Linux Admin Questions

[darktubbly]

So somehow, I had myself believing I was suitable for an assistant Linux sysadmin position, and I sent in a resume. Lo and behold, they called me up two days later, and I have an interview in a week. I'm no {n,b}oob when it comes to Linux, as I've set up servers, installed patches, and monitored system performance, but I still think I'm lacking in some respects.

Any resident admins care to offer any insights on what they would expect from an assistant admin?

 

[rmrf]

what systems will you be assisting on? is it a linux only position, or will you be providing support for unix systems as well?

I wouldn't worry too much about it. An assistant sysadmin position won't be asking too much to start. I'm guessing they will get you into the role to shadow someone for a little while, then start setting you off on your own to see what you can do on a few different aspects. Maybe post a job description for a more in depth reply.

 

[Crusty]

Yeah, it's hard without a job description.

 

[drag]

If you look at my sig there are some manuals from a professional linux certification course that has lots of good tidbits of information and such. So looking around there may be a good start.

Probably the best thing, I figure, is to ask a lot of questions about what they do and what they use with their specific setup. Lots of times I've taken classes and learned this and that only to find out later that while the information was good it wasn't realy applicable to real-life situations in the way that I anticipated it. Most everybody has to undergo a big huge dose of on the job training, but if your familar with terms and some concepts and feel comfortable around the enviroment that your working in, then when you ask questions you'll seem intellegent and knowledgable and you'll be able to more easily understand what they tell you.

Stuff like 'what do you use the servers for' and such. Do they use a lot of custom software to run stuff, do they like to use Perl for instance? Or do they prefer to stick to stuff like Redhat's GUI administration tools. Be curious and attentive and try to give the impression that this stuff is stuff that you consider fun and interesting.

That's what I figure anyways.

 

[Hyperblaze]

You might be preforming monitoring or setting up open source applications.

Or you might be doing development.

or something completetly different. Can't give you any advice till we get more info.

 

[darktubbly]

Thanks for the responses so far...the job is a university department position and includes a hodgepodge of items ranging from end-user support, performance tuning, account management, maintaining software/documentation, etc. I think I'll be okay if I brush by reading some of that documentation.

 

[MGMorden]

Make sure you know cron pretty well. I'd recommend that you know basically how to crank out a shell script (not blindfolded, I know I use references when I write them). Make sure you know the basic command line utils (grep, awk, less, find, etc). Beyond that, it depends on how picky your perspective boss is. Heck I mentioned that I "knew how to use Linux" and got stuck with admining a FreeBSD box, a Solaris box, and even working a bit with the AS/400 (still baffeled on the last one; it's not even a Unix).

 

[Brazen]

Really, the best thing to do is just be honest in your interview. Since it is an assistant position, you will have someone to bail you out; but if they have to hold your hand with everything you do then it's kinda pointless to have an assistant.

Be honest and if you have the qualifications you'll be hired, or if you are lacking but the best they can get, then you'll get hired and you'll have to rough it out, but as long as your don't say you know more than you do, then at least they will be expecting it.