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Network Administrator
Career
Brief synopsis of my work by Bill Kuhl
Computers are increasingly integrated into more aspects of almost
every organization. The goal for the people that support the operation
of those systems, is to keep the systems operating perfectly 100% of
the time. To do that every possible type of failure must be considered;
power outage, hardware failure, data corruption, program errors, and
security concerns.
The Role of Computers in the Work Place
Computers traditionally have been used for accounting and word
processing functions.
Increasingly computers are becoming part of other systems.
Cooling, phone systems, and heating are examples.
IP phone operates over computer network, using the computer
infrastructure. This saves costs in some ways but if the network is
down, so are the phones.
Internet Protocol Server used in Voice Over IP
installation.
Connections for Voice Over IP installation.
New Applications for Computers
New applications for computers are added all the time. Computers can
save time, improve accuracy, add convenience, and reduce paper.
Bar Coding
Bar code scanners capture data by reading a series of narrow
and wide lines by using light.
Credit Card Processing
Increasingly credit cards are acceptable payment in more locations, small
credit card scanners connect to computers.
Online Systems
Increasingly business and government are putting more systems online to
better serve their customers or the public. It is very important that these
systems operate reliably and that they are secure. Some systems save
money by reducing labor costs, paper, and postage.
An online document imaging system gives public access to documents
with search capabilities.
Sample document has been retrieved.
Online Geographic Information System gives public access to local
property information.
Online bill payment is common computer application.
Skills for Computer Support Work
• Attention to detail and ability to work with
many small details.
• Ability to think ahead and consider many
possible scenarios.
• Need to constantly learn new things.
• Ability to do research.
• Need to be organized and be able to
prioritize.
What I like About Computer Support Work
• Challenging work which makes it interesting, but can
be stressful at times.
• Everything changes very quickly so it is rarely boring.
• Doing research is a big part of the job which I enjoy.
• It is such a thrill when you are putting in a new system
and everything comes together.
The ability to think ahead and consider many scenarios is
essential.
Creating reliable backup systems is one aspect of thinking ahead, when
data is lost you must be able to recover it quickly.
Backup traditionally has been to tape which has steadily improved in
capacity and speed.
Tape backup systems are being replaced with disk to disk backup
systems. Data can be recovered to any 15 minute interval.
Typical application programs available in disk to disk backup system.
RAID technology in servers allows the server to operate
when one hard drive is not working.
Critical Infrastructure
Battery backup is used on all servers. A system that is connected to
the servers detects when servers are on battery power and shuts the
servers down in orderly fashion after specified time.
Computer servers are the backbone of any organization large
enough to have a computer network. Almost all the data resides
on the servers, many application programs run from servers,
and other functions such as printing depends on servers. Close
to 100% reliability is essential.
Network switches and wiring are the backbone pieces that
connects the individual computers with the server resources.
Network switches as seen from the back.
Fiber optic cable connections have made the Internet possible
by moving a huge amount of data at high-speed using light.
What Does a Network Administrator Do?
• Upgrades and Installs
• Troubleshooting
• Patching Systems
• Monitoring for possible problems
• Transferring Computers
• Documentation
• Adding and Deleting Users
Installation of Software
The installation of software is a big part of the job and would
appear to be very easy but often there are problems. At that
point it is often necessary to do research.
Much of the job is spent in doing upgrades.
Fairly often the installation will fail.
Many upgrades had been done before this one with no problems but for
some reason there were permissions problems in registry keys that
halted the install. It is best to plan for problems, allow plenty of time.
Errors can happen anytime.
A single error can have many causes, the error could be a
software problem or a hardware problem.
This error was from an incorrect setting in the BIOS of a new computer.
Installing New Hardware
Compatibility – hardware and software; many of the problems are because
of replacing the old with the new. Combinations of operating systems,
applications, and hardware. Sometimes you can download an updated
driver or an upgrade to a program.
Patching Systems
Installing software updates is part of the duties and can be the
solution for both compatibility issues and bugs in the software.
Sometimes you are loading code into the BIOS of the computer or
in other devices such as printer. Updating for security concerns is
done constantly.
Hardware manufacturers often give information about compatibility
issues with new software on their websites.
Individual components of the computer hardware often require separate
updates to be compatible with new software.
Transferring Computers
A big part of the job is putting a new computer in front of someone. This
could be a new out of the box computer or a previously used computer
that has been re-loaded. The biggest challenge is bringing over all the
data and settings from their old computer. There does not seem to be
any one solution for this and for many applications, settings and data
locations are not well documented. Doing research may help.
Example of transferring settings from old computer to new computer.
Outlook “AutoComplete” email addresses are stored in the
“Outlook.NK2” file which is normally hidden. Many people really
appreciated that I could transfer these frequently used email addresses
from their old computer.
Fixing Computer Hardware Problems
Computer hardware is normally reliable but there can be failures at
times and a component will have to be replaced.
Monitoring Systems
If it is at all possible, it is best to catch small problems before they
become large problems. Systems are monitored for possible problems
with storage, viruses, and security.
It is important make sure disk storage is working good with plenty of free
space.
With more systems online, it is important that bad people are not stealing
your data or slowing your system down to a crawl. Systems to monitor for
such activity need to be monitored by humans.
Threats to computer systems can come from anywhere in the
world.
Enterprise virus scan has picked up trojans on a couple of computers.
Monitoring for “botnets” is another proactive tool to detect malicious
programs running hidden on computers on a network.
Installing Security Updates is an important part of keeping network pc’s
running well.
Documentation
Sample Installation Notes That I had Created:
Firehouse Installation Notes
General Notes
Log-on to computer as Administrator – Use typical install
Procedure
Put the CD ROM in the computer, when the install program automatically starts, close out of it.
Go into the Control Panel and select Add/Remove Programs
Select the file FH5setup.exe and run install from this, always click to continue.
Install icons and shortcuts NT [ get exact wording ]
Double-click icon on desktop – Click OK through expire message
Bring-up Firehouse on workstation
In Tools main menu click Options – Local – Database
Notes From Server Install 4/1/2004
Downloaded DBTools from website, this is version 5.5.3
I have been working on a style of writing the installation notes. For menu
selections I used bold, if I need to get clarification on something in the next
install I put notes in brackets. Do NOT assume you will remember anything,
because sometimes it can be a long time between installs.