For teaching, covering the fundamental Distros and their package management
nuances is your best place to start. Not getting into the weeds of all the
sub-distributions unless it is to demonstrate how the fundamentals carry
over.
I would include Gentoo/LFS as one of these fundamentals because you learn
the underpinnings of Linux building them.
I don't think enough admins know how the boot process works, UEFI, EFI vs
Boot. and MBR/GPT and how they affect boot.
On Mon, Feb 10, 2025 at 3:17 PM James Mcphee via PLUG-discuss <
plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
> Agreed. In a classroom for sysadmins, maybe make them aware of the
> distros, but the ones to teach would be a rhel, debian, and aws. Those are
> the ones used mostly in jobs. I, personally, found Gentoo and then LFS
> extremely useful in learning how to troubleshoot issues and get a better
> handle on how to do more advanced things. Doing stuff manually and then
> forming a good mental model before adding the distro's tooling on top of
> what does what automatically.
>
> Something I have to do with new sysadmins is having to train them on how
> boot works, MBR vs EFI boot, what arch they're on and how x86_64-v2
> requirement in newer rhels means updating that virtual hardware, how rc
> scripts and/or systemd work, how to configure a bonded NIC, OSI model and
> how it maps to how to troubleshoot in linux, etc. To make them more ready
> for employment, that'd be a help. Also, setting up httpd, tomcat, nginx,
> haproxy, etc and configure those ciphers! Oh, and automation! Be it
> puppet, ansible, chef, whatever. At least some experience with a
> state-based configuration system. I will absolutely argue that the need
> goes away with proper architecture, but it's a fundamental tool that almost
> all jobs are going to have.
>
> I know with solaris training back in the day we separated it out to
> general familiarity and build. Then "advanced" topics like fiddling with
> driver settings and doing disk stuff (solaris volume manager was
> interesting). Then troubleshooting (broken libs, broken boot, broken
> start scripts) and security. AIX training was different, but AIX is ...
> different.
>
> If training for k8s, docker, podman, whatever, it's a different story. A
> lot of that is kind of unique to that environment and will often also be
> dependent on which of the various bits and bobs are getting plugged in, k8s
> especially. Containers aren't new, but the OCI standard has made some
> things better defined.
>
> On Sun, Feb 9, 2025 at 6:51 PM Matthew Crews via PLUG-discuss <
> plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>
>> I do not recommend teaching people Void Linux in a classroom setting.
>>
>> I know enthusiasts tend to like it, but for people that want to learn
>> Linux (and potentially use it in a commercial setting), it does things
>> different enough from the major mainstream distros that it's actively
>> counter-productive to learn it.
>>
>> But that said if there is going to be a lecture or two on the
>> differences between A distro and B, C, D, etc., distros, then it would
>> be a good one to include.
>>
>> Ditto for NixOS, antiX, Alpine, and honestly Slackware at this point.
>>
>> -Matt
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2/6/25 17:02, Steve Litt via PLUG-discuss wrote:
>> > On Wed, 5 Feb 2025 12:07:15 -0700
>> > James Mcphee via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>> >
>> >> I'd add that if your students want to learn linux well, they should
>> >> use one of the other distros as well. Arch, gentoo, LFS, etc.
>> > Please add Void Linux to this list. It's very close to the metal,
>> > highly conforming to POSIX, and it's fairly simple (in terms of moving
>> > parts and thin interfaces, not in terms of having things done for you).
>> > Unlike Arch, the Red Hat biosphere, and the Debian biosphere, it uses
>> > the ultra simple runit init system rather than the 1.3 million LOC
>> > all-encompassing systemd. Like Arch, Gentoo and Funtoo, it's a rolling
>> > release, but Void Linux does a much better job of rolling release.
>> >
>> > SteveT
>> >
>> > Steve Litt
>> > Spring 2023 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
>> > Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques
>> > ---------------------------------------------------
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>
>
> --
> James McPhee
> jmcphe@gmail.com
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--
A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from
rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
Stephen
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