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Module 1. Introduction to Systems Administration and
Maintenance
Intended Learning Outcome
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Explore the world of the system administrator
Learn and describe the cloud computing and IT infrastructure services
List the duties and skill set required of the system administrator
List a few personalities of a typical system administrator
What is a System Administrator?
system administrator, n.:
one who, as a primary job function, manages computer and network systems on behalf of
another, such as an employer or client.
What exactly does a System Administrator do?
What does a System Administrator do? It seems that most people agree that this job has to do
with computers in some capacity, but that really is already where the definitions start to become
fuzzy: System Administrators are in charge of “servers” as well as of personal computers,
desktop machines, laptops and, increasingly, mobile devices. With the evolution of computing
coming full circle, we find that the migration from the mainframe computer to the personal and
independent computing device to the networked server back to the central Infrastructure as a
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Service model inherent in today’s Cloud Computing concepts places the System Administrator in
the middle of it all.
So perhaps the main focus of a System Administrator’s job is then really the central
connection between the independent systems, the network itself? Hmmm, System Administrators
surely are involved in the deployment and installation of the computers in a datacenter (or is that
the task of specific Datacenter Technicians?) and connecting all the different components
certainly involves a lot of cables. But then, don’t we have Network Administrators, or is that a
more specialized subcategory of System Administrators?
System Administrators seem to spend as much time typing cryptic com mands into dark
terminal windows as they do running cables and labelling hardware, and while they may no
longer shuffle punch cards, they frequently do write programs to help them complete their tasks.
System Administrators are known to get woken up in the middle of the night when things go
“bump”, and as a result they are also known to have a fondness for caffeinated drinks. They are
able to kickstart a generator, assess the required cooling power for their server room, use duct
tape in creative and unexpected ways, assemble servers out of mysterious looking parts, and may
end up handling a circular saw or other heavy machinery when their Leatherman multi-tool
cannot complete the task. System Administrators plan, budget and design networks and backup
or storage systems, add and delete users (well, user accounts, anyway1), install and update
software packages, draft policy documents, fight spam with one hand while rebuilding a
corrupted revision control system with the other. They have access to all systems in the
organization, may undergo retina- and fingerprint scanners to access “Mission Impossible”-style
protected datacenters and spend countless hours in front of a multitude of computer screens,
typing away on oddly shaped keyboards consuming not entirely healthy amounts of coffee and
energy drinks. Well... in some places, a System Administrator might do all of this. In others,
there might be different, more specialized people for the various tasks: there might be datacenter
technicians and “SiteOps”, Network Administrators, System Programmers, System Architects,
Operators, Service Engineers, Storage Engineers, Site Reliability Engineers, Virtual Operations,
Infrastructure Architects... the number of different job titles for things that might otherwise fall
into the more general “SysAdmin” category seems endless. The various areas of expertise
included in the day-to-day routine such as system design, infrastructure architecture, system fault
diagnosis, hardware benchmarking, and others eventually require experience in a number of
related fields; a lot of them involve more than just a little bit of programming experience and in
some cases complex infrastructure tools based on solid software engineering practices need to be
built. This illustrates that just as it is hard to clearly define where System Administration begins,
we often can’t quite put our finger on where it ends and another discipline becomes the primary
job function. Even if job descriptions and duties differ significantly, there are a lot of people who
simply identify as System Administrator regardless of job title. We all have something in
common: we manage and maintain computer and network systems. Systems administrators
design, install, and support an organization’s computer systems. They are responsible for LANs,
WANs, network segments, and Internet and intranet systems. They work in a variety of
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environments, including large corporations, small businesses, and government organizations.
They install and maintain network hardware and software, analyze problems, and monitor
networks to ensure their availability to users. These workers gather data to evaluate a system’s
performance, identify user needs, and determine system and network requirements.
What is a Server?
Basically, a sysadmin is responsible for their company's I.T. services. Employees need
these I.T. services so that they can be productive. This includes things like email, file storage,
running a website and more. The services have to be stored somewhere, they don't just appear
out of nowhere.
Any thoughts on where they're stored? If you answered servers, you're correct. The term
servers can have multiple meanings. The servers have web content that they serve to other
computers. Also, servers can be software that perform a certain function. In many cases
sysadmins are responsible for maintaining all of the company's servers.
