21–30 of 65 posts
The most technical aspect: don't lose or destroy the data! Downtime is fine, losing data is catastrophic.
Grow a thick skin or move on. You will be the target of complaints. A lot.
This is not a promotion, this is making you to do something you have no experience with and making you do the job what the fired person done besides yours. Also being responsible for the whole IT infrastructure alone is definitely what I would not do without any experience. If that’s how the company handles this, I would start to look for a new job immediately.
https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/wiki/index/
Also recommend the hangops slack team: https://signup.hangops.com/
You said: > my background is with information security and it's going to be a big challenge for me because it's my first job.
I see a lot of good advice for people who kinda-sorta know what they are doing. You did not say if this was a linux-based job or a windows-based job. This makes a small difference. If this was a windows-only shop, my advice would change slightly (e.g. Do you understand windows automated deployment with a system like SCCM or whatever you have in-house? Do you know powershell? From your comment, I think the answer is "no".) If this was a linux-only shop, again my advice would change (Do you know how to write any code in any language? From your comment, again, I think the answer is "no".)
You say you are confused about how to manage everything, I am assuming you do not mean "I have a huge pile of IT inventory" and what you mean is "I have 200+ different pieces of software/applications running, how to keep track of all of them, their status, upgrades, needs, etc."
Every sysadmin I ever worked with that was worth their weight was at one time a programmer, CS major or CS graduate. I do not know if you have the time to learn programming in this position, so I would ask the following question:
Is it your desire to be a sysadmin as a career or do you want to do Info Sec as a career?
If you want to be a sysadmin, you need to learn some programming. Pick something that fits in with what kind of shop you are in (win/linux/mixed). If you do not want to be a sysadmin, figure out only how to keep the ship afloat, and start looking for an InfoSec job. You will eventually dislike the sysadmin position. It takes a special kind of person to automate everything they do, and build things only to tear them apart later (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01672...).
Most people in here have given great advice, but IMHO I am not sure if it fits in with your skill level. I do not mean any insult, but I knew InfoSec people who were expert sysadmins, and others who knew nothing about the job.
Programming background in C and python, also bash and powershell programming.
Knowledge of networking and computers in general( I know how to fix hardware in general and know how to deal with Linux and Windows)
My background is in InfoSec, so I Know how to create scripts in general, analyse and mitigate vulnerabilities.
It's my first job, so I'm really anxious on how to do stuff, because I have some theoretical knowledge but never did it in a company, I always did it at home working on some personal labs.
Thank you again, I really appreciate your comments. Love you all
Okay, 3 rules for sysadmin positions: - The most important rule is that your recovery from backup procedure is working properly. - The second most important rule is that your backups are working properly. - The (distant) third most important rule is to always individually backup any text file you edit before you edit it. Seriously. These are the most important rules. Other pro-tips are to test any changes to remote a…
To add to this.... Don't change things like routing tables or server network device / firewall configurations without physically being on site with the thing you're changing.
Something breaks in christmas eve, you have to fix it. Something breaks in the friday evening you have to fix it. This is a job that needs multiple people in long run usually.
This is not a promotion, this is making you to do something you have no experience with and making you do the job what the fired person done besides yours. Also being responsible for the whole IT infrastructure alone is definitely what I would not do without any experience. If that’s how the company handles this, I would start to look for a new job immediately.
Okay, 3 rules for sysadmin positions: - The most important rule is that your recovery from backup procedure is working properly. - The second most important rule is that your backups are working properly. - The (distant) third most important rule is to always individually backup any text file you edit before you edit it. Seriously. These are the most important rules. Other pro-tips are to test any changes to remote a…
>Other pro-tips are to test any changes to remote access (SSH most importantly) before you close the session that you made the changes in. To add to this.... Don't change things like routing tables or server network device / firewall configurations without physically being on site with the thing you're changing.
Here's what to do in the first few weeks: 1. Require not 1, but 2 people, for hire, right now. It will take a long time until it gets approved, HR does their thing, and you (or someone else) hire people to help you. 2. Document, as fast as you can, all of the assets in your environment. Don't waste time on looking for software. Plain text or spreadsheet will do for start. 3. Identify the most important assets (server…