Systems Administrators Heavily Tasked, Trusted Computer Solutions Survey Reveals

By Avery Fellow | December 14, 2009

System administrators are swamped with duties, from putting out fires to addressing information security concerns, a new survey conducted by Trusted Computer Solutions Inc. (TCS) revealed. TCS, a developer of cross domain and cyber security products, distributed the survey at the Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference last month in Baltimore, which is "the largest event put on exclusively for system admins," according to TCS Vice President of Marketing Sherryl Dorch.

The survey profiled 100 system administrators, 63 percent in the private sector and 37 percent at government agencies.

"I was most surprised by the fact that only 26% indicated that they were facing budget reductions," Dorch said.

Two-thirds of survey participants reported that they spend hours, even days, manually securing systems as opposed to using automated tools. "Manual lock down is still widely used because, until recently, there were no tools that automated the process," Dorch said.

"It is very common to find tools that scan an operating system and report on the level of compliancy against some set of standards, but there were no tools that actually went out and configured, or locked down, the OS," Dorch said.

And these tools can be cost-effective, Dorch said. By next year, "I hope that we find that system administrators are more widely using automated tools to lock down their operating systems, thus saving vast amounts of time and money," Dorch said.

Forty-three percent of respondents reported that their biggest challenge is integrating new technologies into an existing infrastructure.

In response to the question, "In 2010, what technology investment is your organization’s highest priority?" 73 percent said virtualization, 14 percent said cloud computing, 11 percent cited security, and 2 percent said Green IT.

The survey showed that system admins juggle an array of job duties, from responding to problems to installing, maintaining and upgrading servers. Seventy-five percent of system admins reported that they were tasked with information security duties.

TCS plans on conducting the survey again at next year’s LISA conference in San Jose, California.

To view the complete survey results for 2009, visit http://www.trustedcs.com/documents/LISA_Survey_Results.pdf

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