Help me with ITIL and SysAdmin

UnixGuy

I noticed that some System Administrator job vacancies require a knowledge of ITIL. I attended ITIL V3 Foundation training 2-3 yrs ago, and I passed the ITIL V3 Foundation.

But right now, I don't know how ITIL standards map to my job as a System Administrator.


If you are a system administrator, do you deal with anything ITIL related?


If one is asked during an interview (for a system admin position) about applying ITIL standards to the job, what's a correct answer for that?

lordy

Well, ITIL is a collection of best practices and concepts so there are no "correct" answers. For System Administrators you should know these topics:

- Incident Management
- Problem Management
- Change Management

I was once asked during an interview what I would need to implement a change. I answered that you would need a description what's to be changed, approval by the CAB and a back-out plan. That's pretty much what they wanted to hear.

Incident Management revolves around handling day to day issues, e.g. the hard disk of a server is full.

Problem Management deals with the root-cause of Incidents to reduce their number and/or impact. This may lead to changes which are then, again, handled through Change Management.

UnixGuy

Thanks Lordy

The thing is, we do all this practically, but I don't know what's ITIL and what's not

N2IT

Problem Management is also used to forecast trends in the environment. Without a problem management process in place it's like driving a car without a dashboard.

This will tie into Risk Management where you can use decision trees to determine if the problem is worth accepting or removing.

On a side note I no longer use any framework but mold and adopt bits and piece of what I need for my own depending on the environment.

Most environments I have worked in refuse to use the term "problem management" it has a negative undertone which a lot of high level managers do not like at all. The most recent environment I noticed it was called root cause management. I think most people get the two confused or use them back and forth with each other. Hopefully ITIL changes the name Problem Management.

UnixGuy

N2IT I agree with you, those standards are not written in stones, and we should implement what's suitable.


So if the interviewee asked you how would you use ITIL as part of your job as a sysadmin, what would your answer be?

N2IT

Lordy is right on point with the change piece. Have a change advisory board and an emergency process in place as well. Document all changes according to best practice in a CMDB. (Always to take in account the environment you are working within).

Problem management would snap into Incident management to monitor root cause of true problems and not one off issues.

Request like user account access and standard request would snap into play as well. Access control | Change Request

In other words I would suggest what Lordy mentioned and then mention how you would review the processes and make a determination after reviewing the processes. Not one template fits all environments so it's critical to analyze the environment before implementing a ITIL process or any service process for that matter.

What ever impacts the service in a positive way to support the business initative is what I would go with first. Always default to the business

ChooseLife

UnixGuy wrote: »

So if the interviewee asked you how would you use ITIL as part of your job as a sysadmin, what would your answer be?

I think Lordy's answer is right on. Our company implements and follows various processes, and as a sysadmin, I tend to most often deal with
- Problem & Incident Management (understanding terminology and processes is important when working on issues originating from Customer Support dept)
- Change Management (understanding and following the processes, dealing with periodic CABs, emergency CABs)
- CMDB (maintaining SVC, centralized configuration (Puppet/Chef))

HTH

pumbaa_g

I think we are missing the bigger picture, ITIL is not written in stone. Neither does it (like ISO Standards) give a list of "Shall" & "Should" which need to be followed, its basically a best practice which is proven to work in the IT Industry. Individuals or corporations can customize it as they require depending on the requirements/situation. The reason why Technical Staff/Sysadmins are required to know the ITIL process is so that they can work towards making the service better, customer happier and all the fuzzy stuff in between.
I am sure the companies did not have a core ITIL crowd as they would not just restrict themselves to questions related Incident/Problem but also about Continuous Improvement/Release & Deployment Management & Config which are very relevant to a Sysadmin role.
If you have a good understanding of ITIL it opens doors for running projects and working with management