From owner-freebsd-chat Sun Sep 14 19:41:42 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id TAA21147 for chat-outgoing; Sun, 14 Sep 1997 19:41:42 -0700 (PDT) Received: from kalypso.cybercom.net (kalypso.cybercom.net [209.21.136.5]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id TAA21141 for ; Sun, 14 Sep 1997 19:41:40 -0700 (PDT) Received: from atlanta (mfd-dial2-29.cybercom.net [209.21.137.61]) by kalypso.cybercom.net (8.8.7/8.6.12) with SMTP id WAA00138; Sun, 14 Sep 1997 22:40:59 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19970914223953.009dc380@cybercom.net> X-Sender: ksmm@cybercom.net X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.3 (32) Date: Sun, 14 Sep 1997 22:39:53 -0400 To: Paul Griffith From: The Classiest Man Alive Subject: Re: Advice Needed - Unix System Admin Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG In-Reply-To: <19970915020106.21020@functional.com> References: <3.0.2.32.19970914211405.00691eac@interlog.com> <3.0.2.32.19970914211405.00691eac@interlog.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk At 02:01 AM 9/15/97 +0000, Giao Nguyen wrote: >Paul Griffith said: >> 2) Do you think on is better off learning the UNIX tools (i.e. shell >> scripts, pearl, performance tuning, etc.) than a vendor specific UNIX ? > >Erm. Those tools are helpful on all unix systems. The vendors usually >give you some sort of tools but still a little scripting goes a long >way. I think that it's good to start learning tools generally, i.e., become a knowledgable UNIX user. There's lots of good books that can get you started. But for ascending to the level of System Administrator, there's nothing that can replace good old fashioned hands-on experience. I was familiar enough with UNIX to do lots of common chores (edit and move files, run scripts, read e-mail, etc.), but my knowledge increased exponentially after I had set up my own Linux and FreeBSD boxes at home. I probably could have learned just as much at my office, but you'd be surprised at how adamantly opposed most SysAdmins are to the idea of giving users the root password so that they can experiment and learn. ;-) I also agree with Giao that it takes time with a particular system (read--time to see and fix a lot of problems on that system) to develop proficiency. K.S.