Comments about oreilly Building a Server with FreeBSD 7:

There are too many hiccups in this book. The biggest was after installing samba and issuing the
" /usr/local/etc/rc.d/samba onestart" script only to be met with the dreaded " %%RC_SUBR%%: No such file or directory" error message.

No provisions are made for what to do if you encounter errors.

Comments about oreilly Building a Server with FreeBSD 7:

This book is an excellent reference if you wish to get a FreeBSD server up and running quickly. I also share the same server requirements for the same reasons as well as career choice with the author. My only disappointment is the lack of support for the vastly growing Mac community. It's kind of odd if you think about a book based on a UNIX server implementation leaving out the UNIX based Macintosh. My wish list for the next version of this book would have to include configuration of the "Avahi" mDNS responder as well as "Netatalk" Apple Filing Protocol. Putting this disappointment aside I like the book quite a lot...

Comments about oreilly Building a Server with FreeBSD 7:

I knew very little about FreeBSD before selecting this text. Not being an OS novice, I keep to the mainstream flavors of Windows, Linux and Mac OS. Mr Hong's explanations accompanied by precise step-by-step instructions can make this topic easy for anyone.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is remotely interested in FreeBSD.

Comments about oreilly Building a Server with FreeBSD 7:

I had an old machine sitting around doing nothing and had considered putting some flavor of Linux on it I hadn't used before, just "because". However, I ran across this book and - having used FreeBSD 4.x six or seven years ago - curiosity about what has changed won out over installing Linux.

Being somewhat familiar with FreeBSD I didn't follow the setup instructions exactly as laid out in the book (for example, I chose the X-Developer install instead of the User install). However, the instructions are laid out in a nice step-by-step format that was easy to follow. After getting FreeBSD and the ports collection installed, I was pretty much back to up speed with version 7. I didn't go through all the server app installs presented in the book, but the couple I did go through were equally well documented as the OS install.

Things to be aware of - you need a high speed connection and/or patience. Pulling down the ISO for the install is 500+ Mb. Updating the ports collection can take a while - depends on how you do the update. There also are no instructions for getting a GUI up and running, so if you want a GUI, you're on your own (not that a server needs a GUI). :)