Introduction to System and Network Administration

Section Overview

What is a System Administrator?

Why UNIX?

Why Linux?

UNIX System Administration

Resources

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

Job of administrator

What is a System Administrator?

Someone who takes care of the systems others are using.

System Running System Running Smoothly and EfficientlySmoothly and Efficiently

Users able to work in Users able to work in Easy and Efficient MannerEasy and Efficient Manner

Sysadmin .sig file

“My job is like an airplane pilot's -- When I'm doing it well, you might not even notice me, but my mistakes are often quite spectacular.”

Source: Unknown

System Administration Tasks

User ManagementHardware ManagementSoftware ManagementSystem Monitoring & TroubleshootingDocumentation & Help DeskBackupsAutomation, Planning, Policies, and AuditingFirefighting!!!

The Good…

Lots of varietyChallenging FulfillingPays wellVery employable

The Bad…

Annoying at timesUsersManagementVendor Tech Support

Long hoursMay not be your only job

And the Ugly…

Most people don’t understand the job

When things go well…Go unnoticed“They don’t do anything”

Game playersWeb Surfers

Important to document everything

And the Ugly (Con’t.)…

When there is a problem…Everyone is looking for youHighly stressfulSome blame you for the problem

May graduate to “Miracle Worker” status once problem is fixed

Sage Advice…Kirk: “Scotty, Do you always multiply your repair estimates by a factor of four?”Scotty: “How else to maintain my reputation as a miracle worker?” ~Star Trek IV

“Starship captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. The secret is to give them what they need, not what they want.”

~Star Trek: The Next Generation

SAGE/LOPSA Code of Ethics

ProfessionalismPersonal IntegrityPrivacyLaws and PoliciesCommunication

System IntegrityEducationResponsibility to Computing CommunitySocial ResponsibilityEthical Responsibility

“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse”

~Edmund Burke

Why UNIX/Linux?

Focus on Practice not Tech HowtosSW/Tools either included and downloadableCan see “under the hood”Open architectureGUI and command line interfaces

History of UNIX

1969 – Birth of UNIX at AT&T Labs1971 – Version 1 created1976 – Made available to Universities1977 – Berkeley distribution (BSD)1983 – USL created (AT&T)1991 – Birth of Linux1994 – USL sold to Novell1999 – Mac OS X2003 – SCO vs. IBM, Novell, …

Lab Projects

Based on RH Fedora 11 ?Virtualized SystemsProjects includeOS InstallationManage

accounts/permissions/programsInstall/configure servicesShell scripting“System Emergencies”

Documentation

Enables you to recreate systemContents includeConfiguration informationPolicies and proceduresUseful commands and resourcesDaily log of modifications

Resources

Linux Administration Handbook

RedHat Fedora DocumentationLinux Documentation Project Google Search Engine

Scoring

Quiz, LAB 30%

Midterm exam 30%

Final exam 40%

Rules

Communication Elect the class leader for communication

Class leader creates a mailing list so that I can contact you, send document, software,…

Of course, you can send me email for the eventual questions

Rules(2)

Your score is based on – Your attendance to class/LAB– How good your assignment and exams

are. I DO NOT accept any excuse to raise

your score.