"Your organization needs this book!" --Peter Salus, Chief Knowledge Officer, Matrix.Net, "The Bookworm"This book describes the best practices of system and network administration, independent of specific platforms or technologies. It features six key principles of site design and support practices: simplicity, clarity, generality, automation, communication, and basics first. It examines the major areas of responsibility for system administrators within the context of these principles. The book also discusses change management and revision control, server upgrades, maintenance windows, and service conversions. You will find experience-based advice on topics such as: bull; bull;The key elements your networks/systems need that will make all other services run better bull;Building and running reliable, scalable services, including email, printing, and remote access bull;Creating security policies and enforcing them bull;Upgrading thousands of hosts without creating havoc bull;Planning for and performing flawless scheduled maintenance windows bull;Superior helpdesks, customer care, and avoiding the temporary fix trap bull;Building data centers that prevent problems bull;Designing networks for speed and reliability bull;Email scaling and security issues bull;Why building a backup system isn't about backups bull;Monitoring what you have and predicting what you will need bull;How to stay technical and how not to be pushed into management And there's more! When was the last time you read a book that dealt with: bull; bull;Real-world technical management issues, including morale, organization building, coaching, maintaining positive visibility, and communicating with nontechnical management bull;Personal skill techniques, including our secrets for getting more done each day, dealing with less technical people, ethical dilemmas, managing your boss, and loving your job bull;System administration salary negotiation tips--the first book that includes this topic! Chapters are divided into The Basics and The Icing. The Basics are those key elements that, when done right, make every other aspect of the job easier. Things like starting all new hosts with the same configuration and picking the right things to automate first. The Icing sections contain all those powerful things that can be done on top of the basics to wow customers and managers. Do the basics first. The icing is a vision for the future that usually only comes with decades of experience. 0201702711B07232001