Welcome to the Linux System Administration DeCal!

This course will cover the basics of setting up and administering a production-quality Linux server environment. By the end of this course, we expect you to:

be comfortable using GNU/Linux
understand how different parts of the OS work together, e.g. init, processes, daemons, filesystems, etc.
understand basic networking on Linux
have a good sense about maintaining system security
understand system administration essentials
get a practical taste of what sysadmins do in industry.

The course will be taught in two sections: a “Beginner” section for students with minimal background in GNU/Linux or system administration, and an “Advanced” section for students with more experience.

While we expect many students will have a CS background, the only real prerequisite is a desire to learn about new and unfamiliar technologies, which is a critical skill for sysadmins. The Beginner section has been designed to introduce new users to Linux, and the Advanced section has been designed to give more experienced users a taste of what Linux is capable of.

Beginner Track Calendar

Week	Date	Lecture Title	Lecturer	Lab	Lab Due Date
0	Tue. 09/03	Infosession		Lab 0	Sat. 09/07
0	Thu. 09/05	Infosession		Lab 0	Sat. 09/07
1	Tue. 09/10	History of UNIX, intro to shell, FOSS	Andy Lo <andylo>	Lab b1	Tue. 09/17
2	Tue. 09/17	Core Shell	Stefan Kuklinsky <skuklinsky>	Lab b2	Tue. 09/24
3	Tue. 09/24	Shell Scripting	Bernard Zhao <bernardzhao>	Lab b3	Tue. 10/01
4	Tue. 10/01	Compiling, Distros, and Packaging	Ethan Smith <ethanhs>	Lab b4	Tue. 10/08
5	Tue. 10/08	Networking 101	Tony Lian <longlian>	Lab b5	Fri. 10/18
6	Tue. 10/15	Processes	Rachel Gregory <regex>	Lab b6	Tue. 10/22
7	Tue. 10/29	Services	Ryan Chan <rrchan>	Lab b7
8	Tue. 10/29	Security Fundamentals	Ning Zhang <zhangning>	Lab b8	Tue. 11/05
9	Tue. 11/05	Version Control and Backups	Liam Porr <wporr>	Lab b9	Tue. 11/12
10	Tue. 11/12	Cloud, Containers, and Config Management	Ja (Thanakul) Wattanawong <jaw>	Lab b10	Tue. 11/19
12	Tue. 12/03	Optional Guest Lecture: Careers in Tech	Ethan Jackson	-

Advanced Track Calendar

Week	Date	Lecture Title	Lecturer	Lab	Lab Due Date
0	Tue. 09/03	Infosession		Lab 0	Sat. 09/07
0	Thu. 09/05	Infosession		Lab 0	Sat. 09/07
1	Thu. 09/12	Advanced Introduction to UNIX	Mathew Cha <mdcha>	Lab a1	Thu. 09/19
2	Thu. 09/19	Packages	Mathew Cha <mdcha>	Lab a2	Mon. 09/30
3	Thu. 09/26	DIY Linux Pre-Install	Christopher Cooper <cooperc>	Lab a3	Thu. 10/03
4	Thu. 10/03	Linux Post-Install	Ethan Smith <ethanhs>	Lab a4	Thu. 10/17
5	Thu. 10/10	Lecture Cancelled for Power Outage		-
6	Thu. 10/17	Processes and Services	keur	Lab a6
7	Thu. 10/24	Guest Lecture: Developing at Scale	ldw	-
8	Thu. 10/31	Networking 102	abizer	-
9	Thu. 11/07	Networked Services	jvperrin	-
10	Thu. 11/14	Config Management	Frank Dai <fydai>	Lab a10
11	Thu. 11/21	Advanced Security	Mathew Cha <mdcha>	Lab a11
12	Tue. 12/03	Optional Guest Lecture: Careers in Tech	Ethan Jackson	-
12	Thu. 12/05	Virtualization, Containers, Distributed Architecture	Brian Sang <baisang>	Lab a12

Administrivia

Enrollment

This is a 2 unit DeCal. Since it is a DeCal, the course is P/NP. You must attend an infosession and complete Lab 0 to apply. If you are selected for the course, we will send you a course enrollment code by September 9.

Lecture

Lectures are scheduled for Tuesdays for the Beginner section and Thursdays for the Advanced section, from 8 to 9pm the OCF Lab, located at 171 MLK (MLK basement down the hall from the student store). Attendance is mandatory, with two allowed unexcused absences. Some other conflicts, such as exams, may be excused if you provide prior notice. Please only come to the lab on the day corresponding to the section you are in.

Lecture will double as office hours for students to come in and ask questions about the lab work. The one-hour “lecture” slot will include some lecturing but will also include time to to work on the lab assignment with the help of present facilitators. Note that we only have 30 computers in the lab, but 40 people are enrolled in each course, so please bring a laptop if you can.

Labs

The primary assignment in this course will be weekly lab work. Labs are designed to be be significantly hands-on. You will be working on real systems, configuring, and fixing things, setting up services, and so on.

Each lecture corresponds with a lab, labeled by a “b” or “a” (for Beginner or Advanced) and the week number. Except for b1 and a1, labs will general be released about a week ahead of the corresponding lecture. You are highly encouraged to look over the lab, and try to start it, before coming to lecture each week. This will allow you to better utilize the help of the facilitators, and will help you understand the lecture in a concrete way.

Each lab will be due before the following lecture. For example, lab a1 will be released about a week before lecture a1. Lecture a1 will be on Sept 13. Then lab a1 will be due before lecture a2 (that is, Sept 20 at 8pm). Please stay on top of lab work! If extenuating circumstances prevent you from completing your lab on time, please let us know as soon as possible and we will try to be accommodating. We expect that you turn in all labs on time, but allow two unexcused late labs to be turned in before the semester ends.