Internet Essentials for UNIX System Administrators Tutorial

The Issues

This tutorial will teach you how to deal with the new service, support, and technical issues you will face as an Internet-connected site. We look at these issues from technical, social, legal, and political points of view.

When you connect your site to the Internet, many support issues that were once simple may become complex. Besides the challenge of choosing a service provider and connection model, you will need to understand, set up, and manage a number of Internet services appropriate to your site's mission. This will often mean identifying, diagnosing, and fixing (or working around) problems that you have no direct control over, as well as educating your user community about the technology and culture of the Internet.

When planning your connection, you'll be faced with a number of start-up issues in making sure your Internet addresses, domain/host names, and network routing are set up properly. This may involve working with your service provider and other outside resources.

Once your connection is up and running, the focus shifts to setting up and maintaining Internet services for your users (and outside customers or the public), including electronic mail, the World Wide Web, FTP, and more. These services have technical, legal, and organizational implications that this tutorial can help address.

The Focus

The focus of this tutorial is not on how individuals can use specific Internet services, but rather how a whole site can make the most of its Internet connection, and provide Internet services in a useful, secure, and cost-effective manner with a minimum of problems.

Throughout the tutorial, we focus on actual examples and scenarios that will be applicable to both small and large installations, and adopt an analytical approach to solving Internet problems -- including understanding how connections and services work, diagnosing problems, and coordinating with an outside administrator on getting both ends of a problem fixed.

Whether your site is just a few systems, or a company-wide network with many servers and nodes, many of the support and service issues are the same, and the practical examples and expert advice will make this tutorial useful.

Each tutorial participant will receive a comprehensive package of materials, including a full copy of the tutorial presentation and reference information.

Who Should Attend

The intended audience for this tutorial includes system administrators, network managers, and operations/support staff at sites with Internet connections, or who are planning a connection in the future.

The tutorial materials assume that all attendees have basic experience as an Internet user, and some knowledge of Internet protocols (TCP/IP), as well as a good grasp of UNIX system administration basics.

Topics Covered

Welcome to the Neighborhood
- You're facing a new culture; Good news and bad news
Who Runs the Internet?
Valid Names and Addresses
- Getting an IP address block; Getting a domain name;
- The domain name system
E-mail
- E-mail addresses; Mail exchangers; Mail gateways
FTP and Anonymous FTP
World Wide Web Services
- HTTP servers; CGI scripts; WWW clients; Web pages
Security
- Host-based; Filter-based; Firewall-based; Proxy-based;
- FTP; Telnet; Mail
Dealing with Outside Administrators
- Being a good neighbor; Go along to get along;
- Returning favors; "The Flame"
Legal and Ethical Issues
- Cultural changes in your organization;
- International law; Privacy considerations/ECPA;
- Attempts at content control; Copyright law

About the Author

Steve Simmons is a consultant in the Great Lakes area, specializing in installation and support of TCP/IP networks, and training relating to those issues. He has been a system and network manager since 1978, dealt with global mail systems since 1985, and managed Internet systems since 1988. Steve has been chairman or on the program committee of many of the LISA conferences, and has been both a board member and president of SAGE, a professional society for UNIX and Internet network managers.

Pricing

The price for a private presentation of any of our one-day tutorials is US$3000 plus travel and lodging costs (airfare, hotel, local transportation, meals, etc.) for up to 8 students. Additional students cost US$250 each.

For example, here is what a private presentation of a tutorial for 15 people would cost, assuming US$800 travel/lodging costs:

Item	Quantity	Each	Total
Base Tutorial fee (8 people)	1	$3000	$3000
Additional students	7	$250	$1750
Travel and lodging	1	$800	$800
Total			$5500

Educational institutions (accredited colleges, universities, etc.) are eligible for a 20% discount on the non-travel/lodging portion of the fee. The educational institution price for a private presentation of any of our one-day tutorials is US$2400 plus travel and lodging costs (airfare, hotel, local transportation, meals, etc.) for up to 8 students. Additional students are US$200 each.

For tutorials outside the USA and Canada, there is a US$5000 minimum (exclusive of travel/lodging costs), travel/lodging costs will be for business class accomodations, and customers should plan for an extra two days of accomodations for travel and jetlag.

Scheduling, or For More Information

To schedule a tutorial, or for more information, please contact us.