Managing the Mission Critical Environment
E. Scott Menter
Enterprise Systems Management Corporation
Abstract
Mission critical environments present an entirely unique set of
challenges to the systems manager. "Make it work and watch the
budget'' are the standing orders for most systems administrators, and
yet in some situations the consequences of systems-related problems
can be devastating, whereas in others the result is no more than
inconvenience. As UNIX systems are increasingly at the heart of vital
financial, medical, and defense technologies, we thought it would be
useful to examine how systems administrators can cope with the
challenges of managing such an environment. Finding and deploying the
correct technology is only half the story: the systems administrator
in this role is part of a social dynamic in which personnel and their
skills are constantly being evaluated against their ability to support
the mission. Thus, to be successful, the systems administrator has to
be equally adept at handling both the politics and the technology that
are endemic to the mission critical environment.
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