System Administrator’s Job

Understanding system administrators’ background, training, and the kind of job per-formance to be expected is challenging; too often, employers fall back into (mis)using the job classifications with which they are familiar. These job classification problems are exacerbated by the scarcity of job descriptions for systems administrators. One frequently used misclassification is that of programmer or software engineer. Production of code is the primary responsibility of programmers, not of the systems administrator. Thus, sys-tems administrators classified as programmers often receive poor evaluations for not being

“productive” enough. Another common misclassification is the confusion of systems administrators with operators. Especially at smaller sites, where systems administrators themselves have to perform many of the functions normally assigned to operators at larger sites, system administrators are forced to contend with the false assumption they are nonprofessional technicians. This, in turn, makes it very difficult for systems administra-tors to be compensated commensurate with their skill and experience.

The following text lists the main elements that describe the system administrator’s job at various levels. The basic intention is to describe the core attributes of systems admin-istrators at various levels of job performance, and to address site-specific needs or special areas of expertise that a systems administrator may have.

Generally, as for many other professions, system administrators are classified regarding their background and experience into several categories:

• Novices

• Required background: 2 years of college or equivalent post-high-school educa-tion or experience

• Desirable background: a degree or certificate in computer science or a related field. Previous experience in customer support, computer operations, system administration, or another related area; motivated to advance in the profession

• Duties: performs routine tasks under the direct supervision of a more experienced system administrator; acts as a front-line interface to users, accepting trouble reports and dispatching them to appropriate system administrators

• Junior

• Required background: 1 to 3 years system administration experience

• Desirable background: a degree in computer science or a related field, familiarity with networked/distributed computing environment concepts (for example,

can use the route command, add a workstation to a network, and mount remote filesystems); ability to write scripts in some administrative language (Tk, Perl, a shell); programming experience in any applicable language

• Duties: administers a small site alone or assists in the administration of a larger system; works under the general supervision of a system administrator or computer systems manager

• Intermediate/Advanced

• Required background: three to five years’ systems administration experience

• Desirable background: a degree in computer science or a related field; significant programming background in any applicable language

• Duties: receives general instructions for new responsibilities from supervisor;

administers a midsized site alone or assists in the administration of a larger site; initiates some new responsibilities and helps to plan for the future of the site/network; manages novice system administrators or operators; evaluates and/or recommends purchases; has strong influence on purchasing process

• Senior

• Required background: more than five years previous systems administration experience

• Desirable background: a degree in computer science or a related field; extensive programming background in any applicable language; publications within the field of system administration

• Duties: designs/implements complex LAN and WANs; manages a large site or network; works under general direction from senior management;

establishes/recommends policies on system use and services; provides technical lead and/or supervises system administrators, system programmers, or others of equivalent seniority; has purchasing authority and responsibility for purchase justification

This is a general job classification and description for potential UNIX administrators. It can easily vary from one site to another, especially regarding official job titles. A number of other skills could also be considered:

• Interpersonal and communication skills; ability to write proposals or papers, act as a vendor liaison, make presentations to customer or client audiences or professional peers, and work closely with upper management

• Ability to solve problems quickly and completely; ability to identify tasks that require automation and automate them

• A solid understanding of a UNIX-based operating system, including paging and swapping, inter-process communication, devices and what device drivers do, filesystem concepts (inode, superblock), and use of performance analysis to tune systems

• Experience with more than one UNIX-based operating system; with sites running more than one UNIX-based operating system; with both System V and BSD-based UNIX operating systems; with non-UNIX operating systems (for example, MS-DOS, Macintosh OS, or VMS); and with internetworking UNIX and other operating systems (MS-DOS, Macintosh OS, VMS)

• Programming experience in an administrative language (shell, Perl, Tk);

extensive programming experience in any applicable language

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• Networking skills — a solid understanding of networking/distributed computing environment concepts, principles of routing, client/server programming, and the design of consistent networkwide filesystem layouts; experience in configuring network filesystems (for example, NFS, RFS, or AFS), in network file synchronization schemes (for example, rdist and track), and in configuring automounters, license managers, and NIS; experience with TCP/IP networking protocols (ability to debug and program at the network level), with non-TCP/IP networking protocols (for example, OSI, Chaosnet, DECnet, Appletalk, Novell Netware, Banyan Vines), with high-speed networking (for example, FDDI, ATM, or SONET), with complex TCP/IP networks (networks that contain routers), and with highly complex TCP/IP networks (networks that contain multiple routers and multiple media); experience configuring and maintaining routers and main-taining a sitewide modem pool/terminal servers; experience with X terminals and with dial-up networking (for example, SLIP, PPP, or UUCP); experience at a site that is connected to the Internet, experience installing/configuring DNS/

BIND; experience installing/administering Usenet news, and experience as post-master of a site with external connections

• Experience with network security (for example, building firewalls, deploying authentication systems, or applying cryptography to network applications); with classified computing; with multilevel classified environments; and with host security (for example, passwords, uids/gids, file permissions, filesystem integ-rity, use of security packages)

• Experience at sites with over 1000 computers, over 1000 users, or over a terabyte of disk space; experience with supercomputers; experience coordinating multiple independent computer facilities (for example, working for the central group at a large company or university); experience with a site with 100% uptime require-ment; experience developing/implementing a site disaster recovery plan; and experience with a site requiring charge-back accounting

• Background in technical publications, documentation, or desktop publishing

• Experience using relational databases; using a database SQL language; and programming in a database query language; previous experience as a database administrator

• Experience with hardware: installing and maintaining the network cabling in use at the site, installing boards and memory into systems; setting up and installing SCSI devices; installing/configuring peripherals (for example, disks, modems, printers, or data acquisition devices); and making board-level and component-level diagnosis and repairing computer systems

• Budget responsibility, experience with writing personnel reviews and ranking processes; and experience in interviewing/hiring

Do not be afraid of this long list of additional requirements. Nobody expects UNIX systems and network administrators to be Supermen. UNIX administration is a normal job that is demanding but definitely doable.

To end this discussion, here is a joke about UNIX administrators. Consider the similarities between Santa Claus and UNIX administrators:

• Santa is bearded, corpulent, and dresses funny.

• When you ask Santa for something, the odds of receiving what you wanted are infinitesimal.

• Santa seldom answers your mail.

• When you ask Santa where he gets all the stuff he has, he says, “Elves make it for me.”

• Santa does not care about your deadlines.

• Your parents ascribed supernatural powers to Santa, but did all the work themselves.

• Nobody knows who Santa has to answer to for his actions.

• Santa laughs entirely too much.

• Santa thinks nothing of breaking into your HOME.

• Only a lunatic says bad things about Santa in his presence.