Thursday
5 October
Opening
Keynote
Systems
Administration
-
The Industry, The Profession, The Guild
0900
- 1000hours
MIKE
CIAVARELLA AND GEOFF HALPRIN
T he System Administrators' Guild
(SAGE) is the professional body for practising system administrators. The
first SAGE group was founded in the USA in 1992, and was rapidly followed
by an Australian group. There are now SAGE groups all over the world, including
in New Zealand.
This paper presents a brief history
of the profession and SAGE, and the System Administration challenges being
faced by industry today. We describe some of the current initiatives being
undertaken by SAGE bodies world-wide to address these challenges, in particular
the progress of certification and education efforts. We also discuss the
role of the Extended System Administrator - as government and commercial
organisations attempt to come to grips with new technology, system administrators
are being drawn into the political process, as advisors and lobbyists.
Quality
Management in Small Software Development Organisations - Comparing Theory
and Practice
1030
- 1115hours
KEITH
WALLACE AND JOHN PAYNTER
Small software Development organisations
are an important part of the software industry but have been relatively
neglected in literature and empirical studies. This study seeks to redress
this deficiency in the area of software quality management. Differing characteristics
that set small software firms apart from their larger organisations mean
that quality management methods that were developed for larger organisations
may not be transferable to smaller ones. Three case studies are used to
compare quality management methodologies in software engineering with real
practices in small software development organisations.
e-Markets:
What, Why, How and the Choices
1115
- 1200hours
DONALD
HOBERN is an e-Business Solutions
Architect with IBM New Zealand and is based in Auckland. He has worked
for IBM for over 14 years, mostly at the IBM laboratories in Hursley, England
and Boca Raton, Florida. he was part of the OS/2 Presentation
Manager development team and provided customer technical support for the
product. He was also involved in developing CICS on a variety of
Unix platforms and worked on solutions to critical problems facing major
CICS customers worldwide. More recently he worked on the design and
development of key portions of component Broker, central to IBM's e-Business
Application Framework. While in New Zealand, he has focused on several
areas of e-business activity, particularly around the development of electronic
commerce and marketplaces.
Tivoli
Storage Manager Administration
1115
- 1200hours
STEVEN
PEMBERTON System Administrator at United Energy
and leads their Technical Services AIX team.
Description
of the TSM product (previously known as ADSM)including:
*
how TSM differs from traditional unix backup
Using
TSM at United Energy
*
filesystem backups of AIX, True64, Linux, Solaris, and NT and database
backups of Oracle and SAP via EBU, backint, and SQL-Backtrack
*
tivoli data protection for MS-SQL and MS-Exchange
How
we have automated Administration tasks
*
reporting via MySQL
*
backup/recovery and disaster recovery tasks
Web-based
Decision Support Systems: Frameworks, Architectures and Technologies
1330
- 1415hours
DAVID
SUNDARAM, YU-HSIEN MARJORIE CHAN AND JOHN PAYNTER
The
web has been used to disseminate information and to transact business (E-Commerce),
but the potential to use it as a decision support tool is as yet untapped.
This paper proposes a framework for Web-based Decision Support Systems
(WDSS). In order to achieve this objective, a number of representative
Decision Support Systems frameworks and Web-based DSS implementation examples
to support the WDSS framework are reviewed. Representative samples of technologies
that can be utilised to build these architectures are examined.
Directory
Based Authentication Schemes
1330
- 1415hours
DAVID
ELSON
Del
has been in the IT industry for 15 years, mostly in Australia. He has extensive
Unix, Open Systems, and Linux experience, specialising in security and
networking. He is currently working for gen-i (formerly Wang New Zealand)
as a Network Consultant in Christchurch.
A
paper covering the issues of the various LDAP based authentication schemes
available today, including issues on how to get them configured, how the
work and how to use them.
MPs
and the Internet - is a little knowledge a dangerous thing?
1415
- 1500hours
DAVID
FARRAR
David
Farrar has worked in Parliament for four years including two years in the
PM's Office where he was involved in various Internet issues and initiatives.
David is also a former Councillor of the Internet Society of NZ.
A
look at how NZ MPs have experienced the Internet, could we have a repeat
of a Trevor Rogers Bill, and what are the pros and cons of having an Internet
aware Parliament!
The
Systems Administration Body of Knowledge
1415
- 1500hours
GEOFF
HALPRIN
Systems
administration is a maturing profession. Many texts, vendor training programmes,
conference tutorials, and Certification programmes now exist. What does
not exist, yet, is a higher level formal understanding of the duties and
responsibilities of the profession.
