1 comments about Apache, MySQL, and PHP Web Development All-in-One Desk Reference for.

1. I consider myself as pretty much a patient problem solver when I actually encounter problems. But as I begin to use this book as a reference book to build my first website based on MySQL, PHP, and many other languages, I found myself getting seriously annoyed at the fact that this book offered me.
   
   That is not meant to say this book is a horrible book. First of all, as this book is published as "For Dummies series", the author "is obliged" to write as you do not much about anything, though the author himself most likely did not incline toward the obligation. And, as it is written on book covers, this book truly covers the seven topics in one, and each of the topics is explained in detail and in plain language to make you easy to understand.
   
   But despite of these positive sides, it is unfortunate that this book seriously needs revision. To remind you, this book is a book targetting toward beginners. At the same time, however, this book is also a book targetting toward those who are actually intending to use PHP and other applications mentioned here to build a website. But before I mention what are the problems with the book, I want to let you know something about PHP. Those who already know or do not bother to know about it, just skip over to 2nd paragraph following this.
   
   For those who do not know, PHP is a language that can easily frustrate you if you make a single, minimal mistake such as: replacing a single quote as a double quote, absence/addition of a a blank line or a space, etc. To make things worse, when you run the PHP page with errors in web, it will give you errors that is not only unpleasant but almost entirely useless. I first used Notepad to write/edit the scripts, but lated I had to rely on Dreamweaver to make edits less frustrating -- but with no significant improvement. And for those who do not have these expensive IDE softwares, you will probably spend hours to see what have done wrong in your script.
   
   Now, continuing with the problem with the book... The author makes a serious mistake by leaving incorrectly written scripts on several portions of his book. For example, these is this PHP script written on Chapter VI, Chapter 7, "Creating a Username System for Your Website", that shows you entire scripts for useraccess.php file. The file itself is about 151 lines wrong(I say "about" because the script itself really depends on how you design the script), and there are 7 other files, either html or php, that works in conjunction with this file. By running the script, I got an error message that is basically useless. I ran the program in numbers of times more again, and I later found that the problem was actually in the book: there were 19 "{" sign but only 18 "}" sign in the script! I still ran in a couple more problems again after fixing the mistake. In any case, the book makes several mistakes that can guarantee you to get frustrated unless you are already a programming gru.
   
   In addition, while the author goes each portion pretty extensively, he somehow seems to assume that you read about previous parts of Books before you goes to next Book. What I mean by that is, for example, when he mentions about objects in PHP, he actually wants you to go back and read the parts in Perl to make you understand it. I do not think that is not really a good approach for beginners who will read this book because some users simply do not want to spend extra time to read over another books mentioning about Perl or Apache when they just wants to learn PHP. And often, I strongly felt that there needs to be more explanations regarding each issue, and I visited his website to see whether there is maybe a forum or a tutorial set up regarding the book. What I only found from his websites is articles regarding another computer language C, download search that is basically useless for me, and, oh, some Google and other affiliate ads to make himself some money. Nice...
   
   So, to conclude, I cannot really say that this book is a great book for beginners. Maybe, you will find that this book is not even an okay book, or maybe you will. However, what I suggest to you is that, if you buy this book from a bookstore, be sure to have a mind to learn through trials-and-errors with frustration rather than just using scripts written from the book.

5 comments about Managing and Using MySQL (2nd Edition).

1. this is a typical book comes out of George Reese:

   1. poorly written
   2. shamelessly copy and paste existing materials from reference manual
   3. full of error

   the author is only trying to get a quick buck or two.avoid it at all cost.




2. This book is clearly and succinctly written, and provides an excellent introduction to MySQL. It starts with a few pages on the history and philosophy behind MySQL, which is useful if you want to understand the advantages and disadvantages of MySQL relative to other options such as PostgreSQL or Oracle. It then follows with chapters on installation, with specific instructions for Solaris, Linux, and Windows; on MySQL's dialect of SQL (Structured Query Language); and on basic administration tasks such as configuration, startup and shutdown, logging, backup, and recovery. That's really all you need to get a basic database up and running, and it's all in the first 80 pages of the book.

