Time is a precious commodity, especially if you’re a system administrator. No other job pulls people in so many directions at once. Users interrupt you constantly with requests, preventing you from getting anything done. Your managers want you to get long-term projects done but flood you with requests for quick-fixes that prevent you from ever getting to those long-term projects. But the pressure is on you to produce and it only increases with time. What do you do?
The answer is time management. And not just any time management theory–you want Time Management for System Administrators, to be exact. With keen insights into the challenges you face as a sys admin, bestselling author Thomas Limoncelli has put together a collection of tips and techniques that will help you cultivate the time management skills you need to flourish as a system administrator.
Time Management for System Administrators understands that an Sys Admin often has competing goals: the concurrent responsibilities of working on large projects and taking care of a user’s needs. That’s why it focuses on strategies that help you work through daily tasks, yet still allow you to handle critical situations that inevitably arise.

Your first step into the world of computer networkingNo experience required
Includes clear and easily understood explanations
Makes learning easy
Your first step to computer networking begins here!

Learn basic networking terminology
Understand how information is routed from place to place
Explore Internet connectivity secrets
Protect your computer from intrusion
Build local-area networks (LANs)
Welcome to the world of networking!

Pulse-coupled neural networks represent a new and exciting advance in image processing research. When exposed to grey scale or colour images they produce a series of binary pulse images which allow the content of the image to be assessed much more accurately than from the original. In this volume Thomas Lindblad and Jason Kinser provide a much needed introduction to the topic of PCNNs. They review the theoretical foundations, and then look at a number of image processing applications including segmentation, edge extraction, texture extraction, object identification, object isolation, motion processing, foveation, noise suppression and image fusion. They also look at the PCNNs ability to process logical arguments and at how to implement it in specialised hardware. It will be of particular interest to researchers and practitioners working in image processing, especially those involved with medical, military or industrial applications. It will also be of interest to graduate-level students.

O’Reilly has answered the call for help with a practical introduction that shows how to install, configure, and manage SNMP. Written for network and system administrators, the book introduces the basics of SNMP and then offers a technical background on how to use it effectively. Essential SNMP explores both commercial and open source packages, and elements like OIDs, MIBs, community strings, and traps are covered in depth. The book contains five new chapters and various updates throughout. Other new topics include:

* Expanded coverage of SNMPv1, SNMPv2, and SNMPv3
* Expanded coverage of SNMPc
* The concepts behind network management and change management
* RRDTool and Cricket
* The use of scripts for a variety of tasks
* How Java can be used to create SNMP applications
* Net-SNMP’s Perl module

Novell has had a long history of providing corporate server/network/administration solutions. With Novell’s recent SUSE Linux acquisitions, Novell has turned over a new leaf—their best-selling server software has been reinvented in Linux! And the Novell Open Enterprise Server features the best of both worlds, including top features from NetWare Components, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 Components, and Novell Services.

Author Sander van Vugt provides comprehensively covers this new server product, and takes you through all of the necessary setup stages to get your server running. He then spends ample time discussing the core features like eDirectory, Novell Storage Services, iPrint, and iManager. van Vugt also examines vital administration topics like software management and security, and services like Virtual Directory, Clustering, and Apache Web Server. He even provides an overview of CLE certification, and strategies to prepare for it.

Almost every business now needs to evaluate the security of its network. Currently the majority of companies pay up to $50,000 for a consultant to review their security systems. There is a growing movement to bring assessment in-house. But, IT staff needs to know how to perform the assessments. Inside Network Security Assessment provides step-by-step training on assessing security from paperwork to penetration testing, to ethical hacking. The web site provides access to a variety of tools, checklists, and templates to make the job even easier.

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 Unleashed is your tool to unleash the power of Microsoft’s BizTalk Server 2004. Learn how to use the server as an enterprise application integration tool and how to exploit its key strengths to orchestrate e-commerce business processes in B2B and B2C environments. Providing complete coverage of system architecture, application integration, messaging and migration, Unleashed also illustrates practical application of the server through an entire section dedicated to real-world case studies of businesses using BizTalk Server 2004 on a daily basis. As seen in these examples, there can be obstacles along the way to success, but Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 Unleashed will help you overcome each one.

In SharePoint 2003 Advanced Concepts, two world-class SharePoint consultants show how to make SharePoint “jump through hoops” for you–and do exactly what you want.

Jason Nadrowski and Stacy Draper have built some of the most diverse SharePoint enterprise implementations. Now, drawing on their extraordinary “in the trenches” experience, they present solutions, techniques, and examples you simply won’t find anywhere else.

SharePoint 2003 Advanced Concepts addresses every facet of SharePoint customization, from site definitions and templates to document libraries and custom properties. The authors cover both Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and illuminate SharePoint’s interactions with other technologies–helping you troubleshoot problems far more effectively.

Next time you encounter a tough SharePoint development challenge, don’t waste time: get your proven solution right here, in SharePoint 2003 Advanced Concepts.

• Construct more powerful site and list templates

• Control how SharePoint uses ghosted and unghosted pages

• Use custom site definitions to gain finer control over your site

• Build list definitions with custom metadata, views, and forms

• Troubleshoot WEBTEMP, ONET.XML, SCHEMA.XML, SharePoint databases, and their interactions

• Create custom property types to extend SharePoint’s functionality

• Integrate with other systems and SharePoint sites so that you can use their information more effectively

• Customize themes and interactive Help, one step at a time

• Customize email alerts and system notifications

• Extend the capabilities of document libraries

• Control document display and behavior based on extensions

The Solaris 10 System Administrator Certification Exam Prep 2 is the ideal book for both new and seasoned system administrators. This book will give you the insight you need into the newest certification exams for system administrators, the 310-200 and the 310-202. It offers classroom-style training by one of the best and well-known authors in the Solaris world, Bill Calkins. It will equip you with vital knowledge for success on exam day plus it acts a reference guide that will come in handy after the test. The content addresses all the new exam objectives in detail and will show you how to apply this knowledge to real-world scenarios.

The included CD features ExamGear’s innovative test engine, which will be an effective tool for preparing for the Solaris 10 exam. It provides you with five different ways to test yourself, random questions and order of answers, detailed explanations of correct and incorrect answers, and it pays special attention to exam objectives. Also included on the CD is a PDF of the complete text of the book.

Just like the industrial society of the last century depended on natural resources, today’s society depends on information and its exchange. Staab and Stuckenschmidt structured the selected contributions into four parts: Part I, “Data Storage and Access”, prepares the semantic foundation, i.e. data modelling and querying in a flexible and yet scalable manner. These foundations allow for dealing with the organization of information at the individual peers. Part II, “Querying the Network”, considers the routing of queries, as well as continuous queries and personalized queries under the conditions of the permanently changing topological structure of a peer-to-peer network. Part III, “Semantic Integration”, deals with the mapping of heterogeneous data representations. Finally Part IV, “Methodology and Systems”, reports experiences from case studies and sample applications. The overall result is a state-of-the-art description of the potential of Semantic Web and peer-to-peer technologies for information sharing and knowledge management when applied jointly.