Hi there,
As a fellow system administrator, you and I both know the daily struggle of managing our complex environments spanning servers, networks, web apps, databases, security tools, cloud platforms, and more.
The breadth of knowledge required is immense. The rate of change is staggering. Remembering the thousands of commands, parameters, workflows is humanly impossible. Mastery seems out of reach.
Fortunately, our community has a secret weapon to turn the odds in our favor – cheat sheets.
In this guide designed specifically for sysadmins, we‘ll unveil how properly utilizing cheat sheets can be your force multiplier for achieving expertise faster while saving hours of frustration.
Why Cheat Sheets Are Essential as a Sysadmin
Let‘s reflect on what draws people like us to careers in system administration and engineering. No doubt, part of it is wanting to fully understand technologies – digging into how systems actually work behind the scenes.
But in reality, a huge percentage of the job revolves around accomplishing tactical tasks:
"How do I list the DNS records on this Linux server again?"
"What are the steps to troubleshoot network latency issues?"
"What was theTomcat configuration parameter to optimize memory utilization already?"
Without cheat sheets, we waste copious time searching scattered notes and documentation trying to answer questions like this over and over.
Worse still, under pressure of production outages, we inevitably end up guessing instead of ensuring configurations are properly set based on what documentation recommends. This leads to swinging blindly instead of methodically troubleshooting with access to facts on your side.
A Brief History of Relying on IT Cheat Sheets
Believe it or not, IT pros have relied heavily on cheat sheets dating all the way back to the 1960s.
In fact, the very first programmers back then keeping notebooks full of command syntax, system internals, parameters and shorthand not unlike sysadmins today keeping quick reference guides to Kubernetes pods or ELK stack logging.
Over the decades though, these notebooks evolved into more systematic cheat sheets:
1970s: Photocopied reference documentation circulates amongst System Operators and Network Technicians even in large enterprises like MIT, Bell Labs, and Xerox PARC.
1980s: With the PC revolution and rise of networks, formal cheat sheets get published for operating systems like MS-DOS, software tools, Cisco router command line references, and more.
1990s: Cheat sheets standardized in IT fields from operating systems to hardware repair. Troubleshooting cheat sheets also emerge as systems grow larger and more complex.
2000s: With the web gaining ubiquity, cheat sheets become readily available online for technologies like VPN tunnels, DNS configuration, and open source platforms like LAMP stack.
Present Day: Hundreds of expert-vetted, high-resolution cheat sheets exist for every IT domain imaginable. Specialized cheat sheets also aid complex tasks like Docker containerization, load balancing, Kubernetes orchestration and beyond that previously didn‘t exist.
So although the reliability and accessibility of cheat sheets today feels new, the IT community has depended upon them since technology‘s earliest days.
This reliance exists because the systems we build on and knowledge required to operate them grows infinitely more elaborate with time. Without cheat sheets, keeping pace becomes nearly impossible.
Next we‘ll explore the knowledge domains you as a sysadmin absolutely should maintain cheat sheets for.
Key Types of Cheat Sheets Every Sysadmin Needs
While an exhaustive list of available IT cheat sheets could span thousands, these categories represent areas where having cheat sheets uniformly makes sysadmin work faster and less frustrating day to day:
Networking Cheat Sheets
The number of networking acronyms alone is dizzying, not to mention subnets,protocols, addressing schemes. Networking cheat sheets help connect those dots.
TCP/IP Protocol Suite – Summarizes layers, encapsulation methods, and address formats for fast reference.
Subnetting & VLSM Cheat Sheet – Demystifies the bit-shifting magic behind subnet masks you haven‘t deciphered since college.
Cisco IOS Command Line Reference – Condenses commands for routers, switches, and firewall appliances.
Wireshark Display Filters – Quickly hunt down the packets you actually need amongst the noise.
Network Troubleshooting Step-by-Step – Methodically track down even obscure issues.
Linux/Unix Command Line Cheat Sheets
Whether Linux or Unix, from memory management to partition alignment, drive formats to user permissions, the kernel offers immense flexibility. Unlocking that power relies on arcane commands and obscure syntx. Hence why Linux cheat sheets exist covering:
Linux Filesystem Hierarchy – Navigate partitions and directories like a pro.
Vi/Vim Text Editor Commands – Master remote editing without GUI crutches.
Bash Scripting and Cron Jobs – Automate tasks you handle manually today.
Linux Performance Analysis – Right size infrastructure demands.
Open Source Cluster Troubleshooting – Unmask issues before outages occur.
Web Server Cheat Sheets
Get web apps and sites served faster, more reliably with cheat sheet insights on:
Apache HTTP Sever – Optimize caching, compression, bandwidth utilization.
Nginx Web Server – Leverage advanced load balancing and reverse proxy capabilities.
Tomcat and JBoss – Tune JVM memory, thread pools, AJP connections.
Internet Information Services (IIS) – Securely publish ASP .NET apps.
Web Platform Installations – Automate LAMP, LEMP, WAMP stack deployments.
Database Cheat Sheets
Better app performance starts with databases optimized for security, speed, and reliability using cheat sheets for:
SQL Syntax and Schema Design – The one page keep handy for SQL fluency.
