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Category Archives: System Administration
Be the User
A recent online experience with a large department in my state government left me scratching my head and wondering who was watching what. The relevant page was easy to find and, while I had to click through two more pages… (read more)
Posted in Management, System Administration
Tagged curiosity, DNS, Splunk
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On Methodical Problem Solving
Co-workers who have solved problems with me over any period of time have heard me talk about “building the matrix”. Sometimes its an actual table on a whiteboard (virtual or on the wall) while other times it’s in my head… (read more)
Posted in Management, System Administration
Tagged problem solving, processes
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Broken Everywhere
I catch some good-natured and well-deserved ribbing from my co-workers and colleagues about this precept, but frankly, I take it in stride. It’s true that sometimes the new hires don’t understand it right away, but once explained and demonstrated, I don’t… (read more)
Posted in System Administration
1 Comment
5 Reasons Why Not to Use Your Work Computer to Do Your Personal Taxes
You don’t have local admin. TurboTax requires1 it and you probably don’t have it, nor should you. Admins take away local admin because users frequently don’t look before clicking and because users install things they shouldn’t, possibly introducing malware or putting their organizations at… (read more)
Posted in Other Thoughts, System Administration
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Know when to STOP
After a frustrating day at work dealing with a repeat of a problem from this past spring, I related some of the situation to my crew of hecklers advisers at the dinner table: A software package common to all our… (read more)
Posted in Leadership, System Administration
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Why? — a short follow-up
I successfully finished a ISO 9001 class last week on being a lead auditor and during the training was reminded of an easy technique for getting to the root cause of some types of problems we face, including as systems administrators.… (read more)
Posted in System Administration
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On Walking as a Leadership Trait
One of my favorite leaders during my time at KeyCorp was a walker. He’d catch us early in the morning as he walked around the 6th floor. There were certainly faster or shorter ways to get to his office, but… (read more)
Posted in Leadership, Other Thoughts, System Administration
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Think about the next three
My company recently purchased three shiny new 1U1 servers, some new network and SAN equipment and a new rack to house everything. Just about as close to a true greenfield situation as you’ll find. And while it’s easy to install… (read more)
Posted in Management, System Administration
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If necessary, use your favorite tool
My “Emacs versus vi” post still brings in a significant number of page views each month. Much to my surprise. You see, I figured more sysadmins, programmers and users would recognize and emphasize the need to get things done over… (read more)
Posted in System Administration
Tagged emacs, pragmatism, vi
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A Different Diversity
Diversity in the workplace isn’t just about people, backgrounds, ideas and knowledge. Nor is it also just about inclusion. Let’s talk about server operating systems (OS). We all know that having multiple server operating systems (Windows, Solaris, RedHat, AIX, SCO,… (read more)