If you're working as an I.T. support specialist and have systems administration
responsibilities, these tasks could be something you'll perform.
A server is essentially software or a machine that provides services to other software or
machines. For example, a web server stores and serves content to clients through the
Internet. You can access the web server through a domain name like google.com.
Let's run down some other examples of servers.
An email server, provides email service to other machines. And an SSH server provides
SSH services to other machines and so on and so forth. We call them machines that use the
services provided by a server, clients. Clients request the services from a server and in turn, the
servers respond with the services.
A server can provide services to multiple clients at once and the client can use multiple
servers. Any computer can be a server. I can start up a web server on my own home
computer that would be able to serve my own personal website on the internet for me. But, I
don't really want to do that because I have to leave my computer on all the time in order for my
website to be available all the time. Industry Standard Servers are typically running 24 seven and
they don't run dinky little hardware like my home laptop. They run on a really powerful and
reliable hardware. Server hardware can come in lots of different forms.
They can be towers that sit upright, they look very similar to the desktops we've
seen. Those towers can be put in a closet or can sit on the table if you want them to. But, what if
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you needed to have 10 servers? The towers would start taking up way too much space. Instead,
you can use rack servers which lay flat and are usually mounted in a 90 inch wide server rack. If
you needed even more space, you could use blade servers that are even slimmer than
racks. There are other types of form factors for servers but these are the most common ones. You
can also customize the hardware on your servers depending on the services.
For example, on a file server you'll want more storage resources so that you can store
more files. What about connecting to our servers? Working in a small IT organization, you could
potentially deal with a handful of servers. You don't want to have a monitor, keyboard and a
mouse for each of these servers, do you? Fortunately, you don't have to thanks to something we
learned in an earlier course. We can remotely connect to them with something like SSH. Even
so, you should always have a monitor keyboard on hand. Sometimes when you're working your
network might be having issues and SSH won't be an option. A common industry practice is to
use something known as a KVM Switch. KVM stands for keyboard, video and mouse. A KVM
Switch looks like a hub that you can connect multiple computers to and control them using one
keyboard, mouse and monitor. You can read more about using KVMs in the next supplemental
reading.
Now though we've got a better understanding of servers and what they do, you can go out and
start buying server hardware and setting up services for your organization. Or maybe not. You
don't actually have to buy your own server hardware or even maintain your own services.
In the next lesson, were going to learn about a wave of computing that started to overtake
the IT world, cloud computing. You don't actually have to buy your own server hardware or even
maintain your own services.
What are Clouds?
Oh, the Cloud, the magical wonderful Cloud that you hear about in the news that
moves data across the white fluffy windows in the sky. The magical Cloud dispersed bits
of data across the world in itty bitty raindrops, right? No, that's not how the Cloud works
at all, but you'd be surprised how many people believed that. There's no doubt you've
heard the term Cloud in the news or from other people. Your photos are stored in the
Cloud, your email is stored in the Cloud.
Cloud computing is the concept that you can access your data, use
applications, store files, et cetera, from anywhere in the world as long as you have an
internet connection. But the Cloud isn't a magical thing. It's just a network of servers that
store and process our data. You might have heard the word data center before. A data
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center is a facility that stores hundreds, if not thousands of servers. Companies with large
amounts of data have to keep their information stored in places like data centers. Large
companies like Google and Facebook usually own their own data centers because they
have billions of users that need access to their data at all times.
Smaller companies could do this, but usually rent out part of a data center for their
needs. When you use the Cloud service, this data is typically stored in the data center or
multiple data centers, anywhere that's large enough to hold the information of
millions, maybe even billions of users. It's easy to see why the Cloud has become a
popular way of computing in the last few years. Now instead of holding onto terabytes of
storage space on your laptop, you can upload that data to a file storage service like
Dropbox, which stores that data in a managed location like a data center.
