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System administrator

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The term system administrator, abbreviated sysadmin, designates an employment position of those people responsible for running technically advanced information systems or some aspect of them. They often deal with the setup and maintenance of computers and networks. System Administators also work on more than just computers, such as the interaction between humans and technology, and the enhancement of business processes through technology. [link]. The precise meaning varies. Organizations with very large or complex computer systems typically divide up computer staff according to specialization, in which case a system administrator is someone responsible for the maintenance of an existing computer system.

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Duties of a system administrator

A system administrator's responsibilities typically include:

In larger organizations, some tasks listed above may be divided among different system administrators or members of different organizational groups. For example, a dedicated individual may apply all system upgrades, a Quality Assurance (QA) team may perform testing and validation, and one or more Technical Writers may be responsible for all technical documentation written for a company.

In smaller organizations, the system administrator can also perform any number of duties elsewhere associated with other fields:

System administrators, in larger organizations, also tend not to be system architects, system engineers, or system designers, however, like many roles in this field, [demarcations] between systems administration and these other roles are often not well defined in smaller organizations. However, even in larger organizations, senior systems administrators often have skills in these other areas as a result of their working experience.

In smaller organizations, IT/computing specialties are less often discerned in detail, and the term "system administrator" is used in a rather generic way — they are the people who know how the computer systems work and can respond when something fails.

Unlike to many professions, there is no single path to becoming a system administrator. Few colleges or universities have specific programs for system administration, so many system administrators have a degree in generic fields: computer science, computer engineering, information system management, or even a trade school program. As of 2004, only three U.S. universities, Rochester Institute of Technology, Tufts, and Florida State University have post-graduate programs in system administration. In Europe, Norway, there is a special English-taught MSc programme organized by Oslo University College [link] in cooperation with Oslo University, named "Masters programme in Network and System Administration". The founder of the programme is the creator of cfengine, Mark Burgess.

In addition, because of the practical nature of systems administration and the easy availability of open-source server software, many systems administrators enter the field self-taught.

Generally, a prospective administrator will be required to have some experience with the computer system he or she is expected to manage. In some cases, candidates are required to possess industry certifications before being considered. For example, someone applying for a job administering Microsoft Windows systems may be expected to have the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator MCSA certification (Lesser of MCSE). For Linux systems, there are three common certification programs: LPI, RHCE and Linux+. Administrators of systems in certain fields using specialized software may also be required to have experience or have received certification to use said packages.

Sometimes, almost exclusively in smaller sites, the role of system administrator may be given to a skilled user in addition to or in replacement of his or her duties.

Organizations

Professional Organizations

Unions

See also

External links

Certification Organizations

Periodicals

Books

Online Resources

Technology Unions and related links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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