The organization of this book into several topics that comprise a certain area of system administration like e.g. "Networking" help, if you want to gain a good overview of the commands, configuration files and specialties (e.g. device files) for this area.

A booklet of this size can of course not replace all the books and UNIX man pages that dig very deeply into each of the subjects mentioned in this book. As an overview book this was not the intention of the author anyway. This is meant as an overview book only that mentions the important details. You will not find many examples in this book (if any). This book is not meant for beginners or for learning the subject of UNIX system administration. If you want to learn this I recommend the big edition of this book as a good starting point.

I especially liked the following about this book:
- The different options for the UNIX derivates (Red Had Linux 8.0, Suse 8.1, Solaris 8 and 9, Free BSD 4.7, AIX 5 and HP-UX 11) can be found next to each other, this is really helpful if you work with more than one version of UNIX at a time
- Not only the commands the but configuration files and the device files on the platforms are covered
- The coverage of commands is surprisingly big (e.g. I did not expect DHCP configuration instructions in the book)

"Essential system admin pocket reference" covers some of the GNU commands. Unfortunately I am missing coverage for the following commands that are very helpful in problem analysis:
- lsof (list open files)
- truss / strace / trace (trace system calls)
- top (CPU and System Monitor)

This book has the perfect size for a reference book to carry around.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:

Complete for the reluctant or casual sys adminMay 03, 2005
By Paul "Pauli"
I'm a programmer and support analyst, but I work for a company with servers all over the world and no "in-house" sys admin at my location. So from time to time I get called upon to set things up, troubleshoot operating system problems, etc. This book always seems to have the answer. If you get this book along with another pocket book called "UNIX Shell Commands: Quick Reference" by QUE then you'll be pretty well set without lugging anything big around.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:

This book ROCKS!Apr 21, 2004
By James K. Hoffman "Book Addict"
Ahem. I know this is only the "pocket" version of this book, but Essential System Administration Pocket Reference is the best system admin book I've seen in a long time. Now, I'm relatively new to Unix system admin, but I've knocked around the industry for over ten years now, so I know a thing or two about sysadmin work. Usually, what I look for in a reference guide is either something quick and simple or with miles and miles of depth. If I'm new to a system, or I only administer it as a backup or "once in a blue moon", the quick guides suit me well. In this case, that was precisely what I was looking for in a Unix system administration guide. Essential System Administration Pocket Reference provides this to a "T".
Without getting bogged down in lengthy descriptions or philosphical discussions of which tool to use when, this pocket reference lists the basic administration commands, beyond GREP (though it lists that, too!), with a short description of what it does. It's easier to read than the MAN file, usually gives me few examples, and I don't have to open a second terminal window to use it! Seriously, I really reccomend this guide to anyone new to Unix, including Linux, system administration. Or, like me, is getting back into it for the first time since, well, since the Dark Ages. It's a great guide or refresher and it literally does fit in your pocket!

Great referenceApr 23, 2010
By Opera fan
This is a very good quick reference for daily work. I liked that it takes the basic flavors, once you understand how is organized is very helpful. Quality of material and covers is excellent as well as the size.

This is really a must-have book!Mar 22, 2010
By Daniel Snapp
I know the phrase "must-have" gets thrown around a lot, but in terms of System Administration reference: this book *really* is "must-have".

If you are a professional System Administrator (as I am), you will often find yourself using this book in your day-to-day activities. It can almost always impart quick knowledge in disaster situations where time is a factor (especially when working on Solaris machines; I can't stress Solaris enough!).

Look at the price. It's (...). That's like nothing (even to the poor, underpaid, and underappreciated Sysadmin like you and me). As long as you keep this book handy and not buried under some crap on a shelf somewhere, you will see that it will pay for itself in man-hours and sanity probably the first time you use it. It has all the rarely-used commands and stuff that you will most certainly need in your typical "oh crap" scenario (for *several* different Unix-like operating systems).

I should also mention that this book is available as an iPhone/iPod Touch app for much an even cheaper (something like (...) price. That said, there really is something to be said for the old-fasioned version. Personall, I bought both (obviously I didn't get the iPhone app from Amazon). I keep the book on my desk at work nd I have the quick-loading but less navigable iPhone version one on my person at all times. In a pinch, or at a remote location, the iPhone version can be immensely useful. For day-to-day (at work-type) issues, the book simply can't be beat.

Bottom line: If you're a Sysadmin who deals at all with Unix like operating systems, you'd be a fool not to buy this book. If you're one of those *and* an iPhone owner (I know, Sysadmins are "supposed to prefer Android phones), you should probably get the app too. You never know when you'll find yourself staring at the business end of a Sparc qmail server that stopped working and you don't have your book at the ready.

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