The same goes for your organization. Instead of managing your own servers, you
can use internet services that handle everything for you including security updates, server
hardware, routine software updates, and more. But with each of these options come a few
drawbacks. The first is cost. When you buy a server, you pay upfront for the
hardware. That way, you can set up your services like a file storage at potentially very
little cost because you're the one managing it. When you use Internet services like
Dropbox that offer file storage online, the starting cost may be smaller. But in the long
term, costs could add up since you're paying a fixed amount every month. When
comparing the cost of services, always keep in mind what a subscription could cost you
for every user in your organization. Weigh that against maintaining your own hardware
in the long term and then make a decision that works best for your organization. The
second drawback is dependency. Your data is beholden to these platforms. If there's an
issue with the service, someone other than you is responsible for getting it up and running
again. That could cost your company precious loss of productivity and data. No matter
what method you choose, remember that you're still responsible for the problems that
arise when there's an issue. If Dropbox is having an issue with your important user
data, it's still your problem and you have to get it working again no matter what. To
prevent a situation like that from popping up, you might consider backing up some
critical data in the Cloud and on a physical disk. That way, if one system goes down, you
have another way to solve the problem. Whether you choose to maintain physical service
or use Cloud services, these are the type of things you need to think about when
providing services to your company.
In the next couple of lessons, we're going to talk about some of the other
responsibilities of the system admin. We'll give you a high-level overview of these, then
dive even deeper later in this course.
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Organizational Policies
In a small company, it's usually a sys admin's responsibility to decide what
computer policies to use. In larger companies with hundreds of employees or more, this
responsibility usually falls under the chief security officer. But in smaller businesses or
shops, as the IT lingo goes, the sys admin has to think carefully about computer security
and whether or not to allow access to certain users. There are few common policy
questions that come up in most IT settings that you should know. Should users be
allowed to install software? Probably not. You could run the risk of having a user or
accidentally install malicious software, which we'll learn about in the upcoming course in
security. Should users have complex passwords with certain requirements? It's definitely
a good rule of thumb to create a complex password that has symbols, random numbers,
and letters. A good guideline for a password blend is to make sure it has a minimum of 8
characters that make it more difficult for someone to crack. Should you be able to view
non-work-related websites like Facebook? That's a personal call.
Some organizations prefer that their employees only use their work computer and
network strictly for business, but many allow other uses, so their employee can promote
their business or goods on social media platforms, stay up to date on current events, and
so on. It will definitely be a policy that you and your organization's leaders can work out
together. If you hand out a company phone to an employee, should you set a device
password? Absolutely. People lose their mobile devices all the time. If a device is lost or
stolen, it should be password protected, at the very least, so that someone else can't easily
view company emails.
We'll dive way deeper into the broader impact and implications of security
and organizational policies in the security course that's last up in this program.
These are just a few of the policy questions that can come up. Whenever policies
are decided upon, have to be documented somewhere. It's supercritical to maintain good
documentation. If you're managing systems, you'll be responsible for documenting your
company's policies, routine procedures, and more. You can store this documentation on
internal wiki site, file server, software, wherever. The takeaway here is that having
documentation of policies already available to your employees will help them learn and
maintain those policies.
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IT Infrastructure Services
We've talked a little bit about the services that are potentially used in an
organization like file storage, email, web content, et cetera. But there are many other
infrastructure services that you need to be aware of. If you are an IT support specialist
doing system administration, you'd be responsible for the IT infrastructure services in
your organization. Rome wasn't built in a day, you know, and neither are IT support
specialists. So, how about getting network access? That's a service that needs to be
managed. What about secure connection to websites and other computers? You guessed
it, that's also a service that has to be managed. And managing services doesn't just mean
setting them up. They have to be updated routinely, patched for security holes,
and compatible with the computer within your organization.
User. and Hardware Provisioning
In other responsibilities sys admins have is managing users and hardware. Sys
admins have to be able to create new users and give them access to their company's
resources. On the flipside of that, they also have to remove users from an IT
infrastructure if users leave the company. It's not just user accounts they have to worry
about, sys admins are also responsible for user machines. They have to make sure a user
is able to log in and that the computer has the necessary software that a user needs to be
productive. Sys admins also have to ensure that the hardware they are provisioning or
setting up for users is standardized in some way.
You should be familiarize about imaging a machine with the same image because this
practice is industry standard with dealing with multiple user environments. Not only do
sys admins have to standardize settings on a machine, they have to figure out the
hardware lifecycle of a machine. They often think of the hardware lifecycle of a machine
in the literal way. When was it built? When was it first used?
Did the organization buy it brand new or was it used? Who maintained it
before? How many users have used it in the current organization? What happens to this
machine if someone needs a new one? These are all good questions to ask when thinking
about an organization's technology.
