Tom Limoncelli's EverythingSysadmin Blog

Article: "Split Your Overwhelmed Teams"

Nov. 12 2022

After a 2-year break, my column in ACM Queue magazine returns! It has a new name "Operations and Life".

For many years I wrote a column in ACM Queue Magazine. It was called "Everything Sysadmin" and covered devops, IT, and basically anything I felt like. I stopped writing in 2020 due to the pandemic and a general lack of motivation. My last column was published Nov 2020. Two years later I finally feel like writing again.

The new column is called "Operations and Life". I'm going to write about the intersection of devops and personal life. I believe that most techniques we use at work can apply in our personal life and vice-versa.

These columns will be shorter and more to the point. While my old column would often be 10 or more pages long, my goal now is to keep things to about 2000-3000 words. This will make them easier to read and digest. This format is more web-friendly.

The first article in this new format is out!

Read it here: Split Your Overwhelmed Teams: Two teams of five is not the same as one team of ten

Posted by Tom Limoncelli

Usenix LISA is no more. Here's my retrospective.

Nov. 12 2022

The Usenix LISA conference is no more. After 35 years, I have a lot of good (and some not good) memories of the conference. It was a big part of my career and I'm sad to see it go. However I'm proud of what LISA accomplished.

I wrote my personal reflections on the conference in a new article published on the Usenix website. Warning: this article includes some over-sharing.

Read it here: LISA made LISA obsolete (That's a compliment!)

Posted by Tom Limoncelli in History LISA Usenix

20 years of The Practice of System and Network Administration!

Oct. 02 2021

Twenty years ago the first edition of The Practice of System and Network Administration shipped! Since then there has been a 2nd and 3rd edition (2006 and 2014), plus a sequel book The Practice of Cloud System Administration, and many printings. (see the timeline here)

When we started the project we had no idea if it would be a success. There was a real chance it could be a flop. Many people told us that our proposal was illogical: How could you have a book about system administration that is vendor agnostic and talks about process and people instead of specific tools and operating systems? Well, to be honest, we took a deep breath and started writing anyway. It took 2+ years but in Sept/Oct 2001 the book finally shipped!

Instead of a flop, the reaction we got was very positive! It has sold tens of thousands of copies. Many universities have used the book and its future editions as text books. It received the Usenix LISA Outstanding Achievement Award. One DevOps pundit told me she considers it to be "the first devops book" which was quite humbling.

When I visited Google in 2004 (a year before I considered joining) I was told everyone in the "systems operations" team was given a copy on their first day. The person giving me a tour then took me to a supply closet with 30 copies awaiting to be distributed to new hires.

However the real satisfaction comes from how it has helped others. Fans have related many heartwarming stories. Many fans have told us they felt like reading the book was a turning point in their life, that the book "turned me into a professional system administrator".

To thank our readers, our publisher is offering a special deal: 45% off the latest editions now until Oct 31, 2021 What? You still have the 2nd edition and haven't seen the dozens of chapters of new material in the 3rd edition? Or maybe you haven't heard of our Cloud book? Now is your chance to get the 3rd edition or the cloud sequel!

Use this link: https://informit.com/tposa
Use this coupon code: TPOSA

Thank you to everyone that gave us feedback on the early drafts! Thank you to all our readers! This book changed our lives and we hope it changed yours too!

P.S. We would love to hear from you! Please post a comment with reflections on the book.

Posted by Tom Limoncelli in Book News

Hear Tom on The Software Engineering Daily Podcast

Jul. 22 2021

https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2021/07/22/stack-overflow-for-teams-a-centralized-knowledge-sharing-and-collaboration-platform-with-tom-limoncelli/

If you've ever googled a CS or programming question, you likely found an answer (or many) on Stack Overflow. Founded in 2008 and named after a common computing error, Stack Overflow empowers the world to develop technology through collective knowledge. More than 100 million people visit Stack Overflow every month making it one of the 50 most-visited websites in the world. Stack Overflow's products include its market-leading knowledge sharing and collaboration platform, Stack Overflow for Teams, in addition to Stack Overflow Reach & Relevance, which is focused on advertising.

Stack Overflow for Teams is a knowledge sharing and collaboration solution that developers and managers already know and trust. It's for companies who need to increase productivity, decrease cycle times, accelerate time to market, and protect institutional knowledge. In this episode we talk with Tom Limoncelli, a manager at Stack Overflow, author, and tech advocate.

Listen to the podcast by clicking here!

Posted by Tom Limoncelli

Updated BP Texas City Animation

Mar. 25 2021

This isn't directly sysadmin-related, but it made me think of how a really good outage retrospective can teach others how to prevent problems in the future.

"On the 15th anniversary of the incident, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is announcing a forthcoming interactive training application based on one of the worst industrial disasters in recent U.S. history--the March 23, 2005, explosion at the BP refinery in Texas City, Texas, which killed 15 workers, injured 180 others, and caused billions of dollars in economic losses. This updated animation will be included in the training, which will focus on OSHA's Process Safety Management standard. Look for it soon at CSB.gov."

Content warning: Death