Ready for LISA 2008 in San Diego!
I've registered, I've booked my hotel. Are you going to LISA 2008?
On Thursday I will be doing a 90-minute open Q&A session about Time Management. Feel free to stop by and ask me anything.
On Friday I will be presenting my newest talk titled, "System Administration and The Economics of Plenty". When we start to see how plentiful the world is, we think about our roles as system administrators differently. It affects everything from how we set policy to how we do our jobs.
Register online today!
I hope to see you there!
Tom @ Ohio LinuxFest 2008, Columbus, Ohio, October 10-11, 2008
Tom will be teaching two half-day tutorials: "Time Management for System Administrators" and "Interviewing and Hiring System Administrators". This is a rare opportunity to see these talks presented in the Ohio area. Register soon!With the economy in a down-turn, Time Management is key to being efficient at what you do. With people's hiring budgets being slashed, it is important that the people you do hire are top notch. Both of these tutorials are intended for both the new and experienced system administrator or IT manager.
The sixth annual Ohio LinuxFest will be held on October 10-11, 2008 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Hosting authoritative speakers and a large expo, the Ohio LinuxFest welcomes Free and Open Source Software professionals, enthusiasts, and anyone who wants to take part in the event. The Ohio LinuxFest is a free, grassroots conference for the Linux/Open Source Software/Free Software community
Looking forward to SAGE-AU (Australia)
As I start to pack for my trip to Australia, I'm getting really excited about attending the SAGE-AU 2008 conference. I just got email with the preliminary registration numbers for my workshops (note: more people will sign up "day of"):- Interviewing/Hiring Technical People: 8 registrations
- Time Management for System Administrators: 31 registrations
- "Help! Everyone hates our IT Department!": 24 registrations
By the way... I've completely revamped the Time Management slides. Previously I've tweaked them between conferences. This time I took a hard look at what people found useful, didn't need, and the way I was presenting the information. I refocused the slides around the more streamlined version of "the cycle", dropped the parts that got the most yawns or "why would anyone want that?"-looks. I also made sure that the more entertaining parts were retained and are spread evenly throughout the presentation. As I learned from mjd's "Presentation Judo" talk says, "Your primary goal should be to entertain". Each slide should educate and entertain, but if you have to pick just one, choose to entertain: people are sitting in the same seat for 3 hours, they deserve nothing less.
Now I have to get back to packing. For the last few months any time I've thought of something to bring I wrote it on my todo list for August 6th. Packing is less stressful when you have confidence that you won't forget anything. Now I just have to fit it all in my luggage!
It's not too late to register for SAGE-AU 2008. I look forward to seeing you there!
Why I attend the LISA conference
One-day workshops and training programs serve a different purpose from week-long conferences. One-day seminars tend to be tactical: focused on a particular technology or skill (TCP/IP, Storage, Backups, etc). Week-long conferences are strategic: offering opportunities to discuss broader topics, to network, to build community, and to further the craft of SA as a respected profession. Week-long conferences give you "vision".
LISA is one of those week-long conferences.
My favorite part of LISA is what I call "the moment." There's always this moment when I realize that someone has just said something that makes me want to shout, "Oh Damn! That just paid for the entire conference!" There are many little "ah-ha!" moments too, but there's always one big one. Some years there are two or three.
LISA is very cutting-edge. Many times I've seen a new tool at LISA that only became popular years later. I had been using it all along. People wonder where I find out about these things, the answer is usually "LISA"! That's really helped me stay ahead of the pack.
Week-long conferences have a powerful effect, providing a much-needed opportunity to relax, and they provide a supportive environment where you can take a step back from your day-to-day work and consider the big picture. Attendees return to their job brimming with new ideas and vision; refreshed, motivated, and with a new outlook.
This year's conference is on the east-coast in lovely Washington D.C. I hope to see you there!
LISA '06, Dec 3-8, in Washington D.C., download this year's flyer (PDF) or go to the LISA'06 home page
Happy Birthday, LOPSA!
Happy Birthday, LOPSA!
You are one year old and look how far you've come! Like most births you were born amid a lot of shouting and confusion, but look how far you've grown! You've formed the organization, build a web site, and had your first regional conference. Congrats! Now you are truly defining yourself, growing up, and becoming your own person.
