Sections
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Concurrent System Administration
Introduction
In order to have a smooth working system administration
process, the various system administrators somehow have
to cooperate in a specific way.
Book keeping
Some bookkeeping helps in this process:
- /root/MUTATIONS:
A file where each atomic action of a sysadmin is
documented. Preferable with date ordered entries.
- /var/mail:
Make use of the e-mail phenomenon to update your co-admins
of the latest important changes!
- /etc/motd:
Update this file to inform your co-admins and users of
important changes.
- /dev/oral/communication:
Use this device to communicate with your collegues before
doing anything that could have/will have a rather large
impact on the running system.
Other points of attention
Having some standard habits and procedures can be helpful too:
- *-dist files:
If a sysadmin is the first to alter a certain file,
for example /etc/rc.conf, it is wise to make a backup
to /etc/rc.conf-dist, in order to preserve the original
file. Later on, you can review the differences between
the original and the new version of that file.
If a *-dist file already exists, it should NOT be over-
written. When you'd feel safer to have a backup of the
latest version, copy the file to something like *-old.
The *-dist files are the original files of the original
installation of the Operating System you're using.
- installations of third party sofware:
If you need to install a program that's both in the
binary package collection and in the /usr/ports collection,
choose for the former. No needless compiling and wasting
diskspace, bandwidth and CPU cycles.
- installation of already present software:
Make use of the already present software on the system.
OpenBSD for instance, comes with Apache out of the box.
No use retrieving, compiling and installing it yourself.
Installed software has been reviewed by the OpenBSD team,
who patch it when necessary for security fixes.
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