System Administrator

The system administrator is responsible for installing, maintaining, and supporting computer systems and servers. Their duties include user administration, hardware and software maintenance, monitoring system performance and security, backup and recovery, and responding to issues. System administrators must have strong problem solving skills to diagnose and address problems quickly. They are granted privileged access but are responsible for implementing security policies and updating systems.

Uploaded by

Vijay Tilak Vangaveti

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

0% found this document useful (0 votes)

159 views2 pages

System Administrator

Uploaded by

Vijay Tilak Vangaveti

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 2

http://www.cyberciti.

biz/faq/what-is-the-role-of-the-system-administrator/

http://www.open-mpi.org/faq/?category=sysadmin

What is The Role Of the System Administrator?

Q. Can you explain the role of the system administrator?

A. The person who is responsible for setting up and maintaining the system is called as the
system administrator. System administrators may be members of an information technology
department. Most of the following discussion also applies to network and Windows system
admins.

Duties of a system administrator

The duties of a system administrator are wide-ranging, and vary widely from one organization to
another. Sysadmins are usually charged with installing, supporting, and maintaining servers or
other computer systems, and planning for and responding to service outages and other problems.
Other duties may include scripting or light programming, project management for systems-
related projects.

The system administrator is responsible for following things:

1. User administration (setup and maintaining account)

2. Maintaining system
3. Verify that peripherals are working properly
4. Quickly arrange repair for hardware in occasion of hardware failure
5. Monitor system performance
6. Create file systems
7. Install software
8. Create a backup and recover policy
9. Monitor network communication
10. Update system as soon as new version of OS and application software comes out
11. Implement the policies for the use of the computer system and network
12. Setup security policies for users. A sysadmin must have a strong grasp of computer
security (e.g. firewalls and intrusion detection systems).

What is so special about the system administrator account?

The root account has full (unrestricted) access, so he/she can do anything with system. For
example, root can remove critical system files. In addition, there is no way you can recover file
except using tape backup.
Many tasks for system administration can be automated using perl or shell scripts. For example:

 Create new users

 Resetting user passwords
 Lock/unlock user accounts
 Monitor server security
 Monitor special services etc

Most important skill to a system administrator

Problem solving, period. This can some time lead into all sorts of constraints and stress. When
workstation or server goes down, you are called to solve the problem. You should able to quickly
and correctly diagnose the problem. You must figure out what is wrong and how best it can be
fixed in small amount of time.