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System administrators don't want to keep a ten year old computer in their
organization. Or maybe they do. Even that's something they might have to make a
decision on.
There are four main stages of the hardware lifecycle.
Procurement. This is the stage where hardware is purchased or re-used for any
employee.
Deployment. This is where hardware is set up so that the employee can do their job.
Maintenance. This is the stage where software is updated and hardware issues are fixed
if and when they occur.
Retirement. In this final stage, hardware becomes unusable or no longer needed and it
needs to be properly removed from the fleet.
In a small position, a typical hardware lifecycle might go something like
this. First, a new employee is hired by the company, human resources tell you to
provision a computer for them and set up their user account. Next, you allocate a
computer you have from your inventory or you order a new one if you need it. When you
allocate the hard ware you may need to tag the machine with a sticker so they can keep
track of which inventory belongs to the organization. Next, you image the computer with
the base image for further using a streamlined method that we discussed in our last
course, operating systems and you. Next, you name the computer with a standardized
host name. This helps with managing machines.
Installing software and configuring settings on a new computer can get a little time
consuming. In a small company you don't do it often enough where it makes much of a
difference, but in a larger company a time-consuming process just won't cut it. You'll
have to learn automated ways to provision new machines so that you only spend minutes
on this and not hours.
Routine maintenance
When you manage machines for a company, you don't just set it and forget it, you have to
constantly provide updates and maintenance so that they run the latest secure
software. When you have to do this for a fleet of machines, you don't want to
immediately install updates as soon as they come in. That would be way too timeconsuming. Instead, to effectively update and manage hardware, you do something called
batch update. This means that once every month or so, you update all your servers with
the latest security patches. You have to find time to take their services offline, perform
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the update, and verify that the new update works with the service. You also don't have to
perform an update every single time a new software becomes available.
But it is a common practice to do batch updates for security updates and very
critical system updates. And the security costs, we dive deeper into security practices,
but a good guideline is to keep your system secure by installing the latest security patches
routinely. Staying on top of your security is always a good idea.
Vendors
Not only do sys admins in a small company work with using computers, they also
have to deal with printers and phones, too. Whether your employees have cellphones
or desk phone, their phone lines have to be set up. Printers are still used in companies,
which means they have to be set up so employees can use them. Sys admins might be
responsible for making sure printers are working or if renting a commercial printer, they
have to make sure that someone can be on site to fix it.
What if a company's fax machine isn't working? If you don't know what a fax
machine is, that's not totally surprising. They've been slowly dying since the invention of
email. Fax machines are still alive and kicking at companies, and they're a big pain to
deal with. Sys admins could be responsible for those, too. Video-audio conferencing
machines, yep, they probably need to handle those, too. In an enterprise setting, sys
admins have to procure this hardware one way or another. Working with vendors or other
businesses to buy hardware is a common practice. Setting up business accounts with
vendors like Hewlett Packard, Dell, Apple, etc., is usually beneficial since these
companies can offer discounts to businesses. These are things that sys admins have to
think about. It's typically not scalable just to go out and purchase devices on
Amazon. Although if that's what's decided, they could do that too.
Sys admins must be sure to weigh their option before purchasing anything. They
need to think about hardware supply. So if a certain laptop model isn't used
anymore, they need to think of a suitable backup that works with their organization. Price
is also something to keep in mind. They'll probably need formal approval from their
manager or another leader to establish this relationship with a vendor. It's not just
technical implementations of hardware that sys admins have to consider. It's so many
things.
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Troubleshooting and managing issues
When you're managing an entire IT infrastructure, you'll constantly have to
troubleshoot problems and find solutions for your IT needs. This will probably take up
most of your time as an IT support specialist. This could involve a single client machine
from an employee or server or service that isn't behaving normally.
Some folks, who start their careers in IT support deepen their knowledge to
become system administrators. They go from working on one machine to multiple
machines. Sys admins also have to troubleshoot and prioritize issues at a larger scale. If a
server that sys admin manage stop providing services to a thousand users and one person
had an issue about the printer, which do you think would have to be worked on
first. Whatever the scenario, there are two skills that are critical to arriving at a good
solution for your users.
