Lesson 0: Start Here

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About the Program

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Definition: System Administration

  • Responsible for systems (typically servers) running code, applications, and services
    • Keeping applications running (they crash, sometimes a lot)
    • Updates, Security
    • Monitoring, Logging
  • Automates significant amounts of work with infrastructure
    • This enables a small team to administer hundreds or thousands of servers
  • Involved in infrastructure architecture and decisions
  • Can be involved in QA/Development work as well

Definition: System Engineers

  • Responsible for creating the platforms code is run on
    • Work at a lower-level
    • Generally make infrastructure decisions for others
    • Often have expertise with some particular sub-system (networking, filesystems, etc)
    • Not necessarily on-call, but can be
  • Sometimes intermixed with Systems Administrators who want Engineer in their title

Definition: DevOps Engineers

  • Newer position
  • Mix of Systems (Operations) and Development work
  • Involved where the application and its platform meet
  • Responsibilities include a mix of both Ops and Dev, usually:
    • General infrastructure/automation
    • Continuous Integration and Testing
    • Developer Environments/Workflow
    • Logging
    • Often on-call

Definition: Site Reliability Engineers (SRE)

  • SRE and DevOps Engineers share the same foundational principles
  • SRE is viewed as a “specific implementation of DevOps with some idiosyncratic extensions”
  • SRE was originally created at Google as a process to improve managing their services
  • Most large tech companies now follow SRE processes

DevOps

DevOps is a field which takes skills from Software Development and Operations Engineering to create and run applications more effectively.

TLDR: Development + Operations == Better Services

DevOps defines 5 key pillars of success:

  1. Reduce organizational silos
  2. Accept failure as normal
  3. Implement gradual changes
  4. Leverage tooling and automation
  5. Measure everything

What DevOps BootCamp (DOBC) is

TLDR: Couch to DevOps in 1 school year
DOBC is a free education program offering:
  • Mentors teaching DevOps related tools and concepts.
  • A challenge for anybody willing to put in the effort.
  • One-on-one Apprenticeship.
  • Hands-on training and lectures
  • Free and Open Source course materials!

What DOBC is not

DevOps BootCamp is not:
  • A for-credit OSU class
  • A Student job
  • Easy

Why DOBC Exists

DOBC was created because the OSU OSL:
  1. Merged with the school of EECS.
  2. Wanted to help students meet Company demands and expectations of recent graduates.
  3. Needed to bridge the “Skills Gap” of the OSU EECS curriculum.
  4. Wanted to build a DevOps Learning community.

What You Will do

You will Learn:
  • Linux systems
  • Networking
  • Software development
  • Tools and why they matter
You will build:
  • Functioning applications on the cloud
  • Cloud infrastructures

Who Teaches DOBC

The teachers of DOBC include:
  • OSL Students
  • OSL Faculty
  • Guests from The Industry
  • You!

Bi-Weekly Open Office Labs

Discuss more advanced topics and also have hands-on with server and network equipment in our lab.

  • Automated Linux installs
  • Network switch configuration
  • Out of Band (IPMI) configuration and usage
  • Installing servers in racks and configuring them
  • Setting up servers to run various services (email, web, DNS, etc)
  • Open Source software contributions
  • Software Development

The ‘Agreement’

You get out what you put in.
DOBC is not meant to be easy. Stick with it, persistence is rewarded.
Student Benefits:
A free education on industry topics, tools, and concepts
Student Responsibilities:
Show up if you can, keep up if you cannot, put forth effort, and don’t forget to have fun.
Give us feedback.
  • There will be a survey you, should take it.
  • Honesty is the best policy.

Getting Involved

Where To Ask Questions
  • Slack
  • During Lecture and Hand-on Lessons
  • More on the About page...
How To Ask Questions
  • Always be respectful to those helping you.
  • Stay calm and articulate.
  • Explain you are trying to achieve and be thorough.

Next: Lesson 1: First Steps