   Part II of the book covers more advanced administrative tasks, with chapters on performance tuning, security, and database design. This section of the book is weaker than the first section; while there's some useful introductory material on each of these topics, depth is lacking. For example, the discussion of putting a database into second normal form is misleading because it uses a table with only one field as the unique identifier, making it impossible to clearly illustrate the removal to a smaller table of fields that are dependent on only part of a (typically multifield) unique identifier. Also, some of the more advanced MySQL features which might be appropriate for this section are omitted.

   Part III of the book, entitled "MySQL Programming", has sections accessing MySQL from Perl, Python, PHP, C, Java. These sections are mostly limited to information specific to MySQL that might not be found in general purpose documentation of these languages. For example, the PHP section documents the relevant function calls, since PHP uses different functions to access MySQL than it does to access, say, ODBC databases, while the Java section focuses on JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) driver configuration since the JDBC API is database independent.

   Finally, there is a reference section and a good, complete index.

   If what you want to do is get a small database up and running in a minimum of time with a minimum of hassle, this is the book for you. If you want more than an introductory level of detail and depth, though, you might look at other books; Leon Atkinson's "Core MySQL", for example, has more complete coverage, though the writing style is not as clear and direct.




3. I generally love the O'Reilly books because they tend to be very thorough and have lots of practical code examples, but this book was a big disappointment to me. I was easily frustrated by this book. As a beginner to MySQL and database programming, I was completely lost whenever I tried to apply something to my own projects. The explanations given here are very brief and the authors often send you elsewhere for more in-depth discussion. I wound up doing most of my research online and just using the SQL reference chapter to look-up query syntax. I give it two stars because it did help me get started, but I'd say this is a poor reference for anyone looking for in-depth coverage.



4. This book covers MySQL at a good level of both depth and breadth. It weaves in a great combination of the history and philosophy behind design choices the MySQL development community made, and provides many examples of how to use MySQL in different languages.



5. This book was excellent for my need: I had used SQL before but didn't know much of anything about relational databases let alone MySQL. I am in the process of building a web application that reports survey data. It will tell you everything you need to know to get started with a small to mid-size database.
   
   Best of all, this book is well written, clear, the examples are GREAT and if you cut out the portions that are not relevant to you (for me this was security and the sections on PHP and Perl to name a few) you can literally learn all you need to know to get started in less than two weeks of studying for a few hours per day. Amazing value.
   
   The portions of the book on MySQL itself are not obviously dated, but the Python DB API interface has changed (to version 2.0) since this book was written.

5 comments about Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL E-Commerce: From Novice to Professional.

1. I dont usually spend time writting this stuff, and when i did it, it was not for good reasons. But this time, i'm really really really happy about the material in the book, it not only teaches you about the code, it get depth really depth in how you must implement, think, best practices, and a lot of things that even if you are an experienced programer havent thought about.
   If i could give the book 10 stars, i would.



2. I have purchased a multitude of books from Amazon over the years. However, I have never written a book review, no matter how bad the book turned out to be. But, there is always a first time. This is one of the worst - if not the worst - tech books I have ever read, and with over 25 years of Engineering and Software development experience I have read a lot of books.
   
   Now I know why Apress doesn't let you look inside their books on the Amazon website before you purchase. If they did there might not be an Apress at all. First, there is nothing "novice" about this book. Second, you had better know how to use Smarty, and I mean use it well. Don't rely on the Smarty website documentation to help and there are not many definitive books on the subject either. I only found one title devoted to Smarty on Amazon and that would cost another 39.99.
   
   I typically like to review books in the local bookstore and take a gander at Amazon "reviews" before purchase. However, I couldn't find the book locally (which should have told me something) and I failed to pay proper attention to the reviews, i.e., take a look at Michael Brand's review. The editorial book review doesn't even mention Smarty which is a major part of this book.
   
   This book reviews at 4.5 stars. From this, I can only assume the large majority of those reviewing the book work at Apress or are kin to the authors. After the first three chapters I was seeing stars. Don't be suckered in to buying this book unless you are thoroughly familiar with Smarty.
   
