Question: What exactly is an administrator?

System administrator












Business administration
Management of a business
Accounting
Management accounting
Financial accounting
Financial audit
Business entities
Corporate group
Conglomerate (company)
Holding company
Cooperative
Corporation
Joint-stock company
Limited liability company
Partnership
Privately held company
Sole proprietorship
State-owned enterprise
Corporate governance
Annual general meeting
Board of directors
Supervisory board
Advisory board
Audit committee
Corporate law
Commercial law
Constitutional documents
Contract
Corporate crime
Corporate liability
Insolvency law
International trade law
Mergers and acquisitions
Corporate title
Chairman
Chief business officer/Chief brand officer
Chief executive officer/Chief operating officer
Chief financial officer
Chief human resources officer
Chief information officer/Chief marketing officer
Chief product officer/Chief technology officer
Economics
Commodity
Public economics
Labour economics
Development economics
International economics
Mixed economy
Planned economy
Econometrics
Environmental economics
Open economy
Market economy
Knowledge economy
Microeconomics
Macroeconomics
Economic development
Economic statistics
Finance
Financial statement
Insurance
Factoring
Cash conversion cycle
Insider dealing
Capital budgeting
Commercial bank
Derivative
Financial statement analysis
Financial risk
Public finance
Corporate finance
Managerial finance
International finance
Liquidation
Stock market
Financial market
Tax
Financial institution
Working capital
Venture capital
Types of management
Asset
Brand
Business intelligence
Business development
Capacity
Change
innovation
Commercial
marketing
Communications
Configuration
Conflict
Content
Customer relationship
Distributed
Earned value
Electronic business
Enterprise resource planning
management information system
Financial
Human resource
development
Incident
Integrated
Knowledge
Materials
Network
administrator
Office
Operations
services
Performance
Power
Problem
Process
Product life-cycle
Product
Project
Quality
Records
Resource
Risk
crisis
Sales
Security
Service
Strategic
Supply chain
Systems
administrator
Talent
Technology
Organization
Architecture
Behavior
Communication
Culture
Conflict
Development
Engineering
Hierarchy
Patterns
Space
Structure
Trade
Business analysis
Business ethics
Business plan
Business judgment rule
Consumer behaviour
Business operations
International business
Business model
International trade
Business process
Business statistics
 Business and economicsportalvt

A system administrator, or sysadmin, is a person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems; especially multi-user computers, such as servers. The system administrator seeks to ensure that the uptime, performance, resources, and security of the computers they manage meet the needs of the users, without exceeding a set budget when doing so.
To meet these needs, a system administrator may acquire, install, or upgrade computer components and software; provide routine automation; maintain security policies; troubleshoot; train or supervise staff; or offer technical support for projects.
Related fields
Many organizations staff other jobs related to system administration. In a larger company, these may all be separate positions within a computer support or Information Services (IS) department. In a smaller group they may be shared by a few sysadmins, or even a single person.
A database administrator (DBA) maintains a database system, and is responsible for the integrity of the data and the efficiency and performance of the system.
A network administrator maintains network infrastructure such as switches and routers, and diagnoses problems with these or with the behavior of network-attached computers.
A security administrator is a specialist in computer and network security, including the administration of security devices such as firewalls, as well as consulting on general security measures.
A web administrator maintains web server services (such as Apache or IIS) that allow for internal or external access to web sites. Tasks include managing multiple sites, administering security, and configuring necessary components and software. Responsibilities may also include software change management.
A computer operator performs routine maintenance and upkeep, such as changing backup tapes or replacing failed drives in a redundant array of independent disks (RAID). Such tasks usually require physical presence in the room with the computer, and while less skilled than sysadmin tasks, may require a similar level of trust, since the operator has access to possibly sensitive data.
Training

Most employers[1] require a bachelor's degree in a related field, such as computer science, information technology, electronics engineering, or computer engineering. Some schools also offer undergraduate degrees and graduate programs in system administration[2][3][4][5][6].
In addition, because of the practical nature of system administration and the easy availability of open-source server software, many system administrators enter the field self-taught.
Generally, a prospective will be required to have some experience with the computer system they are expected to manage. In some cases, candidates are expected to possess industry certifications such as the Microsoft MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, Red Hat RHCE, Novell CNA, CNE, Cisco CCNA or CompTIA's A+ or Network+, Sun Certified SCNA, Linux Professional Institute, Linux Foundation Certified Engineer or Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator[7], among others.
Sometimes, almost exclusively in smaller sites, the role of system administrator may be given to a skilled user in addition to or in replacement of his or her duties.
Skills

