NYCPHP Meetup

[Hans Zaunere]

--- Shawn Lawyer <shawn at shawnlawyer.com> wrote:
> Morning All,
> i agree with what was said below about being a developer or a sysadmin,
> it's the same comparison with being a graphics designer or a developer.
> what you may be over looking is the benefit of at least knowning the tools
> the designer(s) use, because you will then understand the needs of the
> designers, and how to comunicate with people who often have so idea what
> you are saying.

I agree, to an extent.  The two (dev/sysadmin) are related, and go
hand-in-hand, to a point.

> you see i'm not trying be as sysadmin because i am a programmer,

Right... and I'm not trying to be a design/layout person, but in most
circles, you're not lucky enough to have a perfectly balanced staff.

> i just need to be able to have more control over the enviroment then i have
> with a shared hosting account.

Exactly... and that means, to some extent, knowing a bit about sysadmin work
(for instance, in FreeBSD use adduser to add a user, if you're root).

> i care nothing about many sectors of being a sysadmin, security being the
> one issue i have no time to deal with. as i say do what you're good at and
> the rest will follow.

Sysadmin isn't my bread and butter either, but it is something that's always
needed, and as a result I've picked it up.  As a developer, you can depend on
someone else (if you're fortunate enough to have the resources) to setup
things to meet your needs, or you'll need to learn a bit about it.

NYPHP.org tries to offer the best of both worlds.  For one, giving the
support developers need to get a system up and running, and providing the
framework for letting them do what they're best at, code.  But at the same
time, having what so many wish they had; a "personal", knowledgable sysadmin
"on call" to learn from and work with.  Plus, with such a close-knit
community, often the sysadmins are developers as well, which is even more
valuable.

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Felix Zaslavskiy" <felix at students.poly.edu>
> > I dont know how much of , php forget about it.
> > a benefit a rooted jail is in comparison to a regular user account if the
> > purpose is simplty to privide a user account.  The way i see it someone
> > either wants to learn to be a unix sysadmin or a developer.  To be a
> > sysadmin its better to get a real root access but to be a developer the
> > normal user account is fine i think.

Maybe it's just because I've always had root (since I've also been the
sysadmin on the boxes I develop :) but a simple user account is rarely
enough, especially when developing from the ground up.

User accounts are a dime a dozen, and it may be a good way to get started. 
For instance, people who just want to develop can get a user account on a
shared, generic, system, and as their needs increase, be moved to a more
dedicated environment with the help of other developers and the sysadmin.

> > The main student server still has the gcc version is 2.95.2 , and to get
> > cgi once has to fill out forms with the IS depertment, php forget about
> > it.  But even the servers that are set up for specialized courses where
> > the TA or the professor with have enough sence to put the things the
> > student need on it the general student dont get access unless they are
> > in the course.

Well, hopefully we can work to alleviate this kind of trammel.

> > Having said all that. Most student are in general "unix morons"  the
> > reason being that they never used it.  The environment of choice these
> > days is yes you guessed it Microsoft Visual Studios. NET

That's a shame, but probably because it's just a chore to get a decent UNIX
environment, as alluded to above.



=====
Hans Zaunere
President, New York PHP
http://nyphp.org
hans at nyphp.org