Member Survey Results

by Hal Miller
<halm@usenix.org>

President, SAGE STG Executive Committee

In early January I emailed a survey to sage-members@usenix.org, the mailing list that covers the largest number of SAGE members in one "place." The purpose was to get some feedback on some of the more controversial issues SAGE faces so the executive committee would have a reasonable chance of acting in the manner most closely aligned with the majority of the membership. Here are some results and comments.

I asked whether you would like to see certification of sysadmins. Three to one said yes, but about one-third of the total were undecided. When asked what form of certification you would prefer, you responded with a strong plurality in favor of a combination of single topics and a more comprehensive plan, with a large number selecting only single topic. Combining the two, well over half appear interested in the single topic form. Combining the "combination" with the "comprehensive" preferred categories, nearly half support some large-scale plan. To the question regarding the relative importance of certification, you seem to see it as something between "unimportant" and "essential," roughly split in the middle of the spectrum.

Many people have requested that SAGE supply an email forwarding service. In answering the question on this point, two to one said yes you'd like it, but about half were undecided. The split on whether or not you would subscribe to such a service was similar.

I asked about SAGE's involvement in the formal standards arena (e.g., POSIX, IPv6, etc.). Three-quarters of you rated this "very important," with most of the remainder giving it the lesser rating that was still "important." Very few rated it "unimportant."

Three-quarters of you "always" read ;login:. Just over half say that the articles are "sometimes" helpful or worth reading, with all the rest saying it is "always" good.

I described the Short Topics series of booklets as reference material on not necessarily technical issues and asked whether more technical booklets should be published in the series. Less than a third said we should do this, with most of the rest of you saying that other methods of publication were better for this. (I happen to agree).

I proposed a new series of "How-To Notes," to be a one- to two-page (Web- accessed) checklist or summary of the basics of subjects (e.g., configuring ssh, dealing with purchasing, etc.) There was very strong support from you on this idea (three-quarters). I asked for suggested topics and received a long list with lots of repeats (to help us prioritize!).

The last question was on your view of the Code of Ethics. Eighty percent feel that it should be maintained or elevated in status, with only one respondent saying it should be given decreased emphasis.

We as a board were pleasantly surprised by the high level of response and by the positive attitude shown in the accompanying comments (all of which I have handy to refer to).

So what does it mean? Our intended actions are as follows. We are drafting a proposal for a combined program of single-topic and baseline-competency certification. We intend to ensure that it remain strictly voluntary and that sysadmins not be required to pay large sums to private companies to "buy" a certificate. We will ensure that certification maintains a high standard and real value. I hope a working proposal/plan/test scenario will be made public during this calendar year.

On email forwarding, the large number of undecided, the large number who said they would not make use of it, the number of alternatives available, the cost (setup and recurring), and problems associated (spam) have convinced us to put our resources elsewhere this year. The issue is not fully "dead," but I don't anticipate action on it in the foreseeable future.

There had been discussion about getting SAGE out of the standards business. We just reversed that and will instead increase our role this year.

The response regarding ;login: is heartening. We will try to increase our use of it as a method of communication. A second note here: this is obviously a good place for you to make your views or technical advances known!

The Short Topics series will continue as is. We have four booklets in the pipeline at the moment and (thanks to the survey respondents) a long list of topics to search for authors to cover.

Expect to see "How-To Notes" details soon.

Other things are also happening in SAGE ­ we aren't limited to this list and will keep you posted.

Start planning now for LISA. Write a paper! Oh, and if you missed the survey, you might consider again the idea of subscribing to <sage-members>. It's a majordomo list at <usenix.org>.

As I write this, I'm just returning from the USENIX Security Conference in San Antonio. The last time USENIX was here (the general conference in June of 1992), postconference events included the launching of SAGE. It's certainly been an interesting five and a half years.

Who could have predicted, five years ago, that the demand for sysadmins (not to mention the recognition that system administration is something worth hiring people to do) would be so high? The current wealth of opportunity is almost obscene: everywhere you look, installations are growing, whether it's moving from a glass-house mainframe shop culture to distributed desktop computing or back the other way, rediscovering the economies of scale of centralized systems. It adds up to one thing ­ more technology to manage and (hopefully) more folks to manage it.

What we considered a "large" system five years ago is now at best middle sized. The Internet, that vast suck of bandwidth, is now a commodity item. There are ads for computer chips on TV. Everyone has email. There may be slightly fewer versions of UNIX out there (depending on how you count), but there's no one clear market leader. There's more to know, more to do, and (thanks to "Web time") less time to do it in.

And what of SAGE? Starting from a handful of people in a room in this hotel, we now have well over 3,500 members (and over half of all USENIX members also belong to SAGE). We co-sponsor three conferences (LISA, SANS, and LISA/NT), publish a series of Short Topics booklets (the fourth of which, on hiring sysadmins, should be in members' hands soon after you read this), have drafted a Code of Ethics, and have seen (and in many cases assisted in) the growth of several SAGE local groups (currently 17 scattered around the US).

Thanks in large part to the early codification of the SAGE Jobs Descriptions and the publication of the booklet, many organizations not only have a better understanding of the sysadmin role, but some have constructed career paths for system administrators. Degree programs with emphasis on system administration are beginning to appear at some colleges, and efforts to grow sysadmins in high school have begun. There's certainly lots yet to do regarding coordinating education and evaluation efforts, but we're on the right path.

Where will SAGE be in another five years? Although no one (that I know, at least) has an infallible crystal ball, it's hard to believe that there won't be systems to administer. The problems we solve every day, after all, remain essentially the same despite the underlying technology. I've yet to run across vendors whose ideas on how to use their products completely match the reality of my environment, or products that completely protect the end-users from themselves. Wherever sysadmins go, SAGE will be there.