System and Network Administration

(InTc4112 )
University of Gondar
Faculty of Informatics
Department of Information Technology
July 16, 2022
Gondar, Ethiopia

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 Objective of the Course
Manage a network
Create and manage users and groups;
Manage disks and files;
Backup and restore system and user data
Remotely administer a network
Use widows and linux server to manage remote computer
and pheripheral device

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 Self-test objectives
1. What kinds of issues does system and network administration cover?
2. Is system and network administration management or engineering
3. Why does the physical environment play a role in system and
network administration?
4. Is system and network administration a science? Why/why not?
5. State the top-most principles that guide network and system
administrators

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 Chapter One
Introduction
What is System ?
A system is a collection of elements or components that are organized for a
common purpose.
A set of detailed methods, procedures and routines created to carry out a
specific activity, perform a duty, or solve a problem.
All systems have inputs, outputs and feedback mechanisms
What is Network ?
A group of interconnected (via wire and/or wireless) devices and peripherals
that is capable of sharing software and hardware resources among many users
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 Introduction
What is network and system administration?
Network and system administration is a branch of engineering.
It concerns the operational management of human–computer systems.
 It is unusual as an engineering discipline
 System and network administration addresses both the technology of
computer systems and the users of the technology on an equal basis.
An organized collaboration between humans and computers to solve a
problem or provide a service.
A key role is to build hardware configuration and to configure software
systems

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 Introduction
Network and system administration is about putting together a network
of computers (workstations, PCs and supercomputers).
A system administrator works for users, so that they can use the system
to produce work.
However, a system administrator should not just cater for one or two
selfish needs, but also work for the benefit of a whole community.
It is often a difficult balancing act to determine the best policy, which
accounts for the different needs of everyone with a stake in a system.
It’s about hardware, software, user support, diagnosis, repair and
prevention.

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 Introduction
Network Administrator: a person who responsible to admin, manage and
maintain the network design, configuration and infrastructure development.
Is the management of network infrastructure devices (routers and switches).
Responsibilities of the Network Administrator
Designing and Planning the Network
Setting up the Network
Maintaining the Network
Expanding the Network

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 Introduction
 System Administrator: a person who responsible to admin users, maintaining system, create file
systems, install software and other related issues.
Responsibilities of the System Administrator
 User Administration (Setup and Maintaining Account)
 Maintaining System and Verify that Peripherals are Working Properly
 Quickly Arrange Repair for Hardware in occasion of Hardware Failure
 Monitor System Performance
 Troubleshooting problems
 Create File Systems and Install Software
 Create a Backup and Recover Policy
 Monitor Network Communication
 Update system as soon as new version of OS and application software comes out
 Implement the Policies for the use of the Computer System and Network
Setup Security Policies for users

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 Cont’d…
System administrators need to know a bit of everything:
The skills are technical, administrative and socio- psychological.
The terms network administration and system administration
exist separately and are used both variously and inconsistently by
industry and by academics.
System administration is the term used traditionally by
mainframe and Unix engineers to describe the management of
computers whether they are coupled by a network or not.
 To this community, network administration means the
management of network infrastructure devices (routers and
switches).
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 The Challenges of System Administration

System administration is not just about installing operating systems.

It is about planning and designing an efficient community of computers
so that real users will be able to get their jobs done.
That means:
Designing a network which is logical and efficient.
Deploying large numbers of machines which can be easily upgraded later.
Deciding what services are needed.
Planning and implementing adequate security.
Providing a comfortable environment for users.

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 Cont’d…

Developing ways of fixing errors and problems which occur.

 Keeping track of and understanding how to use the
enormous amount of knowledge which increases every year.
Some system administrators are responsible for both the
hardware of the network and the computers which it connects
 i.e. the cables as well as the computers.

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 Cont’d…
On the other hand, an understanding of how data flow from machine to machine
is essential as well as an understanding of how each machine affects every
other.
In all countries outside the United States, there are issues of internationalization,
or tailoring the input/output hardware and software to local language.
Internationalization support in computing involves three issues:
 Choice of keyboard:
e.g. British, German, Norwegian, Thai etc.
 Fonts: Roman, Cyrillic, Greek, Persian etc.
 Translation of program text messages.

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 Bugs and emergent phenomena
Operating systems and programs are full of bugs and emergent
features that were not planned or designed for learning to tolerate
bugs is a matter of survival for system administrators; one has to be
creative and work around these bugs. They may come from:
Poor quality control in software or procedures.
Problems in operating systems and their subsystems.
Unfortunate clashes between incompatible software,
i.e. one software package interferes with the operation of
another.
Inexplicable phenomena, cosmic rays, viruses and other attacks.

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 The meta principles of system administration

Many of the principles in this context derive from a single

overriding issue:
They address the predictability of a system.
The term system clearly implies an operation that is
systematic, or predictable
 However, unlike simple mechanical systems, like say a clock,
computers interact with humans in a complex cycle of
feedback, where uncertainty can enter at many levels.
The above reason makes human–computer systems difficult to
predict, unless we somehow fix the boundaries of what is
allowed, as a matter of policy.
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 Principle 1 (Policy is the foundation)
System administration begins with a policy
– a decision about what we want and what should be, in relation
to what we can afford.
Policy speaks of what we wish to accomplish with the system,
and what we are willing to tolerate of behavior within it.
 It must refer to both the component parts and to the
environment with which the system interacts.
If we cannot secure predictability, then we cannot expect long-
term conformance with a policy.

