Coming to my senses, though, I realize that even if the budget were not an issue, the need to have a room of any size at all for this purpose seems ludicrous. Is it really necessary to continue to shelf books on Linux prior to version 1.0? For that matter, having a library containing books on any operating system beneath the ones currently deployed seems pretty senseless.

Facing that reality, a few years back I came up with a concept that appealed to me. Each year, I pick about 10 or so new books from all those that are published and add them to the bookshelf. I then pull out those that are no longer useful and dispose of them along with the others I purchased this year that don't have that 'must-add-to-the-library' staying power.

Below is the list of the ones that struck me within this past year as being ones that needed to go in my library. Many of them have a security slant, telegraphing my bias in that area, but all of these are worth looking at carefully. If you have a limited budget and/or shelf space, I would highly recommend you give these some consideration.

Linux Server Hacks, Volume Two
Bill von Hagen and Brian K. Jones
A follow-up to the first Linux Server Hacks (written by Rob Flickenger), this volumes adds another 100 “industrial strength” tips and code samples that are more complex than in the first. The tips are well written, often witty, and targeted at efficiently solving specific issues with the Linux operating system. If there is any extra room on the bookshelf and you like this style of writing, I'd also recommend Linux Desktop Hacks as a companion.

The Official Ubuntu Book
Benjamin Mako Hill, Jono Bacon, Corey Burger, Jonathan Jesse and Ivan Krstic
I am convinced that Ubuntu has a chance of becoming a dominant Linux distribution and this book adds an air of legitimacy to that possibility. The authors are well-known among the community (ranging from the a member of the Ubuntu Community Council to one of the server team administrators) and they've created a book that you can pass to your uncle and have him get up and running without needing to call you once. The DVD accompanying the book includes the operating system and makes this more of an all-in-one kit than just a book.

Advanced Host Intrusion Prevention with CSA
Chad Sullivan, Jeff Asher, and Paul Mauvais
At less than 300 pages, this book picks up where an earlier entry (Cisco Security Agent by the same author) left off. CSA is supported on the Microsoft, Solaris and Red Hat platforms and offers “endpoint protection” IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) – something that more and more administrators are having to wrestle with daily. If you work with CSA, you'll want to add this to your library along with the earlier title.

Comparing, Designing, and Deploying VPNs
Mark Lewis
At well over 1,000 pages, this tome his a “practical guide” for comparing such things as IPsec, MPLS Layer 3, L2TP (versions 2 and 3), AtoM, and SSL virtual private networks. The book features a "Benefits and Drawbacks" section at the beginning of each chapter for the technology being discussed. The author also wrote Troubleshooting Virtual Private Networks a few years back, and I highly recommend you purchase it as well for the two of them together cover all aspects of VPN administration.

Red Hat Fedora 5 Unleashed
Paul Hudson and Andrew Hudson
There are 39 chapters (divided into six parts) in this 1000+ page book. It makes for an excellent introduction for anyone interested in working with Fedora (the free, open-community, version of Red Hat) The coverage between desktop and server is well balanced and the DVD that has the full distribution on it as well as OpenOffice.org and some other common Linux programs.

Intrusion Prevention Fundamentals
Earl Carter and Jonathan Hogue
A great overview on how Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) technologies can be used to manage the network by monitoring network activity and forwarding approved traffic (dropping unapproved traffic or forwarding it elsewhere for further/separate action). There are eleven chapters (divided into four parts) and the writing style and audience level is perfect.

Penetration Testing and Network Defense
Andrew Whitaker and Daniel Newman
In order to be able to attack your own network and find the weaknesses in it before someone else does, you need to understand what needs to be tried. You must go to great lengths to make certain that you've tried what others will and are confident that they cannot get in. This book walks you through attacks in a step-by-step manner and is very readable for a security books.

SELinux by Example
Frank Mayer, Karl Macmillan and David Caplan
Despite a lot of talk about SELinux (Security Enhanced Linux), there isn't as much documentation (and particularly books) on the topic as you would expect. This is surprising since SELinux is now integrated with the 2.6 kernel and comes with a number of distributions. This book offers a complete overview of the technology, starting with architecture and moving from there. The three authors who wrote it know their material well, and it shows on every page.

Unix to Linux Porting: A Comprehensive Reference
Alfredo Mendoza, Chakarat Skawratananond and Artis Walker
While the tagline for this book reads, “A Comprehensive Reference," it's easily three comprehensive references you are purchasing -- not just one. Solaris, AIX and HP-UX are the three flavors of Unix the authors focus on, resulting in easily the best book on the market on porting from those platforms.

User Mode Linux
Jeff Dike
Don't let the size (just around 300 pages) fool you! The author is also the creator and maintainer of UML and does an excellent job of not only introducing it, but walking through every aspect of this tool that allows you to establish virtual machines within which you can have multiple versions of Linux/processes/applications running for the purpose of debugging, testing them, etc. The possibilities for this technology range from commercial endeavors to educational settings.

So that's my list. Let me know your must-have technology books for this year by posting below.