home Success stories Who is a “system administrator?” Admin

Who is a “system administrator?” Admin

So, you have read our article “Getting to know the PayPal payment system” and decided to become a user of this most popular payment system in the world. The solution is very logical: the vast world of foreign online shopping will open up for you, you will be able to independently pay for purchases at the ebay auction and hundreds of other online trading platforms.

Did you know that the name PayPal consists of two English words: " pay" And " pal" and literally translates as "pay your friend"?

Opening and maintaining an account with PayPal is completely free. There will be no surprises here. PayPal certainly doesn't Charitable organization, a commission is charged for services, but this applies to recipients of funds and sellers.

To register with Paypal you will need:

A payment card that must contain an amount equivalent to at least several US dollars (otherwise PayPal will not be able to authorize it). You can find out more about which card to choose for work in our series of articles devoted to this issue.
Electronic mail (e-mail). In theory, any address will do. Email. As a recommendation we can only offer do not use free services, and if there is no alternative to them, then stick to the most secure ones - for example Google Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Yandex Mail.

Registration in any online service is, as you probably already know, not difficult. And PayPal is technically no exception here. However, there are important nuances that you should definitely know about in advance. This company very carefully monitors compliance with the rules and, if they are violated, can simply block not only the violator’s account, but often others associated with it Accounts with a lifetime ban from registering again. What is worth knowing right away?

An individual is allowed to have only one PayPal account (there is only one exception: you can have one personal account for personal purposes, and one corporate account for business).
It is possible to delete your Paypal account, but the procedure is not quick. You submit an application, the account is frozen for 180 days (the period for considering possible financial claims against the owner) and then closed after about a year. You cannot open new accounts during this time. All closed accounts are under close scrutiny.
You cannot change the country of registration in your account, unlike other data.
If an account is blocked due to violation of the rules, the funds on its balance are frozen for 180 days and after this time are transferred to the owner. However, if it turns out that the owner’s data is falsified, then he will not be able to receive these funds.

Registration instructions:

You can ask questions regarding how to register with PayPal on our forum.

According to reviews from many users: it is advisable to verify the card immediately after registering an account, because Before the card is verified, there are quite strict limits on the amount of one-time payment sent. Card verification, as a rule, does not cause any particular difficulties for anyone.

Helpful information

Video instructions for registering on Paypal

Created in 1998 by former lawyer and financier Peter Thiel and programmer Max Levchin (by the way, a native of the USSR who emigrated to Chicago in 1991). Thiel and Levchin’s project immediately attracted investors: for example, Nokia Ventures immediately invested $3 million in the project, and Deutsche Bank - $1.5 million. The reason for such interest in the project was that the virtual market at this moment is acutely needed a financial operator that would perform the functions of an online bank, and there were no such structures on the Internet yet.

PayPal itself began operating in November 1999 and was immediately able to attract even more investors, including banks, which invested $23 million in PayPal. The rapid growth of the Internet led to a large influx of users. Behind a short time The number of PayPal clients has exceeded 1.5 million, and its turnover has reached $2 million per day!

At the beginning of 2002, PayPal shares worth $900 million were placed on the American stock market. In October 2002, eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion and declared it its basic payment instrument. Today PayPal is the undisputed leader in its field and none of its competitors could even come close to the number of users and turnover with which it operates. More than 90% of online sellers worldwide accept payment for their products only through Paypal.

PayPal Inc. has licenses from regulatory authorities regulating the activities of banks and financial institutions in 29 US states. User accounts in the system are denominated in US dollars and are insured by SafeWeb Insurance against unauthorized withdrawal of money in the amount of $100,000. User funds entered into the system are stored in Wells Fargo bank accounts.

Registration with PayPal for Russians was opened only in 2006, and Russians were able to fully use the system, including receiving money and withdrawing it to a card or bank account, only in 2013.

Some time ago PayPal added support for new currencies. In addition to US dollars, Australian dollars, euros, pounds sterling, Canadian dollars, Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the service now accepts Czech koruna, Danish krone, Hong Kong dollar, Hungarian forint, New Zealand dollar, Polish zloty, Norwegian krone, Singapore dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc. The project website has a multilingual platform that supports the following languages: English, Spanish, French, Chinese (!) and, what’s especially nice, for some time now also Russian.

