Refereed papers explore techniques, tools, theory, and case histories that extend our understanding of system and network administration as discipline, art, and science. System administration is a broad topic, so that an ideal paper can take many forms:

• description and analysis of a new theory, technique, or tool
• application of an existing theory, technique, or tool in a novel way
• critical analysis of alternatives in solving a common problem
• lessons learned from honest evaluation of case histories
• evaluation of management paradigms and other human factors

We particularly encourage contributions that:

• Look forward to future technologies and methods
• Report impartially on experiments testing new ideas
• Develop testable hypotheses for future investigation
• Explore the plausibility of new approaches, and the longevity of established ones
• Deepen our understanding of interaction between humans and machine
• Protect systems from being overwhelmed by scale and diversity
• Protect systems from the onslaught of computer warfare
• Discuss how sysadmin roles are changing
• Evaluate commercial technologies and tools
• Report on implementation experiences

Cash prizes will be awarded at the conference for the best refereed paper and best refereed paper by a student.

Writing a refereed paper for LISA is a rewarding challenge. A properly crafted paper can make a difference in the thinking or practice of thousands of your colleagues. For the best possible impact, your paper should be written so that it is understandable to and relevant to a majority of our attendees. An ideal paper is understandable to an intermediate level system administrator, while containing ideas that will be new and timely to expert administrators.

Although there is only one kind of refereed paper this year, there are two lengths of presentations at the conference. Presenters of a long talk are allotted 30 minutes total time, including 25 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for questions. Presenters of a short talk are allotted 20 minutes total time, including 15 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for questions.

Papers presented in short and long talks are considered equally in awarding "best paper" awards, and the designation your paper receives does not imply any difference in the quality of the described work. Some of the best ideas to come out of prior LISA's are novel approaches whose application is simple and straightforward. A "short talk" presents a great idea that the Program Committee judges to be relatively straightforward to describe. A "long talk" describes work that the Program Committee thinks might be more complex to explain and discuss. The "short talk" is an attempt to include more of the excellent ideas that our conference has become known for highlighting over the years.

It is particularly important to fit your own work into the context of past work and practice. Provide references to prior relevant work and describe the differences between that work and your own. Authors should browse proceedings of previous LISA conferences for references, and can use the online bibliography and resource page at Oslo University College (https://www.iu.hio.no/SystemAdmin) to find references to related work. The Program Chair and Program Committee can also give you tips on previous work that might be relevant. Email the Program Chair at lisa02chair@usenix.org for help.

Potential authors must submit an extended abstract of 500-1500 words (not counting figures and references) to the Program Committee for review. You are welcome to submit a full paper for review at this point, provided that you preface it with an appropriate extended abstract. In the abstract (and the full paper, if applicable), include appropriate references to establish the relationship between your work and that of others and, where possible, provide detailed data to establish that you have a working implementation or measurement tool.

All abstract submissions must be electronic, in ASCII, PDF, or PostScript format. Please use the Web form located here. For administrative reasons, every submission should begin by listing:

1. paper title and authors, indicating any authors who are full time students.
2. for the author who will act as the contact to the program committee, his or her name, paper mail address, daytime and evening phone numbers, e-mail address and fax number, if available.
3. whether the paper should be considered as a "student paper" or "regular paper" when deliberating upon awards.
4. whether you would prefer to present the paper as a "long talk", "short talk", or "either short or long talk" for the purposes of planning presentation time.

Submissions will be judged on the quality of the written submission, novelty of approach, technical correctness, and whether or not the work advances the state-of-the-art of system administration. Papers must be submitted by the author of the paper. Papers whose only purpose is to promote a commercial product will not be accepted. For more information, please consult the detailed author guidelines.

To aid authors in creating a paper suitable for LISA's audience, authors of accepted papers will be assigned one or more "shepherds" to help with the process of completing the paper. The shepherds will read intermediate drafts and provide comments before the authors complete the final draft.

Note that LISA, like most conferences and journals, requires that papers not be submitted simultaneously to more than one conference or publication, and that submitted papers not be previously or subsequently published elsewhere for a certain period of time. Papers accompanied by non-disclosure agreement forms are not acceptable and will be returned unread. All submissions are held in the highest confidence prior to publication in the conference proceedings, both as a matter of policy and as protected by the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976.

Every accepted paper must be presented at the conference by at least one author. Authors of an accepted paper must provide a final paper for publication in the conference proceedings. One author of each accepted paper receives complimentary technical session registration. Final papers are limited to 16 pages, including diagrams, figures, references, and appendices. Complete instructions will be sent to authors of accepted papers.

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