Systems Administrator

Definition

Systems Administrator

the role that is played when a person primarily performs the systems administration task for a data center

Classification

As illustrated in the preceding figure, Systems Administrator is part of the following inheritance hierarchy:

• Type: Concrete
• Superclass: Administrator
• Subclasses:
  • None

Responsibilities

The typical role-specific responsibilities of a Systems Administrator are to:

• Data Center Responsibilities.
  Systems administrators are typically responsible for ensuring that data center services support:
  • Operational availability requirements.
  • Performance requirements.
  • Scalability requirements.
• Operating System Responsibilities.
  Systems administrators are typically responsible for:
  • Ensuring the proper functioning of server operating systems (e.g., UNIX, SunOS, AIX, Linex, VMS, or NT):
    • Issuing OS commands.
    • Using OS utilities.
  • Ensuring the proper functioning of associated client operating systems (e.g., UNIX, Linex, MS-DOS, Windows, or MacOS).
  • Internetworking multiple unrelated operating systems.
• System Software Responsibilities.
  Systems administrators are typically responsible for:
  • Ensuring the proper functioning of infrastructure software (e.g., file systems, print services, e-mail systems, news systems).
  • Ensuring the proper functioning of middleware software.
  • Ensuring the proper functioning of browser software.
• Non-Network Hardware Responsibilities.
  Systems administrators are typically responsible for:
  • Installing, configuring, and maintaining:
    • Network cabling in use at the data center.
    • Boards and memory into server computers.
    • SCSI devices.
    • Peripherals (e.g., disks, modems, printers, or data acquisition devices).
  • Board-level diagnosis and repair of computer systems.
  • Component-level diagnosis and repair of computer systems.
• Security Responsibilities.
  Systems administrators may be responsible for ensuring adequate:
  • Network security (e.g., installing firewalls, deploying authentication systems, or applying cryptography to network applications).
  • Server security (e.g., passwords, uids/gids, file permissions, file system integrity, use of security packages).
  • Physical security of data centers (e.g., biometric sensors, security card readers).
• Miscellaneous Responsibilities.
  Systems administrators typically may be responsible for:
  • Developing and implementing a data center disaster recovery plan.
  • With commercial products (e.g., Server software, database management systems, or development tools).
  • With the work done by the users of the data center.
  • Managing licenses.
  • Accepting trouble reports and dispatching them to appropriate members of the operations or maintenance teams.

Systems administrators typically inherit the general role responsibilities from the role process component.

Personal Profile

To fulfill these responsibilities, systems administrators typically should have the following personal characteristics, expertise, training, and experience:

Personal Characteristics

To fulfill these responsibilities, systems administrators typically should have the following personal characteristics:

• A generalist who can perform many different tasks.
• Able to comfortably multitask (i.e., perform multiple architecting tasks concurrently).
• Able to make important decisions given incomplete and conflicting knowledge.
• Highly self-directed, being able to both manage and (re)prioritize the multiple concurrent and competing challenges, issues, ambiguities, and contradictions that necessarily occur during the prduction of the database architecture and design.
• Strong analytical problem solving skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, and thus able to explain and document the systems to their diverse audiences.
• A team-building leader with good interpersonal and relationship building skills.

Expertise

To fulfill these responsibilities, systems administrators typically should have the following expertise:

• Deep knowledge of:
  • Systems hardware (e.g., firewalls, uninterruptible power supplies, web servers, application servers, database servers, and disk and tape libraries).
  • Operating system administration (e.g., NT, Unix, and Linex).
  • Browsers (e.g., Internet Exployer and Netscape Navigator).
  • Software Web, application, and database servers.
  • Other system software (e.g., middleware components).
  • Data center, network, and application architectures.
  • Various production environments.
• Solid understanding of and ability to use UNIX-based operating systems and their commands and utilities at a user level:
  • Paging and swapping.
  • Inter-process communication.
  • Devices and what device drivers do.
  • File system concepts ("inode", "superblock").
  • Performance analysis to tune systems.
  • Distinctions between the kernel and the shell.
  • The route command.
  • Job control.
  • Soft and hard links.
  • I/O redirection.
  • Able to edit files.
  • Able to use a shell.
  • Able to find users’ home directories.
  • Able to navigate through the file systems and mount on both local and remote file systems.
  • the design of consistent network-wide file system layouts.
  • Able to install third-party software.
• Able to use the most basic system administration tools and processes:
  • Able to boot up and shutdown a server computer.
  • Able to add and remove user accounts.
  • Able to use backup programs and fsck
  • Able to maintain system database files (groups, hosts, aliases).
  • Able to write scripts in some administrative language (Tk, Perl, a shell).
  • Able to install and configure mail systems.
  • Able to install and configure printing systems.
• A solid understanding of and ability to use networking and distributed computing environment concepts:
  • Principles and concepts of routing.
  • Client/server programming.
  • N-tier architectures.
  • Able to configure NFS and NIS.
  • Able to use nslookup or dig to check information in the DNS.
• Solid administrative programming knowledge and abilities:
  • Able to program and write scripts in some administrative language (Tk, Perl, a shell).
  • Able to port C programs from one platform to another.
  • Able to write small C programs.
  • Able to do minimal debugging and modification of C programs.
• Basic knowledge of security.
• Ability to upgrade the software and hardware components.
• Able to add a workstation to a network.
• Proven ability to manage major server related failures and outages to resolution.
• Able to write purchase justifications for system hardware and software.
• Able to train users in complex topics.
• Able to make presentations to an internal audience
• Able to interact positively with upper management.
• Able to identify tasks which require automation and then automate them.

