Computer administrator, software engineer, system integrator, security officer, network administrator, web developer, quality assurance manager and many more job descriptions and positions that have been created over the past few year as computers and communication has become a more and more important part in our daily lives. Not too long ago, the main description was “computer technician” or “IT administrator”. If you had issues with your computer, you called a computer tech and he was able to upgrade your computer, connect it to the Internet, install new hardware or software or fix it no matter what the problem was. Today, you can no longer call a computer technician. You will have to be specific and know what the problem is because you have an administrator, senior administrator, system administrator, database administrator, network administrator and many other administrators that you might not even know that they existed. Are these all just fancy titles for the same jobs or have things changes so much that companies and professionals now have to differentiate?
This paper will analyze the main difference between “system administration” and “network administration” and identify why it is important to differentiate between these two job titles as well as why companies need to make the difference. To show why certain companies need to make this distinction this paper will identify the differences large companies have versus the small business across the street. The complete analysis will show that large companies with different technologies and technical demands will have to decide if they hire a system or network administrator or when making the wrong choice might cost them not only customers but also a lot of business in the long run.
The terms “system administration” and “network administration” are being used on a regular basis but there seem to be a slight confusion or general lack of knowledge when it comes to the exact job descriptions for these two positions. There are some obvious system administration tasks, which most technical and non-technical users will associate with the word administration and these are tasks such as installing or upgrading system software, managing user accounts and disks space and making sure the computer has access to the internet and the printer. But what does a network administrator really do, and where is the difference between a system administrator and a network administrator?
The duties of a system administrator are wide-ranging and can vary widely from one organization to another depending on the size of the company as well as the complexity of their systems and network. System administrators are usually in charge of installing, supporting, and maintaining servers or other computer systems, providing user support, planning for upgrades, responding to service outages and other problems. Other duties system administrator might have include scripting or light programming, project management for systems-related projects, supervising or training computer users, as well as being the consultant for computer problems beyond the knowledge of technical support staff. A system administrator usually has the knowledge to support a variety of operating systems, applications and provide the required technical support to maintain these systems working at all time and up to date (Wikipedia, 2007).
The network administrator on the other hand is a job position of engineers involved in computer networks and they carry out the entire network administration. Network administrators are basically the network equivalent of system administrators and their main job is to maintain and administer the hardware and software that comprises the network. This normally includes the deployment, configuration, maintenance and monitoring of active network gear such as various switches, modems, routers and firewalls the company has within their network. Network administrators are also in charge of assignment of network address, routing protocols and routing table configuration as well as configuration of authentication and authorization across the network. This often includes maintenance of network facilities in individual machines, such as network cards and network configuration on various computers as connecting multimedia devices to the network. The work of a network administrator might include maintenance of certain network servers such as file servers, VPN gateways, and intrusion detection systems. In addition to that network administrators will play a major role when it comes to designing or upgrading a network, implementing security features or even the maintenance of the network’s authorization infrastructure, as well as network backup systems. Obviously as network administrator one of their main task is to keep the network running, which includes preventive measures and maintenance, troubleshooting and/or debugging network-related problems (Wikipedia, 2007). But even within network administration, one can differentiate between the type of computer network that an administrator has to manage. Some oversee Local Area Networks (LAN), others work on Wide Area Networks (WAN) and others manage an internet/intranet system.
Many small business that are looking to hire a network professional are not even aware of the differences when advertising a position for a network administrator and are surprised what kind of resumes they receive and especially the salaries that come with that job description. A business with several work stations, possibly a few servers, printers, routers and firewall which will be the entire corporate network is considered to be a small network and therefore will not necessarily require a network administrator. A professional and well-experienced system administrator can easily maintain such a small network with a limited number of “simple” components such as routers and firewalls. Although the system administrator, as described above, is mainly responsible for the system rather than the entire network, he will be able to maintain and administer a network that most small businesses use. Therefore in a small environment, as described in the example, one and the same person or team will probably fill both roles of a system or network administrator (Woodall, 2005).