The Paypal payment system is significantly different from other electronic payment services in that it deals with real money, and not “title units”. Paypal offers a financial instrument by which a plastic credit card or bank account is linked to the user's Paypal account, so that at any time you can directly top up your balance in the system or withdraw money from it.

Paypal revolutionized the world of mobile technology by making instant payments a reality using mobile phone(Paypal Mobile Payments). Users who have activated this service can make payments via SMS without even visiting the Paypal website. To do this, just send a text like “Send $20 to [user ID]” to the specified number, dial the confirmation code, and the payment will be sent immediately. However, this happiness is this moment May only be available to US residents.

Along with undeniable advantages, PayPal also has disadvantages associated, it must be admitted, with the conscientious work of the system’s security service. One of the inconveniences associated with this concerns us directly: Russians are left to look at many of its charms from the outside, since Russian users cannot take advantage of its services in full. True, on October 12, 2011, there was, without exaggeration, a huge breakthrough in relations with PayPal: if previously Russians could only pay for purchases and services through PayPal (at the eBay auction, in online stores, services of hosting companies, etc.), Now in Russia it is allowed to accept payments. However, Russians are not yet allowed to withdraw them from the system: they can only be spent on online purchases. However, if you, as a citizen of Russia, have a bank account in the USA, then you can transfer money to the card.

“The fact that Russians are subject to restrictions on accepting PayPal payments speaks to the ongoing fear of mass fraud. Our users need to be prepared for the security policy of this company, which allows you to block accounts without formal reasons or explanations,” Petr Darakhvelidze, director of external relations payment system WebMoney. The list of our comrades in misfortune and the “lucky” countries can be found on this page. It must be said that it is difficult to expect a different attitude towards Russians if almost every new topic with a question about Paypal on any Russian-language forum contains a question in whose name to register an account - your own or Auntie Rosa from Brazil.

The system is generally known for a series of scandals related to the blocking of funds in client accounts or simply freezing accounts if system administrators suspect that the account does not belong to the user. Angry customers even created websites www.paypalsucks.com And www.paypalwarning.com. They host the so-called “Wall of Shame”, which contains “horror stories” told by those who suffered from PayPal. In defense of Paypal, we can say that no other EPS can boast of such a large user audience, and the more customer base, the greater the absolute number of dissatisfied people, but in percentage terms no one keeps such statistics. Moreover, the burden of leadership in an industry is heavy for any company when every mistake and miscalculation becomes public knowledge and is dealt with with increased scrutiny.

The reason for such a picky attitude towards customers lies in the fact that the main pillar of PayPal's existence is account security. He helped the company survive for many years. And one of PayPal's security tools is clause II.3 User Agreement, which reads:

“You agree to provide true, accurate and complete registration information... You agree not to impersonate any other person or use a name that you are not authorized to use. If any information you provide is untrue, inaccurate, irrelevant, or incomplete, PayPal has the right, but is not limited to, to terminate your use of the PayPal services. And PayPal, its agents, suppliers and contractors have the right to require you to cover all costs and damages arising directly or indirectly from inaccuracy or incompleteness of information."

If we study in more detail the complaints about blocking accounts with thousands of dollars on them, in many cases it turns out that users, wittingly or unwittingly, violated these clauses of the User Agreement.

Services provided by PayPal

PayPal offers users the following services:

* Sending a payment (Send Money). A PayPal user can transfer a certain amount from his personal account in the payment system, as well as directly from a bank card or bank account linked to a Paypal account.

*Request to receive payment (Money Request). Using this type of service, the user can send letters to his debtors containing a payment request. You can address your letter either to an individual person or to a group of debtors.

* Posting on the user's website of the tools for accepting payments (Web Tools). This service is only available to Premier and Business account holders.

