From owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Dec 28 04:33:18 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8F6C716A41F for ; Wed, 28 Dec 2005 04:33:18 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from pi.codefab.com (pi.codefab.com [199.103.21.227]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1EB7043D49 for ; Wed, 28 Dec 2005 04:33:18 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pi.codefab.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 80DA25DD5; Tue, 27 Dec 2005 23:33:17 -0500 (EST) Received: from pi.codefab.com ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (pi.codefab.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 78921-06; Tue, 27 Dec 2005 23:33:16 -0500 (EST) Received: from [192.168.1.3] (pool-68-161-122-227.ny325.east.verizon.net [68.161.122.227]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pi.codefab.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8E6E45C77; Tue, 27 Dec 2005 23:33:16 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <43B21599.7060606@mac.com> Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 23:33:29 -0500 From: Chuck Swiger Organization: The Courts of Chaos User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.7 (Windows/20050923) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Brian Dunbar References: <43AE1366.4050401@millcitypc.com> In-Reply-To: <43AE1366.4050401@millcitypc.com> X-Enigmail-Version: 0.93.0.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at codefab.com Cc: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Subject: Re: New to the web host and ISP side of the house X-BeenThere: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Internet Services Providers List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 04:33:18 -0000 Brian Dunbar wrote: > I've taken on the (so far) part time system admin duties at a startup > web hosting company. I've just shy of a decade of experience as a > system admin (Solaris, BSD, Windows etc) but I find myself a bit out of > depth dealing with systems that are customer facing. > > Frankly I can't go much wrong - I know the basic setup is 'ok' but it > needs a fair bit of work. > > What are the best resources for coming up to speed in the ISP / web > hosting world? I'm thinking 'Dummies Guide for ISP System Admins' here. Read the later sections of the Handbook, twice. Look over the archives for the freebsd-isp mailing list. Talk to your clients and find out more about what they want, like, and dislike. Only worry about problems you can solve but haven't yet. Memorize polite phrases when a client blames you for their problems and yet you have to fix it anyway. Show them how to fix things, perhaps via Webmin, and see whether this helps. portaudit is your friend. -- -Chuck