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Tomorrow is System Administrator Day 2006

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the pizza-bawls-dates-toys-cash-chocolate dept.

ferrgle writes with a reminder of the annual observation of Sysadmin Day. "This celebration's aim is to acknowledge the tireless effort that sysadmins perform every day of the year. It is celebrated on the last Friday of July and more info can be read at sysadminday.com This year there is also a dedicated site for sys admins who are Welsh or who live in Wales (it can be found at sysadminday.org.uk). We hope that all sys admins have a nice day on Friday and get a little less hassle than normal."

3 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. Woohoo. by HugePedlar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Think this'll make any difference if I put a notice on my door? Of course, that assumes people come to see me, rather than summoning me to their desks.

    --
    Argh.
  2. My sysadmin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    From the website referenced:
    A sysadmin ... installed an operating system, patched it for security, ...
    Mine didn't think it needed to be patched for Sasser so it went down.
    ... and kept backups in case anything went wrong.
    Mine didn't test the backups which were corrupted and we lost over a week's worth of work.
    A sysadmin makes sure your network connection is safe, secure, open, and working.
    Mine doesn't know how to properly configure a firewall so our software development tools that require special connections to the servers don't work.
    ... and keeps the printers going ...
    Mine installed *special* spool management software to track printing costs with the thought that it would curb abuse and save money. It cost $30k to install and another $10k per year to manage, for what they estimated would be $11k savings per year (which also isn't happening).
    A sysadmin worries about ... power outages...
    Mine can spend $50K for a new server but can't spend $10-$20k for a generator so we have no backup (unless you count a 15 minute UPS)
    When the email server goes down ...
    The only time our production server goes down is because my SysAdmin decided to do patches or updates in the middle of the day without telling anyone.

    Don't hire a sys admin right out of school and hope he'll "grow" into the job.
  3. What I did for my SAs by jcayer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    At my last place, I managed 3 SAs. I picked up a big tub from Walmart and filled it with snacks from BJs. I bought the big box of assorted candy bars, the big box of assorted chips, popcorn, nuts, etc. Needless to say this was well received and lasted several months. The fact that it lasted months was the plan. I could have bought them lunch, but it would have been gone and forgotten in a week.

    We actually had to store it in the computer room for safe keeping.
    Josh