   So, if your an experienced -not novice- php/mysql programmer and Smarty wizard, and love to read(and debug) code with little useful explanatory info, then by all means buy this book. Oh, did I mention it makes a great coaster for coffee?
   
   JC.



3. I've read, and enjoyed, other books by Cristian Darie. This book is no different. This book shows how to use PHP 5 and the Smarty framework to produce an E-Commerce site. The Smarty framework is a good choice for PHP developers seeking to implement a good template. This book fills a gap by being a good introduction to this framework as well.
   
   If you are not familiar with Smarty, the following description is from their web site:
   
   Smarty is a template engine for PHP. More specifically, it facilitates a manageable way to separate application logic and content from its presentation. This is best described in a situation where the application programmer and the template designer play different roles, or in most cases are not the same person.
   
   This book guides you as the author develops an advanced E-Commerce system. Think of something such as Amazon, complete with product reviews, customer and catalog management. Once the user is finished reading the book they are left with working catalog order system that they can modify to suit their needs. Or completely create their own similar system.
   
   The table of contents for the book follows:
   
   Chapter 1: Starting an E-Commerce Site
   Chapter 2: Laying Out the Foundations
   Chapter 3: Creating the Product Catalog: Part I
   Chapter 4: Creating the Product Catalog: Part II
   Chapter 5: Searching the Catalog
   Chapter 6: Receiving Payments using PayPal
   Chapter 7: Catalog Administration
   Chapter 8: The Shopping Basket
   Chapter 9: Dealing with Customer Orders
   Chapter 10: Product Recommendations
   Chapter 11: Customer Details
   Chapter 12: Implementing the Order Pipline: Part I
   Chapter 13: Implementing the Order Pipeline: Part II
   Chapter 14: Credit Card Transactions
   Chapter 15: Product Reviews
   Chapter 16: Connecting to Web Services



4. Although I am having A LOT of trouble implementing all the code, this is the only book I have seen that will actually walk you through all the steps. And the author actually does reply to his emails. I would definitely recomend his second edition of this book.



5. I've been using this book for the past few business weeks. Yes, weeks.
   
   First and foremost, this book is extremely well written, well cited, and clear. Examples are concise, and it rarely leaves you floundering to understand a topic. The ideas are presented in a logical order, proceed clearly, and generally, consist of helpful hints and instructions.
   
   UNFORTUNATELY, all of the code in this book is pretty much worthless. Every bit of it is outdated, and in the 134 pages of the book that I have suffered through, I have had major problems at every step. From having major issues with integrating PEAR (installation has completely changed since the writing of this book, and the major database functions it uses have changed, and the documentation in the book and on the PEAR website are not clear on this), to having to track down irregular and outdated code, not a single feature has been implemented easily or correctly on the first attempt (even ignoring any errors that I made myself due to my inexperience).
   
   I have wasted hours on this book, thinking that it will eventually get to the point where I'm not running into compatibility issues. This may end up being the case, but taking several business days (2.5 weeks invested in just this book) worth of my time to get through 134 pages (mainly spent debugging and perusing forums to find solutions) is just not worth it.
   
   I will be buying the second edition, and I hope that it fixes these issues.
   
   It's really a shame, because the theory in this book is truly awesome. Implementing it, however, is a nightmare, especially for a beginner.

3 comments about Expert MySQL (Expert).

1. This is an advanced book.
   You can use it to learn the internals of MySQL as well as the internals of a Database Management System (DBMS).
   It will teach you how to make changes to the MySQL source code.
   An alternative name for the book could have been "MySQL internals".
   I really like it and I find it very useful.
   
   PS. It contains C++ code.



2. This book lives up to its title by offering expert advice on how to use MySQL to its fullest. Expert MySQL goes deeper than just syntax and samples, offering useful information on the internals of MySQL. Even though there are a lot of titles on MySQL, this book would make a worthy addition to the library of any MySQL developer or DBA.



3. Expert MySQL starts with a section on the anatomy of a database system including the common types of systems. This is often missing in database books and a very important part to understand if you going to use one to its fullest potential. Other sections include one on the source code and one on extending and debugging MySQL. The author devotes a chapter to embedded MySQL including building embedded MySQL applications as well as one on adding functions and commands. The third and final part of the book covers advanced database internals and includes a good section on query optimization.
   
