Re: [SAGE] Debriefing a sysadmin

[Robert Brockway <rbrockway@opentrend.net>]

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004, Ken Detweiler wrote:

> Well said Carl.
>
> As I read through all of the excellent replies, it occurs to me that
> this is for the most part the sort of thing that organizations should
> probably require their Sysadmins to document and keep up to date on a

Absoutely.

> regular basis as part of the job description. But how many really do?

In my experience few businesses cover this well, and IMHO they do so at
their own folly.

cf Truck Number.

On a related topic (and I know I've mentioned this before), a tracking
system which logs system changes is a great adjunct to formal
documentation.

Regarding email archives (mentioned by the original poster), keeping
important system information in inaccessible personal email is a danger
also (IMHO).  If the admin team may need access to information keep it
where the admin team can see it.  This is pretty easy.  We CC: all emails
we receive from clients or send to clients into RT3 but an email folder
accessible to the entire admin group is ok too.  This is a great source
of information for the regular documentation reviews/updates[1].

[1] They are regular, right? :)

Rob

-- 
Robert Brockway B.Sc.
Senior Technical Consultant, OpenTrend Solutions Ltd.
Phone: 416-669-3073, Email: rbrockway@opentrend.net, http://www.opentrend.net
OpenTrend Solutions: Reliable, secure solutions to real world problems.