If you attend the event, you will receive two study guides and an ec2 instance for about 24-hours. The idea is that you will spend the day today studying with others to improve your system administration skills. There are no instructors, but I will be there to get the ec2 instances setup and help with any non-study related issues.

If you are interested in the sysadminSG,  come visit us at SCaLE10x today:

Cheers,

Herlo

What was it that I did, you ask? Well let me tell you all of the tasks I was able to complete.

System Administration Study Group

Over the past year, I’ve been working on a way to do a regular free study group for those who want to improve their system administration skills, get certified, or just brush up on something they didn’t quite understand.

Enter sysadminSG, a self-guided tour of many of the standard tasks any system administrator should know. The main goal was to create an instance of a Fedora 14 machine for studiers to use.

Some of the tasks on the study sheets indicate certain issues that would need to be resolved which can’t be resolved without a ‘master’ instance. I was able to recruit a couple of excellent individuals to help get this further than I thought it would. Jon Stanley and Ivan Makfinsky helped put together many of the pieces which will help studiers get more done. Specifically, an ldap server for centralized authentication and iscsi target luns for use with LUKS encryption, LVM and disk partitioning.

Fedora Infrastructure

I attended the Fedora Infrastructure session, where we covered two major things of concern. One was removing the puppet staging branch and moving everything into ‘Production’. This is a mental shift for many, but makes sense because in truth, everything maintained from an infrastructure perspective is production.

Additionally, a longer term plan of being able to spin up ‘staging’ environments for any new things that will go into production looks to be the direction we’ll be going. Many of the applications we have in Fedora require some work to get us to this point, mostly so they can be more atomic pieces. I think a proof of concept environment will provide us with an good idea of how much work will be involved.

pam_otp

After the Fedora Infrastructure hackfest, there was a two-factor authentication hackfest. We discussed using Yubikeys and a unique PIN together for authentication within Fedora. The initial goal was determined to setup sudo authentication for sysadmin-main group with two-factor authentication.

Nathaniel McCallum found the pam_otp library and was able to get it to compile. He passed it on to me to test and document it, which I was able to get working after a drunk night by the fire. I was then able to document the usage of it and have a test rpm that we’ll be using.

All in all, it was a very productive weekend and more work will be getting done over the next few weeks as well. It’s all very exciting and fun, a really good reason for attending FUDCon!

Cheers,

Herlo

We did a successful version of the SysadminSG at the Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE 9x) last year.  And thanks to Ben Williams prodding several months ago, I agreed to run this event again. Note: We will also be running the SysadminSG again at SCaLE 10x on January 21, 2012 as the Fedora Activity Day (FAD).

What is the System Administration Study Group (SysadminSG)?

The System Administration Study Group or SysadminSG is intended as a gathering of individuals with a common purpose, studying and preparation for the Red Hat Certifications. The two main certifications of focus are the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) and the Red Hat Ceritfied Engineer (RHCE).

This is a self-guided workshop for those who gather, it does not have any instructors. However, proctors will be around to assist as needed.

The SysadminSG could be used for many other reasons. The Fedora Infrastructure team is always looking for skilled system administrators. The study group is a great way to bone up on the technologies used by Fedora Project administrators every day.

Why should I participate in SysadminSG?

Because it’s cool, and other reasons, too!

Okay, while it is true that participation is the cool thing to do, it is also very possible you may wish to improve your system administration skills. Doing so with others in the room to bounce questions off can be very helpful. Studying by yourself is challenging and while IRC is nice, there really is nothing like real live people in a room, with similar goals.

So I am interested. What do I need to bring/provide to get me started?

To participate in this event, please bring a laptop, PC or some other computer with a current version of Fedora pre-installed. YOU DO NOT WANT TO INSTALL THE DAY OF THE STUDY SESSION!!

Amazon ec2 instances will be used where possible, so that things can be portable. The instances should be up and running for around 24-hours, which means if you don’t finish during the study session, it’s possible to continue for a short time after the workshop. To access an ec2 instance, it will need to be setup with an ssh public key, so come prepared with one.

Note: If the machine you bring has the capability for Virtual Machines using KVM or VMWare, we can work with that as well, but you may receive mixed results.

Resources! Pig for Wheat!

Okay, stop screaming about it! There will be plenty to do during the 4-hour session, but if you want to get a head start, read up on these guides.

• System Administration Study Group – A general information page about the concept of the event.
• RHCSA Study Guide – This page is intended to be printed to take notes. It covers the RHCSA Exam objectives.
• RHCE Study Guide – This page is intended to be printed to take notes. It covers the RHCE Exam objectives.

