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How Can I Be A Sys-Admin On The Road?
Peter Cooper asks: "I'm a server administrator who also has to visit clients, meaning I'm often out of the office. As a 'one man outfit', this means my servers are at risk during this time. I was planning to get a cellphone that can receive e-mail, and a PDA which can connect through the cellphone, so that I can SSH from anywhere in the country, but the amount of phones, PDAs, and connectivity options, are very confusing. Do other admins have recommendations for phones, PDAs, or other systems so I can be an admin on the road? I'm in the UK, but suggestions for elsewhere are also welcomed, as others may find them useful."
you need it my man .. it's made for guys like you .. I have one and it is awesome ... I even do CVS/Apache/PHP development on it, check it on th local webserver, commit my source code, then SSH over to the production machine, all while sitting on the shitter in the morning and listening to my 100GB+ MP3 collection sitting on my NFS server!!
I have a modem card, Wifi card, ethernet card, and a James Bond infrared folding keyboard (the pocketop, really cool and folds up small).
IrDA is built-in, that works fine for me, but bluetooth is also an option.
you will not be disappointed in the Z. buy one today.
I have a Sony Ericsson p900, i got myself the putty ssh client (it says its for the p800, but its basically the same thing) as well as a vnc client (remember from slashdot a while ago....oh well)...
I am to lazy to google for the links, but its a pretty spiffy package.
Failing that, you could always get yourself a tungsten c, it has a keyboard, making ssh sessions easier, however you have to connect via wifi or ir....wifi isnt always available and ir needs LOS to a phone to work, can be cumbersome.
but the p900, gprs, ssh works a charm.
all you are, is all you are, i'm so sorry for you.
Nokia 9210, Mindterm java SSH client and a monitoring box with mon.d and ssh_client (or a Skymo account).
I'm not a sysadmin so I couldn't answer from personal experience, but I would have thought that the best tool would be a *NIX or a Mac OS X laptop. Then you have a keyboard to type on rather than faffing about with styli and handwriting recognition, and they are able to connect easily to all three major OSes. A Windows laptop would hinder rather than help you, because most of the tools you would need would be absent. I have a Palm m500 and the handwriting input is a pain sometimes, and I find it much easier and faster to use a keyboard. A bluetooth phone and PCMCIA card might be helpful though for when there's no phone socket nearby.
--Muzz
I'd recommend the Sony Clie UX50, or the next version of it when it arrives. It's a PalmOS based PDA with built-in bluetooth and Wifi in a "mini-laptop" form factor with a thumb keyboard that's bigger than that of most other PDAs. There are SSH clients and reasonably good mail clients and web browsers for PalmOS, so you should be OK in that department.
-Enfors-
As a 'one man outfit', this means my servers are at risk during this time.
You really should tell your employees to wrap their rascal sometime.
You can go a long way with this sort of thing...some might say too far.
When I was out to dinner with a group of friends a few years back one of them (who was a sysadmin for a medium sized company) interrrupted herself in mid sentence, pulled out her pager, looked at it, laughed, pulled out her PDA, made a few cryptic graffitesque gestures, said "Ha!", and pulled out her cell phone.
The conversation went something like this:
Then she hung up and continued with what she'd been saying.-- MarkusQ
My 9210 can do all that, in one neat package.
You've got a excellent colour screen, full keyboard, pop/imap mail client, calendar, etc.
When I last looked, admitedly a long time ago, the only ssh client I could find was the commercial one from ssh.com. There is an ass load of software available via Nokia too.
The only major draw back is the lack of GPRS, but HSCSD is good enough for ssh.
OK, so it's a big phone, but when it's in it's holder and on my belt I don't notice it. There is no weight to it at all.
Danger's Hiptop is great for this. Its GPRS, so it should work across the ocean there. T-Mobile's the provider here in the states, I'm not sure who would be doing it over there, but that's the place I would start.