*Auction Tools. The payment system offers two types of services. Firstly, automatic distribution of requests to receive payment (Automatic Payment Request). Secondly, the winners auctions can make payments directly from the Web site where the auction is held (Instant Purchase for Auctions).

The maximum range of services is available to US residents, almost all services are available in countries Western Europe, China, Australia and Canada. But for many countries of Eastern Europe(which includes Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, etc.) this set is minimal - at the moment only the first item of the above list is available to us.

PayPal registration and account verification

PayPal offers three types of accounts:

Personal Accounts;
- Premier Accounts;
- Business Accounts.

Personal Accounts- for individual use only (for direct transfers to friends, relatives, clients, etc.). This type of account does not accept payments from credit cards and is intended for internal transfers in the PayPal system. The turnover limit on these accounts is $500 per month. And for an unverified account opened from Ukraine or Russia, a limit of $100 per month is set. Exceeding it may result in account blocking. In addition, as mentioned above, accounts opened from Ukraine or Russia do not have the ability to receive transfers through PayPal, regardless of the account type.
Premier Accounts- for users who have a larger turnover than their Personal Account allows, and who need to accept payments from credit cards or special PayPal tools (for example, integrating the PayPal payment service with the site).
Business Accounts- accounts for companies. They are issued on behalf of the company, under its logo and with its details. Such accounts can only be opened by companies with a TAX ID (taxpayer number).

Registration in the system is a simple process.

On the first page of the registration form, you indicate your country of residence and your preferred language for working with the system.
Next, you need to select one of three types of accounts (see above).
On the next page you need to enter your name, correct postal address, email and phone number. If the system does not accept your phone number, try entering it by putting spaces between the codes: +7 495 XXXXXXX.
You will then be asked to provide your credit or debit card details. However, this step can be performed later. Prerequisite- so that the issuing bank allows payment via the Internet. By the way, a virtual VISA card is quite suitable for registration, which can now be opened in almost any bank.
At the final stage of registration, you must verify your email: PayPal will send you an activation code. You will need to not only follow the link, but also confirm this action by entering the password you chose when registering with PayPal.

PayPal account is linked to a bank card or bank account user. The user can receive and transfer money from the funds accumulated in the PayPal account, and if these funds are not available or insufficient, then when paying, PayPal charges them from the account or card specified by the user. Thus, when depositing/withdrawing funds, the participation of intermediaries is excluded, and funds can be transferred to the user’s bank account at any time.

Until you provide your bank card details in your account, your account is considered unverified (unverified). To achieve verified status, you must first enter your card details on the Paypal website:

Credit Card Number indicated on the front side of your plastic card. You must enter it without spaces.

expiration date- this is the expiration date of the card. Usually it is listed there.

CSC (also called CVV2) - verification code. These are the last 3 digits on the back of the card (4 digits for American Express cards). If the number is not on the card, call your card issuing bank and find out.

After the card is added to your account, you can begin the verification procedure. Your account will be activated when you enter a special code on the site. To do this, you need to top up your Paypal account by bank transfer or payment from a plastic card. Your credit card will be charged $1.95 as a membership fee, which will be returned to you in 1-4 days, and $1, which is usually returned after 30 days. Thus, your card balance must be at least $2.95 before starting the procedure.

In the details of this payment, which you can see on your card transaction statement, you will find a 4-digit code that you need to enter on the PayPal website. In addition to issuing transactions, you can find out this code through online banking or calling the bank's transaction center. After entering correct code your account will automatically receive verified status.

Russians should be aware that due to the ban on receiving Money to a Paypal account they can only process payments using money from the card. Therefore, your account balance will always have zeros, no matter how much money is on the card. But this will not prevent you from paying for services and goods in online stores from your card linked to your account.

In Russia, the service of selling prepaid virtual cards for Paypal is now widespread. You can use this service (for example, buy such a card in the QIWI instant service terminal), if for some reason you do not want to trust Paypal with your data personal card. Although a number of resources warn that using such cards is not recommended. They say the Paypal security service may not like them, since they do not allow the owner to be identified. My personal opinion, which I in no way impose on anyone: since the functionality of Russian accounts is already nonexistent, and there is no need to talk about increasing the trust of your account in the conditions of the ban on accepting payments, then it is not at all a pity to lose such an account after making a payment, if provided that there is no money left on it. After which it’s easy to create a new one by linking another virtual card to it. A system for confirming a physical address may serve as a measure against such fraud, but the address is not a constant value, it can be freely changed even within one account.

