Linux Lunacy V Seminars

Southwestern Caribbean • October 2nd to 9th, 2005

 
   
     
 
Use this form to familiarize yourself with Linux Lunacy V offerings.

To help us tailor the Linux Lunacy V program, please select those courses that might interest you -- were you to come along on our cruise.

You may choose any combination of full-, half-, or quarter-day seminars for a total of two-and-one-half (2.5) days' worth of sessions. The conference fee is $995 and includes all courses, course materials, and the Bon Voyage Cocktail Party.

Linux Lunacy attendees may also "mix and match" and take any of the seminars offered in Perl Whirl
 
Risk Management (quarter day)
Firewall Basics (quarter day)
Setting Up iptables (quarter day)
Intrusion Detection (quarter day)
Socket Programming for Linux (quarter day)
Introduction to PostgreSQL (quarter day)
PostgreSQL and Database Basics
(quarter day)
PostgreSQL: Advanced Topics (half day)
Creating Applications with PostgreSQL
and Perl
(half day)
Hands-On GUI Programming with Qt 4 (half day)
New Developments in ext3 Filesystem
(quarter day)
The Linux Boot Process (quarter day)
Introduction to the Linux Kernel (full day)
Recovering From Hard Drive Disk Disasters
(half day)
An Introduction to Voice- and Video-Over-IP
(half day)
Linux Kernel Disk I/O (half day)
Linux Kernel Memory Reclaim (half day)
Linux Kernel Development (quarter day)
The Brave New World of IPv6 (quarter day)

 

 
     
   
     
     
 
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Risk Management (quarter day)
Speaker: Ken Pugh
    Risk management revolves around minimizing your exposure to risk and your losses when a risky event occurs. In this session, we'll examine the basic methods for managing risks. We'll explore risk assessment techniques with some interactive exercises and develop a risk management plan for a Linux system.
   
Firewall Basics (quarter day)
Speaker: Ken Pugh
    This session encompasses network concepts and packet filtering. It starts with an examination of the common Internet protocols IP, TCP, UDP, and ICMP. It pays particular attention to the packet headers. It then covers how packet filtering works in both a stateless and stateful manner. In an interactive mode, the attendees will create a security policy to implement in the "Setting up iptables" session.
   
Setting Up iptables (quarter day)
Speaker: Ken Pugh
    This session starts with a review of the security policy that a firewall is to implement. We'll then set up iptables to implement the firewall. We'll create rules and chains to perform the necessary packet filtering. Bring your Linux laptop with a wireless card to this session. This session assumes that you either attended the Firewall Basics session or that you have the equivalent knowledge.
   
Intrusion Detection (quarter day)
Speaker: Ken Pugh
    We'll explore the basics concepts of intrusion detection, concentrating on how suspicious traffic is detected, as well as common types of attacks. Then we'll use snort. Finally, we'll examine some of the built-in rules and write a few rules of our own. Bring your Linux laptop with a wireless card to this session.
   
Socket Programming for Linux (quarter day)
Speaker: Ken Pugh
    This session covers programming TCP and UDP using sockets. We cover creating both a client and a server. Bring your Linux laptop to this session. This session assumes that you either attended the Firewall Basics session or that you have the knowledge of TCP and UDP and that you have programmed in C.
   
Introduction to PostgreSQL (quarter day)
Speaker: Andrew Dunstan
   

How and why to get PostgreSQL up and running. Designed for those who don't know much about databases, and those who know about databases but don't know much about PostgreSQL. Bring laptops -- we might include an installfest if time permits.

• What is a database? Why use one? Why PostgreSQL?

• Installing PostgreSQL

• Introduction to PostgreSQL Server and Client programs

• Configuring PostgreSQL

• Using the psql client

• Adminstrative GUIs

• PostgreSQL directions (or why I helped on the Windows port even though I'm a Linux fan)

   
PostgreSQL and Database Basics
(quarter day)

Speaker: Andrew Dunstan
   

Introductory or refresher session covering the major concepts that underlie most database systems. If you don't know or can't remember what a LEFT OUTER JOIN is, or what the difference is between a UNION and a JOIN, this session is for you.

