Perl For System Administration

Some people plan to become administrators. The rest of us are thrust into it: we are webmasters, hobbyists, or just the default "technical people" on staff who are expected to keep things running. After some stumbling around repeating the same steps over and over again (and occasionally paying the price when we forget one), we realize that we must automate these tasks, or suffer endless frustration. Thus enters Perl.The Perl programming language is ideal for writing quick yet powerful scripts that automate many administrative tasks. It's modular, it's powerful, and it's perfect for managing systems and services on many platforms.Perl for System Administration is designed for all levels of administrators--from hobbyists to card-carrying SAGE members--sysadmins on multi-platform sites. Written for several different platforms (Unix, Windows NT, and Mac OS), it's a guide to the pockets of administration where Perl can be most useful for sites large and small, including: Filesystem management User administration with a dash of XML DNS and other network name services Database administration using DBI and ODBC Directory services and frameworks like LDAP and ADSI Using email for system administration Working with log files of all kinds Each chapter concentrates on a single administrative area, discusses the possible pitfalls, and then shows how Perl comes to the rescue. Along the way we encounter interesting Perl features and tricks, with many extended examples and complete programs. The scripts included in the book can simply be used as written or with minimal adaptation. But it's likely that readers will also get a taste of what Perl can do, and start extending those scripts for tasks that we haven't dreamed of.Perl for System Adminstration doesn't attempt to teach the Perl language, but it is an excellent introduction to the power and flexibility of Perl, and it whets the appetite to learn more. It's for anyone who needs to use Perl for system administration and needs to hit the ground running.

If you do systems administration work of any kind, you have to deal with the growing complexity of your environment and increasing demands on your time. Automating System Administration with Perl, Second Edition, not only offers you the right tools for your job, but also suggests the best way to approach specific problems and to securely automate recurring tasks. Updated and expanded to cover the latest operating systems, technologies, and Perl modules, this edition of the "Otter Book" will help you: Manage user accounts Monitor filesystems and processes Work with configuration files in important formats such as XML and YAML Administer databases, including MySQL, MS-SQL, and Oracle with DBI Work with directory services like LDAP and Active Directory Script email protocols and spam control Effectively create, handle, and analyze log files Administer network name and configuration services, including NIS, DNS and DHCP Maintain, monitor, and map network services, using technologies and tools such as SNMP, nmap, libpcap, GraphViz and RRDtool Improve filesystem, process, and network security This edition includes additional appendixes to get you up to speed on technologies such as XML/XPath, LDAP, SNMP, and SQL. With this book in hand and Perl in your toolbox, you can do more with less -- fewer resources, less effort, and far less hassle.

Within the pages of Practical Ruby for System Administration, you'll learn the Ruby way to construct files, tap into clouds of data, build domain-specific languages, perform network traffic analysis, and more. Coverage places equal emphasis on fundamental Ruby concepts as well as practical how-tos. Based on author André Ben Hamou's own experiences working as a system administrator, this book will help you pick up practical tips on Ruby coding style, learn how to analyze and improve script performance, and make use of no-nonsense advice on scripting workflow, including testing, documentation, and version control.

"SQL Server Administration with Perl" consists of a series of scenarios covering a wide range of SQL Server administrative topics. These are real-world scenarios that you hear DBAs discussing on the SQL Server forums and newsgroups-scenarios that DBAs run into in their day-to-day development or production environments. Readers will walk away from this book with two things: a DBA toolkit with well over 150 Perl scripts and problem-solving techniques they can apply to create even more tools for attacking other SQL Server administrative problems.

