And to be quite honest, I believe that's the one of the biggest problems in all of systems administration. We simply do not take the time (or what appears to be have the time) to look at the big picture. The Limoncelli book and the Visible Ops book that I suggested earlier help with that process. That big picture (IMHO) identifies the process on how to stop putting out the fires. If they don't happen, no need to put them out.
-----Original Message----- From: Kurt Buff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 10:08 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: If you're monitoring your servers thoroughly.... That's the beauty of the Limoncelli book. It is system/product agnostic. It's not an ITIL howto, it's instead an education for a sysadmin, which will complement any efforts at standardization. On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 6:26 AM, Fogarty, Richard R Mr CTR USA USASOC <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > IMHO, being a good sys admin has nothing to do with a particular system. > Being hardware/software agnostic is probably best, but understanding policy, > procedure and best practices are a best bet overall. Getting an > understanding and then more than an understanding of ITSFM or ITIL is in > EVERY sys admin's best interest. > > > > Rick > > > > > > > > From: David Lum [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 9:11 AM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: RE: If you're monitoring your servers thoroughly.... > > > > "If you don't test for it - it's going to fail on you, and you won't know > it." Exactly my point, shouldn't this stuff be monitored already? It > shouldn't matter whether your patching or not, the stuff should be monitored > in-between patching periods anyway. > > > > Kurt - The Practice of System and Network Administration.I've never heard of > that (welcome to my OJT world). This changes the subject, but seems fitting. > > > > My last "real" training - after getting the little CNA cert in 1995 - was a > couple of Windows NT courses at New Horizons, everything else has been > self-taught - but I'm the kind that needs the formal stuff to fill in blanks > I'm surely missing. My point is, not being college trained on Systems > Administration I'm not surprised I didn't know about this book. Sure I have > 13 years of administration under my belt, but I'd like be more informed > about how to be more systematic about the things I do. This book looks like > a good start. I'm fortysomething and perhaps should finally become a real > System Administrator instead of wingin' it. What other books would you guys > recommend? > > > > I think Server 2008 has enough changes that I should certainly attend some > training on that, I get the feel my company will miss out on the advantages > unless someone knows it real well and points it out.. > > > > Sorry to ramble, > > Dave Lum - Systems Engineer > [EMAIL PROTECTED] - (971)-222-1025 > "When you step on the brakes your life is in your foot's hands" > > > > > > > > From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 3:53 PM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: RE: If you're monitoring your servers thoroughly.... > > > > Yeah, you do. > > > > Just because the DC reboots, is it serving requests through LDAP on all > interfaces? Or did one of those patches break multi-homed LDAP? (True story > - it happened.) > > > > Just because the GC reboots, it is serving requests through LDAP and is the > NSPI interface initialized? (Without it, Exchange and older Outlook clients > won't work.) > > > > Just because the exchange server reboots, did the IMAP service start? > > > > Is RPC/HTTP working? Is the store listening on port 6004? Can you open a > mailbox? Can you authenticate? > > > > If a client can use it, you need to test it. > > > > I read this somewhere today (and copied it into my "think about pad"): > > > > Think differently about policy > > If...it isn't built into process > you have to search for it > it isn't auto-enforced ....it may as well not exist > > Systems verify and enforce policy > > > > > I didn't write down the source (my bad). If you don't test for it - it's > going to fail on you, and you won't know it. There is nothing worse than a > client calling you to tell you that one of your systems are down and you > didn't already know it. > > > > Regards, > > > > Michael B. Smith > > MCSE/Exchange MVP > > http://TheEssentialExchange.com > > > > > > From: David Lum [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 5:26 PM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: If you're monitoring your servers thoroughly.... > > > > .do you need to really check anything after patching and rebooting? I would > think if you're already monitoring all the services, shares, disk space, > event logs, data stores, etc then patch and reboot wouldn't require much > testing per se. For DC's you could even automate a DCDIAG on every restart > and have the results shot out, right? > > > > This is a rose colored glasses look, but wondered if anyone actually pulls > this one off. > > > > Dave Lum - Systems Engineer > [EMAIL PROTECTED] - (971)-222-1025 > "When you step on the brakes your life is in your foot's hands" > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~ ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~
