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Chapter 1 - system and network admin
information storage and retrival (Debark University)
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System and Network Administration
Chapter 1
1. Introduction and background:
Network and system administration is a branch of engineering that concerns the
operational management of human–computer systems. It is unusual as an engineering discipline
in that it addresses both the technology of computer systems and the users of the technology on
an equal basis. It is about putting together a network of computers (workstations, PCs and
supercomputers), getting them running and then keeping them running in spite of the activities of
users who tend to cause the systems to fail.
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. Today, that community is a global community of
machines and organizations, which spans every niche of human society and culture, thanks to the
Internet. 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.
Once a computer is attached to the Internet, we have to consider the consequences of
being directly connected to all the other computers in the world. In the future, improvements in
technology might render system administration a somewhat easier task – one of pure resource
administration – but, today, system administration is not just an administrative job, it is an
extremely demanding engineer’s job. It’s about hardware, software, user support, diagnosis,
repair and prevention.
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). The world of personal computers (PCs) has no
tradition of managing individual computers and their subsystems, and thus does not speak of
system administration. To this community, network administration is the management of PCs in
a network.
1.1 Computer systems & Network Overview
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In system administration, the word system is used to refer both to the operating system of a
computer and often, collectively the set of all computers that cooperate in a network. If we look
at computer systems analytically, we would speak more precisely about human–computer
systems:
Definition 1 (human–computer system). An organized collaboration between humans and
computers to solve a problem or provide a service. Although computers are deterministic,
humans are non-eterministic, so human–computer systems are non-deterministic.
For the machine part, one speaks of operating systems that govern the operation of computers.
The term operating system has no rigorously accepted definition. Today, it is often thought of as
the collection of all programs bundled with a computer, combining both in a kernel of basic
services and utilities for users; some prefer to use the term more restrictively.
There are three main components in a human–computer system (see figure 2.1):
• Humans: who use and run the fixed infrastructure, and cause most problems.
• Host computers: computer devices that run software. These might be in a fixed location, or
mobile devices.
• Network hardware: This covers a variety of specialized devices including the following key
components:
– dedicated computing devices that direct traffic around the Internet. Routers talk at the IP
address level, or ‘layer 3’,1 simplistically speaking.
– Switches: fixed hardware devices that direct traffic around local area networks. Switches talk at
the level of Ethernet or ‘layer 2’ protocols, in common parlance.
– Cables: There are many types of cable that interconnect devices: fiber optic cables, twisted pair
cables, null-modem cables etc.
.
Figure 2.1: Some of the key dependencies in system administration.
The sum of these elements forms a networked community, bound by human ties and cable ties.
Services depend on a physical network, on hosts and users, both as consumers of the resources
and as teams of administrators that maintain them.
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The network is the largest physical appendage to our computer systems, but it is also the
least conspicuous, often hidden behind walls and in locked switching rooms, or passing invisibly
through us as electromagnetic radiation. To most users, the network is a piece of magic which
they have abruptly learned to take for granted, and yet, without it, modern computing practices
would be impossible.
A network is a number of pathways for communication between two or more hosts.
Networking is increasingly important, as computers are used more and more
as devices for media access rather than for computation. Networking raises issues for system
management at many levels, from its deployment to its configuration and usage. We begin here,
simply, by identifying the main components involved in this important subsystem. The most
simplistic way to ensure communication between N hosts would be to stretch a private cable
between every pair of hosts on a network. This would require a cat’s cradle of N network
interfaces and N − 1 cables per host, i.e. N(N − 1)/2 links in total, which would be quite
unmanageable and equally expensive. The challenge of networking is therefore to provide some
kind of shared cable which is attached to several hosts simultaneously by means of a single
network interface.
Network Types (LAN, WAN, MAN and Wireless):-
Schools, businesses, and other organizations select network types according to their
individual needs and finances. Although network designs are quite diverse, basic network types
are relatively few. They include the following:
Local Area Networks
Metropolitan Area Networks
Wide Area Networks
Local Area Networks
A Local Area Network (LAN) connects computers and hardware devices together over a small
geographic area. These computers and hardware devices are frequently referred to as nodes. A
LAN typically consists of several computers connected to one another, usually located in close
proximity such as a computer lab. LANs are the most common form of networks found in most
small businesses and schools. A LAN is often created for several computers to share an
intermittently used resource such as a laser printer.