The
Systems Administration Body Of Knowledge (SA-BOK) project is an attempt
to address this by taking a series of steps towards the definition of the
profession and the capture of industy best practices.
This
paper provides an overview of the (SA-BOK) project (otherwise known as
the Taxonomy of Best Practices project), the progress made to date, and
the projects path towards its goals
When
Disaster Strikes
1530
- 1630hours
MIKE
CIAVARELLA Senior Partner with Cybersource Pty Ltd and a practising member
of SAGE-Au
Disaster
recovery is something that most organisations pay lip service to, with
typical preparation being to establish commercial insurance for loss of
plant and equipment, and to ensure that data backups are kept offsite to
allow continued
operation
in the case of disaster.
In
reality, these preparations are insufficient in themselves to allow a rapid
return to normal or even basic operations in the event that disaster does
strike. Whilst insurance payouts may cover equipment replacement,
delays in policy finalisation and subsequent equipment supply can lead
to protracted periods of inactivity. Data backups may not be able
to be recovered due to hardware differences between new and old equipment
(and
sometimes,
availability of replacement equipment).
This
paper explores a real-world disaster, as experienced by a firm that, perhaps
ironically, is in the business of providing System Administration services
to
its customer base. Names and places described in this paper are real,
and have not been changed; this paper describes events which have actually
happened.
Friday
6 October
U.S.S.
ICANN - P.P.M. (Power, Politics, and Money)
-
A slightly irreverent view of ICANN
0900
- 1000hours
SUE
LEADER Executive Director - ISOCNZ
Sue
Leader has been one of the Society's representatives to the last three
ICANN meetings. She will outline the structure of the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and take a quick look at what goes
on behind the scenes and why New Zealand needs to be involved.
Linux
in Schools
1030
- 1115hours
DIGBY
TURNER Electronic/computer technician
who works for Digicom Networks Ltd, a company that provides computer networking
support for schools. Digby has been employed in the microcomputer field
since 2708 EPROMs dropped in price to $235 each.
Schools
are prepared to accept Linux as a viable platform because of its higher
news profile and its lower price. A personal voyage through providing Network
Support in Schools.
The
Road to On-line Democracy - Benefits and Costs
1030
- 1115hours
MARK
HARRIS Immediate-past convenor of the Society's "Methods
of Electronic Participation" Working Group and has been instrumental in
developing the processes to allow increasing use of the Internet for Society
business.
Mark
will trace the development from simple rules for on-line Council meetings
through to the successful June 2000 National Summit and AGM web-casts.
Think
Quest
1115
- 1200hours
WAYNE
LEONG is Application developer for a financial institution.
Co-ordinator of ThinkQuest for New Zealand. ThinkQuest Programme is an
Internet-based non-profit education program created by Advanced Network
and Services.
The
aim is to promote internet-style learning through collaborative teamwork.
Each
year, thousands of students and educators all over the world compete for
more than US$2 millions in scholarships and awards. ISOCNZ became a national
partner in 1998. We assume the responsibility for promoting this programme
in New Zealand.
Following
Sue Leader's presentation last year, it is time to review progress made
so far and outline plans for 2001 and beyond.
The
Health Intranet
1115
- 1200hours
JEFFREY
SOAR
Over
the past eight months, the first steps in a vision of the seamless exchange
of health information have been underway. The Health Intranet has moved
beyond the pilot stage into production, a real life use of IP to create
a Virtual Private Network
Introduction
to Intrusion Detection Systems
1330
- 1415hours
DAVID
ELSON Del has been in the IT industry for 15 years, mostly in Australia.
An
examination of the various IDS tools available on the market today, their
applicability to Linux and Unix systems in general, how they operate, what
they look for, and which ones are suitable for particular environments.
This paper covers firewalls, port scanners, file system scanners and log
file scanners at an introductory level.
Electronic
commerce and the law-creating a favourable legal and regulatory environment
for electronic commerce.
1330
- 1415hours
EDWIN
LIM has completed a conjoint LLB(Hons) and Bcom(Hons
Electronic
commerce has the potential to radically alter both economic activities
and the surrounding social environment. The nature and speed of electronic
developments are of particular importance to individuals, businesses, governments
and trade organisations worldwide. This paper presents a general overview
of the problems and challenges that electronic commerce pose for the laws
of contract, digital signatures, privacy, taxation and jurisdiction. Major
legal and technological developments are discussed
and analysed.
Linux
based diskless workstation
1415
- 1500hours
EWEN
MCNEILL is a technical consultant for Naos Ltd,
a title which means he gets to do all the work.
Linux
has received much popular press as a server operating system, but its applications
in the workstation area have received less attention. This presentation
describes how to use Linux and PC hardware to produce a diskless workstation
booting off the network or a floppy disk. With suitable hardware the days
of a quiet work area, free from computer noise, can return.
