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How Are You Celebrating National Sysadmin Day?
jfruh writes "July 26 is Sysadmin Day, the system administrator's version of Secretary's Day. Are you giving your hardworking sysadmin the recognition they deserve? Blogger (and, yes, sysadmin) Sandra Henry-Stocker argues that a holiday like this is needed because due to the nature of their job, in everyday life sysadmins 'get noticed least when they do the best work' So if your systems run so smoothly that you sometimes forget you even have a sysadmin on staff, be sure to recognize them for their excellent work today."
First I'm going to delete your inbox.
Then I'm going to switch your phone extension with Larry in facilities management.
And I think this afternoon I will take the Production environment down for a little while.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
This day is known only by the sysadmin themselves (and former sysadmins, as well), so we pat each other on the back, post a message on twitter and/or facebook and that's it.
"Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
- Sledge Hammer
As usual, the only people who know (or care) about SysAdmin Day are sysadmins. Therefore, nothing is being done to celebrate it. Not even a free donut.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
"How Are You Celebrating National Sysadmin Day?"
The same thing we do every night, Pinky—try to take over the world!
... Since I am not a SysAdmin.
Dealing with incompetence and stupidity.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Spending the day un-employed, as I was replaced by an H1 visa foreign worker at 1/4 the salary.
Telling the developers, for the 76732198435 time, that their application is not important enough to warrant it's own server, they do not need root access, and I cannot fix their personal laptop.
sudo make me a sandwich
Have been looking in SoCal for 18+ months... job market sucks!
do a web search for free...
(roll a 1d8 to determine search)
1) screensaver
2) lyrics
3) mp3
4) cheat codes
5) movies
6) game of thrones
7) ipod
8) all of the above
and click on every link in the first page of results, including ads, with internet explorer 6 or some other favorite, vulnerable browser you may have.......
sysadmin can roll a saving throw to prevent a click, 1d10, 8 or higher to save, -1 modifier on the throw for every server, service or internet outage over the last year... saving throws have a 1 minute realtime cooldown.
Quick, I need A black T-Shirt(preferably with an antisocial saying in white block letters), some Mountain Dew(or preferably Jolt Cola), a Carpal Tunnel wrist brace, a desk piled with manuals and CD-R spindles, and a LOT of terminal windows open.
Hmm, looks like I already have the terminal windows part covered........and the black T-Shirt...and the CDR Spindles
Crap.
We're celebrating in Columbus, OH this evening at the Three Legged Mare...
http://eevent.com/lopsa-columbus/2013sysadminday
Events all over the place, more listed here...
https://lopsa.org/content/sysadmin-day-events
LOPSA has a significant discount for renewing members and new members until Sunday...
https://lopsa.org/content/sys%C2%A0admin-day-discount-until-728
Happy System Administrator's Day!
At least someone documented it for public television.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU92ryHp_Fg
Of course, first thing I did today when I got in was unlock the machine room. They've been wandering around all day looking at the floor and avoiding members of the opposite gender.
rm -fr /*
If you're blowing cash on a dev team (let's say 5 folks at $120K/year each with benefits), you're going to try to save $1-2K a year so you don't have to host the final product (perhaps a publicly-facing final product) on its own server?
And it's "its" dammit. Happy SysAdmin Day.
So now July only has 26 days?
not terribly exciting, but I get to schedule what i'm doing that week.
Aim for the neckbeard, it's his weakest point.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Have gnu, will travel.
fousands of 'em
wouldn't want you to get bored
you're welcome
(every user ever)
I'm considering riding over to Redmond on the MS campus and having lunch at Yummy Pho. Then, visiting the restroom, whipping out my Sharpie, and writing "Linux Rocks" on the wall above the urinal.
By toasting the fact I no longer have to do that damn'd job...
I tell you now, years of 18 hour plus days take their toll.
I'll recognize National Sysadmin Day, when the man approved National Helpdesk Day. We're the front lines, in the trenches!
You never expect irony, do you?
