Re: Admins to Boxes ratio

From: Lieberg, Patrick (plieberg_at_EV3.NET)
Date: 02/27/04

  • Next message: Kumar, Praveen (cahoot): "Re: Ulimit clarification"
    Date:         Fri, 27 Feb 2004 09:35:09 -0600
    To: aix-l@Princeton.EDU
    
    

    I think its safe to say, it depends on environment and the admins involved. I've worked in a setting where I was the sole admin for 40+ boxes in various parts of the country. The applications involved were highly unstable (ie poorly developed) and as such I spent alot of time putting out fires. I was highly over-worked in that scenario. However, if the applications in question had been stable requiring less of my time, supporting that many boxes wouldn't have been an issue.

    If you are putting in too much overtime trying to keep everything up and running and projects moving along and your boss is happy with your abilities then that's what you need to bring to his attention. If he wants one admin only but that admin works 60-70 hours a week until they go insane and quit, that's not a good scenario for the company.

    As others mentioned as well, its important to have someone to back you up when vacation time comes or you have some sort of other more unfortunate absence.

    -----Original Message-----
    From: IBM AIX Discussion List [mailto:aix-l@Princeton.EDU]On Behalf Of
    John Jolet
    Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 9:21 AM
    To: aix-l@Princeton.EDU
    Subject: Re: Admins to Boxes ratio

    Unfortunately, we run a 24x7 environment, so this ratio is way too
    high. It's okay for just keeping the balls in the air, but no one has
    time to go back and do performance tuning, capacity planning,
    configuration issues, etc. Ideally, you want your admins to have some
    free bandwidth for "improvement", not just running full time
    homeostasis. It also sucks when someone goes on two-weeks vacation....

    Gosselin, Mark wrote:

    >I have about 125 boxes (mix of Solaris, AIX, HP, and Red Hat), and I'm all alone. Make sure you definitely don't tell your boss that
    >one. Previously, I worked for a company that had a "standard" for this. Their thought was 60-75 boxes per admin, which is
    >exactly what John Jolet's ratio is... I feel a little bit overworked (especially because I also do some development work), but my
    >environment is pretty stable, so another person would likely be kind of bored.
    >I do get a college student "intern" in the summer and during winter semester break, so I do get some time to do things that pile up.
    >I'm trying to convince my boss that we need someone else at least part time....
    >
    >
    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Patrick B. O'Brien [mailto:pobrien@DOIT.NV.GOV]
    > Sent: Thu 2/26/2004 6:43 PM
    > To: aix-l@Princeton.EDU
    > Cc:
    > Subject: Admins to Boxes ratio
    >
    >
    >
    > Anybody have any IBM Documentation defining the AIX Admins to Boxes ratio?
    >
    > I'm an AIX Admin supporting some 14 AIX Boxes and a few RH Boxes; I think I could use some help. My boss wants to see if IBM agrees.
    >
    > Thank you.
    >
    >
    >

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