ADVANCED TOPICS
IN SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
CIS 5930-02
Syllabus — Fall 2012

Times, People and Places

Instructor: Randolph Langley

    Email: langley@cs.fsu.edu
    Tel: 644-4290
    Office: 208 MCH Building

Class time and place

Tuesday/Thursday from 2:00 until 3:15 in Room 301LOV

Office hours

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday 9:30 — 10:30
Tuesday/Thursday 3:45 — 4:15

Class home page

http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~langley/CIS5930-2012-Fall

Class Description

In this class, we will cover advanced, practical isses in system administration, using where possible actual tasks and problems. During the class, we will also have some invited guest speakers from the system administration community.

Each student will also by the end of class have created one virtual appliance or ad hoc server that will be added to our public repository. Each student will also write a final paper for submission to a conference or journal.

Class Prerequisites

There are no formal class prerequisites, but it is expected that you are a member of the system administration team. Special permission from the instructor is required for students who are not a current member of the system administration team.

Objectives

In this class, we will be (1) developing our liaison activities throughout the college with the objective of gaining credit for the "work experience" requirement for the CSNA track; (2) learning the ins and outs of sandboxing of problems and experiences; (3) leveraging the experience of the world community of system administrators; (4) practical experience with the development and maintenance of virtual appliances.

Class Topics

• Life in the real world: talking with people who are doing real-world system administration in a variety of places.
• AIC: building safe, resilient systems.
• Thinking in waves: how do we "future-proof" our work?
• Virtualization and its impacts on system administration.
• Virtual appliance maintenance.
• Communications between users, system administrators, and business management.
• Tactical planning (for instance, large move projects, consolidation projects, etc.)
• Ad hoc systems and deployment

Class Project List

• In the real world: gig-the-gators.com (September & October)
• In the lab: Condor (October/November)

Recommended Texts

Network Warrior, 2nd edition Gary A. Donahue, O'Reilly Media, May 2011, Print ISBN: 978-1-4493-8786-0 (Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4493-8787-7)

The Art of Unix Programming Eric S. Raymond, Addison-Wesley Professional, October 2003, ISBN: 978-0131429017

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, 2nd edition Frederick Brooks, Addison-Wesley Professional, August 1995, ISBN: 978-0201835953

Additional recommended material

Please see the class home page for this topical material, which will be augmented as the semester goes on.

Assessment

Grades

Class Policies

Class Participation

Note that more than 3/13 of your grade is determined by class participation. This includes not only showing up for lectures, demos, and worksite visits, but also will include your relevant system adminitrator work experience component.

Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Do not turn in other people's work as your own; this includes, but is not limited to, unattributed copying from web pages, other students' work, books, journals, or broadcast media. Citations and clear delineation of cited material from your own original work is mandatory.

The Florida State University academic honor policy is at http://www.fsu.edu/~dof/forms/honorpolicy.pdf

Official FSU statement on the Academic Honor Policy:

	ACADEMIC HONOR POLICY:
	
	The Florida State University Academic Honor Policy outlines the
	University's expectations for the integrity of students'
	academic work, the procedures for resolving alleged violations of
	those expectations, and the rights and responsibilities of
	students and faculty members throughout the process.  Students are
	responsible for reading the Academic Honor Policy and for living
	up to their pledge to "... be honest and truthful and
	... [to] strive for personal and institutional integrity at
	Florida State University." (Florida State University Academic
	Honor Policy, found at http://dof.fsu.edu/honorpolicy.htm.)
      

Attendance

Attendance at all class meetings is expected, and attendance may be taken each class session. Please extend courtesy in class by arriving on time, staying until dismissed, and refraining from food and drink. You are responsible for all information explained in class, some of which will not be available in written or electronic form. I will not feel obligated to repeat announcements of future exams, assignments, schedule changes, question sets, pop quizzes, or hints on assignments. If you are forced to miss a class, it is also your responsibility to get class notes from a friend and check with me for handouts. I will use the class home page to give out assignments and general class information.

Absence

Excused absences include illness, deaths in the immediate family and other documented crises, call to active military duty or jury duty, religious holy days, and official University activities. Accommodations for these excused absences will be made and will do so in a way that does not penalize students who have a valid excuse. Consideration will also be given to students whose dependent children experience serious illness.

Communication

You should check your electronic mail frequently for information about this course, as well as the class home page. You are also encouraged to use email to ask questions and report problems.

University ADA statement

	ADA
	
	AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT:
	Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should:
	
	(1) register with and provide documentation to the Student
	Disability Resource Center; and
	
	(2) bring a letter to the instructor indicating the need for
	accommodation and what type.  This should be done during the first
	week of class.
	
	This syllabus and other class materials are available in
	alternative format upon request.
	
	For more information about services available to FSU students with
	disabilities, contact the:
	
	Student Disability Resource Center
	874 Traditions Way
	108 Student Services Building
	Florida State University
	Tallahassee, FL 32306-4167
	(850) 644-9566 (voice)
	(850) 644-8504 (TDD)
	sdrc@admin.fsu.edu
	http://www.disabilitycenter.fsu.edu/
      

Please advise me at your earliest convenience (within one week) if you have a disability that will require a reasonable accommodation for the successful completion of this course. Also, as indicated above, you should register with the and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center, and provide me a letter indicating the need for accommodation and indicating what type.

Finally

If you are experiencing difficulty or are concerned about your progress, please speak with me immediately.