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Deleted:
Module 12 - Performing Smartcard Authentication
- Describe Smartcard concepts
- Perform Smartcard administration
- Troubleshoot Smartcard operations
Added:
Module 15 - Introduction to Zones
- Identify the different zones features
- Understand how and why zone partitioning is used
- Configure zones
- Install zones
- Boot zones
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A common question pre-Solaris 8 users ask is "Where has all my memory gone"? Thevmstatcommand, used to report virtual memory statistics, often reports that free memory (measured in Kbytes in the free column) is zero or close to zero on a pre-Solaris 8 system that has been up and running for a while.Most likely, memory is being used to cache file system data, since the virtual memory system is shared by applications, data, the kernel, and file system data. By default, any free memory is used to cache data read from or written to the file system (including NFS). The size of the file system cache is dynamic -- it grows or shrinks depending on free memory.
The idea of this memory allocation scheme is to simultaneously enhance file system performance and optimize the use of an important system resource -- virtual memory. The two computing tasks of running applications and reading and writing data compete equally for system memory.
Generally, sharing a pool of memory is not an issue on small memory systems with low compute power, but with today's powerful desktop systems and servers, the file system cache can overwhelm the memory pool and make application performance suffer. Another drawback is that file system performance is tied to how quickly the virtual memory system can free memory.
Even worse, it is difficult to measure memory usage amongst the consumers of memory on the system. The
vmstatcommand is often the first tool users run to examine virtual memory usage, but pre-Solaris 8 versions do a poor job of indicating why a system ispaging (running an algorithm that moves data out from physical memory to disk, and back into physical memory from disk).So, the question becomes: is it because the system is caching file system data, or is it because memory is a bottleneck and the system is struggling to keep up?
Module 1 - Describing Interface Configuration [Grade A]
MiniReview: Overall this is a good module with a lot of useful information. See also Softpanorama Solaris Networking Links
Module 2 - Describing the Client-Server Model [Grade C]
MiniReview: In this module two distinct topics were mixed:
[Not in Exam] Module 3 - Customizing the Solaris Management Console
Module 4 - Managing Swap Configuration [ Grade D]
MiniReview: This is extremely weakly written module that doesn't address the main question: when to add swap space and how to determine that you need to add it. Also discussion of virtual memory is on "for dummies" level; BTW this is advanced system administrator course.
Module 5 - Managing Crash Dumps and
Core Files [Grade C]
MiniReview: This is OK module but usefulness is limited as it teaches you only about how to get the dump (and configure how and were it will be produced) but does not even hint how the results can be used at all. Even on the level of using Sun support to troubleshoot those problems.
Module 6 - Configuring NFS [Grade A]
MiniReview: This is a very good module that contains a lot to practically important information.
Module 7 - Configuring AutoFS [Grade B]
MiniReview: This is a good module that explains the topic with good level of details but still at the level that can be understood.
Module 8 - Describing RAID and the Solaris Volume Manager Software [Grade B]
MiniReview: This is an OK module as it skips unnecessary level of RAID and concentrate on three most common and useful. The usefulness of striping for the current harddrive with its complex electronics and cache mechanisms is very problematic, though.
Module 9 - Configuring Solaris Volume Manager Software [Grade B]
MiniReview: This is an OK module that teaches useful procedures that can increase the reliability of the system. Does not tell about one unique feature of SVM, the ability to share disks between one server and its cold backup server (for Sun storage products only).
Module 10 - Configuring Access Control Lists (ACLs) [Grade A]
MiniReview: This is a very good module that really goes in the details of what are capabilities of ACL and even suggests some ways how you can benefit from them.
Module 11 - Configuring Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) [Grade C]
MiniReview: This is an average module that tries to explain how RBAC is organized but does it in a very incoherent, clumsy way. You need to read additional sources to understand virtues and limitations of RBAC.
[Not in Exam] Module 12 - Performing Smartcard Authentication
Module 13 - Configuring System Messaging [Grade B]
MiniReview: This is a good module that goes into sufficient depth of the topic without sacrificing clarity.
Module 14 - Using Name Services [Grade B]
MiniReview: The content basically matches Solaris Naming Services Architecture Chapter of the book Solaris and LDAP Naming Services Deploying LDAP in the Enterprise By Tom Bialaski and Michael Haines
Module 15 - Configuring Name Service Clients [Grade C]
MiniReview: This is an OK module that tried to link several services and explain how you can benefit from switching to LDAP. LDAP part lacks clarity. See also
Module 16 - Configuring the Network Information Service (NIS) [Grade B]
MiniReview: This is a good module as it explains NIS in sufficient details to use it in practical situations just after the completion of the course. The pluses of minuses of various scenario of usage are not covered well and the key question, "Why NIS is still useful?" remains unanswered. The problems with NIS+ reliability and complexity that doomed Sun implementation of NIS+ are not mentioned too.
Module 17 - Configuring the Custom JumpStart Procedure [Grade F]
MiniReview: This is a clumsy and extremely bad written chapter that actually mixes two different labs:
Material was cut and pasted from different sources and never reconciled into a single logical stream. Many notions are represented twice with slightly different working (cut and paste effects).
