COMMON ADMINISTRATION TASKS

		Install, configure, and manage your system’s Operating System.
		Install and configure your servers into your prescribed network
		Install, configure, and manage any attached peripherals
		Install, configure, manage, and update any and all application software in accordance with current SSO Montgomery standards
		Provide and monitor system security in accordance with the current DISA WESTHEM UNIX Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG).
		Monitor your system for problems - the goal is zero downtime
		Tune your system for optimum performance
		Design and implement an adequate backup and recovery plan for your system
		Install, support, and maintain users and user accounts
		Provide basic user training
		Manage and improve your system’s resources - memory, storage, etc.
		Stay current with respect to technical advancements and software
		Evaluate and recommend technology, hardware, software, and procedures which will improve productivity
		Keep good records on all the different aspects of your system - repairs, fixes, patches, hardware and software documentation, hardware and software support contracts, etc.
		If required, setup and maintain system auditing and accounting

If you will indulge me a bit longer, there are some very good System Administration sites on the World Wide Web and some very savvy System Administrators providing guidance and advice. I would like to acknowledge one of them right here ...

"... On System Administrators

The community of system administrators is one of the most co-operative groups I have ever encountered. They understand better than most how much networks and computers depend on the willing co-operation of equals. As such, they make a point of seeking each other out and sharing solutions.

The system administrator wears many hats. A systems administration may be systems programmer, cable installer, crying towel, application developer, and fascist bastard -- sometimes all within a single hour.

The system administrator manages systems which were obtained for all reasons: low bid, contractual specification, specific need, or whim. The systems were bought, received as donation, obtained in a bankruptcy settlement, or found behind a rusting bulldozer. The systems have documentation, no documentation, or the wrong documentation. The vendor is supportive, unsupportive, actively hostile, or bankrupt.

System administrators come at all levels. The undergraduate who changes tapes at midnight is an administrator; so is the senior manager with a $50,000,000.00 budget. The users with workstations on their desktops are administrators too even though they may not realize it.

It's the system administrators job to make these systems all play together in a seamless, productive fashion. It can't be done of course, so the administrator is foredoomed to some degree of failure. Users are a demanding clientele; so are corporate and academic managers. The conflicting demands for maximum service at minimum cost must be balanced by the system administrator. The good admin focuses on maximizing satisfaction among those warring clienteles rather than minimizing the pain.

People get into system administration for any number of reasons, but the ones who last have some traits in common:

• They like to work with both people and computers. Computers are fun, but without users a system administrator wouldn't have a job.
• They like order. This may not show in desktop or computer room cleanliness, but there's almost always method in the madness.
• There a streak of packrat in every administrator. Most administrators have ten year old mail files lying around, and a manual for that ancient SMD drive that hasn't been shipped out of the basement yet.
• Unlike the pure packrat, administrators can find things quickly. It may not be at their fingertips, but they know where to find it.

Every site is different, but one underlying truth remains: there aren't enough hours in the day to get the work done.

To deal with the problem, administrators have learned to lean on each other. Admins active on the Internet will see 30 to 40 problem descriptions every day. But for every one of those problems there are one to ten solutions offered by other administrators. If one is wrong, the error is quickly pointed out by other administrators. "You can get that by anon ftp from Colorado," says one; "Here's how I do it," says another. One person offers a detailed design for an innovative solution with an apology, saying "I was going to implement this but I never had the time/got laid off/got transferred/had to do another persons job too."

Some of the solutions are one-liners: "Give this command and the problem will go away forever." Others are entire tool systems which are simply given away. "Not invented here" is rarely a problem: most administrators don't have time to be that picky.

For the administrator with the knowledge to navigate the net, it's a fertile sea. For the inexperienced it's a quick way to drown. This book can't tell you how to separate the good fish from the bad, but gives you pointers on productive places to cast your net. ..."

To read the rest of this interesting and informative book click on the following URL (if your machine is currently connected by a browser to the Internet - when you're done click your "Back" button to return here). http://lokkur.dexter.mi.us/bk.html

Other sites can be found in the Information Sources section at the end of this document.

Prepared by: Everette Smith, Impact Innovations Government Group, Inc.

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