Network administration
Oct 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Brad Gilmer
Avoid these four common administrator mistakes.
Many engineers wake up one day to find themselves in the role of network administrator. This is not something they planned; it just happened over time. It starts innocently at first. A project comes up to build a network that links graphics stations together. Or perhaps you become involved in connecting the new news system to the Internet.
However it starts, you soon find yourself creating user accounts on a server for someone, or being consulted on expansion of a computer network. I call this the accidental system administrator.
If this sounds familiar, rest assured that you have plenty of company. In fact, I too am an accidental system administrator, although now it is more something I choose to do.
Because many of us are administrators by circumstance rather than formal training, I would like to share some common mistakes people make in network administration with the hope that this will spare you some grief.
Avoiding training
An accidental system administrator may be reluctant to take formal training. You might feel that you can learn what you need to know on your own. You may resist training because this is not what you thought you would be doing for a living.
I encourage you to get trained. There are many courses taught in all aspects of network administration. Some are available at universities and community colleges, and others are online. There are courses in books as well. Get training that is specific to what you want to know. If you use Windows servers, take a Windows server training course. If you use Cisco routers, then take a Cisco training course. (By the way, Cisco has several outstanding books on computer networking.)
Speaking of books, go to the bookstore. Take time to look through the table of contents of books for subjects that interest you. Open the book, and skim through several pages to see if the author writes in a way that you can understand. While there are thousands of networking books out there, each one was written in a particular style. You will find that two authors can relate the same material, but one will reach you in a way that makes learning much easier.
My personal experience has been that courses and books are great for meeting a long-term training need. The Internet search engines can be useful for problem-solving, but I have a problem absorbing complex, lengthy technical explanations using a computer.
However, you would be amazed at how useful Internet search engines can be when you are getting “exception 3210 - segment fault occurred at 0×33206” messages. Just put the text of the message into a search engine, and find the solution to the problem in a few minutes.
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