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Metropolitan Area Networks
Two or more LANs in the same metropolitan area connected together are called Metropolitan
Area Networks, MANs. Using high-speed (1.544 Mbps to 155 Mbps) transmission, MANs
connect smaller networks within a campus, a city, and/or neighboring suburbs. Companies
usually pay an outside local carrier to supply the physical media necessary for transmitting data.
The equipment and services provided by these vendors are usually on a monthly fee-for-service
basis, with a one-time installation and set-up charge. One example is when a company leases
telephone lines from a telecommunications company.
Wide Area Networks
Wide Area Networks (WANs) span large geographical distances, even over oceans or across
continents. WANs overcome the distance limitations imposed by LANs. WANs can be used to
connect:
· LANs within a school campus
· Networks within a city, a state, a country, or across the world
WANs can use either analog (telephone lines) or digital (such as satellite transmission) signals,
or a combination of both. WANs can be privately owned by large corporations or they can be
public. One difference between public MANs and WANs is that the telephone company used is a
long distance rather than local carrier.
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Wireless:
Wireless networks are great for allowing laptop computers or remote computers to connect to the
LAN. Wireless networks are also beneficial in older buildings where it may be difficult or
impossible to install cables. This includes all computers, peripherals, interface cards and other
equipment needed to perform data processing and communications within the network.
Each workstation and file server on a wireless network has some sort of transceiver/antenna to
send and receive the data. Information is relayed between transceivers as if they were physically
connected. For longer distance, wireless communications can also take place through cellular
telephone technology, microwave transmission, or by satellite.
Describe some of the hardware and software components of networks
All networks are made up of basic hardware building blocks to interconnect network nodes, such
as Network Interface Cards (NICs), Bridges, Hubs, Switches, and Routers. In addition, some
method of connecting these building blocks is required, usually in the form of galvanic cable.
Less common are microwave links or optical cable ("optical fiber").
Hardware or software components which typically sit on the connection point of different
networks (for example, between an internal network and an external network) include:
Proxy Server: computer network service which allows clients to make indirect network
connections to other network services.
Firewall: a piece of hardware or software put on the network to prevent some
communications forbidden by the network policy. A firewall typically establishes a barrier
between a trusted, secure internal network and another outside network, such as the Internet,
that is assumed to not be secure or trusted.
Network Address Translator (NAT): network service (provided as hardware or as software)
that converts internal to external network addresses and vice versa.
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Describe the operation of some network devices such as repeaters, bridges, switches,
routers and gateways.
Repeaters:
A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal, cleans it of unnecessary noise,
regenerates it, and retransmits it at a higher power level, or to the other side of an obstruction, so
that the signal can cover longer distances without degradation. In most twisted pair Ethernet
configurations, repeaters are required for cable that runs longer than 100 meters. A repeater with
multiple ports is known as a hub. Repeaters work on the Physical Layer of the OSI model.
Repeaters require a small amount of time to regenerate the signal. This can cause a propagation
delay which can affect network communication when there are several repeaters in a row. Many
network architectures limit the number of repeaters that can be used in a row.
Bridges:
A network bridge connects multiple network segments at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI
Model. Bridges broadcast to all ports except the port on which the broadcast was received.
However, bridges do not promiscuously copy traffic to all ports, as hubs do, but learn
which MAC addresses are reachable through specific ports. Once the bridge associates a port and
an address, it will send traffic for that address to that port only.
Bridges learn the association of ports and addresses by examining the source address of frames
that it sees on various ports. Once a frame arrives through a port, its source address is stored and
the bridge assumes that MAC address is associated with that port. The first time that a previously
unknown destination address is seen, the bridge will forward the frame to all ports other than the
one on which the frame arrived.
Bridges come in three basic types:
Local bridges: Directly connect local area networks (LANs)
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Remote bridges: Can be used to create a wide area network (WAN) link between LANs.
Remote bridges, where the connecting link is slower than the end networks, largely have
been replaced with routers.
Wireless bridges: Can be used to join LANs or connect remote stations to LANs.
