Book Review for "Learning OpenStack" by Packt Publishing

Book review for "Learning OpenStack" by Packt Publishing

I'm going to jump right to the conclusion for those in a hurry: If you are new to OpenStack and seek a book that lays out very clearly how to get up and running, this book is for you.  It's clear, concise and informative.  The components of OpenStack are briefly, but adequately described.  It's a good book.

If you haven't heard of OpenStack before:  OpenStack is an open-source software platform for cloud-computing, mostly deployed as an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS).  It's backed by many major industry players.  This book is aimed at the entry-level OpenStack user.

The contents, roughly:

Chapter 1 describes why an orchestrator is necessary in a good cloud environment.  It compares OpenStack services to AWS equivalents, lists dependencies between components, and outlines a 4 node sample.  It also lists the various components of OpenStack and lists what they do.  As you'll see, these components are then covered in detail in the chapters that immediately rollow.

Chapter 2 covers Keystone, the Authentication and Authorization component.

Chapter 3 - Data storage with Swift, Glance and Cinder

Chapter 4 - Nova cloud fabric controller

Chapter 5 - Networking with Neutron

Chapter 6 - The OpenShift Portal. 

Chapter 7 - Using Openstack.  This includes adding users, making a project, mapping users to roles, adding a network and adding vms.  It provides an outline of how everything works (which services are called, for which purpose) as OpenStack operates.

Chapter 8 - Building on the cloud with Heat and Ceilometer.  Heat is an orchestration engine, it can be scripted.  Ceilometer is a metering system that collects usage statistics, it can be used for billing.

Chapter 9 - Titled "Looking ahead", it compares OpenStack offerings from different vendors, lists pros and cons of each.

There is an appendix, it compares different release versions of OpenStack.  Installation and Configuration tips for different versions.

The book is adequately illustrated.  Diagrams are simple and convey good information about the major components of OpenStack.

The book provides very plain step-by-step instructions on how to install and configure OpenStack, without being too dry. 

All things considered, I'd call this book a very good resource for those learning to use OpenStack.

The book can be found here.

Happy Cloud computing!

Book Review for "Mastering Java Server Faces 2.2"

Book Review for "Mastering Java Server Faces 2.2"



Quick Version:  This book contains a lot of advice distilled from a wide range of JSF usages.  It's a big book and offers a lot of ideas that will be valuable to the JSF practitioner.  There is more intermediate-to-advanced material than there is low-level, so if you're just starting out this might not be the right book for you.  Experienced JSF users will find this a good resource.

This is a big book (nearly 550 pages) and it offers lots of good advice for JSF users.  The chapter titles are as follows:

1.  Dynamic Access to JSF Application Data through Expression Language (EL 3.0)
2.  Communication in JSF
3.  JSF Scopes – Lifespan and Use in Managed Beans Communication
4.  JSF Configurations Using XML Files and Annotations – Part 1
5.  JSF Configurations Using XML Files and Annotations – Part 2
6.  Working with Tabular Data
7.  JSF and AJAX
8.  JSF 2.2 – HTML5 and Upload
9.  JSF State Management
10. JSF Custom Components
11. JSF 2.2 Resource Library Contracts – Themes
12. Facelets Templating
Appendix - The JSF Life Cycle

The author makes occasional mention of different JSF implementations (PrimeFaces, MyFaces, Mojarra) which might be of value to users that are familiar to one implementation or the other.  There is some introductory material (the chapters on data access, configuration, the Life Cycle, etc.) but these are not presented in an order that provides a comprehensive overview at the start of the book.

Examples are well constructed and consistent in the way they are put together.  For any particular goal (i.e. making some tabular data, working with a template, using AJAX, etc.) the user will most likely find a clean set of code artifacts that illustrate things in a comprehensible way.  Wording that differently-- the examples are minimal and easy to understand.

The book has a fair number of illustrations, but these mostly reflect renderings of JSF pages.  Conceptual illustrations are provided, but not in great abundance.  I give the book fair marks for this, but not outstanding.  IMHO a few more high-level illustrations would have been beneficial.  (In the author's defense, it's possible some were left out to keep the book as lean as possible.  As it stands, it's already a big book.)

The author does a good job of explaining how to exploit features of JSF to accomplish tasks of interest for a JSF developer.  The author speaks in a clear and direct manner, lending confidence to the suggested remedies for various situations.  I believe this book will be a good reference for the JSF coder. 

Packt uses a visual icon (it looks like a pencil and a few sheets of paper) to indicate warnings or important notes.  These are generously provided throughout the book.  I found use of this highlighting aid to be judiciously used-- not too much, not too little.

All things considered I found this book to be a solid reference for JSF topics and informative in it's description of new JSF features.  For the intermediate-to-advanced JSF user it should prove to be a valuable resource.

The book can be found here.

Happy Reading and Rendering!

JBoss Performance Tuning Book is out!

The much-anticipated JBoss Tuning book is available now, and my copy is in the mail.

The book is authored by the same guy who brought us the JBoss 5 Development book, which I liked, so I look forward to reading this one.

Watch here for a review soon, else buy your copy today here.

Happy Reading!

New, less expensive Online Book Library available

Are you familiar with online library services like Safari or Books 24 x 7? These are places where you can access large libraries of technical books online on a subscription basis. Now there's a new entry in the workspace for you to consider.

The newcomer is Packt's online library, found here. I've signed up for the free trial and can offer the following assessment:

• I like the cost, compared to Safari or Books 24 x 7. Packt is a little less than $200 a year, where the others are right at $500.
• The catalog size is less than what the competitors offer. Both Safari and Books 24 x 7 host titles from a list of publishers, where Packt is offering books from their catalog only.
• With the trial account, you get access to 9 free titles. I don't have an interest in most, but there is a Plone development title there and one on Microsoft Live Small Office, though. I think those would be interesting.

Packt currently has over 400 titles available in the section you have to pay to see, and they do seem to include what I would consider the best books in Packt's arsenal. For those unfamiliar with Packt's publishing model, they are no longer focused entirely on up-to-the-minute open source topics. They've split their catalog into two sides, open source and 'Enterprise'. Enterprise includes things like Oracle's SOA suite, so you can see the distinction between the two.

I always think it's better for consumers to have more choices in almost any arena. Viva la competencia! (Long live the competition!)

'Till next time,

Happy Online Reading!