The Hiptop has built in IM clients, web browser, and email client capabilities in addition to being a cell phone. The latest software update allows you dowload a ssh client as well. You can also register and download the development kit from Danger to be able to put any sort of software on it.
Its wonderfully portable and the UI is snazzy with a wheel to control menus and a better-than-average thumbpad for text entry. I'm getting on as soon as I can get my grubby arse out of my current cell contract.
ph34r teh p0w3r 0f th3 c0w
Sometimes, things will be really fubar'd and you won't be able to get in. Identify/designate a backup admin (or "remote hands") that you know you can rely on in a critical situation, and keep those people's contact info on a hardcopy that stays in your wallet.
I'd get a Treo 600. It freaking rocks.
Good cell phone, good PDA.
I run SSH on it as well as Windows Terminal Server client. Works great.
RateVegas.com - Vegas Reviews
step 1. go on the road
step 2. ???
step 3. you're a sysadmin
nice pic of you there!
*look into a nice laptop-style sony clie or a sharp zaurus.
*You can go wi-fi, or buy an expansion card nic/modem for on the road... consider getting a cheapo dialup account so you can use a modem and find the local number...
*you could also setup a web interface... something like webmin, with some security. ssl, password protected, have apache use htaccess and what not for keep bad guys out.
*setup cron jobs. make basic management done automaticly whenever possible.
I been doing this for a few years, managing between 10-15 Internet servers, so it's all done via either ssh or webmin, which makes like both easy and low bandwidth.
I have a PowerBook G4 these days that works very well and connects via a multitude of ways, so options are:
1. Use the modem!
2. Use the wireless card to connect in airports, libraries, war drive, etc.
3. Use Ethernet to dock in to someone's ADSL line, an office, an Internet cafe.
4. Go to an Internet cafe and use a web browser to use something like Webmin.
5. Dial-up via mobile phone using anything from serial/USB cable, infrared or Bluetooth. A 45 Bluetooth adapter does the trick for me, not fast (19.2K!) when not subscribed to high-speed (GPRS) services, but just able enough to grab an email or use a console in an emergency. You can subscribe to GPRS data services, but you'll need to speak to the operators. If you're moving country this can be tricky. Get a mobile without contract, and I can recommend the Nokia 6310i for this, though there's probably better ones around now.
6. Employ someone else less transient and phone/text them with instructions!
Having a web based admin system is good plan (like Webmin) and web based email (check out Imp/Hoarde if you want to try your own).
Grab your bag, your laptop and your mobile etc and leave the house and go sys admining on the go.
I recommend a Nokia 6000 series, not the best, or most feature packed - but I started using a 6210, and am now using a 6310i. It has bluetooth & GPRS, so you can use it as a router for a PDA to do the ssh'ing and such. Most reliable series of phones I've ever used.
I also use Kuuaki which is a program for the Tungsten W that lets you monitor your servers CPU, processes (web cgi dns etc) get a short TOP display, etc.
Works quite well as a solution and the PALM also lets me telnet in. The keyboard is useable and the W is very durable and web browsing works pretty well.
Why not get a notebook? Not much more expensive than a PDA, but SO much better for ssh:ing, working or whatnot.
Okay, okay, maybe you can be available for that. But since being available means you'll alsoget the inevitable calls about all kinds of trivial problems that are beneath your station (users forgetting to turn on their monitors, etc.), you've gotta have a pretty major masochistic streak to want this.
I used to use an Ipaq 3630, but now I'm using a Dell Axmin X5. Bluetooth to the pocket pc, dialling in to a 33,6 RAS service (Orange is the mobile company provider). It's not the quickest thing in the world, but it's the most accessible. If I'm in the centre of town, I don't want to carry a laptop around with me. Even round at a friends house, setting up a VPN setting on his PC on his ADSL (where his router doesn't support VPN passthrough for example) is too much trouble.