Want to be a professional wrestler? Visit www.iyfwrestling.com
@iyfwrestling
26th July is the anniversary of the day I got my first Amiga (Amiga 1000 in 1986)
The previous day (25th July) is the anniversary of when I got my first computer (Trash 80 in 1979) and my 2nd computer (Compucolor II in 1980)
I'm not, because I'm busy celebrating the following in July:
Air-Conditioning Appreciation Days (7/3 to 8/15), Bereaved Parents Awareness Month, Bioterrorism/Disaster Education & Awareness Month, Cell Phone Courtesy Month, Dog Days (7/3 to 8/11), Eggplant and Lettuce Month , Family Reunion Month ,Family Golf Month , Freedom From Fear of Speaking Month , Hemochromatosis Screening Awareness Month , Herbal/Prescription Awareness Month, International Blondie and Deborah Harry Month, International Group B Strep Awareness Month , International Women with Alopecia Month, International Zine Month, Mango and Melon Month , National Black Family Month, National Blueberries Month, National Child-Centered Divorce Month , National "Doghouse Repairs" Month, National Grilling Month, National Ice Cream Month, National Horseradish Month, National Hot Dog Month, National Independent Retailers Month, National Make A Difference to Children Month, National Recreation & Parks Month, National Share A Sunset With Your Lover Month , National Wheelchair Beautification Month, Nectarine and Garlic Month , Sandwich Generation Month, Share A Sunset With Your Lover Month , Smart Irrigation Month, Social Wellness Month, Tour de France Month (Started 6/30 - 7/19?), Women's Motorcycle Month, Women With Alopecia Month, Worldwide Bereaved Parents Month, National Education Association Week, National Unassisted Homebirth Week, Beans and Bacon Days, Freedom Week, International Chicken Wing Week, Be Nice To New Jersey Week, Creative Maladjustment Week, National Farriers Week, Nude Recreation Weekend, Everybody Deserves A Massage Week, Sports Cliché Week, Rabbit Week, National Baby Food Week, National Ventriloquism Week, Comic Con International, Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) Education & Awareness Week, National Scrabble Week, National Parenting Gifted Children Week, Captive Nations Week, National Independent Retailers Week, National Zoo Keeper Week, World Lumberjack Championships, Garlic Days, Single Working Women's Week, AFRMA Fancy Rat & Mouse Week, Canada Day: 1, National GSA Employee Day: 1, Second Half of The Year Day: 1, U.S. Postage Stamp Day: 1, Zip Code Day: 1, I Forgot Day: 2, Made In The USA Day: 2, World UFO Day: 2 , Compliment Your Mirror Day: 3, Stay Out Of The Sun Day; 3, Boom Box Parade Day: 4, Fourth of July or Independence Day: 4, Independence From Meat Day: 4, Indivisible Day: 4, Bikini Day: 5, Earth at Aphelion: 5, International Chicken Wing Day: 5 (First Day of Chicken Wing Week), Rosewell UFO Days: 5-7 , Hop A Park Day: 6 (First Saturday), International Chicken Wing Society Cook-off Day: 6-8 ,International Cherry Pit Spitting Day: 6 (First Saturday), International Kissing Day or World Kiss Day: 6 , International Day of Cooperatives: 6 (First Saturday), Take Your Webmaster to Lunch Day: 6, Chocolate Day: 7 , Father-Daughter Take A Walk Together Day: 7, Global Forgiveness Day: 7 , Tell The Truth Day: 7, Math 2.0 Day: 8 (Founding Day) , SCUD Day (Savor the Comic, Unplug the Drama): 8, International Town Criers Day: 8 (Second Monday), Martyrdom of The Bab: 9, Ramadan: 9, Clerihew Day: 10, Don't Step On A Bee Day: 10, Hot Dog Night: 10, Piña Colada Day: 10 , Teddy Bears' Picnic Day: 10 , Bowdler's Day: 11, Cheer Up The Lonely Day: 11, Day of The Five Billion: 11 , National Rainier Cherries Day: 11 , Slurpee Day: 11 , World Population Day: 11, Chick-fil-A's Cow Appreciation Day: 12 [2nd Friday] Dress Like a cow and get free sandwich! , Collector Car Appreciation Day: 12 (2nd Friday) , Simplicity Day: 12 , Bald Is In: 13 (Second Saturday), Carver Day: 13 (Second Saturday), Embrace Your Geekness Day: 13, Gruntled Workers Day: 13, Wayne Chicken Day: 13 (Second Saturday), National French Fries Day: 13 , Grange Day: 13 (Second Saturday), International Nude Day: 14 , Be A Dork Day: 15 , Global Hug Your Kid Day: 15 (Third Monday), Gummi Worm Day: 15 , National Get Out of the Doghouse Day: 15 (Third Monday), Saint Swithin's Day: 15 , Tish B'Av: 15, Wrong Way Corrigan Day:
Working my ass off...fortunately, or unfortunately. It's better than digging ditches or getting shot at, but sometimes I think, "By god, a shovel would feel good in my hands today."
