Linux In The Real World Cbt Nuggets Torrent Download
Hilke Mcnally
But what does "Real World" when not referring to MTV mean? Let's start with a little background. Linux isn't the first CBT Nuggets "Real World" series. Jeremy Cioara's "Cisco CCNA Labs: Cisco for the Real World" holds that title. The idea for the series came from Jeremy himself. He wanted to do a series that would address actual interests and concerns from actual viewers.
To do that, we devised a strategy: Jeremy would make one video, with a lesson he thought was applicable to a wide range of viewers. Anyone who watched the video could then take a survey about what topics Jeremy should address in future videos. The rest of the series would be created based on that feedback.
The result was a success. Jeremy loved hearing from nearly 200 viewers, and viewers loved having their concerns answered. A "Real World" series isn't just for people who wanted to pass a test; it's for anyone who plans to use their skills in "yes" the real world.
Linux is the latest platform to get the "Real World" treatment. Shawn was particularly interested because he's had interns over the years, and he thinks it's a valuable experience. But he often found that situations he assumed would be difficult for interns were no problem, and ones he thought would be easy, weren't. The "Real World" approach lets him give almost everyone a "virtual internship" experience. The "interns" tell him what's confusing (or too easy), and he tailors the training from there. The first video received an enormous response in just the first week it was available!
I was recently asked what a day in the life of a sysadmin looks like. The truth is far less exotic than most folks would expect. A "typical" day usually means spending 6+ hours staring at a computer screen trying to figure out why OSX Open Directory won't authenticate to an Active Directory server.
Or a 14-hour marathon of installing patches on individual workstations, because they're network patches that fail when installed remotely. So rather than give an actual example of an average day, I decided to create an unusually busy and productive day, which includes tasks that happen regularly; they just don't usually all happen on the same day. Keep in mind, some of the items below do take place every day, particularly the maintenance stuff.
There's also the unfortunate truth that a day in the life of a system administrator isn't necessarily the best and most efficient way to run a day. As I go through the "normal" day, I'll make notes along the way. Even the most seasoned professional can improve their efficiency and workflow, so I'll do my best to advise myself!
4:17 a.m.Capitulate and grab cellphone from nightstand. Don't have glasses on, so hold phone two inches from face, and get blinded by the screen brightness. Check emails for any automated failure notices. Lack of any email, including SPAM, means email isn't loading. Force quit mail app and restart it: 47 new messages, but a quick scan of subjects shows no major failure notifications. Set phone down and try to go back to sleep.
4:23 a.m.Can't sleep. Grab phone and check Twitter, Facebook, G+, and browse news sites. Load all websites from work to make sure network is working and servers are up. Check that network backups succeeded last night (at work).
NOTE: While I don't know if I'll ever be able to stop myself from manually checking servers and such, a far more efficient method is to automate checks from both internal and external sources, then have reports emailed to you. Be sure to read that daily report, and if there are Kills (or it doesn't arrive!) you'll know exactly where to start. I will warn that if you set up too many daily email reports, they'll start to seem like background noise and you will miss important information, or you might not notice if one of them fails to arrive.
4:45 a.m.Give up and get out of bed. Put on glasses and wander to kitchen. Realize I forgot the dogs, go back and let them out of their crates and outside. Get coffee pot locked and loaded, and then measure the beans. I have a hand grinder, so I literally grind beans for five minutes or so with a crank. Press "brew" and wander into office.
6:05 a.m.Drink second cup of coffee, while reading online news sites. Check graphs for both home and work networks, including bandwidth usage overnight, CPU loads, memory usage, etc. Everything looks OK.
NOTE: Even if you have set up email reports, and they all appear OK, a cursory look at your systems is always a good idea. I once had perfectly good-looking reports, only to find that my web server had been attacked by an Internet worm, and had filled up all its RAM and swap file with requests. Reports only report what you ask them to report, so don't get burned by your monitor program saying, "But you didn't ASK me about swap file usage on the frontend web server" .Monitoring programs can be jerks.