For those of you that don't know, LOPSA is the League of Professional System Administrators. The goal is to become like the AMA is to doctors, or the APA is to shrinks. That is, work on building the professionalism of our community. If you aren't a member, I highly recommend that you join. Heck, it's free to just register.
Two weeks ago I attended the first LOPSA regional conference in Phoenix, Arizona. I taught a full-day version of my Time Management for System Administrators class. What impressed me about this event was how different it was. Because it was regional most of the speakers were local. There are experts everywhere (not just in California) and seeing them get some spotlight really made me happy. The fact that it was small also meant that it could be at a less expensive hotel, who was more hungry for LOPSA's business. They had a lot of creative ideas that I haven't seen at big hotels. For example, one of the snack-breaks had cookies and milk! I was psyched!
At night we had a lot of deep discussions about the future of system administration, professionalism, and the future of LOPSA. I consulted with some board members about how to get to the next milestone now that the organization is running. I hope to see more regional conferences announced soon. I also brainstormed on ways to reach out to the segments of the IT world that are currently unaddressed.
Why not celebrate the 1st birthday by buying a gift for yourself? The LOPSA CafePress store is ready to fulfill your need for swag, and raises money for a good cause. And if you haven't registered, do that too. They have some extremely useful mailing lists.
Tom + Strata @ LISA '06 in Wash D.C., Dec 3-8, 2006
Tom and Strata be teaching and speaking at LISA 2006 in Washington D.C., Dec 3-9, 2006. This is one of our favorite conferences of the year because it is so dam useful. Get your boss to send ya. This year it is in Washington D.C., which makes it easy to get to for all the east-coasters that usually don't get around.
Tom will be speaking/teaching:
| Mon | 9am-5pm | Workshop | Managing Sysadmins (co-facilitator) |
| Wed | 2pm-3:30 | Invited Talk | Site Reliability at Google/My First Year at Google |
| Thu | AM | Tutorial | Time Management: Getting It All Done and Not Going (More) Crazy! |
| Thu | 12:30pm-1:30pm | Exhibition | "Meet the Authors" at Reiter's Conference Bookstore |
| Thu | 2pm-3:30 | Guru Talk | How to Get Your Paper Accepted at LISA |
| Thu | 4pm-5:40 | Guru Talk | Time Management for System Administrators |
| Fri | 11am-12:30 | Hit The Ground Running | Mac OS X |
Strata Rose Chalup will be speaking/teaching:
| Mon | PM | Tutorial | Project Troubleshooting |
| Wed | PM | Tutorial | Problem-Solving for IT Professionals |
| Thu | AM | Tutorial | Practical Project Management for Sysadmins and IT Professionals |
| Wed | 9pm-10pm | BOF | Sysadmin Education |
In addition, we will be hanging out in what is known as "the hallway track". In fact, if you haven't attended LISA before, you should know that a lot of the educational value is the people you meet. Tom says, "Early in my career a lot of what I learned was from the conversations in the hallway."
- More info about LISA 2006, Washington D.C., Dec 3-8, 2006
- Register for LISA 2006
Coming soon: Book signing and other events.
LOPSA announces "SysAdmin Days" Conference
LOPSA is proud to present our first in-person training workshop: SysAdmin Days this November in Phoenix, AZ.
SysAdmin Days is a two-day training workshop for system administrators to focus on all the aspects of their professional development, both technical and otherwise. Workshops are available for both specific platforms and technologies and general system administration practices, including Mac OS X Administration, PHP, and Perl. We'll also have sessions about topics important for any sysadmin, including Drafting Policy Documents, Communications Skills, and Time Management.
Instructors include Tom Limoncelli, co-author of The Practice of System and Network Administration and Time Management for System Administrators.
More info is here: http://lopsa.org/SysAdminDays-Pheonix
LISA '06 Call For Papers
Usenix/SAGE has announced their call-for-papers for LISA 2006.
This is the 20th Large Installation System Administration Conference. Has it really been 20 years? Wow, how time flies. This year's conference will be December 3-8, 2006 in Washington, D.C. (The deadline for paper submission is May 23, 2006).
I wrote Bill LeFebvre and told him, "Ah heck, don't do the whole 'call for papers' thing this year! You're a smart guy! Write all the papers yourself! You gots tons of ideas."
But no, he wouldn't listen to me.
