1. BIL 424
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE AND SERVICE PROVIDING
SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION

2. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
Information technology (IT) is the use of
any computers,
storage, networking and other physical devices,
infrastructure and processes to create, process, store, secure and
exchange all forms of electronic data.

3. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
What is an IT or IS system?
“A group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements that together form a complex whole.”
In the context of this class, we generally consider computer-human systems consisting of
the computer(s)
the network
the user(s)
the organization’s goals and policies

4. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
System administration is the field of work in which someone manages one or more systems, be they software, hardware, servers or workstations. Its goal is ensuring the systems are running efficiently and effectively.
System administration is typically done by information technology experts for or within an organization. Their job is to ensure that all related computer systems and services keep working (e.g. a website).

5. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
What is System Administration?
Management of the System
System Comprise of
Computers (Servers / Workstations)
Hardware (CPU , Memory, Storage etc)
Software
Operating System
Application Software (Business Software ERP, Office Automation, Mail Services etc)
Management Software (Database / Web / etc)
Networks
Users
The organization’s goals and policies

6. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION – MAIN TASKS
Fault management is the detection of problems and faults on the system.
Such faults should be properly logged, and if appropriate an alarm should be raised.
This area is responsible for proper problem identification, determining the cause of the fault and ensuring the proper resolution of the problem.
Management software operating in this area may attempt to correct faults on its own.

7. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION – MAIN TASKS
Configuration management is to keep track of the system's configuration, both hardware and software.
This area includes keeping track of what computers and networking infrastructure are on a network, and how they are interconnected.
In addition, configuration management includes following what software versions each device is running, as well as the software configuration of each device.

8. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION – MAIN TASKS
Security management :
incorporates all aspects of authentication and access control, from the definition of access policies to the enforcing of those policies.
Exception reports can be generated for events that fall out of the scope of the defined policies, and these reports can be used to alert administrators of the policy violation.

9. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION – MAIN TASKS
Performance management : looks at the current and expected performance of the system.
For exampla elements of network performance that may be monitored include availability, response time, error rate, throughput and utilization.

10. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION – MAIN TASKS
Accounting management : covers two broad areas;
asset control and
cost management.
Asset control refers to knowing what computers are on the network, who they belong to, who is using them, and perhaps where they are located.
The second area, cost management, looks at what the costs of providing network services are and how they are paid for.

11. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
A system administrator, or sysadmin, is a person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of IT systems; especially multi-user computers, such as servers.
The system administrator seeks to ensure that the uptime, performance, resources, and security of the IT systems he or she manages meet the needs of the users, without exceeding the budget.
To meet these needs, a system administrator may acquire, install, or upgrade system components and software; provide routine automation; maintain security policies; troubleshoot; train or supervise staff; or offer technical support for projects.

12. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION

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14. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
A system administrator's responsibilities might include:
Designing systems to meet a set of requirements
Analyzing system logs and identifying potential issues with computer systems.
Introducing and integrating new technologies into existing data center environments.
Performing routine audit of systems and software.
Applying operating system updates, patches, and configuration changes.
Installing,configuring and maintaining new hardware and software.
Adding, removing, or updating user account information, resetting passwords,etc.

15. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
The task is performed by a system administrator who
Answering technical queries and assisting users.
Responsibility for security.
Responsibility for documenting the configuration of the system.
Troubleshooting any reported problems.
System monitoring and performance tuning.
Ensuring that the network infrastructure is up and running.
Configuring, adding, and deleting file systems.
Automation of system tasks
Capacity planning and forecasting …

16. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
The duties in system administration are wide ranging and often vary depending on the type of IT systems being maintained, although most of them share some common tasks that may be executed in different ways.

17. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
Common tasks include
installation of new hardware or software,
creating and managing user accounts,
maintaining computer systems such as servers and
databases, and
planning and properly responding to system outages and
various other problems.
Other responsibilities may include light programing or scripting to make the system workflows easier as well as training computer users and assistants.

18. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
For system administrators;
no precise job description
often learned by experience
work behind the scenes
often known as Operator, Network Administrator, System Programmer, System Manager, Service Engineer, Site Reliability Engineer etc.
Other terms;
system architects, system engineers, or system designers

19. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
Many organizations staff other jobs related to systems administration. In a larger company, these may all be separate positions within a computer support or Information Services (IS) department or IT department. In a smaller group they may be shared by a few sysadmins, or even a single person.

20. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
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.

21. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
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.
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

22. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
Storage administrator: A person who manages the disk and tape systems within an organization. Responsibilities include developing a storage management program and providing for routine backups. Such tasks are often handled by a network or system administrator, but are performed by a storage administrator in very large enterprises and datacenters.
The Storage Administrator is responsible for management of all centralized storage technologies. This technology includes the various NAS environments, storage networks, DAS environments and all other technologies classified as a storage technology. Additional responsibilities include:
Assisting in development and product engineering as it relates to these technologies
Managing and maintaining the company's storage-based systems and the deployment of these storage technologies
Understanding business objectives and seeking ways to help the company meet these goals with storage technology

23. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
A virtualization administrator is an employee whose responsibilities include virtual environment set up and maintenance, in addition to traditional sysadmin duties. That virtual environment could consist of operating systems, network resources, servers, storage, desktops, applications and/or data
Someone in this position performs specific tasks involved in running a data center, such as installing the hypervisor, configuring, provisioning and deploying VMs and managing pools and clusters.
Key aspects of this role include ensuring security and compliance, troubleshooting potential issues and effectively communicating and addressing any problems throughout the development and day-to-day management of the virtual infrastructure.
The virtualization administrator also creates and maintains documentation and establishes backup and recovery procedures.

24. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
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 array. 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.

25. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
In larger organizations, the tasks may be divided among different system administrators or members of different organizational groups. For example,
a dedicated individual may apply all system upgrades,
a Quality Assurance (QA) team may perform testing and validation,
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

26. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
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 and afterwards an IT Manager.

27. HOW TO BECOME A SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR
The key is getting experience

28. HOW TO BECOME A SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR
There are multiple paths to be part of becoming a system administrator.
Many system administrators have a degree in a related field:
computer science, information technology, electronics engineering,
computer engineering, information systems
On top of this, nowadays some companies require an IT certification

29. HOW TO BECOME A SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR
An alternate path to becoming a system administrator is to simply dive in without formal training, learning the systems they need to support, as they do other non-IT work.
This is a common route for informally trained system administration, and is often the result in small organizations that lack IT departments but have gradually growing needs and complexities.
For example, a shared desktop computer also acting as a file server becomes too slow for the needs of everyone, so someone decides to take on the job of setting up a dedicated server, and they learn the specific requirements to perform that task without formal training. This then spreads to other staff asking this person for help, and them finding solutions to those problems as needed, and them slowly becoming the generally relied-upon person to do systems management for the organization

30. HOW TO BECOME A SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR
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.

31. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION – LEARNING SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
Breadth of knowledge:
operating system concepts
TCP/IP networking
databases and file systems
programming
...
Depth of knowledge:
certain OS flavor
specific service(DNS, , Databases, Content-Delivery, ...)
specific implementation/vendor(Oracle ,Hadoop, Apache, Cisco, ...)
specific area of expertise(security, storage, network, datacenter, ...)

32. CLOUD COMPUTING AND SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
System administrators are getting nervous as cloud initiatives loom overhead.
Fears are growing of; cutting jobs; making the job too boring; or allowing skills to diminish to a point where they aren’t competitive in the workforce any longer.