Re: sample questions for sysopr and sysadmn

["Al Barsa Jr." <barsa2@xxxxxxx>]

At 08:24 PM 4/16/98 -0700, you wrote:
>     
>     Hi,
>     
>     I am preparing a set of questions for recruiting System operators 
>     and the System Administrators for AS/400. Does any one has typical 
>     questions which they can share with me or any info on this is 
>     appreciated.
>     
In my humble opinion, there are two types of operators.  Very good and
unqualified.

When I tech out an operator I sit them down at a workstation and ask a few
simple questions, asking the operator to do what I ask.  I observe what the
operator does, and how intuitively they handle the system.  

Caution, an accomplished operator can appear lame on an unfamiliar
keyboard, or on a PC versus a dumb terminal.

I ask them to:

1.      Locate all of the spooled output in a specified output queue.

2.      Assuming they pass question 1, I ask them to move a particular spooled
file  to another output queue.  

At this point in time, most unqualified operators are weeded out.

3.      How many jobs are running on the system?

4.      How much disk space is used on the system?

5.      How do you determine what release I am running?

6.      How do you determine what IBM program products are on the system?

7.      How do you determine what PTF level am I at?

8.      What message queue do system operator messages go to, and display them?

At this point, you can starting discussing topics without them doing what
you ask:

1.      Tell me how to IPL and power down the system.

2.      Have you ever applied a cum tape/CD.

3.      What's the name of the manual that descries how to do this?

4.      Have you ever recovered a disk failure with loss of data.  (Note:  Many
good operators have never seen this today!).  Let's discuss the process.

By this point in time, you should have a good idea of what you are dealing
with.

For a system's administrator, you need to ask further questions.   I've
never teched one, but the questions that I would ask would be:

1.      How do you create a user profile.

2.      Describe the difference between *ALLOBJ authority and *SECADM authority.

Hopes this helps.

Al


Al Barsa, Jr.
Barsa Consulting, LLC.

(914) 251-9400
(914) 251-9406 (fax)

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