Installation and Migration Guide

Core templates defined by SAGE

The following are templates for the core skills required for Junior and Intermediate/Advanced System Administrators.

Junior system administrator

Required skills

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; capable of training users in applications and UNIX fundamentals, and writing basic documentation.
• Highly skilled in using most UNIX commands/utilities.
• Familiarity with most basic system administration tools and processes; for example, can boot/shutdown a machine, add and remove user accounts, use backup programs and fsck, maintain system database files (groups, hosts, aliases).
• Fundamental understanding of a UNIX-based operating system; for example, understands job control, soft and hard links, distinctions between the kernel and the shell.

Required background

One to three years of system administration experience.

Desirable background

• A degree in computer science or a related field.
• Familiarity with networked/distributed computing environment concepts; for example, can use the route command, add a workstation to a network, and mount remote filesystems.
• Ability to write scripts in some administrative language (Tk, Perl, and shell).
• Programming experience in any applicable language.

Appropriate responsibilities

Administers a small site alone or assists in the administration of a larger system. Works under the general supervision of a system administrator or computer systems manager.

Intermediate/advanced system administrator

Required skills

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; capable of writing purchase justifications, training users in complex topics, making presentations to an internal audience, and interacting positively with upper management.
• Independent problem solving; self-direction.
• Is comfortable with most aspects of UNIX system administration; for example, configuration of mail systems, system installation and configuration, printing systems, fundamentals of security, installing third-party software.
• A solid understanding of a UNIX-based operating system; understands paging and swapping, interprocess communication, devices and what device drivers do, file system concepts ("inode", "superblock").
• Familiarity with fundamental networking/distributed computing environment concepts; can configure NFS and NIS, can use nslookup or dig to check information in the DNS, understands basic routing concepts.
• Ability to write scripts in some administrative language (Tk, Perl, and shell).
• Ability to do minimal debugging and modification of C programs.

Required background

Three to five years system administration experience.

Desirable background

• A degree in computer science or a related field.
• Significant programming background in any applicable language.

Appropriate responsibilities

• Receives general instructions for new responsibilities from supervisor.
• Administers a midsized site alone or assists in the administration of a larger site.
• Initiates some new responsibilities and helps to plan for the future of the site/network.
• Manages novice system administrators or operators.
• Evaluates and/or recommends purchases; has strong influence on purchasing process.