Ideas for sysadmin tools appear below. This is probably less interesting if you’re not on my team but feel free to join in if you like.
Stuff sysadmins want to control and automate
- Access: passwd, sudo, ssh keys
- Package install: rpm check, install, freshen
- System config files: hosts, resolv.conf, sendmail.cf, etc/
- Ability to install a script and run it once
- Ability to schedule a job (cron) or make sure it starts (init.d)
- Synchronize a directory (via rsync or similar)
Stuff that should be monitored
- Is a certain process/service running
- Disk, memory, cpu usage limits
- Syslog messages in general
Please respond with anything else that should be included in your “Dream Sysadmin Toolbox”. I will edit the above lists as we come up with more ideas.
Mostly a joke, but semi-serious:
‘sign in to all users currently connected to the system, and execute a controlled shutdown on everything they’re working on, saving all their files, and then log them out for the night, locking them out until the date changes over. You can have a white-list to make certain folks (like the CEO) immune, but everyone else has to call you up to let you know why they’re delaying the planned maintenance by staying logged in.’
The command mnemonic:
sumo