"The Book of Webmin" from by No Starch Press

For Immediate Release
May 8, 2003
To schedule an interview, or request a review copy or cover art, contact 
Janet del Mundo at janet@nostarch.com or 415.863.9900.

“THE BOOK OF WEBMIN:” CHANGING THE FACE OF UNIX SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
No Starch Press to publish new book on Open Source system administration suite

San Francisco, CA—No Starch Press continues its march into the realm of 
burgeoning Open Source markets with “The Book of Webmin” (by Joe Cooper, 
$34.95, ISBN 1886411921, June 2003). This book—the first dedicated to the 
web-based systems administration toolkit—is a thoroughly revised version of 
the Webmin online documentation, also written by Joe Cooper. Just as Webmin 
is used by novice and experienced UNIX administrators alike, “The Book of 
Webmin” is also a useful reference for a broad spectrum of UNIX and Linux 
administrators.

Cooper first wrote “The Book of Webmin” in response to the massive amount 
of questions being posted on the Webmin project mailing list. He learned 
very quickly that using Webmin was no substitute for knowledge of the 
underlying system. “I often tell people that Webmin doesn't make being a 
good system administrator easy; it just makes the problems more visible and 
the solutions more consistent,” he says. “’The Book of Webmin’ serves as 
both an introductory text to many complex topics and a reference guide for 
experienced system administrators." While experienced system administrators 
may prefer the flexibility that comes with using the command line for some 
tasks, “The Book of Webmin” affords them the luxury of not having to 
memorize every complex syntax in order to maintain their system.

"The Book of Webmin" shows readers a new way of accomplishing real-world 
system administration tasks. Readers learn how to:

* Install, configure, and customize Webmin to suit different environments, 
including those with many users and varying access levels
* Setup and maintain a virtual hosting webserver, with mail, name service, 
and FTP
* Get up and running with Apache, Sendmail, Postfix, BIND, Squid, and WU-FTPD
* Secure the machine from crackers using password policy, application level 
network access control, SSL, and firewalls

“The Book of Webmin” brings to fruition a collaboration between No Starch 
Press and the Webmin project leaders, which began when Webmin was still in 
beta. Because of its flexibility as an independent publisher, No Starch 
Press is able to engage in the free exchange of information that is the 
hallmark of the Open Source process. “The Book of Webmin,” for example, 
will be published under the GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL). Bill 
Pollock, President of No Starch Press explains: “We give authors the choice 
of what license to use for our books. Some prefer the traditional closed 
publishing agreement and some prefer publishing their work under a free 
license. From a sales standpoint, either way works. Publishing works under 
free licenses generates extra readership and publicity by virtue of being 
so accessible.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joe Cooper is co-founder and CEO of Swell Technology—developers of a 
successful line of web caching server appliances. He has contributed code 
to Webmin, written several Webmin modules, and has created a custom Webmin 
theme.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Table of contents: http://www.nostarch.com/frameset.php?startat=webmin_toc
Sample chapter: http://www.nostarch.com/webmin_ch11.pdf

THE BOOK OF WEBMIN
Joe Cooper
ISBN 1886411921
368 pp., $34.95, $49.95 (Cdn)
June 2003

To order from No Starch Press—email: orders@nostarch.com or call: 
800.420.7240 or + 1 415.863.9900

ABOUT NO STARCH PRESS
Since 1994, No Starch Press has published unique books on computing, with a 
focus on Open Source, security, hacking, web development, programming, 
gaming, and alternative operating systems. Our titles have personality, our 
authors are passionate, and our goal is to make computing accessible to 
everyone.


Contact: Janet del Mundo, janet@nostarch.com or +1 415.863.9900.
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