Working with the system. PayPal Transaction Fees

The account number and client ID in Paypal is his e-mail. You can connect several to your account email addresses and receive payments on them. One of them is the main one. You can log in to your account using any of them.

PayPal has the ability to automatically exchange currencies, i.e. if the payment sender's account is opened in a different currency than the recipient's account, the payment will be converted into the required currency. Internal exchange rates can be found on this page of the Paypal website (login required). You can also use my Paypal currency converter. For currency conversion transactions, the system charges a commission of 2.5%. If the exchange rate in the system does not suit you, you can choose your bank as the center for conversion, from the account from which the payment is made. This is done in the section Profile: "My Finances -> My Pre-Approved Payments (click Update) -> Set Available Funding Sources -> Conversion Options." Here you need to select the option "Please issue me invoices in the currency specified in the Seller's invoice."

The minimum transaction amount for PayPal is $1.00 or its equivalent.

Paypal commission does not depend on the account type and is:

2.9%-2.4% + $0.30 USD for sellers (Online stores, auctions); i.e., the basic commission for online purchases is 3.4%, but can be reduced for stores with high turnover: the higher the amount of payments received during the month, the lower the system commission for such a store.
3.4% + $0.30 USD for personal payments (debt repayment, etc.)

Thus, when purchasing goods from online stores, Paypal does not charge a single penny in commission fees from the buyer.

$0.30 USD is a flat fee for payments in US dollars.

In addition to those indicated, additional fees may apply depending on the country of the seller or buyer. A table of additional fees can be found here. To find out the commission for your specific transfer, I recommend using ONLINE COMMISSION CALCULATOR IN THE PAYPAL SYSTEM .

There are limits in the system (for sending and receiving payments, for withdrawing funds from the account balance), which are imposed on Paypal users according to such criteria as country of residence, account type, etc. The limit can be imposed on both a one-time payment and monthly turnover. Users from the CIS usually deal with the “Sending Limit”: Paypal does not allow them to transfer a one-time amount greater than $300-500.

What to do in a situation if, say, you bought defective goods and demand a refund from the seller? After all, the seller will not be able to transfer money to your Paypal account. Fortunately, for such a case, the system has a payment return mechanism (refund). The seller can refund either the entire amount you paid ("full refund") or part of it ("partial refund"). The money is returned directly to the card within 3-10 banking days. After sending money, the status “Completed” appears next to the corresponding transaction in the transaction history.

In addition, the system provides a dispute mechanism ( Case ), which is located in the "Resolution Center" section. A dispute can be opened no later than 45 days from the date of payment. When starting a Dispute, you must fully describe the claims against your opponent. As soon as you open a “Dispute”, the amount you paid is blocked on the seller’s account until the circumstances are clarified. Paypal informs the seller that a dispute is open for a specific transaction and invites him to provide his arguments and evidence. If within 7 days the seller does not respond, or you and the seller are unable to resolve the problem, then no later than 20 days from the date of opening the dispute, transfer it to the “Claims” category ( Claim ) is a claim for damages. Then Paypal managers will consider the arguments of both sides and make a decision regarding the return of funds.

You can monitor the status of your dispute in the Paypal Resolution Center.

Paypal Account Security

Account recovery

If your account is blocked or stolen, it can only be restored if you personally contact the Paypal security service. If you provide copies of all requested personal documents, including a copy of your credit card transactions, or confirm the change of your IP address, PayPal security will restore the suspended user account.

Transaction protection

There are no protected money transfers in the system. There are also no measures to confirm transactions or significant actions in the account.

