What makes a SysAdmin of the Year?

Network/Systems Management This newsletter is sponsored by Confio Software Reduce IT Investment with Proper Oracle Performance Tools What do you do when your network faces high wait times, dropped sessions, and application lock-ups? Typically the reaction is to spend on expanded server hardware capacity, additional Oracle licenses, installation and project management costs. Utilizing Ignite for Oracle from Confio has demonstrated the ability to cut Oracle wait times by 30-90%. Read this white paper to learn how using Ignite, a typical organization can achieve a 35% performance improvement, generating ROI of 965% first year, based solely on reduced server investment. Network World's Network/Systems Management Newsletter, 08/06/07 What makes a SysAdmin of the Year? By Denise Dubie The last Friday in this past July marked the 8th Annual System Administrator Appreciation Day -- a day to recognize all the typically unnoticed efforts of systems administrators, network managers, database administrators and other IT professionals. Last year a group of industry organizations and vendors established a contest around the appreciation day, created by Ted Kekatos, naming one among 5,000 nominated IT professionals SysAdmin of the Year. The winner, Michael Beck, enjoyed the recognition, but the prize -- a trip to a Washington, D.C. LISA conference -- wasn't really the thrill of a lifetime. The free all-expense-paid trip took him just a just a few miles from his Herndon, Va., work place. Yet Beck more than appreciated the nod; he was after all nominated by his boss and peers. He enjoys his work and was glad to hear others thought he was doing a great job. "I was very excited and a bit overwhelmed, but it was great to hear that I must be doing a good job. It is a very cool thing," says Beck, systems administrator at Emerging Technologies Group, a network and systems forensics consultancy since October 2005. New Executive Guide Network World has recently published an executive guide entitled "Virtualization Meets Reality". Find out the 8 key challenges of virtualizing your data center. Download it now! This year he sits on the panel of judges for the second annual System Admin of the Year contest along with appreciation day creator Kekatos, Jeff Bates from Slashdot.org and author Tom Limoncelli who is quoted saying, "SysAdmins typically only hear from higher-level managers when there is a problem. These IT professionals are the ones on the front lines keeping mission-critical servers and applications running. They deserve to be recognized and applauded." Now I have some of my own stories about Network World IT staff saving my skin when drafts of perfect prose have nearly been lost. I could recall many times that they jerry-rigged my computers so that when traveling to conferences my leading-edge laptop would work on show networks. And I'll never forget when IT helped me stay connected during the all-too-frequent work-at-home instances when it just seemed I was out in left field and not part of Network World. For all these reasons, I appreciate the unsung IT heroes at Network World. But I don't forget the IT rock stars when their duties are less than glory-grabbing. For instance, the days I have no IT headaches and no reason to call the help desk are the days I most appreciate the network managers on staff here. What I want to know is the reasons you appreciate your systems administrator? What life-saving feats have they performed for you, making them worthy of such a title as SysAdmin of the Year? Let me know.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: Senior Editor Denise Dubie covers the technologies, products and services that address network, systems, application and IT service management for Network World. E-mail Denise. This newsletter is sponsored by Confio Software Reduce IT Investment with Proper Oracle Performance Tools What do you do when your network faces high wait times, dropped sessions, and application lock-ups? Typically the reaction is to spend on expanded server hardware capacity, additional Oracle licenses, installation and project management costs. Utilizing Ignite for Oracle from Confio has demonstrated the ability to cut Oracle wait times by 30-90%. Read this white paper to learn how using Ignite, a typical organization can achieve a 35% performance improvement, generating ROI of 965% first year, based solely on reduced server investment. ARCHIVE Archive of the Network/Systems Management Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007