Conference Organizers Program Chair David Parter, University of Wisconsin Program Committee Eric Anderson, University of California, Berkeley Strata Rose Chalup, VirtualNet Consulting Xev Gittler, Goldman, Sachs & Co. Trent Hein, XOR Network Engineering, Inc. Doug Kingston, Deutsche Bank Thomas A. Limoncelli, Lucent Technologies/Bell Labs Bryan McDonald, Global Networking And Computing Adam Moskowitz, LION bioscience Research, Inc. Evi Nemeth, University of Colorado Cat Okita, Earthworks Josh Simon, Collective Technologies Jeffrey A. Uphoff, Transmeta Corporation Invited Talks Coordinator Phil Scarr, GE-FANUC Practicum Chair Pat Wilson, Dartmouth College The Guru Is In Coordinator Lee Damon, Qualcomm Incorporated Conference Advisor Rob Kolstad, SANS Institute Advanced Topics Workshop Chair Adam Moskowitz, LION bioscience Research, Inc. GIGA LISA Workshop Chair Joel Avery, Nortel Networks University-level SysAdmin Education Workshop Chairs John Sechrest, PEAK, Inc. David Kuncicky, Bioreason, Inc. An Invitation from the Program Chair David Parter, University of Wisconsin Dear System Administrator, I am very excited about LISA '99, and I hope you will be too. Please join me and other system administrators from around the world in Seattle on November 7-12, 1999. The LISA Conference is assembled entirely by veteran system administrators--people who know firsthand what factors are important in devising solutions to issues you face every day. Participants are involved in all aspects of modern systems administration, including user support, workstation and server administration, network management, security and incident handling, and sitewide planning and design. LISA is where system administrators at all levels of experience get together. At LISA '99, you can be part of a fantastic week of learning, recharging, comparing notes with colleagues, and examining the latest in systems administration tools, techniques, and products. The contacts you'll make, the ideas you will take home from the refereed papers, invited talks, and practicum sessions, and the solutions from the Guru and Birds-of-a-Feather sessions which you'll be able to put to use immediately--these are what make LISA a "must" for every system administrator. LISA '99 begins with three days of top-notch tutorials. Our tutorial instructors are well-known experts in their fields, who are carefully selected for their ability to teach complex subjects. Select among 39 courses designed to meet your needs for high-quality instruction in important technologies and best strategies. Sign up early for tutorials--they often sell out. In this year's technical sessions, you'll hear papers and presentations on a wide variety of topics, including the latest in sysadmin tools, case studies of innovative solutions to daunting problems, and a look at future approaches to systems administration. Also included are the latest on DNS and BIND, and a hot "bake-off" featuring Gurus in Tcl, Perl, and Python battling to write the "best" code in answer to several challenges. The three LISA '99 workshops provide an opportunity for senior system administrators to share expertise and opinions in focused discussions with their peers. Those of you who have never attended the LISA Conference are about to discover one of the most important resources in the field.