Top 10 System Administrator Truths

I was sent a link to this article today, and felt it might just be to good not to pass along, so thanks Evan.

Top 10 System Administrator Truths

#1 – Users Lie

Oh
yes, they do. Don’t think you’re immune either. Have you ever been on a
tech support call, convinced that you know the problem and the guy on
the phone says something like “Would you put in the recovery CD,
restart, and scan your memory?” “Oh, I’ve tried that,” you say with
eyes rolling. Believe it or not, sometimes we crazy admin peeps suggest
these fixes because they work. When a user is protesting my assessment, the best is to politely insist them to do what was asked until the doing is done.

#2 – Email is the Lifeblood of Non-Techies

I
love my non-techie bretheren—I mean, how else would I know what
happened on the OC and Gilmore Girls?—but at the end of the day, email
is #1 in their book. Now a lot of it is business related, and certainly
that shouldn’t be taken lightly, but most likely they were waiting on a
warm, fuzzy message from their daughter or sister and really needed
their email back up ASAP (“I’m waiting on a proposal!” they screech —
see #1)

#3 – Printers Suck

Ever had to
clean a laser or, God forbid, an inkjet printer? It’s like stabbing
yourself in the eye. It’s not just the grime either—it’s the fallacy
that a little chunk of ink could make the machine just stop working.
90% of the time (or better), this isn’t the case (instead, check the
fuser/print heads). In terms of network troubles, HPs Jetdirect cards
have a pretty solid reputation of failing every few years, so expect to
shell out $200+ for those on a semi-regular basis, depending on what
kind of printers you run in your office. For those with network cards
integrated into the printer mainboard—what were you thinking?

#4 – Cleanliness is Godliness

Ever
open up a PC and see the Ghost Of Dust Bunny’s Past in there? It’s
scary stuff, I tell you. I’ve seen some PCs begin to lock up “for
absolutely no reason” while the innards tell you different. Sure Peggy
in Accounting wasn’t stuffing her machine full of cloth, but that
blanket she keeps at her feet will slowly shed and the PC fans suck
that stuff right up. When you’re completely stumped, make sure there
isn’t something inside gunking up the works.

#5 – Backups are Crucial

This
needs to be said. I’ve been caught with my pants down on this one a few
times myself. Backup, Backup, Backup! Nothing (and I mean nothing)
will bite you in the ass like a piss-poor backup schema. If your server
dies right now as you read this post, what are you going to do about
it? Do you know where the install discs are, do you have a
configuration backup, do you know who to contact regarding tech support
on that box? If not, you need to get your act together before you have
a disaster and a lot of excuses and apologies following it. I use Retrospect at my job and consider it better than Backup Exec. It has amazing Macintosh support and is cheaper too.

#6 – Switches and Hubs (Usually) Die One Port At A Time

You
can spend hours tracking down a bad network card or cable just to
figure out that a port in a switch has died. You’re pinging and pinging
and looking, the lights are on but there’s nobody home. The trick here
is to know that a single port doesn’t spell the end of the hardware,
quite the contrary. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. If a
port does go out, that hub or switch may work for years without another
outage, but do be sure to stuff an RJ45 connector in that bad port so
you don’t forget (and chase down phantom problems) in the future.

#7 – No One Ever Got Fired For Buying Microsoft

So
sad but so true. This old saying used to reference IBM, but oh how
times have changed. Linux may be powerful, but the command prompt and
configuration files and filesystem obscurity will just as soon get you
a pink slip if something goes wrong and no one knows how to fix it but
yourself. Even so, with as much stupid crap as we admins have to put up
with on a daily basis, configuring some of the ‘high end’ Microsoft
software is enough to drive you insane. Ever tried installing Exchange
Server or, worse, installing Exchange Server and migrating a 5.5
install to Exchange 2000? I feel your pain, oh how I feel your pain.

#8 – Politeness > Brevity

You
can come up with all sorts of analogies for this one. You’ll get more
bees with honey, a spoonful of sugar, etc. But generally, you probably
have very little day-to-day contact with end users. This means that
when you do finally get to speak to one of those souls
fortunate enough to login to your domain (both figuratively and
literally), you should be sure to be as polite as possible about it.
Even if the network is down. Even if the server is having weird,
irrational problems. Use please, thank you, I’m sorry, and don’t be too
proud to apologize or ‘make nice’ with those who may ultimately
influence your career path down the line. The peon you insult today
with a “I sent an email about this, do you not check your own email?” could very well climb the corporate ladder and let your rude ass go in a few years. Mind your manners, peeps.

# 9 – Know Your Needs

This
one could also be called “Learn Linux.” Many admins get wooed into the
idea that “managed solutions” are always the correct ones. A web
interface on a switch is cute, but rarely useful. A huge Cisco router
may not always be necessary, sometimes a ‘lo-fi’ approach is best. When
you want a spam solution, before looking at $5,000 servers and huge
licensing fees for Windows Server software take a look at one of those
old ‘junk’ PCs you have in the closet, download your favorite distro of
Linux, and install procmail and spamassassin. You (and your budget) will thank me later.

#10 – The Holy Grail of Tech Support

…is
the reboot. Rebooting can cure ailments of all sorts, can stop network
troubles, crashing computers, find missing documents, and rescue cats
in trees. System admins all over the world have, by and large, trained
their users to reboot before even calling support. I mean, when’s the
last time you didn’t reboot to see if it cured a problem? If you’re
not, then you’re either stubborn or you’re an admin who knows better.
Rebooting doesn’t cure all ailments, but it cures so many of
them it’s hard to not throw out a “Can you reboot for me?” to the end
user when they call with some off-the-wall issue. Use and abuse as
necessary.

From: http://www.misterorange.com/