SUMMARY — Ansible, Configuration Management Made Easy: A play in three acts
=================================
Ansible is a configuration management system similar to Puppet, Chef or CFEngine which radically simplifies deploying configurations to a multitude of systems.

Come learn how to install, configure, and use one of the simplest and easy to use (but still very powerful) Configuration Management tools.
This presentation is a real-world example done in a fun and entertaining format — The Three-Act Play.

PRESENTER BIOS
===================================
“Goozbach” is Derek Carter; a husband, father, woodworking enthusiast, and active participant in the Open Source Community.
He is the part founder of two Linux users groups, and is a regular presenter at various conferences.
He also actively contributes to several Open Source projects, including some of his own.
Derek has worked as a senior Linux systems administrator for a Fortune 500 company.
He has also worked as a consultant to state agencies, and as a QA engineer for a SAN storage company.
As a Linux instructor, Derek has written course ware, proctored certification exams, and taught classes across the globe for such companies as Red Hat, IBM, Novell, HP, and Lockheed Martin, among others.
Derek currently resides in Athens, Georgia with his family and works as a full-time Linux consultant and instructor.
Find out more at his site[1] or his blog[2].

[1]: http://goozbach.com/
[2]: http://blog.friocorte.com/

Thomas Holmquist is a Systems Development Engineer at Georgia Tech. He enjoys planes, trains, automobiles and Linux. Writing Bios are one of his weakpoints.

As always, we will be at our Emory location at 7:30. See the Directions link for, um, directions.

The State of OpenSuSE
presented by Chuck Payne

Synopsis:
- Our resident Geek of the Gecko clan will be providing the latest
news and views on updates and project status for the OpenSuSE
Linux distro and development community.

Bio:
– Chuck Payne is a Linux System Administrator who has been an
an active member of the OpenSUSE community since October,
2009, becoming an Ambassador for OpenSUSE in April, 2009.
He has given talks at Atlanta, Texas and Southeast Linux Fests
to spread the word about OpenSUSE to the masses while
handing out a good bit of “Geeko” swag.

Related Links:
– OpenSUSE.org
– SUSE Studio

=============
The meeting will be held at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Our meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found at
http://ale.org/?page_id=2
=============
Post meeting libations and banter are usually enjoyed at
Melton’s App & Tap

Dynamically Dueling Distros:
A Multi-Part Compare & Contrast Presentation
featuring:
- RHEL/CentOS – presented by Jim Kinney
- SuSE SLES/SLED – covered by Allen Beddington
- Gentoo – discussed by Lawrence Hamblin
plus, pending travel opportunity,
- Bodhi – with Mike Harrison

THE PLAN is to cover strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes,
installation, usage, libraries, package managers, configuration,
security and programming of each distro in 10 minutes.
(Yeah, right!) As distro choice is almost a religious process,
be sure to bring your favorite barbs and jeers as well as your
misty-eyed remembrances. Please: No rotten fruits or other
spoiled vegetation as some of this material will stink enough
already (see gnome3).
- There is still room for a volunteer for Debian or Slackware.
- We may need to do a Ubuntu vs Fedora grudge match later.

=============
The meeting will be held at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Our meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found at
http://ale.org/?page_id=2
=============
Post meeting libations and banter are usually enjoyed at
Melton’s App & Tap

“Virtualization Management For The PHB
Using Pretty Screens With Pointy Clicky Interfaces”
with Jim Kinney

Synopsis:
– Jim will go over some nice features of two systems, ovirt
and cloudmin, and demonstrate how they can be used for
both simple and enterprise-scale virtualization management.
Short-failings of each will also be moaned over.

Bio:
–- James (Jim) Kinney became a zealous fan of Linux and
Liberated Open Source Software the first time he saw a
discarded Next Cube running Slackware in 1992. In the
20 years since his introduction to Linux & FLOSS goodness,
James transformed his obsession into a career. First at Emory
University where he taught physics, converted their computer
lab to Linux and helped co-found LUGE, the Linux Users Group
of Emory. Next followed a 10+ year stint as an entrepreneur
Linux & Open Source consultant. Notable projects included
the installation of 40+ Linux servers running 2000+ student
stations in Atlanta public schools, server upgrade work at
Google, systems integration for a travel booking company,
and consulting for Cox Communications
– Currently Jim works with the Internet Security Systems
group of IBM along side some [other] really bright people
who are actively involved in protecting all aspects of
critical path communications (despite any MicroSoft
products in the pavement).

