Newbie IT

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by redgeek, Feb 19, 2009.

  1. redgeek

    redgeek Private E-2

    I am nervous because it seems that I will be taking over all duties of an IT professional at my current job. I have no training in managing a Network or Securing it. My future duties will include many other issues that I am unfamiliar with.

    I will be managing around 30 computers on this network including those containing sensitive information. I will also have to maintain a web page ( I am fairly prolific in HTML, XML, and CSS)

    I was hoping for some advice about what I need to learn in order to be successful in my new position.

    I was also hoping for advice on where to find free training for whatever I need to learn (please remember I work for a non-profit that cannot afford for me to get training)

    Thanks for any help you can provide. :confused
     
  2. smilinggeek

    smilinggeek Private E-2

    Yeah, pretty typical scenario. The person who knows something about computers is tagged as the sysadmin, because of course being a sysadmin is so easy. Sigh. Welcome to the fraternity, let's see what we can do to get you up to speed.

    I haven't done this for a long time, so here's some basic information and will get back to you once I've sorted through what might be most applicable.

    Try the following first:

    SANS (http://sans.org) might have some free training as well as general guidelines for system administrators.

    Tech Soup (http://techsoup.org) bills itself as the nonprofit tech resource centre.

    The MaintainIT Project (http://www.maintainitproject.org/) is mainly geared to librarians, but might be of some use for you.

    Unfortunately, an excellent source of information calls "Sysadmin Magazine", stopped publishing a 1.5 years ago. You might be able to find backissues in your local public or college library. Which is another source of excellent books on the art of being a sysadmin.

    Will need to know what mix of operating systems and networking you're going to be running before being able to point you to more precise information.
     
  3. smilinggeek

    smilinggeek Private E-2

    I'll be adding short comments as I think of them:

    - if the current sysadmin hasn't left yet, GET DOCUMENTATION!!!! (if you can). I can't stress this enough. From network and system layout, including PASSWORDS, to all the process and procedures this person had worked out during their tenure. Good, well organized documentation is food for sysadmins.

    - if the current sysadmin has already left, then your first task is to create documentation for all the systems. Network map (with MAC addresses) is a priority, because when something goes wrong, all you'll probably have is the MAC address, and you need to know which system that applies to. System configuration, all admin passwords (for computers, routers, etc.), support contacts (ISP, hardware or software, any volunteers you can lean on), what software does your organization use, and so on.

    No idea what tools your organization currently uses to track and identify network and system problems. Do you know what you're using? Organizations with no money sometimes have the most surprising mix of tools available, I try not to guess.
     
  4. smilinggeek

    smilinggeek Private E-2

    For sysadmin reading, I'd recommend anything published by O'Reilly that looks vaguely related to the systems you have. Not all their books are great, but enough of them that I'm willing to put a blanket recommendation on them.

    These books are often available through your public library, or your local college or university library. You might also be able to get cheap 2nd hand copies through Abebooks (http://abebooks.com). Just because a book has a newer version out doesn't mean the old one is useless. Especially if you work for an organization that HAS older equipment.
     
  5. redgeek

    redgeek Private E-2

    Thanks Smilinggeek!

    I greatly appreciate the advice you have given me. I am going to try and get more information from the current SysAdmin (is that the correct use of the word?).

    Unfortunately, my workplace politics prevent me from flat out asking for information from him.
    However, I will post with new info as I get it.

    Thanks Again!
     
  6. smilinggeek

    smilinggeek Private E-2

    Yeah, I was afraid of that. The less money an organization has, the more vicious the office politics. Good luck with that then. Will try to get back later with more info. Try to get back with the system types you're running at least, that'll help pinpoint system-specific resources.

    Some philosophical notes on being a sysadmin:

    One thing I've realized is that laziness is the most important trait a sysadmin can have. But you have to be willing to work hard at first in order to be lazy later. A "lazy" sysadmin documents, then automates what they can, creates procedures that a brain damaged chimp could follow for what they can't automate, and loves things that are simple and robust. Your goal is to have things ticking over so all you think about is the future, while the day-to-day stuff takes care of itself. This can be done very cheaply.

    The trick, of course, is never to let the people you're working for that you're being "lazy" - because there are times when the shit hits the fan and fixing the problem will require ALL the time (and more) that you've saved. If you haven't been working hard to be lazy, you won't have time to take care of the emergencies, because the day-to-day stuff will eat your time away.

