Ask Slashdot: IT Staff Handovers -- How To Take Over From an Outgoing Sys Admin? 195
Solar1ze writes "I've just started a role in an IT services firm. I'm required to take over from an incumbent who has been in the position for three years. What are some of the best practices for knowledge transfer you have used when you've taken over from another IT staff member? How do you digest the thousands of hosts, networks and associated software systems in a week, especially when some documentation exists, but much of it is still in the mind of the former worker?"
Ideas (Score:5, Insightful)
Primarily, you'll want to build an honest rapport with the other person. Get inside their head a little and allow them to brag A LOT. Ask how they found the place and what they did to change it. You'll want to breeze through all of the high level and important documentation first so you'll have a baseline. Take as much notes as you can. Ask what websites/resources they use to make it easier to follow in their tracks. Explain your situation to them. It will humanize yourself in their mind and you might be able to engage their compassion for you. Perhaps they would be available to answer questions after they leave! Is there budget money for them to be used as a compensated resource? Hopefully they like the idea of helping others and putting some scratch in their pocket.
Bon chance!
Steve
Although it might take an hour or more.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:There is only one way... (Score:5, Insightful)
Hope he is leaving on a good note, and not holding grudges.
Then systematically go through each machine for which he has a password and have him record these in some secure password vault application of your choice. And also any root passwords he has. Passwords to routers, print-servers, off site corporate backups, corporate accounts (supplier's web sites etc), certificates owned, domain names, email accounts, etc. (You'd be surprised how many small to mid sized businesses wake up two years hence to find their website unreachable because the renewal went to some gone-guy's inbox and/or bounced).
Go over the system layout (map of the network, interconnects, lans, NAS's, servers, etc), and for EACH NODE, ask if anything has been changed since it was created. If you ask if the document is up to date, he'll just say "pretty much" but if you go over it one router at a time, he will remember things that don't appear in the notes for one reason or another.
But mostly pray he's leaving happy, and not pissed.
Re:There is only one way... (Score:5, Insightful)
If he is leaving happy, get his contact info and ask if you can check in with him in the future if you have more questions.
Most of the issues I've run into over the years did not center around HOW something was done but WHY that particular design was chosen. Usually there's one or two weird items at every site that the rest of the system has be designed to accommodate.
Re:There is only one way... (Score:4, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:There is only one way... (Score:4, Insightful)
Some other bits:
First, oddball configs - that is, take notes on any custom settings and processes.
Nothing is more irritating than to troubleshoot something, only to find that the configs are some goofball way-out-of-the-ordinary rigging that somehow works in spite of itself. Or worse, discovering that what looks like a straightforward deal becomes a messy multi-day-outage when you try to fix it according to best practices.
Sure, you can build-up a replacement that has far better/standard configs, or put together better processes... But that doesn't help you out when $system is down and your users want it back *right now*. It's better to at least get some insight into why it was set up the way it was, and you can then plan of rectifying that before it goes down (and as a bonus, knowing how and why it's rigged like it is, making t-shooting a lot easier to do.)
Also, I'd get some insight into what projects he had planned and in process - those will give you some insight into what you yourself will really want to pay attention to. For instance, if there's a backup improvement project planned, it may well be because the existing backup solution either sucks balls, fails any integrity checks you may have, or is about to collapse any day.
Finally, sit the admin down and go over all vendor-supplied services and service contracts (service, certificates, etc), and find out what's about to expire. It would kinda suck if you have your SAN (or worse, core switch, Oracle DB product, etc) crap out, then discover that the platinum 4-hour service contract attached to it expired a week after that guy left... per-hour charges are brutal, parts are moreso, and if your company does the whole PO thing? It's gonna suck.
Overall though - wring that guy's brain out, and record it to audio if you can. It'll save you a lot of headaches down the road.
Re: There is only one way... (Score:2, Insightful)
While I take pride in my work, all my efforts have to be compensated. I am just like any other business.
Re:There is only one way... (Score:5, Insightful)
The big difference here is that some filing clerk or HR drone, or Sales exec leaving, pissed or not, does not put your entire infrastructure at risk.
A pissed sales exec might try and take his customers with him. The HR drone won't be missed, they are a dime a dozen.
But the Sys Admin, leaving pissed, can put you in a world of hurt by just changing his phone number, not doing any skulduggery.
A vindictive ex-sysadmin can put your company down for the count months or years in the future, when you least expect it, from a cafe in Puerto Viarta.
Re:There is only one way... (Score:5, Insightful)
If he's leaving happy, ask him (and your boss) to work out an hourly consulting rate so you can reach out to him for the next few months and he'll be properly compensated for it.
Re:shadow while you can and guesswork there after (Score:5, Insightful)
Some companies can't afford 2 sysadmin people. It's not that they are deliberately gambling, they are doing the best they can with limited money.
I don't agree. If admin is critical to the future of the business, either they're cheaping out or they shouldn't be in the business in the first place as they're incapable of estimating the real cost of doing that business.
If something fails when I'm home sick and the business suffers, they should be wearing a "Kick me!" sign on their back. They've no right to blame anyone but themselves. I'm human, not a perfect machine or a robot. Expecting otherwise is just wishful thinking on their part. They deserve the consequences.