Should be the last FRIDAY in July
Fully licensed blockchain psychiatrist
Yeah, right...Mention that to a user, they'll just laugh. How do I know? It happened.
Didn't know it was Sysadmin day, but I, the Sysadmin, am giving notice and moving on to another IT firm.
I'm going to switch ns1 and ns2 around, and then set the network MTU to 1476. That'll show them!
My company rewarded us hardworking sysadmins with an ice cold beer (with balloon attached!) and a cookie this morning. Awesome!
Be a champ: configure your company's squid proxy to replace all images with goatse guy.
Trolling is a art,
To SysAdmin Day v2.03
Sig. Sig. Sputnik
Thanks to 4-10's, I am off today, and I am frantically trying to get the finishing touches of my unborn daughter's room done. \m/
This year they will need your support more than ever. There are several new developments (like Docker) that could change everything they are used to. And they got the nightmare of having a very probable and hardly detectable NSA (and company) intrusion or backdoor in their systems.
I'm letting him know the build server is offline, and reminding him that I'm still waiting for my VPN access.
Wow, pleasant surprise, I thought all sysadmin work was outsourced or H1B'd years ago. Nice to see some locals still at it.
Self awareness - try it!
Are you kidding me? The only recognition sys admins get is when things aren't working. When they are working, managers and other non sys admins think they are the reason things work. The prevailing saying around this office is that the sys admins support the people who make the bread and butter, so to the sys admins, fix my problem now and screw your other priorities.
You wouldn't let a biologist perform surgery would you? A good admin wont let programmers have root access.
Home sick, but still on-call, across multiple companies.
The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
Sort of like God, huh?
I celebrate SysAdmin in conjunction with Steak and Blow-Job Day. Unfortunately, no one appreciates me, so I have to give that to myself.
I started working and learning in 1996 and I don't think I could ever do anything else. Happy Sysadmin Day -- may our service to the reliability and performance of our systems keep us going.
the system administrator's version of Secretary's Day
Seriously?
Fuck you, and whatever untalented hacks need a day to feel like unskilled, coffee-getting, call-taking labor.
I'm the whole team for my little pet project and small network of systems. So I guess I'll buy myself a coffee. :P
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Today is National Sysadmin Day! THE GREAT E-MAIL GOD ECKS-HANG'E DEMANDS A HUMAN SACRIFICE, lest he block your humorous cat videos. All hail Ecks-Hang'E! F'htagn!
I'm celebrating national SYSOPS day.
Kind of throws a wrench in the trick question "What months have 28 days in them?".
Sure I sold you robot insurance. But you were attacked by a cyborg. Not covered.
It's a BS day... It's your job, just like the person who cleans the toilets, do you see any 'toilet-cleaner-day'? NO, so why should sysadmins (and secretaries) get their own day...
My name is Brad and I have been at this new job for 1 month and this is what I walk into this morn at work:
IT Manager "Steve": Brad, can I see you in the conference room for a minute?
Me: "Sure!"
I walk into the conference room and Steve and the CTO are in there looking serious.
Steve: "I got a phone call from one of the VP's that says you told him to fix his virus problems by opening a command prompt and typing C:\format and now his computer wont come on and he has lost files that can't be recovered. Why would you do that!!?? Is that how you did things at at your previous job??"
Me: "Um", (with jaw on the floor) "I swear I didn't do anything like that!"
Steve: "Are saying the VP is a liar? He has emails to prove it....."
Me: I am totally panicked at this point and already thinking backup tapes, restore software, update resume, etc...
Steve: "Oh and by the way, today is SYSADMIN day and we got you!!!" and they bust out laughing.
Me: Thank goodness its Friday.....
We ordered a cake for our guys (and their "Jen"), then called the m to our conference room, one by one. Judging from the silence and lack of leftovers, it was well received!
Unless he's a *nix sysadmin who also has a traditional beard. Then that's his ultimate weapon.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I thought I'd make his life easier by getting rid of a lot of unneeded files on my system. There's a whole lot of stuff in C:\Windows that I never seem to use...let's start there!
