DNS has become relevant to many more users as they gain access to high-speed network connections via cable modems and DSL. If you're one of those users and you're thinking about building a home network or a small office LAN to take advantage of that fast network connection, then you've just become an "instant system administrator", and you'll need to work with DNS.

From a basic point of view, NFS and Samba are very similar. Both have a client and server application. Both allow a server to share files with clients. Both have clients and servers on almost every platform.

The configuration system that PHP uses for installation is one of those nice, simple things in life that makes it rosy. At first it might seem a little confusing, but it's really very easy.

A Linux-based network backup system for irreplaceable data files on many networked computers is inexpensive, reliable, easy to set up, trivial to expand and extremely practical. With just an hour of time you can potentially save your group or company many thousands of dollars in the case of a hard drive crash.

The functionality of routing has been added to both Windows NT and Linux. There are commercial offerings to perform this functionality, both in the form of internal hardware and software, but this article covers methods native to the operating systems.

One of the first skills a Linux administrator should develop is the ability to monitor user activity on a Linux system. This skill often provides a first line of defense in discovering unauthorized activity. This article discusses the monitoring tools that are available as part of the Linux operating system and demonstrates how to employ system accounting procedures to enhance system security.

The files and directories of the /proc/ filesystems are virtual because the data is not actually stored on any sort of permanent storage like a hard disk; instead, the directories, files, and data within them are created dynamically in memory from raw kernel data whenever you attempt to read from them. A variety of network information and data is available in the /proc/net/ directory.

This article walks you through the installation of PCMCIA cards and drivers on two laptops with two completely different cards, neither of which is officially supported by Linux.

Directives are commands which you can put in your Makefiles to provide some neat enhancements. A very useful directive, called the include directive, allows you to include the contents of other files in your makefile. This can be very handy for organizing a large makefile into several files, among other things.

IRM, Information Resource Manager, allows you to build a database of all the computers in your company or organization, organized in any way you see fit. This can include OS type, memory configuration, network card, IP addresses and more. There is also a separate list for network devices, hubs, cards and switches.