23-08-2012, 02:53 PM
System and Network Administration: Introduction
System and Network Administration.ppt (Size: 366 KB / Downloads: 37)
What is Systems Administration?
System Administration, sis'tem ad-min'is-tra'shon, n. Activities which directly support the operations and integrity of computing systems and their use and which manage their intricacies.
These activities minimally include system installation, configuration, integration, maintenance, performance management, data management, security management, failure analysis and recovery, and user support.
In a inter-networked computing environment, the computer network is often included as part of the complex computing system.
Being a SysAdmin Professional
SA, if done well, should be equal parts:
Technical skills
People & communications skills
Problem solving & Common sense
Personal Commitment
“SA involves a tension between authority and responsibility on one hand and service and co-operation on the other.”
System Administration: An introduction
What is a system administrator (SA)?
Anyone who managers a computer not solely for their own use.
What are the goals of system administration?
Ensure that computing systems run correctly and as efficiently as possible
Ensure that all users can and do use the computing systems to carry out their required work in the easiest and most efficient manner.
These are conflict goals.
System Administration: An introduction
As a job, Systems Administration is
fulfilling
complex
painful
annoying
highly interactive
well paid
employable
thankless
Essential Tasks of SA
The tasks of system management varies dramatically from sites to sites.
Some possible tasks
Adding and removing users
Adding and removing hardware
Performing backups
Installing new software
Monitoring the system
Troubleshooting
Maintaining local documentation
Auditing security
Help users
Essential Tasks of SA
Daily operations
emergencies
regular tasks (automate)
system monitoring
Hardware and software
programming
evaluation
purchase
installation
testing and maintenance
upgrading
phasing out
Essential Tasks of SA
Administration and planning
documentation
time management
policy
self-education
planning
administrative tasks
Interaction with people
Successful System Administration
Need to find a balance between
Authority and responsibility
Service and cooperation
A few Basic strategies
Plan it before you go it
Make it reversible
Make changes incrementally
Test, test, test before you unleash it on the world
Know how things REALLY work.
Successful System Administration
Example: editing system configuration files.
Keep a copy before any change to the configuration file
For original version, using suffix of .dist, .orig
For further changes, using suffix of .old, .sav, .yymmdd, etc
Keep the current modification date
cp –p
Plan how to back up if the change didn’t work – say system does not even boot
Such as boot to single user mode and copy the old version back
Test the change on a non-production environment first
Eliminate the most obvious problems
Make one major change at a time
Make the test easier
Successful System Administration
Successful system administration
Careful planning
Habit
Change root password regularly
Faithfully making backups ( no matter how tedious)
Testing every change several times
Sticking to policies you’ve set
Handling crises
Have the foresight
Take time to anticipate and plan for the emergency
Prevent crises by carrying out all careful procedures.
Successful System Administration
My personal experience of how to be a good, productive administrator:
Enjoy administration work!
Build a solid computer science background
Impossible to know everything
Try to be a fast learner
Be proactive and look ahead
ready and have the desire to learn
Accumulate and improve problem solving skills
Evolution of System Administration
Early System Administration
Highly educated specialist
Hardware and software
Low number of different HW platforms
Predetermined tasks
Formal process to follow
Work ``behind close doors''
On a low number of systems
Low number of operating systems
Virtually no outside connectivity
Evolution of System Administration
Current System Administration
High number of HW platforms
High number of SW platforms
Mainly software administration
Only some hardware
System configuration issues per user
Security issues
Network issues
Work much more ``open'' and ``on the desktop''