening chapters are a great introduction to Python for system administrators (and others) who are new to Python. I consider myself an intermediate Python programmer, and I learned a lot from the book. I suspect even Python wizards will come across a few new tricks in here. I can especially recommend the chapters on networking and managing network services, SNMP, and management of heterogeneous systems as particularly useful and well focused on nontrivial, real-world tasks that system administrators face every day.