Writing a book

I'm currently in the process of writing a book aimed at the RHCT/RHCE and the topics required to pass the exams. I know that the current favorite out there is Michael Jang and recently Asghar Ghori. I was wondering if anyone that has read their books would provide feedback on what they would like to see in a book (maybe what they did/didn't like about the current rhct/rhce books).

If you haven't read either of their books and want to provide feedback that's cool too.

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darkerosxx

Make a lab training book is my recommendation. Don't include mundane details, just make a big lab training book and write scripts to include on a website that will ruin their OS, then they have to fix it right along with the training book.

anobomski

i would be interested in the book for the RHCT. do you know how the new exam is going to differ from the current version?

NightShade03

There are a few minor changes like ext4 being the new default filesystem. KVM virtualization is the biggest change coming.

Bl8ckr0uter

Can you say if the book has a lab manual or not?

NightShade03

knwminus wrote: »

Can you say if the book has a lab manual or not?

Not sure what you mean by lab manual, but I can give details sure. Each chapter covers the material you need for the exam (obviously), and then at the end of each chapter there is a lab. I tried to make the labs as long as possible so that you get the most examples, questions, tasks. Each lab will give you a set of tasks that you will need to do, usually pertaining to the section that you just covered. This simulates what the real exam is like because they will ask you to do the same type of tasks. At the end of the book there are two full exams, which cover all topics in the book, again simulating what you'd expect to see on the exam. To compensate for the troubleshooting section, I'm working on a set of scripts you'll be able to download with the book that will essentially "break" your system and some of the tasks will require you to figure out what is wrong.

The chapters are short, I'm trying to give the reader more hands-on exercises and things to configure or troubleshoot as that's what the real exam is like. As a side note the first chapter details the lab I use and how you can setup an exact replica of it to work with the labs/tasks in the book.

Does that answer your question?

Bl8ckr0uter

Yes. This sounds like this book is going to be epic. What I meant by a lab manual was quite literally a book of labs like the CCNAs books.

varelg

More of the question-answer format, less of the "Linux is an OS and Red Hat started when..." fluff, underline those points that you think matter at exam time within the q&a format, less references to outside sources and more within-the-book explanations, tough end-of-chapter questions (but with the answers provided at the back) and even tougher end-of-book exam (infact SEVERAL such exams, if possible). Roll out scenarios, what-would-you-do and why-do-you-want-that format of explanations would definitely help your book to become bestseller.
Chapters of your future book should explain concepts rather than start from minute details, you could safely skip the "as root type this" line at every third paragraph that some other linux books have plenty of and rather say "if you need to see that, you need to issue commands for this, this and this". While explaining what commands do, provide also explanations on most common options and if possible reinforce that via an example. The thing that I like the most about my favourite Linux book, Mark Sobell's "Practical guide to Linux Shell Scripting" is the shell commands appendix where a solid number of commands are explained through examples along with their most common options. Most of those commands are also used throughout the book as well.
Language of the book should be just a notch down from terseness of man pages, take a look at Sobell's linux books, I think he had done just that. Please spare us as much as possible from:
-references to man pages
-references to open source projects websites for more information. We all know how informative they are.
-references to mailing lists and outdated and noob's FAQs
-compilation of freely available material on the web.
Sorry if I got carried away, I just imagined what kind of book would prepare me for an exam...

NightShade03

The feedback is always appreciated large or small. I def hear what you are saying about leaving out this like "run this as root". I hate when people waste time with fluff and history lessons...if I wanted to know what year Redhat made this OS I'd Google it.

All the commands I use in the book are covered with and explanation, a listing and explanation of their most common options, and then an example of how to use them

I will say however that at the end of the chapters there is an "Additional Resources" section, which lists other sites/guides/articles that I think would be relevant for a **deeper understanding** of the topics already covered in the chapter. I don't expect people to buy a book and then start a research project of hunting down articles and such...that would be pointless. I do think it's important however for people to know where to look for additional information as sometimes they need a better understand how extra details to implement a particular technology. An example of this is Squid. I have all the details about installation, configuration, troubleshooting, etc....but outside the exam in the real world the Squid config file is 4000+ lines which would be impossible to cover, so I listed some additional places you could find information...outside of what the exams expect you to know.

Bl8ckr0uter

You know what else I thought about? Maybe if you do a value added product later on, you could do CBT style videos. I also think it would be cool if you clearly marked the different RHCT and RHCE objectives while in the chapter.

NightShade03

knwminus wrote: »

You know what else I thought about? Maybe if you do a value added product later on, you could do CBT style videos.

Not a bad idea...although I have included some *extra* stuff in the book, but can't say what.

knwminus wrote: »

I also think it would be cool if you clearly marked the different RHCT and RHCE objectives while in the chapter.

Already done

Bl8ckr0uter

Awesome.

Can I ask you a question? I noticed you are a *nix admin without any *nix certs. Was it simply experience/knowledge > certs that got you in? Was there any stipulations (get RHCE within X days) or did you just show them how awesome you are and they just rolled with it?

NightShade03

knwminus wrote: »

Can I ask you a question? I noticed you are a *nix admin without any *nix certs. Was it simply experience/knowledge > certs that got you in? Was there any stipulations (get RHCE within X days) or did you just show them how awesome you are and they just rolled with it?

Purely experience/knowledge. I had a *nix background prior to working here, although I mostly dealt with M$ servers so I got an M$ title

. Between my prior experience and running a *nix lab at home, which they loved they hired me.

No stipulation for the RHCE although they liked that I was willing to go after certs to better myself as no one here has any. They even paid for an RHCE class, which was nice.

Bl8ckr0uter

NightShade03 wrote: »

Purely experience/knowledge. I had a *nix background prior to working here, although I mostly dealt with M$ servers so I got an M$ title . Between my prior experience and running a *nix lab at home, which they loved they hired me.

No stipulation for the RHCE although they liked that I was willing to go after certs to better myself as no one here has any. They even paid for an RHCE class, which was nice.

I see. Awesome. One more question, how long did it take you to get to "admin" level with *nix?

NightShade03

Hmm it really depends. I really had been doing admin style work for the last two years...however only when I came to this recent job do I actually *feel* like an admin. Before this it was always implementing things when I had time or to better my environment. Now I'm working day-in and day-out with *nix so it's a lot more hardcore.

Bl8ckr0uter

NightShade03 wrote: »

Hmm it really depends. I really had been doing admin style work for the last two years...however only when I came to this recent job do I actually *feel* like an admin. Before this it was always implementing things when I had time or to better my environment. Now I'm working day-in and day-out with *nix so it's a lot more hardcore.

I understand entirely. I am just wondering if my goal to get to "LPIC-2" knowledge on Nix within a year is feasible.

NightShade03

Anythings possible when you put your mind to it my friend

Bl8ckr0uter

NightShade03 wrote: »

Anythings possible when you put your mind to it my friend

plausible and possible are two different things lol. We will see I guess...

sambuca69

Roughly speaking, when do you expect this will be published?

NightShade03

Hoping for sometime between Dec 2010 - Feb 2011.

zobo88

I suggest that you write a book covering the new LPIC -2 /3
there is no book available in market for that exam