   Throughout Expert MySQL the author has included notes embedded with the text, sidebars offset by a different shading, and other notes, diagrams, and illustrations as appropriate to help the reader understand the text. There are also plenty of coding examples. My book had some printing problems towards the back with pages that had a vertical black line running down the center of the page. This sort of problem is highly unusual with Apress but occurred in my copy nonetheless. Chapters 10, 11 and 12 have exercises at the end to help ensure that you understand the concepts. The answers to the questions are included in the appendix.
   
   This is not really the best book for the person new to MySQL but is more appropriate to the person who understands MySQL and wants to extend its functionality into new areas. Expert MySQL is recommended to those people who want to learn how to modify and extend MySQL.

5 comments about MySQL and Java Developer's Guide.

1. I have bought this book because I had expected to find there some more advanced hints and tricks, especially about performance tuning and bottlenecks of Java and MySQL applications. Unfortunatelly, this book only covers the very basic problematics. It is a good kickstart for beginners, but only for them. Experienced developers should pick a general J2EE book instead.



2. I have not come across the errors in this book that some other reviewers have talked about and the code I wrote using info from this book works. My only bad words about this book are that the sections were not really ordered in with any logic, and were not very long. This was Ok though because they give enough information and coresponding well explained code examples to get the job done. I thought I was in trouble because the first half of the book didnt talk about using java and mysql on a web page but half way through they talked about servlets. With this book you can code a three tier web application that runs a store driven from your mySQL DB or you can write stand alone apps with mySQL functionality. In short this book is effective where it counts.



3. This book is fantastic, it teach step by step.
   I hope you can buy this book if you are a beginner in MySQL but if you have some level in java languaje.
   -------------------------------------------------------------
   THIS ARE THE CHAPTER
   
   1. AN OVERVIEW OF MYSQL
   2. JDBC AND CONNECTOR/J
   3. WORKING WITH MYSQL SQL
   4. INSTALLING MYSQL, JAVA, AND CONNECTOR/J
   5. USING JDBC WITH JAVA APPLICATIONS AND APPLETS
   6. ACHIEVING ADVANCED CONNECTOR/J FUNCTIONALITY WITH SERVLETS
   7. MYSQL TYPE MAPPING
   8. TRANSACTIONS AND TABLE LOCKING WITH CONNECTOR/J
   9. USING METADATA
   10.CONNECTION POOLING WITH CONNECTOR/J
   11.EJBS WITH MYSQL
   12.BUILDING A GENERAL INTERFACE FOR MYSQL
   13.DATABASE ADMINISTRATION
   14.PERFORMANCE AND TUNING
   
   APENDIX A -> MYSQL DEVELOPMENT AND TESTE ENVIRONMENTS
   APENDIX B -> DATABASES AND TABLES
   APENDIX C -> THE JDBC API AND CONNECTOR/J
   APENDIX D -> MYSQL FUNCTIONS AND OPERATORS
   APENDIX E -> CONNECTOR/J LATE-BREAKING ADDITIONS
   
   ------------------------------------------------------
   
   EXCELLENT BOOK.
   THANK YOU MARK MATTHEWS
   JIM COLE
   JOSEPH D. GRADECKI



4. I'd never done anything with databases, and SQL was an almost total mystery. So when I decided it was time to "modernize" a tracking tool I'd developed for my team using Perl and a simple flat file "database", I knew it was the opportunity I'd been waiting for to learn something useful and new: database programming. And while there are a lot of ways to develop a database application, I've always kinda wanted to learn Java.
   
   A search for references on databases and Java didn't turn up a lot of hits that looked useful, and this book was about the only serious or substantial work focusing on my need. I bought it with some trepidation; but found it straightforward, approachable, and reasonably comprehensive. Armed with this book plus the MySQL PDF manual and Sun's online Java reference for additional details, I forged ahead and in a couple of weeks of "spare time" programming, I've designed a reasonable and usable database schema, implemented it, and populated my database with data recovered from various project archives. My tool's "not all there" yet, but I expect this book will remain relevant as I expand my humble command line tool into a servlet and GUI... it has good simple examples of all that, too.
   