He said, "Tom, that's not how the conference works. We collect papers from all over the world that real sysadmins submit. These papers describe solutions and innovations from everything from video processing to new security issues to better ways to run helpdesks. So we collect them and read them all and pick the absolute very best. Just those papers are accepted and presented at the conference." (Footnote: By now I hope you realize this conversation is fictional.)
"Bah!" I replied. "That sounds like a lot of work! The conference has been around for 20 years! Why not just pick 20 past papers and reprint them. Nobody will know the difference."
"Tom, that'd be looking at the past." Bill rebuffed. "While it's always good to remember our history, LISA is about innovation. We look for papers that are forward-looking. Attendees come back from our conference saying, 'Wow! I just saw the future! I'm going to look like a freakin' genius with the new 'vision' I have for our little IT group." (Footnote: Bill would never use the term "freakin'")
"Oh well, I guess you're right." I said. That's a much better idea!
(insert "ABC After School Special" theme song)
And that's how I learned all about the importance of submitting papers to LISA.
(Disclaimer: Bill has no idea I wrote this. Click below to read the actual "Call for Papers")
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Call for Papers
LISA '06: 20th Large Installation System Administration Conference
December 3-8, 2006, Washington, D.C., USA
http://www.usenix.org/lisa06/cfpa
Extended Abstract and Paper Submissions Deadline: May 23, 2006
Sponsored by USENIX and SAGE
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Colleague
The LISA '06 organizers invite you to contribute proposals for refereed papers, invited talks, and workshops, plus any ideas you have for Guru Is In sessions, Work-in-Progress reports, and training sessions.
The Call for Participation with submission guidelines and sample topics can be found on the USENIX Web site at http://www.usenix.org/lisa06/cfpa
The annual LISA conference is the meeting place of choice for system, network, security, and other computing administrators. Administrators of all specialties and levels of expertise meet at LISA to exchange ideas, sharpen skills, learn new techniques, debate current issues, and meet colleagues and friends.
People representing every work assignment from the full-time position at a large site to the part-time one at a small shop come to LISA from over 30 countries, bringing a variety of backgrounds and experience levels to the conference dedicated to them. System and network administrators from environments as diverse as academia, large corporations, small businesses, government organizations, and research sites find LISA to be the place to go for training, education, networking, and interacting with their peers.
The conference's diverse group of participants is matched by an equally broad spectrum of activities:
* Training sessions for both beginners and experienced attendees cover many administrative topics ranging from basic administrative procedures to using cutting-edge technologies.
* Refereed papers present the latest developments and ideas related to system and network administration.
* Invited talks and panels discuss important and timely topics and often spark lively debates and conversation.
* Work-in-progress reports (WiPs) provide brief peeks at next year's innovations.
GET INVOLVED!
* Submit a draft paper or extended abstract proposal for a refereed paper.
* Suggest an invited talk speaker.
* Share your experience by leading a Guru Is In session.
* Propose a training session topic.
* Organize or suggest a Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) session.
* Email an idea to the chair: lisa06ideas@usenix.org
------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT DATES
Extended Abstract and Paper Submissions Deadline: May 23, 2006
Invited Talks proposals due: June 1, 2006
Notification to authors: July 12 2006
Final papers due: September 12, 2006
Submission guidelines and more information can be found at
http://www.usenix.org/lisa06/cfpa
Sponsored by USENIX and SAGE
-------------------------------------------------------------
We look forward to hearing from you!
On behalf of the LISA '06 Program Committee,
William LeFebvre
lisa06chair@usenix.org
LISA Blog
David Blank-Edelman, chair of LISA2005 has created a blog so you can follow what it takes to create a conference. Check out LISA Conference Blog
LISA 2004 Report: Tuesday
Today I attended the Advanced Topics Workshop. This is a full day workshop for old timers to talk about system administration from a very high level. More and more it is becoming a management thing, because as the old timers get older, we get moved into management.
Advanced Topics Workshop -- This one-day workshop, intended for very senior administrators, provides an informal roundtable discussion of the problems facing system administrators today. Attendance is limited to 30 and based on acceptance of a position paper.
Started by John Schimmel in 1995 (?) as a "formalized hallway track" for "all the really experienced folks who show up on Tuesday before the conference and just hang around because there are no suitable tutorials," this workshop gives senior administrators a chance to meet and talk with their peers. Topics can range from difficulties hiring sysadmins to current technical problems, from managing sysadmins to exchanging notes on the latest new and interesting tools.
"An imperfect, light-weight system that people use is better than a heavy-weight system that nobody uses."
