Chapter 1: What Is the Role of a System Administrator?

Few things in our industry sound like they should be simpler to answer than this one, simple question: what is a system administrator? And yet, ask anyone and you'll get some widely differing opinions. Everyone seems to have their own take on what the title or role of System Administrator implies, including and possibly most varying in people who use this title for themselves or from the companies that hand it out!

Welcome to system administration and specifically Best Practices of Linux Administration. In this chapter we are going to dive into understanding the job, role, and functions of a real system administrator and try to understand how we, in that role, fit into an organization.

In tackling this book, it is necessary both for myself to have some semblance of a clear course in writing, but also for you to understand if this book is for you, or to grasp the scope that I am attempting to cover, for me to clearly define what a system administrator is to me.

Understanding exactly what is expected of a true system administrator will be the foundation for applying that definition of the role to the upcoming best practices that apply both to system administration generally and specifically to Linux administration.

In this chapter we are going to cover the following main topics:

• Where are system administrators in the real world
• Wearing the administrator and engineering hats
• Understanding systems in the business ecosystem
• Learning system administration
• Introducing the IT professional