"Precisely those activities necessary for the correct functioning of a computer system that the system cannot do for itself".
I like this definition Rob, but where's the human interaction aspect (users)? And what is your definition of a "computer system"? Are you including networks of such systems in your statement? There's also a business component needed here, do you feel that's outside the scope of your statement? On Sun, Jul 7, 2013 at 6:01 PM, Robert Brockway <[email protected]>wrote: > On Thu, 4 Jul 2013, Joseph Kern wrote: > > I guess we could start by asking something like this: "What is a System >> Administrator not responsible for?" and working backwards. >> > > I have long defined a system administration as: > > "Precisely those activities necessary for the correct functioning of a > computer system that the system cannot do for itself". > > There are several implications to this definition: > > * The activities that constitute system administration change over time, > which has certainly been my experience > * Taken broadly this definition can encompass areas like architecture and > design, since these tasks are necessary for the correct functioning of a > computer system (the design doesn't need to be formal though) > > Anyway, I'm firmly in the camp that the profession missed an opportunity > to lead the way in an expanding industry. The definiton of sysadmin has > narrowed - the position of senior sysadmin once covered areas like > architecture but no more. > > We, as experienced sysadmins and operational specialists can still take > the lead and teach good practices. Every day I see people try to do > operational work (including system design, etc) badly because they haven't > engaged with the community and thus miss out on benefitting from the > decades of experience and knowledge that the community collectively > possesses. Sites that will tell you how to fix technical problems are > common, but must less is said about how to maintain and operate systems and > networks. > > I've had a wiki for a few years where I've been recording technical and > operational information. Some pages are nothing more than notes while > others are fairly complete. I recently rebranded it from > practicalsysadmin.com to http://pracops.com to reflect my belief that the > term sysadmin doesn't mean what it once did. > > Anyway, I'm hoping that pracops.com could be turned in to a central > repository of operational knowledge and experience. I was going to post > out to various sysadmin lists in the near future but now is as good a time > as any to mention it. Shortly I'll be upgrading the underlying OS and > mediawiki version and allowing account creation. > > Cheers, > > Rob > > -- > Email: [email protected] Linux counter ID #16440 > IRC: Solver (OFTC & Freenode) > Web: http://www.pracops.com > Director, Software in the Public Interest (http://spi-inc.org/) > Information is a gas > > ______________________________**_________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-**bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss<https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss> > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ > -- Joseph A Kern [email protected]
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