• Relations (a.k.a. tables)

• PostgreSQL data types

• The four basic operations (SELECT INSERT UPDATE DELETE)

• Functions and expressions

• Table JOINs and their flavors

• Table UNIONs

• Indexes

• Foreign keys

• Constraints

• Sequences and ID fields

   
PostgreSQL: Advanced Topics (half day)
Speaker: Andrew Dunstan
   

The advanced facilties of PostgreSQL can make your applications work efficiently and securely. We explore what those facilities are, and how to make sure they are working well. This seminar will be very useful for database administrators, systems administrators, data architects, application architects and application programmers.

• Composite types, nested types,
domains, and arrays

• Views

• Permissions and Security

• Schemata

• Rules

• Triggers

• Stored Procedures and Functions

• Transactions

• Tuning PostgreSQL

• Configuration parameters

• Statistics

• Using EXPLAIN ANALYSE

• Vacuuming

• Connection pooling

• Replication

• Backup and Restoration

   
Creating Applications with PostgreSQL
and Perl (half day)

Speaker: Andrew Dunstan
   

In this seminar learn to use the features of PostgreSQL in an application -- with the emphasis on Perl-based applications. This session is about putting the knowledge from the previous sessions to practical use. Especially suitable for data architects, application architects, and application programmers.

• Using layered application design

• ServerSide vs. ClientSide programming

• Loading serverside language(s)

• Trusted and Untrusted languages

• Simple functions

• Triggers

• Returning a record

• Returning a set of things

• Calling back to the database

• PL/Perl limitations, and future plans

• Getting and installing the client libraries

• libpq -- what it is, who uses it and
who doesn't

• Using DBI with PostgreSQL

• PostgreSQL programming for web apps (including mod_perl)

• Prepared Statements, and why you should use them whenever possible

• Other client interfaces (perl and non-perl).

• Case Studies from the speaker's experience

• Best Practice tips

   
Hands-On GUI Programming with Qt 4 (half day)
Speaker: Scott Collins
   

Qt is the dual-licensed (GPL and commercial), cross-platform, GUI library at the heart of KDE.

This session will start with an overview of Qt and Qt programming, briefly examining the changes from Qt3 to Qt4, and then dive into a hands-on tutorial implementation. Attendees will build a working, non-trivial application using Qt. Programmers new to Qt or to GUI programming in general will gain a working knowledge of the Qt toolbox, how to apply it to their specific problems, and how easy it becomes to expand the domain of their Linux app to other platforms. Current Qt3 users will learn the changes in the landscape for Qt4, and the tools available to migrate their existing code. This session is aimed at C/C++ programmers from just above the novice level and up, who want to learn about building GUIs and/or what's new in the latest generation of Qt.

   
 
   
New Developments in ext3 Filesystem
(quarter day)

Speaker: Ted Ts'o
    This talk will discuss upcoming new features that are being developed for the ext3 filesystem, including extent-based allocation, enhanced scaleability features, allocation reservations, and delayed reservations.
   
The Linux Boot Process (quarter day)
Speaker: Ted Ts'o
    Ever wondered what happens when your Linux box boots? This talk will take you through the boot process, starting from Lilo or Grub, and moving through the kernel initialization and initial ram disks, to the /etc/rc.d boot scripts.
   
Introduction to the Linux Kernel (full day)
Speaker: Theodore Ts'o
    This talk will be an introduction to the Linux kernel, and will touch upon the basic structure of the kernel, what features it provides, and the most important algorithms it employs. It will not contain any detailed examination of the source code, but will, rather, offer an overview and roadmap of the kernel's design and functionality. Topics covered will include the Linux scheduler, virtual memory system, filesystem and I/O layers, and networking stacks.
   
Recovering From Hard Drive Disk Disasters
(half day)

Speaker: Ted Ts'o
    Ever had a hard drive fail? Ever kick yourself because you didn't keep backups of critical files, or you discovered that your regular nightly backup didn't? (Of course not, you keep regular backups and verify them freuqently to make sure they are successful.) For those of you who don't, this tutorial will discuss ways of recovering from hardware or software disasters. Topics covered will include backup strategies as well as low-level techniques to recover data from a corrupted ext2/ext3 filesystem when backups are not available: recovering from a corrupted partition table, using e2image to back up critical ext2/3 filesystem metadata, and using e2fsck and debugfs to sift through a corrupted filesystem.
   
