PerlStalker's SysAdmin Notes and Tools

Perspectives on Systems Administration

The following is the outline for a talk I gave with Scott Schwitzer at Adams State College on 2003-10-22 as an introduction to an my perspective on systems administration.

There's More to Life Than Programming

My course work was heavy on math, computer theory and programming.

I thought I would graduate and code for the rest of my career.

"Fell into" the SysAdmin role with Amigo.Net.

Early SysAdmin Issues

I still had the classroom mentality: "Use it then toss it when you're done or rewrite it."

Installations need to be maintainable.

Don't have time to come back and rework it.

Early kludges and quick fixes lead to many headaches later.

Examples?

I was inexperienced.

Because I didn't know what was out there, I wasted a lot of time reinventing wheels.

I was unfamilliar with packaging systems.

First choice isn't always best.

There were times where what looked like the easiest way, actually caused problems later on.

Things I Learned to Make My Life Easier

Let the computer's do the work.

Automate as much as possible.

Digress here and explain the autoroot and auto-update system. Upgrade times went from 3 days to 3 hours.

Find a way to get others to do your work.

Find or build a way for non-tech staff to be able to manage accounts and other simple tasks.

Don't be afraid to ask for help.

Document Everything

Make Time for the Fun Stuff

Look for fun and interesting ways to do things better.

This is what makes the job fun for me.

When Plans Change

Outages or Downtime is "Bad"

You don't get to quit for the night and come back to it later.

Bosses

Different Goals

They have their vision of where the organization is going and part of your job is to get it there, even if you don't like it.

Special Projects or Be prepared to stop.

Sometimes, they have things that they want to that will put your pet project on hold.

Security

All users are remote.

Most sevices are global services and need to be globally accessable.

Other Thinks to Consider

Different Admins, Different Styles or YMMV.

Whatr works for one person may not work for you.

Don't be afraid to build a better wheel.

There will be times where nothing that's out there will do what you need. Don't be afraid to customize something that already exists, or to write something new.

Use what works for you or Use what's fits better for you and your organization.

Don't use something just because it's The Thing to Use. I use FreeBSD because I'm more comfortable with it and don't like fighting Linux.

Use the right tools.

Don't waste time writting 1000 lines of C when 10 lines of Perl or will do.