   I wouldn't lay claims to being an expert database or Java programmer, but it's pretty cool to be able to say this book helped me become competent in just a few weeks of part-time development.



5. I'm currently enrolled in an Undergraduate Course in Relational Database Systems. I was getting tired of reading incomplete tutorials around the internet on how to use JDBC and MySQL effectively so I bought this book bought last week on Amazon Marketplace. It was ridiculously cheap (About $3), but after seeing how useful it is, I definitely would've paid the regular price. One of the authors, Mark Matthews, actually wrote the Connector/J driver for MySql!
   
   -This book is a tutorial, NOT a reference.
   -All of the code and examples used in the book are available online so you don't need to waste hours retyping code to get the feel of it.
   -The book assumes you are somewhat competent in Java and goes into applets, beans, and EJBs, but I think someone who knows C++ and really understands OOP will be able to manage alright.
   
   Good luck!

2 comments about Beginning MySQL (Programmer to Programmer).

1. MYSQL is an open-source standard DBMS now and is a great way (free) to get yourself started in learning about web design and how to create databases. This is a great book to use a starter guide to learning MYSQL or for people who have learned some MYSQL on their own and want a guide and/or resource for learning more intermediate topics.
   
   The first thing the author goes into how to get/install/configure MYSQL whether it be on a Windows or UNIX environment. There are some differences between the two setups on the different OS so it's an important first chapter. The next chapter covers how to create a relational database while explaining good design with normalization, relationships (one to many, many to many, etc), understanding what a data model is, and showing some good database examples. Jumping into creating your tables before you understand design theory can be disastrous down the road when you realize you need to re-design your tables which can lead to hours of extra work.
   
   Then of the meat of the book (Chapters 5 - 10) goes into explaining the SQL (Structured Query Language) in how to create a table, retrieve data, update, append and delete data. The author spends a good amount of time on the basics of SQL and shows some good examples. After the basics it shoes the MYSQL specific syntax more complex queries and uses working examples for each of them. The author does a great job of going through the syntax first then shows some examples and then goes through using the new syntax in a database project as well.
   
   The rest of the book (Chapter 11 - 16) goes into administration tasks such as exporting and copying databases, managing transactions, setting up security and optimizing and performance issues. The final 3 chapters goes into using different web technologies (PHP, ASP.NET and Java) to interact with MYSQL databases and show data on a web page. A very nice change of pace that can prove helpful if you want to get into web development as well.
   
   Overall this a great book on MYSQL that really explains the important topics with some great examples.



2. I advise every person who want to learn MYSQL to Buy this book , it's learn you the following :
   an introduction to database systems .
   an introduction to strucure query language (SQL).
   simple way to learn the mysql .

5 comments about Beginning MySQL Database Design and Optimization: From Novice to Professional.

1. I was hoping that there would be more about designing databases. Though I was pleasantly surprised at the solid introduction to MySQL that the book gives. In fact it spends the first two thirds of the book on the basics, before getting into optimization and finally programming.
   
   The design aspect of the book is in the third chapter, which is one of the books best. There is some good high level material on the fundamentals of schema design, and then material on relation mapping, and then into it's implementation in MySQL.
   
   There is a lot to like in this book. And I like the fact that someone is finally giving some attention to MySQL, which, if it's not the most advanced database in the world, is probably the most ubiquitous. This is a fine book for anyone who works with MySQL.



2. If you already know the basics of MySQL, then this book can be a nifty boost to your productivity. The authors plow straight into giving good tips for better table design. For example, the first chapter covers MySQL basics. But it furnishes very understandable advice. Like never using spaces in identifier names. While MySQL permits this, it greatly increases chances of logic errors.
   
   Later in the book are far more complicated tips. Crucially, on how to optimise complex queries. While SQL notation is standard across vendors, each database has different ways to best phrase queries. So since you have committed to using MySQL, it helps to know what are best here.
   