=============
The meeting will be held at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Our meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found at
http://ale.org/?page_id=2

b) Discussion: “Linux Desktop Security Techniques”
– An interactive panel where the following topics will be considered:
* email
* browser and browser plugins
* firewalls
* remote access
* antivirus
* networking
* patch management
* SELinux and (whatever Ubuntu is pushing)
* Anonymous browsing
* bittorrenting and Usenet
* other topics from the audience

Orlando Karam and JD Pflugrath are the confirmed panelist, but we are hoping for
other distinguished guests.

BIOS:
Orlando Karam was born in the US but grew up in Mexico. He got hooked up with
Unix while a grad student at Tulane University, and has been running Linux on
servers and laptops for more than 15 years. He teaches computer science at
Southern Polytechnic State University, and is starting to use AWS for research
and development.

JD Pflugrath has been a Linux user since 1993 on SLS, when you needed to
be A MAN to install it. He’s been using virtual machines since 1989 on MVS,
but started on midrange virtualization in 2000 with VMware Workstation and
Sun Microsystems Domains. The last 5 years, he has use almost every type of
virtualization available on Linux in production environments (VMware Player,
ESX, ESXi, Xen, KVM, and VirtualBox). He also enjoys running his main Linux
desktop, a virtual machine, from a private cloud that any computing device
supporting NX clients can access.

=======
For a campus map and a link to directions please see
http://www.spsu.edu/visitspsu/campusmaps/index.htm
Parking in non reserved spaces in the P60 deck is best.
Building J, the Atrium building, is a short distance east
of the parking deck.
======
ALE-NW@SPSU meetings are open events and we hope
you will join us! Also remember that topic suggestions
and presentation offers the meetings can be emailed to
[ jdp (at) algoloma (dot) com]

Synopsis:
– For those who participate, the key signing party serves to confirm
the identity of other PGP Key users by connecting them to a “key ring”
and including them in the “web of trust” needed to validate their keys,
signatures and identities in the wider world.
– Internationally recognized I.T. cryptography and security expert
Michael Warfield will present a brief GPG/PGP introduction, with our
ardent GPG enthusiast, keymaster Jeremy “Clortho” Bouse, directing
the key signing process.

– Participation in the key signing requires advanced preparations,
including generating and verifying any new keys you want to have
signed and then registering ALL keys you want to be signed with
the official event Keyring that is set up on the Biglumber Key server:
http://biglumber.com/x/web?keyring=2952

– Detailed instructions, including “How To” info with shell command
line examples and background information on the process can be
found at these links:
http://ale.org/static_pages/keysign_party_121213.html
http://ale.org//static_pages/gpgstepbystep-111208.html

– The final step on the day of the signing party will be to download and
print out Jeremy’s final key ring text file (which will NOT be labeled “DRAFT”)
from http://undergrid.net/ale12/ksp-ale12.txt and then
fill in the checksum information for all of the keys you have
placed in the ring to confirm their authenticity.

If you still have questions or need clarifications AFTER reviewing all of
the instructions above, you can email Jeremy via jbouse[AT]debian.org.
========================
ADDITIONAL PGP / GPG INFORMATION ON VIDEO:
– For those unfamiliar with PGP or interested in learning more about the
GnuPG implentation of PGP cryptography and the value of protecting your
privacy and your identity with PGP signatures, we suggest you review our
video of David Tomaschik’s March 2011 presesntation on the topic,
“Protecting Privacy, Identity & Systems with GnuPG”
This is available for download or streaming under the file name
“ale-20110317-gpg-tomaschik.mp4″ at these URL’s:
http://arxion.net/ale/ and http://patshead.com/ale/
A torrent is also available at
https: //s3.amazonaws.com/datalore/ale-20110317-gpg-tomaschik.mp4?torrent
The video file is ~443MB as h.264 encode in an mp4 wrapper.

========================
DIRECTIONS
Southern Polytechnic State University
Room J266 of the Atrium (J) building

Campus map and a link to directions please see
http://www.spsu.edu/visitspsu/campusmaps/index.htm
Parking in non reserved spaces in the P60 deck is best.
building J, the Atrium building, is a short distance east
of the parking deck.

