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W1-System Administration

1. A system administrator maintains and operates computer systems and networks, including installing software, managing user accounts, troubleshooting issues, and ensuring security. 2. Related roles include database administrators, network administrators, security administrators, web administrators, and technical support staff. 3. System administrators come from a variety of educational backgrounds, though many have degrees in computer science or information technology. They must have strong problem solving and technical skills.

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charimaine hernandez
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67 views

W1-System Administration

1. A system administrator maintains and operates computer systems and networks, including installing software, managing user accounts, troubleshooting issues, and ensuring security. 2. Related roles include database administrators, network administrators, security administrators, web administrators, and technical support staff. 3. System administrators come from a variety of educational backgrounds, though many have degrees in computer science or information technology. They must have strong problem solving and technical skills.

Uploaded by

charimaine hernandez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction and Basic Host Configuration

System administrator

Course Learning Outcomes:


1. Learn what is System Administration
2. Duties of a system administrator

System Administration

A system administrator, IT systems administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin is


a person employed to maintain and operate a computer system ansystems
administrator, or sysadmin is a person employed to maintain and operate a computer
system and/or network.d/or network. System administrators may be members of an
information technology (IT) or Electronics and Communication Engineering department.
The duties of a system administrator are wide-ranging, and vary widely from one
organization to another. Sysadmins 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 consultant for computer problems beyond the
knowledge of technical support staff. To perform his or her job well, a system
administrator must demonstrate a blend of technical skills and responsibility

Related fields

Many organizations staff other jobs related to system administration. In a larger


company, these may all be separate positions within a computer support or Information
Services (IS) department. In a smaller group they may be shared by a few sysadmins, or
even a single person.
• A database administrator (DBA) maintains a database system, and is responsible for
the integrity of the data and the efficiency and performance of the system.
• A network administrator maintains network infrastructure such as switches and
routers, and diagnoses problems with these or with the behavior of network-attached
computers

• A security administrator is a specialist in computer and network security, including the


administration of security devices such as firewalls, as well as consulting on general
security measures.
• A web administrator maintains web server services (such as Apache or IIS) that allow
for internal or external access to web sites. Tasks include managing multiple sites,
administering security, and configuring necessary components and software.
Responsibilities may also include software change management.

• Technical support staff respond to individual users' difficulties with computer systems,
provide instructions and sometimes training, and diagnose and solve common problems.

• A computer operator performs routine maintenance and upkeep, such as changing


backup tapes or replacing failed drives in a RAID. Such tasks usually require physical
presence in the room with the computer; and while less skilled than sysadmin tasks
require a similar level of trust, since the operator has access to possibly sensitive data.

• A postmaster is the administrator of a mail server. In some organizations, a person


may begin as a member of technical support staff or a computer operator, then gain
experience on the job to be promoted to a sysadmin position.

Training

Unlike many other professions, there is no single path to becoming a system


administrator. Many system administrators have a degree in a related field: computer
science, information technology, computer engineering, information system
management, or even a trade school program. Other schools have offshoots of their
Computer Science program specifically for system administration.
One of the primary difficulties with teaching system administration as a formal
university discipline, is that the industry and technology changes much faster than the
typical textbook and coursework certification process. By the time a new textbook has
spent years working through approvals and committees, the specific technology for
which it is written may have changed significantly or become obsolete. In addition,
because of the practical nature of system administration and the easy availability of
open-source server software, many system administrators enter the field self-taught.
Some learning institutions are reluctant to, what is in effect, teach hacking to
undergraduate level students.

Skills

Perhaps the most important skill for a system administrator is problem solving --
frequently under various sorts of constraints and stress. The sysadmin is on call when a
computer system goes down or malfunctions, and must be able to quickly and correctly
diagnose what is wrong and how best to fix it. System administrators are not software
engineers or developers. It is not usually within their duties to design or write new
application software. However, sysadmins must understand the behavior of software in
order to deploy it and to troubleshoot problems, and generally know several
programming languages used for scripting or automation of routine tasks. Particularly
when dealing with Internet-facing or business-critical systems, a sysadmin must have a
strong grasp of computer security. This includes not merely deploying software patches,
but also preventing break-ins and other security problems with preventive measures. In
some organizations, computer security administration is a separate role responsible for
overall security and the upkeep of firewalls and intrusion detection systems, but all
sysadmins are generally responsible for the security of computer systems.

