Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The image on the cover of Linux Network Administrator's Guide, Third Edition, is adapted from a 19th-century engraving from Marvels of the New West: A Vivid Portrayal of the Stupendous Marvels in the Vast Wonderland West of the Missouri River, by William Thayer (The Henry Bill Publishing Co., Norwich, CT, 1888). The cowboy has long been an American symbol of strength and rugged individualism, but the first cowboys, known as vaqueros, were actually from Mexico. In the 1800s, vaqueros drove their cattle north into America to graze. This practice gave ranchers in Texas ideas of moving herds away from cold weather, toward water sources, and eventually north to railheads so that their cattle could be shipped to eastern markets.

Cattle trails started from the southernmost tip of Texas and extended through Colorado, Arkansas, and Wyoming. Cowboys were hired by ranchers to brand and drive the cattle through dangerous countryside and deliver them safely to railheads. Cattle were often scared by bad weather and started stampedes powerful enough to make the ground vibrate. It was the cowboys' responsibility to calm the herds and round up any cows and steers that had wandered off. One well-known technique for calming nervous cattle was singing to them.

American cowboys were a diverse crowd. African-Americans, Indians, Mexicans, and former Confederate cavalrymen were about as common as the Hollywood, John Wayne stereotype. Cowboys were usually medium-sized, wiry fellows, and on average about twenty-four years old. They owned their saddles, but not the horses they rode day and night. Cowboys were worked so hard and paid so little that most of them made only one trail drive before finding another occupation.

Although cowboys had a large impact on American culture, they were only an important part of the West for a short time. As more and more ranchers began using barbed wire to fence cattle for branding, fewer cowboys were needed. Before long, railroads covered the former Wild West, and cattle herding turned into an event seen primarily at the rodeo. Adam Witwer was the production editor and copyeditor for Linux Network Administrator's Guide, Third Edition. Ann Schirmer proofread the text. Matt Hutchinson and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Lucie Haskins wrote the index.

Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book. Emma Colby produced the layout with Adobe InDesign CS using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. The chapter opening images are from Marvels of the New West: A Vivid Portrayal of the Stupendous Marvels in the Vast Wonderland West of the Missouri River. This book was converted to FrameMaker 5.5.6 by Julie Hawks with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Lydia Onofrei.