Who is a system administrator? Who is a system administrator

Hello friends! Our century is the century of technological progress. The Machine Age. It is impossible to imagine even the most seedy company without a computer! The director of the enterprise, in the accounting department, in the offices of department heads, and even ordinary employees - everyone has computers at their workplaces. Corporate mail, news, market, bank - all these benefits of the modern workforce undoubtedly help to survive in the cruel world of business. But how do you make it all work together? How to make sure that employees are not “in contact” and “classmates” sitting in work time, but were you busy? How to protect secret information from a work computer from hackers? This is why the profession of system administrator exists.

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If you ask Google who he is, he will answer something like this:

System administrator - employee, job responsibilities which implies provision regular work parka computer equipment, networks and software, as well as ensuring information security in the organization.

Popularly, such a specialist is simply called “administrator” or “sysadmin”.

So let's figure it out...

What does a system administrator do?

To responsibilities system administrator This includes ensuring the stable operation of computer equipment.

This stage includes:

installation and configuration (and sometimes even purchase) of computers,
components and peripheral devices(printers, scanners, etc.)

When doing this, the main thing is to lay out computer communications so that even the most sophisticated worker does not pull out the plug with his foot and spill the coffee. system unit.

The most difficult thing in the work of a system administrator is to explain to the boss’s beautiful blonde secretary that there is no need to pin the mouse wire with buttons to the table, even if it gets in the way)))

Setting up programs and ensuring their stability, reliable operation will be, perhaps, the most labor-intensive part of the work of a system administrator. The software can be completely different, depending on the specifics of the enterprise. For example, from regular Microsoft word & excel, to ORACLE DBMS and accounting programs.

The main problem in the operation of the software is, unfortunately, human factor, since usually employees’ complaints to the system administrator begin with the words: “I pressed the wrong button and everything suddenly disappeared somewhere.” Synchronize the work of programs and set correct protection“from fools” - that’s half the work of a system administrator.

The system administrator must also know and be able to correctly configure access parameters so that each employee can turn on only his computer, his profile, and launch only those programs to which he has access according to his status in the campaign. If the employees’ work is connected to the Internet, then the system administrator will have to configure access parameters in world wide web so that neither “in contact” nor “oddnoklassniki”, so beloved by office workers, are accessible from work computers.

A system administrator is a very significant figure in a company, like a knight on a chessboard. It seems like he’s not the most important person, but it’s absolutely impossible to live without him. Sometimes it is enough to complete admin courses to become a ruler office computers. But computers tend to break down, both for an ordinary employee and for the general director.

Advantages of being a system administrator

The incomparable advantages of the job include almost complete independence, because finding a person at the company who will understand computers at the level of a system administrator and will check your work is almost impossible. It is the system administrator who is the “virtual director” in the campaign, therefore, having correctly configured the equipment and given valuable instructions to the “office plankton”, you can safely spend the drab work days, indulging in social networks or absorbing modern youth online games. In addition, the solution to problems with technology of superiors and senior management (top manager, chief accountant, personnel officers, etc.) will provide good connections and will help you move up the career ladder.

Representatives of this profession, again, have an order of magnitude less paperwork than other workers. As practice shows, while at the end of the month or year, department heads and subordinates are intensively writing reports, settling accounts and summing up results, system administrators are spinning twisted-pair soldiers in their offices.

The obvious advantages include the salary of system administrators. According to the site “job.ru” for services this kind of companies are willing to pay on average from $1,200 to $3,000.

The disadvantages (cons) of the profession include:

Uneven and sometimes high workload. Through the efforts of careless users, computers glitch and break down with enviable regularity in almost any enterprise.
Lack of understanding and sometimes absolute unwillingness to understand at all how the system works. The mouse is buggy - the system administrator is to blame. The site does not work - the system administrator is to blame. The power supply has burned out - the system administrator is to blame. And go and prove that the voltage in the electrical network does not depend on you!
Limited opportunities for career advancement. If the company’s activities are not related to the provision of services in the field information technologies, then there is nothing more to count on except for an increase in salary.

Characteristics of a system administrator

What qualities do a good system administrator need?

Firstly, he must have a good technical education. Knowing what is a system unit, what is a monitor, and how to reinstall the operating system will clearly not be enough.
Secondly, a good system administrator must be proficient at a level clearly superior to the basic one.