   The authors also instruct in how to hook up to external languages like PHP, Perl and Python. (What is it about all these languages that start with P?) Each has its adherents and is quite popular. So they try to give coverage of the combinations with MySQL.



3. The first three chapters of this book deal with the basics of MySQL including basic concepts, column and table types, keys, indexes, and normalization. The authors have written an excellent introduction to MySQL that provides all the core information you need to start using it right away. The chapter on finding the bottlenecks is one of the best sections in the book and details some of the finer points to be considered when creating your database. On the other hand, the part on optimizing queries is excellent for the beginning MySQL student (which is the target audience for this book) but not as good as it could be for the more experienced MySQL user. Perhaps I am just more sensitive to this area because of all the badly done queries I have had to deal with before. A good understanding of just this part can make a tremendous difference in optimization. If you are new to SQL queries the authors have done a great job of explaining why this is important and how to understand it when a query takes under a minute to run and then after a small change takes twenty. The last section covers accessing the MySQL database via other programming languages such as PHP. Beginning MySQL Database Design and Optimization is a recommended read for its target audience - the beginning MySQL programmer.



4. As a beginner to MySQL I bought this book to gain an insight into the how's and why's of using MySQL. Overall having read the book from cover to cover ( a first for me as far as computer books go ) I can thoroughly recommend this book to anyone new to using MySQL. The layout is clear, the text easily readable, not too techie at first but still a great deal of examples for you to get up and running.
   The writing style is easy going but not preaching and all topics are treated in an easy to grasp manner.
   The only down side is that it doesn't cover programming MySQL using Visual Basic although several other languages are covered well.
   Overall a great book for the newbie and intermediate user.



5. As a working professional database developer/DBA, I should have noticed that every other review about this book is at least three years old, most almost four. This book was written to be used with MySQL V4.0, with look-aheads to 4.1 and 5.0. Version 5.0 has been released for almost two years now, and V6 is on the near horizon. A lot has changed in terms of optimization and feature sets. I sincerely hope that the authors will consider updating this work so that it is more current in terms of tuning and features. If you are new to MySQL, use the book as a basis for solid SQL and design principles; if you are more experienced, perhaps just reading and studying the 5.1 and 6.0 docs from MySQL AB would serve you better.
   
   Lee Parmenter, CMA

1 comments about A Guide to MySQL.

1. This is a great reference book. I have used this book in college frequently and am still using it in the work place. Easy to follow, organized very well, great examples. If you need a reference book this would be a good choice.

5 comments about Postfix: The Definitive Guide.

1. If you're looking for a comprehensive guide on setting up a Postfix mail server, then this isn't the book for you. For those that are already familiar with setting up MTAs, the information provided in "The Definitive Guide" is probably enough, but this book only covers a subset of the Postfix configuration parameters and does not provide the step-by-step instructions that many people may be expecting.



2. PostFix is a replacement mail server, MTA, for Unix based systems that
   formerly used Sendmail or other variants. PostFix was written to be a
   drop in replacement for Sendmail but with it's own variations on control
   files.
   
   This book outlines most of the common issues in dealing with setting up
   PostFix. The author takes the reader through the design concerns outlined
   by the author of the program, Wietse Venema, who wrote the forward of the
   book.
   
   Sendmail has been a staple of the mail delivery world but it has a well
   deserved reputation for being hard to setup, administer and understand.
   The O'Reilly book on Sendmail is at least 3 times as large as this book.
   There is alot to learn about its' macro language and using M4 to build
   control files. Sendmail is a very hard program for a beginner to
   understand and configure properly.
   
   The author spends the first few chapters discussing how a mail server is
   supposed to work; how the DNS system interacts with the mail system. There
   are well laid out block diagrams to show the flow of email through a
   system. Any SysAdmin who has spent time administering a mail system can
   probably skip the first few chapters. Those who are new to running a mail
   server should find the begining chapters enlightening.
   
   PostFix mostly uses easy to read control files that don't require processing.
   The program can be set up to use the Unix standard mbox delivery format or
   the newer maildir format. The book explains the pros and cons of the 2
   storage formats both from the MTA perspective and the pop or imap
   interface.
   
