Analyzing the Multifaceted Role of the Network Administrator

This report provides an overview of the role of network administrators in both small and large organizations. It details the responsibilities of network administrators, including maintaining network infrastructure, ensuring data connectivity, testing for network breaches, and implementing security measures. The report also discusses the differences in the role based on the size of the organization, with network administrators in smaller organizations often handling a wider range of tasks compared to their counterparts in larger organizations who may specialize in specific areas like network planning and security. Ultimately, the network administrator plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth and secure operation of an organization's network.

Running head: ROLE OF THE NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR
ROLE OF THE NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR
Name of student
Name of university
Author’s note:

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work would not have been possible without the help of my professors and the esteemed
faculties who helped me to gain the knowledge for completing this assignment. I am highly
grateful to all the people with whom I have had the pleasure of working during this and the
other related projects. Nobody has been more important to me in this pursuit of the project
than the members of my family. I would sincerely like to thank my parents, whose guidance
and love helped me to pursue this project. They are the ultimate role models of my life. lastly,
I would like to thank God for giving me the blessing and good health so that I can complete
this project in time.

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Table of Contents
Abstract..........................................................................................................................2
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Discussion......................................................................................................................3
Network administrator...............................................................................................3
Role of network administrator in small organisations...............................................4
Role of the network administrators in the large organisations...................................6
Conclusion......................................................................................................................9
References....................................................................................................................10

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Abstract
The aim of the report is to provide the idea about the common role of the network
administrators. A detailed discussion of network administrators is delivered using this report.
The discussion of the role of the network administrators in the large organisations and the
role of the network administrators is briefly stated in the report. Role of any network
administrator might be varying immensely relying on the size, socio-economic considerations
and the location of the organisations. Network administrator is the IT expert who has been
tasked with the management of the network of the organisation. The network administrators
keeps the network operational and they also monitor the functions and the operations in the
network.

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Introduction
The aim of this report is to discuss the role of the network administrators in the
organisations. A detailed discussion of network administrators is delivered using this report.
The discussion of the role of the network administrators in the large organisations and the
role of the network administrators is briefly stated in the report. Finally, this report settles
with a specific conclusion for the report.
Computer network is considered as the telecommunications network, which helps in
connecting the collection of the computers for allowing the communication and then
exchange data among the systems, users, applications, and the software (Lupica et al., 2017).
A network administrator is majorly responsible for maintaining the computer network of the
organisation updated and perform the operations as envisioned. Role of any network
administrator might be varying immensely relying on the size, socio-economic considerations
and the location of the organisations. In larger organisations, the network administrators are
responsible to manage the servers, networks, and client workstations (Matsumoto, Hitz &
Perrig, 2014). In smaller organisations, the network administrator performs these similar
tasks along with the tasks of the system administrator.
Discussion
Network administrator
Network administrator is the IT expert who has been tasked with the management of
the network of the organisation (Bondan et al., 2014). It is required from the network
administrator to possess the high level of the knowledge of the technology of the organisation
and it is majorly the high level of the technical staff in that organisation. The network
administrators keeps the network operational and they also monitor the functions and the
operations in the network (Antikainen, Aura & Särelä, 2014). The network administrators is

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majorly responsible for the instalment, maintenance and the upgrading of the software or the
hardware that is required for effective executing the computer network. The IT or computer
network might encompass to the wide area network, local area network, the intranets and the
internet.
Role of network administrator in small organisations
The network administrator commonly has the highest degree linked with the IT and
computer science (Rossow, 2014). The administrators commonly acquire the certificates
associated to the networking or even undergo the highest-level training linked to the
particular software or the hardware that is included in the network. It enables the rapid
control of the network by the network administrators or even generate the different network
from the start. The certificates associated to the network administration have been provided
by the popular organisations like the Cisco, Microsoft, Juniper and Redhat (Miskovic et al.,
2015). The network administrators are infrequently associated in the through support for the
user like the duties in the help desk. Rather, the network administrators commonly engage in
the high-level technological support like the maintenance of the hardware in the network and
the software equipment and the equipment that could be used for monitoring and then ensure
the complete operations in the network. The network addresses are commonly assigned by
the network administrator (Mahajan, Adagale & Sahare, 2016).
Additionally, the network administrators could configure the authentication and the
authorisation of the groups and the individuals who are allowed to access the resources on the
network. The network administrator of the small organisations is the individual responsible
for the configuration, commissioning and the maintenance of the network infrastructure and
the services of the organisation (Mazel, Fontugne & Fukuda, 2014). This also includes the
software systems and the computer hardware that creates any data network. In the small
organisations, the network administrator is commonly not connected directly with the users,

