Sysadmin Reference Folder

Observability, patching, secrets, and access controls live here so agents can quickly refresh the fundamentals before acting. Every article follows the production format defined in ../kb-build-plan.md.

Article	Status	Last Updated	Purpose
system-admin-basics.md	Active	2026-08-26	Asset inventory, observability, patch management, access control, incident response — the operational root for the section.
log-management.md	Active	2026-08-26	journald config, logrotate, central shipping (rsyslog, Grafana Alloy, Vector), retention policy, forensics quick reference.
scheduler-patterns.md	Active	2026-08-26	cron vs systemd timers, flock overlap protection, missed-job handling, backup and maintenance scheduling.
secrets.md	Active	2026-08-26	KB mirror of the `SECRETS_MANAGEMENT.md` playbook: layer lifecycle, rotation protocol, agent rules, audit checklist.
dotenvx.md	Active	2026-08-26	Environment layer design, encryption CLI, schema validation, agent integration, security posture.

Reading Order

New agents should read in this order:

system-admin-basics.md — operational responsibilities, SLA tiers, incident response.
log-management.md — observability evidence and forensics.
scheduler-patterns.md — automation patterns for the recurring audits in system-admin-basics.
secrets.md — credential lifecycle and rotation protocol.
dotenvx.md — environment layer design and the technical mechanism behind secrets.md.

Update Rules

Document every audit, rotation, and runbook change with a timestamped Change Log entry in the affected article.
Cross-link new articles to the operational root (system-admin-basics.md) and to the related observability/agentic entries.
When adopting new tooling (e.g., a vault, a new log shipper), update the Sources & Related Articles section with a 2026-vintage citation and an internal cross-link.
Link to ../research/sysadmin.md when citing new guidance from CISA, Red Hat, or similar.

Related KB Sections

../observability/README.md — metrics, dashboards, alerting, log collection.
../agentic/README.md — agent onboarding, server management, multi-agent communication.
../research/sysadmin.md — primary citations and external references.

Change Log

2026-08-26 — Task 7 expansion

Expanded system-admin-basics.md, secrets.md, and dotenvx.md from legacy stubs to production-format articles (Status/Last Updated/Category/Prerequisites headers, Summary, Context, Implementation with tables, Practical Examples, Common Pitfalls, Next Steps, Sources & Related, Change Log).
Updated log-management.md with Promtail EOL (2026-03-02) → Grafana Alloy migration note, journald early-boot volatile-mode caveat, and CISA Logging Reference Architecture (OMB M-26-14) citation.
Verified scheduler-patterns.md is at production quality; left as-is.
Rewrote this README to table-based contents, reading order, update rules, and related-section links.