Examples:
- TWiki vs. SharePoint
- RT vs. Remedy
- SubVersion+Bugzilla vs. ClearCase
- ...
STOP THE PRESSES! I passed by two people talking about LiveJournal and when I looked at their badges I realized it was Brad (founder of LiveJournal) and Lisa (sysadmin of LiveJournal). They were prepping for Wednesday's presentation about the database/web/etc. technology of LiveJournal. I ended up talking with them for an hour or so (until about 1am). Steven walked by and joined in and we both told them a bunch of stories about how LJ has changed our lives. This was their first LISA, so we also talked about what they could expect.
That's my favorite thing about LISA and all the Usenix conferences. You meet really famous people. Well, famous in the Unix and Internet sense.
Wednesday's talk about LiveJournal was very impressive and an interesting discussion was posted on LiveJournal while they were talking about Livejournal
And the rest of the Advanced Topics Workshop? Who cares! I met Brad and Lisa!
LISA 2004 Report: Monday
Today I spent the morning working on a presentation I'm making on Friday.
In the afternoon I attended Over the Edge System Administration, Volume 1 taught by David N. Blank-Edelman. The basis of the class was to each how to abuse the sysadmin tools that you already know. His first example was setting up a printqueue in lpr (the Unix print queue system) so that the files don't get sent to a printer, but get sent to your audio device. Now you can send MP3 files to this queue and they start playing one after the next. You can even use the usual lp* commands to re-arrange the play order. If you think that was an interesting abuse of a sysadmin tool, the examples only got better (or worse, depending on how you view it). It was a great tutorial. I learned a lot and was entertained. It added a lot of new tools to my mental toolbox. I hope they repeat this tutorial next year. David N. Blank-Edelman's tutorials always seem to be winners, watch this guy in the future.
Towards the end of the talk my boss contacted me by IM and asked if I could do a quick project for her while I was at the conference. I bring this up because a lot of people can't attend week-long conferences because their boss "can't live without them for a week." It is very comforting that LISA (and most conferences) have very good connectivity to the internet (I'm told four T1s this year) and excellent WiFi coverage. Not only is WiFi available in the workshop/presentation spaces, but also the "hang out" spaces where people congregate during the day and in the evenings. Yes, there is internet access in the hotel rooms ($9.99/night) but having it ubiquitously throughout the conference really makes a big difference. Tell your boss that!
LISA2004 Report: Sunday
[ I'm going to try to blog one entry for every day at LISA 2004. ]
I arrived on Sunday. Though I'm not signed up for anything until Monday, I arrived early (2pm) on Sunday.
So if I'm not signed up for anything on Sunday, why did I arrive so early? There is a lot of useful and interesting stuff going on even if you aren't attending a tutorial or workshop. The benefit of a multi-day conference is the contacts that you make and the interaction with other attendees. There were plenty of ad hoc groups of people hanging out and chatting. I've been attending LISA for years, so there were also a lot of friends that I wanted to catch up with.
Dinner is an excellent way to spend "quality time" with the people you meet. At dinner last night we discussed everything from the new Cisco security features, to Solaris ZFS, to the finer points of various other system administration topics. I learned a lot, and many new ideas sprouted in my mind (or at least there were a lot of URLs mentioned that I found I need to check out.)
How to find a group of people for dinner if you are new to LISA? Usually people gather at the registration area around 6pm or 6:30pm to figure out what they're going to do for the evening. If you see a big group gathering, feel free to ask if you can join them. The worst that can happen is they'll say "no". Don't be offended, they might have a private party already arranged. However typically people will invite you to join along.
One of my goals this year is to try to meet a lot of new people. To that end, I'm introducing myself to random people, people I usually might not have met for one reason or another. If you are a regular attendee, I encourage you to do the same. If you are a first-time attendee introduce yourself to the people at tutorials, lunches, and so on. You'll get a lot more out of the conference.
Tomorrow: Review of DBE's tutorial on "Over The Edge System Administration".
Best. Conference. Evah: LISA
Conference Chair Lee Demon (and his committee) has done a bang-up job planning this year's LISA conference. This year's conference is November 14–19, 2004 in Atlanta,GA.
If you are a system administrator, this is the place to be. This is the kind of conference that you come home from with a million great ideas. Other conferences teach, this conference gives you vision. Early Bird Registration Deadline: October 22.
