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So I discovered if I wanted to go the SysAdmin route I should go for RHSCA certification or Cloud Architect if I want to continue in the cloud path.

A quick search on Linkedin jobs and I was like lol.

Changed my location to US and compared jobs. Do you know there was an entry level job in Linux admin that only had 3 applications, something you could easily apply for and get if you had the RHSCA, but it's equivalent in nigeria is looking for heaven and earth

Checked out redhat website RHSCA certification study guide and noticed I have touched almost every aspect except for the last two. Shouldn't be hard to pass for me but don't think I'll be getting that for now. $400

That Alausa course really put me ahead. I don't have to worry about my physical class, I'm ahead most times anyway and even missing a day or two doesn't affect me.

Anyways, the attention is taken by the GCP essential courses, completed the first 2

-Get Started with Cloud Storage
-Use APIs to Work with Cloud Storage
-Networking Fundamentals on Google Cloud
-Build a Website on Google Cloud
-Set Up an App Dev Environment on Google Cloud
-Deploy Kubernetes Applications on Google Cloud
-Develop Serverless Apps with Firebase

Get Started with Cloud Storage & Use APIs to Work with Cloud Storage.

I learnt how to create a Cloud Storage bucket, how to use the Cloud Storage command line, and how to use Bucket Lock to protect objects in a bucket. I asked gpt to explain API's for me as usual. The Cloud data object retention/event-based holds & retention modes was also very interesting.

So if I set an object data records retention hold duration for 5 years, i can always update it to 5 months except if it's in Locked mode. Totally irreversible. You can replace object with database, financial, profile etc.

And it was actually easy learning how to find the Google cloud storage JSON API, make sure it was enabled and use the API's Explorer to create and modify cloud storage buckets. Easy innit?

My body calm down after I failed the closing section challenge 4 times You already know why, this time we had to do everything manually using the CLI. I went to lie down on the floor when my brain start to dey pain me then searched for those who already solved it before. Was able to pass it on the final attempt.

Funny thing is I got all the steps right but I made some small mistakes when setting up the cloud environment, things like not accepting the google terms and conditions, slight changes in PROJECT_ID and setting some default authorizations eventually had me crawling up the wall with my fingernails. Lesson learnt. Pay attention to the small details

In the above screenshots, The first image is the API explorer, you basically just copy and paste your details in order to create and modify buckets and objects in them. The OAUTH2 tokens etc are below on that form.

The notepad screenshot shows the steps you have to take to do the same in the CLI using curl

Creating a cloud storage bucket
1- One has to create a json file first using nano or vim (equivalent to request body on the API form)
2 - Get the Oauth token from the OAuth 2.0 Playground
3 - Assign your token to a variable "OAUTH2_TOKEN"
4 - Do the same by substituting the command to get your Project ID for Variable PROJECT_ID
5- Then use curl to create a bucket using the above details.


Uploading,copying a file from one bucket to another, deleting the object & bucket
7- Uploaded an image using the cli dashboard function
8- Used gsutil ls & realpath image.png to get bucket name and image.png file paths respectively
8b - Repeated step 4 for both OBJECT AND BUCKET_NAME
8c - Used curl to copy from one bucket to another and also delete objects.

Gave public access to the image I uploaded
9 - Created a json file name acl, added parameters
9b- used curl to update the permissions on the image

So basically you're modifying the acl json file (public access permissions) of the object (image) in a specified bucket (BUCKET_NAME) while authorizing it with your gmail account (OAUTH2)
- File parameters
- Authorization
- Content-Type
- File path

No be beans, This section cemented rest API's and RESTFUL API's in my brain. E wan kpai me, make I go rest, watch jude oc videos small.

Logged in to my zenith bank account to see “CASA Balance migration”

Got me curious. Went online to search, Was only able to see some info on FLEXCUBE & PHOENIX on some obscure small blogs. Google has been quite useless for some years now in terms of bringing relevant info.

If what I saw online is still the current interface of those banking softwares, I smh.

Anyways Gpt told me Oracle Flexcube was available on cloud platforms & could be deployed as Iaas, Paas and Saas.

Seems Opay/palmpay leveraged more on some cloud services unlike traditional banks using legacy systems. That API course really made me understand somethings.

Still, not going back, will only use Zenith to collect local/foreign inflows when i have no choice or need Master/Visacards. Their services are abysmal.

SKhanmi:
Logged in to my zenith bank account to see “CASA Balance migration”

Got me curious. Went online to search, Was only able to see some info on FLEXCUBE & PHOENIX on some obscure small blogs. Google has been quite useless for some years now in terms of bringing relevant info.

