Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 20:27:41 -0600 (CST) From: Jay Nelson <noslenj@swbell.net> To: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> Cc: Dag-Erling Smorgrav <des@flood.ping.uio.no>, Joey Garcia <gummibear@nettaxi.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: More BSD books (was: What result would *you* like from the merger?) Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.05.10003201944500.1029-100000@acp.swbell.net> In-Reply-To: <20000319151722.F391@mojave.worldwide.lemis.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sun, 19 Mar 2000, Greg Lehey wrote: >On Wednesday, 15 March 2000 at 10:13:56 +0100, Dag-Erling Smorgrav wrote: >> Joey Garcia <gummibear@nettaxi.com> writes: >>> I would like more books on FreeBSD and BSD/OS. >> >> <jkh>So write one!</jkh> > >OK, OK already. I have a book in the works with the provisional title >"Advanced BSD System Administration". Note the exact wording of the >title; it predates the merger. > >Any input on what you'd loke to see in the book is welcome. Hmm... Perhaps a section on all the sysctl variables and when you would want to tune them. Perhaps a "Tunable Parameters" section. Under what conditions, for example, would you want to increase net.inet.tcp.recvspace? Also, maybe a section on kernel config parameters. For example, from 3.4-STABLE: # Options for the VM subsystem #options PQ_NOOPT # No coloring options PQ_LARGECACHE # color for 512k/16k cache #options PQ_HUGECACHE # color for 1024k/16k cache isn't exactly intuitive. Most admins make tuning changes under duress and either don't have the time or knowledge of C to prowl the sources. I would think that this kind of information would be beneficial and probably sell a number of books;) It would also have the side benefit of distinguishing FreeBSD from the other Open Source alternatives. (The AIX docs _still_ point admins back to the 4.4BSD SMM for file system details -- not Linux HowTos.) A discussion of kernel parameters that are beneficial in emulation would be helpful, but I think any specific detail would probably date the book. Maybe a SYSV vs BSD discussion, viz a viz IPC/shared memory, etc., would be helpful as well as living with FreeBSD in an IPX/token ring world (also dated) as such things still exist. Think in terms of the reasonably competent admin who is new to FreeBSD and isn't a kernel hacker or C wizard, and, probably, under the gun to solve a problem. Sorry, this is only a wish list of what I need now;) -- Jay To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.4.05.10003201944500.1029-100000>