UNIT -1

Introduction to System and Network Administration

Learning Objectives: At the end of the topic,

the students will be able to:

 Learn the foundation of network and system administration

 Know the scope, duties, and responsibilities of network and system administrator

 Know the network operation system that support system administration

Distinguish the support of each network operating system

1. Overview

 Network and system administration is a branch of engineering that concerns the

operational management of human–computer system.

 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.

 The terms network administration and system administration exist separately and are used
both variously and inconsistently by industry and by academics.

2. System Administration

 System administration is the term used traditionally by mainframe and Linux engineers to
describe the management of computers whether they are coupled by a network or not.

 Today, System Administration is the design, installation, configuration, operation, and

support of these servers to support the operation need of information technology
infrastructure of an organization.

 Generally it is planning, installing, and maintaining computer systems involving servers and
clients that works together in a network environment using operation system like Windows
2012 Server or Linux platform.

 A system administrator, or sysadmin, is a person who is responsible for the upkeep,

configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems; especially multi- user computers,
such as servers.

Duties of a system administrator

1. User administration (setup and maintaining account)

2. Maintaining system

3. Verify that peripherals are working properly

 4. Quickly arrange repair for hardware in occasion of hardware failure

5. Monitor system performance

6. Create file systems

7. Install software

8. Create a backup and recover policy

9. Monitor network communication

10. Update system as soon as new version of OS and application software comes out

11. Implement the policies for the use of the computer system and network

12. Setup security policies for users. A sysadmin must have a strong grasp of computer security
(e.g. firewalls and intrusion detection systems)

13. Install patches

14. Review system logs

15. Report malicious or suspicious activity on systems to ISO immediately

16. Report sensitive information stored on systems to ISO

17. Maintain user access administration

18. Disaster recovery planning

19. Physical security

20. Disable unnecessary services on servers

21. Generate/Retain system backups

22. Identify secondary system administrator(s)

23. Comply with password requirements

24. Access control

25. Environmental protection (i.e., protection from possible exposure to water damage,
excessive heat, etc.)

26. Security training will be required every three (3) years

3. Network Administration

 Network administration means the management of network infrastructure devices (routers

and switches).
  A network administrator is an individual that is responsible for the maintenance of
computer hardware and software systems that make up

a computer network including the maintenance and monitoring of active data network or converged
infrastructure and related network equipment

 The actual role of the network administrator will vary from place to place, but will commonly
include activities and tasks such as network address assignment, management and
implementation of routing protocols such as ISIS, OSPF, BGP, routing table configurations
and certain implementations of authentication (e.g.: challenge response, etc.).

 It can also include maintenance of certain network servers: file servers,VPN gateways,
intrusion detection systems, security, etc.

4. Ethical issues in SA/NA

 Because computer systems are human–computer communities, there are ethical

considerations involved in their administration.

 Even if certain decisions can be made objectively, e.g. for maximizing productivity or
minimizing cost, one must have a policy for the use and management of computers and their
users.

5.What is a Network Operating System?

 Network operating system refers to software that implements an operating system of some
kind that is oriented to computer networking.

 For example, one that runs on a server and enables the server to manage data, users,
groups, security, applications, and other networking functions.

 The network operating system is designed to allow shared file and printer access among
multiple computers in a network, typically a local area network (LAN), a private network or
to other networks

Windows Server

 Windows Server is a brand name for a group of server operating systems released by
Microsoft.

 It includes all Windows operating systems branded "Windows Server", but not any other
Microsoft product.

 The first Windows server edition to be released under that brand was Windows Server 2003.

 However, the first server edition of Windows was Windows NT 3.1Advanced Server,
followed by Windows NT 3.5 Server,Windows NT 4.0 Server, and Windows 2000 Server;

 The latter was the first server edition to include Active Directory, DNS Server, DHCP Server,
Group Policy, as well as many other popular features used today.
 Windows Server

 Windows Server is a brand name for a group of server operating systems released by
Microsoft.

 It includes all Windows operating systems branded "Windows Server", but not any other
Microsoft product.

 The first Windows server edition to be released under that brand was Windows Server 2003.

 However, the first server edition of Windows was Windows NT 3.1Advanced Server,
followed by Windows NT 3.5 Server,Windows NT 4.0 Server, and Windows 2000 Server;

 The latter was the first server edition to include Active Directory, DNS Server, DHCP Server,
Group Policy, as well as many other popular features used today.

Solaris

Solaris is a Unix operating system originally developed by Sun Microsystems.

 It superseded their earlier SunOS in 1993. Oracle Solaris, so named as of 2010, has been
owned by Oracle Corporation since the Sun acquisition by Oracle in January 2010

Linux Server

 A Linux server is a high-powered variant of the Linux open source operating system that's
designed to handle the more demanding needs of business applications such as network
and system administration, database management and Web services.