Actually a very strange, unnecessary complex lab, as NIS was just learned and now applied to a pretty complex topic that present challenges for student even when discussed in isolation from NIS. With NIS many students are simply lost. I cannot understand why they did not use DHCP for boot server as in this case it can cross the segment lines.
See [PDF] Configuring JumpStart™ Servers to Provision Sun™ x86-64 Systems
If you think that the main usage of jumpstart server is from a laptop over a direct connection with target client via a crossover cable, then wisdom of artificially mixing NIS and Jumpstart became really problematic (unless your explicit goal is to confuse the students and kill the Jumpstart implementation in as many enterprises as possible :-)
Module 18 - Performing a Flash Installation [Grade C]
MiniReview: This is an OK chapter that explain a relatively new feature introduced in Solaris 8. No good lab though.
Society
Groupthink : Two Party System as Polyarchy : Corruption of Regulators : Bureaucracies : Understanding Micromanagers and Control Freaks : Toxic Managers : Harvard Mafia : Diplomatic Communication : Surviving a Bad Performance Review : Insufficient Retirement Funds as Immanent Problem of Neoliberal Regime : PseudoScience : Who Rules America : Neoliberalism : The Iron Law of Oligarchy : Libertarian Philosophy
Quotes
War and Peace : Skeptical Finance : John Kenneth Galbraith :Talleyrand : Oscar Wilde : Otto Von Bismarck : Keynes : George Carlin : Skeptics : Propaganda : SE quotes : Language Design and Programming Quotes : Random IT-related quotes : Somerset Maugham : Marcus Aurelius : Kurt Vonnegut : Eric Hoffer : Winston Churchill : Napoleon Bonaparte : Ambrose Bierce : Bernard Shaw : Mark Twain Quotes
Bulletin:
Vol 25, No.12 (December, 2013) Rational Fools vs. Efficient Crooks The efficient markets hypothesis : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2013 : Unemployment Bulletin, 2010 : Vol 23, No.10 (October, 2011) An observation about corporate security departments : Slightly Skeptical Euromaydan Chronicles, June 2014 : Greenspan legacy bulletin, 2008 : Vol 25, No.10 (October, 2013) Cryptolocker Trojan (Win32/Crilock.A) : Vol 25, No.08 (August, 2013) Cloud providers as intelligence collection hubs : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : Inequality Bulletin, 2009 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Copyleft Problems Bulletin, 2004 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Energy Bulletin, 2010 : Malware Protection Bulletin, 2010 : Vol 26, No.1 (January, 2013) Object-Oriented Cult : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2011 : Vol 23, No.11 (November, 2011) Softpanorama classification of sysadmin horror stories : Vol 25, No.05 (May, 2013) Corporate bullshit as a communication method : Vol 25, No.06 (June, 2013) A Note on the Relationship of Brooks Law and Conway Law
History:
Fifty glorious years (1950-2000): the triumph of the US computer engineering : Donald Knuth : TAoCP and its Influence of Computer Science : Richard Stallman : Linus Torvalds : Larry Wall : John K. Ousterhout : CTSS : Multix OS Unix History : Unix shell history : VI editor : History of pipes concept : Solaris : MS DOS : Programming Languages History : PL/1 : Simula 67 : C : History of GCC development : Scripting Languages : Perl history : OS History : Mail : DNS : SSH : CPU Instruction Sets : SPARC systems 1987-2006 : Norton Commander : Norton Utilities : Norton Ghost : Frontpage history : Malware Defense History : GNU Screen : OSS early history
Classic books:
The Peter Principle : Parkinson Law : 1984 : The Mythical Man-Month : How to Solve It by George Polya : The Art of Computer Programming : The Elements of Programming Style : The Unix Hater’s Handbook : The Jargon file : The True Believer : Programming Pearls : The Good Soldier Svejk : The Power Elite
Most popular humor pages:
Manifest of the Softpanorama IT Slacker Society : Ten Commandments of the IT Slackers Society : Computer Humor Collection : BSD Logo Story : The Cuckoo's Egg : IT Slang : C++ Humor : ARE YOU A BBS ADDICT? : The Perl Purity Test : Object oriented programmers of all nations : Financial Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : The Most Comprehensive Collection of Editor-related Humor : Programming Language Humor : Goldman Sachs related humor : Greenspan humor : C Humor : Scripting Humor : Real Programmers Humor : Web Humor : GPL-related Humor : OFM Humor : Politically Incorrect Humor : IDS Humor : "Linux Sucks" Humor : Russian Musical Humor : Best Russian Programmer Humor : Microsoft plans to buy Catholic Church : Richard Stallman Related Humor : Admin Humor : Perl-related Humor : Linus Torvalds Related humor : PseudoScience Related Humor : Networking Humor : Shell Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2012 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2013 : Java Humor : Software Engineering Humor : Sun Solaris Related Humor : Education Humor : IBM Humor : Assembler-related Humor : VIM Humor : Computer Viruses Humor : Bright tomorrow is rescheduled to a day after tomorrow : Classic Computer Humor
The Last but not Least Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand ~Archibald Putt. Ph.D
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Last modified: March 12, 2019
