This article gives a funny look at 25 of the worst
characteristics of crummy network administrators. Unfortunately,
too many probably happen in most offices. 
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Here's the first
5:
1. No priority for priority: Each new day in the
TCP/IP world brings a host of new tasks, some trivial, others
critical, and still others perceived as critical though they are
not. Besides these, you also have items in your backlog folder that
need to be addressed at the earliest possible time. So the best way
to screw up your schedule (and that of your users) is to run from
pillar to post attempting to set things right, without assigning
priority to the most severe problems first, without tracking the
status of all the requests that pour in, and without documenting
the time, tools and methods spent on addressing and resolving each
issue.
2. Be busy, not productive: The shortest route to
this trick: do not automate recurring tasks, and under no
circumstances should you find permanent solutions to common
problems. You dont need to know that you can simplify your work
with tools Neo, NetFlow, MRTG, Oak, TCPDUMP, ping none of these
are a regular part of your vocabulary. And you certainly dont need
to take the trouble to customize some of them using a scripting
language. And finally, you dont need to know that you can use the
UPS in a major file server to send an automatic email each time
theres a power spike.
3. Say no to knowing your network: Monitoring your
servers and your network interface is unnecessary, simply because
you have no need to know how much traffic is traveling about your
network. Regular observation of your network provides you with
knowledge on normal, trouble-free usage, which in turn helps you
identify problem spots and potential causes when youre called to
troubleshoot and plan for future growth. This is not necessary for
a terrible network administrator.
4. Bye to Backups: Data is the lifeblood of any
organization and probably the most valuable part of a network. Bad
network administrators do not have reliable backup measures, do not
backup data regularly, and do not have effective recovery plans for
system data that is lost or corrupted.
5. Knowledge is dangerous: Identifying new
security issues before they become problems is possible with a
little research, yet incompetent network administrators are not
concerned with such things. They dont care to know when the new
upgrade is out, or how to combat the latest forms of
intrusion.
Read the rest of the article
HERE.