Contributions encouraged and accepted

One of the main goals of the study group is to come up with tasks that would be representative of each of the objectives listed. It is my hope that with a bit of contribution during the session, we can discover and improve the study group to make it a regularly occurring workshop. I would like to see these study guides go from big sections of blank to something more tangible. It’s possible each objective could have two or three tasks for a future SysadminSG workshop.

See you all at FUDCon this weekend!

Cheers,

herlo

GoOSe Linux – Rebuilding Enterprise Linux the Community Way

Yes, GoOSe Linux is almost here and we’re ready to discuss the process and the goals of our little community. If you have been hearing me rant about GoOSe on the Utah Open Source Planet, Google Plus or Facebook and want to hear more. Or if you are just plain bored tomorrow night with nothing better to do, come down to the Provo Linux User Group. Learn more about how the Enterprise Linux Rebuild community is working together to make a better ecosystem.

If you can’t make it, or want to preview the slides, you can get them on my speakerdeck.com page. I look forward to seeing you all there.

For more information, check out the PLUG announcement.

Cheers,

herlo

Now we’re announcing the Sysadmin Study Group will be the Fedora Activity Day at SCaLE 10x!

So Exciting!

Well, it’s been a week since the first run of my ec2 instances for the SysadminSG (or System Administrators Study Group).Things look promising. The folks over in #fedora-cloud and #boxgrinder have been especially helpful! Thanks a ton msavy and gholms and rbergeron too!

The plan here is to grant every user in a room access to an ec2 instance for 24-hours. It may be shorter or longer, depending on a few unknowns at this time. After some additional testing tonight, I think just a bit more work and the workshop will ready. We still need to update the Study Guide to match the RHEL6 RHCSA exam and RHCE exam requirements, so if anyone wants to take that on, just let me know and I’ll point you in the right direction.

If you are looking to do some RHCE prep with others, come on down to the Sysadmin SG workshop at either FUDCon Blacksburg or SCaLE 10x! We look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers,

Herlo

However, my pitch was a bit different than the rest.  Throughout the rest of the sessions from now until Sunday noon, I’ll be in room BYAC 190 to record your talent.  What I mean by this, is that I want you to come by and do a 5-15 minute presentation on your Fedora system that we can share with the community.

As an goal, I’m working to make videos that can help other Fedora contributors work toward gaining a larger skillset.  For example, a presentation on configuring a DNS caching server, configuring a simple smtp server, using Scribus, how to configure NetworkManager or SELinux basics could be good simple presentations.  As you can see, these topics could become very complex, but I’m mostly interested in the basics in these areas.

Once I get these recorded this weekend, I’ll process them on Sunday and Monday.  My goal is to get them up on the Fedora website somewhere (more details to come) by early next week.  Watch for another blog post when I get them online.

I’d like to thank you in advance for coming by and spending 10-15 minutes sharing your knowledge with Fedora and the free software community.

Cheers,

Herlo

Every 10 minutes, starting at 7:45am, meet in the lobby of the Courtyard Marriott.  You will be directed on a walking tour as we head toward the Center for Design North (CDN), also known as the Architecture and Environmental Design Building (AED).

On the tour, you will see the following items:

• A short tour of Mill Avenue, with restaurants and pubs
• The Brickyard Artisan Court (where the Barcamp sessions will be held)
• The Center for Design North (where the Barcamp pitches will be held)

In addition to all this, you’ll be on time to the barcamp pitches!  But don’t miss out, the last tour will begin at 8:45 so we can all get there before 9am.

If you don’t get the tour, you can still make it on your own.  Here’s a map with information to make it simple and straightforward.  It’s a google map and works well by searching for the url right in your maps program on a smart phone.

See you all tomorrow!

Cheers,

Herlo

Even though FUDCon officially doesn’t start until Saturday morning, I’ll down in the meeting room at the Courtyard playing board games and discussing nerdy things with my Fedora friends.  I’ve even brought a few board games with me to share.

• Power Grid – Supply the most cities with power
• Pandemic – Prevent a worldwide pandemic outbreak
• Small World – Conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them all.
• Metro – Complete the longest rail lines against other players
• Perudo – Sometimes called Liars Dice

There’s also a bigger list on the FUDCon Tempe wiki page.  If you are interested in these games, come and find me and let’s play!

Cheers,

Herlo

FUDCon Tempe 2011 is here in just a few short days.  Some of the people I would expect to attend, aren’t going to be at FUDCon this year.  I am going to miss their presence immensely.

