Results tagged “usenix”

Update: Someone else said it very well here

When I last mentioned LISA, I forgot to mention the big news! This year submitting papers is a lot easier! Less work for the authors!

Rather than having to submit the entire, nearly finished, draft in advance, you can submit a briefer summary. If it gets accepted, then you have to write the entire thing. This saves a lot of time in case your submission is not accepted (how would that happen?). It also lowers the bar to submitting, which is important. I think more submissions is better. If this is your first time submitting a paper, this is a good opportunity to go for it.

There are three things you might consider proposing:

• Refereed papers: Did you invent something? Prove a new theory? Create a new tool or software system? Submit a paper. Submissions are simply extended abstracts, 500-1500 words plus an outline of what the final paper will look like. (Details here.)
• Practice and Experiences Reports: NEW! This is a new category. It's a bit different. This is a story telling category. Have you completed a major project and would like to share what experience they gained? I think of it as "Here's what we wish we had known before we started." Very useful. (Details here.)
• Invited Talks: A lot of people don't realize this, but some (not all) invited talks are proposed by the people that give them. Hey, the Invited Talk chairs don't have ESP nor are the omnipotent. So if you have a hot topic that you are an expert at, or would like to put together a panel of debating debutants, propose it as an I.T. or a "Guru Session". (Details here.)
• (Other things you can submit)

The deadline is May 17, 2010 (The 2011 deadline is June 9, 2011.). Less than 2 months away!

This year I'm on the committee that will be judging the papers. I thought it would be useful to tell people my personal process for evaluating papers.

I've been on the Usenix LISA program committee a few times. People ask me for advice about submitting papers a lot. Usually I tell them to read the CfP, pay attention to the deadlines, etc. But the real important advice is what I'm about reveal below.

Tom's is teaching tutorials and giving two talks during Usenix LISA 2010, San Jose, CA, Nov 7-12, 2010.

• Half-Day: Time Management for System Administrators (MONDAY morning)
• Half-Day: Time Management: Team Efficiency (MONDAY afternoon)
• The Guru is In: "Time Management Open Q&A" (WEDNESDAY morning)
• Invited Talk: "Data Structures from the Future: Bloom Filters, Distributed Hash Tables, and More!" (THURSDAY morning)

Register early! Space in my tutorials is limited!

Status: draft

The Usenix LISA 2010 "Call for Participation" is out. I encourage everyone to think about what they're doing to improve system administration, what innovation they've brought to their network, and write a paper about it.

People often ask me for a definition of "system administrator". TPOSANA/2ed has a great definition in the preface (read it and see).

Just moments ago Usenix has published their "Call for Participation" for the Usenix LISA 2010 conference. This is a conference that I attend every year because the value I get out of it is undeniable. The speakers are excellent and the topics make me feel like I have access to a crystal ball that lets me see into the future.

The CfP gives a more detailed explanation of the conference and the kinds of talks, papers, and presentations that they are looking for. This is a community conference; talks come from people in the community, not "top down" vendor presentations.

This year adds a new "Practice and Experience" section where people can give a 20 minute talk where people can explain "substantial system administration project that has been completed." Sounds like a great way to learn from other people's mistakes [After I typed that I thought people might think I was kidding or being cynical. Actually, hearing what speedbumps to watch out is pretty darn important!.]

Usenix LISA is unique in that they have a track of refereed papers. These high-quality papers are where some of the biggest system administration innovations have first been published. This year the committee is not requiring full papers, but instead requests 500-1500 word summary. If your paper is accepted you will be expected to produce the entire paper in time for publication. This lowers the barrier to entry and I hope to see a big increase in paper submissions this year (I'm on the panel that votes on papers). If you have done something fantastic, invented a new technique, or written new software that improves the state of the art for system administration, please submit! (Private email to me is fine if you want to ask for advice). Details about submitting papers is here.

Whether you are planning on submitting a proposal or not, reading the full CfP is a great way to understand how a conference like LISA works. When you are presenting or not, I hope to see you there!

Read the entire call for participation here: http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa10/cfp/

Matt Simmons interviews me about "Design Patterns for System Adminsitrators".

This is a tutorial that I've never taught before. You can see it first at LISA 2009 in November.

In case you missed it, Matthew Sacks interviewed me about my other LISA tutorial. That tutorial also has a lot of new material.

Usenix interviewed me about my Time Management tutorial at the upcoming LISA 2009 conference. It isn't too late to sign up for this class!

Interview with Thomas Limoncelli on TM4SA at LISA2009