To be a system admin

[ju jun-hyung]

I'm a fresh system admin...
To be a excellent system admin, what i should do?
And there are so many menuals, what i should read and learn first?

[Zeev Schultz]

I would start with :
UNIX System Administration Handbook (3rd Edition)
by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass, Trent R. Hein

It covers some unices like Solaris,HPUX,IRIX
Linux and many general info.And read man pages:).

Regards,

Zeev
HP RCE

[Stefan Farrelly]

1. Read some really good books; go to amazon.com and do a book search for; HP System admnistration (a few really good ones there)
2. Ask lots of questions if youre not sure (on the itrc.hp.com forum)
3. Go on some HP course on System Admnistration

[Steve Steel]

Hi

Go to www.docs.hp.com

Select your os version

You will see all docs

Go to section System Administration


Start with


Managing Systems and Workgroups: A Guide for HP-UX System Administrators (HP-UX 11.0, HP-UX 11i, HP-UX 11i Version 1.5)

Or same book for your release

Then see what you need

Other sites

Web References:
---------------
www.hp.com/go/instantsupport VERY IMPORTANT TOOL
http://www.hpchecksyourweb.be/ Website check via www.hp.com
http://www.itresourcecenter.hp.com. AWARD WINNER
www.esca3.europe.hp.com NEW. CONTRACT ADMIN


http://www.docs.hp.com http://www.software.hp.com
http://europe-support.external.hp.com http://www.itrc.hp.com
http://www.datacentersolutions.hp.com http://www.openview.hp.com
http://ovweb.external.hp.com http://www-europe.hp.com/educbel
=======================================================================
General good info
-----------------

http://www.techtarget.com/ Multi vendor search
http://www.hp.com Search to access all hp products

http://www.adminschoice.com/


And if you do not know ask here


Steve Steel



http://www.introcomp.co.uk/hpux/index.html

[Mateja Bezjak]

Hi,

A great source of knowledge are also the books listed on:
http://www.docs.hp.com

Look under System Administration

Regards,
Mateja

[H.Merijn Brand (procura]

Next to all above good advise:

1. Learn to *listen* to your users
2. Learn to *read* error messages (and where to find them)
3. Learn to *write* logs of what you do, so you can tell your boss what right and wrong on your systems
4. Learn to read *scripts* (ah, awk, sed, perl). Lots of SA tasks are done through scripting (cron, at, ...) and you /need/ to be able to read them. If you can read, the next step is to understand, and after that being able to actually create your own scripts will make your life a whole lot easier.
5. Learn to be patient. Being an SA will prove to be completely different than being an (end) user.

HAVE FUN!

[Scott_14]

Hello:

Being a sys admin takes time to learn not only the job, but to learn the how to deal with all aspects of people, problems, and getting to know your environment. Read as much on the stuff your supporting, and learn as much as you can. Do your job the best you can, and know that you will have ups and downs, and that when things go wrong, not to panic. Don???t be afraid to ask questions, I think it is worse not to ask a question, than asking what some may consider a simple one. Best of luck to you.

Scott

[Chris Wilshaw]

HP offer a very comprehensive range of courses (follow the training and education link from the side frame of the forums). You can use these as a foundation.

Once you know a bit about the operation of the shell, start to look through the scripts that already exist on your systems - other admins at your site should be able to point you to the location of these.

Read the man pages (pick a command that you already know, and re-read the page, then read the man pages for some of the associated commands from the SEE ALSO section of that man page), read the other questions here on the forums (you may not need to know about the topics that are covered right now, but you can pick up valuable pointers).

Above all else, don't be afraid to ask for help if you get stuck, and if you make any mistakes, just own up to them - you'll gain more respect from people that way than if you try to hide them.

[Robert A. Pierce]

I would use "HP Certified" by Rafeeq Ur Rehman.

It covers the HP Unix system, System Administration, and HP-UX Networking, and is very good for self-training and for reference.

http://www.bookpool.com/.x/4yrty8qi0m/sm/0130183741 is where I got my copy.

I also like Bill Rosenblatt's Learning the Korn Shell (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/korn2/).


Hope this helps,

Rob

[Daimian Woznick]

First you should learn to listen to the users, they are the reason you are employed.

Second, if you like reading there are a lot of various books out there. A good starting book would be Essential System Administration by O'Reilly.

Last, don't get discouraged. It will take time but you will get there. The job is relatively easy.

[Zeev Schultz]

Forget the courses first time,they aren't
usefull for fresh (trust me).docs.hp.com is ok
but as a reference,pick up a good book first.

Zeev

HP RCE

[Tore_1]

Focus on core unix, and everything else will be easy. Especially study how to use advanced features of the shell, and familiarize yourself thourougly with the format of the manual pages. I recommend buying a book called "Unix Power Tools", and a book called "Unix system administration handbook"

[Rich Wright]

UNIX Power Tools
O'Reilly & Associates

[V. V. Ravi Kumar_1]

Essential System Administration O'reilly
HP Certified by Rafeeq UR Rehman

regds

[Robert Gamble]

1 point to remember: you cannot know everything.

However, you should be able to know where to look to find the answer, or at least the general direction of where the answer may lie.

I consider this a very rewarding job (after 8yrs).

Good Luck!

[BFA6]

Hi,

Another O'Reilly book that I have is Unix in a Nutshell.

Use the forums & the HP website. There is lots of useful information here. Also the man pages.

Regards,

Hilary

[Jean-Luc Oudart]

Should I say the 3 words :
backup...backup and backup

You'll find this one very useful one day.

Rgds,
Jean-Luc

[Jonathan Sanks]

Get some points to Jean-Luc!

The sooner you learn about making backups, the better. Having a good ignite recovery tape, and an Omniback setup going can be a lifesaver.

Yeah, if you're running a lot of boxes it can be a real pain to plan and implement a good backup plan, and if your project doesn't have a big autoloader of some sort, it's a pain to swap tapes. But I think I can speak for all of us when I say that it's far easier to swap tapes than rebuild a production box from scratch. No matter how competent the admin is, stuff happens - whether it be careless typing, or just a hardware failure. And also, TEST THE BACKUPS! Few things are as useless as a botched restore tape.

Backups saved me the other day when I feel victim to the dreaded PHKL_18543 patch from hades (NOW I know not to reinstall it *grumble*)

That said, I'm still pretty new to the sysadmin game so others here will have far more sources like books and stuff. In my case most of what I learned came from experiences. Running linux at home helped a lot because I could do whatever I wanted to that box nobody would care. A lot of what I learned came from trashing that thing and then trying to fix it again.

And finally, if you need to know how to do something - just ask!

Good luck!

[ju jun-hyung]

Thank you for all your kind advises. ^^

[Michael Tully]

Read
Learn

Experiment
Learn more

Listen
Learn a lot

Listen to the more experienced
Experience is learned

Learn how to problem solve
Problem can be solved

Go back to Read, and start again.....
The books are a great start, but there is no substitute for experience.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

First, persuade your company to buy a 'sandbox'. This is a box where all new patches and software releases are tested. It is also a box that is used to test any of your 'fixes' and scripts where no harm will be done. This is not the same as a Test/Development server; it is even lower than that. If you follow the pattern of applying patches/software to the sandbox first, next to the test/development server, and finally after testing to the production evnironment, you will almost never have a production failure.

The worst kind of sys admins are those that are 'Firemen'; they fix problems after they occur. The best ones don't have fires; they anticipate or prevent failures.

Food for thought, Clay