getting a linux job

jmanrta

hello,

First off I just wanted to say I've been pretty much lurking for about a year here, and I have to say I really like this community you guys have here. Y'all are so helpful to each other. I am not saying this to suck up or anything, this is geniunely how I feel about this forum.

But enough of that, on to my question..

I am interested in working a linux role. My experience is mainly with Windows, but I have done some "real-world" projects like setting up a samba server, web server, and using a live cd for diagnosing windows machines. I've also done some home projects like setting up a media server and ftp server in addition to have linux installed on my local machine and diagnosing the things that go wrong.

I am also working on my RHCT certification. I can't really afford Red Hat's little boot camp, so I got the RHCE study guide by Michael Jang, and have been doing the labs in a virtual machine. I was also able to track down the educational RPMs mentioned in the sticky post about the RHCE.

Now my first question, for those of you who work with linux/unix, will my experience plus the RHCT be good enough to land a role? If not what would y'all reccomend? If yes, what kind of job offers can I expect with my experience plus the RHCT?

My second question is related to the RHCT, I was wondering if a seasoned linux ninja someone and/or someone who has an RHCE could "break" my machine, and give me some challenges to work on? If you want to help me out please PM me for details. I'd really appreciate the help. Thank you.

Forsaken_GA

Get ffmpeg, ffmpeg-php, mplayer, and MP4Box up and running with support for liblame, libogg, libvorbis, libtheora, libfaac, libamr, and libx264 (where they're appropriate for the application). Do it all from source, with ffmpeg and mplayer coming from the most recent SVN entries.

It's not particularly difficult, but it's a good learning experience, especially since sooner or later you will run into a situation where you have to install software that isn't installable through the resident package manager.

The best way to get a linux job is to migrate everything you do over to linux. Live it, breathe it, use it, and find a solution for what you want to do in it. Most employers looking to hire linux folks care the most about ability. If you can hack it (pun fully intended), then you should have no problem getting an entry level job which will allow you to build coveted experience to move on to better jobs

If you want some *real* fun, find a copy of and install Debian 3.0.

Then try upgrading it to the current stable version. You will learn more about apt and dpkg than you ever wanted to (you really should become familiar with different flavors of Linux, being able to work on a Red Hat derivative and a Debian derivative are very good skills to possess).

Other than that, just do stuff like get familiar with installing scripts for a webserver, usually using Apache, Mysql, and PHP (aka, the traditional LAMP stack). Learn some bash shell scripting. Get proficient with sed and awk. Learn how to use rsync. Learn how to mount network file systems. Learn how to use LVM. Install and configure a mail server with something like dovecot or qmail or courier as the MUA, and postfix as the MTA, and then learn how to connect them together to do virtual email hosting with a database backend. Learn how to setup LDAP and then integrate everything into a single signon, authenticating against the LDAP directory. Learn all the fun tricks you can do with ssh.

And while you're learning all of this, any questions or thoughts along the lines of 'I wonder if I can do this....' that may occur to you? Follow up on them. During the process, you will learn, or you'll decide you'd rather go back to Windows

jmanrta

Get ffmpeg, ffmpeg-php, mplayer, and MP4Box up and running with support for liblame, libogg, libvorbis, libtheora, libfaac, libamr, and libx264 (where they're appropriate for the application). Do it all from source, with ffmpeg and mplayer coming from the most recent SVN entries.

It's not particularly difficult, but it's a good learning experience, especially since sooner or later you will run into a situation where you have to install software that isn't installable through the resident package manager.

I have installed software from source before but I'll take you up on the challenge

The best way to get a linux job is to migrate everything you do over to linux. Live it, breathe it, use it, and find a solution for what you want to do in it. Most employers looking to hire linux folks care the most about ability. If you can hack it (pun fully intended), then you should have no problem getting an entry level job which will allow you to build coveted experience to move on to better jobs.

Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. I mainly use windows now cause I need it for my job. I teach Microsoft Office 2007 to displaced workers and Office 2007 doesn't seem to work fully with WINE

If you want some *real* fun, find a copy of and install Debian 3.0.

Then try upgrading it to the current stable version. You will learn more about apt and dpkg than you ever wanted to (you really should become familiar with different flavors of Linux, being able to work on a Red Hat derivative and a Debian derivative are very good skills to possess).

I'll take you up on this one too

Other than that, just do stuff like get familiar with installing scripts for a webserver, usually using Apache, Mysql, and PHP (aka, the traditional LAMP stack).

I have become quite aquainted with the LAMP stack as I did some PHP programming in one of my previous jobs

Learn some bash shell scripting. Get proficient with sed and awk.

This is an area of weakness for me. I'll work on it.

earn how to use rsync.

never used rsync before, will have to get started on that

Install and configure a mail server with something like dovecot or qmail or courier as the MUA, and postfix as the MTA, and then learn how to connect them together to do virtual email hosting with a database backend.

