This workshop covers configuration management processes in real-world settings. The focus will be on practical tactics that attendees can apply directly. Attendees will discuss the issues they face in their deployments and will compare their experiences and tactics with other attendees. This workshop is a tool-agnostic discussion, which will be widely applicable, regardless of the configuration tool used. Attendees should be sysadmins with a deployed configuration management system in place who want to talk with and learn from others on the subject.

Administering a compute cluster in a production environment is a niche area of system administration. Challenges include cluster management, customer usage, and specialized software. The topics will be based on the attendees’ interest but may include OS deployment, software deployment, disk-less compute nodes, management tools, schedulers and resource managers, and customer issues. Attendees should be admins of a compute cluster or interested in adminning this type of cluster. They should come prepared to discuss openly their admin experiences, problems and successes with this class of machine, and the pros and cons of their existing cluster management tools.

Virtualization and cloud computing have become household technologies for data centers and large infrastructures as well as small shops and startups. This tool-agnostic workshop is for practitioners who want to share their experiences and challenges with others. The workshop is mostly intended for people who are managing virtual infrastructures and clouds. We will have discussions on a wide range of topics, from educating users, through deployment strategies, to storage and networking issues. Everyone who cares about cloud technologies is welcome to attend. Participants who want to contribute content such as experience reports or short intros on specific topics that interest them are invited to send a short description to lisa12ws-cloud@usenix.org.

This workshop is for educators and practitioners who are interested in influencing the ways we can better teach students to become well-rounded sysadmins. This year’s topic is: “Cultivating an employable sysadmin through education programs.” We will focus on what makes a strong sysadmin education program. What is the foundation of a solid system administrator? How has education changed in the past decade and how will it change in the next decade? Everyone interested in the education of the next generation of sysadmins is welcome to join our discussion.

System administrators are responsible for keeping key components of our society up and running. With the globalization and rise of of the big Internet services over the last decade, our role has become more important than ever. This workshop will be a half-day mini-conference where professional practitioners come together to discuss the challenges of being a good system administrator today. What are the unsolved problems in systems administration? How can we improve our own practice? Everyone with a passion for our profession is welcome to attend. Presenters: Send topic statement or draft slides to lisa12ws-state@usenix.org prior to the event for scheduling. Time limits will be strictly enforced; please rehearse fastidiously.

Knowledge management is probably the single greatest challenge for system administrators today, but one of the least represented in terms of resources and tools. Knowledge management includes a variety of issues, including the understanding of specification of systems, relationships between system dependencies, version control on system changes, strategies for streamlining information from logs and monitoring feeds, and more. This workshop will discuss the scope and techniques for knowledge management in system administration. We aim to have an open discussion.

The area of cluster and network health monitoring provides ample opportunity for creative and diverse process and tool implementations. Attendees in this workshop will discuss the issues they face in their deployments and compare their experiences and tactics with others. This workshop is a tool-agnostic discussion of practical issues; the discussion will be widely applicable. The focus will be on practical tactics that attendees can apply directly. Attendees should be sysadmins with a deployed monitoring system in place who want to talk with and learn from others on the subject. Tool developers interested in hearing the needs of their users and/or offering suggestions are also welcome.