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 Principle 2 (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.
Policy and predictability are intertwined.
What makes system administration difficult is that it involves
a kind of ‘search’ problem.
It is the hunt for a stable region in the landscape of all
policies
 i.e. those policies that can lead to stable and predictable
behavior.

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 Cont’d…
In choosing policy, one might easily promote a regime of
cascading failure, of increasing unpredictability, that degenerates
into chaos.
Avoiding these regimes is what makes system administration
difficult.
As networks of computers and people grow, their interactions
become increasingly complex and they become non-deterministic
i.e. not predictable in terms of any manageable number of
variables.
We therefore face another challenge that is posed by inevitable
growth:
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 Principle 3 (Scalability)

Scalable systems are those that grow in accordance with policy

 i.e. they continue to function predictably, even as they increase in size.
The important point to understand about predictability is that it has limits.
Human–computer systems are too complex and have too many
interactions and dependencies to be deterministic.
When we speak of predictability, it must always be within a margin of
error.
 If this were not the case, system administration would not be difficult.

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 Philosophy of System Administration
The species of being a system administrator may change from platform to
platform, there are underlying themes that do not.
Although the following themes make up the philosophy of system
administration.
 Automate everything
 Document everything
 Communicate as much as possible
Know your resources
Know your users
 Know your business
Security cannot be an afterthought
 Plan ahead
 Expect the unexpected

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 Automate Everything
Most system administrators are outnumbered either by their
users, their systems, or both.
In many cases, automation is the only way to keep up.
In general, anything done more than once should be looked at as
a possible candidate for automation.
some commonly automated tasks:
 Free disk space checking and reporting Backups
 System performance data collection
 User account maintenance (creation, deletion, etc.)

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 Cont’d…
Business-specific functions :-
 Pushing new data to a Web server
 Running monthly/quarterly/yearly reports, etc.
Also the functions automated by system administrators are
only limited by an admin's willingness to write the necessary
scripts.
In this case, being lazy (and making the computer do
more of the mundane work) is actually a good thing.
 Automation also gives your users the extra benefit of greater
predictability and consistency of service.
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 Document Everything
If given the choice between installing a brand-new server and
writing a procedural document on performing system backups,
the average system administrator would install the new server
every time.
While this is not at all unusual, you must document what you
do.
Many system administrators put off doing the necessary
documentation for a variety of reasons:
"I will get around to it later.“
Unfortunately, this is usually not true. Even if a system
administrator is not kidding themselves, the nature of the job is
such that everyday tasks are usually too chaotic to "do it later."

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 Cont’d…
Even worse, the longer it is put off, the more that is forgotten, leading to
a much less detailed (and therefore, less useful) document.
"Why write it up? I will remember it."
Unless you are one of those rare individuals with a photographic
memory, no, you will not remember it.
Or worse, you will remember only half of it, not realizing that you are
missing the whole story.
This leads to wasted time either trying to relearn what you had forgotten
or fixing what you had broken due to your incomplete understanding of
the situation.

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 Cont’d…
In addition many system administrators will put off doing
the necessary documentation for a variety of reasons.
Project plans
Server logs
Diagrams (such as system flowcharts, logical and physical
network diagrams, and so on)
Backup and restore process
Feature and equipment requests
While this is not at all unusual, the fact is that you must
document what you do.

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 Communicate as Much as Possible
When we come to your users, you can never communicate too much.
Be aware that small system changes you might think are practically
unnoticeable could very well completely confuse the administrative
assistant in Human Resources.
In general, it is best to follow this some what-paraphrased approach used
in writing newspaper stories:
1. Tell your users what you are going to do
2. Tell your users what you are doing
3. Tell your users what you have done

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 1. Tell Your Users What You Are Going to
Do
Make sure you give your users sufficient warning before you do anything.
The actual amount of warning necessary varies according to the type of
change (upgrading an operating system demands more lead time than
changing the default color of the system login screen), as well as the
nature of your user community (more technically adept users may be able
to handle changes more readily than users with minimal technical skills.)

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 Cont’d…
At a minimum, you should describe:
The nature of the change
When it will take place
Why it is happening
Approximately how long it should take
The impact (if any) that the users can expect due to the change
Contact information should they have any questions or concerns

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 2.Tell Your Users What You Are Doing
This step is primarily a last-minute warning of the impending change; as
such, it should be a brief repeat of the first message, though with the
impending nature of the change made more apparent ("The system
upgrade will take place TONIGHT.").
This is also a good place to publicly answer any questions you may have
received as a result of the first message.
Continuing our hypothetical example, here is one possible last-minute
warning:

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 3.Tell Your Users What You Have Done
After you have finished making the changes, you must tell your users what
you have done.
Again, this should be a summary of the previous messages (invariably
someone will not have read them.)
However, there is one important addition you must make. It is vital that
you give your users the current status.
Did the upgrade not go as smoothly as planned? Was the new storage
server only able to serve the systems in Engineering, and not in Finance?
These types of issues must be addressed here.