   Most of the more common configuration tweaks used in securing a Sendmail
   system also apply to a PostFix installation. They are just easier to set
   up in PostFix with the examples provided.
   
   The book has a section devoted to setting up secure mail relay using the
   Cyrus SASL libraries. It details setting up the password database via the
   Unix standard or shadow format, SASL, LDAP PAM or MYSQL formats. The
   author discusses ways to further secure the connection by using TLS
   connections to ensure passwords are not compromised.
   
   PostFix has some built in anti-spam tools. The book has a chapter devoted
   to to pros and cons of the various approaches. Examples of "reasonable"
   and "paranoid" approaches for setting up PostFix are provided. A simpler
   apporoach than jumping directly into Spam Assassin or other
   spam pre-processors
   
   Mailing lists are another feature that PostFix can manage. The book has
   examples of various simple ways of setting up mailing lists short of
   installing a separate program like MajorDomo. This is a handy feature.
   
   There are Appendixes intended to walk a user through the compiling process
   which will help users not familiar with using Make. There is a listing of
   the PostFix parameter commands and what they all mean.
   
   PostFix the Definitive Guide is a well written, easy to read step by step
   instruction book for using the PostFix mail server. Using this book as a
   reference, an experienced SysAdmin should make the transition from
   Sendmail to PostFix without much trouble. For someone new to the world of
   MTA's, the book should answer most of the questions associated with
   getting a PostFix mail server up and running.
   
   This is another O'Reilly book that should be on a SysAdmin's bookshelf.



3. I wasn't looking for esoteric information on how to administer Sendmail. I was looking for a book on Postfix and that's what the author provided. I got the book based a lot on the quality of O'Reilly books and the editor's reputation. Andy Oram is a top notch editor. I recommend this book to any Linux or UNIX person wanting to substitute Postfix for sendmail. Postfix is a drop in replacement for systems configured for sendmail but Postfix is not a monlithic program with lots of vulnerabilities. The author expalins that perfectly.



4. I've got all three books in the field, and this is a good book. Unfortunately, although Kyle's book was co-written by the author of the software, I believe that "The Book of Postfix: State-of-the-Art Message Transport" by Ralf Hildebrandt is a better choice.



5. I bought this book as soon as it came out, and I was reading the docs online more than the book.
   
   What I was really hoping for from the book was how to setup some of the more complex postfix installations, at the time anyway, that the book was supposed to cover. It turned out the book did a poor job explaining what I was trying to do, and I was back to reading forums to get my answers.
   
   The online docs are a much better source of information then the book.

2 comments about MySQL Database Design and Tuning (Developer's Library).

1. Many of you might be tempted to go with the free MySQL, instead of possibly paying big bucks to Oracle or IBM for their databases. But what may have been holding you back could be a worry that when you go with MySQL, you are on your own. Unless you are already well versed with it, are there pitfalls in the implementation of table design or tuning that render the choice of MySQL a false economy?
   
   It's a reasonable worry. Schneider does well here to disabuse you of that notion. He addresses both issues.
   
   On the subject of table design, the advice is clear. Actually, it seems that the discussion is broadly applicable to any SQL/relational implementation. If you already know some SQL, you won't feel that MySQL is some weird variant. Which speaks well of its designers.
   
   Most of the book, however, deals with tuning aspects. Now here, you'll probably have to learn new things. Each SQL implementation seems to have specific tuning characteristics. There is little standardisation here across implementations. As what I hope is a reasonable guess, check out the sections on improving the efficiency of searches (ie. queries). This may be the most important thing to optimise in many applications.
   
   In passing, let me make one remark about MySQL's InnoDB data storage engine. It can hold a table space of as much as 64 Terabytes! For the vast majority of you, this should be adequate addressing. And it's a rejoinder to competitors who say MySQL is limited.



2. I'm a DBA for a mid-sized manufacturing company. We were about to upgrade our SQL Server to Oracle 10g, which was going to set ups back a lot of money. I had been experimenting with MySQL and bought this helpful book to give me a better understanding of how to make it run fast. I really liked the case studies, because they cover a lot of different senarios. To make long story short, I was able to convert the SQL Server database to MySQL, and things have been going great.