[Im looking for] Experience in Server Administration/Maintenance

[X3r0X]

Hey guys,

I think its now time for me to learn the ropes of server administration. After handling several client/reseller control panels for over 1 1/2yr's now, I'm really looking into getting some hands on experience with setting up, repairing and maintaining servers. As I have basically said, I do not have any prior experience in the administration side of things, as my *nix knoweledge is quite limited.

If you were to take my onboard as a somewhat *trainee*, the things you could expect to teach me, and for me to learn are:
+ OS Maintenance/Installation
+ cPanel (or other) control panel establishment/maintenance/technical
+ General server setup
+ Basic linux commands (or other OS if required)

Those are just some things, you dont nessecarily have to teach me those specific things. In return for this, im sure I would (when you feel comfortable that I can handle myself) assist your hosting company with some technical support, and/or other things that you may require.

Some of my strengths that I believe I possess are:
+ Great communication skills
+ Can write fluently and clearly
+ Designing skills in CS2 (Created many templates, signatures and a few logos)
+ Knowelge of cPanel, Directadmin and Plesk (reseller permissions)
+ Can work in a team based environment (I'm in these situations daily)
+ Always willing to learn new things
+ Will put in 100% when your taking the time out to instruct me

The times (GMT+10) that I would be able to process such tasks are:
+ Weekends - 10am-10pm
+ Weekdays - 3pm-10pm

Let it be known to all (if you dont already know) that I am only 14 years of age. I know this may pose a difficulty for some people in allowing me to do such tasks, but im also very hopeful that someone will be willing to *take me under their wing* and help me grow into an experienced server administrator. At the end of it all, the advantages of this for you would be the fact that im more than willing to stay on and help your company in one way or another, technical, support, whatever you have taught me. Oh, did I mention I would do it for free? I know its a bit of a given, but I thought I'd add it there.

If anyone has any questions, comments or suggestions then please leave them here. It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[hottweelz]

You're probably one of the most mature, clear, concise, and coherent 14 year olds' on this board.

What would you rate your Linux Experience at 1-10 currently?

 

[X3r0X]

Hey hottweelz,

Unfortunatley for me, my linux usage is limited to basically nothing. The extent to which I have used it is very minimal, the only time being completing a mission on "Hackthissite.org" . However, if someone was willing to teach me id be willing to go as far as to buy a second hard-drive, and boot both Windows XP and a Linux Distro (any recommendations?). That way, I can practice both online and offline, further helping me .

I just believe this would be a great learning experience for me, and im willing to go to great lengths to achieve it.

EDIT: Oh, thanks for the compliments. I try my best .

Thanks,
Chris

 

[ingfina]

Unfortunatley for me, my linux usage is limited to basically nothing.

id be willing to go as far as to buy a second hard-drive, and boot both Windows XP and a Linux Distro (any recommendations?).

Do it
Try Gentoo (http://www.gentoo.org) if you really want to learn a lot. May be hard at first but you'll get the hang of it eventually. You could also use CentOS (common for servers), but you won't learn as much as with Gentoo.
Both are free - you can download them from the internet.

 

[kb3mol]

Now, I am not the person for this nor, am I trying to mimic you in any way, but I would like to learn something like this to, my Linux experince is about a 3.

 

[monaghan]

I'd suggest either a 2nd HDD or preferably a 2nd PC.

A distribution like Gentoo will be good for getting up and running quickly, however you really want to tackle something like Debian without any GUI, this will really teach you the *nix skills you need. When supporting a standard hosting server, then generally you'll have no GUI to help you out, you'll need to understand how to manage a box via the shell. (You'll also have the benefit that you can run on a very old PC as you'll not need the processor power to run the GUI )

I would suggest getting familiar with basic management of a box, then put it onto your Internet connection and see if you can keep it hack free.

Write up what you're doing and why, then you can present this to any future employer as proof of your knowledge.

Play with Apache's configuration as well, get familiar with it's config files so you are comfortable in configuring it without a GUI.

Build it and break it & mend it, keep doing this over and over again.

When cPanel screws your httpd.conf, then it won't sort it for you, you need to get in there by hand and resolve the problem. This is the sort of skill that will define your ability as a SysAdmin.

Learn vi as this will be on just about every *nix system, other editors may not.

 

[utcrazy]

For a kiddy linux distro, I'd use mandriva or ubuntu. For somehting more advanced, definitely gentoo. SSH to a server is always the best and perhaps funnest way to learn the commands, how the non-GUI system works. IMO. You can also just create a partition on your current HD, and dual boot with a linux distro.

 

[X3r0X]

Hey guys,

Ive decided to go and get the Gentoo livecd, and simply just install it onto my older, smaller 40gb hard-drive. Then just as monaghan said:

Build it and break it & mend it, keep doing this over and over again.

Most likely after I get my hands wrapped around it, ill try to move onto something that requires more knoweledge and work (I think someone suggested Debian). Hopefully, this will allow me to have a far better understanding of Linux systems, and help me with my quest to get some assistance in becoming a server administrator .

Thanks for your help anyone, more suggestions/comments please .

Regards,
Chris

 

[Tree]

I suggest starting out with Red Hat Linux 8 or 9. Also, if you have VMWare installed, you can have many different OSs on there.

If possible, get an HP-UX chip and play around with that. It's great to know as well.

 

[X3r0X]

I suggest starting out with Red Hat Linux 8 or 9. Also, if you have VMWare installed, you can have many different OSs on there.

If possible, get an HP-UX chip and play around with that. It's great to know as well.

Well if I install Gentoo off the live cd, will vmware be compatible with that distro? If so, thats great. Ill just run multiple operating systems, so I can test in different environments and leave my gentoo for the core system.

I would get Red hat, but isn't that basically Fedora? Because Fedora is free, and im led to believe Red Hat isn't...

If possible, get an HP-UX chip and play around with that. It's great to know as well.

Im afraid im not exactly sure what that is, care to fill me in? .

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Tree]

HP-UX is what you call a proprietary OS. It runs on HP's PA-RISC range of processors and Intel's Itanium processor, and was also available for later Apollo/Domain systems. It doesn't run on just anything, like Windows does. So chances are slim that you will be able to run it. Great for managing large filesystems though.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-UX

I'm not sure if Red Hat is free or not, but I can throw Red Hat 8's iso at you if you want. I got some free CDs at a seminar I went to.

 

[X3r0X]

I'm not sure if Red Hat is free or not, but I can throw Red Hat 8's iso at you if you want. I got some free CDs at a seminar I went to.

Yep, Red Hat is now a commerical OS. Not to worry though, as far as im aware Fedora Core is somewhat Red Hat but a less... advanced version? Not exactly sure how to put it, but it is developed by Red Hat.

And yeah, I doubt my P4 will handle that seemingly powerful OS . Thanks for the advice.

 

[monaghan]

Try CentOS, this is built from the same core as Red Hat.

Fedora is fine, however is often not looked on as sufficiently stable for hosting (although I had a box running it fine for 6 months) due to it's very short life and rapid development cycle. I'd guess that Fedora is essentially a public testing ground for future Red Hat stable releases.

Your P4 may not handle HP-UX, however you can pick up 2nd hand HP kit on eBay

Solaris is another option to learn as is *BSD and have Intel ports