I have done a little bit of work with postfix, but I am rusty. I do have experience setting proftpd and using a database backend for authentication. I have also created PHP scripts for account creation and authentication.

Learn how to setup LDAP and then integrate everything into a single signon, authenticating against the LDAP directory

One of the requirments of the RHCT is have a workstation authenticate against a LDAP server, so it looks I have no choice but to do that.

Learn all the fun tricks you can do with ssh.

Shh certainly can be fun. My friend had to do a presentation for a security job, he did it on ssh security, he showed it to me and it was really informational.

And while you're learning all of this, any questions or thoughts along the lines of 'I wonder if I can do this....' that may occur to you? Follow up on them. During the process, you will learn, or you'll decide you'd rather go back to Windows

I might try again as far getting Office 2007 to work with WINE. Another thing I struggled with a couple years ago was getting linux to authenticate against Active Directory. Any ideas?

Honestly though, I prefer Windows for desktop computing, but when it comes to servers and programming, linux is where it's at IMO.

undomiel

I wrote up an entry a while back on joining a linux server to Active Directory so maybe this will get you on the right track with that: A Sidetrip to Linux with Active Directory Jeffery Land’s Tech Blog

JavonR

See if there are any local linux user groups in your area as well... Go in to learn and I bet you will also get some great connections as well. GL.

Hyper-Me

The best way to bind nix to AD, IMO, is use a software that takes the extreme headache of binding nix boxes to LDAP directories out of hte equation.

Quest Authentication Services is the best ive seen

Also Centrify and some others, but the zone technologies plaguing some solutions are just as big a headache.

jmanrta

I wrote up an entry a while back on joining a linux server to Active Directory so maybe this will get you on the right track with that: A Sidetrip to Linux with Active Directory Jeffery Land’s Tech Blog

Thanks, I'll check this out

See if there are any local linux user groups in your area as well... Go in to learn and I bet you will also get some great connections as well. GL.

I have been to LUG meetings off and on, and was kind of turned off by some of the politics

The best way to bind nix to AD, IMO, is use a software that takes the extreme headache of binding nix boxes to LDAP directories out of hte equation.

Quest Authentication Services is the best ive seen

Also Centrify and some others, but the zone technologies plaguing some solutions are just as big a headache.

Is this an open source solution?

qwertyiop

You could always use Likewise Open

Likewise Open Source Software that Authenticates Linux, Unix, and Mac systems with Microsoft Active Directory

Kasor

It is not easy on entry level because what you call experience is not really experience. Working and using/setup from the box are two different thing. Everyone can setup a Linux box with instruction. That's not experience... it is only a prcatice.

jmanrta

Kasor wrote: »

It is not easy on entry level because what you call experience is not really experience. Working and using/setup from the box are two different thing. Everyone can setup a Linux box with instruction. That's not experience... it is only a prcatice.

With this in mind what would you suggest I do? BTW the experience I have was on production servers, not a home lab. Now they weren't high demand, but I still have a gotten an interview or two for linux sysadmin positions because of it. The reason I am going for the RHCT is to give me that extra boost of confidence both for me and my potential employers.

So again, instead of putting up big brick wall for me devaluing my experience as "practice", what do you suggest I do to break into the linux world?

Forsaken_GA

jmanrta wrote: »

I have installed software from source before but I'll take you up on the challenge

Like I said, it's not particularly difficult, but there are some quirks, so it's a good learning experience. I'll go ahead and give you a hint though - the older versions of ffmpeg-php won't compile with the most recent SVN versions of ffmpeg, and the latest version (if it's still 0.6.0) has a small bug in the source code.

UnixGuy

I'd say yes, your experience is good...but you need to look hard for a job, any job, doing UNIX or Linux work.

Continue studying for RHCE...and work hard on that, you can do it. This will definitely help you.

UNIX jobs need experience above all things...so really the very first step to get a job with UNIX...the you will figure out yourself.

jmanrta wrote: »

hello,

First off I just wanted to say I've been pretty much lurking for about a year here, and I have to say I really like this community you guys have here. Y'all are so helpful to each other. I am not saying this to suck up or anything, this is geniunely how I feel about this forum.

But enough of that, on to my question..

I am interested in working a linux role. My experience is mainly with Windows, but I have done some "real-world" projects like setting up a samba server, web server, and using a live cd for diagnosing windows machines. I've also done some home projects like setting up a media server and ftp server in addition to have linux installed on my local machine and diagnosing the things that go wrong.

I am also working on my RHCT certification. I can't really afford Red Hat's little boot camp, so I got the RHCE study guide by Michael Jang, and have been doing the labs in a virtual machine. I was also able to track down the educational RPMs mentioned in the sticky post about the RHCE.

Now my first question, for those of you who work with linux/unix, will my experience plus the RHCT be good enough to land a role? If not what would y'all reccomend? If yes, what kind of job offers can I expect with my experience plus the RHCT?

