| site: |
|
Texas A&M University, Computing and Information Services
|
| servers: |
|
my unix admin group manages around 100 servers.
|
| workstations: |
|
we only manage servers though we each manage our own desktops
(predominantly Mac OS X).
|
| sysadmins on staff: |
|
6 (4 in my immediate group plus 2 closely tied to my group)
|
| site overview: |
|
We manage many of the central communications services for the
main TAMU campus: www.tamu.edu, central e-mail services (imap/pop,
listserv, smtp relay with spam tagging, greylisting, and virus
filtering), news, authentication (CAS, Kerberos), directory (LDAP),
etc. (but not jabber and dns). We also manage machines in support of
the library card catalog, distance education (i.e., WebCT), backups,
and other hardware as needed. We use a mix of Solaris, FreeBSD, and
Mac OS X.
|
| job title: |
| Senior Systems Administrator |
| time at this job: |
|
About 6 months with this title, but 6.5 years in or near the
group doing system admin tasks as well as web and system application
development.
|
| | |
| years as a sysadmin: |
|
About 7.5 years if you count my time as a student worker.
|
| first computer: |
| TI 99/4A |
| first OS: |
|
Mac (if you don't count the TI as having an OS) from
c. 1988, but ConvexOS from c. 1990 if we are talking
about more than just running MS Word.
1990 also saw me introduced to VMS, SunOS, and DOS.
|
| favorite OS: |
|
Mac OS X at the moment, though I prefer FreeBSD for most
server installations.
|
| first computer with root/administrator access: |
|
This would be my personal machine that I installed Linux
on back in the mid- to late-1990s.
|
| first programming language: |
| BASIC on the TI |
| favorite programming language: |
|
At the moment, I have to say Ruby. Second would be
Perl based on recent work, though I enjoyed C++ years ago.
Other languages from the past include TMS9900 assembly and
Forth (both on the TI). I learned the idea of semaphores
and threading from the UCSD p-System
with Pascal on the TI back in the late 1980s.
|
| most often used programming language: |
|
Perl (overall), but Ruby based on more recent work.
|
| first sysadmin job, computer and os: |
|
Actually, I was hired as a web developer, but I
quickly began helping the sys admin. This would
have been in 1997-1998 in the TAMU
Physics department with Red Hat Linux on intel-based hardware.
|
| ideal sysadmin job: |
|
My ideal job would be where the management provides the
resources I need to do my job, respects my technical opinion, and
get out of the way so I can do what I am paid to do.
|
| sysadmin tool I couldn't work without: |
| vi |
| education: |
|
B.S. in Mathematics and Physics; course work completed for an
M.A. in English, Creative Writing.
|
| when I was growing up, I wanted to be: |
|
King of the world. :) I even read through most of my father's
language books and tried to create a language to use in the process.
|
| If I wasn't a sysadmin, I'd be: |
|
A writer (code or prose), or a house-husband.
|
| when friends and family ask me to
“fix” the computer or
“fix the internet”, I say: |
|
I don't know anything about Windows.
|
| when I first meet someone,
and they ask what I do, I say: |
|
I work with computers.
|
| system administration is ...: |
|
...making things disappear. Application developers and
customers shouldn't be aware of the systems, to the extent that they
can get their tasks done without being aware of the systems.
|
| advice to a junior admin: |
|
Don't be afraid to admit a mistake. If we know about it, we can
help fix it.
|
| advice to a senior admin: |
|
Don't give the short answer. Give enough context that
the junior admin can understand what might have led to
the problem so they don't have to come back as often
when a similar problem crops up.
|
| | |
| favorite food/cuisine: |
|
Sushi, but I can enjoy pretty much anything.
|
| work music: |
|
Currently, it's Philip Glass's Akhnaten.
I tend to listen to the same piece over and over.
I've done that with the “Requiem” from
Akira, Wagner's Das Rheingold, and
Strauss's Elektra, all wonderful pieces of music.
|
| crisis music: |
Music I might turn to if I'm depressed would include the
Requia by Rutter or Faure. Best part is 2:40 into
the “Lux aeterna” from Rutter's because that was
playing over my earphones when the train slowly slid to a
stop in a station in Japan and I couldn't feel any of it.
The world just came to a silent stop.
If it's just a top priority item at work, then it's just work
music.
|
| hobby/other job: |
|
Working on my masters was a hobby -- something I started because
I found it interesting and because work was boring at the time. I
sing baritone in the local community choir and am taking tai chi.
|
| | |
| my office is: |
|
Large and shared with no one at the moment. There are no
windows. The LCD gives sufficient light.
|
| co-workers say my desk is: |
|
Cluttered. My boss comes by every once in a while and throws
things away (e.g., old magazines).
|
| I learned the most from: |
|
Philip Kizer. I've worked with him for 6.5 years. It's hard to
avoid learning from someone when you've worked with them that long.
|
| daily web sites: |
|
Slashdot,
Salon.com,
news.google.com,
japantimes.com,
lopsa.org
|
| hot standby/failover or redundancy: |
|
We tend to work with redundancy where we can because
our past experiences with hot standby and failover
had been less than advertised (i.e., they flat out
didn't work except by manual intervention and application
of the RITA). We've had better success recently with
redundant NetScalars and F5s load balancing with
redundant servers.
|
| editor: |
| vi |
| mail user agent: |
|
mh (using less to view) or Mail.app/imap, depending on the account
|
| web browser: |
| Safari |
| gui or cli: |
| Mac OS X or zsh :) |
| computers at home: |
|
3 running, 3 or 4 not running.
|
| (primary) home computer and OS: |
|
Mac OS X
|
| oldest hardware in your garage or basement: |
|
10 year old machine that was my first IBM compatible in a closet.
|
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