March 01, 2004 (Computerworld) -- From configuring and using Linux on mainframes to finding ways to use XML with older, critical business applications, the books reviewed below provide context, background and practical advice. If, like most IT managers, you're short on time and must be selective in your reading, we suggest that you take a look at these selections.
• Linux on the Mainframe, by John Eilert, Maria Eisenhaendler, Dorothea Matthaeus and Ingolf Salm, Prentice Hall, 2003, $49.99, 464 pages, softcover. Need a business argument for considering Linux on the mainframe inside your company? Then check out this book, which provides useful advice along with reasons to consider mixing Linux with IBM zSeries or S/390 mainframes. Written by four present or former IBM Lab employees, the book details benefits of running Linux on mainframes, including server virtualization, high reliability and excellent scalability. It also covers security, systems management, performance and capacity planning, and file-system selection. One of the best pieces of advice in this guidebook for both decision-makers and hands-on techies is to start with a small project to prove its ROI and then expand the deployment as needed.
• OOoSwitch: 501 Things You Wanted to Know About Switching to OpenOffice.org From Microsoft Office, by Tamar E. Granor, Hentzenwerke Publishing, 2003, $49.95, 311 pages, softcover. The free, open-source OpenOffice.org productivity application suite has been available for some time and continues to gain loyal users, but for many IT departments, it introduces more questions than answers. To make OpenOffice.org a more appealing option, Granor has written this detailed and helpful manual, which is filled with step-by-step instructions on how to replace costly Microsoft Office deployments with open-source applications while maintaining office productivity and adequate features. A well-written index and table of contents help readers find clear instructions on using OpenOffice.org. Granor is also honest about listing areas where the software still has to catch up to Microsoft's king-of-the-hill suite, such as in the translation of heavily formatted documents.
• Using XML With Legacy Business Applications, by Michael C. Rawlins, Addison-Wesley, 2003, $49.99, 624 pages, softcover. If your existing business applications are still useful but lack new features such as XML, don't chuck them and start over. Instead, follow this how-to guide for adding XML capabilities by using file conversions and other means. Rawlins provides many examples of ways to integrate XML and non-XML applications so they can communicate to complete needed tasks without having to replace applications. Don't mistake this for an XML tutorial, however. Rather, the book is aimed at Java and C++ developers who already have a deep working knowledge of XML.
• Managing Linux Systems With Webmin, by Jamie Cameron, Prentice Hall, 2003, $44.99, 816 pages, softcover. Here is a highly detailed technical guide to managing Linux systems with the browser-based Webmin program, a versatile application for running commands and editing configuration files. Cameron, who created Webmin in 1997, provides a full discussion of how to use more than 50 program modules, including configuring networks, firewalls, Domain Name System servers and Internet services. The guide is aimed at helping beginning to intermediate Linux systems administrators set up and maintain their networks.
• Linux and the Unix Philosophy, by Mike Gancarz, Digital Press, 2003, $34.99, 220 pages, softcover. This is a descriptive and enjoyable recounting of the history and roots of Linux and Unix, including their quirks, successes, failings and futures, written by the author of the 1995 companion book The Unix Philosophy. Gancarz traces the shared lineage between the two operating systems and describes the thinking of many of the programmers who helped to create Linux. The book also details features of Linux and maps out its future use on various hardware platforms. This very readable book also features a foreword by open-source luminary John "Maddog" Hall.
• Linux Transfer for Windows Network Administrators: A Roadmap for Building a Linux File and Print Server, by Michael Jang, Hentzenwerke Publishing, 2003, $49.95, 310 pages, softcover. Written for Windows systems administrators, this reference book aims to help IT staffers configure low-cost Red Hat Linux file servers that can communicate with both Linux and Microsoft Windows desktops PCs. Because of its Windows bent, the book makes it easy for Windows-centric IT workers to adjust to the differences in Linux by going through them step by step. Jang is both MSCE and RHCE certified and has put together a book that nimbly crosses the boundaries between the operating systems to clearly illuminate the steps needed to bring Linux into a corporate IT environment in a useful way.
• The Art of Unix Programming, by Eric S. Raymond, Addison-Wesley, 2003, $39.99, 560 pages, softcover. If Gancarz's volume is a Unix and Linux history book, Raymond's is a Unix encyclopedia. Raymond tells how developers have massaged Unix over the years to give it needed new capabilities, while continuously helping to make it more reliable and capable for business and scientific IT. Everything from Unix programming languages to development tools is broken down and explained, providing fascinating insights into the motivations and creative thinking that went into the ongoing development of Unix. This isn't a technical manual on Unix but rather a compelling guidebook on how Unix got to where it is today.
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