Understanding system administration"

What is system administration?

Every SCO OpenServer system should have at least one person in charge of system maintenance and operation. Such a person is called a ``system administrator''. It is the responsibility of system administrators to ensure the smooth operation of the system and to perform a wide variety of tasks that require special privileges.

Among other things, a system administrator is responsible for:

Bringing the system up and down for maintenance.
Making certain that adequate backups (regular copies of files on the system) are made and stored for future use.
Handling problems related to use of limited computer resources (disk space, number of processes, and so on).
Alleviating system communication (network) stoppages due to failed connections.
Applying operating system updates and maintenance fixes.
Providing general support to users.

NOTE: This is only a representative set of tasks; refer to ``Summary of system administration tasks'' for a complete list that includes cross-references to the appropriate documentation.

Depending on the size of the system and the number of users on it, system administration can be anything from a once-a-day task to a full-time job. Even if the system is small, the system administrator should consistently perform each required maintenance task, because sloppy maintenance can adversely affect system performance.

You can choose to have a single system administrator or divide the tasks among several persons, each charged with a different area of operation. You can even assign roles that are strictly limited to one aspect of the system. See ``Assigning subsystem authorizations'' for more information.