* The indispensable troubleshooting resource for every Linux administrator, developer, support professional, and power user!

* Systematically resolve errors, crashes, hangs, performance slowdowns, unexpected behavior, and unexpected outputs

* Master essential Linux troubleshooting tools, including strace, gdb, kdb, SysRq, /proc, and more

The indispensable start-to-finish troubleshooting guide for every Linux professional

Now, there's a systematic, practical guide to Linux troubleshooting for every power user, administrator, and developer. In Self-Service Linux®, two of IBM's leading Linux experts introduce a four-step methodology for identifying and resolving every type of Linux-related system or application problem: errors, crashes, hangs, performance slowdowns, unexpected behavior, and unexpected outputs. You'll learn exactly how to use Linux's key troubleshooting tools to solve problems on your own—and how to make effective use of the Linux community's knowledge.

If you use Linux professionally, this book can dramatically increase your efficiency, productivity, and marketability. If you're involved with deploying or managing Linux in the enterprise, it can help you significantly reduce operation costs, enhance availability, and improve ROI.

* Discover proven best practices for diagnosing problems in Linux environments

* Leverage troubleshooting skills you've developed with other platforms

* Learn to identify problems with strace—the most frequently used Linux troubleshooting tool

* Use /proc to uncover crucial information about hardware, kernels, and processes

* Recompile open source applications with debug information

* Debug applications with gdb, including C++ and threaded applications

* Debug kernel crashes and hangs, one step at a time

* Understand the Executable and Linking Format (ELF), and use that knowledge for more effective debugging

* Includes a production-ready data collection script that can save you hours or days in debugging mission-critical Linux systems!

Mark Wilding is a senior developer at IBM who specializes in UNIX and Linux technologies. With over 15 years of experience writing software, Wilding has extensive expertise in operating systems, networks, C/C++ development, and computer hardware.

Dan Behman is a member of the DB2 UDB for Linux Platform Exploitation development team at the Toronto IBM Software Lab. He has over 10 years' experience with Linux, and has been involved in porting and enabling DB2 UDB on the latest architectures that Linux supports, including 64-bit x86 and zSeries platforms.