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
So not much.
Expensed out a team lunch dreamed about the day when infrastructure decisions were not made by the PHB's. Also said a little prayer to the DC gods to not have a hardware failure(but I do that everyday).
There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
I don't miss being in that profession at all. The money was great, but it got to a point that it wasn't enough to compensate for all the 24/7 shit I put up with.
I'm in the UK and I can pretty well guarantee that virtually all non-IT people in the UK have never heard of "National Sysadmin Day" (or "Secretaries Day" for that matter). Is there any country other than the US that's heard of it amongst non-IT people? I'm raising all this because the article doesn't mention which countries honour it, so by default that means more than just the US to me. Please don't use "National" in an article title if it means just the US.
deltree c: /autotest
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
is there a way to fake a total system failure? For what better way to recognize a really good Sysadmin but to fake'em out. When they realize the joke, they will know they are recognized.
I say...get back to work!
does anyone give a crap about any of these retarded give someone a hug days, is there any day of the year that we aren't recognizing something or someone who has done nothing remarkable. I'm a sysadmin i do my job, and i am recognized with my pay cheque, are you a sysadmin who thinks he's remarkable and deserves a day of recognition? well you are probably not, there are probably 10 more like you that are looking for a job so suck it up bear down and keep the fucking network running like you should be.
Today is National Sysadmin Day. It is also National Coffee Milkshake Day.
Coincidence? I think not.
Just the services you need, no sysadmin telling you to use obsolete software versions or complaining that it is hard to upgrade storage or insisting to partition a raid up into small chunks for a server whose database will need all the storage within months but they want to create busy work for themselves by having to change the partitioning every week.
I flatly refuse to do development anymore on any internal servers no matter how they are handled, it just ain't worth my time. When it comes time to deploy and a sysadmin insists on getting his un-educated paws on it, I write an install script and then hand of ALL responsibility.
You want to be a respected sysadmin? ENABLE people and stop being the blocker.
Your typical sysadmin is like the cantine cook who refuses to let people make a meal after hours if they are working overtime. No doubt they are thinking they are just enforcing the rules but they are a hindrance in a company where people want to achieve things.
A good sysadmin enables what is needed in a safe and sensible way. A bad sysadmin just blocks everything to be safe.
A classic example is file exchange. Business often needs to exchange large files. A BAD sysadmin (99%) will limit email boxes to 1mb or less and ban 99% if attachments and offer NO other options. Then people hack around the sysadmin to enable them to do business and from that grows a culture to do all sort of stuffs because the boss no longer believes the sysadmin because he had to go around him himself to many times.
A GOOD sysadmin enables file transfer is a safe responsible way and is then respected and will find other sensible rules obeyed because his co-workers know they are not there to inflate the sysadmins ego but because they make good business sense.
I have had it so bad that I had to admin remote linux servers over gprs because port 22 was blocked outgoing because the sysadmin insisted all servers were internal and runnings windows. Luckily it was a telco so it didn't cost anything but it was a bit silly. Especially when EVERYONE started using developer sims to hook up their own modems to get around all the restrictions. Office of over 500 people an at least a 100 were using GPRS.
Good sysadmins enable, bad sysadmins disable.
Bad sysadmins get replaced with cloud computing and then bitch about immigrants.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
If he's a *nix sysadmin, he'll probably just let you kill him.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
I'm saddened to see how much animosity there seems to be between developers and sysadmins. I have always gotten along very well with my sysadmins over the years. Not sure what the difference is.
It is unwise to ascribe motive
... by thanking whatever gods exist that I am no longer a sysadmin.
I managed to get my old BBS functioning on an x86 beige box. So, I'm celebrating sysop day by hooking it up to my land line. I've only had a few legit visitors -- friends who recognized the sweet sound of a system ready to serve and managed to dial in.
It's possible to set the GNU/Linux terminal font to CP437, and browse the board via raw console in all its ANSI art splendor.
Having my BBS hold all my calls for a day is nicer than getting a few reminders thanks to the lamer who clogged the mail server failing to CC all, and instead sending hundreds of individual messages, Yay sysadmin day!... grr.
and it took an fire that kill people for some fire codes to be updated that all stairwell doors must unlock in an fire so you can reenter at any floor
How am I celebrating? By rebooting random servers, and resetting random passwords. I might not be important, but I'm a necessary EVIL!!!!