Duties of a system administrator


A system administrator's responsibilities might include:
• Analyzing system logs and identifying potential issues with computer systems.
• Introducing and integrating new technologies into existing data center environments.
• Performing routine audits of systems and software.
• Performing backups.
• Applying operating system updates, patches, and configuration changes. • Installing
and configuring new hardware and software.
• Adding, removing, or updating user account information, resetting passwords, etc.
• Answering technical queries and dealing with often frustrated users.
• Responsibility for security.
• Responsibility for documenting the configuration of the system.
• Troubleshooting any reported problems.
• System performance tuning.
• Ensuring that the network infrastructure is up and running. In larger organizations,
some tasks listed above may be divided among different system administrators or
members of different organizational groups. For example, a dedicated individual(s) may
apply all system upgrades, a Quality Assurance (QA) team may perform testing and
validation, and one or more technical writers may be responsible for all technical
documentation written for a company. In smaller organizations, the system
administrator can also perform any number of duties elsewhere associated with other
fields:
• Technical support
• Database administrator (DBA)
• Network administrator/analyst/specialist
• Application analyst
• Security administrator
• Programmer System administrators, in larger organizations, tend not to be system
architects, system engineers, or system designers. However, like many roles in this field,
demarcations between system administration and other technical roles often are not
well defined in smaller organizations. Even in larger organizations, senior system
administrators often have skills in these other areas as a result of their working
experience. In smaller organizations, IT/computing specialties are less often discerned in
detail, and the term system administrator is used in a rather generic way — they are the
people who know how the computer systems work and can respond when something
fails.

System Administrator privileges

The term "system administrator" may also be used to describe a security privilege which
is assigned to a user or users of a specific computer, server, network or other IT System.
The Administrator level of system access permits that user to gain access to, and
perform high level configuration features of the system. This user privilege level is more
commonly referred to within a computer or IT system as "administrator" (without the
epithet "system"). It may also be called superuser or root. For example a computer may
have a user named "Administrator" or "Root" which has a security level sufficient to
install software, or give other users access to the system. Alternatively a user of a
system may be assigned to an "Administrators" group, membership of which grants
them the same privilege as the Administrator user. These users may be referred to as
System Administrators, referring only to the system privilege level, rather than the job
function. For security reasons, the name of an Administrator user or Administrators
security group is often changed locally so that it is less easy to guess, in order to reduce
system vulnerability to access by hackers.

References
[1] http://nssa.rit.edu/~nssa/?q=node/8
[2] http://www.cs.unh.edu/bsit.htm [3] http://www.hrsm.sc.edu/iit/
[4] http://nssa.rit.edu/~nssa/nssa/grad/index.maml
[5] http://www.cs.fsu.edu/current/grad/cnsa_ms.php
[6]http://www.hio.no/Studietilbud/Masterstudier/Master-Programme-in-Network-and-S
ystem-Administration [7] UvA Master SNE homepage (https://www.os3.nl) [8]
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos305.htm
Further reading
• Essential System Administration (O'Reilly), 3rd Edition, 2001, by Æleen Frisch
• Essential Linux Administration (Cengage Press): A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners,
2011 by Chuck Easttom
• Principles of Network and System Administration (J. Wiley & Sons), 2000,2003(2ed), by
Mark Burgess
• The Practice of System and Network Administration (Addison-Wesley), 2nd Edition (July
5, 2007), by Thomas A. Limoncelli, Christine Hogan and Strata R. Chalup
• Time Management for System Administrators (O'Reilly), 2005, by Thomas A.
Limoncelli • UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (Prentice Hall), 4th Edition,
2010, by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Trent R. Hein, Ben Whaley

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