1. Climb Out of the Hole CPTE 433 Chapter 2 Adapted by John Beckett from The Practice of System & Network Administration by Limoncelli, Hogan, & Chalup

2. The Problem You are too busy fighting fires to get things done right You have lots of fires because you aren’t doing things right

3. What is “Doing Things Right?” Use a trouble-ticket system Manage quick requests properly Adopt time saving policies Start every host in a known state …

4. Use a Trouble-Ticket System Assure that each ticket goes to completion –User, dispatcher, and tech sign off Documents current state of unresolved tickets Provides important historical data for management/planning Dash- board Management Interface Service

5. Trouble Ticket Cycle Trouble Ticket System SA Dispatch SAs SA Mgt Clients Admin A trouble ticket system is the core of SA management

6. Trouble Ticket System Messages SA Dispatch  > Enter ticket  > Reactivate ticket  < Ticket status SAs  < Ticket information  > Tasks done  > Needs  > Add’l tickets SA Mgt  < Dashboard  > Decisions Client  < Status information  > Add’l data Administration  < Value delivered  > Money needed

7. Managing Quick Requests Have a shield –SA assigned to quick requests You may want to rotate this duty Are all SAs equally trained or do they specialize? Precursor tasks (e.g. password resets) need priority

8. Trouble Ticket Response Time is (sort of) Like Network Packets Latency –How long it takes for a problem to reach the person who can solve it. Bandwidth –How quickly a person can solve a problem

9. Time-Saving Policies Define how people are to get help from your group Define scope of responsibility for your team Define emergency Define “quick request” These policies are the responsibility of SA management –Individual SA discretion needs to be defined

10. Policy Tradeoffs

11. Start Every Host in a Known State Have standard build methods for servers and clients. –Make this a key part of your technology platform Limit the number of options –Record the options in that workstation’s entry in your inventory/ticketing system Automate the build process New projects start with a standard build –Document steps to final state

12. Other tips Make email work well –Stable, reliable, functional Fix the biggest time drain –Identify what’s bleeding you, give it necessary resources to solve it –“Rinse and repeat” Quick Fixes –Get production going –Cost more to fix properly later on

13. More tips Sufficient power and cooling –People and technology malfunction if they aren’t comfortable Simple monitoring –Email-enable systems that might fail –Set up a Web-based dashboard Work to make it more comprehensive Practice using it Update it as reality changes

14. Beckett’s Tips Clearly identify and label each device and service with a unique name that does not collide with any other namespace –Never, never, never re-designate (rooms, devices, etc.) Solo operation with no trouble ticket system? Start with 3x5 cards –Perhaps print one side with basic info like who reported it, phone number, resource failing or needing upgrade, and 1- line description Expect to outgrow a trouble ticket system –If it’s comprehensive enough for the future, you might never get it off the ground in the first place Work through your trouble ticket system, not around it