Linux and Unix SysAdmins New Year’s Resolutions (2016)



Today is the last day of 2015 and it’s that time of year again. Here is my very own 12 resolutions for the New Year.



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1. Turn on Two Factor Authentication (2FA)

Setting long and complex passwords for root/admin, backup, devops, or operator accounts is not enough. Naturally, turning on 2FA is useful for cloud-based services. I already have 2FA set for my Linux desktop login including ssh client. I will take the time to change all passwords and if any cloud provider is without 2FA, I’m going to stop using them in 2016. Here is list of websites and whether or not they support 2FA.

2. Let’s Encrypt – Free SSL/TLS certificates

Enough said.

3. Never ever do consultancy for cheap IT manager/business

Without going into specific details about business or its owner, I’ve decided that I will not work with a cheap IT manager who values money over people and work ethics.

4. Fix WHOIS, domain name registries and DNS records

First, I’m going to stop using Godaddy for registering domain names. I also need to fix WHOIS so that I can easily verify my domain ownership and fix broken or deprecated dns entries for A, AAAA, and MX (omg). There is no point running primary and secondary Authoritative DNS servers either. Let the Google, AWS Route 53, Rackspace and co; have them manage it for a small fee. It is better, secure and I will get geo distributed fast Authoritative DNS servers.

5. Learn Go lang, swift and android programming

I’m trying to be a better coder, I need to learn Go language. It is everywhere. I’m starting with “The Go Programming Language by Brian W. Kernighan and Alan A. A. Donovan” book. Of course this will not replace my legacy Perl5 or Python v2.x scripts. I don’t know but something tells me, there will be more demand go lang in 2016+. I wanted to learn both iOS and Android device programming just for fun and profit. At least create some Android or iOS app to get familiar with the SDK.

6. Upgrading my cloud skills

I know OpenStack, AWS, Google cloud but there is a new cloud provider, Microsoft Azure and it is getting lots of adoption. Microsoft continues embracing Linux including RHEL. Many Microsoft shops prefer to use Azure for Linux. This might be a good investment in a long term. The Linux Foundation and Microsoft have teamed up to make a new certification for Linux. If you take Linux Foundation LFCS (Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator) and Microsoft 70-533, Microsoft will issue you their MCSA Linux on Azure certification. See this page for more info on the Linux Foundation courses.

I’m a long time FreeBSD jails and LXC container technologies user. But, it is time to add Docker platform to my skill set in 2016 too.

7. Making peace with systemd

I’ve finally accepted systemd. There’s no point fighting to lose my consultancy business. I already noticed that CentOS/RHEL 7.x, Debian 8.x and upcoming Ubuntu all are systemd based. The political debate is dead for me once my clients started to demand next generation of Linux distro in cloud. There is nothing I can do about it as CentOS/RHEL/Debian all pay my bills.

8. ZFS and FreeBSD

Competition is good For consumers. ZFS is awesome. I’ve already started with FreeNAS based NAS servers and I will continue to do so in 2016. FreeBSD is a great alternative to systemd based Linux system. If my clients are not happy with systemd, I will strongly suggest FreeBSD for server.

9. Brace yourselves ARM is coming

A Raspberry Pi is a good start to run both Linux and FreeBSD server at home as well as at a small business place. I run my own caching dns server, proxy server, download server and more using a Raspberry Pi. You will see 64 bit ARM server chips this year for Unix/FreeBSD and Linux. Learning ARM boot loaders, automation, programming and installation for ARM based system is very high on my priority list.

10. Getting back to gaming (personal goal)

I gave up on gaming on my Linux rig mostly because of very few AAA titles on Linux. For the first time, I’ve a reason to smile. Linux games have positively increased due to Steam for Linux. I’m also exited about Vulkan API and AMD’s GPUOpen initiative. I do not trust Microsoft even for gaming. I think I will build a new Linux gaming rig powered by AMD in 2016.

11. Stop using deprecated tools on Linux

Finally, going to stop using /sbin/ifconfig, and /bin/netstat on Linux. ifconfig is replaced by the ip command and netstat is replaced by the ss command.

12. Just say NO…

I will not purchase or recommend any laptops with the following specs:

MS-Windows 10 only lock down. RAM or CPU soldered to motherboards (hard to find in ultrabook though). 4GB or less ram (8GB is minimum or 16 GB is must). Storage with moving parts (spinning hard disk). Laptop with horrible screens. Wireless whitelist in BIOS (it is my device I should able to install any wifi card).

Your turn…

What resolutions are on your list? Let me know in the comments section below. I would also like to thank you all of our supporters, fans, and clients and I wish you Happy New Year 2016. May the New Year bring less support tickets and healthy servers in your data centers.

Category List of Unix and Linux commands File Management cat Network Utilities dig • host • ip • nmap Package Manager apk • apt Processes Management bg • chroot • disown • fg • jobs • killall • kill • pidof • pstree • pwdx • time Searching grep • whereis • which User Information groups • id • lastcomm • last • lid/libuser-lid • logname • members • users • whoami • who • w