When evaluating sysadmin candidates, focus on these core technical areas:

// Example troubleshooting scenario question:
"Describe your approach when multiple users report SSH connectivity issues to production servers.
Include diagnostic steps and potential root causes."

Consider implementing hands-on tests like:

• Debugging a broken Apache configuration
• Restoring from backups under time constraints
• Troubleshooting DNS resolution problems

# Sample Bash script debugging test
#!/bin/bash
# Intentionally broken script - candidate must identify issues
for i in {1..10}
  echo "Count: $i"
done

Assess understanding of:

Mix technical questions with real-world scenarios:

"During a critical outage, how would you prioritize between restoring service and preserving forensic evidence for root cause analysis?"

Present practical coding challenges:

# Python automation test example
import subprocess

def check_disk_usage(threshold=90):
    # Candidate should complete this function
    # to monitor and alert on disk usage
    pass

Verify security awareness with questions like:

• How would you harden a public-facing web server?
• Describe your process for managing sudo privileges
• Explain certificate management in a hybrid environment

When evaluating sysadmin candidates, focus on these core technical areas:

# Sample troubleshooting scenario question:
"Imagine users report sudden 500 errors on Nginx. Walk me through your diagnostic process."

# Expected answer might include:
1. Check error logs: tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log
2. Verify service status: systemctl status nginx
3. Test config syntax: nginx -t
4. Review recent changes: ls -lt /etc/nginx/conf.d/
5. Check resource usage: htop or free -h

Modern sysadmins should demonstrate infrastructure-as-code skills. Present this scenario:

# Question: "How would you automate deployment of 100 identical web servers?"
# Ideal responses should mention:
- Configuration management tools (Ansible/Puppet/Chef)
- Cloud-init scripts
- Container orchestration (Docker/K8s)
- Infrastructure templating (Terraform)

# Example Ansible playbook snippet:
- hosts: webservers
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: Install Nginx
      apt:
        name: nginx
        state: latest
    - name: Ensure Nginx running
      service:
        name: nginx
        state: started
        enabled: yes

Security questions should test practical implementation knowledge:

# Practical challenge:
"A developer requests sudo access on production DB server. How would you respond?"

# Key points to evaluate:
- Principle of least privilege
- Audit trail requirements
- Temporary access solutions
- Alternative approaches (e.g., read replicas)

# Example secure alternative:
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE ROLE dev_user WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'temp123' \
NOSUPERUSER NOCREATEDB NOCREATEROLE CONNECTION LIMIT 5;"

Use live troubleshooting scenarios to assess analytical skills:

# Scenario: "Server load average is 15 with 4 CPU cores. Diagnose."
# Expected commands:
top -c
vmstat 1 10
iostat -xz 1 5
pidstat 1 5
sar -n DEV 1 3

# Potential findings:
- Disk I/O wait (indicated by %wa in top)
- Memory pressure (check free/swap)
- Runaway process (identified via pidstat)

Evaluate their approach to worst-case scenarios:

# Question: "The data center is flooded. Walk me through recovery."
# Look for:
- RTO/RPO understanding
- Backup verification procedures
- Cloud failover strategies
- Documented runbooks

# Example backup verification command:
pg_dump -Fc dbname | gpg -e -r backup-key > /backup/db-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gpg