Operations training materials
On Sun, 23 Apr 1995 elliot@ghost.uunet.ca wrote:
On Sat, 22 Apr 1995, Michael Dillon wrote:
Right now it is possible for each new operations person at a new ISP to hunt through all the RFC's for relevant documents, look through the IETF mailing lists for relevant lists and then hunt through those lists for relevant messages, etc.... However, it would be far more efficient to have one technically skilled researcher do this and distill the important info for the rest of us.
Ah, so you want someone else to do your homework for you?
Not for me, I've done my homework. Unfortunately, I no longer have many of the "texbooks" nor a coherent record of all my sources of info so if I wanted to train another person it would be like reinventing the wheel. :-(
I believe that the general feeling in the Internet community that it's essential not only to have such information, but also to be able to understand the sources from which the information is derived; following the IETF mailing lists and understanding relevant RFCs is part of what makes a "good" operator.
Agreed. This is the beauty of publishing tutorial materials on the Web; you can have direct links to the RELEVANT source materials including the important IETF lists and list archives.
The Internet is constantly changing, and in order to keep up, an operator *must* understand new RFCs and mailing list discussion *as they occur*.
There's no time to wait for some to write a book simplifying things for you...
Not a book, more like a table of contents with introductory summaries. Consider that most new ISP's don't even know what IETF is, don't know what NANOG is, have never heard of BGP, etc.... They may have experience with UNIX and TCP/IP Lan's or with BBSes and I have come across more than a few who have little more than DOS experience. These people are LOOKING for a book to help them but there are no such books. They are looking for a newsgroup to help them but there are no such newsgroups. They are even looking for a mailing list, but there is no single mailing list that covers what you need to know. Given that a WWW site as I have envisioned did exist, those who know would have a quick and easy answer to all operational questions. "Go and read the stuff at http://...... and then if you need to know more, ask me." Michael Dillon Voice: +1-604-549-1036 Network Operations Fax: +1-604-542-4130 Okanagan Internet Junction Internet: michael@junction.net http://www.junction.net - The Okanagan's 1st full-service Internet provider
Not for me, I've done my homework. Unfortunately, I no longer have many of the "texbooks" nor a coherent record of all my sources of info so if I wanted to train another person it would be like reinventing the wheel. :-(
Well then. Money meet mouth, mouth money. Jeez!
On Sat, 22 Apr 1995, Randy Bush wrote:
Not for me, I've done my homework. Unfortunately, I no longer have many of the "texbooks" nor a coherent record of all my sources of info so if I wanted to train another person it would be like reinventing the wheel. :-(
Well then. Money meet mouth, mouth money. Jeez!
Look Randy, this thread started out with people from Sprint and ANS? talking about the efforts involved in getting new operations people on stream and pointing out that they simply couldn't provide any training for their new ISP customers. What I'm trying to point out is that there is more than one way to skin a cat, i.e. writing a tutorial for the WWW is a far more cost effective training tool than trying to do one-on-one with each new ISP that signs on. My perspective is that of someone who has just climbed most of the steepest part of the learning curve and who has noticed that many of my peers (new ISP's) haven't got a clue and don't know where to find the info. I point them at http://www.isoc.org, http://www.merit.edu, http://www.ripe.net and http://www.internic.net but they still have to go rooting around in there looking for the key items in a mass of information that is of lesser utility. There is no map! The source documents are nice to have, but without a map you don't even know if you are looking at the right ones! Michael Dillon Voice: +1-604-549-1036 Network Operations Fax: +1-604-542-4130 Okanagan Internet Junction Internet: michael@junction.net http://www.junction.net - The Okanagan's 1st full-service Internet provider
The Internet is constantly changing, and in order to keep up, an operator *must* understand new RFCs and mailing list discussion *as they occur*.
There's no time to wait for some to write a book simplifying things for you...
Not a book, more like a table of contents with introductory summaries. Consider that most new ISP's don't even know what IETF is, don't know what NANOG is, have never heard of BGP, etc....
Humm, I do remember repeated and consistant posting to the inet-access list with NANOG and IETF agendas, mtg times, and list information. This also went to the small-providers list and on at least one occasion to a couple of BBS USENET groups. On at least one of those occasions the person making the query was a M.Dillon and a Bill Manning replied. I have noted that there has not been much of a followup in those fora to let the "newbies" know when the next NANOG mtg is and that they are encouraged to attend. Time to dust off the distribution list again. Class is in session, time to do homework! Here is a list of reading/reference materials that will be used this term. Note that it will be modified as the term progresses. (Go for it. Geoff has volunteered space and assistance) --bill
participants (3)
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bmanning＠ISI.EDU -
Michael Dillon -
randy＠psg.com