In this talk, Greg Larkin, an engineer with Puppet Labs, will discuss some of the historical issues with system management, how Puppet works, how it fits into current types of infrastructure deployments and what some of its enterprise features are. The talk will touch on high-level concepts as well as show some code and how it enforces node configurations. The talk will also cover new Puppet developments that were recently announced during PuppetConf 2015.

While Linux users have spent a lot of time using free software on their computers, usually that stops at the operating system. Being able to view and modify your source code not only gives you more freedom, it gives you more security, in particular from back doors. What’s good for the OS is good for the BIOS, which malware hackers, Lenovo, and state-sponsored attackers have all used to persist their exploits.

In this talk Kyle will cover Libreboot, a completely free software distribution of the open source Coreboot BIOS and discuss the current state of hardware support for Libreboot and how to install it, including a brief description of how to turn a Raspberry Pi into a flashrom BIOS-flashing platform.

Description: Matt will describe how to use run-control files to create declarations or commands associated with a program that it interprets on startup.

In this talk, Nick Bolton will describe how he took a largely abandoned open source project (Synergy) and grew a stable and profitable business around the software. The talk will cover the impact that money had on the technology, the users, and the developer community.

There is general concensus that systemd is an important topic but we haven’t found a speaker to specifically present on systemd so instead we’ll be doing a systemd roundtable. The format will be a friendly discussion about the pros and cons of systemd and its political and technical impact on distributions that have migrated to it for the enlightenment of all. I’ll bring the projector along just in case someone needs it.

Description: OpenStack is a set of tools to create a “cloud” infrastructure similar to Amazon’s cloud services to manage virtual machines (called instances) across multiple Compute servers in a cluster managed by one or more Controllers. In this talk I’ll introduce the general concepts of what OpenStack can be used for in an approachable way. I’ll provide an overview OpenStack’s Controller and Compute node model, how instances work, block and image storage, and a general overview of bridged networking into virtual machines. The majority of the talk will be devoted to a live demo of spinning up instances with plenty of time for interactive Q and A.

Lightning Talks:

Have something you would like to present, but don’t have enough material for a full talk? Here’s your chance. Talk about anything Linux related.

Hackfest:

Bring your hardware to get help with it or just to show it off.

Description: Window management: it’s one of the places where desktop Linux shines, with an almost overwhelming amount of choice for a newcomer. For those wishing to improve their day-to-day productivity or stop reaching for the mouse all the time, however, venturing into this world is well worthwhile. This talk will provide an overview of the landscape, details on the tiling window manager i3, and some tips on setting up a comfortable environment.

In this talk, Jordan Erickson will show you how to build your own online radio station using the open source software Icecast. The talk will include installation and configuration of Icecast and compatible source clients, as well as examples of different listening clients. There will also be discussion around Jordan’s efforts in creating a new Android source client that focuses on open codecs and a Creative Commons broadcast network called Echonet.

Linux bridging is one of the seven mysteries of Linux. What is the br0 device and how does it use the NIC? What is virbr0? The answers to these and many other questions will be answered including how virtual instance use bridges and how they interact with the host’s IPtables. The goal of this talk is to give the Linux Sysadmin the understanding needed to configure, use and trouble-shoot Linux bridges.

Robert Harker is a [Linux|UNIX] greybeard sysadmin and one of the first Sun sysadmins. His interests include OS/application configuration management of scaling of server farms with a particular interest in verification of deployments: “How do you know it is correct and running?”

Update: Slides available online

Allan writes,

This talk is all about dissecting exactly what happens when a program stops doing what the designers designed it to do and starts doing what an attacker (or in this case, the presenter) wants it to do. I’ll cover using a virtual machine environment of a simple system under Linux to step through all phases of an arbitrary code execution (ACE) exploit, including corrupting a data structure, out-of-bounds memory manipulation, pointer manipulation, and ultimately execution of arbitrary code. I’ll be demonstrating memory viewer and disassembly tools to show the exact instructions being processed as they happen.

The simple system in question? A Zilog Z80 processor, running inside of a Super Game Boy. Come for the dissection, stay for some entertaining abuse of a live SNES console. This will largely be a no slides, full demo presentation and should have something of interest for everyone. See you there!