1 chapter 1: introduction mark burgess principle of network & system administrator, 2 nd edition...

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Mark Burgess

Principle of Network & System Administrator, 2nd Edition

Principles of Network & System Administration

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What is network & system administration

• A branch of engineering that concern the operational management of human-computer systems.

• Its address both technology of computer systems and the user of technology.

• Also about putting together a network of computer (Workstation,PCs and Super Computer). Getting & putting them running in spite of activities of user who tend to cause the system fail.

• System administrators work for use and can use the system to produce their work. They also should not just cater for one or two selfish need but work for the benefit of whole community


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• In future, improvement of technology might render system administration become easy.

• Today system administration its not just do administrative job but it can become extremely demanding engineer jobs

• System administrators jobs about hardware, software, user support, diagnosis repair and prevention.

• Need to know bit of skills , ie : technical, administrative and socio-psychological


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• Term “network administration & system administration” exist separately and use both variously and inconsistently by industry and academics.

• System administration term used traditionally by mainframe and unix engineer to describe the management of computers whether they are coupled by network or not.

• In the community, Network administration mean the management of network infrastructure devices (routers and Switches).

• In the community also, system administration mean the management of PCs in a network.


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Applying Technology in an Environment

• Task of Network & System Administration is to build hardware configuration and software system configuration.

• Hardware requires power, a temperature (usually indoor) climate, and conformance to basic standards in order to work systematically.

• Software requires hardware, basic OS infrastructure and conformance to certain standards but not limit by physical concern as long it has hardware to run

• Modern software need to inter-operate and survive the possible hostilities and incompatible or in hospitable competitors


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Applying Technology in an Environment

• Applying technology in such environment for purpose (running a business or practice) and that purpose guide our action and decision.


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Human Role in System

• The task of system administration is a balancing act. • Requires patience, understanding, knowledge and

experience.• Work with limited resources, inventive in crisis, know a

lot of fact and figures about computer works.• Computing systems require the best of organizational

skill and professional of attitude.• Start being as system administration, you need to know

your many fact and build confidence through experience and know your limitation in order to avoid careless mistakes.


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Ethical Issues

• There are some ethical issue to be consider in their administration because of computer system.– Maximizing productivity or maximizing the cost.– Policy for use and management of computer and their users.– To protect the right of individual.

• A system administrator have many responsibilities and constraint to consider.– Must be the greater network community– Must be greater than to the user of our system

• Administrator make user lives bearable ad to empower them in the production of real work.


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Is System Administration a discipline ?

• System administration is lacking in systematic body of experimental data which would give its rules and principles an empirical rigor

• An academic concern to be a good SA, a certain amount of dedication is required with both theoretical and practical.

• SA is a career in engineering.– Appreciable market for consulting service and

security and automation of system administrative task.

– Not only fascinating and varied line but also can be lucrative


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The Challenges of system administration

• System administration is about planning and designing an efficient community of computers so that real user will be able to get their job done.– Designing a network which is logical and efficient– Deploy large number of machines which can easy to upgrade– Deciding what services are needed– Planning and implementing adequate security– Providing comfortable environment for user– Developing ways of fixing errors and problem which occur– Keeping track of and understanding how to use the enormous

amount of knowledge which increases every year.


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The Challenges of system administration

• System administrator also responsible for both hardware of the network and the computers which it connects. ( cable and computers)

• Also understanding of how data flow from machine to machine and how machine affect each others

• There are three issues of internationalization, or tailoring the input/output hardware and software to local languages : -– Choice of keyboard, eg Thai, British, German,etc– Font : Roman, Cyrilic, Greek, Persian, etc– Translation of program text message.


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Common & Good Practice

• Its Common to speak of “best practice” in system administration world.

• What sense is a best practice, who and when and how to evaluate it ?

• The good ideas is to see what others have done in the past but history has no automatic authority.

• 3 reason why idea catch on and every one does it :-


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Common & Good Practice

– Someone did once – the idea was copied without thinking and no one has about it.

– Expert have thought a lot about it and it really is the best solution.

– An arbitraty choice had to be made and now it’s a matter convention.

• Common practice …….


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Bug & Emergent Phenomena

• Operating systems & program are full of bugs and emergent features that were not planned and designed for.

• Tolerate with bugs is a matter of survival for system administrator• After work around with this bugs. SA may come from:-

– Poor quality control in software or procedure– Problem in operating systems and their subsystems– Unfortunate clashes between incompatible software. Eg:

software package interfere with the operation of another.– Inexplicable phenomena, cosmic rays, viruses and other attacks

• SA must be prepared to work around this uncertainties, no matter what reason for their existence .


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The Meta Principle of System Administration

• Policy is foundation – system administration begins with a policy – a decision about what we want and what should be, in relation to what can effort

• Predictability – the highest level aim in system administration is to work towards a predictable system. Predictability has limits. It is the basis of reliability, hence trust and therefore security.

• scalability – scalable systems are those that grow in accordance with policy. Eg: they continue to function predictably, even as they increase in size.


1 chapter 1: introduction mark burgess principle of network & system administrator, 2 nd edition...

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