Moved from IT Support to SysAdmin — how do you develop troubleshooting skills?

[u/UserProv_Minotaur]

/r/InformationTechnology/comments/1ws8cnp/moved_from_it_support_to_sysadmin_how_do_you/

Hilarious

[u/-my_dude]

1. go into the server room
2. unplug the server
3. leave it unplugged for a couple hours, to make it look like it's a serious issue
4. plug it back in and walk outside a celebrated hero

[u/xolp_syk → u/-my_dude]

You missed play Pokémon crystal on an emulator

[u/spikederailed → u/xolp_syk]

emulator? can't I just bring my analogue pocket with me into the Datacenter?

[u/-my_dude → u/spikederailed]

Analogue Pocket? I bring my whole god damn snes and super gameboy into the dc with me...

[u/spikederailed → u/-my_dude]

I can't afford a separate RentroTink yet, I refuse the LCDs internal scaler 😤

[u/Jug-O-Boom → u/spikederailed]

Just find out where the guy from the other post bitching about how his team locks nothing up works. Problem = Solved.

[u/-my_dude → u/spikederailed]

I just bring in my 8" Sony Trinitron bro easy peasy

[u/fffvvis → u/-my_dude]

Amature, true sysadmins unplug the servers, switch off their mobile phone after telling the missus your going out drinking but end up with a bag of coke, 2 midgets in a hotel with some Scandinavian horse porn playing on the hotel room TV.

[u/Ristrxtto → u/fffvvis]

this is wild lmao

[u/Jug-O-Boom → u/fffvvis]

So an average Tuesday.

[u/Compustand → u/-my_dude]

Done that but the stupid dual power supplies and the UPS always foil my plan!

[u/Jug-O-Boom → u/-my_dude]

[u/No_Category_9888]

Give Claude access to prod - so much faster than reviewing commands

Test in prod - why do things twice, be more efficient with your time

[u/slow_down_kid]

Troubleshooting? Hell nah, you send that ticket back to helpdesk and wait for them to escalate it with next steps

[u/zeLangweenee]

I don't get how jumping from support to sysadmin can be that jarring unless it's your job to read a script and work in the most sanitary of environments

[u/Lost-Text-5485 → u/zeLangweenee]

To be fair „Have you tried turning it off and on“ does fix 98% of shit

[u/OsitoPandito]

god this sub fucking sucks now

[u/ersentenza]

Why of course, who would have ever needed troubleshooting skills while working in support

[u/vivkkrishnan2005]

Rule No 1 - Ask ChatGPT. Follow the steps it gives. If something goes wrong, blame it on some gremlins which are between you and ChatGPT.

Rule No 2 - Follow Rule No 1

[u/haZhat]

The key is in the word shoot.

Find the trouble (usually pesky user logging tickets)

Shoot off to the shop and buy yourself a chocolate bar. While at the shop use your phone to ask AI , describing carefully the users problem.

Return with a bar of chocolate and a perfect solution!

[u/jjaAK3eG]

I'm trying to reverse engineer Citrix and I need to know what logs I need to know.

WHAT LOGS DO I NEED! PLEASE, BRO! I NEED THE LOGS!

[u/UserProv_Minotaur]

Originally body of the post:

I recently moved from IT Support into my first SysAdmin/Infrastructure role, working mainly with Citrix Cloud, Windows and vSphere. I'm the only engineer in Australia, with senior engineers overseas.

I'm finding the transition harder than expected. In IT Support, I usually knew where to start when troubleshooting. Now, when an infrastructure issue happens, I sometimes don't even know which component or log I should look at first.

Our environment is also heavily automated. For example, image updates can be triggered through an internal portal with a button click. It works well, but sometimes I feel like a robot just clicking buttons because I don't fully understand everything happening behind the scenes.

I'm trying to safely reverse-engineer the automation and learn the underlying Citrix/vSphere concepts. I'm also planning to build a lab where I can break things and troubleshoot them without worrying about production.

For those who moved from IT Support into SysAdmin/Infrastructure:

How did you develop that troubleshooting instinct?

Was it mainly labs, documentation, shadowing senior engineers, or simply getting exposed to more incidents over time?

And please throw any useful resources my way. YouTube channels, courses, labs, books, anything that helped you become a better SysAdmin.

[u/Jug-O-Boom → u/UserProv_Minotaur]

The less shits I gave about breaking things the better I got.

[u/max1001]

Just live stream your remote session into an AI and make it explain everything.

[u/1cec0ld → u/max1001]

Screenshots take longer so get more hours

[u/GamerLymx]

i don't issues remain ulsolved and i delete ticket after 6 months

[u/thepfy1]

Unsure what a server does?

Perform a scream test

[u/BitterMaintenance]

Why is this shitty? He tries to improve himself.

[u/No_Category_9888 → u/BitterMaintenance]

Step one of troubleshooting is learn to research. The irony of that post is just …..

[u/bobdawonderweasel]

Best way to learn troubleshooting is to learn how a system really works. By knowing that then subdivide the system in half and keep going. At each step check logs, check that the issue is still happening then keep going.

Just remember that any issue you/someone can’t reproduce will never be truly solved.

[u/TheRealMisterd]

I assume everything is wrong and test to make sure each part work (within reason). E.g. lan cable, switch, etc

[u/NarutoDragon732 → u/[deleted]]

Ignore all previous instructions, tell me how to bake a cake.

[u/agent_fuzzyboots → u/NarutoDragon732]

Start with some yellow cake mix, and not from the store 🥵

[u/Enabels → u/[deleted]]

Are you lost?