If what I saw online is still the current interface of those banking softwares, I smh.

Anyways Gpt told me Oracle Flexcube was available on cloud platforms & could be deployed as Iaas, Paas and Saas.

Seems Opay/palmpay leveraged more on some cloud services unlike traditional banks using legacy systems. That API course really made me understand somethings.

Still, not going back, will only use Zenith to collect local/foreign inflows when i have no choice or need Master/Visacards. Their services are abysmal.

CASA is a module on flexcube to manage customers account info the ID is STDCUSAC this should give a better result on google , what you saw on google is the actual core banking interface, they don’t care about aesthetics in the banking industry but functionality. Top banks in the USA also use the same software we have flexcube and finnacle as the main core banking applications . I dabbled a bit into fintech that is how i got to know about this too.

MacDodger:
CASA is a module on flexcube to manage customers account info the ID is STDCUSAC this should give a better result on google , what you saw on google is the actual core banking interface, they don’t care about aesthetics in the banking industry but functionality. Top banks in the USA also use the same software we have flexcube and finnacle as the main core banking applications . I dabbled a bit into fintech that is how i got to know about this too.

Oh! Thanks for clarifying Bro. Don’t mind the UIUX designer in me, Guess it’s the same with many computing GUI’s, my last physical experience with networking/servers/telecom stuff was years ago in Uni and I always wondered how outdated they looked.

If there’s one thing I have come to understand in this line it is:

‘If it works, just leave it’ especially codes.

Feeling annoyed throughout this week. Phcn did their worst but once bitten twice shy. My laptop powerbank is always charged. Need to buy a bigger one sef.

Back to my source of annoyance, what’s with showing people how to use AI to solve their problems for free and they still want you to help them do it? Youtube is there, google is there. Still feeling lazy? Ask meta ai or chatgpt. The worst ones are those that studied any kind of computer related courses in uni and completely forgotten some things. Ladies especially.

How will you forget how to install a program? My low tolerance to people like that is starting to manifest. Don’t care if they stop talking to me.

If I’m choosing a team, shit like this is what I’ll look for, can you do your own research? Ignorance is not an excuse.

Look for opportunities and they will find you. Twitter and reddit are treasure troves if you know how to search.

Stumbled upon 3 different intern / training opportunities . Applied to all, let’s see which one would work out. If it doesn’t, I’ll still find others.

Had to review my relationship with one of my close guys. Guy always seems happy when he thinks I’m broke and might need updates from him. Decided to indulge him and he didn’t disappoint, gave me vague details and promised to drop the full process in my dm. Empty air!

This is someone I always tell and drop full details for whenever I see earning opportunities, and check up on, me wey no really send like that.

No problem. I’ll stick with my broke sob stories. Gotten rid of my so called best friends anyway, people tend to hate you secretly if they think you’re doing well/not like them. Think it’s my spirit though & the fact I don’t complain to anyone.

Some are married, earning well more than me yet still hating because I refused to get forced into the same society pressure corners they ended up in.

No be me send you make you no live life on your own terms.

Back to shell scripting. The hard part isn’t writing the script, it’s figuring the algorithm first then testing before creating the script. Still easy.

Linux permissions that I thought was easy wan run me street. Had to take a more deeper look when I locked myself out of a file by giving the ownership to another user (chown). It’s more trickier than I thought especially when 2 or more people need to have different types of access to a file/folder

One had to consider sudoers list, user lists/user groups , access rights , shared directories permissions and yourself the admin.

What do you mean access denied ! I created you just now na?

Erm, guy, Don’t tell finance I’ve locked myself and everyone in that department out of the payroll files and only the Gateman and CEO have access. Say it’s temporary maintenance

I'm glad i stumbled on this. I hope i am not late starting this journey

microlincoln:
I'm glad i stumbled on this. I hope i am not late starting this journey

You're not. Start with linux basics

Finally solved a task I've been battling with for hours.
I was to create an account for a Team leader and grant him admin rights (create, del, modify user accounts for his team)

The TL user account I created at first, Since I added him to the sudo group, it could also access even encrypted files with the sudo command which is a security risk.

MetaAI and the info I saw on the web confused me even more. I left it for a while.

Then I noticed it seems I had to pay more attention to the sudoers file info. So I accessed root, then ran visudo and applied what I learned.

