ASU

Department of Computer Science

Chapter One

Introduction to Network and System

Administration

Compiled By: Mr. Dawit M.

Address: dawitmilkiyas@gmail.Com
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Outline
 Network Administration

 System Administration

 Network and System Administration

 Goal of Network and System Administration

 Responsibility of Network Administration

 Challenges of Network Administration

 Responsibility of System Administration

 Ethical issues

 Operating Systems
Network: is communication system designed to convey information
from a point of origin to a point of destination.
2 or more parties, channel
 It is collection of different computers and devices connected
together via transmission medium and connecting devices to
exchange information.

 Data/information:
 Devices:
 Connecting devices:

 Transmission media:

 Is an interconnection of a large number of separate (autonomous)

devices/computers used to exchange information using some
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transmission media.
 Cont’d…

What is administration?: the act or process of administering

something.

The main issues of administration are the following:

 System design and rationalization
 Resource management:- (user’s data, devices(cprs, printer))
 Fault handling:- (Find problem & troubleshoot/fix problem)
 Network administration is the management of network infrastructure
devices.
Devices: routers, switches, PC, servers, printers, scanner,
Mgmt: check whether they are operational or not

This includes planning, designing, installing, configuring, evaluating

and maintaining LANs, WANs, intranets and Internet systems.

installing vs configuring intranet vs Internet
Identify and resolve connectivity issues. (type, how)

Also includes security issues (physical and logical)

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What is a system?: Collaboration and communication between
different actors and devices which represent information
(structure) of organization to promote efficiency (increase speed,
decrease cost, time, complexity).

To represent traditional/manual structure by making the system automated, computerized

It solve a problem of manual structure which takes time, cost and

provide a high QoS.
 E.g, SRS, Student placement,
 System administration is the management of computers and
actors whether they are coupled (connected to another) by a network or
not.

 System administration includes:

 Installing new programs,

 Creating accounts for users and deleting when no longer needed,

 Backing up files (and restoring them if necessary),

 Protect the file system from corruption (antivirus, keep disk safely).

 Repair/Maintenance
 Who is a System Administrator (Sysadmin)?

 Sysadmin is a person who is responsible for managing performance,

resources, security and uptime, especially for servers.

 Performance: Measured by (Availability, Response time),

 Resources: (Disk, CPU, data, …)

 Security: (devices, and user’s data) firewall, access ctrl, U_name &
passwd

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 Network and system administration is the Mgmt of network of

computers (workstations, PCs, switches and routers) and any system operation

performed on these devices

A key of network and system administration is:

 To build and control hardware & software
 Manage systems configuration.
 Evaluate, and troubleshoot the hardware and software

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 The Goal of Network and System Administration

 To manage the network infrastructures devices and fix if there is

any problem to make them operational

 To technically serve and Provide QoS to Users, thus the users of

networks receive the information they are seeking.

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 Responsibilities of Network Administrator

Network provisioning: Consists of planning and designing of

network which is done by engineer
Planning: hardware & software needed, network type, cable type
Designing: Either on paper or using Visio, E-draw like application

Network operations:
Implementing the designed network
Installing and Configuring needed hardware and software
Monitoring of network speeds, thus network must provide good performance

 This is the nerve center of network management

 Cont’d…

 Network Administrative include:

 Managing devices and resources on the network

 Network Maintenance duties related to any repairs and upgrades

that are needed
 Identification of problems with accessing resources.

 Developing a ways of fixing errors and problems when occurs.

 Replacing faulty devices, upgrading software, fixing a cable etc.

 Challenges of Network administration
Broad knowledge of hardware and software  Types, latest, free(SW)
Deploying large numbers of machines (for large organ.)

To build hardware configuration and software configuration

Designing a network which is logical and efficient. provide QOS
 24x7 availability
 Flexibility
Planning and implementing adequate security.

Providing a comfortable environment for users.

Developing ways of fixing errors and problems which occur. 13

Responsibilities of System Administrator

1. Add and remove users

2. Add and remove hardware

3. Perform backups
4. Install new software systems

5. Troubleshooting: Find and fix the problems

6. System monitoring: Monitor system performance

7. Auditing security:  Protect the information from unauthorized users, evaluating

8. Helping users
 User Management
 Creating user accounts

 Username, UID, and password management

 Removing user accounts

Hardware Management

 Adding and removing devices, Cabling

 How many servers?

 Data Center management

 Power (using UPS), environment (cooling)
 Software Installation

 Evaluating software, (open source or commercial, latest)

 Find and install open source software

 Purchase of commercial software

 Updating software

 Managing software installations

 Distributing software to multiple hosts (Automated SW installation)
 for those hosts which are joined to the server
 Backups

 Incase of system (server) failure, restore when needed.

 Backup strategy and policies

 Identify backup type used

 Scheduling: when and how often?

 Location: On-site vs off-site.

 Performing backups and restores

Troubleshooting

Find and fix the problems

Problem identification: This can be:

By user notification
Monitoring devices and services

Solve the problem to permanently eliminate

Performance Monitoring

Monitoring Performance of system:

Monitoring CPU, memory, and disk of server
Providing enough bandwidth
 Helping Users

 While troubleshooting the problem:

 Ensures users that you don’t forget and you’re working on their
problem (announce)

 Lets management know what you’ve done.

 User documentation and training

 Giving training for users on their access right/the Policies.

 Document software, hardware (printers), configuration, etc.

 This is used if new admin join to the system
 Good SysAdmin
 Key skills for network and system administrators:

Customer oriented

Technical knowledge/IT skills Patience

Time management Team working skills

1) Customer oriented
 Communication skills  With users and other admin

2) Technical knowledge/IT skills

 Admin must have knowledge of hardware, software.
 Debugging and troubleshooting skills
3) Time management
 Automate every action for faster execution.

 Prioritize tasks to solve problem: urgency and importance.

 E.g, Data center, admin staff needs high priority

4) Team working skills:

 Working with users who have very little knowledge about IT.

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5) Patience: To complete tasks time and concentration is required.

 Sometimes you will have to respond to the same issues again

and again because end users are unfamiliar with

certain functions on their computers.
 Ethical issues (privacy of users)
 One must have a policy for the use and management of
computers and their users.

 This is related to making decision on protecting the rights of

individuals.

 This ethical issue is decided by sysadmin to the users of the

system (each user have its own privilege).
E.g, The right of Main reg. director and coll. Regis., students & Instructors23
 Operating Systems: Windows and Unix Variants
OS is the most important program which manages both software and

hardware and display output to computer screen, thus allow the user to

easily access to the computers.

OS is used to interact users with the computer hardware.

It controls almost all the resources in a computer including networks,

data storage, peripheral devices etc.

An operating system is a main program that is designed to run other

programs on a computer.
 Network ( Server ) Operating System

 The Server OS runs on Server computer machine, also called as Network

Operating System (NOS).

 It is the special software that allows a Server Computer to function a

particular server role, like a File Server, Web Server, Mail Server, etc.

 A Network Server computer offers its services to a group of Client devices.

 A server computer has much more capabilities than a normal client

workstation (or Desktop).

 Most popular Server OSs are: Windows server 2003, Windows server
2008, Windows 2012, Ubuntu Server.
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Client (Desktop ) Operating System

 Installed on client machine

 Most popular Client Desktop Operating Systems are listed

below:-

 Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000 Professional,

Windows 7, windows 8, windows 8.1, Ubuntu Desktop.

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 Assignment# 1

Briefly discuss the Windows, Unix and Linux Operating Systems,

including their similarities and difference

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