Training

To fulfill these responsibilities, systems administrators typically should have the following training:

• A bachelor’s degree or better in software engineering, computer science, or the equivalent.
• Technical training in:
  • Operating Systems
  • System Software (i.e., infrastructure, middleware, and browser).
  • Programming Languages
  • Database Administration
  • Network Administration
  • Operations
• Reads books, technical journals, and conference proceedings in system administration.
• Relevant verdor certifications (e.g., Microsoft certified systems engineer qualification, Cisco certification, HP UNIX certification).

Experience

To fulfill these responsibilities, systems administrators typically should have the following prior experience:

• Previous Job Experience. Systems administrators should typically have a minimum of 1 year’s successful prior experience as a:
  • Database administrator.
  • Network administrator.
  • Operator.
• Operating System Experience. Systems administrators should typically have significant prior experience with:
  • Data center specific server operating systems (e.g., UNIX, SunOS, AIX, Linex, VMS, or NT) including their commands and utilities.
  • Associated client operating systems (e.g., UNIX, Linex, MS-DOS, Windows, or MacOS).
  • Multiple operating systems.
  • Data centers running multiple operating systems.
  • Internetworking multiple unrelated operating systems.
• System Software Experience. Systems administrators ashould typically have significant prior experience with:
  • [Re]installing system software (e.g., infrastructure software, middleware, and browsers).
  • Configuring system software.
  • Monitoring status of system software.
  • Updating system software.
  • Maintaiing (e.g., patching) system software.
• Programming Experience. Systems administrators should typically have significant programming experience in:
  • Systems administration languages (Tk, Perl, a shell).
  • Database query languages.
  • Any applicable applications programming languages (e.g., C, C++, Java, COBOL, or Smalltalk).
• Hardware Experience. Systems administrators should typically have significant experience:
  • Installing, configuring, and maintaining:
    • Boards and memory into server computers.
    • SCSI devices.
    • Peripherals (e.g., disks, modems, printers, or data acquisition devices).
  • With board-level diagnosis and repair of computer systems.
  • With component-level diagnosis and repair of computer systems.
• Scalability Experience. Systems administrators should preferably have significant experience:
  • At a data center with over:
    • 1,000 computers.
    • 1,000 users.
    • 1 terabyte of disk space.
  • At a data center with continuous availability requirements.
  • With supercomputers.
  • Coordinating multiple data centers (e.g., working for the central group at a large company or university).
• Security Experience. Systems administrators should typically have significant experience with:
  • Network security (e.g., installing firewalls, deploying authentication systems, or applying cryptography to network applications).
  • Server security (e.g., passwords, uids/gids, file permissions, file system integrity, use of security packages).
  • Physical security of data centers (e.g., biometric sensors, security card readers).
• Miscellaneous Experience. Systems administrators should typically have significant experience:
  • Developing and implementing a data center disaster recovery plan.
  • With commercial products (e.g., Server software, database management systems, or development tools).
  • With the work done by the users of the data center.
  • As postmaster of a data center with external connections.
  • In maintaining specified levels of operational availability, performance, and scalability.

Tasks

Systems administrators typically perform the following role-specific tasks in an iterative, incremental, parallel, and time-boxed manner:

• Operations Activity:
  • Systems Administration
  • Operations Documentation: (produce the systems administration operational procedures in the data center operations manual).
• Maintenance Activity:
  • User Documentation Maintenance (maintain the systems administration operational procedures in the data center operations manual).
• Disaster Recovery Activity:
  • Disaster Avoidance
  • Disaster Planning
  • Disaster Preparation
  • Disaster Response
  • Facility Repair
  • Normal Operations Restoration

Systems administrators typically inherit common role tasks from the role process component.

Teams

Systems administrators typically perform these tasks as members of the following teams:

• Disaster Recovery Team
• Operations Team

Work Products

As members of these teams, systems administrators typically produce all or part of the following work products:

• Operations Work Products:
  • Operations Manual (system administration operational tasks)
  • Operations Log (system administration events)
• Disaster Recovery Work Products:
  • Disaster Recovery Plan
  • Data Center Center Inventory
• Management Work Products:
  • Status Report.

Guidelines

• The person who plays the system administrator role often also plays the database administrator, network administrator, and security engineer roles.
• As a rather complete description of the systems administrator role, this webpage describes a rather senior systems administrator. In reality, novice, junior, and intermediate systems administrators would typically only use an increasing subset of this webpage.
• This webpage is partially based on the content of the Systems Administrator Guild website, which contains more detailed information about the systems administrator job title including various levels of systems administrators.
• The computer operator role typically inherits the common team guidelines from the roles process component.