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rather they focus on the maintenance, configuring and the monitoring of the network
components in the WAN/LAN infrastructure of the organisation. Relying on the size of the
organisation, a network administrator might be connected in the deployment after the
designing of the computer network (de Assis, Rodrigues & Proenca Jr, 2014). The role of the
network administrators in the small organisations includes the activities and the tasks that are
to be performed like the commissioning, configuring and the maintenance of the different
network devices like the switches, routers, security devices, VPN gateways and the IDS/IPS,
making any De Militarised Zones (DMZ), the allocation and the management of the IP
addresses (Hoque et al., 2014). This also includes the commissioning and the configuring of
the different network protocols/services like the DNS, DHCP, NFS, and HTTP.
There are several responsibilities of the network in the small organisations besides
these responsibilities, which are:
 Ensuring the proper data network connectivity: In the small organisations, there is
constant requirement of the proper data flow across all the departments of the
organisation (Javaid et al., 2016). It is responsibility of the network administrator to
properly monitor the data availability to all the departments. If there are any damages in
the network of the organisation, it is required from the network administrators to provide
the required solution to the department and provide them with the proper means for
obtaining the data (Shen et al., 2015).
 Testing for the breaches in the network: In the recent times, there has been a significant
rise in the network attacks and it leads to the damage of the network of the organisation
and it hampers the proper working of the organisation (Khamphakdee, Benjamas &
Saiyod, 2014). The network administrators are provided with the task of properly
monitoring network of the organisation and deal with the situation when any attack has

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occurred in the network of the organisation else the sensitive data of the organisation
might be lost in the hands of the malicious attackers.
 Network management and monitoring: Sometimes, it could happen that one of the nodes
in the network is not working properly and it could lead to the collapse of the entire
network. Hence, the network administrators tend to create the network with possible
backup plan for each node to prevent the collapse of the entire network (Zhuang et al.,
2014).
 Monitoring the network for required updates: The devices in the network might require
constant update for the proper working of the network. The network administrators are
tasked with the responsibility of monitoring for the regular updates in the network and
maintain the network at the best condition for allowing the rapid flow of data through the
network (Gont & Chown, 2016).
 Update the ACLs regularly for regulating the network traffic: The Access Control List is
required to be monitored and updated regularly for ensuring the proper working of the
entire network. The network administrators perform the task of providing the required
updates on the network associated to the ACLs (Taylor et al., 2016).
 Enforcement of the security controls: The proper security controls are required for
ensuring the proper security for the organisation. The network administrators maintain the
security controls for the network of the organisation (Hu, Hao & Bao, 2014).
 Preparing along with the implementation of the security standards and policies: The
network administrators ensures that the employees and all other departments follow the
policies for the use of the network of the small organisation.
Role of the network administrators in the large organisations
The network of the large organisations could be significantly complex and it requires
the network administrators with proper experience and the skills that are required for

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monitoring and maintaining the network properly for the organisation (Shin, Wang & Gu,
2015). The steps that are commonly deployed by the organisations are:
Planning and the designing of the network: The initial phase of the implementation of
any network in the large organisations is the planning of the network and then designing the
network accordingly. This task is monitored by the network administrators and it is not
actually performed by the network administrators (Kleinrouweler, Cabrero & Cesar, 2016).
The designing of the network of the organisations includes the undertaking of the accurate
decisions regarding the kind of network that is most appropriate for the needs of the
organisations and it fulfils all the requirements of the organisation. In the larger
organisations, this task is executed by the senior architect of network who is a network
administrator with sufficient experience and it accustomed with both the network hardware as
well as the network software.
Setup a network: After the designing of the new network has been done, second phase
of the network administration starts that involves the configuration of the network after the
setting up of network. It comprises of the installing of hardware, which forms the physical
section of network and then it configures the databases or the files, routers, hosts and the
servers for the configuration of the network.
Maintain the network: The phase comprises of the presently running tasks that
commonly constitutes bulk of the responsibilities. It might include:
 Addition of the new host machines to that network
 Administration of the network security
 Administration of the network services, like the electronic mail, NFSTM services,
and the name services
 Performing the troubleshooting of the network issues

