Sun, rather quietly, has released Solaris 10 update 4. It’s available here. Note that it’s currently only available for download. Media kits are not yet available.
Update – the participation of Usenix at SANs conferences was postponed so I won’t me making this conference.
——–
I’ll be teaching my Solaris 10 Administration Workshop and Solaris 10 Security Workshop at the SANSFIRE conference – the major SANS event. It’s in Washington D.C. this year. USENIX and SANS are working together to provide more training on varying topics at their conferences and my classes are part of that cross-polination. I’ll be there July 28th through 30th (at least).
http://www.sans.org/sansfire07/
Just a couple of weeks until Usenix ’07 in Santa Clara, CA. Hope to see some of you there. I’m teaching two courses there and taking some vacation time as well. Solaris 10 Admin and Solaris 10 Security.
From the Usenix Ad:
2007 USENIX Annual Technical Conference
June 17-22, 2007, Santa Clara, CA
Early Bird Registration Deadline: June 1, 2007
http://www.usenix.org/usenix07/progm
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USENIX ’07 is coming to Santa Clara, CA, June 17-22, 2007. As always,
the breadth and quality of this year’s tutorials, refereed papers, invited talks, and
participants is excellent. Some highlights:
The 6-day training program at USENIX ’07 provides in-depth and
immediately useful training on the latest techniques, effective tools,
and best strategies, including:
– Richard Bejtlich on TCP/IP Weapons School, Layers 2-3
– Peter Baer Galvin on Solaris 10 Security Features
– AEleen Frisch on Administering Linux in Production Environments
– Steve VanDevender on High-Capacity Email System Design
– And more . . .
The full training program can be found at
http://www.usenix.org/usenix07/training/
In addition to the training, 3 days of technical sessions include
top-notch refereed papers, informative invited talks, expert Guru Is In
sessions, and a Poster Session.
http://www.usenix.org/events/usenix07/tech/
* Our invited talks feature our most impressive slate of speakers to
date. They include:
– Keynote: “The Impact of Virtualization on Computing Systems,“ by
Mendel Rosenblum of Stanford University
– Plenary Closing by Mary Lou Jepsen, One Laptop per Child,
“Crossing the Digital Divide: The Latest Efforts from One Laptop per
Child“
– Rob Lanphier, Linden Lab, “Second Life“
– Luis Von Ahn, Carnegie Mellon University, “Human Computation“
– Werner Vogels, VP and CTO, Amazon.com, “Life Is Not a State-
Machine: The Long Road from Research to Production“
* The Refereed Papers track provides a look into current research and
practices on in-demand topics.
For complete program information and to register, see
http://www.usenix.org/usenix07/progm
USENIX ’07 promises to be an exciting showcase for the latest in
innovative systems research and cutting-edge practices in technology.
We look forward to seeing you in Santa Clara in June.
————————————————————————
WHAT: USENIX ’07: 2007 USENIX Annual Technical Conference
WHEN: June 17-22, 2007
WHERE: Santa Clara, CA
WHO: Anyone interested in state-of-the-art computing issues
WHY: To get to and stay on the leading edge of practical and actionable research and tools
My two-part column discussing the ins and outs of system virtualization are now available on-line from SysAdmin Magazine.
Navigating the System Virtualization Maze – Part 1
Navigating the System Virtualization Maze – Part 2
I’m on the program committee for the USENIX LISA ’07 conference (a preeminent systems administration conference with refereed papers). The deadline for paper submissions is fast approaching. Below I’ve included the call for papers. If you’ve been doing research on systems administration or been implementing new tools or methods please consider submitting your work to the conference.
——————————————————————–
Call for Papers
LISA ’07: 21st Large Installation System Administration Conference
November 11-16, 2007, Dallas, TX, USA
http://www.usenix.org/lisa07/cfpb
Extended abstract and paper submissions due: May 14, 2007
Sponsored by USENIX and SAGE
——————————————————————–
Dear Colleague,
The submission deadline for the 21st Large Installation System
Administration Conference (LISA ’07) is less than a month away.
Please submit your work by May 14, 2007.
The LISA ’07 organizers invite you to contribute proposals for refereed
papers, invited talks, and workshops, plus any ideas you have for Guru
Is In sessions, Work-in-Progress Reports, the new poster session, and
training sessions.
The Call for Participation with submission guidelines and sample topics
can be found on the USENIX Web site at http://www.usenix.org/lisa07/cfpb
For twenty years, the annual LISA conference has been the foremost
worldwide gathering for everyone interested in the technical and
administrative issues of running a large computing facility.
Administrators of all specialties and levels of expertise meet at LISA
to exchange ideas, sharpen old skills, learn new techniques, debate
current issues, and meet colleagues and friends.
