BayLISA -> BayISSA

Mon Jul 19 15:34:05 PDT 2004

> > Another thing to think about is the exclusivity implies by the acronum 
> > 'LISA'.
> 
> This is a FAQ.
> 
> > Who defines what's 'Large'? 
> 
> USENIX / SAGE, BayLISA, and BBLISA do.  Some readers are perhaps
> unfamiliar with the history of the term in this context, which is
> something of a holdover.  A large system is, if memory serves, one
> capable of real multiuser.  Ergo, my 3 lb. VAIO qualifies.  ;->

Systems with users who aren't the administrators, containing multiple
OS' qualify.  A site with more than 3 OS' present needing special
sysadmin attention is a large site, although with one OS' you can get
hallway arguments over whether 50 or 100 users is a good breaking
point.  So if your complex home network contains dual boot systems, a
bastion host segment for the "house" webserver, and you're the Geek
In Charge...

Large is in the sense of complexity, not in the systems themselves.

While I mostly use Linux at my site I find that my home network is more
complex than many of my small business clients.  I have users from
other parts of the planet as well as locally.  I have remote admins.
I have multiple hardware platforms.  I have operating systems running
in chroot and hardware-emulated environments - that non-admins use.
I have no doubt I count as a large site.  That I don't need an AC system
sufficient to chill two floors worth of office cubies is immaterial.

> > And yet, within the acronym LISA, I see no room for network 
> > administrators, or network service administrators ... or database 
> > administrators, for that matter. 

Depends on what you think a system is - IOS counts as an operating
system, to nearly every Cisco engineer I've ever met.  And many modern
database setups are so complex they have filesystem and device driver
logic with them - that makes them an OS, too.

Both have their special breed of complexity, which makes them welcome
here.

>    synecdoche.  noun.  ("syn?ec?do?che")
> 
>    A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand
>    for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer),
>    the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general
>    for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the
>    thing made from it (as steel for sword).
> 
> > The acronym 'LISA' is dated [...]

rofl!  Should $GROUPNAME switch its referent to a new programming
language because shell is so passe' ?  I think not.  But I needed
a good laugh anyway, thanks!

  . | .   Heather Stern                  |         star at starshine.org
--->*<--- Starshine Technical Services - * - consulting at starshine.org
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