Network Administration and Maintenance

This unit focuses on practical day-to-day administration of networked systems, including maintenance, security, backup and recovery, and basic infrastructure configuration. Students will practice configuring common network services, managing accounts and devices, implementing physical and operational security, and evaluating cloud and virtualization options to support resilient network operations.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze network infrastructure requirements and configure core services such as DHCP, NAT, and wireless access points, and justify selection of virtualization hosts based on performance and security criteria
• Apply system and account administration procedures by performing software updates and patch management, resetting and disabling/enabling user accounts, forcing group policy updates, and securing user credentials
• Demonstrate data protection and recovery strategies by implementing backup plans (including tape and cloud options), executing file-server workflows (copy/edit/restore), and maintaining organized network drive and shared-folder structures
• Evaluate physical and operational security and documentation practices by implementing device management (mobile and endpoint), physical cable/room organization, antispam and spam-filter measures, conducting fire-drill procedures, and creating knowledge-base documentation for administrators