Home » Content » SOTW

SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR OF THE WEEK: Week of November 28, 2005

SOTW

Mark Lamourine

LOPSA Member Name: llama
site:
www.constantcontact.com
servers:
~120 production, ~50 corporate/dev/qa
workstations:
~100
sysadmins on staff:
5
site overview:

We have 2 (soon to be 4) major DB2 servers (Sun V880, Sol8) with ~7TB EMC storage arrays behind them.

The remaining production machines break down basically into user interface web servers (mostly win2k/websphere) and outbound mailers running (CentOS/postfix).

Our corporate machines are nearly all Windows servers, a mix of things like Exchange and some callcenter/tech support applications. We also have a rather hodge-podge set of production mockups for QA and product development.

job title:
Senior Systems Administrator
time at this job:
10 weeks
    
years as a sysadmin:
18
first computer:
Apple ][e (That's if you don't count the TI58 or the PDP7 at school the year before we got the Apples).
first OS:
Apple ][
favorite OS:
Flavors of *nix (SunOS 5.x, Linux)
first computer with root/administrator access:
HP9000/300
first programming language:
Apple ][ BASIC
favorite programming language:
C (compiled), Python (scripting)
most often used programming language:
make(1)
I don't get to code as much as I used to. I enjoy porting, debugging, tweaking existing packages.
first sysadmin job, computer and os:
Draper Lab, HP9000/300, HPUX6
ideal sysadmin job:
Installation and Maintenance Automation: Automating system installation, maintenance and monitoring. Software packaging.
favorite sysadmin tool:
PXE/kickstart/jumpstart and rpm/sun packaging
most interesting sysadmin tool:
tsort (thanks adamm!)
sysadmin tool I couldn't work without:
sudo
education:
Bachelor of Science (Computer Science), Northeastern University, 1988
when I was growing up, I wanted to be:
A paleontologist,a meteorologist, an astronomomer.
If I wasn't a sysadmin, I'd be:
A waiter pretending to be a starving actor/musician. Seriously, I can't think of anything else I'd like to do for work. I don't know if I could do anything else in offices I've been in. I've toyed with the idea of being a bicycle mechanic (which I have done) or frame builder (which I haven't). If I get layed off again, I may try to get a job as an apprentice electrician.
when friends and family ask me to “fix” the computer or “fix the internet”, I say:
The first time: “Let me take a look.” The second time: “That will be $100/hour, 4 hour minimum” (I've had a couple takers).
when I first meet someone, and they ask what I do, I say:
“System Administrator...errr. I make people's computers work together.” When I was at a large ISP (Genuity), I used to enjoy telling people “I run the internet”.
system administration is ...:
Providing the computational resources required so that other people can do the “real work”.
advice to a junior admin:
Throwing pottery is soothing.
  1. Never do anything (significant) for an engineer/developer until they've asked twice.
  2. The answer to any question who's answer is “Yes, but...” is NO! (especially for salesmen)
  3. No one gets fired for screwing up. They get fired for covering up.
    
favorite food/cuisine:
Sushi, Sashimi
pizza topping:
Pepperoni “Pepperoni Pizza” was my CB handle back when that was in fashion.
work music:
500 years of music on “shuffle” one track at a time.
crisis music:
“Brother Sun; Sister Moon”
Cambridge Singers, John Rutter conducting. Music of morning and evening prayer.
___ gets me through the work day:
Dr. Pepper
hobby/other job:
    
my office is:
too small with cube walls only 3 ft high.
co-workers say my desk is:
A mess
learned the most from:
2 years as sole sysadmin with ~20 machines running 13 operating systems, each acting as both engineering server and user desktop.
wish list:
A Shuttle PC to replace each of the decrepit old boxes my family are forced to use because they're the cobbler's children.
daily web sites:
raised floor:
Yes, but not traditional. 4-inch raise, Power goes under the floor. Communications go overhead in cable trays.
editor:
Emacs for development, vi for single files, or as root.
mail user agent:
pine, Evolution (when Exchange is required)
web browser:
Firefox, wget.
gui or cli:
CLI
computers at home:
7
(primary) home computer and OS:
Not fair!
My computers run Fedora Core 4 (Laptop, server). My family uses windows 98 (kids) and XP pro (wife)
oldest hardware in your garage or basement:
Ultra2 I just tossed my sparcstation 5/110 and two IPXs I'd used as firewall and cold spare.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
delicious delicious | digg digg | technorati technorati
add new comment | 3108 reads