This document provides advice for system administrators (sysadmins) working in high-performance computing (HPC) environments. It discusses managing systems, which includes tidying the datacenter, prioritizing tasks, planning in advance, monitoring everything, doing backups with a sound strategy, making systems uniform, and automating as much as possible. It also covers managing people, such as educating and deploying ticketing systems for users, managing bosses by knowing their priorities and getting documentation, and using "Zen" and setting boundaries when managing yourself. Additionally, the document discusses managing projects through setting expectations, thinking long-term, avoiding vendor lock-in, and being nice to suppliers to a point. The overall message is that an H

1. Sex, lies and queues
Confessions of an HPC sysadmin

3. Antonio Sanz
I3A - IT Manager
10+ years as a sysadmin
ansanz@unizar.es
@antoniosanzalc

4. Some names have been
changed in this book to
protect the identity of
computers, users, and
suspected human beings

5. Based on
true
stories.

6. 1800+ cores
150+ servers
150Tb storage
10Gb network
300+ users
HPC Staff : 2 techs

7. 1.
What is an HPC sysadmin ?

8. A sysadmin makes things run smoothly

9. An HPC sysadmin is a sysadmin plus (caffeine)

10. With great power
comes
great
responsibility

11. We work wonders…
Ask her about miracles

12. HPC Sysadmin is a shitty job

13. It’s something between this …

14. … and this

15. An HPC
sysadmin
is a
Happiness
Manager

16. 2.
Managing systems

17. Tidy up your
datacenter
17

18. Prioritize your tasks

19. Plan everything
in advance

20. Things eventually fail. Live with it

21. Monitor everything

22. Get remote (and secure) access

23. Do backups

24. Have a sound
backup strategy

25. If you lose data, not even Chuck will protect you

26. Make your systems uniform

27. Have spares onsite

28. Virtualize as much as you can

29. You can’t have enough automation

30. Document everything

31. Don’t make major changes on Friday

32. Do extreme
sysadmin

33. 3.
Managing people

34. Managing users

35. Users eat resources like marabunta

36. Users always lie

38. Learn how to
translate
user/sysadmin

39. Should I give the user what
they want or what they need?

40. Deploy a ticketing system

41. Educate your users

42. Get a FAQ and tell
users to RTFM

43. Learn to say NO.
Learn to say NO.

44. Give solutions, not excuses

45. Managing bosses

46. Know your boss

47. Learn how to
translate
boss/sysadmin

48. Ask for email / signed docs

49. Brown deactivation tactics

50. Manage consultants

51. Assess their expertise and attitude

52. Zero tolerance tactic

53. Manage yourself
Manage yourself

54. Use Zen.
BOFHzen, actually.

55. Never act in anger

56. Be nice

57. 4.
Managing projects

58. Manage expectations

59. You get what you pay for

60. Think long term

61. Learn to say NO. Again.

62. Don’t fix what ain’t broke

63. Beware of ultra
shiny & new stuff

64. Make everything scalable

65. Give yourself broad margins

66. Don’t tie yourself to a vendor

67. They will
have you by
the balls
Vendor Lock-In

68. Don’t tie yourself to a vendor

69. They will
have you by
the balls
Vendor Lock-In

70. Don’t tie yourself to a vendor

71. Be nice to suppliers … to a limit

72. 5.
Wrapping it all up

73. Learn !

74. Plan a lot

75. Be a people person

79. Sex

80. Lies

81. http://slideshare.net/ansanz
Antonio Sanz – ansanz@unizar.es / @antoniosanzalc