Network administrators, what do you actually do?

[Structural Integrity]

I've almost completed 2.5 years of my 4 year computer science study, and I've had my portion of setting up networks, configuring servers and many more things.
However, when I look back to our little projects (projects with a span of a few weeks to complete a network with certain demands) I don't really see what network admins have to do all day. In my eyes it's configuring, and then sitting back picking in ones nose.
Ofcourse, there is always the support work, fixing comps, and looking at what sites users visit, but you really can't fill a day with that..... or can you?

I'm asking this because in 1.5 years I'll be done with my study (if lucky) and I will have to choose a direction in which I want to work (either programming, network adminning or anything else P&IT related).

[Gayle29uk]

Originally posted by Structural Integrity
I've almost completed 2.5 years of my 4 year computer science study, and I've had my portion of setting up networks, configuring servers and many more things.
However, when I look back to our little projects (projects with a span of a few weeks to complete a network with certain demands) I don't really see what network admins have to do all day. In my eyes it's configuring, and then sitting back picking in ones nose.
Ofcourse, there is always the support work, fixing comps, and looking at what sites users visit, but you really can't fill a day with that..... or can you?

I'm asking this because in 1.5 years I'll be done with my study (if lucky) and I will have to choose a direction in which I want to work (either programming, network adminning or anything else P&IT related).

I work on front line support. Trust me when I say an admin's day could be filled 10 times over by users who

1) Leave caps lock on while entering their password.
2) Kick out their patch cables.
3) Are unable to deal with a paper jam.

Those 3 alone could fill your day hence the presence of IT support desks...

[djbass]

Originally posted by Structural Integrity
Ofcourse, there is always the support work, fixing comps, and looking at what sites users visit, but you really can't fill a day with that..... or can you?

Never underestimate the stupidity of computer users, especially most (but not all) females and teachers.

=[DJ Bass]=

[Gayle29uk]

Originally posted by djbass
Never underestimate the stupidity of computer users

Todays calls...

1. User 'accidentally deleted' shared drive (i.e. fiddling) but has nfi what the server or directory name is. Wants it back and can't understand why I need morei nformation.

2. NT machine frozen, reboot. User not done anything stupid afaik.

3. Someone with admin rights deleted network ops mailbox. Stupidity from someone who should know better

4. User tried to login, capslock on...

And one from earlier in the week that really shows how dumb people can be (I didn't log the initial call but I did take the followup)...

A user rang with a hung laptop, unable to reboot so user wasadvised to remove battery, wait 10 seconds, then reattach battery and reboot. User reported battery was held on by a screw so helpdesk (wondering wtf a battery was doing held on by a screw) advised user an engineer would call in at some point. User rang back later having ceased trying to remove the HDD and having actually found the battery. System now fully operational.

All the old jokes about support work are NOT jokes, they actually happen on a daily basis

[djbass]

http://rinkworks.com/stupid/ is still a classic

I don't deal with computer problems as much anymore as I'm currently more of a business machine tech (copiers, faxes, printers etc), but there's always the classics like no power/phone cord plugged in.

With the fax machines it is always 'black lines on the page' caused by stupid office people faxing documents with still wet whiteout getting it all over the scanning assembly. People who report 'paper feed' problems cause they dropped something down the back of the paper tray, or 'blank pages' cause they forgot to remove the fluro-orange sticker on the bottom of the ink cartridge.

I got loads of examples of stupidity.

=[DJ Bass]=

[mikay]

I'm a sys admin so basically the same job cept I'm more servers than routers/network but there is a degree of crossover. The type of work you do depends very much on the maturity of the installation.

Backups is a big area. Not changing tapes but managing the backups. Depending on how well set up it is it can take a decent part of each day verifying the backups succeeded. They tend to grow in size considerably as you accumulate new clients and data builds up. You will need to uprate the backup solution at least once a year with extra tape drives, network bandwidth & poss backup server/software. These can be pretty considerable projects.

Patch management can be a major issue. I got given about 100 servers to y2k patch a while back and didn't even have network connectivity to about half of them. This can be a real hassle with kernel/firmware patches too cos you have to reboot and that involves outages, discussing with the application owner.... hours of hassle to do a 2 min reboot.

Security is an issue even if it isn't technically your responsibility. Just because a server/router was secure a year ago and nothing's changed doesn't mean it's secure now. You do tend to spend some spare time looking at sand/cert/vendor sites etc.

Installing new servers. Supposing you get to build a nice oracle parallel server cluster with some wierd disk layout and a few apps you've never used before. Takes time.

Keeping your skills up to date and looking at new areas to improve the network.

