System administrator

From Free net encyclopedia

The term system administrator, abbreviated sysadmin, designates an employment position of those people responsible for running technically advanced information systems or some aspect of them. They often deal with the setup and maintenance of computers and networks. System Administators also work on more than just computers, such as the interaction between humans and technology, and the enhancement of business processes through technology. [1]. The precise meaning varies. Organizations with very large or complex computer systems typically divide up computer staff according to specialization, in which case a system administrator is someone responsible for the maintenance of an existing computer system.

1 Duties of a system administrator
2 Becoming a system administrator
3 Organizations
- 3.1 Professional Organizations
- 3.2 Unions
4 See also
5 External links

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Duties of a system administrator

A system administrator's responsibilities typically include:

Performing backups
Applying operating system updates, and configuration changes
Installing and configuring new hardware/software
Adding/deleting/modifying user account information, resetting passwords, etc.
Answering technical queries
Responsibility for security
Responsibility for documenting the configuration of the system
Troubleshooting any reported problems
System performance tuning
Keeping the network up and running

In larger organizations, some of the tasks listed above may be divided between different system administrators. For example, there may be a dedicated individual or group responsible for testing and applying system upgrades.

In smaller organizations, the system administrator can also perform any number of duties elsewhere associated with other fields:

System administrators, in larger organizations, also tend not to be system architects, system engineers, or system designers, however, like many roles in this field, demarcations between systems administration and these other roles are often not well defined in smaller organizations. However, even in larger organizations, senior systems administrators often have skills in these other areas as a result of their working experience.

In smaller organizations, IT/computing specialties are less often discerned in detail, and the term "system administrator" is used in a rather generic way — they are the people who know how the computer systems work and can respond when something fails.

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Becoming a system administrator

Unlike many professions, there is no single path to becoming a system administrator. Few colleges or universities have specific programs for system administration, so many system administrators have a degree in generic fields: computer science, computer engineering, information system management, or even a trade school program. As of 2004, only three U.S. universities, Rochester Institute of Technology, Tufts, and Florida State University have post-graduate programs in system administration. In Europe, Norway, there is a special English-taught MSc programme organized by Oslo University College [2] in cooperation with Oslo University, named "Masters programme in Network and System Administration". The founder of the programme is the creator of cfengine, Mark Burgess.

In addition, because of the practical nature of systems administration and the easy availability of open-source server software, many systems administrators enter the field self-taught.

Generally, a prospective administrator will be required to have some experience with the computer system he or she is expected to manage. In some cases, candidates are required to possess industry certifications before being considered. For example, someone applying for a job administering Microsoft Windows systems may be expected to have the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator MCSA certification (Lesser of MCSE). For Linux systems, there are three common certification programs: LPI, RHCE and Linux+. Administrators of systems in certain fields using specialized software may also be required to have experience or have received certification to use said packages.

Sometimes, almost exclusively in smaller sites, the role of system administrator may be given to a skilled user in addition to or in replacement of his or her duties.

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Organizations

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Professional Organizations

BayLISA, San Francisco Bay Area
LOPSA, League of Professional System Administrators
SAGE
SAGE-AU (Australia)
SAGE-WISE (Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England)
SAGE-IE (Ireland)

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Unions

Communications Workers of America

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External links

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Certification Organizations

BSD Certification
Comptia's Certification
ITIL for ITIL certification (part of Office of Government Commerce)
Red Hat's Certification Curriculum for RHCE and RHCA
Linux Professional Institute offers distribution-agnostic Linux Systems Administrator certifications for LPIC
Microsoft Certification Page for MCSE
Sun Certification Page for SCSA and SCNA

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Periodicals

SysAdmin Magazine

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Books

Essential Systems Administration (O'Reilly), 3rd Edition, 2001, by Æleen Frisch
The Practice of System and Network Administration (Addison-Wesley), 2001, by Thomas A. Limoncelli and Christine Hogan
Time Management for System Administrators (O'Reilly), 2005, by Thomas A. Limoncelli
UNIX System Administration Handbook (Prentice Hall PTR), 3rd Edition, 2000, by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass, Trent R. Hein