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SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR OF THE WEEK: Week of May 30, 2006

System Administrator of the Week archive send feedback and nominations to sotw@lopsa.org

Scott Murphy

LOPSA Member Name: scott5

location:
Ottawa, ON, Canada
site:
Workstream, Inc
servers:
200
workstations:
250
sysadmins on staff:
3
site overview:
Corporate Head Office and Datacenter
job title:
Sr. Unix Systems Administrator
time at this job:
3 yrs
    
years as a sysadmin:
13
first computer:
Timex-Sinclair TS1000 (Sinclair ZX81 for North America)
first OS:
VMS
favorite OS:
Unix (pretty much all flavours)
first computer with root/administrator access:
'286/12 running SCO Xenix
first programming language:
Pascal
favorite programming language:
Perl
most often used programming language:
Perl
first sysadmin job, computer and os:
firewall administrator, Mac Centris 660AV running OS 7 with a telnet client
ideal sysadmin job:
data center design
favorite sysadmin tool:
leatherman (hardware), ssh (software)
most interesting sysadmin tool:
nmap
sysadmin tool I couldn't work without:
ssh
education:
BSc Computer Science
when I was growing up, I wanted to be:
a scientist (I sort of got there)
If I wasn't a sysadmin, I'd be:
bored
when friends and family ask me to “fix” the computer or “fix the internet”, I say:
Sorry, I don't do windows.
when I first meet someone, and they ask what I do, I say:
“systems, network and security administration”
system administration is ...:
25% art, 25% science and 51% inspiration (math isn't my strong suit)
advice to a junior admin:
learn proper troubleshooting techniques and check the cables.
advice to a senior admin:
just because the new guy suggested it doesn't mean it won't work. Don't forget to check the cables.
    
favorite food/cuisine:
thai
pizza topping:
not tofu
work music:
pretty much anything (except country)
crisis music:
classical
___ gets me through the work day:
Tea gets me through the work day: conversation, new toys and interesting challenges help too.
hobby/other job:
video editing, security consulting, web hosting
    
my office is:
a cube
co-workers say my desk is:
cluttered
learned the most from:
my first manager
wish list:
no more “reality” shows
daily web sites:
freshmeat and userfriendly
Is the Sarbannes-Oxley Act (“SOX”) good for system administration?
Having just gone through the exercise of both sox and sas70, I'd have to say not really. It only addresses the financials and portions of accountability and doesn't address a significant enough portion of the actual profession. SAS70 is much more comprehensive and is geared towards the entire IT environment. You can pass a sox audit and still have a terrible environment.
editor:
vi
mail user agent:
thunderbird
web browser:
firefox
gui or cli:
cli
computers at home:
25
(primary) home computer and OS:
Apple powermac G5 running OS X
oldest hardware in your garage or basement:
TRS-80 Model 100 portable computer (still works)
anything else?
More O'Reilly books than I can keep on my shelves.

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