The subject matter of system administration includes computer systems and the ways people use them in an organization. This entails a knowledge of operating systems and applications, as well as hardware and software troubleshooting, but also knowledge of the purposes for which people in the organization use the computers.
Perhaps the most important skill for a system administrator is problem solving—frequently under various sorts of constraints and stress. The sysadmin is on call when a computer system goes down or malfunctions, and must be able to quickly and correctly diagnose what is wrong and how best to fix it.
They may also need to have teamwork and communication skills; as well as being able to install and configure hardware and software.
Sysadmins must understand the behavior of software in order to deploy it and to troubleshoot problems, and generally know several programming languages used for scripting or automation of routine tasks. A typical sysadmin's role is not to design or write new application software but when they are responsible for automating system or application configuration with various configuration management tools, the lines somewhat blur. Depending on the sysadmin's role and skillset they may be expected to understand equivalent key/core concepts a software engineer understands. That said, system administrators are not software engineers or developers, in the job title sense.
Particularly when dealing with Internet-facing or business-critical systems, a sysadmin must have a strong grasp of computer security. This includes not merely deploying software patches, but also preventing break-ins and other security problems with preventive measures. In some organizations, computer security administration is a separate role responsible for overall security and the upkeep of firewalls and intrusion detection systems, but all sysadmins are generally responsible for the security of computer systems.
Duties
A system administrator's responsibilities might include:
Analyzing system logs and identifying potential issues with computer systems.
Applying operating system updates, patches, and configuration changes.
Installing and configuring new hardware and software.
Adding, removing, or updating user account information, resetting passwords, etc.
Answering technical queries and assisting users.
Responsibility for security.
Responsibility for documenting the configuration of the system.
Troubleshooting any reported problems.
System performance tuning.
Ensuring that the network infrastructure is up and running.
Configuring, adding, and deleting file systems.
Ensuring parity between dev, test and production environments.
Training users
Plan and manage the machine room environment
In larger organizations, some of the tasks above may be divided among different system administrators or members of different organizational groups. For example, a dedicated individual(s) may apply all system upgrades, a Quality Assurance (QA) team may perform testing and validation, and one or more technical writers may be responsible for all technical documentation written for a company. System administrators, in larger organizations, tend not to be systems architects, systems engineers, or systems designers.
In smaller organizations, the system administrator might also act as technical support, Database Administrator, Network Administrator, Storage (SAN) Administrator or application analyst.
See also



Application service management
Bastard Operator From Hell (BOFH)
DevOps
Forum administrator
Information technology operations
Large Installation System Administration Conference
League of Professional System Administrators
LISA (organization)
Professional certification (computer technology)
Superuser
Sysop
System Administrator Appreciation Day

This article incorporatespublic domain material from the United States Governmentdocument  ", 2010-11 Edition"by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Further reading
Essential Linux Administration (Cengage Press): A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners, 2011 by Chuck Easttom
Essential System Administration (O'Reilly), 3rd Edition, 2001, by Æleen Frisch
The Practice of System and Network Administration (Addison-Wesley), 2nd Edition Jul. 5, 2007, by Thomas A. Limoncelli, Christine Hogan and Strata R. Chalup
The Practice of System and Network Administration, The: Volume 1: DevOps and other Best Practices for Enterprise IT (Addison-Wesley), 3rd Edition Nov. 4, 2016, by Thomas A. Limoncelli, Christine Hogan, Strata R. Chalup
The Practice of Cloud System Administration: Designing and Operating Large Distributed Systems, Volume 2 (Addison-Wesley), Sep. 2, 2014, by Thomas A. Limoncelli, Christine Hogan, Strata R. Chalup
Principles of Network and System Administration (J. Wiley & Sons), 2000,2003(2ed), by Mark Burgess
Time Management for System Administrators (O'Reilly), 2005, by Thomas A. Limoncelli
UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (Prentice Hall), 5th Edition, Aug. 8, 2017, by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Trent R. Hein, Ben Whaley, Dan Mackin
Technology Unions and related links


, Minnesota Public Radio, January 27, 2004