MochaSoft Telnet is a decent SSH client for Pocket PC.
you can get a VNC Viewer for Pocket PC here
and a Terminal Services client for PocketPC can be downloaded here
I guess it depends on what you are after. Many of the suggestions here mention laptops and that's OK if you are just generally working remotely. But (even the skinniest one's) are bulky to carry around and require an additional bag to be lugging around. If you just need to ensure that you are able to to remote support in disaster situations whilst on the move, then the Pocket PC w/ bluetooth to a Nokia 6310i is a solution which I have used successfully. (I'm UK based if that makes any difference)
The Romans didn't find algebra very challenging, because X was always 10
- A light laptop - A gprs cellphone + matching service - A cable to connect both (or BlueTooth) - A zabbix/nagios server monitor with a script that sends you a Text Message when something is wrong.
Laptop + Sierra Wireless 750 Card
This will get you GPRS service on the laptop
T-Mobile USA has service at $30/mo unlimited.
I am in pretty much the same boat, so I figure I'd give my two cents.
In my opinion, an all in one solution does not exist right now.
No one has mentioned a Blackberry yet. Ye Gods!
I use a Blackberry 7200 series cell phone that allows to me to e-mail people anywhere. There are also ssh clients available for it, but they are pricey (I believe www.xb.com) If you want to spend some money, I would purchase MS Exchange (or Lotus Notes) and the Blackberry Enterprise software. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know...Exchange. But the BES software is really good. Universal calendaring from anywhere and the ability to read mail where wifi and internet access isn't an option. The only place I haven't had a signal quite yet was in Northern Florida (Ocala).
The Blackberry works very, very well for what it does. But it doesn't allow for VNC Sessions and whatnot. I use what other folks here have mentioned, I picked up a Sharp Zaurus 5500 on EBay + a CF Wifi Card. I love it. Its unbelievable. It does pretty much everything I need. I'm not going to reinvent the wheel, read what other folks have to say about it. But the only thing I haven't been able to do with it is use Citrix ISA Client.
Hope this helps, good luck
Don
Worst Sig Ever
For me the best option is to purchase a highspeed cellular datacard from someone like Sprint, Tmobile, or Verizon.
I use the verizon PC3220 card ($199, $100 after rebate) which gives me 144kbps. So far it has been terrific. 3x the speed of a 56k dialup while in a car, airport, or datacenter is incredibly useful. It allows me to use all my full function applications wherever I am at.
The service costs $80/month for unlimited minutes. You can get a more expensive card that allows you to make voice calls also, but I don't think that is as useful.
It all depends what you're admining. I carry about an ancient laptop with me, it's got wifi and lan, and I can ssh into our debian servers and vnc or rdp into our windows 2000 servers.
It's also got all the software on which our company uses, so I can talk people through doing anything they have to do on their machines.
Plus you can fill the rest of the disk space with MP3s. Who needs an ipod anyway???
just put nagios on top of your usual tools (logcheck, tripwire), set alerts by some SMS gateway and use the WAP interface.
Chances are your current mobile phone can handle WAP and, for the work, a lightweight laptop handy (1-1.5 kg) is much better, IMHO, than any PDA/Phone.
Also, if it's a small problem, the WAP interface will let you discover it in a few clicks.
#include "coucou.h"
This isn't moonshine: I administer some fairly important specialist small servers precisely this way, and after some non-trivial work and following up every single problem they now pretty much look after themselves. The last significant problem was a few months ago when some log directories started growing too fast: caught by disk usage monitor, alarm sent out via SMS; I rechecked the situation a few times by sending in the predefined general healthcheck command from my mobile phone, decided it would keep till the morning, went back to sleep.
A good laptop and cell phone is all you need. Keep all of your tools, documents, etc. on the laptop. Also ensure that you can use your cell phone as a modem in worst case scenerio. A PDA gets in the way when you need to do a any amount of typing. Set it up so that the laptop is all you need, at the office or on the road.