About the Authors

Daniel V. Klein has been a computer geek for almost as long as he can remember (which is possibly more a function of his memory than his longevity). Dan is a frequent speaker and author, enjoys teaching (not only because people pay him to talk, but because he enjoys shedding light on strange subjects), and has been monitoring everything he possibly can for 15 years or more. He is the author of the popular thermd system, and the co-author of the jive text filter. He is a professional singer, has performed improvisational comedy for six years with Pittsburgh Theatresports, and has appeared in four movies, being cast (oddly enough) as a murderer, a sociopath, a zombie, and an ersatz swami (but really, he's a nice guy in real life).

His Erdös-Bacon Number is 6 (putting him on a par with Richard Feynman and slightly better than Stephen Hawking's 7). Dan has a Master's degree in Applied Mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University (which is not as impressive as either Feynman's Ph.D. and Nobel Prize or Hawking's Ph.D. and Copley Medal) and is an award-winning photographer and a Certified Adjudicator of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella.

Dan and his two cats live in Pittsburgh, PA. You can find out more than you ever wanted to know about him at http://www.klein.com/.

John Sellens is also a long-term computer geek and remembers starting an introductory programming course long ago, using a teletype in a hotel in Florida connected (somehow) to a machine in Houston, but he got called away to go swimming and never finished the course. In the years since then, John has been a music store clerk, a public accountant, staff at the University of Waterloo and UUNET Canada, and somehow acquired a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo. He is the author of System and Network Administration for Higher Reliability, which is #7 in the Short Topics in System Administration series.

These days, John is the proprietor of SYONEX, supporting systems and networks, VoIP telephony, and all sorts of monitoring systems, tools, and toys. He has taught at conferences for many years, with a particular focus on topics related to system and network monitoring.

John is also an actor, a saxophone player, and the father of three wonderful children. He lives in Newmarket, Ontario.