About me

Namaste! 🙏

My name is Ish Sookun. I live on the island of Mauritius, and I have spent most of my working life around Linux and open source software. This blog is where I write about the things I build, break and learn along the way.

Linux, open source and a turn towards development

I started out as a systems administrator, and Linux has been at the centre of my work ever since. Open source is not just the software I use. It is the way I prefer to work, learn and give back.

I am the Head of Systems and Architecture at La Sentinelle Ltd, where I have spent more than ten years of my career. Over that time I built the company's cloud and mail infrastructure, from the code to the servers it runs on.

Around 2020 my work shifted towards development. I write far more code than I used to, and I spend much of my time building the platforms that code runs on. What has not changed is the curiosity. I am constantly experimenting with low-level containerisation technologies, from container runtimes and Linux namespaces to image formats, and with Kubernetes, where I like to understand what happens underneath the abstractions. I maintain the youki package for openSUSE, a container runtime written in Rust.

On the academic and professional side:

• MBA in Artificial Intelligence, Rome Business School
• SUSE Certified Engineer
• Red Hat Certified Engineer
• Google Developer Expert in Modern and Enterprise Infrastructure

openSUSE

I have contributed to the openSUSE Project since 2009. I began in the ambassador programme, spreading the word about openSUSE at local events in Mauritius. Over the years I served on the Election Committee and on the Membership Committee, and in 2025 I was elected to the openSUSE Board.

I have spoken at four openSUSE Conferences in Germany and at the openSUSE Asia Summit in Indonesia. In 2024 I spoke at the SUSE Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Closer to home, I run the mirror infrastructure in Mauritius for several Linux distributions, including openSUSE. The full list is available at mirror.cloud.mu.

Community

I actively participate in and contribute to the local tech scene, whether at the Developers Conference, Google DevFest, Cloud Native events or other tech events organised by friends of the tech community.

AFRINIC

In 2018 I received a fellowship from AFRINIC, the Regional Internet Registry for Africa, and attended the AFRINIC-29 meeting in Hammamet, Tunisia. Since then I have contributed to number resource policy discussions and tried to be an active and vocal voice in the community. I have participated in AFRINIC meetings in Tunisia, Uganda and Mauritius.

I was elected to represent the AFRINIC region on the ASO Address Council, which also serves as the NRO Number Council.

Governance

Beyond the keyboard, I have taken on a number of appointed and elected roles:

• Current appointed member of the National Cybersecurity Committee
• Elected member of the ASO Address Council and NRO Number Council, representing AFRINIC
• Elected Board member of the openSUSE Project
• Elected Vice President, Marketing and Communication of the Project Management Institute Chapter of Mauritius
• Former appointed member of the ICT Advisory Council of the Ministry of Technology, Communication and Innovation
• Former Public Relations Officer of the Linux User Group Meta Association, now closed

Project Management Institute

At the PMI Mauritius Chapter, I developed and maintain pmimauritius.org as well as the internal tooling the chapter uses for communications management.

About this blog

The blog entries on SysAdmin Journal represent my opinion and not that of my employer, nor of any group I am a member of, unless I specify otherwise. Some of the images I use are available from the Internet. I do not own them. I provide due credit to the owner if I am aware of the source. You are free to contact me to provide proper credit or to ask for the removal of an image.

You can reach me at [email protected].