The conference’s diverse group of participants is matched by an equally
broad spectrum of activities:
* A training program for both beginners and experienced attendees covers
many administrative topics, ranging from basic administrative procedures
to using cutting-edge technologies.
* Refereed papers present the latest developments and ideas related to
system and network administration.
* Invited talks discuss important and timely topics and often spark
lively debates and conversation.
* Work-in-Progress Reports (WiPs) provide brief peeks at next year’s
innovations.
* NEW! The Poster Session offers the opportunity to describe your
current work.
GET INVOLVED!
* Submit a draft paper or extended abstract proposal for a refereed
paper.
* Propose a training session topic.
* Suggest an invited talk speaker.
* Share your experience by leading a Guru Is In session.
* Submit a proposal for a workshop.
* NEW! Submit a poster.
* Present a Work-in-Progress Report (WiP).
* Organize or suggest a Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) session.
* Email an idea to the program chair: lisa07ideas@usenix.org
We look forward to hearing from you!
On behalf of the LISA ’07 Organizers,
Paul Anderson
University of Edinburgh
lisa07chair@usenix.org
————————————————————
IMPORTANT DATES
Extended abstract and paper submissions due: May 14, 2007
Invited talk proposals due: May 21, 2007
Notification to authors: June 27, 2007
Final papers due: August 20, 2007
Poster proposals due: September 3, 2007
Notification to poster presenters: September 17, 2007
Submission guidelines and more information can be found at
http://www.usenix.org/lisa07/cfpb
————————————————————-
————————————————————-
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I thought it would be fun / informative to post the covers of the history Operating System Concepts. The general name for the series is “the dinosaur book” although the covers have included non-dinos as well. As far as we know this series is the best-selling operating system textbook.
The critters on the cover indicate both the evolution of operating systems and the ongoing “OS wars”. I became a co-author on this book in its Third Edition, after it was well established as one of the leading operating systems textbooks by James Peterson and Avi Silberschatz. Over time Peterson went on to other things and Avi and I were joined by Greg Gagne. The First Edition was published in 1983 and was 548 pages long. On its cover were dinosaurs and mammals labeled with the names of the important operating systems of the time, including OS/360, Multics, Scope, OS/MVS, VMS, UNIX, and CP/M. The book was a break-through because it covered not one operating system but abstracted key operating system features and used specific operating systems to illustrate those concepts. This method is still the one employed in the current edition. The Second Edition went disco with the same dinos and mammals but this time lit up in neon. The Third Edition updated the creatures and showed the following operating systems on the cover: OS/MVS, Multics, VMS, UNIX, OS/2, Mach, and MS-DOS. For the Fourth Edition we decided to stop labeling the animals on the cover, but on the inside of the cover we had descriptions of the animals as well as a time-line of operating system evolution. I thought that was cool. The same theme was in the Fifth Edition as well. The Sixth Edition had the animal information but stopped including the timeline. Along the way we published alternate versions of the book that used Java as the descriptive language and for exercises and projects. For more information on the current OSC, including sample exercises, errata, and teaching aids, check out the text home page.
Just occurred to me that I never blogged about my book(s). The latest edition just came out – it’s Operating System Concepts with Java, 7th ed. It’s a partner to the other current edition Operating System Concepts, 7th ed. Together they are among the best selling operating system textbooks. The new book has a Java flavor, specifically in the examples and projects. Both are available from the usual sources including Amazon (OSC7th w/ Java, OSC 7th). The main URL for the books is www.os-book.com. There we keep the errata, slides for lecturers using the class, and links to other useful resources like sample exercises and solutions and on-line chapters.
Just released at SysAdmin Magazine (both in print and on the web) is my latest column. This being part one of a two parter on virtualization. Here is the link. Also in this same issue of SysAdmin is an article by my colleague, Chris Page, about the cluster technology that is part of Oracle’s RAC product. Well worth a read.
SANS has reported a verifiable zero-day exploit for Solaris 10 and beyond (Nevada et al). There is a vulnerability in telnetd that can allow attackers to login without a proper account and password.
Note that in recent releases of Solaris Nevada which are “Secure by default”, telnetd is disabled during installation. Earlier releases have telnet enabled and it should be disabled in almost all circumstances. The command to disable is
# svcadm disable telnet
Here is the Information Week article describing the problem and linking to SANS.
Late breaking news – Usenix is running some tutorials at the SANS 2007 conference in San Diego, and I’ll be teaching two of my workshops there. Here are the links for more information.
March 29 Solaris 10 Administration Workshop
March 30 Solaris 10 Security Workshop
Hope to see you there…