Network administrator

Network administrator is a modern professional responsible for the maintenance of computer hardware and software that comprises a computer network. This normally includes the deployment, configuration, maintenance and monitoring of active network equipment. A related role is that of the network specialist, or network analyst, who concentrates on network design and security.

The Network Administrator is usually the level of technical/network staff in an organization and will rarely be involved with direct user support. The Network Administrator will concentrate on the overall health of the network, server deployment, security, and ensuring that the network connectivity throughout a company's LAN/WAN infrastructure is on par with technical considerations at the network level of an organization's hierarchy. Network Administrators are considered Tier 3 support personnel that only work on break/fix issues that could not be resolved at the Tier1 (helpdesk) or Tier 2 (desktop/network technician) levels.

Depending on the company, the Network Administrator may also design and deploy networks. However, these tasks may be assigned to a Network Engineer should one be available to the company.

The actual role of the Network Administrator will vary from company to company, but will commonly include activities and tasks such as network address assignment, assignment of routing protocols and routing table configuration as well as configuration of authentication and authorization – directory services. It often includes maintenance of network facilities in individual machines, such as drivers and settings of personal computers as well as printers and such. It sometimes also includes maintenance of certain network servers: file servers, VPN gateways, intrusion detection systems, etc.

Network specialists and analysts concentrate on the network design and security, particularly troubleshooting and/or debugging network-related problems. Their work can also include the maintenance of the network's authorization infrastructure, as well as network backup systems.

The administrator is responsible for the security of the network and for assigning IP addresses to the devices connected to the networks. Assigning IP addresses gives the subnet administrator some control over the personnel who connects to the subnet. It also helps to ensure that the administrator knows each system that is connected and who personally is responsible for the system.

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Duties of a network administrator

Many organizations use a three tier support staff solution, with tier one (help desk) personnel handling the initial calls, tier 2 (technicians and pc support analysts) and tier three (network administrators). Most of those organizations follow a fixed staffing ratio, and being a network administrator is either the top job, or next to top job, within the technical support department.

Network administrators are responsible for making sure computer hardware and the network infrastructure itself is maintained properly for an IT organization. They are deeply involved in the procurement of new hardware (does it meet existing standardization requirements? Does it do the job required?) rolling out new software installs, maintaining the disk images for new computer installs (usually by having a standardized OS and application install), making sure that licenses are paid for and up to date for software that need it, maintaining the standards for server installations and applications, and monitoring the performance of the network, checking for security breaches, poor data management practices and more.

Most network administrator positions require a breadth of technical knowledge and the ability to learn the ins and outs of new networking and server software packages quickly. While designing and drafting a network is usually the job of a network engineer, many organizations roll that function into a network administrator position as well; day to day and month to month "Is it up?" jobs fall on the shoulders of the network administrators.

One of the chief jobs of a network administrator is connectivity; the cry "The networks down" usually means the network admin has to be hip deep in something fixing it and post haste. They are in charge of making sure connectivity works for all users in their organization, and making sure data security is handled properly for connections to the outside internet. (For network administrators doing security aspects, this can be a full time job in and of itself.)

Trouble tickets work their way through the help desk, then through analyst level support, before hitting the network administrator level; as a result, in their day-to-day operations, they should not be dealing directly with end users as a routine function. Most of their jobs should be on scheduling and implementing routine maintenance tasks, updating disaster prevention programs, making sure that network backups are run and doing test restores to make sure that those restores are sound.

Other jobs that fall on the network administrator's tasks include fighting for the IT budget and setting standardized installs packages up so that all end user desktops are identical. While the network administrator probably isn't doing the installs on new computers, he is likely to be the one in charge of setting up what gets installed, and setting user access policies, as well as evaluating the purchase of new equipment to replace older gear that has been deployed. Similar decisions are made regarding software packages (both for end user support and server levels) and networking hardware.

Network administrators are jokingly referred to as the highest level of techie you get before you get turned into a pointy haired boss and made into management.

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Training and certifications for Network Administrators

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Reference

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