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Introduction of System Admin

System administration involves activities that directly support the operations and integrity of computing systems. This includes tasks like system installation, configuration, maintenance, performance management, security management, and user support. Successful system administration requires a balance of technical skills, communication skills, problem solving abilities, and personal commitment. It also requires careful planning, testing changes incrementally, and building expertise through experience and learning.

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Chai Jin Ying
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350 views

Introduction of System Admin

System administration involves activities that directly support the operations and integrity of computing systems. This includes tasks like system installation, configuration, maintenance, performance management, security management, and user support. Successful system administration requires a balance of technical skills, communication skills, problem solving abilities, and personal commitment. It also requires careful planning, testing changes incrementally, and building expertise through experience and learning.

Uploaded by

Chai Jin Ying
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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System Administration:

Introduction

MTN3033

July 5, 2017 1
What is Systems Administration?

System Administration, sis'tem ad-min'is-tra'shon, n. Activities which directly


support the operations and integrity of computing systems and their use
and which manage their intricacies.
These activities minimally include system installation, configuration,
integration, maintenance, performance management, data
management, security management, failure analysis and recovery,
and user support.
In a inter-networked computing environment, the computer network is often
included as part of the complex computing system.

- Systems Administrators Guild

July 5, 2017 2
Being a SysAdmin Professional

SA, if done well, should be equal parts:


Technical skills
People & communications skills
Problem solving & Common sense
Personal Commitment

SA involves a tension between authority and responsibility on


one hand and service and co-operation on the other.

July 5, 2017 3
System Administration: An introduction

What is a system administrator (SA)?


Anyone who managers a computer not solely for their own
use.
What are the goals of system administration?
Ensure that computing systems run correctly and as
efficiently as possible
Ensure that all users can and do use the computing systems
to carry out their required work in the easiest and most
efficient manner.
These are conflict goals.

July 5, 2017 4
System Administration: An introduction

As a job, Systems Administration is


fulfilling
complex
painful
annoying
highly interactive
well paid
employable
thankless

July 5, 2017 5
Essential Tasks of SA

The tasks of system management varies dramatically from sites to


sites.
Some possible tasks
Adding and removing users
Adding and removing hardware
Performing backups
Installing new software
Monitoring the system
Troubleshooting
Maintaining local documentation
Auditing security
Help users

July 5, 2017 6
Essential Tasks of SA

Daily operations
emergencies
regular tasks (automate)
system monitoring
Hardware and software
programming
evaluation
purchase
installation
testing and maintenance
upgrading
phasing out

July 5, 2017 7
Essential Tasks of SA

Administration and planning


documentation
time management
policy
self-education
planning
administrative tasks
Interaction with people

July 5, 2017 8
Successful System Administration

Need to find a balance between


Authority and responsibility
Service and cooperation
A few Basic strategies
Plan it before you go it
Make it reversible
Make changes incrementally
Test, test, test before you unleash it on the world
Know how things REALLY work.

July 5, 2017 9
Successful System Administration

Example: editing system configuration files.


Keep a copy before any change to the configuration file
For original version, using suffix of .dist, .orig
For further changes, using suffix of .old, .sav, .yymmdd, etc
Keep the current modification date
cp p
Plan how to back up if the change didnt work say system does not
even boot
Such as boot to single user mode and copy the old version back
Test the change on a non-production environment first
Eliminate the most obvious problems
Make one major change at a time
Make the test easier

July 5, 2017 10
Successful System Administration

Successful system administration


Careful planning
Habit
Change root password regularly
Faithfully making backups ( no matter how tedious)
Testing every change several times
Sticking to policies youve set
Handling crises
Have the foresight
Take time to anticipate and plan for the emergency
Prevent crises by carrying out all careful procedures.

July 5, 2017 11
Successful System Administration

My personal experience of how to be a good,


productive administrator:
Enjoy administration work!
Build a solid computer science background
Impossible to know everything
Try to be a fast learner
Be proactive and look ahead
ready and have the desire to learn
Accumulate and improve problem solving skills

July 5, 2017 12
Evolution of System Administration

Early System Administration


Highly educated specialist
Hardware and software
Low number of different HW platforms
Predetermined tasks
Formal process to follow
Work ``behind close doors''
On a low number of systems
Low number of operating systems
Virtually no outside connectivity

July 5, 2017 13
Evolution of System Administration

Current System Administration


High number of HW platforms
High number of SW platforms
Mainly software administration
Only some hardware
System configuration issues per user
Security issues
Network issues
Work much more ``open'' and ``on the desktop''

July 5, 2017 14
Ethics

Systems Administration is a profession.


It is a powerful profession.
A Systems Administrator must be ethical
Respect private information
Do not abuse power

July 5, 2017 15
Fixing problems

Problems are an accepted part of Systems Administration


Being able to diagnose and solve problems is an essential part of
Systems Administration
Guidelines
Remain calm
Learn to appreciate self-reliance
consult all available sources of information
know the best places to look
Refrain from asking spurious questions
When asking for help be polite, terse and informative
Contribute to the community

July 5, 2017 16
Finding resources

Online resources
Vendor online Technical library
Search engines
Mailing lists.
Online forums.
Printed resources
Vendor support

July 5, 2017 17

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