What great system administrator magazines are out there?
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In August 2007, SysAdmin magazine ceased publication after 15 years. Since then, what resources (preferably magazines) have system administrators turned to to stay on top of their game?
One the Windows side, I like TechNet magazine which has a print version, but is also available free online here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/default.aspx and Windows IT Pro which has their current articles online for free, but requires a subscription to read back articles (especially when I need a given answer from an old article ;)
I try to visit Hacker News daily (http://news.ycombinator.com/). Its a news aggregation website showing voted tech news by its registered members, somewhat a la serverfault.
I also have a bunch of technology video/audio podcasts that I download to my iPhone daily.
I do once in a while run through Linux Magazine or Linuz Journal to see if there's something interesting, if there is, then I take note and browse online to be able to do full queries on it, from different sources (and most likely find more updated and detailed information). I do the same thing on magazines land on my desk, but look pretty good such as Network World, Computer World, and eWeek.
I keep an eye on "Windows Vista" magazine. Not for its SysAdmin policies, but because it encourages power users. Fine if you're at home, but they often advertise hundreds of useless junkware apps. Gives me an oppertunity to be proactive about the things that users are going to try to get up to every time someone brings one into work!
The magazines I find the most useful for keeping generally up-to-date with technology are IEEE Spectrum and Computer, plus EDN (electronic design) and EE Times. None of these are specifically SysAdmin-related, but Spectrum and Computer have some articles of interest to Admins.
I really, really, really, really, miss SunExpert magazine. That was easily the best, even when it added a bit of Windows content and became Server/Workstation expert.
I get a few of the standard freebies (Baseline, CIO Insight, eWeek) but I let most of them lapse because they just weren't that useful.
For Windows, Windows IT Pro is pretty much required reading, but it's never seemed that good to me. I read it every month, and file away interesting articles, but I wouldn't really miss it if it stopped publishing.
So, my answer is that I don't know of any great magazines that are strictly SysAdmin-related.
If you are a Windows administrator, I would recommend checking out the podcast RunAs Radio put on by Richard Campbell and Greg Hughes. There are especially a few good episodes on performance monitoring, security/compliance, SQL, and exchange server.
Linux Journal has a reasonable amount of sysadmin-oriented coverage, though not as much as they used to. And occasionally they do a sysadmin feature issue.
I usually subscribe to the security focus mailing lists and those corresponding to the os i use.
Every morning a quick go to freshnews.org after checking my mails give me an overview of what's going on.
One the Windows side, I like TechNet magazine which has a print version, but is also available free online here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/default.aspx and Windows IT Pro which has their current articles online for free, but requires a subscription to read back articles (especially when I need a given answer from an old article ;)
I try to visit Hacker News daily (http://news.ycombinator.com/). Its a news aggregation website showing voted tech news by its registered members, somewhat a la serverfault.
I also have a bunch of technology video/audio podcasts that I download to my iPhone daily.
I do once in a while run through Linux Magazine or Linuz Journal to see if there's something interesting, if there is, then I take note and browse online to be able to do full queries on it, from different sources (and most likely find more updated and detailed information). I do the same thing on magazines land on my desk, but look pretty good such as Network World, Computer World, and eWeek.
I keep an eye on "Windows Vista" magazine. Not for its SysAdmin policies, but because it encourages power users. Fine if you're at home, but they often advertise hundreds of useless junkware apps. Gives me an oppertunity to be proactive about the things that users are going to try to get up to every time someone brings one into work!
The magazines I find the most useful for keeping generally up-to-date with technology are IEEE Spectrum and Computer, plus EDN (electronic design) and EE Times. None of these are specifically SysAdmin-related, but Spectrum and Computer have some articles of interest to Admins.
I really, really, really, really, miss SunExpert magazine. That was easily the best, even when it added a bit of Windows content and became Server/Workstation expert.
I get a few of the standard freebies (Baseline, CIO Insight, eWeek) but I let most of them lapse because they just weren't that useful.
For Windows, Windows IT Pro is pretty much required reading, but it's never seemed that good to me. I read it every month, and file away interesting articles, but I wouldn't really miss it if it stopped publishing.
So, my answer is that I don't know of any great magazines that are strictly SysAdmin-related.
If you are a Windows administrator, I would recommend checking out the podcast RunAs Radio put on by Richard Campbell and Greg Hughes. There are especially a few good episodes on performance monitoring, security/compliance, SQL, and exchange server.
Linux Journal has a reasonable amount of sysadmin-oriented coverage, though not as much as they used to. And occasionally they do a sysadmin feature issue.
Linux Magazine had more, but they're now web-only.
I usually subscribe to the security focus mailing lists and those corresponding to the os i use. Every morning a quick go to freshnews.org after checking my mails give me an overview of what's going on.
I was able to get my company to pony up for a Virus Bulletin subscription for a while. It's not cheap, but is a good read.