[Gllug] getting into the linux work scene

[Tethys]

Mark Lowes writes:

>> Sendmail (or another MTA)
>
>At least sendmail, but more importantly an understanding of how mail
>works and what can go wrong and why things go wrong.

Yes, preferably at the protocol level. The ability to telnet to port 25
and issue SMTP commands can sometimes prove invaluable in tracking down
mail problems. This applies to other common protocols as well (HTTP being
a notable example), but SMTP in particular is worth knowing. Understand
the difference between the envelope and the headers in the message.

>Not only that the change from 'oops I broke my home box with a really
>stupid mistake which is going to take all of today to fix' to 'Oh fuck
>I've just shafted a core server which the whole company depends on and
>...ohshitohshitohshit' is interesting.

Yep. Get into the habit of preparing a backout strategy before you make
any changes. Often, that'll just be as simple as taking a copy of the
file you're about to edit, so you can restore it if it all goes tits up.
Try and avoid the "it's only a trivial change, I don't need a backup"
mentality. Even a one character change can go wrong if you accidentally
insert a control character somewhere, and that backup could save your
ass. Use changelogs to keep track of any modifications you've done, so
that when the CEO comes to you and says "foobarbaz stopped working at
3:00pm last Thursday", you can check what changes were made at that time.

Tet

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