PostgreSQL Administration – Users, process management, backups.
MySQL Performance Tuning – Demystify slow queries.
Database Normalization Rules – Stop data corruption and inconsistencies.
We‘ve only scratched the surface of the most popular cheat sheets tailored for Linux, networking, web stacks, databases. We still haven‘t touched on critical ones like:
- Docker containers
- Kubernetes orchestration
- Ansible configurations
- Network security tools like Snort IDS
- ELK stack log aggregation
- Cloud platform management
…And dozens more!
Now that you know what types of cheat sheets can simplify sysadmin work, let‘s unpack the how – the best practices for integrating cheat sheets into your workflows.
Accessibility Best Practices for Cheat Sheet Adoption
Having the hottest, most informative cheat sheets in the world doesn‘t help much if their intel remains out of reach inmoments of need.
To fully extract value from cheat sheets, first acknowledge an inconvenient truth: despite best efforts memorizing details, unknowns will arise that require reference guides.
Accepting this reality is key to designing sysadmin routines resilient to knowledge gaps through always-accessible cheat sheets.
While no universal solution exists for keeping cheat sheets instantly available, consider a combination:
Printed Cheat Sheets – Simple yet effective, keep printouts in frequently used manuals. Add custom notes/highlights!
Mobile Electronic Versions – PDFs, images and tools like Evernote sync cheat sheets to smartphones/tablets.
Centralized Intranet Repository – For teams, a Wiki or fileshare library serves as a unified cheat sheet repository.
Bookmarked SaaS Libraries – Endorsed platforms like Cheatography host thousands of crowdsourced cheat sheets.
The right balance depends on personal preferences, workplace culture and security protocols.
But by ensuring common troubleshooting cheat sheets remain no more than a few clicks away on laptops, mobile phones or tablets, you raise probabilities of solving future unfamiliar issues rapidly.
Internal Adoption and Governance Best Practices
Beyond raw accessibility of cheat sheets, their content quality and coverage depth must align with actual sysadmin needs.
Rather than haphazardly accumulating cheat sheets, approach curation systematically:
1. Catalog & Consolidate what cheat sheets individuals on your team currently leverage in a central location. This reveal both duplication opportunities and coverage gaps.
2. Evaluate Third-Party Cheat Sheets using criteria like relevance, accuracy, freshness, visual communication effectiveness. Align evaluations to your specific technology stack and use cases.
3. Promote Selected Cheat Sheets through communication channels like internal Wikis, file shares, collaboration apps. Facilitate access to vetted materials while archiving outdated ones.
4. Incentivize Internal Development for scenarios lacking strong existing cheat sheets. Prioritize team members creating or customizing guides matching your exact environment and procedures.
5. Curate Annually for maintenance. Technically evaluate materials at least annually. Supplement or replace outdated guides. Expand missing coverage areas through promotions or custom development.
With the above continuous improvement approach, in time your organization benefits from a tailored library of institutional sysadmin knowledge via living cheat sheets.
Achieving Balance with Memorization
Even armed with extensive cheat sheet guides, take care not to become over-reliant to the point impacting competency. Some concepts remain essential to memorize outright.
For frequently applied tasks, memorize basic commands and options. Referencing a guide to list directory contents or check CPU usage during troubleshooting significantly slows issue resolution.
Also set goals to periodically review and commit to memory concepts you employ daily long term. For instance, permanently memorize fundamental SQL clauses like SELECT, JOIN if interacting with databases daily.
Balance cheat sheet dependencies for efficiency with memorization milestones for mastery. Distinguish between nice-to-know vs need-to-know details using frequency-of-use as the determining factor. Map tiered goals by roles, longevity and technology category.
Overall, don‘t view cheat sheets as a crutch proving weakness. Rather, think of cheat sheets as power tools amplifying strengths you already possess. Even the best carpenters don‘t build houses without hammers, saws and levels. Similarly, even elite sysadmins depend upon cheat sheets for excelling at their craft.
Conclusion: Embrace Cheat Sheets to Work Smarter
Hopefully this guide has dispelled misconceptions about cheat sheets implying incompetence. On the contrary, properly leveraged cheat sheets make sysadmins force multipliers in efficiency, cross-training and scalability.
The reasons are obvious when we‘re honest – no one can memorize the rapid knowledge growth in modern IT environments. The firehose of new acronyms, paradigms, interfaces overwhelms human cognitive limits. Even niche specialization brings infinitesimally more granular nuances impossible to internalize forever.
Luckily our community realized this limitation decades ago, pioneering reliance on authoritative cheat sheets. So whether just starting out or a seasoned sysadmin, impostor syndrome creeps up on us all occasionally.
Rather than resignation, view these moments as reminders to incorporate another finely tuned cheat sheet into your standard operating procedures. Gradually such personal libraries transform skill ceilings unreachable alone into springboards for professional mastery alongside mentors and the collective knowledge crystalline in cheat sheets produced by those before us.
So what cheat sheets appear most needed in your current role? Which knowledge gaps or frequent unknowns could superior cheat sheets fill? I‘m eager to hear your thoughts and collaborate on new guides tailored to the real challenges you face daily.
