[AusNOG] Time for AusSOG I think (was Re: Happy Sysadminday)

[Matthew Moyle-Croft]

I agree pretty much.

The artificial divide between those who move information and those who process it and store it is arbitrary and artificial.

Being successful in our industry is about integration - understanding and being successful in the art and science of taking all the components (software, systems, storage, networks, datacentres, commercial and legal) and building the best services.

The current "fad" of "cloud/utility/grid/whatever" is a shining example of this.

Pretty much everyone I know who's really good at this game is across all of the aspects above so that they can come up with the best balance/compromise to meet the needs of their company and users.

Look at this list, we discuss a who range of issues related to Internet networks, including legal (filtering, copyright), commercial (take overs), operational, etc.

I've always thought of myself as an "integrator".   I've got a 20 year background in "systems" (mainly unix), an academic background in software and more than 15 years of networking experience, tied together with an understanding of commercial, legal and other things (including being a presales engineer for a lot of it).

It's okay to be a specialist, but declaring yourself as "not one of those" means your not going to be good at understanding where your specialty fits in the big scheme of things.

MMC


On 02/08/2010, at 10:07 AM, Narelle wrote:

On Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 1:18 PM, Mark Smith
<nanog at 85d5b20a518b8f6864949bd940457dc124746ddc.nosense.org<mailto:nanog at 85d5b20a518b8f6864949bd940457dc124746ddc.nosense.org>> wrote:

What are sysadmins doing on a _network operator_ mailing list?


Alright, I'll bite.

Over recent times I have seen a distinct divergence in the skill sets
of competent network operators/engineers/admins that is IMHO less than
helpful. People on the networking side have had somewhat of a fixation
on routers, ethernet switches and some related gear (eg voice or
transmission kit) to the detriment of the rest of the stuff that make
networks work: DNS, NTP, crucial databases, radius, OSS, web and mail
servers. These things are essential and most of the new network
elements that gradually make their way as mainstream gear start their
life as unix based systems, especially protocol gateways.

The first Juniper router I ever configured was running _unix_. Cisco's
first ATM switch ran unix. In more recent times I've played with
Session Border Controllers, DPI systems, IP voice switches - all on
unix platforms. Not to mention the many firewalls in use.

Surely people still run DNS and GateD??

Time was the good network administrator was also a respectable
sysadmin. I've met more than one netadmin in recent times that can't
even find their way around a *nix file system.

I think this again runs to the important skills needed on the ground
to run a network, as well as the nature of Best Practice in IP
networking. SO please don't get me started on how this leads to a lack
of understanding of protocols...


--


Narelle
narellec at gmail.com<mailto:narellec at gmail.com>
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--
Matthew Moyle-Croft
Peering Manager and Team Lead - Commercial and DSLAMs
Internode /Agile
Level 5, 162 Grenfell Street, Adelaide, SA 5000 Australia
Email: mmc at internode.com.au<mailto:mmc at internode.com.au>    Web: http://www.on.net<http://www.on.net/>
Direct: +61-8-8228-2909      Mobile: +61-419-900-366
Reception: +61-8-8228-2999        Fax: +61-8-8235-6909

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