linux.conf.au 2021 ~ 23-25 January 2021 ~ Online, Worldwide

SUSE is proud to be a Royal Penguin sponsor at the upcoming Australian Linux User Conference held virtually on the 23 – 25 January 2021.

In its 22^nd  year, the event focus is on Linux and the community built up around it and the values it represents.  Being a technical conference, topics to be covered will vary from the Linux kernel’s inner workings to dealing with communities’ inner workings.

This year we have three SUSE presentations:

Life Amongst the Authentica-ceans ? – William Brown, Snr Software Engineer, SUSE Labs 

Sun 24 Jan | 1:30 p.m.–2:15 p.m. AEDT

Abstract:  Authentication and IDM technologies are at the core of our system and network security. Whether it’s logging into our personal laptop or a corporate website, authentication is how we define roles and privileges to our users and ourselves. Opensource has several IDM offerings, as do corporate offerings.  In this talk, we’ll explore some of the history of these projects and what they offer. Moreover, the direction that authentication and security are moving in. We’ll also introduce Kanidm, a new opensource IDM system created to adapt to IDM and security changes.  Furthermore, discuss what it’s achieved in a short space of time, and what the future holds for it.

Taking a step back: Analysing your documentation – Lana Brindley, Document Technical Manager, SUSE

Mon 25 Jan | 4:40 p.m.–5:25 p.m. AEDT

Abstract:  One thing the pandemic has forced many of us to do is to take a step back. To just stop for a moment and think about where we are. And while you are taking stock of your personal life, let me talk you through taking stock of your professional life, or at least the bits of it you have managed to document. In the hustle of the before times, documentation was often a forgotten or sidelined thing that you could do roughly now, fix later, or just never quite get around to. Take a deep breath, look around your home office, give the dog a pat, and let’s work out what you have, what you need, and how you can open a can of Marie Kondo on all of it.

Containers are hideously undebuggable black boxes, and we never should have invented them – Tim Serong, Snr Clustering Engineer, SUSE

Mon 25 Jan | 4:40 p.m.–5:25 p.m. AEDT

Abstract:  The Ceph project switched from installing regular software packages to deployment as application containers (Podman/Docker/Kubernetes) in the most recent release. Suddenly, we have storage clusters where the admin isn’t dealing with a bunch of normal daemons anymore; instead, there’s a whole lot of containers running.  If you’re used to the old way of doing things, the container mode can be inscrutable, and difficult to debug when things go wrong.

This isn’t just a story for Ceph people.  It is a story of unexpected failures, and of learning where to look when things break. Furthermore, trying to fix those broken things, and then discovering someone’s hidden half your trusty old tools, and the other half don’t work correctly anymore.

Ceph users will come away with a good understanding of how everything is deployed now, and why. I hope to ensure that anyone who’s gone from dealing with packaged software to the container world never finds themselves like I did, late one night, staring at a terminal into which they’ve just typed the words “containers are hideously undebuggable black boxes, and we should never have invented them”!

Thanks to Linux Australia & linux.conf.au !

Great to be sponsoring  LinuxConfAu 2021 online this weekend as SUSE!  Make yourself known to us, and please reach out if you’d like more info from the SUSE team!

#opensource #linux #kubernetes #cloudnative #edgecomputing #iot #rancher #containers