Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How do I learn how to become a good sysadmin?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 124 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn how to become a good sysadmin?

#111

Post by RRRA »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #102
lamontcg wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Continuous Delivery is going to eliminate that from the equation. The software developer will write software and tests and if they pass the tests throughout the pipeline then it will ship to production automatically and potentially multiple times per day. Much faster than the heavy ITIL based change control process that requires you to be inserted in the middle of it will manage. The companies that do this will have…

The amount of examples I have in my daily job demonstrate that no, the concept that developers won't have any need for IT staff is a day that is never going to come. And while I make a point to have a relatively varied skill set, the truth is, trying to be both a developer and an admin is going to just mean you suck at both jobs.

Agreed, even finding a sysadmin-only that knows something is hard. When I talk to dev that have no idea about system, security, networking, etc: forget about them trying to wear 2 hats...

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn how to become a good sysadmin?

#112

Post by nostalgiac »

jaimebuelta wrote: post #14

I am not a sysadmin, so probably there are better specific advice. But, from the point of view of a developer, the thing that I appreciate the most on a fellow sysadmins is to be calm and methodic at all times. Organised. Having a plan and know what to do. Being ready for disasters. Do we need to update a security patch on every single server? Ok, list of servers, start with server one, finish with the last one, don'…

Learning to be calm and methodic as a system administrator is something that comes with experience. It's a great way to tell experienced and non-experienced sysadmins apart.

As you said, if a server catches fire, the newbie sysadmin will freak out and start running around in circles screaming. The experienced sysadmin has seen it 10x before and knows its not a big issue - removes, extinguishes and replaces it.

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn how to become a good sysadmin?

#113

Post by Fourkeys »

denysonique wrote: post #98
denysonique wrote: post #78

The first step is: Install Gentoo

Some of you may want to down vote this comment, however only those who ever installed Gentoo know the deep meaning behind that sentence.

Then perhaps you could elaborate on the sentence, seeing as the thread is about helping the learning process of a sysadmin. Posting something that only someone experienced in it would "understand" is entirely unhelpful and the likely reason for any down votes.

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn how to become a good sysadmin?

#114

Post by bsbechtel »

nstart wrote: post #39
crypt1d wrote: post #22

Sorry to disagree with a lot of posts here. >At the most basic level, when firing up a new server I follow the how to harden your server guides and install fail2ban, disable root login, enable ssh only login etc. This is simply wrong. There are two things wrong with this approach: 1. If I understood correctly, you are essentially following random guides on the internet about setting up your security rig. Not too far…

You are right with the following blog posts blindly is a bad idea. And I feel guilty that I didn't invest time to learn why I commented those lines in IP conf (it's bad enough that I don't remember which files I changed). So I've definitely got a place to start working on already. The mentorship part is a lot more difficult. Good sysadmins are really difficult to find in Sri Lanka. I've worked with a few companies so…

You should reach out to @arunoda (https://twitter.com/arunoda), founder of Meteor Hacks. He's one of the leading voices in deployment architecture for the open source meteor.js project, and based in Sri Lanka.

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn how to become a good sysadmin?

#116

Post by ephemer1c »

I've been doing Linux for 16 years, no big deal.

Most valuable advice I can offer is: learn an editor and use it for everything.

OpenSSH is boss for all networking issues.

Netfilter (iptables) once understood is used daily.

And something I call "The 2s Complement": know two of everything, two distros (RPM and .deb), two shells (bash and zsh), two MTAs, two... you get the picture.

In every environment you will be able to perform then.

Use zsh with GRML completion, saves so much time.

For hacking, read all Phrack issues.

Know shell scripting and at least one other interpreted language like Python, Perl, PHP, Ruby.

Don't waste time on desktops, changing looks etc. I wasted so much time early on customising everything, great fun but no ROI whatsoever.

But the most important thing is... how to think! That that my friend takes a long time and only you can construct your own effective thought processes and algorithms.

Build terse mnemonics to aid in command options.

Oh yes, keep everything you code, script etc. for future reference and learning and improving.

Learn to code and then learn to think in code when sysadmining systems. Infrastructure as code.

Another thing, build scripts, configurations, solutions etc. as objects and reuse those objects, eg. a rsyslog configuration stanza for a UDP input that is portable and can be reused.

