What does a doctor do to his patients? He takes care of their health and makes sure that they recover soon. So what is the difference between a doctor and a system admin? I would say none actually, just as a doctor works with the human beings a system admin works with the machines. Similar to the doctor, a system admin makes sure that the systems within the organizations stay healthy and keep running smoothly.
The responsibilities of the system admin
The real job of a system admin is to install, support, and maintain the servers or other computer systems. They plan for responding to service outages and other problems. They also handle scripting and light programming or project management for systems-related projects.
Must have a skill of a system admin
A doctor's must-have skill is to understand the behavior and cause of the disease, plus to have a solution always for that and remove the root cause behind the disease. Similarly, system admin should have the 'problem solving' skills as the system might go down causing troubles with various related systems and blocking the dependent processes like data entry, email services etc., In that situation, the system admin is the only person people seek help from. So, he should be able to diagnose the problem as quick and accurate as possible and find the best solution to get back the server running in minimum time.
A system admin should be aware of the behavior of the system or the computers he is in control of. He must know and understand the software behaviors to deploy and troubleshoot any kind of problems rising over there. The system admin should also have a good knowledge of programming languages for any kind of repetitive task.
He is the only person who has the access to the root account which means he/she has the power over the complete system of the organization. For example, he/she can eliminate critical system files or add anything similar to that right from the root. So, the system admin is the most responsible person as the complete system relies on him.
Some core changes a system admin makes in the system:
- Create new users
- Resetting user passwords
- Lock/unlock user accounts
- Monitor server security
- Monitor special services etc.
A system admin is a person behind the curtain but a responsible one for the smooth running of the whole work system within the organization, taking care of the health of the systems or the server and ensuring the proper functioning of systems across the organization.