    An excellent sysadmin is invisible to the people using the systems - the systems just "work". This of course is very bad for ones career (I learned this lesson far FAR too late myself) because only the squeaky wheels promoted. A career conscious sysadmin, or one looking for a good reference, will occasionally deliberately "break" things (all in the name of testing procedures, of course!) then fix them quickly but noticeably. Make sure the things that break are different each time - people notice. The fault is not with the sysadmin but with a management system that only rewards those who make the most noise. So learn to work the system - but make it simple.

    Finally, there will come a day when you too will become bitter and cynical as you continue to lose ground in the battle against entropy, stupid users, and idiotic operating systems. You will finally understand it when some greying vet says to you "All hardware sucks, all software sucks, the rest is personal preference". When that day comes, you will grok Adminspotting (http://www.adminspotting.org) and you will then be ready to join the alt.sysadmin.recovery newsgroup (and you'll know what a newsgroup is and how to find it, if you don't already). But that, young grasshopper, is for the future.

    Welcome to the dark soft underbelly of I.T.
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2009
  7. KingSteve

    KingSteve MajorGeek

    Books for reference.
    buy the mcse server 2003 training kit, ccna study guide kit containing icnd1 and 2, books on exchange and whatever security server you have. you will need references so the internet isnt your only guide.

    maybe even consider getting an account on experts-exchange.com. theyre extremely helpful when it comes to technical server stuff. im currently getting help from a guy there for getting off email black lists.

    also like smiling geek said, cant stress documentation enough. document everything.
    smiling geek pretty much covered everything, but ill just add on with my 2 cents.

    there will be days when you say screw IT. ive said it so many times i cant count anymore. and when the days come that you do something awesome that makes your network run smoother, and no one notices or says anything about it, just remember your accomplishments. the crappy part of IT is no one notices you until there is a problem. you could work your *** off all day to keep your network running smoothly and no one will care. this is the nature of IT. all your accomplishments will go unnoticed until you have to fix something.
    you will be expected to know everything about everything. which sort of sets you up to let people down. you need to keep in mind no network admin knows everything about office 07 and the users blackberry software, and the internal mechanics of the broken printer.


    http://www.lifereboot.com/2007/10-reasons-it-doesnt-pay-to-be-the-computer-guy/

    most is too true and i still love what i do.
     
  8. smilinggeek

    smilinggeek Private E-2


    Tsk Tsk. Bad sysadmin. You don't even know what operating systems he's running and you're already making assumptions. The might be a Mac shop, or Linux, or Commodore 64 (hey, it's a non profit, you never know).

    Redgeek, assumptions are the bane of the sysadmin. Soon as you assume something is setup one way, it's almost sure it's not. That's why sysadmins document, then check that documentation against reality - because assumptions will cost you time and money when the crunch comes.

    The rest of what KingSteve said is good though. :-D
     
  9. KingSteve

    KingSteve MajorGeek

    yep youre exactly right. my bad on that. i was definitely jumping to the assumption youre on a windows server 03 domain redgeek.
     
  10. smilinggeek

    smilinggeek Private E-2

    Oh wow. That is SO true!! As for me I don't really love what I do anymore (even after 27 years of doing it), but I'm damn good at it (or will be once I catch up again - I've been solving other types of problems for the last 7 years) and I still get a kick out of fixing the supposedly unfixable.
     
  11. smilinggeek

    smilinggeek Private E-2

    A few more sources of free training and information (apart from MajorGeeks, of course).
    These are mainly geared towards various types of certifications. I'm looking to do the CCNA certifications myself to force myself to quickly get up to speed on networks, so thought I'd pass on some of the info I've found while doing that.

    http://www.trainsignaltraining.com/ offers free training towards a variety of certifications.

    http://www.2000trainers.com/ has a number of study guides in a variety of sysadmin topics you might find useful.

    http://www.mcmcse.com/forums/ and http://www.techexams.net/ are other sources of free training and information about various certifications as well.

    A note about certifications: you don't need to actually TAKE the certification to use the information that it covers. However, these days people hiring (usually 3rd party recruiters who go strictly by keyword without understanding anything about the business they are recruiting for) seem more interested in what certifications you have rather than what actual experience you have. So from that point of view, certifications are good. Taking the exam isn't usually that expensive (for some definitions of expensive), it's the courses offered surrounding the exam that are the big money drain.
     

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