Today is System Administrator Day!

Expert interview with our system administrator Rainer Mack

Author Kurt Schauer

Sometimes you need a certain technical know-how to successfully achieve a goal. That's when it's needed: our system administrator and coordinator in the web department Rainer Mack. In his Expert interview He gives you an insight into his daily work at KAOS and reports on his tasks as system administrator.

Rainer, which program are you most familiar with or which program is your “stepphorse” in terms of technical knowledge?

I'm more of a jack of all trades and I'm familiar with many programs in the design and web world. A broad knowledge base is often helpful when it comes to identifying errors, as different systems have to work together, especially on the web, and it's not always clear where to start if something doesn't work as expected.

My favorite operating system is MacOS, which I have been using for a very, very long time.

How do you handle support for users and endpoint systems?

If something isn't working, there can be many different reasons. So I always try to find out how an error occurred. That solves many situations and I then try to explain to the user in understandable language why it happened. We tend to throw around as many technical terms as possible.

Exactly, very apt.

How do you handle current positions, backups and restores?

Internally, it is of course also essential that all employees have backups of their work devices. This way, the previous state can be quickly restored at any time.

We offer our customers a maintenance and backup service for websites. Regular backups are extremely important, as errors can occur in connection with different systems that are not caused by the user. In any case, a backup is carried out before updates are carried out, so that in the worst case scenario you can immediately revert to the original version.

Of course, we also regularly check that the backups are actually working. Here, too, we are not immune to failures.

What is a system administrator's favorite question?

“Have you tried rebooting? – ????"

Very popular.

What was the hardest problem you ever solved?
Phew, luckily I haven't had a real disaster yet. I hope it continues to be like this. There are always tricky situations, which mainly occur when several systems have to work together and you have to find out step by step what the cause of the problem is.

How do you keep up-to-date with the latest technological changes?
The most important source is newsletters. I have subscribed to one or more newsletters from the various departments in order to be as well informed as possible. And don't forget to exchange ideas with colleagues. And of course you should also attend an event every now and then. On the one hand, you can learn a lot about the topic and you can also learn a thing or two by talking to other participants.

Finally, what does a typical working day as a system administrator look like for you?

There is no such thing as a typical working day, as the tasks and requirements are constantly changing. What is often required is to provide support over the phone, monitor and check systems, carry out administrative tasks and, of course, to solve problems, both large and small.

Thank you Rainer for the brief insights into your work as a system administrator.