This is a good read. I found the depth of
the database chapters especially interesting.
It's a big book, but covers the territory very
well.

It's about the same size as
"Essential System Administration" and truly
belongs on any book shelf that already has
a copy of that book. This book 'earns' its
blue cover.

He covers the five most popular OS'es including
Linux! And he covers bare-metal recovery.. how
many times have you wondered what to do with those
backup tapes after a crash?

I especially enjoyed the "how we got here"
mini-history lessons about the tools and why
there is so much duplication.

I'm extermely glad this book came out when it
did, it steered me clear of several bad choices
based on marketing material and a lack of
concrete information from vendors.