Sorry for waffling on I can think of so much more...

Start a blog and copy/paste your ideas and interesting work configs, code, scripts etc. there.

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn how to become a good sysadmin?

#117

Post by ephemer1c »

protomyth wrote: post #30

Start with two mantras: 1. I will know exactly what every command or script I run on a system I control is supposed to do - no exceptions. If I don't and are just following instructions, I really need to learn what it means and why. If you need to setup a test system and snapshot before and after to see how things work. 2. I will document a lot. Imagine some poor person showing up after you have won the lottery (thin…

I don't think anyone knows what every single script and command does on a system. Has anyone read and audited all the init scripts for example? Never. And where would one find the time to do this? Certainly not on the job.

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn how to become a good sysadmin?

#118

Post by nstart »

bsbechtel wrote: post #114
nstart wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are right with the following blog posts blindly is a bad idea. And I feel guilty that I didn't invest time to learn why I commented those lines in IP conf (it's bad enough that I don't remember which files I changed). So I've definitely got a place to start working on already. The mentorship part is a lot more difficult. Good sysadmins are really difficult to find in Sri Lanka. I've worked with a few companies so…

You should reach out to @arunoda ( https://twitter.com/arunoda ), founder of Meteor Hacks. He's one of the leading voices in deployment architecture for the open source meteor.js project, and based in Sri Lanka.

I have actually. He's one of my heroes in SL. He works close to where I'll be moving to soon (it's all in one IT park). Guy is very very humble. Very nice to talk to him. Also one of the few all in believers of TDD :D

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn how to become a good sysadmin?

#119

Post by Naery »

I'm a Windows Server Administrator, have been for a very long time. And, if you'll permit it, I'll say I'm a damn good one. I think there are two things that have gotten me to where I am today: 1) Incessantly asking why, and 2) voracious reading and research in my lab.

I acquired some servers a while back, then got some switches, then a router, all enterprise-grade gear, and I set up some virtual servers, vswitches, etc... Basically, I made a ridiculously complicated home lab. To do so, I followed tutorials online, but at every step of the way, I asked "why is this necessary, what does this do, why do I do it this way". That gave me a great foundational understanding.

Then, I realized that certifications aren't restricted to a certain group of people, anyone can take them, so I started studying for certifications. The idea was, these large governing bodies think these are the kinds of things that experts should know, so if I learn these things, I should be an expert. Right? Not quite, but reading up on each of the features, etc, that are covered in the certification exams really expanded my horizons. Then of course, I started asking Why would I use that and things just snowballed. Hear about something, ask why it is what it is and why people need/want it, then read up on it.

My home lab has been one of my greatest learning tools. Everything I've read about I have set up, installed, configured in my home lab. Then, I usually ask my brother (who also does IT) to come break something in the lab. He of course doesn't tell me what it is, and I have to go figure out what my "junior admin" did wrong and repair it.

So, I guess the TL;DR version is this: You need three things: 1) A home lab. 2) The question Why. 3) Tons and tons of reading.

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn how to become a good sysadmin?

#120

Post by davidgerard »

A lot of the comments here are about technical detail. But knowing the technical details is just a prerequisite.

Half the job is having a sense for technologies.

* You will have projects dropped on you that you literally never heard of 24 hours before, and you will be expected to be able to support them. ... and, with some experience, you will.

* People will come to you with great new technologies! ... that you'll get a sense of disaster about. You will need to articulate your concerns in a manner that doesn't piss off everyone invested in the bad idea.

* Be humble, don't turn into an expert beginner. (Look that up.)

* Find other sysadmins to drink and bitch about work with. Your geekosphere will keep you balanced, help your career and be a vital source of info.

Politics is the other half of the job, even though you're expected to be a consummate techie. Treat every email as a press communication, it'll be picked over like one.

* This is not a technology festival, it's an organisation that does something. Always look from that angle.

* The BOFH stories are stories. Nobody, anywhere, actually wants to deal with the grumpy BOFH, in any circumstance.

I have been a sysadmin for 15 years. I fully expect to be gainfully employed until age 100 if I want to, because even in the future, nothing works.

Post reply on HN