NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/comp/os/vms/21896

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-24 | 3.0 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!ogicse!decwrl!waikato.ac.nz!comp.vuw.ac.nz!zl2tnm!toyunix!don
From: [e-mail] (Don Stokes)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: Operator Grunt duties
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 25 Jan 93 02:05:58 GMT
Article-I.D.: zl2tnm.17968024
References: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail] (GNEWS Version 2.0 news poster.)
Distribution: world
Organization: The Wolery
Lines: 47

[e-mail] writes:
>     What qualifications do/should system managers look for in an
> operator?  From reading the above posts about operators I get the
> impression that operators in general dont have to know anything about
> computers or operating systems.  Are you a qualified operator if you
> can press the up and down arrow keys to select menu items or should you
> be a trusted, knowledgeable memeber of the support team with full privs
> when you want them?
>     How can an operator take his job seriously if he is locked inside
> some captive command procedure flopping around like a fish out of water?

It depends a lot on the sorts of people employed.  At many sites I've
seen or worked on, the entry qualification for an operator seems to have
been "must be still warm", and it looks like some of 'em faked it.  At
others, the "operator" would be called a "systems programmer" elsewhere.

As a general rule, operators are not trained to maintain the system,
merely to do the day-to-day operations, which are mostly specified by
systems staff.  If the systems staff are any good, they should set up
captive procedures to do the few really privileged things an operator may
be called apon to do, and the operator normally be left with an account
of similar privilege to other users on the system plus (say) "OPER"
privilege.

On sites requiring out of hours coverage, it often helps to have a
privileged account available somewhere, perhaps with secondary passwords,
so that someone can get privileged access in an emergency.  This should
be available _only_ in emergencies (eg a supervisor holds the secondary
password), since normal functions should be doable through captive
procedures or using normal operator privileges.

Again, all this depends on the size of the site, how much $$$ the site is
intending to pay their operators, what the site expects from operators,
whether there is coverage of systems staff during all working hours, how
security concious the site is and so-on.

Remember that on most sites (at least in my experience), applications
programmers run around with only a bare minimum of privileges, and are
usually considered higher up the ladder in terms of responsibility.

The bottom line is: if you're serious about security, you give _all_ staff
the minimum privilege required to do their jobs.

--
Don Stokes, ZL2TNM (DS555)                        [e-mail] (home)
Network Manager, Computing Services Centre            [e-mail] (work)
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand              [phone]