[colug-432] the /etc test
Tom Hanlon
tom at functionalmedia.com
Wed Jul 23 15:49:14 EDT 2014
Oops add host.allow, hosts.deny to that list.
On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 3:48 PM, Tom Hanlon <tom at functionalmedia.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 5:21 PM, tom <thomas.w.cranston at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 07/21/2014 03:34 PM, Rick Troth wrote:
>>
>> Pronounced "the etsy test".
>>
>> On 07/21/2014 12:26 PM, Scott Merrill wrote:
>>
>> I recently learned that someone who I consider to be a competent Linux
>> sysadmin had never personally installed Linux. In his professional
>> life, that was a task always performed by a different team.
>>
>>
>> Most shocking for me was to find at one shop that "systems programmers" in
>> one group did not know programming. To be specific, they did not know the
>> primary developmental language of that system. This knowledge was
>> historically a requirement. (True, one can go far with Linux and not know C
>> from the alphabet. But here was almost like not knowing command entry.)
>>
>> There's a spectrum of capability ... along several axis. Point taken, Scott.
>> There's also a problem of elitism, even snobbery.
>> But
>> the need to bring people up to speed is real and serious. (Crypto crises are
>> just the low hanging fruit for opportunistic journalists. Other forms of
>> system security follow closely, and RAS (reliability, availability,
>> serviceability) aspects will become critical.)
>>
>> In job A, I learned about the /etc test.
>> In job B, I tried to apply it. Didn't go well.
>>
>> In job A, the Unix team hired a PhD student who was ostensibly a Unix heavy.
>> Guy's working on a doctorate so he's not suffering from lack of basic
>> brains, and he'd been *on* the Unix systems for months. But they had to let
>> him go after just a week. It was embarrassing and painful. Somehow he passed
>> the interview only to fall flat with real work. What happened?
>>
>> Looking for a sharper edge, someone on that team hit upon "the /etc test".
>> The idea was ...
>>
>> cd /etc
>> ls
>> "tell me what each of these is used for"
>>
>>
>> It's a Kobayashi Maru. You're going to fail. Something in the range of files
>> will be outside your domain of knowledge. But the intent (of the
>> interviewers) was to see how far you get. (And maybe also see how you handle
>> the unknowns.)
>>
>> In job B, I was allowed to be part of the interviewing panel. As if
>> candidates were not intimidated enough, I threw in the /etc test. Once. We
>> hired that candidate, and she was terrific, an excellent engineer/admin. But
>> she let us know with certainty (after joining the team) that "the /etc test"
>> was a bad idea (in her not so humble opinion).
>>
>> I've mentioned the /etc test a few times since then.
>>
>> -- R; <><
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> colug-432 mailing list
>> colug-432 at colug.net
>> http://lists.colug.net/mailman/listinfo/colug-432
>>
>> I'm not system admin material, but am curious:
>>
>> acpi dictionaries-common iproute2 networks
>> selinux
>> adduser.conf dkms issue newt
>> sensors3.conf
>> adjtime dm issue.net
>> nsswitch.conf sensors.d
>> alternatives dnsmasq.d java-7-openjdk
>> obex-data-server services
>> anacrontab doc-base kbd openal
>> sgml
>> apg.conf dpkg kernel opt
>> shadow
>> apm drirc kernel-img.conf os-release
>> shadow-
>> apparmor emacs kerneloops.conf pam.conf
>> shells
>> apparmor.d environment ldap pam.d
>> signond.conf
>> apport firefox ld.so.cache papersize
>> skel
>> apt firefox-3.0 ld.so.conf passwd
>> sound
>> at-spi2 firefox-3.5 ld.so.conf.d passwd-
>> speech-dispatcher
>> avahi fonts legal pcmcia
>> ssh
>> bash.bashrc fstab libao.conf perl
>> ssl
>> bash_completion fstab.d libaudit.conf pki
>> subgid
>> bash_completion.d fuse.conf libnl-3 pm
>> subgid-
>> bindresvport.blacklist gai.conf libpaper.d pnm2ppa.conf
>> subuid
>> blkid.conf gconf libreoffice polkit-1
>> subuid-
>> blkid.tab gdb lintianrc ppp
>> sudoers
>> bluetooth ghostscript linuxmint profile
>> sudoers.d
>> bonobo-activation gimp locale.alias profile.d
>> sysctl.conf
>> brlapi.key gnome localtime protocols
>> sysctl.d
>> brltty gnome-settings-daemon logcheck pulse
>> systemd
>> brltty.conf gnome-vfs-2.0 login.defs purple
>> terminfo
>> ca-certificates groff logrotate.conf python
>> thunderbird
>> ca-certificates.conf group logrotate.d python2.7
>> timezone
>> calendar group- lsb-release python3
>> ts.conf
>> casper.conf grub.d ltrace.conf python3.4
>> ucf.conf
>> chatscripts gshadow lvm rc0.d
>> udev
>> chromium-browser gshadow- magic rc1.d
>> udisks2
>> colord.conf gtk-2.0 magic.mime rc2.d
>> ufw
>> ConsoleKit gtk-3.0 mailcap rc3.d
>> updatedb.conf
>> console-setup hddtemp.db mailcap.order rc4.d
>> update-motd.d
>> cracklib hdparm.conf manpath.config rc5.d
>> UPower
>> cron.d host.conf mdm rc6.d
>> upstart-xsessions
>> cron.daily hostname mime.types rc.local
>> upstream-release
>> cron.hourly hosts mke2fs.conf rcS.d
>> usb_modeswitch.conf
>> cron.monthly hosts.allow modprobe.d
>> request-key.conf usb_modeswitch.d
>> crontab hosts.deny modules
>> request-key.d vim
>> cron.weekly hp modules-load.d resolvconf
>> vtrgb
>> cups icedtea-web mono resolv.conf
>> wgetrc
>> cupshelpers ifplugd mtab rmt
>> wildmidi
>> dbus-1 init mtab.fuselock rpc
>> wodim.conf
>> debconf.conf init.d mtools.conf rsyslog.conf
>> wpa_supplicant
>> debian_version initramfs-tools nanorc rsyslog.d
>> X11
>> default inputrc ndiswrapper samba
>> xdg
>> deluser.conf insserv netscsid.conf sane.d
>> xml
>> depmod.d insserv.conf network securetty
>> zsh_command_not_found
>> dhcp insserv.conf.d NetworkManager security
>>
>> How much of the above should an average user know? How about a serious user?
>
> I consider myself average, and off the top of my head.
> crontab, password, resolv.conf, network,mtab,cups,
> modprobe,rsyslog,samba, init.d,modules,hosts,hostnme,
>
> are some of the content in /etc/ that I recall wrestling with over the years.
>
> --
> Tom
>
>
>>
>> This is from a fresh install of LinuxMint 17
>>
>> I know the feeling about Job A. Human Resources usually hire the person
>> that's best at jumping thru hoops. (not me) I knew a lady that ran a Human
>> Resources company. She said it was really hard to determine who could
>> actually do the job. I usually got the best jobs (in another field) by
>> hiring on as a temp, and then the engineer had to have me hired. One time
>> after that happened, the woman that ran Human Resources came and told me she
>> would never had hired me. I told her that she was incompetent and that if it
>> was my company I would fire her.
>>
>> Tom
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> colug-432 mailing list
>> colug-432 at colug.net
>> http://lists.colug.net/mailman/listinfo/colug-432
>>
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