The main security measure in Paypal is the denial of service to anonymous clients: they are subject to limits that make working with the system almost impossible. Credit card verification is designed to confirm the identity of the owner of the card used. The security service apparently places its emphasis on the lack of anonymity and the possibility of involving services state security in case of account hacking, as well as strict restriction of access to work by the system of suspicious types such as Russians, Ukrainians, etc. Apparently, these measures are quite sufficient: as stated, the volume of losses eBay auction due to fraud, it is only 0.2% of the transaction amount (Paypal, I remind you, is the basic payment instrument of eBay).

<<< ЗАРЕГИСТРИРОВАТЬСЯ В PAYPAL >>>

2017-05-29 16:11:12

I am in the Baltics. You can deposit money through the terminal. Yes, and you can top up in the communication salon. I did so, but the money never appeared in the account. So I’m thinking about either trying again, or going a different route. But I definitely need PayPal.

2017-05-29 10:47:12

Sergey, PayPal is not a system that you can work with without a card. Before the card is linked, your account is unverified, that is, essentially non-functional. Moreover, they can limit it at any time before passing verification. If you need a payment system to which you do not need to link a card, choose something else - Qiwi, Yandex.Money, etc.
This is the first time I’ve heard about the possibility of replenishing a PayPal account through terminals. The PayPal website says that you can top up your account with cash only through Euroset and Svyaznoy communication stores. So it is unknown where your money even went. 2016-10-04 17:04:01

Vanya, according to the new rules, the pending period is 180 days.

2016-09-23 08:56:39

I sold an item on eBay, the payment was received, the buyer left a positive review. But the fact is that the payment hangs in the “pending” state for more than 60 days.
The support service did not respond to the letter (oddly enough).
Has anyone encountered such a problem?

2016-09-12 23:50:01

septime, if the price of a product is too attractive, you don’t have to worry that it’s a scam. But when they cheat you, you can try to open a dispute and prove that you didn’t receive anything. In theory, the seller will have to prove the opposite to PayPal - provide a postal track, etc.

2016-08-24 22:45:11

They want to send me an invoice in Paypal lkz payment for goods from Chinese company(I’ll make a reservation right away, this is not an online store). What is the likelihood that I will just get scammed?
I mean something even more different. If I don’t receive the goods in two weeks, what is the chance that an open dispute in the Paypal service will refuse me and say that it’s my own fault, that it’s unclear to whom I transferred the money for? Does anyone have a similar experience.
Naturally, I am attracted by the price of the product.

Computer administrator, coll. admin AI administrative interface management tool, for example, a network website...

Admin- Admin, ancestor of Jesus Christ (Luke 3:33; in the Synod. Transl. the name of Admin is missing) ... Brockhaus Biblical Encyclopedia

Admin- (Adminus) son of the Catuvellaunian leader Cunobelinus, expelled from Britain for his pro-Roman views. In computer slang, this is what they call a computer network administrator or a website administrator... Wikipedia

admin- noun, number of synonyms: 2 administrator (13) system administrator (2) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

admin- admin. administrative... Dictionary of abbreviations and abbreviations

admin- system administrator Our admin went on vacation, and also left the city, and therefore the server is now hanging on me... Dictionary of computer slang

admin- words network administrator, conferences, etc... Hacker's dictionary

Vacation (admin.)- (admin.) temporary dismissal official from official duties for household chores, illness or recreation. Those in the civil service, in all departments in general, are allowed to be dismissed from the O., with pay retained, for periods of...

Tejen admin. center Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron

Tejen, admin. center- Tedzhensky district, Transcaspian region, art. Transcaspian railway dor., at the intersection of its river. T. Zhit. 382 (1897). 11 government and 14 private residential buildings; 7 buildings for warehouses and shops. Primary school; windmill. Construction of the church has begun. Art. T.… … Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron

Books

Nick. Administrator, Andrzej Jasinski. It's good to be a magician. And which one exactly? A healer? Combat? Astral? A spontaneous person? Or maybe it's better to be a generalist? The idea is interesting, but is there enough strength, skills and knowledge? But all this is just a step... Buy for 240 rubles
Nick. Administrator, Andrzej Jasinski. Studio “MediaKniga” presents the fourth audiobook “Nick. Admin” of the popular series by Andrzej Jasinski – “Nick”. It's good to be a magician. And which one exactly? A healer? Combat? Astral? A spontaneous person? A…

Personally, I am a little depressed by the current situation with the name of the specialty. It's like at the dawn of development computer equipment everyone who at least somehow knew how to work with computers was strictly divided into two groups: “user” and “programmer.” You only know how to turn it on and poke it with one finger - a user. you understand what is happening inside - a programmer. So now everyone who is “not a programmer” is called a system administrator.

