| location: |
| Waukesha, Wisconsin |
| site: |
| AT&T |
| servers: |
| Somewhere around 200 |
| workstations: |
|
None really. We're pretty much a server only shop right now.
|
| sysadmins on staff: |
|
Either 19 or seven depending on who you call a sysadmin
(have root or actually is supposed to do something with
their access).
|
| site overview: |
|
Support back office functionality for a large telco ISP.
|
| job title: |
| Senior System Analyst |
| time at this job: |
| 8 years |
| | |
| years as a sysadmin: |
| 13 |
| first computer: |
| Vic-20 as a kid. |
| first OS: |
On a hard disk? DOS 3.3
I don't remember what they called that semi-graphical CLI that the
Vic-20 (and C-64) used.
|
| favorite OS: |
|
The one that doesn't make my life hell this week.
Right now that means Solaris or Linux, but the week is young.
|
| first computer with root/administrator access: |
| DEC 5000 |
| first programming language: |
| Pascal |
| favorite programming language: |
| Probably awk this week. |
| most often used programming language: |
| shell/awk |
| first sysadmin job, computer and os: |
|
Dec Ultrix and HP-UX workstations running CAD software.
|
| ideal sysadmin job: |
|
One where management doesn't think sysadmin is a scam
and lets technical people actually have some say in
technical decisions.
|
| favorite sysadmin tool: |
| ssh |
| most interesting sysadmin tool: |
|
syslog. It's amazing how many application/user problems
you can find that are glossed over or ignored because no one
knows about the system logs.
|
| sysadmin tool I couldn't work without: |
|
cfengine. Allows me to automate the repetitive parts
of my job readily.
|
| education: |
| BA math/comp sci |
| when I was growing up, I wanted to be: |
|
professional troublemaker.
I'd say I came pretty close.
|
| If I wasn't a sysadmin, I'd be: |
|
Making everyone else's life hell. Oh wait, that's what I do now.
|
| when friends and family ask me to
“fix” the computer or
“fix the internet”, I say: |
|
I actually usually help them if it doesn't involve
too much work. Of course I warn them that I work
mainly on computers far larger than theirs.
|
| when I first meet someone,
and they ask what I do, I say: |
| "I keep the big computers working" |
| system administration is ...: |
|
A mix of technical skills, problem solving skills, and people skills.
|
| advice to a junior admin: |
| Don't be afraid to ask questions. |
| advice to a senior admin: |
|
Ask more questions. Your presumptions could be wrong.
|
| | |
| favorite food/cuisine: |
|
Curries this week. Last week it was calzones.
|
| pizza topping: |
| Pineapple & ham |
| work music: |
|
One has the chance for music at work? I'm usually on
the phone too much to have any music at all.
|
| crisis music: |
|
See above. If it is crisis mode, I'm on the phone
explaining to yet another Problem Manager what is
broken and when it will be up.
|
| ___ gets me through the work day: |
| A sleeping cat in my lap. |
| hobby/other job: |
| writing fiction, playing violin |
| | |
| my office is: |
| at home |
| co-workers say my desk is: |
|
They've never seen it. Half of them never even met
me before, the other half have only seen me once.
|
| learned the most from: |
|
A sysadmin training lab in college.
(UPL). |
| wish list: |
- Management that doesn't think that security is a dirty word.
- Supervisors who don't believe that sysadmin
“adds no value to the company”
- Vendors that work on fixing bugs instead of adding features
they have been told will never be used by the only users of the
software in the country.
- Users/Junior AppAdmins who believe me when I say
“Security product X isn't causing your outage, I just checked.”
- Chance to attend a sysadmin conference of some kind
- A new job
|
| daily web sites: |
| Some kind of news feed. |
| backups to tape or disk? |
|
Yes. You need some kind of backup for when the SAN vendor deletes your
database. How you back up depends on your budget, and requirements in
terms of restore time, retention, etc.
|
| editor: |
| vi |
| mail user agent: |
|
evolution, but I've been playing with other IMAP capable clients
recently.
|
| web browser: |
| galeon
(GTK mozilla based browser) |
| gui or cli: |
|
CLI inside a GUI, I actually want to get work done
|
| computers at home: |
|
4'ish, three of which are even working
|
| (primary) home computer and OS: |
|
Home built with Fedora Core 4
|
| oldest hardware in your garage or basement: |
|
Pentium 1 based home grown box.
|
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