This tutorial is a survey of sysadmin chores, with a focus on how to approach them to build a solution that works for hundreds of machines as well as 2 or 3. Topics include: Adding users Backups Syslog Using cron Installing software Security Monitoring hardware Special attention is given to adapting other folks solutions, rather than re-inventing the wheel yet again. Who should attent: The tutorial is a jump-start for system and network administrators who want to learn about real-life solutions to everyday problems.

Evi Nemeth is a faculty member in computer science at the University of Colorado, has managed UNIX systems for the past 20 years, both from the front lines and from the ivory tower. She is co-author of the UNIX System Administration Handbook