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A system administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin, is a person
employed to maintain, and operate a computer system or network. System
administrators may be members of an information technology department.
The duties of a system administrator are wide-ranging, and vary widely from one
organization to another. Sysadmins are usually charged with installing,
supporting, and maintaining servers or other computer systems, and planning for
and responding to service outages and other problems. Other duties may include
scripting or light programming, project management for systems-related projects,
supervising or training computer operators, and being the consultant for
computer problems beyond the knowledge of technical support staff. A System
Administrator must demonstrate a blend of technical skills and responsibility.
Skills
The subject matter of systems administration includes computer systems and the
ways people use them in an organization. This entails a knowledge of operating
systems and applications, as well as hardware and software troubleshooting, but
also knowledge of the purposes for which people in the organization use the
computers.
However, perhaps the most important skill to a system administrator is problem
solving -- frequently under various sorts of constraints and stress. The
sysadmin is on call when a computer system goes down or malfunctions, and must
be able to quickly and correctly diagnose what is wrong and how best to fix it.
System administrators are not software engineers or developers. It is not
usually within their duties to design or write new applications software.
However, sysadmins must understand the behavior of software in order to deploy
it and to troubleshoot problems, and generally know several programming
languages used for scripting or automation of routine tasks.
Particularly when dealing with Internet-facing or business-critical systems, a
sysadmin must have a strong grasp of computer security. This includes not merely
deploying software patches, but also preventing break-ins and other security
problems with preventative measures. In some organizations, computer security
administration is a separate role responsible for overall security and the
upkeep of firewalls and intrusion detection systems, but all sysadmins are
generally responsible for the security of the systems in their keep.
Related fields
Many organizations staff other jobs related to systems administration. In a
larger company, these may all be separate positions within a computer support or
Information Services (IS) department. In a smaller group they may be shared by a
few sysadmins, or even a single person.
A database administrator (DBA) maintains a database system, and is responsible
for the integrity of the data and the efficiency and performance of the system.
A network administrator maintains network infrastructure such as switches and
routers, and diagnoses problems with these or with the behavior of
network-attached computers.
A security administrator is a specialist in computer and network security,
including the administration of security devices such as firewalls, as well as
consulting on general security measures.
Technical support staff respond to individual users' difficulties with computer
systems, provide instructions and sometimes training, and diagnose and solve
common problems.
A computer operator performs routine maintenance and upkeep, such as changing
backup tapes or replacing failed drives in a RAID array. Such tasks usually
require physical presence in the room with the computer; and while less skilled
than sysadmin tasks require a similar level of trust, since the operator has
access to possibly sensitive data.
In some organizations, a person may begin as a member of technical support staff
or a computer operator, then gain experience on the job to be promoted to a
sysadmin position.
Training
Unlike many other professions, there is no single path to becoming a system
administrator. Many system administrators have a degree in generic fields:
computer science, computer engineering, information system management, or even a
trade school program. Other schools have offshoots of their Computer Science
program specifically for systems administration.
Some schools have started offering undergraduate degrees in Systems
Administration. The first, RIT started in 1992. Others such as Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, Marist College, and Drexel University have more recently
offered degrees in Information Technology.
As of 2007, only three U.S. universities, Rochester Institute of Technology ,
Tufts, and Michigan Tech have graduate programs in system administration. In
Norway, there is a special English-taught MSc program organized by Oslo
University College in cooperation with Oslo University, named "Masters programme
in Network and System Administration". However, many other schools offer related
graduate degrees in fields such as network systems and computer security.
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 expected to possess industry certifications such as the Microsoft
MCSA, MCSE, Red Hat RHCE or Novell CNA, CNE.
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. For instance, it is not unusual for a mathematics or computing teacher
to serve as sysadmin of a secondary school.
Duties of a system administrator
A system administrator's responsibilities might include:
Routine audits of systems and software.
Performing backups.
Applying operating system updates and configuration changes.
Installing and configuring new hardware and software.
Adding, removing, or updating 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 tasks listed above may be divided among different
system administrators or members of different organizational groups. For
example, a dedicated individual may apply all system upgrades, a Quality
Assurance (QA) team may perform testing and validation, and one or more
technical writers may be responsible for all technical documentation written for
a company.
In smaller organizations, the system administrator can also perform any number
of duties elsewhere associated with other fields:
Technical support
Database administrator (DBA)
Network administrator/analyst/specialist
Application analyst
Security administrator
Programmer
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.
Organizations
Professional Organizations
BayLISA, San Francisco Bay Area
League of Professional System Administrators (LOPSA)
BBLISA, Boston area
NaSPA Network and Systems Professionals Association, Inc.
SAGE The USENIX SIG for Sysadmins
SAGE-AU System Administrators Guild of Australia
SAGE-WISE (Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England)
SAGE-IE (Ireland)
USENIX The Advanced Computing Systems Association
Unions
Communications Workers of America
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