Python is an ideal language for solving problems, especially in Linux and Unix networks. With this pragmatic book, administrators can review various tasks that often occur in the management of these systems, and learn how Python can provide a more efficient and less painful way to handle them. Each chapter in Python for Unix and Linux System Administration presents a particular administrative issue, such as concurrency or data backup, and presents Python solutions through hands-on examples. Once you finish this book, you'll be able to develop your own set of command-line utilities with Python to tackle a wide range of problems. Discover how this language can help you: Read text files and extract information Run tasks concurrently using the threading and forking options Get information from one process to another using network facilities Create clickable GUIs to handle large and complex utilities Monitor large clusters of machines by interacting with SNMP programmatically Master the IPython Interactive Python shell to replace or augment Bash, Korn, or Z-Shell Integrate Cloud Computing into your infrastructure, and learn to write a Google App Engine Application Solve unique data backup challenges with customized scripts Interact with MySQL, SQLite, Oracle, Postgres, Django ORM, and SQLAlchemy With this book, you'll learn how to package and deploy your Python applications and libraries, and write code that runs equally well on multiple Unix platforms. You'll also learn about several Python-related technologies that will make your life much easier.

The job of Linux systems administrator is interrupt-driven and requires constant learning in byte-wise chunks. This book gives solutions to modern problems—even some you might not have heard of—such as scripting LDAP, making Mac clients play nice with Linux servers, and backup, security, and recovery scripts. Author Juliet Kemp takes a broad approach to scripting using Perl and bash, and all scripts work on Debian or Red Hat lineage distributions. Plus, she dispenses wisdom about time management, dealing with desperate colleagues, and how to avoid reinventing the wheel! Learn how to love LDAP scripting and NFS tuning Make Perl serve you: don't be enslaved by Perl Learn to change, craft, and feel empowered by recipes that change your life

Scripting has become an enormously popular method of managing and maintaining Windows NT and 2000 networks--as evidenced by the success of Windows NT Shell Scripting, which has sold over 30,000 copies in 2 years. Simpler than programming, yet allowing greater complexity and utility than packaged network management tools, scripting is now the tool of choice by many of you network administrators. Perl is yet another powerful element of the scripting arsenal, yet since it has been ported to the Windows environment, very little information has been published on how to employ this extremely effective tool. Win32 Perl is so powerful that it can accomplish virtually any task that you may want to perform. Dave Roth, prolific creator of Win32 extensions, is prepared to share his unique insight into how these tasks can be accomplished and provide scripts that can be immediately employed. This book illustrates how Perl can automate many current mundane administrative tasks.

Perl is a very powerful tool for Oracle database administrators, but too few DBAs realize how helpful Perl can be in managing, monitoring, and tuning Oracle databases. Whether you're responsible for Oracle9i, Oracle8i, or earlier databases, you'll find Perl an invaluable addition to your database administration arsenal.You don't need to be a Perl expert to use the excellent applications and scripts described in Perl for Oracle DBAs. The book explains what you need to know about Perl, provides a wealth of ready-to-use scripts developed especially for Oracle DBAs, and suggests many resources for further exploration. The book covers: The Perl language -- an introduction to Perl, its rich history and culture, and its extensive text processing and data transformation capabilities. The Perl/Oracle architecture -- Detailed information about Perl DBI, DBD::Oracle, the Oracle Call Interface (OCI), Oracle::OCI, extproc_perl, and mod_perl, the modules that allow Perl programs to communicate with Oracle databases. Perl applications for Oracle DBAs -- Profiles of the best Perl open source applications available for use and customization by Oracle DBAs: Perl/Tk, OraExplain, StatsView, Orac, DDL::Oracle, SchemaDiff, Senora, DBD::Chart, SchemaView-Plus, Oracletool, Karma, Embperl, and Mason. The Perl Database Administration (PDBA) Toolkit -- a comprehensive suite of specialized, ready-to-use scripts designed to help Oracle DBAs perform both routine and special-purpose administrative tasks: monitoring the Oracle alert log and databases, creating and managing Oracle user accounts, maintaining indexes and extents, extracting DDL and data, troubleshooting and tuning database problems, and much more. The book also explains how Oracle DBAs and developers can extend the toolkit and solve their own database administration problems using Perl.