SysAdmin Talk

A few months back I wrote an article titled “7 reasons why High Availability will help you fail in even more spectacular ways than ever!” It was a humorous but legitimate look at some pitfalls you might face when implementing highly available systems (e.g. clustered servers, failover firewalls and etc.). However, after finishing that article I felt I hadn’t quite addressed the issue in toto. Then it struck me. The previous article focused mostly on the hardware and technology, but paid scant attention to the technologists working the hardware, and the more personal assumptions that can be made when considering and implementing highly available systems.

If ever there was a universal tincture in the realm of Information Technology, it would have to be the boot disc (followed closely by the prybar, but I’ll save that discussion for the next episode). The popularity of boot discs seemed to explode in the mid-2000s, with a disc for just about any situation you could find yourself in. Many a SysAdmin has saved their retirement plan from a hasty rollover action with the aid of a well-chosen boot disc. The love affair between SysAdmins and their boot discs is still going strong, of course, and with good reason – they are phenomenally handy things to have to hand. With that in mind, here are ten of the most useful boot discs you can have ready for action, which will help propel you into the quixotic realm of SysAdmins who are not chemically dependent on antacids:

So, welcome back, fellow field agents. From being a fledging SysAdmin in Episode 1 of this series, you’ve come to be a Legendary SysAdmin with the tools described in the second episode. Now, in this third episode, I will help you to become Mythical in proportion.