Training Sessions

coliver

SELinux is CentOS, RHEL and Fedora only which makes it a lot more limited than LVM which works on all distros. One is core Linux, one is added feature. SELinux would be an awesome class, though.

I wasn't aware of that... I work mostly in CentOS so I guess that makes sense. It looks like it could be super useful from a security standpoint... but I never have the opportunity or drive to really dig into it.

scottalanmiller

@brianlittlejohn said:

Linux is an area where I'm lacking. (probably because I never immersed myself in it). I am down for any linux sessions.

An LVM class would actually be good for Linux beginners too, I think. Partially because the topic is far more about storage than about Linux specifically and because you have to start from the beginning no matter what, but mostly because you get great examples of how easy Linux storage is to use, how flexible it is and why Linux can be a great choice.

RamblingBiped

Some things I would like to see if able to attend:

Linux deep dive on troubleshooting via CLI.

Configuring your terminal for maximizing productivity (customizing text for readability, setting up a terminal multiplexer like screen or tmux, useful aliases, etc...)
Parsing text in BASH to find what you want(grep, awk, sed)
Using logs to diagnose problems (tail -f, head, etc...)
Helpful tools (top/htop, iftop, iptables, ip, etc...)

High level overview of system automation for SMB.

Key areas that can be automated to specifically benefit small to medium sized businesses.
Use of tools like Ansible/Chef/Puppet
Examples of common tasks that can be scripted (BASH, Powershell, or otherwise...)

Deploying/managing container based services in a production environment.

Deploying a new container-based service (Example: Discourse forums http://samsaffron.com/archive/2013/11/07/discourse-in-a-docker-container)
Managing a container-based service.
Migrating a service to containers
General Best Practices for working with Containers.

BASH scripting best practices / standards.

What basic format should my scripts follow?
Do's and don'ts
Where should my scripts live?
When and how to add a script to cron.

RamblingBiped

Oh... And an overview of using SNMP to monitor and manage your network. This could possibly be built into a session on setting up a proper network monitoring service.

scottalanmiller

@RamblingBiped said:

Oh... And an overview of using SNMP to monitor and manage your network. This could possibly be built into a session on setting up a proper network monitoring service.

I'd love to see a good monitoring talk. Pick one of the big tools and really showcase it.

DustinB3403

I'd love a grilled cheese competition. SAM must participate.

Not exceptions.

dafyre

@DustinB3403 Wish granted, lol.

Bob Beatty

I'll do a session on SSL Certificates (Demystifying SSL Certs) or an Active Directory or Exchange training session. or P2V - ESXi or Hyper-V!! pick me, pick me! Scott wanted to see something on monitoring, I know Solar Winds but haven't been in it for a couple of years...??

Bob Beatty

Concerning the Linux class: For us beginners, it would be great to have a class where the flavors are presented and the differences are shown, and what purpose they each serve...??

JaredBusch

I could easily go into an hour long discussion on POTS/VoIP cost analysis and comparisons. Could be a companion to an actual training session on a PBX system of some type.

Minion Queen

Keep the ideas coming!

dafyre

@scottalanmiller said:

I'd love to see a good monitoring talk. Pick one of the big tools and really showcase it.

I know Nagios & Family are quite Popuplar, but it would also be nice to see a couple of different products side by side and how they compare...

IE: Nagios vs Zabbix

stacksofplates

@dafyre said:

@scottalanmiller said:

I'd love to see a good monitoring talk. Pick one of the big tools and really showcase it.

I know Nagios & Family are quite Popuplar, but it would also be nice to see a couple of different products side by side and how they compare...

IE: Nagios vs Zabbix

And observium

Minion Queen

I will be putting together a poll in the next couple weeks to vote on sessions. Please keep your ideas coming!

scottalanmiller

What about a session on logging?

coliver

@scottalanmiller said:

What about a session on logging?

Yep, that would be good too. I think that is something a lot of IT pros don't think too much about until they need it. Would be nice to see a look at logging in general or maybe an ELK-in-an-hour session.

scottalanmiller

ELK in an Hour, I like that one. Unlike the monitoring session, I feel like there are only ELK and Splunk in the "run your own" logging category. And Splunk is crazy expensive. So focusing on ELK could work.

dafyre

You ever heard of Graylog / Graylog 2? I just stumbled across those in the last few days, but don't have a working setup yet.

coliver

@scottalanmiller said:

ELK in an Hour, I like that one. Unlike the monitoring session, I feel like there are only ELK and Splunk in the "run your own" logging category. And Splunk is crazy expensive. So focusing on ELK could work.

Right, you could easily get the info and basics for ELK done in an hour.

coliver

I guess my biggest question is who is going to present these? Us as a community or vendors or someone else?