Switches:
A network switch is a device that forwards and filters OSI Layer2 datagrams (chunks of data
communication) between ports (connected cables) based on the MAC addresses in the packets. A
switch is distinct from a hub in that it only forwards the frames to the ports involved in the
communication rather than all ports connected. A switch breaks the collision domain but
represents itself as a broadcast domain. Switches make forwarding decisions of frames on the
basis of MAC addresses. A switch normally has numerous ports, facilitating a star topology for
devices, and cascading additional switches. Some switches are capable of routing based on Layer
3 addressing or additional logical levels; these are called multi-layer switches. The term switch is
used loosely in marketing to encompass devices including routers and bridges, as well as devices
that may distribute traffic on load or by application content (e.g., a Web URL identifier).
Routers:
A router is an internetworking device that forwards packets between networks by processing
information found in the datagram or packet (Internet protocol information from (Layer 3 of the
OSI Model). In many situations, this information is processed in conjunction with the routing
table (also known as forwarding table). Routers use routing tables to determine what interface to
forward packets (this can include the "null" also known as the "black hole" interface because
data can go into it, however, no further processing is done for said data).
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Firewalls:
Firewalls are the most important aspect of a network with respect to security. A firewalled
system does not need every interaction or data transfer monitored by a human, as automated
processes can be set up to assist in rejecting access requests from unsafe sources, and allowing
actions from recognized ones. The vital role firewalls play in network security grows in parallel
with the constant increase in 'cyber' attacks for the purpose of stealing/corrupting data, planting
viruses, etc.
Gateway:
An interface providing a compatibility between networks by converting transmission speeds,
protocols, codes, or security measures.
Gateway is a device which is used to connect multiple networks and passes packets from
one packet to the other network. Acting as the ‘gateway’ between different networking systems
or computer programs, a gateway is a device which forms a link between them. It allows the
computer programs, either on the same computer or on different computers to share information
across the network through protocols. A router is also a gateway, since it interprets data from one
network protocol to another.
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Others such as bridge converts the data into different forms between two networking systems.
Then a software application converts the data from one format into another. Gateway is a viable
tool to translate the data format, although the data itself remains unchanged. Gateway might be
installed in some other device to add its functionality into another.
Indicate some Network Topologies:
1. Mesh Topology
Mesh Topology: In a mesh network, devices are connected with many redundant
interconnections between network nodes. In a true mesh topology every node has a connection to
every other node in the network. There are two types of mesh topologies:
Full mesh topology: occurs when every node has a circuit connecting it to
every other node in a network. Full mesh is very expensive to implement but yields the greatest
amount of redundancy, so in the event that one of those nodes fails, network traffic can be
directed to any of the other nodes. Full mesh is usually reserved for backbone networks.
Partial mesh topology: is less expensive to implement and yields less redundancy than full
mesh topology. With partial mesh, some nodes are organized in a full mesh scheme but others
are only connected to one or two in the network. Partial mesh topology is commonly found in
peripheral networks connected to a full meshed backbone.
2. Star Topology
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Star Topology: In a star network devices are connected to a central computer, called a hub.
Nodes communicate across the network by passing data through the hub.
Main Advantage: In a star network, one malfunctioning node doesn't affect the rest of the
network.
Main Disadvantage: If the central computer fails, the entire network becomes unusable.
3. Bus Topology
Bus Topology: In networking a bus is the central cable -- the main wire -- that connects all
devices on a local-area network (LAN). It is also called the backbone. This is often used to
describe the main network connections composing the Internet. Bus networks are relatively
inexpensive and easy to install for small networks. Ethernet systems use a bus topology.
Main Advantage: It's easy to connect a computer or device and typically it requires less cable
than a star topology.
Main Disadvantage: The entire network shuts down if there is a break in the main wire and it
can be difficult to identify the problem if the network shuts down.
4. Ring Topology
Ring Topology: A local-area network (LAN) whose topology is a ring. That is, all of the nodes
are connected in a closed loop. Messages travel around the ring, with each node reading those
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messages addressed to it.
Main Advantage: One main advantage to a ring network is that it can span larger distances than
other types of networks, such as bus networks, because each node regenerates messages as they
pass through it.
5. Tree Topology
Tree Topology: This is a "hybrid" topology that combines characteristics of linear bus and star
topologies. In a tree network, groups of star-configured networks are connected to a linear bus
backbone cable.
Main Advantage: A Tree topology is a good choice for large computer networks as the tree
topology "divides" the whole network into parts that are more easily manageable.
