Compare $400,000.00 for developers and artists... that created a short movie and improved the software environment along the way... to Microsoft spending about $500,000.00 (on a Hollywood production crew) to make the desktop background image for Windows 10. Which was the better value?
I watched that video when it was first released and enjoyed it.
I've taught a Linux sysadmin class every Spring for the last 7 years and while the content of the class has changed some over that time, the setup hasn't changed much. Originally I had one 4 core server with 16GB of RAM running OpenVZ (first on EL5 and later EL6 and hopefully EL7 next Spring if Virtuozzo 7 is done by then). I had a "course server" container that had a public IP address on which each student has a regular user account. Then on the same host there was a container for each student that had a private IP address. Students have root access to their own container... but to access it they have to first login to the course container... and then ssh from the course container to their own container. While that isn't a perfect security solution, I think it helps some. Students have to have good passwords and ssh brute force attack mitigation is in place.
For the last two classes I got a second server running KVM with more RAM (1GB per student or better is a good idea if possible) and more disk space... and I also gave each student a KVM VM. The container ran EL6 and the KVM VM ran EL7... so students got access to sysvinit (upstart in compatibility mode) and systemd. There was a secondary course server KVM VM with a public IP from which they could get to their student KVM VM that had a private IP address.
We actually covered OpenVZ, containers, and KVM near the end of the class so students hopefully understood the environment at the end.
I didn't break things nor have a trouble-ticket system but they had plenty of hands on experience with the package manager, installing service, and configuring them... and I would verify their homework assignments and give plenty of feedback. The class had quite a bit of lecture material (in-class and screencast recording for anyone who missed class).
I agree, hands-on is definitely required for students to get much out of the class. I don't think I could get away with expecting students to fix a server at 3AM though. :)
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Compare $400,000.00 for developers and artists... that created a short movie and improved the software environment along the way... to Microsoft spending about $500,000.00 (on a Hollywood production crew) to make the desktop background image for Windows 10. Which was the better value?
I watched that video when it was first released and enjoyed it.
I've taught a Linux sysadmin class every Spring for the last 7 years and while the content of the class has changed some over that time, the setup hasn't changed much. Originally I had one 4 core server with 16GB of RAM running OpenVZ (first on EL5 and later EL6 and hopefully EL7 next Spring if Virtuozzo 7 is done by then). I had a "course server" container that had a public IP address on which each student has a regular user account. Then on the same host there was a container for each student that had a private IP address. Students have root access to their own container... but to access it they have to first login to the course container... and then ssh from the course container to their own container. While that isn't a perfect security solution, I think it helps some. Students have to have good passwords and ssh brute force attack mitigation is in place.
For the last two classes I got a second server running KVM with more RAM (1GB per student or better is a good idea if possible) and more disk space... and I also gave each student a KVM VM. The container ran EL6 and the KVM VM ran EL7... so students got access to sysvinit (upstart in compatibility mode) and systemd. There was a secondary course server KVM VM with a public IP from which they could get to their student KVM VM that had a private IP address.
We actually covered OpenVZ, containers, and KVM near the end of the class so students hopefully understood the environment at the end.
I didn't break things nor have a trouble-ticket system but they had plenty of hands on experience with the package manager, installing service, and configuring them... and I would verify their homework assignments and give plenty of feedback. The class had quite a bit of lecture material (in-class and screencast recording for anyone who missed class).
I agree, hands-on is definitely required for students to get much out of the class. I don't think I could get away with expecting students to fix a server at 3AM though. :)