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Developer of Operations

When talking about Configuration Management it is important to acknowledge that writing Configuration Management code, or implementing “IaC” is virtually the same kind of work the software developers are performing. You use a professional code editor, abide to a strict set of syntax rules, track changes in Git or another VCS.

As an admin going the Configuration Management way, you effectively become a Developer of Operations for your infrastructure.

To emphasize the significance of the shift in work nature, the authors of the “UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook” say that approaching CM activities in a different manner, without coordination and software developer attitude will surely result in “a muddle of conflicting or parallel code” and ultimately “the abyss”.

Other notable quotes from the chapter are these:

changes should be structured, automated, and applied consistently among machines.
People sometimes conflate DevOps and configuration management
snowflake model of system administration – when no two systems are ever alike.
security implications of this approach, however: the client controls the facts that it reports, so make sure that a compromised client can’t exploit the configuration management system to gain additional privileges.
Nothing that runs out of cron, for example, can depend on the presence of an administrator to enter passwords. Working around that constraint inevitably ends up lowering security to the level of the root account.
all major CM systems use similar conceptual models,
- they describe these models with different lexicons.
- Unfortunately, the terminology used by a particular CM system often has more to do with conforming to a marketing theme than with maximizing clarity.
“environments,” both inside and outside the configuration management context.
- This seems to be the single term on which all configuration management systems agree.
- They’re an additional axis of variation that can affect multiple aspects of the configuration.
A number of projects focus on specific subdomains of configuration management,
- notably new-system provisioning (e.g., Cobbler) and
- software deployment (e.g., Fabric and Capistrano)

“Scripting” is not sloppy “programming”

Every time I need to mention some automation development work while talking to a client, I find myself overly watchful not to say the words “scripting” or “script” excessively. That’s how much of “sloppiness” is felt to be connotative to those terms in the public opinion.

Ergo, you can see how glad I was to find in the Chapter 7 of the “UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook” this understanding that

There’s no real distinction between “scripting” and “programming.” Language developers sometimes take offense when their babies are lumped into the “scripting” category, not just because the label suggests a certain lack of completeness, but also because some scripting languages of the past have earned reputations for poor design.

Of course, the importance of scripting cannot be overestimated as it is the main mediator in performing administrative changes reliably, in a consistent and repeatable manner, which are so important in the system administrator’s job as in no other “soft” profession.

Speaking of the subtle differences between “scripting” and “programming”, one could point out the issue of computing system efficiency. Indeed, “scripted” procedures are often several times “slower” than “programmed” counterparts. Administrative work, however, is more about the effectiveness of the administrator, which is the efficiency of the binding administrator+computing_system. As the book authors put it,

Optimization can have an amazingly low return on investment, even for scripts that run regularly out of cron.

Which is more significant out of the two Linus Torvalds’ biggest invetions: Linux kernel of Git? – another great question from the book. On one hand, Linux (albeit not the kernel alone) in this very 5th edition of the book has ousted all the other Unix systems of other editions, including commercial ones – so, perhaps it is quite important. On the other hand,

Mistakes are a fact of life.

System administration: How to start?

Today, a good friend of mine Nikolai Dyumin, a seasoned PhD in mathematics, asked me of a recommended book on the Unix system administration topic.

Immediately I recalled of the “Unix System Administration Handbook” by Evi Nemeth “and kids” paper back sample of the 2nd edition I have had and praised a lot since my early student years. It is a Russian translation (one of the best technical book translations I have ever read), pretty used already, nevertheless offering a good deal of timeless Unix philosophy inside.

While the book is still relevant in the terms of general administrator’s job approaches and concepts, a large part of it has become hopelessly obsolete over the past couple of decades of me owning it. Indeed, who still remembers the RS-232 cables or who does add user accounts directly on the host without any intermediary configuration management system or a centralized directory these days?

In an attempt to refine my book recommendation I went ahead and browsed a bit, and lo and behold! the 5th(!) edition of the book, modernly re-titled “UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook”, just popped up on my screen.

Looking inside the new edition made me realize just how much time has passed!

The book starts by telling us Evi Nemeth, the most renowned SysAdmin ever who is also a sailor, is no longer with us.

One of the Evi’s mottoes listed in preface states “Be conservative in what you send and liberal in what you receive” truly summarizes the essence of the SysAdmin’s character. Think of it. Probably half of the rest of the Evi’s tenets are largely variations on this one. Take for example “Be liberal in who you hire, but fire early” – that’s the same thing, basically!

And then there was the 1st chapter. A few quotes warrant bringing up.

your response to these [stupid] issues [like “I spilled coffee on my keyboard! Should I pour water on it to wash it out?”] affects your perceived value as an administrator far more than does any actual technical skill you might possess. You can either howl at the injustice of it all, or you can delight in the fact that a single well-handled trouble ticket scores more brownie points than five hours of midnight debugging.

– indeed, a system administrator is a psychologist first. Most administrator’s customers just need someone to understand their problem, regardless of the problem’s nature.

Use it [the nano editor] discreetly; professional administrators may be visibly distressed if they witness a peer running nano.

– looks so familiar!

Gartner found that AWS is ten times the size of all competitors combined

Have you ever thought AWS is that large? I haven’t. Doesn’t it qualify AWS as a monopoly?

As a system administrator, it’s in your best interest to befriend data center technicians and bribe them with coffee, caffeinated soft drinks, and alcoholic beverages.

– interesting, why the authors take the hardware specialists for confirmed drunkards? Is the hand work considered easier than the scripting or security testing while drunk? Or is this type of work more depressing?

Anyway, having recommended such a profound book of about 1300 pages to someone who is a scientist, I thought why wouldn’t I read the new edition myself? If nothing else, this’ll:

make my Unix philosophy freshly organized,
update me on the current technology trends in a good systematic manner,
help me grow professionally by learning from great professionals,
entertain me once again with the cool writing style.

It just occurred to me that:

today is the 1st of the month,
the month has 31 days, and
this 5th edition of the book happens to have precisely 31 chapters, conveniently and sequentially numbered through the four book parts.

So what am I still waiting for?! I’m starting on the quest of “A chapter a day” today with this fine book!

Life Balance for Android (with improvements)

Life Balance is a really neat dynamic ToDo list manager. Ideally, if used appropriately it can almost exactly suggest you what you need (and would enjoy) to do at any given moment in your life.

Like all near-perfect things it has a number of drawbacks though: