hp-ux systems administration best practice thread

[Nag Varma]

Hi Danny,
The first place to start I would say is
to learn and know as much as possible about
you existing environment....like..

=> what hardware you have
=> which applications reside on what boxes
=> who are the application contacts
=> whats the contact escalation procedures
=> Try to see if you can get a test box where
you can try commands before executing on
the production env..
=> How the backup is performed ,, like what
software is being used , if this falls
under your area..
=> when system crashes, what are the places
to look ...just couple of minutes ago there
was a thread regarding this..
=> how to do a system recovery
=> Try to understand the concepts of LVM,
network setup etc..
These are some of the things I can think
Hope might help..
thanks
Nag Varma

[David Bell_1]

Danny,

All of the suggestions you see before you are good ones. In the form of documentation (for HP), I prefer to use the "Gold Book" approach and keep it up to date. The Gold Book was a book that HP used to provide that documented all I/O, printers, disks, software, service calls, etc. In addition, I added all the LVM information I could create, ioscans, network information, user information, application information, etc. However, far and aaway the best tool I use is Visio along with the templates provided at

http://www.sisp.hp.com/SISP/LoginFrame.tcl?area=stencils&doc=info/VisioStencils

These are great for making a living picture of your computer room. I post this to the admin web page as pdf's so that admins can drill down to details and see io addresses, etc. These books can be a bit overwhelming if you're in a large data center. However, I try to make them a priority upon the arrival of a new system.

HTH,

Dave

[Steven E. Protter]

Purchase a book called HP Certified by Rafeeq Ur Rehman.

There are mistakes. The latest version is missing he answers to the practice test.

You don't need to take the test. This book contains all of the basics you need to succeed technically as a Systems Administrator.

I got it after browsing through it and stumbling upon answers to serveral issues I was working on.

The other advice here is also excellent. Follow it and improve your skills and you will do well.

Steve

[GregD at VisioCafe.com]

Hi, well that link is an outdated server that hasn't been updated since last October.

There is new server though,

Check out the home of all HP owned Visio Stencils.

http://www.visiocafe.com

Greg Drinkwater
VSD Grafx Inc.
visio-cafe@hp.com

[Tim Sanko]

Danny,

The first and most important thing for success as an admin is to know when to say "I don't know, but I will investigate and find out." It is often a truth, and it allows you the time to find the right answer.

Also, you can't know it all. So know everyone. Everyone has skills at one thing or another.

Be quick to listen, and slow to speak. You can't be too quiet while someone is describing a problem. Use the mute button on your phone. Especially when you describe a user accurately as a "surviving brain donor" or something more even exotic.

I know too much and often open my mouth too soon. Even when I am right, some believe I am rash to state "it looks to me as if..."

Tim

[John Meissner]

a very good question Danny,
I'll keep it as short as I can :)

here are some things in no particular order

- learn scripting. I use this ALL the time. two good books are "Korn Shell Programming by example, O'Brien, Pitts" and "sed & awk, Dougherty & Robbins"
both are excellent and have helped me significantly.

- Learn from those you work with. When I started administrating Unix systems about a year and a half ago I didn't know much at all... I still have a lot to learn. Some of my co-workers have been doing this for 10+ years and I find that I can learn a great deal from them.

- done give out your password. This can save you a lot of headaches

- Documentation. Document everytyhing... if someone else can read ... then you might not get called out in the middle of the night.

- Pass the buck. Not in the slacker context... but rather install a tool such as Sudo or Service Control Manager and let a lower tier support team do some of your more meanial work such as account creation.

- participate in the ITRC forums!!! I can't begin to tell you how much I've learned from the people on here... and I've had several questions answered on here without having to go to HP support for help.

- Install a linux box on your desk. I would rather have a linux box on my desk than an HP workstation - It's just better. I have all kinds of scripts I've written in bash to monitor my HP-UX environment. Plus chick's dig linux (just kidding).

- Attend training classes periodically to keep up to date on what's going on or new tools and techniques.

- adopt a password policy and stick to it. Many users will not like this but setting a password length and aging policy will enhance security. Make sure the password also consists of alpha and numeric characters.