The uptake of cloud computing was rendering many traditional systems administrator functions obsolete, tech author and Google sysadmin Tom Limoncelli told attendees at Linux.conf.au (LCA) in Hobart this week.
The uptake of cloud computing was rendering many
traditional systems administrator functions obsolete, tech author
and Google sysadmin Tom Limoncelli told attendees at
Linux.conf.au (LCA) in Hobart this week.
The commoditisation of email services, instant messaging and chat systems, and
even document storage and backups — all increasingly available
online via the cloud — meant the nature of sysadmin work was
changing, Limoncellis said in his keynote address.
When we adopt the abundance mindset, we treat our users
better, manage our systems better and take care of ourselves
better.
Tom Limoncelli
But the ability to send a lot of these jobs "to the cloud"
didn't need to be seen as a threat or a negative, said
Limoncelli, whose talk centred on viewing technology through a
prism of abundance rather than scarcity.
"There are a lot of legacy applications that won't or can't
move to the cloud, such as desktop life-cycle management and other
tasks that require physicality," he said.
Computer users having more choice about how to do their computing
was a reality of the online world now, said Limoncelli: "The IT
department doesn't choose your search engine. Google is one click
away from losing the customer if they're not the best search
engine."
In a post-cloud world, the role of the sysadmin has
changed, but they can still add value, said Limoncelli.
"We often think of computing in terms of scarcity — computers
are expensive, software is expensive — and that drives much of how
we make decisions around IT. Yet much of what we experience is
abundant, like friendship and community — and growing — CPU power,
bandwidth," he said.
"When we adopt the abundance mindset, we treat our users
better, manage our systems better and take care of ourselves
better. We add value by giving attention, showing concern (system
monitoring) and ensuring protection through security and
compliance."
"In addition to stability and trust there's also reducing
pain."
Limoncelli used Google's famous "Tech Stop" support team
as an example of a workplace committed to abundant user support.
While some companies approached tech support with the goal of
reducing time spent on the phone or solving problems, Google's modus operandi was designed to encourage access by users, he said.
Tech support at some companies might say "come back in half an
hour when it's fixed", but Tech Stops were designed to be
inviting, he said: "Why don't you sit in our lounge and play
Nintendo Wii for half an hour while we fix this for you".
