ADVANCED TOPICS
IN SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
CIS 5930
Syllabus — Spring 2016

Instructor: Randolph Langley

    Email: langley@cs.fsu.edu
    Tel: 645-1225
    Office: 103 MCH Building

Class time and place

Monday/Wednesday from 5:15 until 6:30 in Room 103LOV

Office hours

Wednesday 1:00 — 3:00

Class home page

http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~langley/CIS5930-2016-Spring

Class Description

In this class, we will cover advanced, practical isses in system administration, using where possible actual tasks and problems.

Each student will write a paper suitable for submission to a conference.

Class Prerequisites

There are no formal class prerequisites, but it is expected that you have some experience as a system administrator or other reasonable background to take the class.

Objectives

In this class, we will be (1) learning the ins and outs of sandboxing of problems and experiences; (2) leveraging the experience of the world community of system administrators; (3) practical experience with the development and maintenance of systems; (4) developing our writing skills.

Class Topics

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

ITEM

POINTS

Paper

80

Participation

20

Grades

A 90% - 100%
B+ 88% - 89%
B 80% - 87%
C+ 78% - 79%
C 70% - 77%
D 60% - 69%
F 0% - 59%

Class Policies

Class Participation

Note that that 20% of your grade is determined by class participation.

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. We will use "TurnItIn" to do similarity analysis.

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 will be reflected in your class participation grade.

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.



Once the course has begun, no changes will be made to the syllabus that will substantially affect the grading and evaluation statements. Other material in the above schedule and procedures in this class are subject to change in the event of exigent or extenuating circumstances, university schedule changes, or calendar errors on my part.