Re: Number of admins per number of users

[Pat Wilson <paw@northstar.dartmouth.edu>]

Bennett -

There really _aren't_ any good guidelines, since number of admins
seems to follow complexity of environment more than anything more
straightforward (number of users, number of machines, number of
OSes).  My rule of thumb is that the "right" number of sysadmins
is generally at least one more than you can have. :-<

If you're feeling overwhelmed, you probably _are_ overwhelmed.
It's an occupational hazard, though - you'll get used to it in
time.  Hiring a new person will help for a while - there's an
initial ramp up time when they're getting to know your
environment, and then eventually _they'll_ be overwhelmed too -
work seems to increase to overwhelm most shops.

As for whether all of you do work interchangeably or have your
own areas of expertise, I think things evolve to the
differentiation, but it's always nice if everyone knows enough
about what everyone else does so that you can take a stab at
something in an emergency.

Good luck.  Make sure your machines are as secure as you can make
them - it'll save you time in the long run.

Pat Wilson
paw@dartmouth.edu


>  Our site currently has the following:
>  1  rs6000 AIX server
>  48 Wyse terminals
>  1  Linux i486 server
>  2  Windows NT application server
>  1  Windows NT print server
>  1  Windows NT primary domain controller
>  1  Citrix server
>  6  Laptops (3 NT Workstation, 3 Win95)
>  30 Desktop computers (18 Win95, 8 Win98, 4 NT Workstation)
>  1  ISDN WAN link
>  1  Switched 56k WAN Link
>  1  pair Cisco routers
>  
>  Approx. 150 users
>  
>  Services include: WWW, FTP, NFS, DNS, LPD, Samba, proprietary
>  
>  Soon to add:
>  2  HP-9000 (1 core database, 1 radio frequency)
>  
>  -----------
>  
>  There are only two of us, administrators, at the site.  Lately I have
>  become overwhelmed with things to do.  It is probably a comman thing but I
>  was wondering "typically" how many admins are there at a site like ours.
>  
>  At the risk of "boss bashing" I am the only technical person at the site.
>  They, (HR), have mad mention about hiring a person to support me.  I don't
>  know what the norm would be. 
>  	1) Should we all be working on the same things?
>  	2) Should we departmentalize?
>  	3) Am I "not really" overwhelmed, but just think I am?
>  
>  Thanks in advance,
>  	Bennett
>  
>  +----------------------------------------+
>  | Q. How do set a laser printer on stun? |
>  +----------------------------------------+
>