In response to a zillion requests, here's the first FAQ about SAGE. Much
of it is taken from our past press releases, especially a recent writeup by
Cynthia Deno of the USENIX Association. I'll be reposting this monthly;
more questions and additions are welcome. This first one is kind of
scattered; it's a midnight throwtogether.
Steve Simmons
scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us
Questions:
1. What is SAGE?
2. How did it get started?
3. How big is SAGE?
4. Who does what?
5. How can I join?
6. What do I get for my money?
7. Who's the current board and staff?
8. Who do I contact?
9. What is the USENIX Association?
1. What is SAGE?
SAGE stands for the Systems Administrators Guild (don't ask what happened to
the E). It is a subgroup of the USENIX Association (see below). Sage is
Devoted to the Advancement of System Administration as a distinct profession,
within the realm of computer science but with similarities to facilities
management and other service industries.
SAGE answers the widely felt need for an organization dedicated to advancing
the profession of systems administration. SAGE brings together system
administrators to:
o recruit talented individuals to the profession,
o share technical problems and solutions,
o establish standards of professional excellence while providing
recognition for those who attain them,
o promote work that advances the state-of-the-art or propagates
knowledge of good practice in the profession.
2. How did it get started?
SAGE was started by a group coalescing around Bay-LISA around the
beginning of 1992. That original group was Shoshana Abrass, Tina
Darmohray, Arnold deLeon, John F Detke, Paul Evans, Laura Kirk, Bryan
McDonald, Paul M. Moriarty, Arch Mott, Bjorn Satdeva and Elizabeth
Zwicky. They did yeoman work in bootstrapping things, which eventually
resulting in a linkup with the USENIX Association. The USENIX board
appointed two additional members, Steve Simmons and Pat Wilson. This
was the board of directors at the time of the formal announcement in
June, 1992. Formal elections were held later that year, and the first
elected board met in January, 1993.
3. How big is SAGE?
Response in the first year has been tremendous. Our membership as of August
1 is 978, much larger than expected.
4. Who does what?
There are a number of working groups staffed by volunteers. They
focus on various issues relating to system administration: policies,
tools, job descriptions, education, local groups, etc, etc. Please pardon
me for being vague on details, but we (the board) are currently evaluating
the working groups. Some will be pronounced successful and retire in glory,
some will be dropped until some future date, some will be modified or
encouraged to continue on their present path. Details when available.
5. How can I join?
To join SAGE, you must be a member of the USENIX Association (again, see
below). As a member of USENIX, you are eligible to join any special
subgroup of USENIX (at the moment, SAGE is the only one). It's kind of like
the ACM and SIGS. USENIX membership is $65.00/year, SAGE membership is
$25.00/year. If you attend a USENIX conference, you will find a checkoff
box on your registration form that allows you to apply part of your
registration to a USENIX membership, bringing your out-of-pocket costs
to zero. If you attend a conference which is sponsored or co-sponsored by
SAGE, you will see a similar box including your SAGE membership. And if you
already are a member, you'll find your conference membership is cheaper
by number suspiciously familiar.
6. What do I get for my money?
You get all the usual USENIX benefits (see below). You also get the
benefits of the ongoing work of SAGE, which thus far include:
o Joint sponsorship with USENIX of the annual Systems Administration
Conference--the largest conference devoted exclusively to system
administration.
o Co-sponsorship with USENIX and FedUNIX of the Conference on Tools
& Techniques for System Administration, Networking & Security. Sans-III
will be held in 1994.
o Planning with USENIX to offer tutorials/invited talks on managing
and administering distributed systems and networks at the UniForum
Conference in March1994 in San Francisco.
o Creating an archive site--ftp.sage.usenix.org--for papers from the
Systems Administration Conferences and sys admin-related documentation.
o Actively encouraging the formation of local SAGE groups.
o Continuing working relationships with newly formed international related
groups and affiliates. Two affiliates, SAGE-AU in Australia and SAGE-UK
in the United Kingdom, have in recent months formed and held their first
conferences in part in response to the formation of SAGE in the USA.
o Establishing working groups in areas such as jobs, policies, and education
that are important to sysadmins. Much of SAGE's hard, hands-on work is
carried out by working groups which focus on a particular goal, set of
milestones, and schedule. One example of a current project is the
preparation of job descriptions for system administrators at various
levels. The Jobs group plans to offer its model job descriptions in the
form of templates before the end of 1993.
o Initiating production of a series of very practical pamphlets on sys
admin-related issues and techniques.
Your money goes to pay for these activities, many of which are cheaper for
SAGE members than for non-members. In addition, the general costs of
running the organization are covered by your membership fees -- insurance,
employee salaries, etc, etc. See "Who's the current board and staff" for
info on salaries.
Note that the Board of Directors and members of the working groups pay all
their own expenses. This may change in some future year should Sage get
Really Rich, but we aren't holding our breath.
7. Who's the current board and staff?
The current board of directors is Carol Kubicki, Paul M. Moriarty, Pat
Parsegian (secretary), Peg Schaefer (treasurer), Steve Simmons (president),
Pat Wilson and Elizabeth Zwicky (past president). The terms of Kubicki,
Moriarty, Wilson, and Zwicky all expire Jan 1994; the terms of the
rest expire Jan 1995.
In addition to the elected board members, Bryan McDonald has been appointed
by the board as official editor of the various SAGE publications.
Tom Christiansen is the official liaison between the USENIX board and the
Sage board.
The SAGE board and membership is supported by the USENIX professional
staff, including Executive Director Ellie Young, Conference Manager Judy
DesHarnais, and the entire office staff.
8. Who so I contact?
If you have questions about SAGE or USENIX, please contact the USENIX
Association office at (510) 528-8649 or by email to office@usenix.org.
9. What is the USENIX Association?
The official name is the UNIX and Advanced Computing Systems Professional
and Technical Association, but everybody just calls it USENIX.
USENIX is the original (soon to celebrate its 20th anniversary!)
not-for-profit membership organization of those individuals and
institutions with an interest in UNIX, UNIX-related and other modern
operating systems and, by extension, in C++, X windows, and other
advanced computing technologies and tools. USENIX is dedicated to:
o sharing ideas and experience relevant to UNIX, UNIX-related and advanced
computing systems,
o fostering innovation and communicating both research and technological
developments,
o providing a neutral forum for the exercise of critical thought and
airing of technical issues.
As a member of the USENIX Association, you receive:
o Free subscription to ;login:--the bi-monthly newsletter with technical
features, international calendar of events, book reviews, Snitch Reports
on various ANSI, IEEE, and ISO standards efforts from the USENIX
representative and others. SAGE,with its own editor, publishes in each
issue of ;login: SAGE News, views, features, book reviews and other items
of interest to system administrators
o Free subscription to Computing Systems--the refereed technical quarterly
published with the University of California Press.
o Discounts on registration for the two general conferences, the annual
System Administration and C++ conferences, the single-topic symposia, and
associated tutorial programs--as many as ten technical meetings each year.
o Discounts on proceedings from USENIX conferences and symposia and other
technical publications.
o Discounts on the USENIX Association book series published by the MIT
Press. Now available the first in the series: The Evolution of C++:
Language Design in the Marketplace of Ideas, edited by Jim Waldo of Sun
Microsystems Laboratories.
o Savings on titles from McGraw-Hill, PTR Prentice Hall, John Wiley & Sons,
the MIT Press, Addison-Wesley, and UniForum.
If you have questions about SAGE or USENIX, please contact the USENIX
Association office at (510) 528-8649 or by email to office@usenix.org.
--
"Have faith in the future. Plant oaks."
- me