Although small businesses are spending a lot of money on technology, computers, fast Internet connections, security measures and upgrading their overall system, the complexity thereof is very different from those that large companies have. Large businesses are forced to implement faster, better, newer and more complex technologies in order to maintain their economic status as well as outgrow their competitors. With the constantly increasing requirements of customers and the globalization of companies, the delivery of world-class services is becoming the difference between the success and failure of an organization. IT environments, although carefully planned originally, evolve with disparate and distributed architectures and grow into huge and complex networks, sometimes connected across continents (Dawson, 2000). The dynamic nature of organizational structures, advances in IT technology, the continuous upgrading of hardware and software components, and the increasing demand for service quality make the administration of an organization’s IT infrastructure very expensive and time consuming. But not only that, businesses have to keep up with the market and technology as fast as possible and therefore rely not only on internet based communication such as e-mail and VOIP, but also have a established ecommerce portals or offer their customers instant internet based services. All this is only possible with a well-designed and fully functional and efficient network. And this is where the networks from small businesses differ and why large companies have to differentiate between a system administrator and network administrator.
Although for a non IT professional both job descriptions might seem very similar, but companies, and especially large companies, will have to differentiate between the two job descriptions mainly because the more complex network systems a company has in place, the more experienced and specialized administrators the company will require. In today’s world and with the sophisticated technology in place, a large business will no longer be able to employ a regular IT administrator or system administrator who will be able to cope with all technicalities and configurations of each system as well as the entire network including all components. For a business it is essential to have someone who can analyze the overall computer and information needs of the organization, doing cost-benefit analysis of prospective upgrades, and determining personnel and equipment requirements. But just as importantly, is the day-to-day monitoring of the system and a wide variety of other tasks such as coordinating the installation and upgrading of computer hardware; upgrading and installing new software; evaluating and installing patches; resolving software-related problems; backing up; and recovering data after a crash. All these are the tasks a good network administrator has to be capable of doing when dealing with large business networks (Career Prospects in Virginia, 2007).
Business that have large and complex computer systems and networks in place that allow them to satisfy the customers needs, maintain their business advantage and at the same time comply with all security regulations need lots of people to manage them. In many cases a large IT department will consist of several administrators who usually work with various teams such as systems analysts, programmers, and technicians. With all that, large companies require a professional to focus on a specific segment of the network rather than a general IT administrator trying to maintain the various systems. For example, in large IT environments, such as a large web hosting company or a large ASP, the question if employing a system or network administration has relevance. There will be enough work to have teams of systems administrators, who will be focusing on the system side of the computers and teams of network administrators who again will be focusing on maintaining the network online and allowing for proper data flow. Some tasks may even be divided among different system or network administrators or members of different organizational groups. For example, a dedicated individual may apply all system upgrades, a Quality Assurance (QA) team may perform testing and validation, and one or more technical writers may be responsible for all technical documentation written for a company.
Depending on how large the company is and what technologies are in place, they might even have to differentiate between network administrators who will be in charge of network hardware such as hubs switches and the proper configuration thereof, but at the same time there might be security administrators that are in charge of all security configurations within the network. These security administrators may be called upon to educate users about computer security, install security software, monitor the network for security breaches, respond to cyber attacks, and in some cases, gather data and evidence to be used in prosecuting cyber crime. The responsibilities of computer security specialists have increased in recent years, as there has been a large increase in the number of cyber attacks on data and networks. Not just the security administrator but system and network administrators as well are required to maintain a constant overview of all changes within their specialty field, latest threats, newest technologies and various configurations. Considering the fact how many security solutions there are, such as software, hardware or even configurations, security cannot always be managed by a regular network or system administrator. Specific knowledge and experience needs to be available at all times to allow for the administrator to fix an issue immediately or preventing it in the first place rather than trying to fix it by “learning on the job” which can cost the company not only dissatisfied customers, lost work time of their employees, lost business and therefore loss of profit (Association of Computer Support Specialists, 2007).
In other words, the demand for specialty occupations is needed and constantly growing. The more complex and specialized a network or a system is getting, the more specialized and experienced the IT professionals have to be to maintain the network or systems within an organization. Determining how best to craft the system or network administration function within a company is mainly contingent upon the size, capacities, and capabilities of the planned or already existing architecture and the IT staff. Large organizations will obviously deploy a more sophisticated administrative model, while smaller organizations will be likely to consolidate functions based upon the amount of work that is required to maintain a working system. But no matter what size the business is, it is crucial to have the right people with the right knowledge for the right technology.
