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Sysadmins are responsible for a wide range of duties, but these are the most essential.
System administrators are critical to the reliable and successful operation of an organization and its network operations center and data center. A sysadmin must have expertise with the system's underlying platform (i.e., Windows, Linux) as well as be familiar with multiple areas including networking, backup, data restoration, IT security, database operations, middleware basics, load balancing, and more. Sysadmin tasks are not limited to server management, maintenance, and repair, but also any functions that support a smoothly running production environment with minimal (or no) complaints from customers and end users. Although sysadmins have a seemingly endless list of responsibilities, some are more critical than others. If you work in a sysadmin role (or hope to one day), make sure you are ready to follow these best practices. DocumentationDocumentation is how sysadmins keep records of assets, including hardware and software types, counts, and licenses. Should there be any issues in the production environment, documentation helps identify the hardware, virtual machine, appliance, software, etc., that may be involved. Hardware inventoryMaintain lists of all your physical and virtual servers with the following details:
Software inventory
License detailsMaintain license counts and details for physical servers and virtual servers (VMs), including licenses for Windows, subscriptions for Linux OS, and the license limit of hypervisor host. Server health checkup
Backup and disaster recovery planningCommunicate with the backup team and provide them the data and client priorities for backup. The recommended backup criteria for production servers is:
PatchingOperating system patches for known vulnerabilities must be implemented promptly. There are many types and levels of patches, including:
When a patch is released, check the bug or vulnerability details to see how it applies to your system (e.g., does the vulnerability affect the hardware in your system?), and take any necessary actions to apply the patches when required. Make sure to cross-verify applications' compatibility with patches or upgrades. Application compatibilityBefore going live with any application, check its compatibility with your hardware and operating system, and make sure to do load testing (with the support of application team). Server hardeningLinux:
Windows:
Use a syslog serverBy configuring a syslog server in the environment to keep records of system and application logs, in the event of an intrusion or issue, the sysadmin can check previous and real-time logs to diagnose and resolve the problem. AutomationMany sysadmin tasks (such as server health checkups, resource utilization, backup triggers, transfer files and logs, etc.) must be done at specific times. Therefore, the sysadmin must write scripts or use external tools and configure them as cron jobs to do the tasks automatically at the proper time. Install and configure live monitoring tools like Nagios, HP, etc., to monitor your IT infrastructure and issue alerts about potential problems. ConclusionWhile these are the most important tasks a sysadmin is responsible for, there is much more to the role than the duties on this list. For example, the sysadmin must coordinate with multiple teams to resolve issues, communicate with and update customers, maintain 100% uptime, hold discussions with the audit team, prepare weekly/monthly/quarterly reports, do continuous monitoring of servers and services using appropriate tools, and maintain the hardware console and respond to any triggered alarms. The sysadmin is always a single point of content (SPOC) in the data center or network operations center for issues related to web hosting, application and server outages, and other critical IT operations problems. What other tasks or best practices do you think are essential for sysadmins? Please share your opinion in the comments.
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