Systems Administration (Windows + Linux)

Real portfolio pieces built during the course, not a certificate for its own sake. Each one is work you can show.

• User provisioning scriptOne PowerShell version and one shell version of the same new starter routine: create the account, put it in the right groups, force a password change, refuse to run twice, and write a line to a log every time.
• Backup and restore runbook with a tested restoreWhat is backed up, where it goes, how long it is kept, and the restore procedure written step by step. Plus the record of the restore you actually ran: what came back, how long it took, and what did not come back.
• Patch logA row per server per patch cycle: what was applied, when, by whom, whether a reboot happened, what was checked afterwards, and the backout you had ready. The document that answers the auditor and the two in the morning question.
• Server build checklistThe repeatable build: naming, patching, time sync, accounts and access, storage layout, monitoring, backup enrolment, documentation and the sign-off line. Written so a second person builds an identical server without asking you anything.
• Service outage postmortemA blameless write up of one outage: timeline to the minute, impact, what actually caused it, how it was detected, what fixed it, and the specific actions that make the next one shorter. Interview ammunition you can talk about for ten minutes.
• Contractor access decision recordThe migration broken into the tasks it actually contains, each with the access that task needs, the person who owns that data and has to approve it, what is being refused and what the refused grant would have allowed, and an end date with a named person against every grant.