Most programs and especially technical description they are accompanied precisely in English and gaps in knowledge of the language can be expensive, and even in a reputable company without knowledge

Personally, I am a little depressed by the current situation with the name of the specialty. This is similar to how at the dawn of the development of computer technology, everyone who at least somehow knew how to work with computers was strictly divided into two groups: “user” and “programmer”. You only know how to turn it on and poke it with one finger - a user. you understand what is happening inside - a programmer. So now everyone who is “not a programmer” is called a system administrator.

So, I would like to bring a little clarity to what a system administrator is.

I would formulate this specialty only this way - the maximum position for managing all information systems of an enterprise.

A system administrator is a person whose job is to:
First of all, in building a policy and planning the organization of all information systems and networks in the company.
In everyday life - the implementation of this plan, recreating it in hardware, device configuration, software configuration, tuning, monitoring the state of networks, suppressing accidental violations, attacks and other threats.
In the future - planning for development and modernization, studying new opportunities and trends.

This position is only half “technical”, and the other half “political”. A system administrator is a senior IT manager who determines how and where all IT in the company will move, and ultimately how easy and convenient it will be for each individual user to use the “benefits of IT”. Below the level there are individual “narrow” administrators, such as database administrators, user support services, and possibly programmers writing some local modules. A higher level remains only “not technical manual" - top management and heads of the company. For example, management, due to the lack of the necessary technical knowledge, is simply not able to know what equipment is needed to build a network, where the bottlenecks are and how much each of them affects or can affect business processes. As a rule, superiors only need to have information “how much it will cost us money and time” and “how much it will simplify the work/increase reliability.” And how and what technologies will be used, how and what users will receive, what they will be able to do and what not - these are the decisions of the system administrator.

What many (and even in their article are guilty of this:) call an admin is often an “enike guy” (system engineer, shift engineer, technical support engineer), his tasks are really to deal with buggy Windows, printers and other small junk of the user. I understand that in a company with a couple of hundred jobs there is practically no point in hiring a separate system administrator (as a rule, such tasks do not arise there), so it turns out that an Enikey person sits and, to the extent of his free time and experience, does the same thing tasks for setting up servers and hardware. There is nothing scary about this; after all, almost all system administrators started working as Enikey specialists, but they are not real system administrators.

I worked several times as a system administrator in companies where more than a thousand jobs are distributed over a large territory. For example, in one of them, in two years of work, I have never seen end user, and only spoke to them on the phone a couple of times. But for this, responsibility for the correctness of the chosen network construction policy, procurement planning for further development, the performance of all information systems, software, servers, data safety is the responsibility of the administrator. No one will be held accountable to an Enikey employee for lost data or a broken line - but for a system administrator this will immediately be disqualification if it was not provided for in the structure backup paths, ensuring uninterrupted operation in the event of failure of individual components and quick options restoring the performance of any structure. And the decisions that a system administrator makes usually affect all employees who work with computers in one way or another. It is the system administrator who sets the tasks for programmers to write the necessary modules, and introduces the rules for working with software for the entire company.

I would like to give an analogy with city sewers - the system administrator is the chief engineer of the city, who plans how and where pipes should be laid, where to build and how to connect substations. But the bearded man in a sweater is most likely a local plumber who changes the pipes in the house and does the wiring around the apartment. Without in any way detracting from the need for all professions, but these are very different things in terms of level of knowledge, education and tasks to be solved.

I also do not agree with the division into “core” and “non-core” employers. Here it is rather worth talking about whether there is a demand for serious IT for each specific business. For example, if you look at trade in general, they essentially don’t need computers; they set up a cash register and collect the money. But nevertheless, I observed one of the most interesting and developed IT infrastructures in a large trading network. And they didn’t skimp on development, because they understood that this was the “lifeblood” of the business and when the network went down, there would be no sales, and these were huge losses, both direct due to standing equipment and indirect from loss of trust.

P.S. And another interesting thing that I have noticed over many years, which is the highlight of all the things I have seen excellent system administrators have an almost manic passion for organizing everything that is under their control, starting from equipment configuration, documenting infrastructures and putting patch cords into wiring closets, and ending in perfect order on your own desktop. And by the way, there were no bearded people with a sweater among them; a good system administrator really looks like a manager.

P.P.S. I leave outside the scope of this article all “narrow” administrators, such as administrators of web servers, databases, email, domain, storage systems, network and so on. Although even the average system administrator should have a clear understanding of the essence of these specialties and in their work regularly consult and take into account the opinions of specialists or dive into the area themselves (if they have the strength and capabilities).