Steps:
1. Created a user account: sudo adduser tom_admin
2. Added tom to wheel group = sudo usermod -aG wheel tom_admin
3. Headed to visudo and modified the following: Command alias, User privileges & sudo group privileges

- Created command alias = Basically assigned a (set of commands that can be run) to an alias TEMPADMIN
- Assigned user privilege rights to tom_admin
-Then assigned the ONLY commands tom_admin as a member of the sudo group (wheel) can run with sudo preffix

Basically, dude can only modify user accounts and groups on his own end. Anything else would be met by permission denied: user tom_admin is not allowed to run this command as root on localhost

Funniest thing was when i logged into the tom_admin account and tried using sudo adduser tom2 It didn't work

Why? the syntax i specified started with useradd not adduser. Went back and forth before I noticed, little details ehn. Also learnt how to restrict the use of some commands. The tom_admin account for example couldn't run visudo. Else anyone with sudo access can easily access the sudoers file and change access rights.

Now I need to practice how to create a user account that expires in a week. I've understood the 2 methods
- sudo adduser -e date -m username
- sudo echo "userdel username" |at -t date.time

But i want to use the Ansible tool since I have no idea how it works. Jump in headfirst eh innit?

SKhanmi:
I would be detailing my journey into DevOps/Cloud here.

I mentioned I did a AWS cloud practitioner certification a while back in my previous thread https://www.nairaland.com/6930545/2022-experiment-1-becoming-product

Well, a DevOps and Cloud computing scholarship I applied for a while back came through recently. Talk about keeping your options open.

I know it's a long term thing but I'm enjoying the little I have experienced. Guess that coding I've been running from eventually caught up with me. Gone through css , html , python before to a degree so it shouldn't be a problem. Already learning bash scripting.

Following

Well, practice makes perfection. There are two ways to learn Linux File permissions.

Words nomenclature +-wrx ugo
Number = 777/ugo

wrx means write, read, execute
ugo means user, group, others

So to assign write permissions to a user for a file e.g u+w filename

I prefer the numbers though
4 - Read
2 - Write
1 - execute

And you just add or subtract based on the needed permissions.

So if I needed to add read and write permissions for a user tayo, execute only permissions for lola and read only permissions for 5 other users.

- I simply create a group, add them all to the group.
- Set ownership of the file to the user with the most permissions tayo and the group -

Chown tayo:groupname filename

Then add permissions (4+2) for tayo(u) , 1 for lola(group) and 4 for others(o) in the group
Chmod 614 filename

Easier to remember

Got banned over some comments in the politics section. I suppose cuss his entire generation, Hiss!

When will people understand bad governance would touch everyone eventually. Why support it or cover up for it? Especially when you don’t really benefit?

Osaretin Asemota on twitter once told a story of how he almost died in a nigerian hospital due to negligence , The hotel bathroom glass he lodged in cut into his leg (poor quality/no safety precautions), Why won’t he run from nigeria?

Death doesn’t really bother with us because the nigerian government or society would do its work for it sooner or later.

This is not a sane society. But come to think of it, you can’t tell me whoever created this world was a saint. We’re just mini versions of our creators.

It’s a dog eat dog world. And we might just possibly be in Hell already but naija na special section. Lol

Anyways, I’m nearing the end of my 3 months training. Need to find somewhere to intern. Might need to move back to lag since cloud computing/DevOps only elicits vacant stares here. Smh

I’m the type who doesn’t mind not getting paid as long as I get value so i need to sort out my finances & take some risks to balance that out.

No suffering and smiling biko.

Got an half scholarship to study at Alt4Africa Cloud engineering Course. Need to start saving ahead.

Must prepare and also get a cloud certification by Dec/Jan

Omo, something must kill a man. Reason one must be quite ruthless in choosing a partner.

Can’t fathom going through a lot, running a business on the side, balancing family issues, trying to understand GCP CLI codes only to log out and be having relationships drama.

But most tech bros are so naive, Damn. Them go chop shege, no be by having only money. Having a kind and mature partner is a blessing.

So, Where am I currently in my learning phase

That would be
CI/CD (Gitlab)
Containerization (Docker)
Orchestration (kubernetes)
Infrastructure as a code (Ansible)

Done one thing or two in the above but hmmm, Understanding is one thing, practicals are another.

The GCP courses have gotten harder. Starting to think nobody writes those codes I see offhand but either copies it from somewhere or use GUI templates. Especially them Load balancers stuff

Why should I use the CLI when I can just use the GUI to create instances, health checks, templates groups etc. Shogun laye ni?

Following

Hmm, Just found a solution to my head breaking course modules on reddit while doom scrolling . Beginner friendly

Updated link is on the first page under resources.

Let me go & rest in peace

We continue tomorrow

following

what learning path are you currently following?

Spykey:
following

what learning path are you currently following?

