We've been considering the feedback comments on the Exim course that I ran in
Cambridge last week. It seems to have gone well, but there is always room for
improvement. Two issues that several people mentioned were shortage of time for
some parts, and a lack of any practical content.
The first Exim courses that we ran lasted for one day. Then the amount of
material expanded and we went to two days, bringing in two outside speakers to
break it up (and give me a break). We are now wondering whether next year we
should add yet another day. If we did that, I would suggest that we use it like
this:
1/4 day on covering some of the existing material on routing more slowly
and in more detail
1/4 day on covering "advanced" things more slowly, and perhaps adding a
session on regular expressions
1/2 day on some kind of practical demonstration.
With the numbers we get, actually making people *do* practical things is
probably not possible, but we could, for example, set up a small network of 2
or 3 PCs in the lecture room, and install Exim and other software and send mail
between them. I would expect somebody other than me to run such sessions.
Thinking about how this might work, I've come up with the following rough plan:
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Day 1 (unchanged):
Morning, just before lunch: Introduction to Internet mail
Afternoon: Exim introduction and overview
Overview of Exim configuration
Day 2:
Morning: Configuring routers and transports - same material as
now, but taken more slowly. This would also include coverage
of filters.
Afternoon: First guest speaker for the first hour
First demo/practical:
Install Exim from source
Demonstrate default configuration
Modify configuration - e.g. install virtual domains
Day 3:
Morning: Controls on incoming mail (AUTH, TLS, ACLs); having moved
filters earlier, a bit more time is now available for this
Afternoon: Second guest speaker for the first hour
Second demo/practical:
Demonstration of ACL modification
Relay control
Install and test antivirus/antispam software
Day 4:
Morning: The "advanced and more detailed stuff" section, which
could now include a bit about regular expressions
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What do people think about such a plan? Would those of you who came to the
two-day course have come to a three-day course? We would expect the cost of the
course to increase by a factor of 1.5 and of course you would have to stay
another night. We are aware that we overfed you; "lighter" meals would be
arranged!
Please respond to me, to the list, or to the Exim course administrators.
Regards,
Philip
--
Philip Hazel University of Cambridge Computing Service,
ph10@??? Cambridge, England. Phone: +44 1223 334714.
