How This Book Helps You

This book teaches you how to administer the Solaris 10 operating system. It offers you a self-guided training course of all the areas covered on the certification exams by installing, configuring, and administering the Solaris 10 operating environment. You will learn all of the specific skills to administer a system and specifically to become a Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris 10.

Throughout the book, we provide helpful tips and real-world examples that we have encountered as system administrators. In addition, we provide useful, real-world exercises to help you practice the material you have learned. The setup of this book is discussed in the following sections.

• Organization This book is organized according to individual exam objectives. Every objective you need to know for installing, configuring, and administering a Solaris 10 system is in this book. We have attempted to present the objectives in an order that is as close as possible to that listed by Sun. However, we have not hesitated to reorganize them as needed to make the material as easy as possible for you to learn. We have also attempted to make the information accessible in the following ways:

  • This introduction includes the full list of exam topics and objectives.

  • Read the "Study and Exam Prep Tips" section early on to help you develop study strategies. This section provides you with valuable exam-day tips and information on exam/question formats such as adaptive tests and case studybased questions.

  • Each chapter begins with a list of the objectives to be covered, exactly as they are defined by Sun. Throughout each section, material that is directly related to the exam objectives is identified.

  • Each chapter also begins with an outline that provides you with an overview of the material and the page numbers where particular topics can be found.

• Instructional Features This book is designed to provide you with multiple ways to learn and reinforce the exam material. The following are some of the helpful methods:

  • Objective Explanations As mentioned previously, each chapter begins with a list of the objectives covered in the chapter. In addition, immediately following each objective is an explanation in a context that defines it more meaningfully.

  • Study Strategies The beginning of each chapter also includes strategies for studying and retaining the material in the chapter, particularly as it is addressed on the exam.

  • Exam Alerts Throughout each chapter you'll find exam tips that will help you prepare for exam day. These tips are written by those who have already taken the Solaris 10 certification exams.

  • Key Terms A list of key terms appears near the end of each chapter.

  • Notes These appear in the margin and contain various types of useful information such as tips on technology or administrative practices, historical background on terms and technologies, or side commentary on industry issues.

  • Cautions When using sophisticated information technology, mistakes or even catastrophes are always possible because of improper application of the technology. Warnings appear in the margins to alert you to such potential problems.

  • Step-by-Steps These are hands-on lab excercises that walk you through a particular task or function relevant to the exam objectives.

  • Exercises Found at the end of the chapters in the "Apply Your Knowledge" section, exercises are performance-based opportunities for you to learn and assess your knowledge.

  • Suggested Readings and Resources At the end of each chapter we've prepared a list of additional resources that you can use if you are interested in going beyond the objectives and learning more about topics that are presented in the chapter.

• Extensive Practice Test Options The book provides numerous opportunities for you to assess your knowledge and practice for the exam. The practice options include the following:

  • Exam Questions These questions appear in the "Apply Your Knowledge" section at the end of each chapter. They allow you to quickly assess your comprehension of what you just read in the chapter. Answers to the questions are provided later in a separate section titled "Answers to Exam Questions."

  • Practice Exam A practice exam is included in the "Final Review" section for each exam (as discussed later).

  • ExamGear The ExamGear software included on the CD-ROM provides further practice questions.

  Note

  ExamGear Software For a complete description of the ExamGear test engine, please see Appendix A, "What's on the CD-ROM."

  
  

• Final Review This part of the book provides you with three valuable tools for preparing for the exam, as follows:

  • Fast Facts This condensed version of the information contained in the book will prove extremely useful for last-minute review.

  • Practice Exam A full practice exam is included with questions written in styles similar to those used on the actual exam. Use the practice exam to assess your readiness for the real exam.

  • Appendixes The book contains valuable appendixes as well, including a glossary and a description of what is on the CD-ROM (Appendix A).

These and all the other book features mentioned previously will enable you to thoroughly prepare for the exam.