What do Network Admins do on a daily basis?

[The_Unbeliever]

You Administrators are always doing 'stuff'. Lots of 'stuff'. Be honest with us here non-Administrators... with all the monitoring/notification tools available nowadays, you guys are just downloading porn and surfing the net all day innit?

be off

 

[Peon]

Elvis, I reckon though you are paid a healthy sum of money though. Personally I would love to do that work, am qualified for it but spend my time doing other crap. Such as explaining to someone they cant delete a wireless network.

 

[daffy]

You get paid to make sure nothing happens.
If your Network administrator spends his days running around like a headless chicken, he's not doing his job properly.

 

[EchoZA]

Probably depends where you work at, but a lot of places will at least have a daily checklist that needs to be covered before you do anything else.
The list could include:
Check Daily back-ups and do a test restore
Check all server event logs (Hope you have MOM or some other tool that can help you with this, or else you are screwed, depending on the amount of servers you need to check)
Check Disk space (Also use other tools for this, no way of logging into 35 servers do do all that)
Check AV Console for any outbreaks (You should also receive a mail for this... but always good to check and see if everything is up to date etc)
Check Firewall log for any critical events
Check general health of network (network monitoring tool, no way you will ping 164 routers by yourself to see if they are all up...)
Check Mail server and make sure all is 100% there

Might have missed a few but if there are no problems with the above you can space out for the rest of the day, no, only kidding.
Then usually constant monitoring firewall and internet lines, or at least once an hour, and make changes where needed...
And filling in the change requests for any major changes, hate filling in those...
And then attend to any other problems that might come up during the day, which usually does like bad voice quality or routing problem at remote site etc...
And usually have 2 to 3 meetings a day (hate them, biggest waste of time)


Could add more but this might give you some idea I hope...

Tip # 1... Save time, write a script for all of the above

 

[TheGuy]

Elvis dude I feel sorry for you. I check my servers and Backups once a day to make sure all is ok. Then I help desktop users with stupid problems and figure out clever ways to prank the chicks at work. O and I also do Sox once in while.

 

[NeonNinja]

Exactly the route I took, except skipped N+ thought, and also did a few other like NetApp SANs and Fortinet courses, still need to do CCNP... hopefully I will get there next year

Seen CCNP + 5 years clears R25k. If it's not a personal question, what do you clear?

 

[Grep]

Don't do it if you don't have patience. Always accept the blame on your network rather than their stupidity. And just know that you will have to facepalm, a lot.

 

[ponder]

You get paid to make sure nothing happens.
If your Network administrator spends his days running around like a headless chicken, he's not doing his job properly.

Probably the best response so far or rather what should be happening out there.

The only real faults you should get are related to hardware failures, power outages or data lines being down. Rest is routine preventative stuff and doing research designing, planning and implementing stuff.

 

[Inn3rs3lf]

This is perfect guys. Thanks for all your input. I truly can see myself in these environments. Busy studying now for my N+ but only to take the pressure off the CCNA. Believe its a tad difficult for us Noobs. But I really am enjoying the studying........just wish they put in more "what to actually physically do" to set things up or troubleshoot. N+ hardly covers that.

But thanks again guys...I seriously can't wait to get into the field. Starting late in my days, but better late than never.

 

[NeonNinja]

How are you studying?

 

[Inn3rs3lf]

Everything is self study. Got trainsignals N+ videos and mike meyers N+ cd. Then also have trainsignals CCNP.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

situation : a trojan is loose on your network. (a new one, for which there is no antivirus signatures yet, and it's running amok.

what do you do?

 

[Inn3rs3lf]

Disconnect the PC's that are infected from the network?

 

[SinghDude]

situation : a trojan is loose on your network. (a new one, for which there is no antivirus signatures yet, and it's running amok.

what do you do?

track that trojan down and shoot it with an AK47..... i never could trust trojans...especially hiding in that wooden horse thingy...and KABOOM they attack!!!!!!

 

[eclipsedx]

Browse the internet and post on myBB.

+1

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Disconnect the PC's that are infected from the network?

that's what I would do, yes

and then you got them lusers whining at you...

 

[Drake2007]

situation : a trojan is loose on your network. (a new one, for which there is no antivirus signatures yet, and it's running amok.

what do you do?

That's why you use something like SonicWall.

 

[Inn3rs3lf]

Now what about subnetting. How often is that used? Or are most networks functional as is? Or if another client needs to be added, do you use CIDR charts that correlate with the existing network, or use binary with subnetting?

Ps...subnetting is a B#@!?

 

[rorz0r]

situation : a trojan is loose on your network. (a new one, for which there is no antivirus signatures yet, and it's running amok.

what do you do?

Browse the internet and post on myBB.

Also, find the trojan on exchange and see which dumb mother****er received+opened it. Extra beatings for each friend he forwarded it to.

 

[syntax]

situation : a trojan is loose on your network. (a new one, for which there is no antivirus signatures yet, and it's running amok.

what do you do?

this is why a decent Av and AV firewall policy is used.
Get hold of one of the machines, see what it does, how it spreads. Simply block those ports using the AV firewall.
Submit sample of virus to vendor.

Now what about subnetting. How often is that used? Or are most networks functional as is? Or if another client needs to be added, do you use CIDR charts that correlate with the existing network, or use binary with subnetting?

Ps...subnetting is a B#@!?

this depends on your job spec. You need to know subnetting, and you learn to do it in your head pretty quickly.
I would say Vlan'ing is way more common to do than subnetting. If you are talking about that kind of work, routing and NAC is your main bread and butter. Dynamic routing FTW!