A system administrator describes the role of a person whose job includes maintenance duties for the long-term support of a computer system.

Typical daily tasks for a system administrator include:

  • password reset
  • printer queue troubleshooting
  • userid add/modify/delete
  • troubleshooting, and answering questions
  • perform backup and restore operations of files

These more infrequent tasks are also an important part of a System Administrator's job:
  • Operating System configuration changes
  • software updates, for the OS or the application(s) it runs
  • hardware changes

Typical responsibilities of a System Administrator:
  • documenting the configuration of the system
  • keep the system operating
  • maintain the security of the system
  • keep the application running
  • participate in most changes to the system
  • own the passwords to the administrative userids

To call yourself a System Administrator (SysAdmin), is to sharply define yourself as different from the following roles commonly found in the IT industry:
  • DBA
  • Application Analyst
  • Programmer
  • Network Specialist
  • System Architect

See also: BOFH, PFY.