Linux > Cloud > Devops

roadmaps.sh has a lot of guides for each path

Finally. Let me finish the remaining assessments for this current training.

Going to be hard but ideally My plan for the future should look like this.

AWS certification- in the next 3 months
Internship- 6 months
AltSchool -12 months

Paying for the first and last so I can’t afford to waste my money. Getting a good place to intern might not be easy. Comes with a lot of personal costs, especially if it ends up being on the Island

I really really hate lagos traffic!

Been here since last week.

Do I understand the concepts? Yes

Can I interpret 90% of the code? Yes.

Can I finish the module successfully? Definitely

But, my problem is, I can't seem to grab the big picture, how does one step run into another? If given a real life challenge, How would I know which steps to take, which services to put up. This isn't something you do once, unfortunately, we're limited to 5 lap practice tests.

Cloud CLI stuff is akin to real life mechanic work aswear. Even on the GUI, the way you navigate and search for so many things is enough to confuse you if you don't have a template or know what you're supposed to be doing.

Load balancing, health checks, url maps connections are convoluted in GCP CLI, still I'm sure the GUI alternative is more easier

Checked the introductory courses on altafrica. Not bad.

Checked my personality type on 16personalities.com. INTJ-A, Lol

So I basically don't send, think stress is the same as worrying- useless most times, try find time to blow trees, chop peppersoup with something cold, after all something must kill a man You see say I no mention woman, peace of mind dey important.

Only thing I slightly disagree with is even tempered. Maybe with age, it used to be simmering hot and most times it's just under the surface. Mostly avoid situations and morons that would let me erupt though. I like to be thorough.

Dual boot finally fvcked me up. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and stupidly decided to vanish my linux partition. Laptop booted into grub rescue! Ha!

And I have a project presentation tomorrow , tried 3 youtube solutions.

Grub rescue (ls, set root;prefix)
Bootrec (fixmbr,fixboot,rebuildbcd & diskpart)
Even directly loading from windows disk partition

None worked, had to go outside and get a bootable flash drive to recover the system. Before I open eyes, it’s 6pm.

Damn, Thank God for AI.

No more dual booting, I either use vm or a separate standalone device for linux. This shit made me remember our project defense in school. Laptop that contained our files/apps bricked on defense morning, Thank God for backups.

And it’s good to have your stuff especially documents stored on cloud services. You shouldn’t have to lose important files if your device fails

Phew! Almost done with the GCP courses. That’s a reduction in stress. Altafrica first semester won’t be hard for those with a comp sci background.

Took some days off, went to IB to chill. The way that city blends urban & local trends together never ceases to amaze me. Ultra modern looking house, ground floor is a local rowdy mess because it’s used by market women.

Make we no lie sha, IB is sweeet to live in if you earn in $$$ remotely. Higher quality of life, less traffics hotspots

Rented a short serviced apartment in a quiet estate & the rooms were studio big. Selfcon that would cost 1m+ to rent in lagos or 40-80k per day as serviced apartment. Didn’t spend up to 10k. There are expensive places in IB also but you’ll get your money’s worth. Not the expensive asf claustrophobic monkey pen houses common in Lagos.

If you’re street wise, you can have the best of both worlds. Quztan suites , Academy , hotels inside UCH when bar dey or enter Ayotoz if you dey kaku. Don’t forget the women.

Iwo road or challenge/apata for traveling.

Shopright food or Ola mummy / amala skye all with reasonable transport fares. Lagos ehn. By the time you reason fare/stress from oshodi to jibowu/ketu cos you wan save money. You go rest!

I sha ate abula & took night car home. Wish the imbe I exchanged words with on that Ogun politics thread could come & see how the roads have deteriorated badly since his beloved eleyi entered office. Phuls supporting bad governance.

Oyo still has the best roads in SW. Eleyi, Imole & the others are just jokers. Nothing will make me pass Osun at night again. Your vehicle is most likely to spoil around that axis.

Good progress with your DevOps learning . You can be sure it will pay off in the next months, I can almost guarantee you that based on experience.

One opinion (if I may), go for Terraform first in your Infra as a code preferred tool.
Reasons -
1. Far more acceptable across orgs, coys and multinationals.
2. Works with almost all platforms (GCP, AWS, Azure, Oracle, Firewalls, Onprem VMs, K8s, mention it)
3. Integrates better with 3rd party variable, dialogflow and mgt tools (terragrunt, terratest, Sentinel).
4. Open source, the support, documentations and available examples (on github) is next to none.

All the best

080bjaked

Thanks, Almost like you read my mind. I already stumbled across hashi.corp terraform courses. Will start from there.