Confessions of a SysAdmin

Ell Marquez

Community Architect

Technology Evangelist
Training Architect
- Docker Quickstart
- Essential Container Concepts
OpenStack Mentorship Co-lead
OpenStack Trainer
Linux System Administrator

Ell Marquez

Professional noob

Allie Barnes

OpenStack Engineer
DevOps Engineer
Linux SysAd

Cloud Operations Engineer

120-211-123

Ellopunk.com

Confession #1

I really wanted to feel accepted by the Linux Community. However, more often than not I felt I couldn't get past the front gate.

Confession #1

Gate Keeping Happens.

What's Linux?

Hardware

Kernel

Libraries/
Drivers

Apps

User Space

Operating system

Even Linus Torvalds doesn't completely understand the Linux kernel.

Lessons to be learned:

Look at the big picture.
- All you need is a starting point.
Gate Keeping happens

Confession #2

I've psyched myself into thinking Linux is a lot harder than it is several times, simply by using the wrong tools for the job, or aiming above my skillset.

TL;DR Linux doesn't have to be hard to use.

rEal LinUx aDmIns uSe ArCH

Picking a Linux Distribution

What are you using Linux for?

Workload
Features
Skillset

Keep Learning!

BYOL, Arch, etc.

use VMs! (Kali, etc.)

#OSChallenge with Ell

- github: Ellopunk/OSchallenge

Lessons to be learned:

Use the right distro for what you need - work smarter, not harder!
Don't lock yourself into one distro, keep learning!

Confession #3

When I started as a sysadmin, I was told to use all the tools I had available to me. However, when using the GUI, I was told I wasn't a real admin. I don't understand why that tool is not okay to use.

Tar vs "open here"

Button click?

user@localhost:~# tar -xzvf mentoring-101.tar.gz

CLI equivalent example:

nmcli vs network manager

Lessons to be learned:

Learn your tools - again, work smarter, not harder!
Learn appropriate use cases.

Confession #4

Technology sucks sometimes. There are plenty of days when I feel discouraged and want to throw my computer out of a window... and, that's okay.

War Story Time!

Confession #4b

When things didn't work as planned, I blamed my self even though most of the time the issues were limitations in the OS, not my abilities.

Ell's War Story

Lessons to be learned:

It's okay to try new distros.
- In fact I would encourage it.
- Join #OSChallenge.

Confession #5

I'm scared to admit when I don't know something I feel like my peers would expect me to know, and I psych myself out of asking for help because of this.

It's okay not to know.

Docs!

Confession #5a

Sometimes you really do need to RTFM.

Lessons to be learned

Google is your friend.
Documentation is your friend.
- Write the Docs!

Confession #6

I feel like my certifications are what gets my resume/profiles looked at, sometimes. But, it's only a starting point. Do I know what I'm talking about past the exam?