• It’s the first FUDCon without the master of karaoke, Greg DeKoenigsberg.  He’ll be missing out on the warm weather and friendly collaboration for sure.
• I know my good friend, David Nalley isn’t going to make it either. I have been at so many Fedora events with him, it will sure be a bit lacking without his late nights and overall good nature.
• I’m also saddened to hear that Karsten Wade won’t be able to attend, he will surely be missed with his community insight and valuable opinions.

There are others, in fact, who I know probably would like to come.  These specific instances stood out to me because I think of them as amazing contributors.  Their consistent attendance at events like FUDCon have encouraged me to return year after year to events I now love. Mind you, the above folks I mentioned aren’t missing from Fedora overall.  In fact, I know that each of them and many more who can’t make FUDCon this coming weekend in person can still participate and contribute from afar (and will likely do so).

I see a new generation of contributor helping to grow Fedora into a grand new direction.  I’m interested in seeing where this road will take us, and I think that’s the joy.  With each new contributor in a community like Fedora, we continue down the path of the best of free and open source software, but we can meander into realms we had never thought of before.  This is what excites me!

Like I said, I’m on my way to FUDCon Tempe for what is no doubt going to be an awesome event. Right now, I am sitting in my hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona.  A mere 151 miles, about 2 hours at 75mph, from the Courtyard in Tempe, Arizona, where most of our attendees will stay for four days.  I should easily be there by early afternoon tomorrow.

Mind you, this trip was planned for me to be eight days, two travel days to and from Salt Lake City.  Just this afternoon, we spent about 3.5 hours at the amazing Grand Canyon National Park.  If you get a chance to visit this amazing natural canyon, at 10 miles across, do it!  Our little family had a great time seeing the sights and riding the buses around.  By the way, dusk is really amazing at the park, don’t miss that either.

The FUDCon planning committee has crossed all the t’s and dotted all the i’s.  Thanks to sponsors like Google, Rackspace, and of course our hosts, Arizona State University, we get to have food and fun while working toward our common goal.  Thanks to all who put in such hard work to make this event rock!

See you all in just a few days!

Cheers,

Herlo

You know, I’ve always enjoyed that statement.  I love hearing it over the PA at the circus, at a restaurant when someone is about to make an announcement, or at a the start of a presentation at a conference.  Not sure why, but it just gets me all excited about the world, the future and I perk up wide-eyed with anticipation of what’s going to happen next…

I’m as excited as ever to say these words myself.  I’m so happy, in fact, that I wanted to share it with you, my dear audience.  My friends, colleagues, fellow UTOS compatriots, I would like to share with you some wonderful news!  The future is bright for free and open source software right here in our fine state.

Just look around you and you will see companies coming into Utah right and left.  While some do not appear open source friendly, don’t be fooled, they want you with your amazing Linux skills, or incredible Python Fu.  It’s you they want, Miss PHP master, scripting fiend, fanciful master of kickstart!  The real question though, will be, where will these companies look for their talent?

In my opinion, they will look to the great technical community already here in Utah.  They will strive to find and hire the best and brightest from our ranks.  They will want to hire those from our communities of experts, skilled craftsman, coders, system administrators and much, much more.  It is my belief that they will want to hire from those of you who participate in our Local User Groups and directly with Utah Open Source.

I say these things with great fervor and joy.  I’d like to announce the 2011 theme of Utah Open Source, ‘Community’.

My departure from the Executive Director position leaves me to work more closely with the UTOS board of directors.  In my stead, Victor Villa will take the responsibilities and leadership of the Executive Director.

Victor comes to UTOS with a great deal of community leadership.  As the former president of the Utah PHP User Group for the past several years, Victor grew the local PHP community every year.  He’s been a great supporter of UTOS since its inception in 2006.  With his foresight and leadership, I know that UTOS will continue to grow and flourish.  I am excited to pass the baton of leadership of UTOS to a man I have grown to admire and appreciate. Thank you Victor for taking on the role of leading Utah Open Source into this bright future!

During our conversations, I’ve asked Victor to spend some extra time during 2011 focusing on community growth and development.  With this in mind, Victor and I agree that 2011 will be a year of community building.  In 2012, the Utah Open Source Conference will return.  I will let Victor respond to my comments, with a post of his own, addressing the rest of his vision for UTOS.  I’m truly excited to be a part of UTOS, and with all of the goals Victor has set forth, I am very excited for the future!

Thank you for letting me be part of this community.  I will never forget you.  I will miss you all so very much when our family moves to Southern California in the fall.

Much Joy and Excitement,

Your friend,

Clint