INFO3106

Course Title: 
Computer Systems Administration
Credits: 
3
Educational Level: 
III
Associated Programme: 
B.Sc. IT
Core Course: 
yes
Course Aims: 

IT professionals will encounter a variety of platforms in their careers. The role of the IT professional is to select, deploy, integrate and administer platforms or components to support the organization’s IT infrastructure. This knowledge area includes the fundamentals of hardware and software and how they integrate to form essential components of IT systems. This course covers the techniques that are used for the installation, configuration, and maintenance of computer hardware, software, and network infrastructure. The course presents the basic theoretical concepts of computer networks and operating systems in a little less detail than would be the case for specialist courses on these subjects. These basic concepts are complemented by practical demonstrations and hands on exercises of tasks that are carried out by a system administrator.

Syllabus: 
  • Operating Systems: Overview; Operating system principles; Concurrency, Scheduling and dispatch; Memory Management; Device Management; Security and Protection; File Systems; Real-time and embedded systems; Fault tolerance; Scripting; Virtualisation; Installation, Configuration and Maintenance of OS and Applications; Installation and Configuration; Maintenance (upgrades, patches, etc.); Server services (print, file, DHCP, DNS, FTP, HTTP, mail, SNMP, telnet); Application Management (database, web, network services, etc.); Deployment of a System Image using Imaging Software; Support and Licensing issues.
  • Administration Activities: Content Management; Content Deployment (file system planning and Structure); Server Administration and Management; User and Group Management; Backup Management; Security Management; Disaster Recovery; Resource Management; Automation Management (automatic job scheduling); Use of Site Management Logs; System Support.
  • Administrative Domains: Web; Network; OS; Support; Database.
  • Power Management: Power Requirements for Individual Systems; Heat and Power Budgets; Power Load Monitoring and Management.
Course Assessment: 
  • Final exam       50%
  • Coursework       50%
    • Mid-Semester       15%
    • Labs/Assignments       10%
    • Lab Exam       15%
    • Project       10%

Students will be required to pass both the coursework and the final examination to pass the course.

Course Prerequisites: 

COMP2340 - Computer Systems Organization AND COMP2190 - Net-Centric Computing.