So, I would like to bring a little clarity to what a system administrator is.

I would formulate this specialty only this way - the maximum position for managing all information systems of an enterprise.

A system administrator is a person whose job is to:
First of all - in building policy and planning the organization of all information systems and networks in the company.
In everyday life - the implementation of this plan, recreating it in hardware, device configuration, software configuration, tuning, monitoring the state of networks, suppressing accidental violations, attacks and other threats.
In the future - planning for development and modernization, studying new opportunities and trends.

This position is only half “technical”, and the other half “political”. A system administrator is a senior IT manager who determines how and where all IT in the company will move, and ultimately how easy and convenient it will be for each individual user to use the “benefits of IT”. Below the level there are individual “narrow” administrators, such as database administrators, user support services, and possibly programmers writing some local modules. A higher level remains only “not technical manual" - top management and directors of the company. For example, management, due to the lack of necessary technical knowledge, is simply not able to know what equipment is needed to build a network, where there are narrow places and how much each of them affects or can affect business processes. As a rule, superiors only need to have information “how much it will cost us money and time” and “how much it will simplify the work/increase reliability.” And how and what technologies will be used, how and what users will receive, what they will be able to do and what not - these are the decisions of the system administrator.

What many (and even in their article sins of this:) call an admin is often an “enike person” (system engineer, shift engineer, technical support engineer), his tasks are really to deal with buggy Windows, printers and other small junk of the user. I understand that in a company with a couple of hundred jobs there is practically no point in hiring a separate system administrator (as a rule, such tasks do not arise there), which is why it turns out that an Enikey person sits and, to the extent of free time and experience, does the same thing tasks for setting up servers and hardware. There is nothing scary about this; after all, almost all system administrators started working as Enikey specialists, but they are not real system administrators.

I worked several times as a system administrator in companies where more than a thousand jobs are distributed over a large territory. For example, in one of them, in two years of work, I never saw the end user, and only spoke to them on the phone a couple of times. But for this, responsibility for the correctness of the chosen network construction policy, procurement planning for further development, the performance of all information systems, software, servers, data safety is the responsibility of the administrator. No one will be held accountable to an Enikey employee for lost data or a broken line - but for a system administrator this will immediately be disqualification if he did not provide backup paths in the structure that would ensure uninterrupted operation in the event of failure of individual nodes and quick options for restoring the functionality of any structure. And the decisions that a system administrator makes usually affect all employees who work with computers in one way or another. It is the system administrator who sets the tasks for programmers to write the necessary modules, and introduces the rules for working with software for the entire company.

I would like to give an analogy with city sewers - a system administrator is Chief Engineer city, which plans how and where pipes should be laid, where to build and how to connect substations. But the bearded man in a sweater is most likely a local plumber who changes the pipes in the house and does the wiring around the apartment. Without in any way detracting from the need for all professions, but these are very different things in terms of level of knowledge, education and tasks to be solved.

I also do not agree with the division into “core” and “non-core” employers. Here it is rather worth talking about whether there is a demand for serious IT for each specific business. For example, if you look at trade in general, they essentially don’t need computers; they set up a cash register and collect the money. But nevertheless, I observed one of the most interesting and developed IT infrastructures in a large trading network. And they didn’t skimp on development there, because they understood that this was the “lifeblood” of the business and when the network went down, there would be no sales, and these were huge losses, both direct due to standing equipment, and indirect from loss of trust.