Synopsis:
– Files everywhere, multiple computers in rooms, and a network that keeps
falling behind the times. Sounds like your workplace, right? For many
of us, this also describes our home.
– This maddening mix led to a reformulation of my digital home life that
scraps old servers and desktops for Virtual Machines and network “appliance”
devices to restore sanity, reduce power consumption, and improve reliability.
Armed with a little common sense and tools from the Linux sysadmin world,
engineering a better solution comes into reach.
:: Tools mentioned: NFS, Ansible, CFengine, SSH, OpenVPN
:: Tech level: beginner, overview

Bio:
– Brian MacLeod is a Systems Engineer with PACE at Georgia Tech, working
on OS management, storage, and backup infrastructure for researchers
to use in their computing needs.

============================
The meeting will be held at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Our meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:20pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found at
http://ale.org/?page_id=2

Abstract:
- Amazon Web Services are among the most popular
“infrastructure-as-a-service” offerings on the internet;
they let you easily run Linux (and other OSs) as virtual
machines on Amazon’s infrastructure. In this talk, we
will give a brief introduction to capability and pricing,
and talk about how to start VMs from the web or from
scripts with the boto python library.

Speaker Bio:
– Orlando Karam was born in the US but grew up in
Mexico. He got hooked up with Unix while a grad student
at Tulane University, and has been running Linux on
servers and laptops for more than 15 years. He teaches
computer science at Southern Polytechnic State University,
and is starting to use AWS for research and development.

=======
For a campus map and a link to directions please see
http://www.spsu.edu/visitspsu/campusmaps/index.htm
Parking in non reserved spaces in the P60 deck is best.
Building J, the Atrium building, is a short distance east
of the parking deck.
======
ALE-NW@SPSU meetings are open events and we hope
you will join us! Also remember that topic suggestions
and presentation offers the meetings can be emailed to
[ jdp (at) algoloma (dot) com]
======

Abstract:
In order for any computer system to hold classified data on a U.S. Government
system, it must be certified by the Defense Security System (DSS) which requires
the computer system to align to the National Industrial Security Program
Operation Manual (NISPOM) standards. By default, Red Hat Linux is the default
Linux operating system of choice by DSS and others are typically not passed. So
what does one do when a system is based on Debian and needs to meet NISPOM
standards? In this presentation, it will be shown the steps needed to meet
NISPOM standards on a Debian system.

Speaker Bio:
Jonathan Meek is a Research Scientist for Georgia Tech Research Institute, doing
work in the Quality Assurance Department of the Electronic Systems Lab. He holds
a bachelors degree in computer science and is currently working on his masters.
He started working with Linux in 2006 at the suggestion of one of his
professors. Previous to his work at Georgia Tech Research, he worked at King &
Spalding LLP on the IT Support team. His hobbies include running, writing, movie
trivia, and teaching the Computer merit badge to Boy Scouts. He holds
memberships with the National Eagle Scout Association, Association of Computer
Machinery and Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity.

=======
The meeting will be held at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Our meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:20pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found at
http://ale.org/?page_id=2

Abstract:
In order for any computer system to hold classified data on a U.S. Government
system, it must be certified by the Defense Security System (DSS) which requires
the computer system to align to the National Industrial Security Program
Operation Manual (NISPOM) standards. By default, Red Hat Linux is the default
Linux operating system of choice by DSS and others are typically not passed. So
what does one do when a system is based on Debian and needs to meet NISPOM
standards? In this presentation, it will be shown the steps needed to meet
NISPOM standards on a Debian system.

Speaker Bio:
Jonathan Meek is a Research Scientist for Georgia Tech Research Institute, doing
work in the Quality Assurance Department of the Electronic Systems Lab. He holds
a bachelors degree in computer science and is currently working on his masters.
He started working with Linux in 2006 at the suggestion of one of his
professors. Previous to his work at Georgia Tech Research, he worked at King &
Spalding LLP on the IT Support team. His hobbies include running, writing, movie
trivia, and teaching the Computer merit badge to Boy Scouts. He holds
memberships with the National Eagle Scout Association, Association of Computer
Machinery and Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity.

=======
For a campus map and a link to directions please see
http://www.spsu.edu/visitspsu/campusmaps/index.htm
Parking in non reserved spaces in the P60 deck is best.
building J, the Atrium building, is a short distance east
of the parking deck.
======
ALE-NW@SPSU meetings are open events and we hope
you will join us! Also remember that topic suggestions
and presentation offers the meetings can be emailed to
[ jdp (at) algoloma (dot) com]
======