All Technical Sessions will be held in the San Diego Town and Country Resort Hotel.

Human Interface: Timely Solutions
Session Chair: Ozan S. Yigit, Sun Microsystems

Awarded Best Applied Paper!
LEXIS: An EXam Invigilation System
Mike Wyer and Susan Eisenbach, Imperial College

Dynamic Sublists: Scaling Unmoderated Mailing Lists
Ellen Spertus, Mills College, and Robin Jeffries, Sun Microsystems; Kiem Sie, Mills College

GEORDI: A Handheld Tool for Remote System Administration
Stephen J. Okay, Road Knight Labs, and Gale E. Pedowitz, Protura, Inc.

JINI Networking Technology and Ad-Hoc Networks
Jim Waldo, Sun Microsystems

The Jini Networking Technology is an attempt to change the rules of network organization. By utilizing the ability to move objects, including the code that implements the object, around the network in a safe fashion, the Jini technology allows networks to spontaneously form, heal, and change without the need for explicit administration. Jim will describe the Jini technology and how it is being used. Wild speculation on other possible uses and its impact on networking in general will fill in any time remaining.

To Teraflops and Beyond!

Panel: An Overview of Terascale Computing
Esther Filderman and Kevin Sullivan, Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center, and Victor Hazlewood, San Diego Supercomputer Center

Invited Talk: San Diego Supercomputer Center's Blue Horizon
Victor Hazlewood, SDSC

Managing the Terascale: Lessons from a 750-Node Supercomputer
Esther Filderman and Kevin Sullivan, PSC

Wrap-Up and Q & A
Esther Filderman and Kevin Sullivan, PSC; Victor Hazlewood, SDSC

The Network from Orbit:
A Global Perspective
Session Chair: John Sellens, Certainty Solutions

Macroscopic Internet Topology and Performance Measurements from the DNS Root Name Servers
Marina Fomenkov, kc claffy, Bradley Huffaker, and David Moore, CAIDA/SDSC/UCSD

DNS Root/g TLD Server Measurement
Nevil Brownlee, The University of Auckland, New Zealand and CAIDA, SDSC, UC San Diego; kc claffy, CAIDA, SDSC UC San Diego; Evi Nemeth, University of Colorado and CAIDA, SDSC, UC San Diego

Sysadmin for Suits
Bill Labrie, American Express

Bill has spent 5 years at American Express as both a sysadmin and a lead of sysadmins. He is currently the lead over a group of 8 NT, AIX and Solaris admins. In the last 18 months he has managed to help his group rise from a beaten-down overworked and almost discarded group to one that is virtually setting policy as well as driving major changes in the management of systems throughout the company.

Adapting the Collective: Short Topics on Configuration Management
Session Chair: Sigmund Straumsnes, Oslo University College

Pelican DHCP Automated Self-Registration System: Distributed Registration and Centralized Management
Robin Garner, Tufts University

A Management System for Network-Shareable Locally Installed Software: Merging RPM and the Depot Scheme Under Solaris
R. P. C. Rodgers and Ziying Sherwin, Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications

File Distribution Efficiencies: cfengine Versus rsync
Andrew Mayhew, Logictier, Inc.

CfAdmin: A User Interface for cfengine
Charles Beadnall, WR Hambrecht; Andrew Mayhew, Logictier,Inc.

Reducing System Complexity:
A Case Study in Converging Environments
Ruth Milner, National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Many organizations are tackling the problem of simplifying their computing environments, by minimizing unnecessary diversity, setting standards for hardware and software, or developing global procedures for system administration. This talk will describe one organization's ongoing project to develop a solution suitable for all its locations. It will cover the scope, decision points and processes, trade-offs, and the application of project management techniques. It will also discuss the obstacles encountered and lessons learned on the road to an environment where users can move comfortably across sites and system administrators can leverage each other's work instead of duplicating it.

Panel: Written Any Good Books Lately?
Moderator: Rik Farrow, Consultant Panelists: Randal Schwartz, Dwight McKay, Mark Burgess, Tom Limoncelli, and Aeleen Frisch, authors;
Karen Gettman, editor

Ever wondered what it's like to write a technical book? Here's your chance to hear five authors and an Addison-Wesley editor share their insights into and experiences of the process and the end result--seeing your name on the book's cover and collecting those royalties. Writing is never a simple task, and book-length projects increase the difficulty exponentially. The manuscript doesn't appear in print by magic, but demands a new set of skills. Finally, the publisher has to reach the people who need to read your book, to let them know it exists. Come to this talk to hear just what it took to make that book.

Inspection, Detection & Deflection: Armoring the Next Wave of Security Technology
John S. Flowers, nCircle Network Security

Efforts to solve existing network security problems are failing. There exists a need for a new, more proactive approach to the issues of insertion, evasion, and denial of service against network security technologies. This talk will describe an approach to solving the problem of network security, with particular attention to the reduction of false positives and the concept of target awareness.

Email MTAs
Eric Allman, Sendmail, Inc.

Eric is the original author of sendmail. He is the author of syslog, tset, the -me nroff macros, and trek. He was the chief programmer on the INGRESS database management project, designed database user and application interfaces at Britton Lee, and contributed to the Ring Array Processor project at the International Computer Science Institute. He is a former member of the USENIX Board of Directors.

Work-in-Progress Reports
Session Chair: Emmett Hogan, Certainty Solutions

Short, pithy, and fun, Work-in-Progress reports introduce interesting new or on-going work, and the LISA audience provides valuable discussion and feedback.

A schedule of presentations will be posted at the conference.

See page 29 for complete information on how to submit presentations.

SANs and NAS
Curtis Preston, Storage Designs

As little as two years ago, SANs and NAS were not considered by most people to be competing technologies. Today, each type of network offers a unique solution, with its own pros and cons. Yes, they are now competing technologies. This talk will explain the similarities, differences, advantages, and disadvantages of each of these types of storage network, so that you can decide which one is right for you. (The answer may be, Both.)

Panel: Scripting Languages Bake-Off
Moderator: Doug Hughes, Global Crossing, Ltd.
Panelists: David N. Blank-Edelman (Perl), Michel Pelletier (Python), Eric Melski (Tcl), Shane Caraveo (PHP)

Join our panel of language experts as we explore the features sysadmins want most in scripting languages. Find out the strengths and weaknesses of some of the most popular languages: Perl, Tcl, Python, and PHP. Listen, participate, enjoy.

Panel: The Future of Computer Security
Moderator: Marcus Ranum, Network Flight Recorder

Marcus and a panel of experts will discuss where computer security is headed and what can be done about it.

Computer Room Design/Layout
Adam Moskowitz, Menlo Computing

Adam Moskowitz has designed, built, and overhauled computer rooms ("data centers") for such companies as Open Market, Genome Therapeutics, and LION Bioscience Research; he has also designed and built high-density compute clusters for companies including Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Biogen. Adam has over 20 years experience as a programmer and systems architect, has sat on several LISA and USENIX program committees, and is the coordinator of the LISA Advanced Topics Workshop.

Back by popular demand, Rob Kolstad and Dan Klein host this challenging test of wits for LISA attendees. Watch contestants wither under the dual spotlights of difficult questions and special attention from the hosts.