Managing Usenet

I have never actually met Henry Spencer, despite having spent years at a Taddle Creek lab probably a stone's throw from the University of Toronto zoology department; I don't even really know what he did in Zoology, but I do know that right from the very beginning of my life online, Henry Spencer was there like a kindly grandfather, always patient, always helpful and always knowledgeable beyond our wildest imaginations. When google was collecting up parts to assemble their groups.google.com, it was Henry who provided many of the earliest archives dating back to the late 1980's (and preserving forever some of my more embarrasing novice posts ;) -- that name on the cover is more than a good sign, it's a veritable holographic guarantee of authenticity.

I needed to set up a news server for my company. Since I already had a Linux box that was not doing much of anything, I loaded INN (since it comes nicely packaged with Red Hat- although you need to install the security patch as well). I then needed a quick understanding of how Usenet/INN worked and did not have a lot of time to spend on it. This book gave me everything I need, I did not have to go anywhere else for information.

This book was a life-saver when I suddenly acquired news-admin responsibilities for a very large system. It is comprehensive, well-written, and not tied to any flavor of UNIX. On beyond the excellent technical discussions of nntp, C news, and INN, its guide to dealing with the Usenet community is very helpful. A fine addition to the tradition of helpful books from O'Reilly.

I've read some of them, wrote my own on it and saw Newsadmins trying to install Servers with them - I liked none of them. What tale and Henry did for Usenet and any beginning Newsmaster around by writing this book is great. From the history of usenet over compiling and installing CNews and INN - everything is there. Clear words, understandeable explanations and last, but not least, a very indeep look on Usenet and the law make this book a beginning Newsadmins be st companion. I wish I'd had it when I started :)