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Are there any good resources for what to mind as a sysadmin? It seems that most resources I find when searching, or that come across my radar (like this article

Are there any good resources for what to mind as a sysadmin? It seems that most resources I find when searching, or that come across my radar (like this article) are focused on mechanism and how-to. I often feel a bit out of my depth when dealing with sysadmin tasks. I can achieve pretty much any task I set out to, but it is difficult to ascertain if I have done so well, or with obvious gaps, or if I have reinvented some wheels. Does anyone have a recommendation for in-depth "So you want to be a sysadmin..." content? Whether books, articles, presentations, or any other format.

megous 4y ago
Depends on what system you want to administrate. The topic is very broad. But it never hurts to understand the fundamentals: - networking (IPv4/IPv6/TCP/UDP/ICMP/various link layer technologies (ethernet, wifi, ppp, USB, ...)... and concepts like VPNs/VLAN/bridging/switching/routing/...) - protocols (DHCP, DNS, NTP, SMTP, HTTP, TLS, ...) - chosen OS fundamentals (so on Linux things like processes, memory, storage, process isolation, file access control, sockets, VFS, ...) - OS tooling (process managers, logging tools, network configuration tools, firewall, NAT, ...) - how to setup typical services (mail servers, file servers, http servers/proxies, DNS servers, DNS resolvers, ...) - how to use tools to debug issues (tracing, packet capture, logging, probing, traffic generators, ...) - how to use tools to monitor performance of the network and hosts These are just some basics to run a home network or maybe a small business network.
- greggyb 4y ago
  This is a helpful review of the fundamentals to cover. I will definitely be doing my own searches for content on the topics. Do you have any good references for resources in the vein of teaching the fundamentals. Not like "DNS: here is how to configure a BIND server" but like "DNS: Here are the core concepts, what you will typically need to set up, common issues / confusions, and further reading." I have tried going through RFCs for a lot of these, but they tend to be focused on implementation rather than "why". Similarly, software-specific content is "how to achieve this outcome with this implementation", but lacks context on why one would want that outcome.
  - megous 4y ago
    I'm reading this book and it contains explanations about "why" too, in addition to some light historical context in places: Douglas Comer: "Internetworking with TCP/IP Volume One 6th Edition"

megous 4y ago

Depends on what system you want to administrate. The topic is very broad. But it never hurts to understand the fundamentals: - networking (IPv4/IPv6/TCP/UDP/ICMP/various link layer technologies (ethernet, wifi, ppp, USB, ...)... and concepts like VPNs/VLAN/bridging/switching/routing/...) - protocols (DHCP, DNS, NTP, SMTP, HTTP, TLS, ...) - chosen OS fundamentals (so on Linux things like processes, memory, storage, process isolation, file access control, sockets, VFS, ...) - OS tooling (process managers, logging tools, network configuration tools, firewall, NAT, ...) - how to setup typical services (mail servers, file servers, http servers/proxies, DNS servers, DNS resolvers, ...) - how to use tools to debug issues (tracing, packet capture, logging, probing, traffic generators, ...) - how to use tools to monitor performance of the network and hosts These are just some basics to run a home network or maybe a small business network.

greggyb 4y ago
This is a helpful review of the fundamentals to cover. I will definitely be doing my own searches for content on the topics. Do you have any good references for resources in the vein of teaching the fundamentals. Not like "DNS: here is how to configure a BIND server" but like "DNS: Here are the core concepts, what you will typically need to set up, common issues / confusions, and further reading." I have tried going through RFCs for a lot of these, but they tend to be focused on implementation rather than "why". Similarly, software-specific content is "how to achieve this outcome with this implementation", but lacks context on why one would want that outcome.
- megous 4y ago
  I'm reading this book and it contains explanations about "why" too, in addition to some light historical context in places: Douglas Comer: "Internetworking with TCP/IP Volume One 6th Edition"