International
Governance - prospective of a GAC representative
1415
- 1500hours
FRANK
MARCH Senior IT Policy Advisor at the Ministry of
Economic Development
Governments
have a role in determining how the Internet is managed arising quite simply
from the overwhelming success of the Internet in becoming one of the most
critical resources for commercial development. No government can
afford for the Internet, or at least access to it by its own citizens (including
corporate citizens), to be captured or put at risk. This paper outlines
the position of the ICANN Government Advisory Committee, and in particular
the relationship that needs to be established between the respective national
government and the local ccTLD manager, and the role of ICANN in respect
of this, from a New Zealand perspective.
Whats
the Best Firewall?
1530
- 1630hours
ELIZABETH
ZWICKY is a director at Counterpane Internet
Security, a managed security services company. She has been doing large-scale
system administration and security for 15 years, and is one of the authors
of the O'Reilly book "Building Internet Firewalls", now in its second edition.
She was a founding board member of the US System Administrators Guild (SAGE),
and the San Francisco Bay Area system administrators' group BayLISA, as
well as a nonvoting member of the first board of SAGE-AU.
The
most common question people ask about firewalls is "What's the Best Firewall?"
Unfortunately, there are no answers to this question that are both useful
and correct. After a brief tour of the useless and false answers, this
talk will teach you how to replace this question with ones that will lead
you to a conclusion about which firewall best meets your needs.
Impromptu
Adlibbing
1630
-1730hours
LIAM
GREENWOOD Professional bluffer and procrastinator
Liam
is going to give us his interetsting and quirky slant to a topical
issue.
Saturday
7 October
Web
Site Performance Measurement
0900
- 0945hours
DAVE
MOSKOVITZ As Technical Director of The Web Limited,
Dave's background includes a CS degree from University of California, Berkeley;
a career in systems programming; and being there at the birth of NewZealand's
Internet industry.
What
sort of performance do your customers get from your web site? Given a global
customer base, how do you even know? How do you isolate bottlenecks and
especially when they're outside your network?
Linux
- High availability at low cost
0900
- 0945hours
DONALD
NEAL Donald Neal is a Technical Specialist in
the Network Delivery group of Telecom New Zealand, working mainly with
network management systems.
One
of the weaknesses of Linux has been its inability to provide highly available
services of the kind offered by add-on products to commercial UNIX variants.
Linux software now exists which does provide high availability at unbeatable
cost, but for only some applications. This paper explains how free software
can be configured to provide high availability and outlines the limitations
of this free software in its current form.
Linux
Professional Institute
0945
- 1030hours
JOHN
TERPSTRA - cancelled
Mountains
to Molehills: The Archiving of Inland Revenue's Tax Information Database
0945
- 1030hours
JASON
MOORE
The
Inland Revenue core system has been collecting taxpayer information since
1990. The database is sufficiently large to present many potential problems
with the continued operation of the system.
With
this in mind IR decided to archive some of the data. Although the data
to be archived was older and seldom used they still required access to
view and update it on demand. The system implemented was also to be transparent
to the users of the system.
This
paper is based on the FIRST Data Archiving project and it is intended to
give an insight into some of the processes used when deciding how to archive
the financial information from the tax database and cover the final system
implemented.
Closing
Keynote
New
Zealand: Amusement Park for the Developed North or Global Knowledge Economy
Player? - one mans view.
1100
- 1200hours
DR.
HOWARD H. FREDERICK
Frederick
represents that breed of knowledge worker who would like to immigrate to
New Zealand if only the conditions were right. A Stanford grad with broad
European and Latin American experience, Professor Howard H. Frederick is
recognised as a authority in the field of global communications, economic
development and new technologies.
The
jury is yet out on whether economists will refer to us the "New Zealand
syndrome", namely the country that did not make the transition from a pastoral
to a knowledge-based economy. New Zealand is simply not on the world's
radar screen as a country of ideas and innovation. While our competitors
from Singapore to Canada have remodeled themselves, New Zealand has yet
to make the social, political and cultural changes required to excel in
the modern economy. The fact remains that New Zealand is the only modern
country without a knowledge economy strategy.
What
are the "speedbumps on the Kiwi information superhighway"? What are the
tough challenges that face government and business today? Why hasn't the
Kiwi e-conomy taken off? What are our niche advantages? What must we require
of our leaders? How can New Zealanders put themselves in the global e-capital
flows with their mouths open? This presentation also lays out the hot issues
facing the Internet community in New Zealand, including the domain name
controversies and the shared registry system.
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