Re: [SAGE] Complexity of sysadmin scripts/programs in your organization?

[Christophe Kalt <sage-members@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Apr 09, Eric Wannemacher wrote:
| How much programming are sysadmins allowed to do in your organizations
| and how does the org maintain the level of knowledge to support those
| programs after individuals move on?  I am talking about long lived
| scripts/programs and not throwaway data cleanup scripts.

It's not really any different from other pieces (software,
servers, tools) of the infrastructure we deploy/maintain.
Sure, some things don't require much (in terms of skills) to
maintain, but many others do, not just scripts.

| Are you limiting the languages that can be used to "scripting"
| languages?

Yes; there are too many languages, and most sysadmins (or even
programmers) can only be expected to be proficient with a few.

|             Limiting the complexity?  

Not specifically.  Complexity is generally bad, whether in
scripts or elsewhere.

|                                       Specifically hiring people with
| programming backgrounds?

With programming skills, yes.  The more senior the position,
the more advanced programming skills i demand, but even for
junior hires it's essential although that's probably less true
for bigger shops with sizable helpdesk teams.
i believe that good system administration practices require
automation, therefore i feel that sysadmins who cannot
program are limited in how useful they can be.

BTW, if you look at the SAGE Job Descriptions, only the
lowest level (Novice) doesn't mention scripting/programming.