Welcome to the Linux System Administration DeCal!

Fall 2020

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.

Announcements

The link to all live meetings is ocf.io/decalzoom.
All labs are due by Dec. 15! You will need a total of 10 completed labs by this date to receive a P in the course.
View a lecture by clicking on the lecture title!
Lab 10 has been released! This is the last lab of the semester, and is due by Dec. 15.
Remember that only two late labs are allowed. If you are falling behind, please contact us to discuss accommodations!

Beginner Track Calendar

Week	Date	Lecture Title	Lecturer	Lab	Lab Due Date
0	Tue. 09/08	Infosession (slides)	-	Lab 0	Sat. 09/12
0	Thu. 09/10	Infosession (slides)	-	Lab 0	Sat. 09/12
1	Tue. 09/15	History of UNIX, intro to shell, FOSS (slides)	Ben Cuan <bencuan>	Lab b1	Tue. 09/22
2	Tue. 09/22	Core Shell (slides)	Nikhil Jha <njha>	Lab b2	Tue. 09/29
3	Tue. 09/29	Shell Scripting (slides)	Richard Huang <rihu>	Lab b3	Tue. 10/06
4	Tue. 10/06	Compiling, Distros, and Packaging (slides)	Ethan Smith <ethanhs>	Lab b4	Tue. 10/13
5	Tue. 10/13	Networking 101 (slides)	Tony Lian <longlian>	Lab b5	Tue. 10/20
6	Tue. 10/20	Processes (slides)	Ryan Chan <rrchan>	Lab b6	Tue. 10/27
7	Tue. 10/27	Services (slides)	Kevin Mo <kmo>	Lab b7	Thu. 11/05
8	Tue. 11/03	Security Fundamentals (slides)	Stefan Kuklinsky <skuklinsky>	Lab b8	Tue. 11/10
9	Tue. 11/10	Version Control and Backups (slides)	Edric Xiang <exiang>	Lab b9	Tue. 11/17
10	Tue. 11/17	Cloud, Containers, and Config Management (slides)	Richard Huang <rihu>	Lab b10	Tue. 12/15
11	Thu. 11/26	No Lecture - Thanksgiving Week	-	-
12	Thu. 12/03	TBD	TBA	-

Advanced Track Calendar

Week	Date	Lecture Title	Lecturer	Lab	Lab Due Date
0	Tue. 09/08	Infosession (slides)	-	Lab 0	Sat. 09/12
0	Thu. 09/10	Infosession (slides)	-	Lab 0	Sat. 09/12
1	Thu. 09/17	Advanced Introduction to UNIX (slides)	Bernard Zhao <bernardzhao>	Lab a1	Thu. 09/24
2	Thu. 09/24	Packages (slides)	Daniel Kessler <dkessler>	Lab a2	Thu. 10/01
3	Thu. 10/01	DIY Linux Pre-Install (slides)	Edric Xiang <exiang>	Lab a3	Thu. 10/08
4	Thu. 10/08	Linux Post-Install (slides)	Ben Cuan <bencuan>	Lab a4	Thu. 10/15
5	Thu. 10/15	Processes and Services (slides)	Christopher Cooper <cooperc>	Lab a5	Thu. 10/22
6	Thu. 10/22	Networking 102 (slides)	Abizer Lokhandwala <abizer>	Lab a6	Thu. 10/29
7	Thu. 10/29	Networked Services (slides)	Loren McIntyre <mcint>	Lab a7	Thu. 11/05
8	Thu. 11/05	Config Management (slides)	Ja (Thanakul) Wattanawong <jaw>	Lab a8	Thu. 11/12
9	Thu. 11/12	Advanced Security (slides)	Mathew Cha <mdcha>	Lab a9	Thu. 11/19
10	Thu. 11/19	Virtualization, Containers, Distributed Architecture (slides)	Benjamin Zhang <bzh>	Lab a10	Tue. 12/15
11	Tue. 11/24	No Lecture - Thanksgiving Week	-	-
12	Thu. 12/03	TBD	TBA	-

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 14.

Lecture

Lectures are scheduled for Tuesdays for the Beginner section and Thursdays for the Advanced section, from 8 to 9pm. Due to the online nature of this semester, we will hold lectures over Zoom or a comparable streaming platform (to be announced). Additionally, lecture recordings will be made available on this website.

While we normally mandate attendance, this will no longer be a requirement for Fall 2020 given the remote nature of the course. Nonetheless, students will be expected to view all lectures, as knowledge of their content will be assumed in lab assignments.

Lecture will double as office hours for students to come in and ask questions about lab work or covered material. 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.

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 due by 8pm on Thursday, 9/24 which is when Lecture a2 will be held. 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.

You must complete all labs to receive credit for taking the course. However, we will allow two unexcused late labs to be turned in before the semester ends.

FAQ

Will the DeCal be offered in the Spring 2021 semester?

It is very likely that the DeCal will be back next semester! Fill out the interest form to get updates!

How does enrollment work?

When we are open for enrollment, Lab 0 will be published on this site. We will send enrollment codes to those who complete Lab 0 by the deadline. Do note that we often have more applicants than space in the course, so getting an enrollment code is unfortunately not guaranteed.

How do I know which track is best for me?

Beginner Track is intended for those who have little to no prior experience of using Linux-based systems. We will be providing an overview to several important concepts in systems administration, such as networking, shell scripting, version control, and security. It’s perfectly OK if you’ve never worked with or heard of these concepts before- but if you’re familiar with them, we recommend you opt for the advanced track. Overall, we welcome everyone to this track!

Advanced Track is intended for those who have used Linux-based systems before and are at least somewhat familiar with some of the concepts mentioned in the beginner track description above. While there are no hard/enforced prerequisites, we do recommend that you have experience with one or more of the following:

Using Linux as a primary/secondary OS
Using a package manager such as apt or pacman
Writing scripts to automate basic tasks
Basic networking (such as working with IP addresses)

If you are still unsure about which track to choose, you can email us at decal@ocf.berkeley.edu.

I don’t want units / wasn’t accepted / am not a student. Can I audit this course?

We are working hard to get all of our materials online this semester for everyone to access! Since we are no longer bound by physical constraints, feel free to attend any of our scheduled lectures or complete any of the labs on your own. (You will need your own Linux VM though- you can install one locally or get one from a provider such as DigitalOcean.)

I’m stuck on a lab/concept! Where can I find help?

The best way to get support with course content is to either join our Slack channel at #decal-general, our Discord channel at #decal-general, or ask us during scheduled lecture times.