# FreeBSD Wannabe expert



## bamcis (Aug 2, 2009)

I would like to know FreeBSD inside and out. I would like to become a FreeBSD "expert". What are the best sources of information or reference material (other than the man pages)? Are there any particular books that are better than others?


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## epoxy (Aug 2, 2009)

"Absolute FreeBSD" is a good book to give you a good introduction to FreeBSD and some of the internals. FreeBSD Unleashed looks good.. I've only browsed through it.

Obviously, there is the FreeBSD handbook (http://freebsd.org/handbook) also.

You can read all you want, but until you set some servers up and break some stuff you'll never learn  

And I think 'expert status' comes with long time experience!


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## danger@ (Aug 2, 2009)

https://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=1566


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## little_princess (Aug 3, 2009)

*from wannabe to wannabe*

hello wannabee - I am a wannabee too!  therefore I can only tell you which book helped me most in the beginning.

If you are at the very beginning of getting comfortable with FreeBSD I recommend The Complete FreeBSD , which gives you informative BSD background knowledge.

Then, another book I am using is BSD UNIX Toolbox, which is some sort of a collection of useful commands for Free-Open-Net BSD.

One book I wanted to start reading, but didn't have the time yet is Mastering FreeBSD security. Since FreeBSD is known for its good security it may be worth a glance.

But to be honest: the freebsd documentation is quite neat and a REALLY, REALLY good ressource...

Tell me when you've become a guru :stud

-little_princess


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## SeanC (Aug 5, 2009)

danger@ said:
			
		

> https://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=1566



Why is this link using secure http?


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## danger@ (Aug 6, 2009)

because I happen to browse the forums using https and have copied it from the address bar of my browser.


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## Business_Woman (Aug 21, 2009)

aka porn mode


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## CodeBlock (Aug 22, 2009)

Business_Woman said:
			
		

> aka porn mode



That would be private browsing, not https://.....


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## sirinon (Aug 20, 2010)

"Absolute FreeBSD 2nd edition" is an awesome book , im in a similar situation to bamcis
Im about half way through , its good for a linux admin who wants to get started on bsd.


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## UNIXgod (Aug 20, 2010)

Read the handbook and learn how to build maintain and update your ports, kernel, and base system.

Read man pages hier() ports() and tuning()

for extra credit read these man pages: rc() rc.conf()

Further extra credit. Build various server types (http,mail,database,dns) inside jails.

For a book recommendation I can honestly say looking over my vast library( I collect tech books =) )

Kernighan's UNIX Programming Environment is probably one of the first books anyone should ever read. It's short and succinct and will gently take you from beginner to intermediate to advance. All in one book =) 

The book is pretty old at this point. It has a simple tutorial on ed() which you may find interesting but should consider a modern editor instead. vi isn't covered so you need to learn that elsewhere. You might get a chuckle when it let's you know that _ctrl-d_ will log you out but if you'd like you could simply hang up the phone. =)

Non the less it covers everything you need to know about the shell. From common commands (now posix) to pipes and redirection and here files. filters are covered with the usual suspects that came after ed - grep -> sed -> awk. very good info on bourne shell scripting. 

For more modern tutorial From Bash to Z Shell is nice as it shows more interactive stuff like shell history manipulation and zsh completions. But does not come close to Kernighan's book on basic usage of the system and tools.

I recomend both these books. But read the first one regardless.

~


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## tingo (Aug 20, 2010)

Good advice so far. Remember - don't just read about FreeBSD, play with it too! The more you use it, the quicker you will master it. Have Fun!


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## shitson (Aug 24, 2010)

The following image {not mine} is a good stack of what you could read when learning FreeBSD - Something i am soon to invest in.


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