The first is troubleshooting, asking questions, isolating the problem, following the
cookie crumbs, and reading logs are the best ways to figure out the issue. You might have
to read logs from multiple machines or even the entire network. The second super
important skill that we covered is customer service; showing empathy, using the right
tone of voice and dealing well with difficult situations. These skills are essential to all IT
roles.
In some companies, sysadmins have to be available around the clock. If a server or
network goes down in the middle of the night, someone has to be available to get it
working again. Don't worry, a sysadmin doesn't have to be awake and available
24/7. They can monitor their service and have it alert them in case of a problem. So how
do you keep track of your troubleshooting? A common industry standard is to use some
sort of ticketing or bug system. This is where users can request help on an issue and then
you can track your troubleshooting work, through the ticketing system. This helps you
organize and prioritize issues and document troubleshooting steps throughout this lesson,
we'll introduce types of services that a sysadmin needs to maintain and what
responsibilities they have in an organization.
We'll also share some best practices for troubleshooting when it comes to systems
administration. When you work as an IT support specialist, Systems administration can
become part of your job. So, it helps to think about all aspects of managing an IT
infrastructure in an organization. The more prepared you are the better.
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Best practices for Effective IT troubleshooting
System monitoring and troubleshooting can be a time-consuming and frustrating
activity. It’s not unusual for IT folks to spend hours finding and fixing a problem that
could have been resolved in 10 minutes had better troubleshooting tools and processes
been in place.
Improving IT troubleshooting and monitoring doesn’t need to be an expensive
undertaking. Many times, it’s just a matter of implementing a few company-wide
guidelines. Let’s look at six best practices that will make troubleshooting a less timeconsuming, more effective undertaking.
1. Collect enough information to replicate the issue
If you can’t replicate an issue, you can’t fix it. Yet many help desk tickets come in
with a description as vague as “I can’t login.” The result is an ongoing email exchange
between the IT admin assigned to the ticket and the employee that reported the issue.
This hunt for more information can go on for days. Those days cost money.
The issue at hand is often systemic behavior. The remedy is to ensure that enough
information to replicate the issue is provided in the initial ticket. Some IT teams enforce
acceptable reporting behavior by providing a “fix ticket” form that has a field that
requires a submitter to list the steps to reproduce the given issue. In addition, many IT
teams have simple programs in place to educate all parties about how to write an
effective ticket and to monitor behavior moving forward to determine that the new,
desired behavior is being adopted. Should the behavior persist, more direct, personal
intervention is given. Regardless of remedy, just about all effective IT teams set a
baseline expectation that requires submitters to provide adequate replication descriptions
from the onset.
2. Customize your logs for actionable insight
Just as an incomplete help desk ticket prolongs time to resolution, logs that emit
incomplete information also hinder troubleshooting efforts. Most logging frameworks
provide options for customizing the format of log output. It’s important to make sure that
all log formats provide a clear description of items and events being logged. In addition
to date and time, the log entry should define the source emitting the entry (for example,
MAC or IP address), along with a message field describing the intent of log entry. A data
field that adheres to a structured format describing detailed information relevant to the
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item or event being logged is also useful. Learn more about log analysis for system
troubleshooting.
3. Create useful error output at the source-code level
Consider the following error message sent to a log collector: 28 Nov 2017
15:49:08.871 err Bad number encountered
What does the error message tell you? Nothing more than that a bad number was
encountered. You have no idea what the bad number is, why it’s an error, or how to
address the issue. To remediate this, somebody is going to have to spend a lot of time just
to uncover the source of the problem, and that expenditure doesn’t yet account for the
time needed to fix it. Now consider this error described in the log:
"numValue": 3727
"source": "at _.times (/home/apps/seventips/library/noodler.js:25:42)",
"message": "Bad number encountered. The submitted number, 9429 is an odd number.
Odd numbers are not acceptable to the system. Please submit an even number", "level":
"err"
}
There’s a big difference. The error message above contains enough information to
allow the IT admin to make an intelligent guess about the cause and source of the
problem, and to begin troubleshooting.
A useful error message contains three pieces of information: a description of the
error, the probable cause and, if possible, the most likely solution.
Ensuring that useful error messages are logged is about changing the behavior of
an IT organization. It’s up to management to establish a compliance policy and then
provide the procedures and tools necessary to support that policy. Thus, IT Admins will
do well to define the format for useful error messages and then have a set of senior
developers find or build a library of code that allows developers to easily create error
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messages that support the format. The adjustment should require a developer to add no
more than a line or two of code to comply with policy.
