“Highly-respected and seasoned information technology professional with over 20 years experience delivering technical solutions in diverse environments for administrative and academic branches of the University.” – from My Resume

In 2014 I started attending technology meetups including peer-led discussions on various DevOps tools like Saltstack, Jenkins, Docker, Vagrant, etc. It seemed there were three types of people who regularly attended these meetups:

• Tech-Geeks - The lovers of all things technology always itching to pick up a new tool or improve their trade.
• Green-horns - Those folks fresh out of college with a fancy new DevOps-ish title but little clue on what they were doing or why and rarely with any idea about doing it at scale
• Sales-slugs - These are the folks in suits who usually provide the pizza, drinks and stickers. We can't live without them, don't mind talking to them but their only real interest in you is for the contact information you may provide regarding the decision-maker at your company.
• Recruiter-sirens - They troll the MeetUp boards looking for anything with DevOps or buzzword-of-the-week in the title hoping to make a buck by putting your name in front of a hiring manager.

While the typical presenter fell into the Tech-Geek or Green-horn category, regardless of the meet-up, venue or topic, one thing always stood out to me as lacking from the content… a quick-start on how to use the tools or technology. This is my attempt to fill in that quick-start gap for a few of those tools.

This tutorial series is primarily for the Tech-Geeks & Green-horns who want an all-encompassing quick-start on how to install, configure and build a practical use-case or work-flow with common DevOps tools. If you already have experience with these automation tools but need a hand with your new-recruits, this is a great resource to put in front of your Jr. SysAdmins. It is also useful for quickly setting up a test lab for a POC or interview if you are hiring one of those Engineer, Architect or Specialist folks and need a hands-on environment for a practical test.

Sales-slugs and Recruiter-sirens, please read along to improve your communications and polish your siren's call.