The role of the network administrator is to maintain the stability of the server. The server is very important, as the stability of our school network depends on its’ performance.
The role of a network administrator is in management through software, rather than managing through hardware. All this work can be done through one computer and the right software. When there is a hardware difficulty, thanks to a relationship between our school and Apple; technicians are sent from them in to service our Xserves.
The first job is to manage accounts. When a new student comes to our school, the administrator must create logins for all the accounts; as well as deleting the accounts once they leave. This also applies to managing our school-wide E-Mail Client FirstClass. A failure to delete accounts on FirstClass could lead to the school being charged for the unused accounts, while the activation of an account costs a particular amount of money.
The second job is to prevent overload in the server. The most important software used by an administrator is Workgroup Manager. This allows the administrator to see how many people are logged onto their accounts stored on the server. We primarily see spikes in logins when Students login at the beginning of the day and when Teachers login early in the morning. This can lead to Login Overloads, creating problems within the server. If people are logged into their accounts and not using them, the administrator can view the usage statistics of everybody logged in and log them out.
While a server has many automated features, it is up for the administrator to make sure our servers don’t crash under the weight of students and teachers. The stability of the server is one of the most important aspects of the infrastructure of our school, and without an administrator; something as simple as accessing a webpage or opening a document would be next to impossible.