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Does anyone have any advice about starting a career in system administration? I've been using Linux for about 10 years at home and have used most of the main distributions. I've got a web server set up on a Scientific Linux virtual machine using the ISPConfig hosting control panel, and I passed the RHCSA exam in December.

I've been doing agency work until now, and have had a range of office, factory and laboratory jobs.
Thanks
Richard

Yup, learn IPV4 inside out, make sure you know all the standard office tools like postfix, samba, dhcpd, learn some bash, then have a play with either puppet or chef.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks, I hadn't come across Puppet or Chef before so I'll set up some more VMs and try them out. I've run a mail server in the past, but unfortunately my ISP seems to be blocking port 25 now. I tend to use NFS and autofs on my network, but I'm comfortable with Samba as well.

Personally I think Chef is pure evil, and I've not used Puppet, but they figure in 4 out of 5 job specs I see.

No ISP should block port 25 - I'd get a new ISP if I were you ...

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

It'll be a few months before the contract ends but I'll probably get a different one after that

Are you sure port 25 is being blocked ?

I just ran:

Quotenmap -p 25 2.31.68.xxx

against your IP, and got:-

QuoteStarting Nmap 5.21 ( http://nmap.org (http://nmap.org) ) at 2013-02-09 15:03 GMT
Nmap scan report for 2.31.68.xxx
Host is up (0.066s latency).
PORT   STATE    SERVICE
25/tcp filtered smtp

Nmap sees it as open, but it times out on http://canyouseeme.org/ (http://canyouseeme.org/) . /var/log/maillog is also filled with timeout messages. Dovecot and Postfix are running, and I can log in and get a folder listing from other computers.

Hmm .. a quick "Google" suggests you're right .. Orange are indeed well known for blocking port 25 

Mmm, not sure I'd call orange an ISP ..

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