System administration is typically done by information technology experts for or within an organization. Their job is to ensure that all related computer systems and services keep working .

A system administrator, or sysadmin, is a person responsible to maintain and operate a computer system or network for a company or other organization. System administrators are often members of an information technology department.

The duties of a system administrator are wide-ranging, and vary from one organization to another. System administrators are usually charged with installing, supporting, and maintaining servers or other computer systems, and planning for and responding to service outages and other problems. Other duties may include scripting or light programming, project management for systems-related projects, supervising or training computer operators, and being the equivalent of a handyman for computer problems beyond the knowledge of technical support staff.

It is common for systems administrators and systems analysts charged with developing and maintaining computer processes to identify operational and developmental systems. This is done to provide maximum reliability and availability on mission-critical systems used within the organization's processes by generic users to accomplish routine work while providing developmental resources to computer process development or research teams augmenting existing or developing new processes for the organization.