Future System/Network Administrator Advice

[ericgomes]

Hello to the Anandtech community! I figured I should come on here and ask the wise and experienced System/Network Administrators a question: What should I know how to do as an administrator? I'm going to graduate college in a year and I'm already doing an internship/fellowship. What certifications should I obtain aside from the ordinary (MCSA, CCNA, etc.) and what should I be able to understand fluently so I can become a valuable asset to a company? I plan to continue my education after I obtain my four year degree and a few certifications. I'd like to hear some feedback from individuals who are already a few years experience in the work field. Thanks in advance guys!

 

[seepy83]

I'll give you the opinion of someone not far ahead of you (4 years out of college)...

I'll start off my saying that nothing beats real-world experience. I was lucky to get a job where I was expected to learn and perform system/server administration tasks almost immediately. After that, you're already on the right track with CCNA and MCSA (although I might encourage you to go for MCITP:SA or MCITP:EA, because the MCSA in a Server 2000/2003 cert...while almost all organizations still have 2003 as the bulk of their infrastructure, 2008 is the future).

Once you've got your Server and/or Networking certs, I would focus on Security. Many businesses are required to comply with some regulation (HIPAA, SOX, PCI, etc), and other businesses should be following many of the same standards as a best practice. A System/Network Administrator that doesn't have any security knowledge can be a very dangerous thing.

Rinse and Repeat that Server/Networking/Security training and certification to stay current and increase your value..

 

[ericgomes]

Thank you. What other certifications should I look into? The Senior Systems Administrator here has a ton of certifications...

 

[seepy83]

Thank you. What other certifications should I look into? The Senior Systems Administrator here has a ton of certifications...

It really depends. Getting CCNA, MCSA/MCSE (or MCITP:SA/EA), and maybe GSEC (as an example for a good starter a security cert) should take you some time. It might take you a year, two years, three years...it depends on how much knowledge you already have, how much of your time you want to devote to getting certified, and if you really want to learn the material or if you just want to memorize answers from Braindumps and "Practice" Tests that can be purchased online.

While you're working in the field and getting your first certs, you might find that a particular area interests you more than others, and that might mean you want to focus on that. You might want to get certified on some hardware/software that is specific to your organization (for example, maybe they use Juniper or Sonicwall or Aruba or some other vendors and not Cisco for some of their networking devices). Maybe your department is running a lot of VMware and you want to get certified on that.

Your goal should be to have the knowledge and credentials to satisfy what the market is demanding. That market might be as large all of the businesses within 50 miles of your home, or it might be as small as the place that you already have a job that you want to make sure you keep.

Talk to your Senior Systems Admin. Ask him how long it took him to get the "ton of certifications" that he has. If you like your employer and you plan to continue working with him, use him as your mentor. Bounce your questions off of him, ask him what he thinks about the path you're going down and if he would change anything.

 

[ericgomes]

Thanks very much brother.

 

[Emulex]

vmware vcp - for sure - virtualization is here
cisco or basic networking - definitely
sql server 2005/8 - for sure everyone uses it.
windows 2008 - since 2003 is near eol - everyone is moving to 64bit 2008 since R2 isn't ready quite yet imo.
storage networking - learn
disaster recovery - essential
vpn/firewall - they all work basically the same but you need to know this
exchange - sadly everyone loves this junk

b2b/ecommerce/erp - know your communication as nobody wants to use paper any more

it all ties together to make a well informed sys admin - but you'll find windows shops - you'll be using alot of windows carp - sharepoint wcf ads all tied together - yadda -

and unix shops (?? they exist ??) use alot of oddball technologies

 

[Fallen Kell]

and unix shops (?? they exist ??) use alot of oddball technologies

They exist (I work for one). We do have windows stuff as well, but they are mostly separate teams. In terms of certs, most of them are crap for Unix/Linux asside from the Sun (now Oracle) Certified System Administrator cert. This use to be THE cert to have, since for the longest time it wasn't just a test, but actual hands-on (so you couldn't simply memorize question/answer). They had virtual systems setup and you were then given random tasks that you needed to perform (including just figuring out how the initial system is configured that you are given). Made for a true cert in my eyes and may others as well because you had to really understand the system, not just know that you use the "-j" option to the GNU tar command to do bzip2 compression (which any competent admin will know how to use the "man" pages to find that out if they ever needed it since may people just create the tar file itself and compress it later with the bzip2 command, especially people accustomed to the non-GNU tar since bzip2 is not an option on them, which is why you will see this question on many tests).

The security+ cert might be useful to get your foot in the door at some places as well. The real cert for security though is the CISSP. However, that is a greuling tough test, which involves real detailed information about network protocols, encryption algorithms, and methods. Not an easy one to take without months of study or years of the on the job experience.

 

[seepy83]

The security+ cert might be useful to get your foot in the door at some places as well. The real cert for security though is the CISSP. However, that is a greuling tough test, which involves real detailed information about network protocols, encryption algorithms, and methods. Not an easy one to take without months of study or years of the on the job experience.

CISSP is definitely a good security cert, but there are others from SANS/GIAC (like GSEC) that are valuable and a little more practical for someone that's just starting out.

 

[cmetz]

ericgomes, IMO, certs aren't all that valuable. Useful technical knowledge and experience is. Focus on that. Watch out for cert-obsessed employers.

I would suggest taking some business courses. If you want to be a good sysadmin/netadmin in a corporate environment, it's a good thing to understand how business works and be able to speak the language.

I would also suggest programming courses (if not CS). Learn to write some code. Good admins automate aggressively.

Emulex, funny, we say the same thing about Windows People and their oddball technologies.

 

[MarkXIX]

Understand networking, period. I can't tell you how many times our server and workstation support staff simply do not understand basic network fundamentals (subnetting, routing, and switching). My network staff understand networking AND can do the job of the rest of our people, the same can't be said going the other way.

With a solid understanding of networking, a lot of the other tasks become much easier. I'm sure you know your way around Windows already, so focus less on that for now.

 

[kevnich2]

Personally I find experience is much better than holding 50 million certs. I know several other people in my line of work that have degrees + dozens of certs and when it comes to actually doing the work - they don't have any idea what they're doing. There's a massive difference between book knowledge in IT and actual real world experience. And yes, I'd be wary of cert demanding employers.

Get your necessary degree and necessary certificates BUT make sure you have the experience to actually know what your doing as it's going to be much more valuable.

 

[rasczak]

Understand networking, period. I can't tell you how many times our server and workstation support staff simply do not understand basic network fundamentals (subnetting, routing, and switching). My network staff understand networking AND can do the job of the rest of our people, the same can't be said going the other way.

With a solid understanding of networking, a lot of the other tasks become much easier. I'm sure you know your way around Windows already, so focus less on that for now.

this. i agree wholeheartedly because i'm one of "them". my networking stinks. get a good grasp of the basics. everything else just comes down to experiencing the issues first hand.

one other piece of advice i'd like to pass along is take notes. OF EVERYTHING. all the troubleshooting, configurations everything and anything your lay your hands on, ensure you take notes on prior and after configuration changes. i keep a composition book of each type of system ( i work on several different OS's from windows to solaris to even SCO lol) as well I have a comp book for for our routers and firewalls. that way if an issue arises and you've seen it before (and you will) you can quickly glance at your notes.

as for certs, don't waste your time with MCSE stuff, go for your networking certs, and security certs, GIAC and CISSP to name a few.