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Re: Unix administrator



* Peter Jay Salzman (p@dirac.org) spake thusly:
> begin: Dimitri Maziuk <dmaziuk@yola.bmrb.wisc.edu> quote

For Peter and suchlike: <SARCASM><IRONY>:);):-);-)8*)

> this is sheer and utter nonsense.  you said "admin", not "programmer", right?
In order to get various FPieces Of Software work in a heterogeneous
network environment you'd better understand very well how FPOSes work.

> 1. you DON'T start programming assembly language to become a unix admin.
Unless you want to understand how computers work.

> 2. you DON'T have to learn C to be a fledgling unix admin, although it would
>    definitely make sense to read K&R down the road, AFTER you learn basics.
>    a good knowledge of make is more important.
Unless you want to understand how unix works.

> 3. you DON'T need to read knuth and aho to become a unix admin.
Well, ok, but this stuff is good to know anyway.

> 4. you DON'T need to learn discrete math to become a unix admin.  being able
>    to use a calculator is good enough.
Bullshit. Basic understanding of logic is required, as are automata and state
machines. Basics of sets, number theory and such help, too.
 
> 5. you CERTAINLY DON'T need to read stevens to become a unix admin.  a good
>    book like the NAG is certainly enough to begin with.   later on, you can
>    flesh out your knowledge with more detailed books.  stevens is overkill.
You sure don't need to know how sockets work if you're troubleshooting
$SERVER. No Sir.

> 6. you DON'T need to read ESR's cathedral to become a unix admin.  that the
>    HECK does this have to do with admining?
Hmm... I guess I should go read it first, then I'll come up with a witty retort.

> 7. you DON'T need to start soldering shit.
No you needn't know about crone tool, patch panels and crimpatools either.
Who needs that shit anyway?

Reminds me of a MSc (CS) who came in for an interview the other day and saw 
MRTG graphs on my monitor. 
"What are those?" 
"Network usage stats pulled off the switch" 
Blank stare
"The hub" 
Blank stare
"See this grey box with lots of wires coming out of it? It's called a switching hub" 
Blank stare directed at the switch
...

You don't need to know anything. Some of us like to understand WTF we're doing 
so we have to know these things. YMMV.

> this is completely insane.  
As is the desire to become a sysadmin.

...
> > Set up Sendmail, Bind and Inn on your quadruple-boot home peecee
> only if you want to become a professional.  
LOL Noooo, I want to become an amateur! 

...
>>  no need to know bind and inn...
Inn is crucial as by that time your sex life is limited to alt.binaries.*
(no time for anything but study) and you don't want that to depend on your 
ISP's loser newsadmins and content filtering.

...
> > (read everything you can find on linuxdoc.org).
> good advice, but unrealistic.  
And this is different from the rest of it exactly how?

One very important step I left out:

0. First of all, read and understand Alice in Wonderland. Once you figure out
how an entity, what it's called, its name, and what that's called are four 
different things (eg. there are these sequences of electrical pulses that we
call "binary numbers", whose name is "Service Access Points", and we call them 
"ports"), you can proceed to Zen coans. Once you realize there's no moon in
the bucket, you can proceed to exercises with soldering iron.

For Peter-like pedants: (*8(-;(-:(;(:</IRONY></SARCASM>

Ok, seriously, what I described before is a BSc (CS) form a decent uni plus
10 years practical experience. Is that so wrong?

Dima
-- 
E-mail dmaziuk at bmrb dot wisc dot edu (@work) or at crosswinds dot net (@home)
http://www.bmrb.wisc.edu/descript/gpgkey.dmaziuk.ascii -- GnuPG 1.0.4 public key
The wombat is a mixture of chalk and clay used for respiration.       -- MegaHal



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