Question

List which you think are the three most important roles of a system administration. Explain your answer.

Answer 1

System administration means managing one or more of hardware or software system. System administration is performed by system administrator who is responsible for performing maintenance and configuration operations on systems.

Important roles of system administration are :

1. Performing backup of data

Backup refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used for restoring original data after a data loss.There are various backup strategies like dual recording,periodic dumping of data,logging input data ,etc which are performed by the system administrators.They are responsible for taking care of activities that occurs day today in an organization. So they have to maintain backups of all relevant data that are being used.

2.System updates,maintenance and configuration operations

System administrators replace the existing hardware, software or firmware with a new and updated version for improving the functionality and performance.

The system has to be monitored,upgraded and maintained on a continuous basis. It  is an important role of a system administrator. This is to maintain the network security and for the smooth operation.System administrator are also responsible for documenting the configuration of the system.

3.Monitoring system performance and troubleshooting the reported problems

It is important to have a regular plan,continuously monitor and to periodically measure and review the system performance of an organization. System administrator uses various ways to monitor and identify whether any problem exists and to resolve the problem through various alternatives. These are to be documented for future references.

There are various other important roles like password and identity management, implementing securities policies for users, monitoring the network communication, etc..System administration is an important part of system management who have the overall responsibility for architecture, design, building, and maintenance of servers and operating systems.