 Linux servers are frequently selected over other server operating systems for their stability,
security and flexibility advantages. Leading Linux server operating systems include CentOS,
Debian,Ubuntu Server, Slackware and Gentoo.

UNIT 2

User Management and Administration

Learning Objectives: At the end of the topic, students will be able to:

 know the concepts of user management

 Uunderstand the user registration, account policy and user support services

 Create users and assign it to a group

 Create User policy, rights and privilege

 Demonstrate user and group registration and administration in Linux Server and Windows
2012 Server

User Management
  Without users, there would be few challenges in system administration

 System administrators must cater to all needs, and ensure the stability and security of the
system.

 Form User Registration, Account Policy, controlling users’ resources, etc.

 For small organizations, user registration is a relatively simple matter.

 Users can be registered at a centralized location by the system manager, and made available
to all the hosts in the network by some sharing mechanism, such as a login server,
distributed authentication service or by direct copying of the data.

 For larger organizations, with many departments, user registration is much more
complicated. The need for centralization is often in conflict with the need for delegation of
responsibility.

 It is convenient for autonomous departments to be able to register their own users, but it is
also important for all users to be registered under the umbrella of the organization, to
ensure unique identities for the users and flexibility of access to different parts of the
organization.

Local and network accounts

 With a local account, a user has permission to use only the local host.

 With a network account, the user can use any host which belongs to a network domain.

 They will need access to system resources wherever they are. It follows that they need
distributed accounts.

Account policy

 Most organizations need a strict policy for assigning accounts and opening the system for
users.

 Users are the foremost danger to a computing system, so there responsibility of owning an
account should not be dealt out lightly

What should an account policy contain?

1. Rules about what users are allowed/not allowed to do.

2. Specifications of what mandatory enforcement users can expect, e.g. tidying of garbage files.

3. Any account policy should contain a clause about weak passwords. If weak passwords are
discovered, it must be understood by users that their account can be closed immediately.

Types of Users

Passive users utilize the system often minimally, quietly accepting the choices which have been
made for them.
Active users, on the other hand, follow every detail of system development. They frequently find
every error in the system and contact system administrators frequently, demanding upgrades of
their favourite programs.

Controlling User Resources

 Disk quotas: Place fixed limits on the amount of disk space which can be used per user. The
advantage of this is that the user cannot use more storage than this limit

 CPU time limit: Some faulty software packages leave processes running which consume
valuable CPU cycles to no purpose.

 Policy decisions: Users collect garbage. To limit the amount of it, one can specify a system
policy which includes items of the form.

Moving and Deleting Users

 When disk partitions become full, it is necessary to move users from old partitions to new
ones. Moving users is a straightforward operation, but it should be done with some caution.

 A user who is being moved should not be logged in while the move is taking place, or files
could be copied incorrectly.

 Users who leave an organization eventually need to be deleted from the system. For the
sake of certainty, it is often advisable to keep old accounts for a time in case the user
returns, or wishes to transfer data to a new location.

Then we must remove the following:

• Account entry from the password database.

• Personal files.

• E-mail and voice mail and mailing lists.

• Removal from groups and lists (e.g. mailing lists).

Revocation of smartcards and electronic ID codes

Computer usage policy

Let us formulate a generic policy for computer users, the like of which one might expect company
employees to agree to

Information Technology Policy Documents are becoming more widely used. Their practice must be
recommended, if only to make it clear to everyone involved what is considered acceptable
behaviour. Such documents could save organizations real money in law-suits. The policy should
include:

• What all parties should do in case of dismissal

• What all parties should do in case of security breach

 • What are users’ responsibilities to their organization?

• What are the organization’s responsibilities to their users?

Managing Ubuntu Linux Users and Groups

 Adding a User to an Ubuntu Linux System

 Deleting a User from an Ubuntu Linux System

 Adding a New Group to an Ubuntu Linux System

 Deleting a Group from an Ubuntu Linux System

Adding a User to an Ubuntu Linux System

Create a user and its home directory

 Sudo adduser --home /home/user user

Managing Ubuntu Linux Users and Groups

 Adding a User to an Ubuntu Linux System

 Deleting a User from an Ubuntu Linux System

 Adding a New Group to an Ubuntu Linux System

 Deleting a Group from an Ubuntu Linux System

Adding a User to an Ubuntu Linux System

Create a user and its home directory

 Sudo adduser --home /home/user user

Chapter 3

File Systems and Management of Data Storages

 File system Administration

 Partitioning Disks with fdisk and parted

 Swap
  Determining Disk Usage With df and du

 Configuring Disk Quotas

partitioning, mounting disks requires understanding of:

 Basic disk concepts.

 Storage Models

 Disk Interfaces

 Physical Disk Structure

 Partitions

 Basic filesystem concepts

 RAID

 Logical volume management

 Device formatting