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Expansion of the network: When the duration of the network that has been placed is
significantly longer and it functions properly, it might be required from the organisation to
expand the network for expanding the services and the features. Primarily, the population of
the network could be increased by the addition of the new hosts and then expanding the
services of the network by offering the extra shared software. But is has been observed that
eventually, any single network would expand to a certain point after which it could not
function properly and efficiently. Then the network administrators are provided with the task
of expanding the network of that organisation. Some of the options that are available for the
expansion of the network are:
o Setting up the network and then connecting this network to the prevailing network with
the utilisation of the machine functioning as the router and therefore creating an
internetwork. This is the major phase where the experience of the network administrators
comes into play. A skilled network administrator would have the proper knowledge about
the nodes that needs to be updated or added for enhancing the network.
o Configuration of the machines in the homes of the users or in the remote office sites as
well as then enabling the machines for connecting over the telephone lines to the network.
The network administrators are provided with the duty of configuring the machines as per
the requirement of the users and then properly monitor the working of the network. In the
large organisations, the network administrators perform the task of configuring the
machines as per the requirement of the organisation.
o Connecting the network of the organisation with the internet and therefore enabling the
users on the network for retrieving the information from any systems all through the
world. The large organisations functions all over the world and do business with several
businesses internationally. For doing effective business, the business need constant data
flow among the organisations to maintain the balance among the organisations. Any

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damage to the network of the large organisation could lead to immense loss of capital for
the businesses. This is why the network administrators are hired who have the proper
knowledge and sufficient experience for executing this task.
o Configuring the communications of UUCP and permitting the users for exchanging the
files as well as any electronic mail along with the remote machines.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded from the above discussion that the role of the network
administrators are more or less same for the small organisations and the large organisations.
The main duty of the network administrators is the ensuring of the proper functioning of the
network of the organisation. The network administrators of the small organisation do not
manage the large networks as the functioning of the network of the small organisations is
limited and it does not require excessive management. In the large organisations, the network
administrators have to manage the network as the working of the large business is
significantly high and any damage to the network of the large organisation might lead to
immense loss of capital for the organisation. A network administrator is majorly responsible
for maintaining the computer network of the organisation updated and perform the operations
as envisioned. Network administrator is the IT expert who has been tasked with the
management of the network of the organisation. It is required from the network administrator
to possess the high level of the knowledge of the technology of the organisation and it is
majorly the high level of the technical staff in that organisation. Additionally, the network
administrators could configure the authentication and the authorisation of the groups and the
individuals who are allowed to access the resources on the network.

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References
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International Conference on Network and Service Management (CNSM) and
Workshop (pp. 447-450). IEEE.
Mahajan, S., Adagale, A. M., & Sahare, C. (2016). Intrusion detection system using raspberry
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de Assis, M. V., Rodrigues, J. J., & Proenca Jr, M. L. (2014). A seven-dimensional flow
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Hoque, N., Bhuyan, M. H., Baishya, R. C., Bhattacharyya, D. K., & Kalita, J. K. (2014).
Network attacks: Taxonomy, tools and systems. Journal of Network and Computer
Applications, 40, 307-324.
Shen, W., Yoshida, M., Minato, K., & Imajuku, W. (2015). vConductor: An enabler for
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Magazine, 53(2), 116-124.
Zhuang, Y., Gessiou, E., Portzer, S., Fund, F., Muhammad, M., Beschastnikh, I., & Cappos,
J. (2014). Netcheck: Network diagnoses from blackbox traces. In 11th {USENIX}
Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation ({NSDI} 14) (pp. 115-
128).
Gont, F., & Chown, T. (2016). Network Reconnaissance in IPv6 Networks (No. RFC 7707).