Here's how you can effectively solve problems in System Administration.

Ask Questions to User or Yourself - What are you trying to do when this Problem , or issue occurs ? - Do you have any error code or error pop up showing? - How often this error or issue have occurred, are you able to repeat that behaviour? - When was last time this App or System worked without any issues? - What has changed since last successful access or run of this application or system?

The first thing to do when you receive an incident ticket or experiencing an issue is to understand the issue. If it is an internal issue, you can start by identifying all layer within the issue itself, then go deeper until you find the blocker. With some external issue , when you work in managed service provider, you can start with reproducing the issue, to find out if it is a global issue or only on the customer side. You may notice that it was happenning after a change has been made.

Check Basic things first such as : - User Credentials not locked out or expired - User has proper Access for system or Application such as check DL or security Groups in AD. - OS is not outdated and install pending updates. - Drivers are up to date. - Restart the Application - Start with Restart of computer , which will clear out corrupt application cache, temporary files etc.

Prioritizing your day is of utmost importance: - prioritize issues affecting multiple users or big operations, such as a department, a site, an application , a network etc. - communicate Well. Always update your Tickets and keep users informed about the progress of resolution of their issue. - Multitask, for example use solutions for mass deployment such as SCCM for imaging.

The first thing to do when you receive an incident ticket or experience an issue is to understand the problem. For internal issues, start by identifying all layers of the issue itself, then go deeper until you find the root cause. For external issues, such as when working in a managed service provider, you can start by reproducing the issue to determine if it is a global issue or only on the customer side. You may notice that the issue occurred after a change has been made.

- Do not underestimate the importance of Equipment, product or application Documentation for troubleshooting issues - learn troubleshooting tools such as sysinternals and other diagnostics tools. - Always check application or system logs, event viewer for crash events - learn the basics of underlying OS technology for the issue , for example Basic Networking, Bitlocker, UEFI, Disk partitioning, volumes, fragmentation, processes, services, Simple Database basics, User management , Active Directory etc.

If tou facing some issues, check related documentations. It may happen that documentation dont obtain informations you need. Dont be afraid to check internet. Wide comunity of system administrators sharing their knowledge online. Its not shame to look for the answers online.

- Check the documentation before applying updates , for any incompatibility issues -Before apply OS, Application or database patches or upgrades always test beforehand in Test Environment to avoid any issues. - Always Back up system, VM or database before patching, so can always restore to original state if anything goes wrong with patches - Keep your Back up for couple of days until upgraded system has been fully tested in production environment.

Documenting every issue and its resolution is important in a ticketing system, especially for system administrator engineers. We all benefit from it. Good documentation should include all diagnosis steps, testing in a test environment, and the resolution itself. It should be helpful if the problem reoccurs. Additionally, good documentation should be updated when a better solution is found to address the issue. Somedays, you will look backwards and will thank yourself for it.

Effective problem-solving often involves stepping outside the box. Don’t be afraid to challenge norms and explore unconventional solutions. Innovation starts with a bold question!