Network Services & Systems Administration

This unit covers the configuration, management, and troubleshooting of core network services, directory and cloud-based accounts, virtualization, storage, and backup solutions. Students will also apply security best practices and monitoring techniques to maintain availability, integrity, and performance of networked systems.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze packet flow and addressing by tracing data through the OSI and TCP/IP layers, performing IPv4 subnetting calculations, and validating connectivity with diagnostic utilities
• Configure and administer core network services and accounts, including DHCP and DNS settings (Windows and Linux), Active Directory user and GPO management, and cloud services such as Office 365 tenants, shared mailboxes, and Teams
• Implement virtualization, storage, and backup strategies by deploying Hyper-V and network virtualization, configuring RAID and deduplication, and creating reliable backup/redundancy plans (including tape and Internet failover)
• Evaluate and harden systems through wireless security measures, multifactor authentication, firewall and spam-filter configurations, remote access controls, mobile device management, and monitoring/logging for patching and troubleshooting