The thing is if you have 100 servers or routers to look after every minor change can get multiplied 100 fold. A new install of ssh for example either gets very laborious or needs automating.

Of course there's more than 1 way to skin a cat http://bofh.ntk.net/*******.html

[Gayle29uk]

Originally posted by mikay
Of course there's more than 1 way to skin a cat http://bofh.ntk.net/*******.html

If that link's meant to be what I think it is I've been amusing myself there half the day...

And the new episode went up at the reg this week

BOFH is a MUST READ for sysadmins-to-be.

I feel it gives you the state of mind you need as a sort of counter weight against the endless ammounts off stupidity errors you get to solve...

Networking/server admin is fun, but users are always the weakest link.

[hinch]

a few years ago when i used to be a sys/network admin i used to sit on a chair in front of the main switch rack with my hot chocolate and randomly pull out cables wait for 10 mins then stick them back in.

nothing better to do

if anyones interested it was the big international isp/carrier who`s ioc is in st.albans.

im sure you can work it out from there

[Slidey]

Originally posted by hinchles
a few years ago when i used to be a sys/network admin i used to sit on a chair in front of the main switch rack with my hot chocolate and randomly pull out cables wait for 10 mins then stick them back in.

nothing better to do

if anyones interested it was the big international isp/carrier who`s ioc is in st.albans.

im sure you can work it out from there

is that one of the ones thats just gone bust ?

[hinch]

Originally posted by Slidey


is that one of the ones thats just gone bust ?

naag bti is still around i believe

Originally posted by Krewl


Networking/server admin is fun, but users are always the weakest link.

And incompetent management is the next-weakest..

[xtothez]

Originally posted by Krewl
BOFH is a MUST READ for sysadmins-to-be.

I was tempted to sue Simon Travaglia for that.
I first read BOFH as a column in a small computer magazine someone had bought me while I was in hospital. I laughed so hard I'm surprised my stitches held in : )

Since then I've been an avid reader of The Reg, waiting for the new episodes every fortnight. (Btw, does anyone have some of those 'Salmon Days' episodes saved? I've only seen the preview with the office paperclip, which amused me no end...).

[Vaio]

1st thing that happened is I get a call at 10:10 about no email. Usually all is quiet until around 10:30 as the offices dont officially open till 10:00 and the staff need to spend 30 mintes talking about the latest human rights violation they read about on the internet before they get down to who is sexier Garath Gates or the other retard. I wander over to the other office via Starbucks cause I know it gets up the nose of some of the more 'conscientious' members of staff who constantly remind me of the plight of all those 3rd world farmers that are being ripped off by evil multinational companies (if it was later in the day I would have gone to Burger King first).

I ignore the sounds of some retarded jazz band (why is jazz 5 musicians playing different songs at the same time ?) and wander up to what is loosely termed 'The computer room' (its actually the interview room that I was reluctantly allowed to use to install 4 servers in. Its unsecured (cause locking it is bad m'kay) and investigate the problem. I plug in my handly laptop (A Sony Vaio PCG 9326 naturally) to the hub just incase I need to go on a ping frenzy before I attack the mail server.

The Mail Server (Rimmer) seemed quite happy, pulling email from Demon chugging away nicely. I could ping both the domain controllers, all was well in that department. I had a quick swig of coffee cause I knew this one was going to be 'fun'

I check Network Neighbourhood, 1st thing I do when I suspect cable problems. All is not well. Half the machines on the network dont show up. Very odd so I decide to investigate the hub.

On the hub where the cable from downstairs plugs in there is no green light. This means either the downstairs hub is down or the cable has been damaged so I decide to brave the crap jazz and armed only with my Walkman and a tape of Disintergration by the Cure I brave the wilds of the downstairs office to look at the hub to find......

Some dozey ****tard had decided to 'borrow' the PSU for the hub to recharge their phone last night.

To do this they had to reach down between two desks avoid all the electrical cables that someone else still hasn't sorted out and unplug it from both the mains and the hub. They then plugged a 12v PSU into what I believe is a 4.5v socket on what used to be a working mobile phone. Naturally no-one knew who is was and as it is a company phone it could have been used by anyone. I quickly get the hub back up and running before announcing that email is working again but because the proxy server was affected by the network failure the internet will be a little dodgy today as it needs to configure itself properly. I wander back up stairs, grab my laptop and put it away before I then switch off the proxy server.

Vaio

Hehe, what endless fun users are.

I wear my BOFH baseball cap regularly. I also find that wearing a hand grenade round your neck and muttering a lot on bad days stops most of the really stupid support calls.

