"System Administration Reality—Automation, Configuration, and Users"

The annual LISA conference is the meeting place of choice for system and network administrators. System administrators of all specialties and levels of expertise meet at LISA to exchange ideas, sharpen old skills, learn new techniques, debate current issues, and meet colleagues and friends.

People come from over 30 different countries to attend LISA. They include a wide range of administration specialties, including system, network, storage, and security administration, to name a few. They hail from computing environments of all sorts, including large corporations, small businesses, academic institutions, and government agencies. Attendees are full time, part time, student, and volunteer admins, as well as those who find themselves performing "admin duties" in addition to their day jobs. They support combinations of operating systems ranging across the board from Open Source, such as Linux and the BSD releases, to vendor specific, including Solaris, Windows, Mac OS, HP-UX, and AIX.

The conference's diverse group of participants is matched by an equally broad spectrum of activities:

• Training sessions for both beginners and experienced attendees cover many administrative topics, ranging from basic administrative procedures to using cutting-edge technologies.
• Technical sessions present the latest developments and ideas related to system and network administration.
• Invited talks and panels discuss important and timely topics and often spark lively debates and conversation.
• Work-in-progress reports (WiPs) provide brief peeks at next year's innovations.

• Noted experts answer questions from anyone who wants to attend at Guru Is In sessions.
• LISA participants discuss/celebrate/commiserate about a shared interest at Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) sessions.
• Attendees can talk with vendors and explore the solutions they offer at the Exhibition.

GET INVOLVED!

• Submit an extended abstract for a refereed paper.
• Suggest an invited talk speaker or a panel discussion topic.
• Share your experience by leading a Guru Is In session.
• Propose a tutorial topic.
• Organize or suggest a Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) session.
• Email an idea to the chair.

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