This course will transition you from working on a single computer to an entire fleet. Systems administration is the field of IT that’s responsible for maintaining reliable computers systems in a multi-user environment. In this course, you’ll learn about the infrastructure services that keep all organizations, big and small, up and running.

You’ll also learn how to manage and configure servers and how to use industry tools to manage computers, user information, and user productivity. Finally, you’ll learn how to recover your organization’s IT infrastructure in the event of a disaster.

The Program 

1. What is System Administration?
   In the first week of this course, you will cover the basics of system administration. You’ll cover organizational policies, IT infrastructure services, user and hardware provisioning, routine maintenance, troubleshooting, and managing potential issues. By the end of this module, you will understand the roles and responsibilities of a System Administrator.
2. Network and Infrastructure Services
   In the second week of this course, you’ll learn about network and infrastructure services. You will cover what IT infrastructure services are and what their role is in system administration. You’ll also learn about server operating systems, virtualization, network services, DNS for web services, and how to troubleshoot network services. By the end of this module, you will know the most common IT infrastructure services you’ll encounter when handling system administration tasks.
3. Software and Platform Services
   In the third week of this course, you’ll explore software and platform services. You’ll cover what types of software and platform services you may encounter in a tech role and how to manage them. You’ll learn how to configure email services, security services, file services, print services, and platform services.
4. Directory Services
   In the fourth week of this course, you’ll learn about directory services. You’ll explore the concept of centralized management and how this can help SysAdmins maintain and support all the different parts of an IT infrastructure. By the end of this module, you will know how to add users, passwords, and use group policies in Active Directory and OpenLDAP.
5. Data Recovery & Backups
   In the fifth week of this course, you’ll learn about data recovery and backups. You will also learn about common corporate practices like designing a disaster recovery plan and writing post-mortem documentation. By the end of this module, you’ll know the tradeoffs between on-site and off-site backups, understand the value and importance of backup and recovery testing, know different options for data backup (as well as the risks) and understand the purpose and contents of a disaster recovery plan.
6. Final Project
   The last week of this course is dedicated to the final project. For the final project, you will apply all the skills you’ve learned in this course by providing systems administration consultation. You will assess the IT infrastructure of three fictitious companies and provide recommendations and advice about how to support their IT infrastructure. By the end of this project, you will demonstrate the skills and problem-solving techniques of a SysAdmin. 

What will you learn

• Utilize best practices for choosing hardware, vendors, and services for your organization.
• Understand how the most common infrastructure services that keep an organization running work, and how to manage infrastructure servers.
• Understand how to make the most of the cloud for your organization.
• Manage an organization’s computers and users using the directory services, Active Directory, and OpenLDAP.
• Choose and manage the tools that your organization will use.
• Backup your organization’s data and know how to recover your IT infrastructure in the case of a disaster.
• Utilize systems administration knowledge to plan and improve processes for IT environments.