See also: Root | Moderator | Sysadmin | Sysop
AKA: Administrator
One who controls or polices a given area such as a server, gaming session, web site, or moderated newsgroup. This site‘s admin is Erik. Administrators make sure things develop smoothly.
Note that the admin may have his own superior, either in real life and/or in the hierarchy of the computer itself. An account or individual may be given “admin” priledges or controls which give him more power but not full control.
The “Administrator” login in Windows is the highest login while “Root” is the highest on an individual <code>*</code>NIX machine.
Using your power wisely
- Separation – It is generally good security to create a sub-account and only use actual Admin functions when necessary. See: root. This also goes for political reasons, similar to the way seeing a cop drive by can make people behave differently than their neighbor.
- Malicious Users and Programs – The goal of most Crackers or worms is to gain the most amount of control possible. Admins should be aware of individuals or requests to gain more power. Sometimes, all a Bad Guy needs is a user account on your system to gain Root priviledges.
- Abuse – Using your power for bad, sometimes known as a BOFH, can result in fewer Users and a decrease in your general Karma.
Related Link
- Sys Admin Magazine – The journal for Unix system administrators — doesn’t quite belong in Unix, really not sure where this ought to go
TakeDown.NET -> “Admin”