4. Don't mistake symptoms for root cause
Making an issue go away is not the same as finding the root cause and fixing it.
The trick for effective troubleshooting is to identify and report in detail on the root cause
so that the problem does not crop up again. If you’re under a time crunch and can only
make the symptoms go away to meet a deadline, make sure you report that you have not
identified the root cause and the fix is temporary.
5. Implement a comprehensive logging infrastructure and use correlation IDs
Making a call from a web page to a backend server is only one aspect of an
application’s behavior in a distributed environment. That one call to the backend might in
turn send data onto a message broker, a database, or another web-based API. Thus, the
operational data is going to show up in logs well beyond the web server. When it comes
to time to resolution, you’ll need a way to follow the aggregation and transformation of
data throughout a request’s journey to all points in the transaction. The easiest way to tie
all calls together is to use and respect Correlation IDs. A Correlation ID is a unique
identifier that gets passed with data between all points in a transaction. A Correlation ID
allows the transaction to be traced in various logs. It’s a common technique generally
supported by using the header attribute, X-Correlation-ID.
6. Use system monitors and predictive analytics
These days, system monitors do a lot more than just collect data and store it.
Modern system monitors have the intelligence to keep an eye on the system in which it is
running. Also, a system monitor can aggregate all log information emanating from a
machine into a single output. For example, InsightOps from Rapid7 will not only
centralize all of your logging activity, it will also monitor CPU, memory, and disk usage
on endpoints and send real-time alerts of known issues or critical events.
System monitors are essential for doing advanced troubleshooting, particularly for
issues related to machine state over time. Also, using a predictive analysis tool to monitor
dangerous trends in system activity will help you address smaller problems before they
turn critical. The most effective troubleshooting to do is no troubleshooting at all!
Putting It All Together
In today’s modern IT environment, troubleshooting is unavoidable. It’s an
important part of the revision process intrinsic to the principle of continuous
improvement. Using the six best practices described above will make your
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troubleshooting efforts more effective and less costly. In fact, they might even make
troubleshooting more enjoyable. And, as companies in the know understand, when work
is enjoyable, quality is outstanding.
Assessment
Direction: Choose the letter that corresponds to your answer. Highlight your answer.
Question1: Which of the following can be a responsibility of a systems administrator?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Setting up new user accounts and machines
Maintaining servers
Troubleshooting user issues
All of the above
Question 2: Which of the following make up IT infrastructure?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Hardware and software
Network
Operating systems
All of the above
Question 3: Which of these is considered a server? Select all that apply:
a.
b.
c.
d.
A software that provides a service to other software
Software that's only available to the computer it's installed on
Software that provides a service to other machines
A computer that provides a service to other computers
Question 4: A KVM switch is used to:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Mount multiple servers into one server rack.
Allow you to serve web content to many clients.
Enable you to receive incoming SSH connections.
Switch between multiple computers using one monitor, keyboard, and mouse
Question 5: Which of these server-hardware can you stack on top of each other in a
server rack?
a. Rack
b. Tower
c. Desktop
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d. Blade
Question 6: With _______, you can access your data, use applications, and more from
anywhere in the world, as long as you have an Internet connection.
a. a LAN
b. a PAN
c. cloud computing
Question 7: What are the benefits of cloud computing over local computing? Select all
that apply.
a.
b.
c.
d.
There are smaller starting costs for cloud computing.
There are potential long-term costs associated with cloud computing.
Software updates are handled by the company providing the service.
Services are accessible from anywhere in the world.
Question 8: What are the benefits of local computing over cloud computing? Select all
that apply.
a. There are potential long-term costs associated with local computing.
b. You have complete control of the IT infrastructure.
c. Services are handled by another organization, so that makes your organization
dependent on a third party.
d. Updates can be handled at any time.
Question 9: Which of the following is a good policy to enforce on passwords? Check all
that apply.
a.
b.
c.
d.
A long password length
The use of common words
A mixture of symbols and numbers
A short password length
Question 10: Which of these is part of the hardware lifecycle? Check all that apply.
a.
b.
c.
d.
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Retirement
Procurement
Deployment
Network Connectivity
[Pick the date]
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SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATION AND MAINTENANCE