The System Administrator role contains various specializations: System administration (in the strict sense), middleware administration, application administration (technical and functional) and education. In many projects all these specializations are needed.

In System Administration it is about responsibility for administering the system (Operating System, hardware and network). If bigger changes in this area are necessary, a separate infrastructure project is usually set up.

In Middleware Administration it is about responsibility for administering middleware, like application server, repository, messaging systems, security and optimalization tools.

In Application Administration it is about responsibility for administering applications, functional and technical. Functional Application Administration comprises maintenance of the configuration of applications and support of users. Technical Application Administration comprises deploying applications and writing and executing back-up, restore and cleaning procedures. Both give helpdesk support.

In Education it is about responsibility for producing and maintaining User Support Material.

System Administration:

• Knowledge of the systems and products used, including their interfaces
• Knowledge of maintenance and monitoring tools

Middleware Administration:

• Knowledge of and experience in the relevant middleware products
• Knowledge of the interfaces with other systems
• Knowledge of security and optimalization tools

Application Administration:

• Knowledge of the business processes which the maintained application supports
• Knowledge of the application and the relevant Data Model
• Knowledge of the relevant (relational) database systems

Education:

• Knowledge of the application
• Experience in writing technical documentation and User Support Material

• Set Up a Staging and Production Environment
• Install the Product in the Staging Environment
• Describe Procedures for Installation, Maintenance and Support