What does a Linux system administrator do? Depends on what kind of systems you are supporting. Some general duties most Linux admins do include. Building servers That is hardware up usually. Youâ??ll order a server, but typically you add hardware too it. Servers usually come with Linux already installed, but itâ??s probably not your distro or version of your distro or not properly configured for your environment. So typically youâ??ll install the OS, configure it, set up the drivers and configure them. Backups: If you are not doing backups and testing them, you donâ??t deserve the title admin. Network security: Even if you have a network security group, the first level of defence is you. Checking logs: Read your records, they help you solve problems before half the department is busting your door down wanting to know why their stuff isnâ??t working. Write scripts, typically in Python & PERL but dozens of other languages are commonly used, and youâ??ll write BASH scripts fairly often. Plan for usage: So if you have DB servers, youâ??ll generally set up failover and availability for them. Watch for space usage and provide more long before the server eats up all the space. Configure the logging level to a lesser level and listen to developers scream if the logs are a threat to running the server out of disk space (never install apps like DBs & Web servers on the root partition. If for nothing else because if the logs go wild and eat up all available space, all it does is crash the web or DB server. Linux handles running out of space on the Root partition gracefully, but thatâ??s part of the problem. You get all sorts of wonky errors that make no sense until you figure out you are out of space on the root partition). Generally, itâ??s best to add drive space BEFORE you have to alter usage. However, sometimes itâ??s just not possible due to budgets. A budget you help set with your predictions on future space usage. Reset passwords: No matter what servers you run, somebody will find a way to forget their password. Play with new hardware. Your an admin. You get first dibs; you have to â??testâ?? it after all. Making sure updates and upgrades are tested before being put on production servers. Configuring routers, setting up printers, and similar devices.