National CAE Designated Institution
  • Classroom

This course focuses on the planning, design, configuration, operation, and management of computer networks containing data communication devices, servers, workstations, and networked applications and support systems. It introduces students to administrative techniques inherent to basic operating systems, and also to enterprise management systems required by larger organizations. Students examine and discuss issues of scalability, performance management, and integration of internal resources with external resources such as cloud-based systems. This course provides information and skills necessary to perform competitively in an entry‐level role of network administrator or information technology team member, providing a broad overview of network management principles and practices. Students are introduced to and discuss various industry best practices and the ethics and fundamental principles of user‐centric computing so that graduates remain equipped to evaluate and apply continually changing technologies and practices. This course is lab intensive with extensive hands‐on exercises and projects.

Learning Objectives

  1. Identify key differences between very small ad hoc networks, small-to-medium hand-managed networks, enterprise networks, and "clouds".
  2. Define networking services provided by a variety of operating systems, and perform basic operations on them.
  3. Identify strengths and weaknesses in various network architectures, and identify gaps.
  4. Analyze the role of networked applications such as databases, messaging, and voice, and how they integrate into the enterprise network environment.
  5. Define cloud computing, virtualization and virtualization management systems.
  6. Read, create, modify, and maintain network diagrams and documentation.
  7. Explain how issues like scalability, time and resource management, ethics, and user information needs are critical to the effective practice of network and system administration.
  8. Demonstrate basic network, server, and workstation troubleshooting functions.
  9. Plan and apply information security policies and measures based on various organizations' needs and requirements.
  10. Plan, prepare, and operate various enterprise-grade network management systems such as virus protection, intrusion detection, and workstation, server, and work performance-and fault monitoring systems.

Framework Connections

The materials within this course focus on the NICE Framework Task, Knowledge, and Skill statements identified within the indicated NICE Framework component(s):