Another responsibility sysadmins have is managing users and hardware. Sysadmins have to be able to create new users, and give them access to their company's resources. On the flip side of that, they also have to remove users from an IT infrastructure if users leave the company, it's not just user accounts they have to worry about. Sysadmins are also responsible for user machines, they have to make sure a user is able to log in, and that the computer has the necessary software that a user needs to be productive. Sysadmin also have to ensure that the hardware their provisioning or setting up for users, is standardized in some way. We talked in an earlier course about imaging a machine with the same image, this practice is industry standard with dealing with multiple user environments. Not only do sysadmins have to standardize settings on a machine, they have to figure out the hardware life cycle of a machine. They often think of the hardware life cycle of a machine in the literal way. When was it built, when was it first used, did the organization buy it brand new or was it used? Who maintained it before, how many users have used it in the current organization? What happens to this machine if someone needs a new one, these are all good questions to ask when thinking about an organization's technology. Sysadmins don't want to keep a ten year-old computer, in their organization. Or maybe they do, even that's something they might have to make a decision on. There are four main stages the hardware lifecycle. Procurement, this is the stage where hardware is purchased or we use for an employee. Deployment, this is where hardware is set up so that the employee can do their job. Maintenance, this is the stage where software is updated and hardware issues are fixed, if and when they occur. Retirement, in this final stage, hardware becomes unusable or no longer needed. And it needs to be properly removed from the fleet. In a small organization, a typical hardware life cycle might go something like this. First, a new employee is hired by the company, human resources tells you to provision a computer for them and set up their user account. Next, you allocate a computer you have from your inventory or you order a new one if you need it. When you allocate hardware, you may need to tag the machine with a sticker so that you can keep track of which inventory belongs, to the organization. Next, you image the computer with the base image, next, you name the computer with the standardized host name. This helps with managing machines, in regards to the name itself, we talked about using a format such as user name, dash location, but other hosting status can be used. After that, you install software, the user needs on their machine. Then, the new employee starts and you streamline the setup process for them by providing instructions on how to log into their new machine, get email etc. Eventually, if the computer sees a hardware issue of failure, you look into it, and think through the next steps. If it's getting too old, you have to figure out where to recycle it and where to get new hardware. Finally, if a user leaves the company, you'll also have to remove their access from IT resources and wipe the machine. So that you can eventually reallocate it to someone else. Installing software and configuring settings on a new computer can get a little time-consuming. In a small company, you don't do it often enough where it makes much of a difference. But in a larger company, a time-consuming process just won't cut it, you have to learn automated ways to provision new machines, so that you only spend minutes on this and not hours.