UNIX System Administration Handbook - Evi Nemeth [17]
Once coworkers come to think of you as the local system administrator, it is difficult to extricate yourself from this role. We know several people that have changed jobs to escape it. Since many administrative tasks are intangible, you may also find that you’re expected to be both a full-time administrator and a full-time engineer, writer, or secretary.
Some unwilling administrators try to fend off requests by adopting an ornery attitude and providing poor service. We do not recommend this approach; it makes you look bad and creates additional problems.
Instead, we suggest that you document the time you spend on system administration. Your goal should be to keep the work at a manageable level and to assemble evidence that you can use when you ask to be relieved of administrative duties. In most organizations, you will need to lobby the management from six months to a year to get yourself replaced, so plan ahead.
On the other hand, you may find that you enjoy system administration and that you yearn to be a full-time administrator. You will have no problem finding a job. Unfortunately, your political problems will probably intensify. Refer to Chapter 27, Policy and Politics, for a preview of the horrors in store.
System Administration Personality Syndrome
One unfortunate but common clinical condition resulting from working as a system administrator is System Administration Personality Syndrome. The onset of this condition usually begins early in the third year of a system administrator’s career and the syndrome can last well into retirement. Characteristic symptoms include but are not limited to:
• Acute phantom pagerphobia: the disturbing feeling that your pager has gone off (when it really hasn’t) and that your peaceful evening with your significant other is about to abruptly end, resulting in a 72-hour work marathon without food
• User voodoographia: the compulsive creation of voodoo-doll representations of the subset of your user population that doesn’t seem to understand that their persistent lack of planning doesn’t constitute an emergency in your world
• Idiopathic anal tapereadaplexia: the sudden, late-night urge to mount backup tapes to see if they’re actually readable and labeled correctly
• Scientifica inapplicia: the strong desire to violently shake fellow system administrators who seem never to have encountered the scientific method
Many curative therapies can be used to treat this unfortunate condition. The most effective are a well-developed sense of humor and the construction of a small but well-endowed office wine cellar. You might also consider the more meditative approach of silently staring off into space and clicking your heels together whenever the words “Is the server down again?” are spoken in your vicinity. If all else fails, take a vacation.
1. Linux has been ported to a variety of other hardware platforms, including the Nintendo64 video game system. Who says Nintendo doesn’t make real computers?
2. Actually, it’s not really a fixed-width font, but it looks like one. We liked it better than the real fixed-width fonts that we tried. That’s why the columns in some examples may not all line up perfectly.
3. But this is not always the case. HP has done an excellent job of editing the man pages.
1.9 RECOMMENDED READING
ANDERSON, GAIL, AND PAUL ANDERSON. The UNIX C Shell Field Guide. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 1986.
HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY. The Ultimate Guide to the VI and EX Text Editors. Redwood City, CA: Benjamin/Cummings. 1990.
ABRAHAMS, PAUL W., AND BRUCE A. LARSON. UNIX for the Impatient, 2nd Edition. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. 1995.
PEEK, JERRY, TIM O’REILLY, AND MIKE LOUKIDES. UNIX Power Tools, 2nd Edition. Sebastopol, CA: