From owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jul 4 15:35:18 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6382316A4CE for ; Sun, 4 Jul 2004 15:35:18 +0000 (GMT) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk [81.2.69.218]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B990743D49 for ; Sun, 4 Jul 2004 15:35:16 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (localhost [IPv6:::1]) i64FZ9kK058858 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Sun, 4 Jul 2004 16:35:09 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: (from matthew@localhost)id i64FZ8sh058857; Sun, 4 Jul 2004 16:35:08 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew) Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2004 16:35:08 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman To: Dru Message-ID: <20040704153508.GA58009@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> Mail-Followup-To: Dru , freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org References: <20040702183604.A41037-100000@xena.mikey.net> <40E758D9.9060609@softweyr.com> <20040704083710.A546@dru.domain.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="pf9I7BMVVzbSWLtt" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20040704083710.A546@dru.domain.org> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i X-Greylist: Message not sent from an IPv4 address, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.3 (smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk [0.0.0.0]); Sun, 04 Jul 2004 16:35:09 +0100 (BST) X-Virus-Scanned: clamd / ClamAV version devel-20040612, clamav-milter version 0.72a on smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk X-Virus-Status: Clean X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.8 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.63 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk cc: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: Re: direction for training X-BeenThere: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD Evangelism List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 15:35:18 -0000 --pf9I7BMVVzbSWLtt Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Sun, Jul 04, 2004 at 09:31:03AM -0400, Dru wrote: > Also, I see all 3 BSDs as BSD and would like to see a curriculum that=20 > addresses all aspects of BSD. Do others agree that this shouldn't be a=20 > FreeBSD-baby and should be open to input from all of the BSDs? How much of what you need to know to be a FreeBSD admin is specifically FreeBSD related? A great deal of the material is not just common to all the *BSD family, but to any Unixoid system (shell scripting for example) or to any sort of computer. Consider, for example vinum(8). To use vinum, you should understand concepts like "what is RAID 1", "hardware vs software raid" and "what are the pros- and cons- of using volumne management", none of which are FreeBSD specific. Background knowledge should include what alternative RAID systems are available on various different OSes -- to just list a few of the software RAID systems: Solaris ODS, Vertias VxVM, vinum(8), RaidFrame, LVM, even if it doesn't go much beyond a one-liner describing each of them. Such is the basic theory that anyone working on any sort of system would have to learn about first. *BSD specific material then follows in, say, the practical details of using vinum -- how to build a RAID filesystem, installing the system using a mirrored root, recovery from a failed hard drive, interaction with GEOM under 5.x, etc. That's not to mention related things like ccd(4) or atacontrol(8). Such knowledge is purely factual, and relatively easily to test on-line. Similar modules could be constructed for other areas of system function, and presumably students could work towards a diploma or somesuch by getting a passing grade in a certain number of modules. However, at some point it will become more valuable to the student or to any prospective employer to add modules covering implementations on many different OSes. Going beyond mere regurgitation of facts and starting to do useful problem solving requires integration of knowledge from many such modules. A good sysadmin has to be able to create a synthesis of their general knowledge on a wide range of subjects, and the specific information about hardware and software they know or can gather through research in order to solve problems like "How can we increase the IO throughput on our database service with minimal cost and minimal disruption to live services" or "spec. out the hardware and software needed to provide an e-mail service for a company of such and such size, that sends so many messages per day, allowing for a reasonable expected growth over the next 18 months" This third level of competence is where the real value of the qualifications would lie. However it's the hardest level to assess anyone at -- questions may not have obviously right or wrong answers, and can't be tested using multiple choice. It's also impossible to do well without practical experience, either in a lab setting or simply by learning on the job. Cheers, Matthew --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Marlow Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK --pf9I7BMVVzbSWLtt Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFA6COsiD657aJF7eIRAsrYAJ90shNtAQYhqBm/La1v3/UTZivCIACfcUTO X2d7QgGWGBpguF07K9xOKNo= =03gD -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --pf9I7BMVVzbSWLtt--