LOPSA training classes at SCaLE

As a followup to its highly successful training programs, LOPSA is partnering with the Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE) for the second year in a row. The training classes are on Friday, February 20, 2008, and the conference is Saturday and Sunday, February 21 and 22, 2008.

Though I have no first hand knowledge of last year's events, I heard the training was quite successful.

I am teaching two classes at SCaLE - University, and I will be available during all of SCaLE when not teaching. I'll be attending our booth on and off all weekend, as well.

This year at SCaLE I am teaching one of my favorite classes, Disaster Recovery: Will you survive?, and a foundation course on storage, Introduction to Virtualized Storage Management.

The DR class was well received at both LOPSA Sysadmin Days and OLFU 2007. It covers considerations on how to think about DR, what to think about, and how to implement those concepts. My favorite aspect of this class is talking to everyone in the room about how they can take something back to their operation and implement DR for their location. It makes for lively discussion.

The Storage class is more technical in that it talks about how disk storage is access and used on a low level in an OS. Though the class is quite Unix/Linux focused in the examples given, the concepts apply just as well to Windows or other platforms. I hope that everyone who takes it will learn enough to go back to the office (or their own systems!) and implement virtualized storage immediately. It covers how disk storage is presented to an OS, how an OS uses storage, and the limitations of non-virtualized storage that I know have bitten us all! Then it covers how virtualized storage works and how to use it to make everything better.

I feel fortunate to have so many opportunities to attend these various conferences and be an instructor. I love getting out and sharing my experiences and the knowledge I've gathered over the years from mentors and through painful trial and error. I learn from every person in my classes, and that enriches my professional experience - which, in turn, enriches my future classes! I am still in contact with many of my former students, some of which are teaching on their own areas of expertise, too.

I hope to do some networking while at SCaLE, and I hope anyone I haven't met that attends any of the classes - either mine or the great topics taught by veteran instructor Chris St. Pierre - or the conference stops by to introduce themselves! So, don't be afraid to drop me an IM, email, or TXT/call (if you have my cell number, which I seem to give out quite freely) so we can arrange to meet. (NOTE: If you try to contact me via Twitter, please send a direct message as I may not see your comment/query in a timely manner otherwise.)

See y'all at SCaLE in Feb!