P.S. And another interesting thing that I have noticed over many years, which is the highlight of all the things I have seen excellent System administrators have an almost manic passion for organizing everything that is under their control, from the configuration of equipment, documenting infrastructures and arranging patch cords in wiring closets, to perfect order on their own desktop. And by the way, there were no bearded people with a sweater among them; a good system administrator really looks like a manager.

P.P.S. I leave outside the scope of this article all “narrow” administrators, such as administrators of web servers, databases, email, domain, storage systems, network and so on. Although even the average system administrator should have a clear understanding of the essence of these specialties and in their work regularly consult and take into account the opinions of specialists or dive into the area themselves (if they have the strength and capabilities).

UPD: Well formulated my thoughts

Who is a system administrator and why is he needed? Why does this employee in the organization earn more than an ordinary accountant or manager? Who is he: a servant or a highly qualified specialist who must have high salary?

In any organization there are many people who believe that system administrators simply do not deserve their money, since for the most part their working day can be considered incomplete.

I would like to express my opinion on this matter.

Responsibilities of a Russian system administrator

The responsibilities of a system administrator in Russia include a very wide range of responsibilities, which in all civilized countries are usually distributed among several specialized system administrators.

In my organization, the system administrator must deal with:

maintaining the functionality of the entire computer park of the enterprise: starting from installation operating system and ending with staff training proper operation with additional peripheral devices;
consulting the organization's employees on issues related to the work of various software starting from creating tables in Microsoft Office and to the safe use of the global Internet;
acquisition of new computer equipment, acquisition of licensed software, starting from communication with distributor managers and retail stores and ending with receiving the goods (fortunately they don’t tell you to take the bus to get it);
designing an SCS, taking into account various factors that may affect its performance over many years of its life;
daily monitoring various systems security, ranging from monitoring anti-virus systems to intrusion systems.

In addition, every employee of the enterprise believes that if a system administrator knows how to repair a computer, then he can just as easily repair any other device that has at least one blinking light and a wire for 220 connections. Therefore, they bring to system administrators for repairs: kettles, heaters, calculators , CD players, telephones, video cameras and many other different household appliances, which in their opinion are almost no different from a computer.

Not to mention that CNC machines costing several million rubles are also classified as simple computer equipment.

Problems that probably every system administrator faces

There are a lot of problems that a system administrator faces when working in any organization at any level.

Explaining to people that a system administrator cannot fix a burned-out video card without buying a new one is practically impossible. Sometimes, you have to listen to stories about their old acquaintances “programmers” who, with their eyes closed and without the help of a soldering iron, repaired such video cards in 10 minutes.

Explaining to people that it is impossible to install Windows XP instead of Windows 98 on an old computer, in order to subsequently install some kind of CAD system for designing 3D models on it, is also very difficult. In Russia, for some reason, everyone thinks that they know a little more about this issue than you do and try to prove it to you without any problems.

I understand that in Russia the level of computer literacy among users is very low, but in my opinion the point here is not that, but that the Russian people are an ambitious, self-sufficient people who consider it their duty to figure everything out on their own and after that teach this to others.

Among other things, the system administrator must do all these actions practically without spending the company’s money, because the attitude towards the system administrator, both as an individual employee and as a large IT department, is the same - this is a department/specialist who actually does not earn any money for the enterprise, only spending it . In Russia there is no such thing as savings, which also form part of the income.

Why is this strange system administrator planning to buy 1-2 48-port Cisco switches, if you can get by with several dozen cheap 8-port D-Links. Why buy an expensive HP ProLiant DL Server if you can do everything on a simple Intel construction kit and not bother.

Attitude of other employees towards the system administrator

For most enterprise employees, a system administrator is a person who receives too much money and works too little. No one thinks that the position of a system administrator is a position with a large share of responsibility. Easy to use one of the services: SQL database, Internet gateway, mail server, etc. may result in significant losses for the company. It is clear that downtime in the work of an accountant will also have a negative impact on the well-being of the company, but in comparison with the first, they are small.

Is a system administrator a servant?

It depends on what you mean by the term servant.

Absolutely everyone can be included in this cohort of people. All positions, excluding managers, can be called servants, so you should not offend IT specialists and demand impossible things from them.