Controversial Issue in the It Field Essay

The problem is that people don’t really know or think there is a difference between network administrator and system administrator. Just because they have administrator in the name does not mean they do the same thing. When u go to school u have to pick one or the other because one degree is not going to get u a job in both fields. Network Administrator: A member of a staff or group of a staff who have the responsibility for the smooth functioning of a large network. They carry out a number of functions: defining and enforcing security policies, specifying routing policies, accounting for system resources on the network and ensuring that they are efficiently used, responding to hardware and systems errors, and administering any connections to external networks such as the Internet. Sometimes the termSystem Administrator is used to describe a network administrator although this may be someone who administers a small network where many of the network functions tend to be trivial. Skills needed to become a systems administrator: The subject matter of systems administration includes computer systems and the ways people use them in an organization. This entails knowledge of operating systems and applications, as well as hardware and software troubleshooting, but also knowledge of the purposes for which people in the organization use the computers. However, perhaps the most important skill to a system administrator is problem solving frequently under various sorts of constraints and stress. The sysadmin is on call when a computer system goes down or malfunctions, and must be able to quickly and correctly diagnose what is wrong and how best to fix it. System administrators are not software engineers or developers. It is not usually within their duties to design or write new applications software. However, sysadmins must understand the behavior of software in order to deploy it and to troubleshoot problems, and generally know several programming languages used for scripting or automation of routine tasks. Particularly when dealing with Internet-facing or business-critical systems, a sysadmin must have a strong grasp of computer security. This includes not merely deploying software patches, but also preventing break-ins and other security problems with preventive measures. In some organizations, computer security administration is a separate role responsible for overall security and the upkeep of firewalls and intrusion detection systems, but all sysadmins are generally responsible for the security of the systems in their keep Analyzing systems logs and identifying potential issues with computer systems. Introducing and integrating new technologies into existing data centers environments. Performing routine audits of systems and software. Performing regular backups of computers and servers. Applying the operating system updates, patches, and configuration changes. Installing and configuring new hardware and software. Adding, removing, or updating user accounts information, resetting user Passwords, etc. Answering technical queries. Responsibility for security of the information traveling on the netwoek. Responsibility for documenting the configuration of the system. Troubleshooting any reported problems. System performance evaluations. Ensuring that the network infrastructure is up and running. In larger organizations, some tasks listed above may be divided among different system administrators or members of different organizational groups. For example, a dedicated individual(s) may apply all system upgrades, a Quality Assurance (QA) team may perform testing and validation, and one or more technical writers may be responsible for all technical documentation written for a company. In smaller organizations, IT/computing specialties are less often discerned in detail, and the term system administrator is used in a rather generic way they are the people who know how the computer systems work and can respond when something fails.