An Introduction to Voice- and Video-Over-IP
(half day)

Speaker: maddog
   

Tired of paying those phenomenal phone bills? Tired of paying for every little service that the telephone company deems you should have? Want to save your business heaps of money, yet still get the type of phone service you dream of? Then welcome to the wonderful world of OpenVoIP. Through projects like Bayonne, GnomeMeeting and Asterisk people can finally do the things that were demonstrated at the 1969 World's Fair, at a price they can afford. By the end of this half-day session you WILL be able to:

• make a long distance phone call from PC to PC for free

• make a long distance phone call from PC to any phone for pennies

• make a video call PC to PC for free

• learn about various low-cost devices to enhance your VoIP experience

and many more things. This talk will be aimed at a minimum of "technobabble" and a maximum of "here is how you do it, and here is where you get more information". Remember, the author wrote the first edition of "Linux for Dummies".

 

Andrew Morton is the lead maintainer for the Linux public production kernel. Morton works with Linux creator Linus Torvalds, the kernel subsystem maintainers, Linux distribution companies, hardware vendors and other interested parties to ensure that the public production kernel meets their needs. He is the final arbitrator on determining what code is accepted into the Linux production kernel. Morton has worked in software development for more than 20 years. As principal engineer at Digeo, he was responsible for the base operating system in the company's broadband digital home entertainment products. Prior to Digeo, he was product development manager for Nortel Networks Australian R&D labs. Andrew previously served as managing director of an Australia-based personal computer firm and also worked as a hardware engineer for an Australian maker of digital gaming equipment.

   
Linux Kernel Disk I/O (half day)
Speaker: Andrew Morton
   

This seminar will provide a description of the design and implementation of the 2.6 kernel's disk bulk-I/O design. Topics covered will include:

• read-ahead

• write-back

• cache coherence

• the relationship between page-cache

• disk buffers

• disk block mappings

The new-in-2.6 disk "BIO" layer will also be described, as well as the new-in-2.6 direct-IO driver.

   
Linux Kernel Memory Reclaim (half day)
Speaker: Andrew Morton
   

In this seminar you will learn about the design and implementation of the 2.6 kernel's caching, swapping, and memory reclaim architecture.

Some of the topics we will cover include:

• page reclaim

• page aging

• the role of swap-cache

• swap-out and swap-in

The discussion will also cover the reclaim of VFS cache memory and the balancing between page reclaim and VFS cache reclaim.

   
Linux Kernel Development (quarter day)
Speaker: Andrew Morton
   

Curious as to how, why, and whose code finds its way into the kernel? This high-level, after-hours discussion (and Q&A) will cover the various roles and responsibilities of kernel developers, resourcing, motivational, and management issues and how these have changed over time. Also the kernel's requirements, development, review, and testing processes will be revealed.

The audience will come away with an understanding of why kernel developers do what they do -- and how they do it.

The Brave New World of IPv6 (quarter day)
Speaker: Michael Warfield
   

IPv6 is the "Next Generation" IP protocol but has been largely ignored in areas of the world rich in IPv4 addressing capacity. But, IPv6 is available anywhere the Internet is available, whether end users realize it or not. IPv6 has been gaining ground in various regions of the world and segments of Internet Society and represents new challenges to the established infrastructure.

What will be learned:

• What IPv6 is, how is it deployed and how well is it supported

• What IPv6 addressing looks like and what various address fields mean

• Support in various operating systems and environments

• How to access IPv6 from anywhere on the IPv4 Internet

• Some of the security features and issues with IPv6

• Various advanced techniques in IPv6 access and security

Though IPv6 has been in existance for many many years, people in North America are largely unaware of how easy it is to access IPv6. This will be a fresh look at accessing and using IPv6 over current Internet infrastructures and some of the consequences of ignoring it (by end users or ISPs).