RationalWiki:System administrators

RationalWiki system administrators are volunteers who perform systems administration work on the RationalWiki servers. Their primary task is to ensure that the Foundation's collection of wikis continue to function smoothly, so that users can continue to edit and view pages. As well as maintaining the hardware and software on the server, they are responsible for updating and configuring the version of the MediaWiki software that runs on the server, and can perform administrative tasks requiring direct server or database access, such as opening or closing new wikis, changing configuration settings, or (in emergencies) making edits directly into the database tables.

The RationalWiki Foundation legally controls the servers, so the Board of Trustees are ultimately responsible for determining who has sysadmin access, and how that responsibility is exercised. In general, the Foundation's Operations Manager has overall authority on all technical matters.

Responsibilities

 * The management of server hardware and software to ensure the smooth and secure running of all Foundation projects
 * Creation and implementation of new software and feature requests
 * General technical support for features of the Foundation's projects
 * Implementing configuration changes
 * Emergency user account recovery (with proof that account is being recovered to the right individual)
 * Maintaining a log of server administrative actions taken

Rights

 * Full shell and root access to all of the Foundation servers
 * Full administrative access to the database
 * Tech user rights group on all projects

Limitations

 * Installation or significant changes of software used by any project require approval by the Operations Manager
 * Direct alteration of the database is reserved for technical emergencies or account recovery only without prior approval by the Operations Manager
 * User group rights changes are reserved only for technical needs of the Foundation projects without prior approval by the Operations Manager or a majority of elected Moderators.

List of system administrators

 * David Gerard
 * Tmtoulouse

Technical issues blog

 * http://rationalwiki.blogspot.com - hosted offsite for obvious reasons