Main Disadvantage: The entire network depends on a central hub and a failure of the central
hub can cripple the whole network.
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1.2 Philosophy of System Administration
Although the specifics of being a system administrator may change from platform to
platform, there are underlying themes that do not. These themes make up the philosophy of
system administration.
The themes are:
1. Automate everything
2. Document everything
3. Communicate as much as possible
4. Know your resources
5. Know your users
6. Know your business
7. Security cannot be an afterthought
8. Plan ahead
9. Expect the unexpected
1. 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 examined as a possible candidate for automation.
Here are some commonly automated tasks:
Free disk space checking and reporting
Backups
System performance data collection
User account maintenance (creation, deletion, etc.)
Business-specific functions (pushing new data to a Web server, running
monthly/quarterly/yearly reports, etc.)
This list is by no means complete; the functions automated by system administrators are only
limited by an administrator’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 users the extra benefit of greater predictability and consistency of service.
2. 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.
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While this is not at all unusual, we 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.” 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.
“If I keep it in my head, they will not fire me. I will have job security!”
While this may work for a while, invariably it leads to less not more job security. Think for a
moment about what may happen during an emergency. You may not be available;
your documentation may save the day by letting someone else resolve the problem in your
absence. And never forget that emergencies tend to be times when upper management pays close
attention.
In such cases, it is better to have your documentation be part of the solution than it is for
your absence to be part of the problem. In addition, if you are part of a small but growing
organization, eventually there will be a need for another system administrator. How can this
person learn to back you up if everything is in your head? Worst yet, not documenting may make
you so indispensable that you might not be able to advance your career. You could end up
working for the very person that was hired to assist you.
Hopefully you are now sold on the benefit of system documentation. That brings us to the
next question: What should you document? Here is a partial list:
Policies
Procedures
Changes
All of these changes should be documented in some fashion. Otherwise, you could find
yourself being completely confused about a change you made several months earlier.
3. Communicate as Much as Possible
When it comes 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.
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The method by which you communicate with your users can vary according to your
organization. Some organizations use email; others, an internal website. A sheet of paper tacked
to a bulletin board in the breakroom may even suffice at some places. In any case, use whatever
method(s) that work well at your organization.
In general, it is best to follow this paraphrased approach used in writing newspaper stories:
Tell your users what you are going to do
Tell your users what you are doing
Tell your users what you have done
4. Know your Resources
System administration is mostly a matter of balancing available resources against the
people and programs that use those resources. Therefore, your career as a system
administrator will be a short and stress-filled one unless you fully understand the
resources you have at your disposal. 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 in the IT budget
But some may not be so obvious:
The services of operations personnel, other system administrators, or even an administrative
assistant
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)
It is important to note is that it is highly valuable to take a complete inventory of those
resources available to you and to keep it current a lack of “situational awareness” when it comes
to available resources can often be worse than no awareness at all.
5. Know Your Users
Users are those people that use the systems and resources for which you are responsible no more,
and no less. 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 require?
For example, consider a bank teller. A bank teller uses a strictly-defined set of applications and
requires little in the way of system resources. A software engineer, on the other hand, may use
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many different applications and always welcomes more system resources (for faster build times).
Two entirely different users with two entirely different needs.
Make sure you learn as much about your users as you can.
6. Know Your Business
Whether you work for a large, multinational corporation or a small community college, you must
still 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:
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 find that your day-to-day decisions
will be better for your users, and for you.
7. 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 has connections to the
outside world).
Therefore, it is extremely important to consider the security implications of everything you do.
The following list illustrates the different kinds of issues you should consider:
The nature of possible threats to each of the systems under your care
The location, type, and value of the data on those systems
The type and frequency of authorized access to the systems
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?
8. Plan Ahead
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System administrators that took all this advice to heart and did their best to follow it would be
fantastic system administrators for a day. Eventually, the environment will change, and one day
our fantastic administrator would be caught. 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:
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 in the near future
Talk of an impending acquisition means that 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 respond effectively to them) makes life easier for you and
your users.
9. Expect the Unexpected
While the phrase “expect the unexpected” is trite, it reflects 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 flexibility; by performing your job in such a way as to give
you (and your users) the most options possible. 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. 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, you will be in a position to respond more
quickly and effectively than if you let yourself be surprised.
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