This was originally the About page for the site. A few things have changed over time, as I have adapted to meet the changes. You should see the original from the first web page.
What is ovSAGE?
ovSAGE is a recognized local affiliate of the System Administrator’s Guild (SAGE) and the League of Professional Systems Administrators (LOPSA), founded in 1998 in Ottawa, Ontario. We are primarily a group of system administrators from around the National Capital region that meet once a month to be social, get a heads up on new ideas, technology, and to have a little fun. Ideally, we will be inviting vendors in to demo technologies that we could use in our daily employment, have training sessions, and bring in some of those nasty problems that we all run into, and try to find an answer.
Why is there an Ottawa Valley SAGE group?
At the LISA 98 conference in Boston, three members of Usenix/SAGE from Ottawa met up after a session on forming local groups. We decided that there should be a local SAGE group in Ottawa to discuss topics in system administration. As there is was no current organization for that, we decided to form one. This group is the result.
Who Can or Should Join?
Anyone who has to administer computer systems computers. You don’t have to have a large site, by any means. If you are a system administrator, or just look like one, you are more than welcome to join our meetings. They are free.
The only real qualification you have to have is to be able to find your way to the monthly meetings. Information on monthly meetings is farther down the page.
Site Access
In order to see the event calendar or to actually participate in this site, you will have to create an account. To do that, click on the “log in” link to the left. You will get a page where you can request an account. This was a more open access in the past, but due to link spam and comment spam, you now need to be signed in in order to access the site and to create content.
What is SAGE?
Historically, the System Administrators’ Guild is a Special Technical Group (STG) of the USENIX Association. It is organized to advance the status of computer system administration as a profession, establish standards of professional excellence and recognize those who attain them, develop guidelines for improving the technical and managerial capabilities of members of the profession, and promote activities that advance the state of the art or the community. This definition is currently evolving, as SAGE is in the process of becomming it’s own entity. More information can be found on the SAGE home page
What is USENIX?
The USENIX Mission Statement
USENIX, the Advanced Computing Systems Association:
- Fosters technical excellence and innovation
- Supports and disseminates research with a practical bias
- Provides a neutral forum for discussion of technical issues
- Encourages computing outreach into the community at large
Since 1975, the USENIX Association has brought together the community of engineers, system administrators, scientists, and technicians working on the cutting edge of the computing world.
The USENIX conferences have become the essential meeting grounds for the presentation and discussion of the most advanced information on the developments of all aspects of computing systems. Visit the USENIX web site for more information.
What is LOPSA?
The League of Professional System Administrators (LOPSA) is a nonprofit corporation with members throughout the world. Our mission is to advance the practice of system administration; to support, recognize, educate, and encourage its practitioners; and to serve the public through education and outreach on system administration issues.
LOPSA membership benefits fall into two classes. The first involves support of you as a member and a sysadmin. LOPSA is working to provide educational and networking opportunities, a forum for support and ideas, and an active community engaged in discussion of sysadmin issues.
The second benefit of joining LOPSA is to advance the profession as a whole. LOPSA aims to bring a voice to system administrators to society beyond. We want to educate the public, influence policy both corporate and legislative, and ensure that our voice is heard. We will reach this goal with outreach, research into sysadmin issues, and active efforts to expose the media and public to our viewpoints.
For additional information, visit the LOPSA web site.
What is LISA?
LISA is an annual technical conference sponsored by USENIX and SAGE. It is the meeting place of choice for system, network, database, storage, security, and all other computer-related administrators. Administrators of all specialties and levels of expertise meet at LISA to exchange ideas, sharpen old skills, learn new techniques, debate current issues, and meet colleagues and friends.