Unix Administrator: responsibilities, education, skills and career path

Administers Unix/AIX/Solaris servers, often in critical environments.

Entry

Intermediate

Coding

Medium

Key skills

Unix administrationShell scripting (ksh/bash)LVM / storageHigh availability

Common progression

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Career overview

The Unix Administrator keeps legacy but business-critical Unix platforms running: AIX, Solaris or HP-UX. The role demands rigour and deep OS knowledge, and is valued in banking, industry and large ERP contexts.

Main responsibilities

Install, patch and harden Linux servers
Manage user accounts, groups and access rights
Design and verify backup and restore procedures
Run patch and vulnerability remediation campaigns
Monitor platform health, alerts and dashboards
Build high availability and disaster recovery setups
Prepare and execute change requests in production
Keep technical documentation up to date
Lead incident resolution and post-mortem analysis
Follow capacity, performance and resource usage

Technical skills

Unix administration90%

Shell scripting (ksh/bash)75%

LVM / storage70%

Networking60%

High availability65%

Monitoring60%

Security hardening60%

Performance65%

Technologies

AIXSolarisHP-UXkshbashLVMVxVMNIMJumpStartZabbixNagiosSSHDNSHACMPVeeamGit

Education level

Education requirements vary depending on the company, country and experience. Professional experience, certifications and technical skills can sometimes compensate for formal education.

High School / Bac

Less common

Bac+2 (2-year degree)

Less common

Bac+3 (Bachelor)

Common entry point

Bac+5 (Master / Engineering)

Common entry point