My second question is related to the RHCT, I was wondering if a seasoned linux ninja someone and/or someone who has an RHCE could "break" my machine, and give me some challenges to work on? If you want to help me out please PM me for details. I'd really appreciate the help. Thank you.

RobertKaucher

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Like I said, it's not particularly difficult, but there are some quirks, so it's a good learning experience. I'll go ahead and give you a hint though - the older versions of ffmpeg-php won't compile with the most recent SVN versions of ffmpeg, and the latest version (if it's still 0.6.0) has a small bug in the source code.

Forsaken, sadly I must "spread some around" before I can add to your rep again... But very good stuff here. Thanks.

jmanrta

Ok I just thought I'd update everyone on my progress, a friend mine suggested I setup an LDAP server since one of the criteria for the test is to attach a workstation to a network. RHEL actually has a GUI for attaching workstations,and even making the edits in the ldap.conf and nsswitch.conf is a breeze.

However my friend told me setting up LDAP is a ***** and a half, so I decided to try it myself. Well it kicked my ass a couple but I am happy to say I finally got things running. I have to say I learned a lot about LDAP today, but my brain is fried.

I only have the machine authenticating against itself. my next task will be to get another machine I have laying and attach that to the server.

I might also write a blog about how I accomplished some of the challenges people have suggested to me a little bit later. Maybe even write a perl script to automate a few of the tasks as far as setting up the LDAP server.

After I get done with LDAP my next task will be NIS. Then I might move on to forsaken's challenge re: mp4box,ffmpeg, mplayer, et. al.

UnixGuy

Good job !

how many machines do you have ? What OS/Hardware do you have ?

jmanrta wrote: »

Ok I just thought I'd update everyone on my progress, a friend mine suggested I setup an LDAP server since one of the criteria for the test is to attach a workstation to a network. RHEL actually has a GUI for attaching workstations,and even making the edits in the ldap.conf and nsswitch.conf is a breeze.

However my friend told me setting up LDAP is a ***** and a half, so I decided to try it myself. Well it kicked my ass a couple but I am happy to say I finally got things running. I have to say I learned a lot about LDAP today, but my brain is fried.

I only have the machine authenticating against itself. my next task will be to get another machine I have laying and attach that to the server.

I might also write a blog about how I accomplished some of the challenges people have suggested to me a little bit later. Maybe even write a perl script to automate a few of the tasks as far as setting up the LDAP server.

After I get done with LDAP my next task will be NIS. Then I might move on to forsaken's challenge re: mp4box,ffmpeg, mplayer, et. al.

Forsaken_GA

jmanrta wrote: »

Ok I just thought I'd update everyone on my progress, a friend mine suggested I setup an LDAP server since one of the criteria for the test is to attach a workstation to a network. RHEL actually has a GUI for attaching workstations,and even making the edits in the ldap.conf and nsswitch.conf is a breeze.

However my friend told me setting up LDAP is a ***** and a half, so I decided to try it myself. Well it kicked my ass a couple but I am happy to say I finally got things running. I have to say I learned a lot about LDAP today, but my brain is fried.

I only have the machine authenticating against itself. my next task will be to get another machine I have laying and attach that to the server.

I might also write a blog about how I accomplished some of the challenges people have suggested to me a little bit later. Maybe even write a perl script to automate a few of the tasks as far as setting up the LDAP server.

After I get done with LDAP my next task will be NIS. Then I might move on to forsaken's challenge re: mp4box,ffmpeg, mplayer, et. al.

The pain of setting up LDAP largely depends on the platform. I setup LDAP a few months ago for my home network (I emulate an enterprise setup, both network and server setup, just to keep my skills current). I initially tried to do it on Debian, but the most recent versions of Debian are now linking against gnutls instead of openssl because of licensing reasons, and gnutls simply put, sucks. I eventually got it to work, but I had to pull the source for the debian package, and recompile it against openssl. I got it all working, but I decided this was not something I wanted to deal with whenever I needed to upgrade OpenLDAP, so I wiped the server and did the same setup under FreeBSD. Much easier.

While I'm mentioning FreeBSD, there's a book called Building A Server with FreeBSD 7, or something like that. It has a number of programs to install and configure. While it won't directly help you, you might want to take a peak at it's table of contents on Amazon and copy them down and try to do the same things under Linux. It also wouldn't hurt you to get familiar with BSD. 90% of our servers are Debian, about 5% are CentOS, but we still have a few BSDi and FreeBSD boxes on our network from previous acquisitions, so it's not a bad thing to be proficient with multiple unix versions.

And if you manage to land a job with a webhost, the challenge regarding ffmpeg, et al will be very handy. The combination I described is a very common request, because everyone wants to run a tube site these days, and the tube scripts have most, if not all (depends on the script) of the software I mentioned as pre-reqs. I don't do it so much anymore since I moved to our network engineering department, but I was doing that several times a week (usually cleaning up after other guys who couldn't get it done correctly), and I still occasionally do it when I moonlight as a sysadmin when they need a hand.