NOTE: Slow traffic doesn't count as a red light. Checking email in slow moving traffic is a horrible idea. Listen to music. Or an audiobook. Or talk to Siri via bluetooth. But don't check email or texts.
7:52 a.m.Get stopped in hallway by coworker asking why changing passwords is mandatory every six months. Cringe at how lax every six months is, but try to explain rationale behind password security.
NOTE: I joke about getting stopped in the hallway, but it really does happen. I used to get frustrated by this, but really it's an incredible opportunity to communicate with your users. Just plan for it, and such encounters can be incredibly beneficial to you and your users. In the world of digital communication, it's amazing what a little face time can mean to a person.
8:20 a.m.Walk through server room, do a visual inspection of server racks. Notice failed power supply on one server (it's a redundant power supply). Unplug and plug back in. Failure light stays off, but make a mental note to keep an eye on it.
8:45 a.m.Check email again. Reply to question about wireless access for guests here for a tour. They want to check email during their breaks. Create temporary account for them to all share, and remind person to arrange things like this in advance. Create reminder to delete temporary account at the end of the day and check the web logs for the account.
NOTE: This wireless situation is a perfect example of how a little time invested now will save hours and hours later. The solution will look different for ever situation, but whether you choose to implement one-time passwords, or guest accounts, or a guest wireless network with limited access having a way for guests to use wireless without contacting the operations department will be an incredible time saver. Plus, it will make your guests and those hosting guests very happy.
Track down ethernet cord plugged into two ports on the same switch in an overcrowded office. Unplug cable, network normalized. Restart printers, because for some reason they don't handle packet storms well.
NOTE: The first time this happened to me, it took over a day to figure out. I didn't have the experience or training to know how to track something like this down. If you're planning to be a system administrator, Cisco security training is incredibly beneficial. Even if you don't plan to get certified, this training will help you troubleshoot networking issues and make you a much more valuable employee.
NOTE: Communicate, communicate, communicate. The difference between a system administrator who can do their job and a system administrator who excels at their job comes down to communication. Don't blame the network loop on the crowded office space, just communicate the situation so those in charge of purchasing are better informed. In my last sysadmin job, we could never afford the network drops required to stop situations like these, but informing everyone meant far less down time when it did happen. My calls during an outage were usually something like, "Mr. Powers, I think there might be a network loop in our wing again everything went offline and the blinky lights are solid" I call that sort of empowerment a win for everyone.
1 p.m.Head to shipping/receiving to pick up packages. New monitors arriving today for second-floor managers. Could have monitors delivered, but prefer to go and touch base with the folks in shipping to make sure everything is going OK, especially after network outage earlier today.
1:47 p.m.Head back to office. Brew new pot of coffee, and notice voicemail light blinking (I always forget to check voicemail). There are three messages about network outage earlier, safe to delete.
NOTE: This is one of those things that you don't normally find in books. While much of it is just learned by experience, take advantage of the "Real World" courses here at CBT Nuggets. The other trainers and I try really hard to give you as much of these troubleshooting tips as we can, because while the school of hard knocks is effective, it's not very pleasant or efficient.
3:30 p.m.Tackle back log of broken hardware in workroom. Two laptops need to be re-imaged. One has a clicking hard drive, so is replaced with another drive cannibalized from laptop with broken screen. One bad monitor, not worth fixing. One computers unable to authenticate. Suspect bad network hardware; log in with local admin account and can't ping. Embedded ethernet port, not worth fixing. Pull out hard drive and put into freshly cloned machine. Works. Leave sticky note for intern to deliver and retrieve loaner computer.
NOTE: If at all possible, teach people while you do this. Your time is better spent elsewhere, yet all too often the system administrator is the only one who can do this sort of work. Teach an intern, or if you're in a school, teach a student helper.
4:22 p.m.Meet with vendor about upcoming wireless infrastructure upgrade. Vendor wants to test wireless penetration between offices. Hand off vendor to intern, quietly tell intern to stay with vendor at all times, see him out of the building, and not to leave doors unlocked.
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