what does a system administrator do?

[Franco Saliola]

Hello there everyone.

In September I took over a part-time system administrator position for
small university computer lab. It has about 20 computers. They're all
linux machines, running RedHat Enterprise Linux. The position is
supposed to be the equivalent of a teaching-assistantship (10-15 hours
per week) at the university (I'm a graduate student and avoiding
freshman by administering). I basically got the job because no one
else wanted it (and because I have some linux experience).

Besides a near hard drive failure on the mail/http server, there have
not been many problems. In fact, this job has required very little of
me, most of my time is spent helping users with specific problems (How
do I listen to CBC radio online? How do I set environment variables?
How do I print single-sided?) So I'm wondering if I'm doing something
wrong. So here is the question.

What should a system administrator be doing? Or what is expected of a
system administrator?

Do you have any suggestions for resources for a good administrator
book (with an emphasize on security preferably)?

Thanks for your time,
Franco

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