UPD: Well formulated my thoughts

Let's figure out who system administrators are. After all, in Lately This is the name given to almost everyone who works in the computer field. They used to call them programmers, now they've learned something new buzzword"sysadmin".

Enikey people, not administrators

Who works in thousands of small firms? Anyone, but not admins, but rather Enikey people. That is, general workers, only in the IT field.

Their job is as follows:

Bring it;
replace the cartridge;
install Windows;
install office and program settings.

IN best case scenario Such small companies have file sharing within the network, and perhaps a domain controller. In a slightly larger organization there may be mail server and corporate website, which run on local machine(I don’t presume to judge whether this is good or bad).

After all, you don’t think that this entire army of thousands of Enikey people from small companies can be called “sysadmins”? Otherwise, this country would not have experienced a “staff shortage” and would not have started independently preparing administrators almost from scratch, simply out of boredom. It was not for nothing that a lot of money was allocated and spent great amount time, an entire independent department was created to communicate with students, many of whom did not even have work experience. Recruiting was in full swing, Yandex was looking for all competent specialists in order to later develop them into professionals who certainly do not communicate with users and do not change their cartridges.

Definition of a System Administrator

The very phrase “system administrator” was formed from the fact that there is Information Systems, and, accordingly, there are people who somehow administer these systems. Please note, it is Information Systems.

Information system- This computing system(networks, software, hardware) and information. An IS user is truly a user, and not an object to which the work of a system administrator should be directed.
System Administrator- a person who maintains the system. Supporting her operational state, working on its architecture, optimizing its operation, and so on. But not the person who communicates with users and sets up their computer or printer.

By this I want to say that if an employee is responsible for connecting keyboards, mice, monitors and everything else, then call him whatever you want, but not an administrator. If an employee managing a system installs and configures workstations on a daily basis, then he is already an engineer. At the same time main task The goal of a system administrator is to build a system that anyone can work with. It should be clear, concise, and documented.

System administrator (eng. system administrator) is an employee whose job responsibilities involve ensuring the normal operation of the fleet of computer equipment, networks and software in the organization. Other names: sysadmin, often just admin.

System administrators are employees whose responsibilities include not only monitoring network security organization, but also to create optimal performance of computers and software for users, often interconnected general work for a certain result.

Often, the functions of a system administrator are transferred to companies engaged in IT outsourcing. Typically, such companies provide a lower cost of service than maintaining a full-time employee, and operate on the basis of subscription contracts.

Due to the rapid growth of the Internet and the development network technologies, it is becoming increasingly difficult for a single system administrator to confront all problems, which is why specialized forums and printed publications, aimed at broadening the horizons of novice system administrators and providing assistance in solving various problems.

Not a single company whose computer park consists of more than one machine can exist without a system administrator (sysadmin).

A system administrator is an information technology professional who is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the server, hardware, and software installed on enterprise computers.

Job responsibilities

Creation and maintenance of a computer complex and network;

Monitoring the operation of operating systems and software;

Installation and adjustment of software;

System resource allocation;

Coordination and administration of systems;

Maintaining the functionality of a network or several computers;

Control and assistance to network users;

Implementation remote administration(if direct access to a computer is not possible);

Providing support to the system operator;

Network maintenance;

Network repair and installation;

Installation and repair of equipment.

If any malfunctions in the operation of the operating system are detected, all responsibility falls on the shoulders of this specialist. Naturally, the system administrator must understand the hardware and programs in order to troubleshoot problems efficiently. He must also take care of reliable protection information from viruses and hacker attacks. Now more and more technical universities are opening training for these specialists. And this is not surprising, because almost any enterprise has its own computer network, and she definitely needs control network administrator, maybe not even one.

Requirements

The system administrator must have good knowledge software and network equipment for small and medium networks.

Understand various configurations computer, operating systems and network standards.

Be able to reliably provide information security computer network.

Know technical English, as most of the documentation is written in it.

Personal qualities

Attentiveness;

Thoroughness and systematicity in work;

Patience;

Perseverance;

Accuracy;

Painstaking;

Responsibility.

Education

Higher, incomplete higher, secondary specialized technical education.

Places of work

Enterprises and organizations;

Companies and firms;

Computer centers;

Educational establishments.

System Administrator Day was invented by Chicago system administrator Ted Kekatos in 1999. Since 2000, System Administrator Day has been celebrated annually and everywhere on the last Friday of July.