That's pretty much how most of the fire code's been establish up to this point.
I have some sad news...
After trying to kick the sysadmin I am now locked in the server room and my badge is NOT working. It's also Friday... everybody's off over the weekend... help!
With loads of theory and limited to no hands on work.
Now when that boss called you should of said I will talk to you at my consulting rate.
How am I celebrating National SysAdmin Day?
By re-reading stories from the Bastard Operator From Hell, of course.
Whether I do this so I may follow in his footsteps or to protect myself from his antics, I'll leave unsaid.
If I were to celebrate every day that has been nominated by someone as some special something, I wouldn't be getting anything done.
Sysadmin day is the same bullshit as mothers day or valentines day: If you need a day marked in the calendar to remind you of something, you're not appreciating it, and your show of appreciation (or your celebration) is fake.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
At a previous organization I worked for, we had very far away sysadmins (as in no physical presence at the site where I worked), and we had the problem that they would do things such as A) reboot machines in the middle of tests (which could last whole weeks and could not be interrupted) and B) update Java on machines (which was not acceptable, as we needed to support specific versions of Java as per customer requirements).
So...
We decided to take the nuclear option, as a workplace, and we built our own, new network that IT did not control, down to laying ungodly meters of CAT5 under raised floors, and we bought new development machines for each of our developers, which would be on the new network and would not be under IT's control (so each developer would have two machines on their desk, one under IT's control and with access to the Internet, and one under our control and without access to the Internet). The new development machines would have packages served to them by our own package server, which we would mirror from a package server on the Internet as we saw fit, rather than having software pushed to them by IT. IT itself was too far away to object to any of this.
I the end we actually ended up hiring our own IT person to manage this new network, but the key thing was that this was our IT person, not their IT person, and they were being paid out of our budget. Hence they would serve our goals, not theirs, and hence help enable us rather than obstruct us.
Spent more time today looking for a job. Kind of ironic to that on Sysadmin Day I'm still looking for a job in IT. Years of sysadmin experience with Windows, Linux and even Unix, Master's degree, project management experience and even developer experience in most of the buzzword development tools and languages.
My job went to India four years ago and I'm still looking. Seems like there is a disconnect between jobs that are really available and the claim that businesses need more H1B visa workers. I've been told I'm too old and too experienced. Interviews?
I've started feeling lucky to even get an acknowledgment of a resume or application. Tired of getting asked "why is someone with your qualifications applying for this job?" - Answer is "I need a paycheck!". I've been applying for all kinds of jobs at levels from entry level to management. Last interview they popped up with a "test" that included questions about their internal procedures and internally developed tools. Obviously it was a "courtesy" interview because you don't ask someone from outside your company "How would you use our custom event log analysis software to track a problem with the Leonides network?" and expect any kind of rational answer. When I asked if I could see some documentation on the software and the network they just said something to the effect of "you're not qualified for this position" and that was the end of the interview.
There doesn't seem to be anyone hiring experienced IT workers in any category over 35 any in the eastern half of the country. Comparing my experience with some others who worked for the same company and talking to recent graduates in Computer Science and Systems Engineering it seems like the real unemployment rate for IT people in the southeastern US is pushing 20%, especially in the over 35 crowd.
It's a hell of a way to celebrate a holiday!
So I got the day off.
I snuck out of work early and went straight home to build a new HTPC. AMD 6700 APU, AsRock FM2A85X mobo, 8GB of memory, 60GB SSD, Silverstone SUGO SG05BB case and Silverstone SFX 450W modular power supply. Also picked up a Logitech K400r on the way home. It's smaller and quieter than my old HTPC, but I ran into too many issues with Ubuntu 13.04 so after spending 2 days trying to get sound and video to work correctly I ended up wiping and in 2 hours yesterday had Windows 8 installed and working flawlessly.
For the record the 2 problems I ran into were not getting system sounds to play through SPDIF (after having manually compiled a surround sound module to get surround sound to work), and the other problem was it not offering my TV's native resolution of 1920x1080 (tried with and without the proprietary driver). At that point I realized it had been almost 20 years since the last time I had to manually configure a resolution by editing a configuration file in Linux and decided "fuck-it", Linux is still not ready for the desktop.