The Linux Administration Workshop in partnership with SESAME and ASREN (Arab States Research and Education Network) has successfully trained 30 participants from 11 countries from 14th April, 2025 to 7th May, 2025 under the EUMEDplus project. The project which is the first in a series of capacity-building efforts aimed at empowering system and network administrators across North Africa and the Middle East attracted information technology (IT) professionals from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, and United States.
Hadia Yaseen, Network Engineer, ASREN – Trainer for basic Linux administration said the workshop was a great opportunity to lay a strong foundation for participants who are new to Linux. “It's encouraging to see such enthusiastic engagement from professionals across the region, many of whom are now better equipped to manage real-world systems.”
The virtual training represented practical step toward building a secure, interoperable infrastructure needed to support cross-institutional collaboration in the region. Through hands-on training, participants were taught how to manage users and file systems, install and monitor software, and automate routine administration tasks. They also explored modern technologies like Docker and Kubernetes, gaining insight into the tools to adopt for containerization and streamlining system maintenance.
Amro Aljadaa, Control Software Engineer, SESAME – Trainer for containerization and kubernetes noted that “Introducing Docker and Kubernetes to the participants was a key step in modernizing their infrastructure management approach. It's exciting to see so many IT professionals embrace containerization as a pathway toward scalable and resilient systems.”
Participants worked through virtual labs that simulated real-world challenges, including remote access configuration, web service setup, task scheduling with cron, and writing efficient scripts to reduce manual workloads and improve reliability.
Anas Mohammad, Data Engineer, SESAME – who was the trainer for automation and development tools says “Automation is no longer optional—it’s essential. Through scripting and the use of tools like Ansible, participants learned how to reduce repetitive tasks and improve operational efficiency. These are capabilities they can take back and apply right away in their organizations.”
The goal of this hands-on session was to equip the attendees with the practical skills necessary to maintain resilient Linux-based environments—an essential foundation for the future of secure networked services. Ibrahim Foudeh, Linux System Engineer, SESAME noted that, “This workshop was a valuable opportunity to equip IT professionals with the advanced Linux administration skills required to manage modern, scalable infrastructure. Through hands-on sessions, we focused on building practical expertise that participants can directly apply in their own operational environments.”
This workshop is part of the broader EUMEDplus project, a European Union co-funded initiative coordinated by GÉANT. The project seeks to advance digital infrastructure and strengthen the research and education ecosystem across North Africa.
Key partners include SESAME, ASREN, the American University of Beirut, the Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique in Morocco, the Cyprus Research and Academic Network, and NORDUnet.
By investing in the technical capabilities of system administrators today, the Linux Administration Workshop is helping to lay the groundwork for a more connected, collaborative, and digitally resilient future across the region.