Sysadmin Management/General
David Parter, University of Wisconsin, Madison
no formal presentation - more discussion
lack of coordination among groups
controlling student access to files
sudo
rbac
config files are cvs - machines pull their own config files - only ssh
to cvs repository
education and yelling
why aren't there best practices in an educational environment?
segmented, trust based networks
production network - segmentation
test network - firewalled
configuration management systems
many people don't have one
necessity - audit trail
simplicity and speed for changes
cfEngine - rule based, classes of machines, responsive user community
rcs/cvs
ticket system - internal and external issues placed within ticket
system
some small project management capabilities
who has it? is it used internally? who is satisfied?
project management vs trouble ticket systems
RT people seem satisfied
bugzilla - works for bug tracking in software, not good for trouble
tickets
public/private parts of tickets - wisc's home grown system doesn't let
users see any tickets based on rac
www.generalconcepts.com/resources/tracking
sysadmins don't have project management culture - not comfortable with
tools, limited tools
communication with peers/team so important
must be under an hour
wiki system - good for documentation, multiple links to same page
repository must be accessible
documentation of cron jobs
flat files
different ways to encourage documenting
how many people have a helpdesk?
how many survey users (at least once a year - formally)
needs accessment
who sets priorities for the group? who makes the decisions?
customer service
training for users