Incidentally I use thereg as my ADSL provider and am quite pleased with my Static IP and monthly ADSL contract www.vcisp.net

Incidentally I am Admin for a hosting company, which is bags of fun and endless 17" Errors (the error is 17" from the monitor).

[Gayle29uk]

Originally posted by GSV
Incidentally I am Admin for a hosting company, which is bags of fun and endless 17" Errors (the error is 17" from the monitor).

We call them PEBKACs. Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair

[Tweakster]

heh I work in the field, but not with a neat title like network admin, probably not the pay either. I can still spend a days just waiting for the chance to use my favorite line though... User calls with a problem: I answer "hmmm, could be an ID ten T problem" spoken as aye-d-ten-tee, of course being IDIOT ;-)

Having problems with someone in the ID ten T department is also common when I mess something up.

[Minty]

Originally posted by Gayle28uk

I work on front line support. Trust me when I say an admin's day could be filled 10 times over by users who

1) Leave caps lock on while entering their password.
2) Kick out their patch cables.
3) Are unable to deal with a paper jam.

Those 3 alone could fill your day hence the presence of IT support desks...

Agreed

[Structural Integrity]

On the one side I hear great stories about coffee drinking, and occasionally bugging the users by pulling out random cables. On the other side I hear stories of agony caused by users so stupid it's a miracle they are still alive!

I reckon it's all about the place you work and how often you come into contact with the users (presuming that they are equally stupid at every work-place )...

If I had to make a choice, between a job of programming, or a job of adminning a network, and I was to start at the bottom of the ladder, what would the best choice be?

[W]

Originally posted by Structural Integrity
On the one side I hear great stories about coffee drinking, and occasionally bugging the users by pulling out random cables. On the other side I hear stories of agony caused by users so stupid it's a miracle they are still alive!

I reckon it's all about the place you work and how often you come into contact with the users (presuming that they are equally stupid at every work-place )...

If I had to make a choice, between a job of programming, or a job of adminning a network, and I was to start at the bottom of the ladder, what would the best choice be?

I'd say it depends on preference. Personally, I would go for programming, but just because I like it.

Besides, you'll prolly have to deal with stupid people no matter what. As programmer, you have to deal with stupid bosses who don't understand aby programming, and as a network admin you'll have more freedom from the bosses, but will have to deal with stupid users (and the occational stupid coadmin)

[Vaio]

Network admins have funnier stories to tell at network admin parties

Vaio

[Gayle29uk]

You gotta remember though that BOFH is a joke, try those tricks for real and life is likely to become very un-fun very fast

Seriously though, stupid users are good cos they have easy problems to deal with. Believe me when I say they're a VAST improvement on the 'tinkerers'.

I'm just front line support though, I'm here on the Helldesk to stop the admins dealing with all this ****e hehe.

[Lanceman]

Originally posted by Structural Integrity
[...]
If I had to make a choice, between a job of programming, or a job of adminning a network, and I was to start at the bottom of the ladder, what would the best choice be?

Well, the question here is: what are your preferences and what do you expect your daily work to be?
I am a 3 year trainee at a software company. There were 2 choices you could make to train as either an application developer or system integrator. The difference is that the first one is more software orientated and almost pure programming while the second means more hardware, network and system integrating.
My preference was to choose the system integration because it suited me better and I didn't have a good handling for programming (or understanding it) before the apprenticeship.
Now I do some things like a network admin does, obviously mostly with help still. But I also got the task to develop a database.
Our main network admin is also a software engineer.
The extract from this text is: you should hold your options open, but you should also consider what it is going to be. Doing only programming each day might get boring if you don't like it that much, but on the other hand administrating might also get frustrating for others. If you can mix both, it is most probably the best deal, but it depends much where you work, how much responsibility you can put on the other co-workers and how the responsible person in charge thinks of it (he might not like the idea of you doing programming beside the administration).

[mikay]

Originally posted by Structural Integrity

If I had to make a choice, between a job of programming, or a job of adminning a network, and I was to start at the bottom of the ladder, what would the best choice be? [/b]

I was a programmer for about 10 years and the last 4 years I've been a sysadmin.

In programming you get to the stage where you have literally done everything. After a while I was either rehashing a report to do something different or part way through converting 2000 programmes to use fifo stock. The reality gets very unsexy after a while.

Sys/network admin can be very different. There are basically 2 aspects, development & operations. Development is often seen as the more senior or whatever but personally I find it boring. Operations is way more fun in that you always have something different to do & you are constantly learning all the obscure outlandish stuff that makes you feel you know the area well.

Best choice overall really depends on what you want out of it and to an extent the offers you get. I would probably say admin ahead of programming but the company and project counts for a lot.