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 Cont’d…
Of course, if the current status differs from what you communicated
previously, you should make this point clear and describe what will be
done (if anything) to arrive at the final solution.
In our hypothetical situation, the downtime had some problems.
The new CPU module did not work; a call to the system's manufacturer
revealed that a special version of the module is required for in-the-field
upgrades.
On the plus side, the migration of the database to the RAID volume
went well (even though it took a bit longer than planned due to the
problems with the CPU module.
Here is one possible announcement:
System Downtime Complete

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 Know Your Resources
System administration is mostly a matter of balancing available resources
against the people and programs that use those resources.
 Some of the resources are ones that seem pretty obvious:
 System resources, such as available processing power, memory, and disk
space
Network bandwidth
Available money from the IT budget
But some may not be so obvious:

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 Cont’d…
Time (often of critical importance when the time involves things such as
the amount of time during which system backups may take place)
 Knowledge, whether it is stored in books, system documentation, or the
brain of a person that has worked at the company for the past twenty years
The important thing to note is that it is highly valuable to take a complete
inventory of those resources that are available to you, and to keep it
current .
Alack of "situational awareness" when it comes to available resources
can often be worse than no awareness.

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 Know Your Users
Although some people bristle at the term "users" (perhaps due to some
system administrators' use of the term in a derogatory manner)
Users are simply people that use the systems and resources for which
you are responsible.
 As such, they are central to your ability to successfully administer your
systems; without understanding your users, how can you understand the
system resources they will require?
For example, consider a bank teller. A bank teller will use a strictly-
denid set of applications
Two entirely different users with two entirely different needs.
Make sure you learn as much about your users as you can.

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 Know Your Business

Whether you work for a large, multinational corporation or a small

community college.
Also understand the nature of the business environment in which you
work. This can be boiled down to one question:
What is the purpose of the systems you administer?
The key point here is to understand your systems' purpose in a more
global sense:

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 Cont’d…
Applications that must be run within certain time frames,
such as at the end of a month, quarter, or year the times
during which system maintenance may be done.
New technologies that could be used to resolve long-
standing business problems
By taking into account your organization's business, you will
and that your day-to-day decisions will be better for your
users. And for you.

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 Security Cannot be an Afterthought
No matter what you might think about the environment in which your
systems are running, you cannot take security for granted.
Even standalone systems not connected to the Internet may be at risk
(although obviously the risks will be different from a system that is more
connected to the outside world).
Therefore, it is extremely important to consider the security implications
of everything that you do.

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 Cont’d…
The following lists illustrates the different kinds of issues that you
should consider:
The nature of possible threats to each of the systems under your care
The location, type, and value of data on those systems
The type and frequency of authorized access to the systems (and
their data)

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 Cont’d…
While you are thinking about security, do not make the mistake of
assuming that possible intruders will only attack your systems from
outside of your company.
Many times the perpetrator is someone within the company. So the next
time you walk around the office, look at the people around you and ask
yourself this question:
What would happen if that person were to attempt to subvert our security?

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 Plan Ahead
A system administrator that took all the previous advice to heart and did
their best to follow it would be a fantastic system administrator.
Eventually, the environment will change, and one day our fantastic
administrator would be caught at-footed.
The reason? Our fantastic administrator failed to plan ahead.
Certainly no one can predict the future with 100% accuracy.
 However, with a bit of awareness it is easy to read the signs of many
changes:

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 Cont’d…
An offhand mention of a new project gearing up during that boring
weekly staff meeting is a sure sign that you will likely need to support
new users.
Talk of an impending acquisition means:-
 You may end up being responsible for new (and possibly incompatible)
systems in one or more remote locations
Being able to read these signs (and to effectively respond to them) will
make life easier for you and your users.

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 Expect the Unexpected

While the phrase "expect the unexpected" is trite, it reacts an

underlying truth that all system administrators must understand:
There will be times when you are caught off-guard.
After becoming comfortable with this uncomfortable fact of life,
what can a concerned system administrator do?
The answer lies in edibility; by performing your job in such a way as
to give you (and your users) the most options possible.

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 Cont’d…
Take, for example, the issue of disk space.
 Given that never having sufficient disk space seems to be as
much a physical law as the law of gravity
It is reasonable to assume that at some point you will be
confronted with a desperate need for additional disk space right
now.
What would a system administrator who expects the
unexpected do in this case? Perhaps it is possible
To keep a few disk drives sitting on the shelf as spares in case
of hardware problems.


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 Cont’d…
A spare of this type could be quickly deployed on a temporary basis
to address the short-term need for disk space
Giving time to more permanently resolve the issue (by following the
standard procedure for procuring additional disk drives, for
example).
By trying to anticipate problems before they occur
Also you will be in a position to respond more quickly and
effectively than if you let yourself be surprised.

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Thank You!
Questions???