Information Technology (IT) IO-WRL-005 DCWF 451

System Administrator

Installs, configures, troubleshoots, and maintains hardware, software, and administers system accounts.

Tasks

The concrete work activities defined for this role in the DCWF v5.1 spreadsheet. Core tasks are required for the role; additional tasks are associated but not mandatory.

T1153A additional Install, update, and troubleshoot systems/servers.
T434A additional Check system hardware availability, functionality, integrity, and efficiency.
T452 additional Conduct functional and connectivity testing to ensure continuing operability.
T456A additional Conduct periodic system maintenance including cleaning (both physically and electronically), disk checks, routine reboots, data dumps, and testing.
T499 additional Design group policies and access control lists to ensure compatibility with organizational standards, business rules, and needs.
T518 additional Develop and document systems administration standard operating procedures.
T518A additional Comply with organization systems administration standard operating procedures.
T521A additional Implement and enforce local network usage policies and procedures.
T572 additional Ensure application of security patches for commercial products integrated into system design meet the timelines dictated by the management authority for the intended operational environment.
T683 additional Maintain baseline system security according to organizational policies.
T695 additional Manage accounts, network rights, and access to systems and equipment.
T701A additional Manage system/server resources including performance, capacity, availability, serviceability, and recoverability.
T713A additional Monitor and maintain system/server configuration.
T728A additional Oversee installation, implementation, configuration, and support of system components.
T763A additional Diagnose faulty system/server hardware.
T763B additional Perform repairs on faulty system/server hardware.
T781 additional Plan, execute, and verify data redundancy and system recovery procedures.
T811 additional Provide ongoing optimization and problem solving support.
T835A additional Troubleshoot hardware/software interface and interoperability problems.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

KSA statements define what a person filling this role knows or can do. "Knowledge" is what they must know, "Skill" is what they can perform, and "Ability" is a durable capacity they bring to the work.

K0061 knowledge core Knowledge of incident response and handling methodologies.
K0076 knowledge core Knowledge of measures or indicators of system performance and availability.
K0079 knowledge core Knowledge of network access, identity, and access management (e.g., public key infrastructure [PKI]).
K0096 knowledge core Knowledge of performance tuning tools and techniques.
K0113 knowledge core Knowledge of server and client operating systems.
K0127 knowledge core Knowledge of systems administration concepts.
K0344 knowledge core Knowledge of virtualization technologies and virtual machine development and maintenance.
K081A knowledge core Knowledge of network protocols such as TCP/IP, Dynamic Host Configuration, Domain Name System (DNS), and directory services.
K0986 knowledge core Knowledge of organizational information technology (IT) user security policies (e.g., account creation, password rules, access control).
K099A knowledge core Knowledge of principles and methods for integrating system components.
K1033 knowledge core Knowledge of basic system administration, network, and operating system hardening techniques.
K1072 knowledge core Knowledge of network security architecture concepts including topology, protocols, components, and principles (e.g., application of defense-in-depth, Zero Trust).
K114A knowledge core Knowledge of system/server diagnostic tools and fault identification techniques.
K118A knowledge core Knowledge of software development models, methodologies, and practices (Waterfall Model, Spiral, Agile, DevSecOps).
K142A knowledge core Knowledge of the operations and processes for incident, problem, and event management.
K342A knowledge core Knowledge of operating system command line/prompt.
S167A skill core Skill in conducting system/server planning, management, and maintenance.
S171A skill core Skill in correcting physical and technical problems that impact system/server performance.
S211A skill core Skill in monitoring and optimizing system/server performance.
S216A skill core Skill in recovering failed systems/servers.
S219A skill core Skill in operating system administration.
A4295 ability additional Ability to integrate information security requirements into the acquisition process, using applicable baseline security controls as one of the sources for security requirements, and ensuring a robust software quality control process.
A6918 ability additional Ability to apply cybersecurity strategy to cloud computing service and deployment models, identifying proper architecture for different operating environments.
A6919 ability additional Ability to determine the best cloud deployment model for the appropriate operating environment.
A7082 ability additional Ability to implement Zero Trust security in DoD Systems/Software.
K0070 knowledge additional Knowledge of information technology (IT) security principles and methods (e.g., firewalls, demilitarized zones, encryption).
K0072 knowledge additional Knowledge of local area and wide area networking principles and concepts including bandwidth management.
K0141 knowledge additional Knowledge of the enterprise information technology (IT) architecture.
K0145 knowledge additional Knowledge of the type and frequency of routine maintenance needed to keep equipment functioning properly.
K0148 knowledge additional Knowledge of Virtual Private Network (VPN) security.
K0287 knowledge additional Knowledge of file system implementations (e.g., New Technology File System [NTFS], File Allocation Table [FAT], File Extension [EXT]).
K1034A knowledge additional Knowledge of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data security standards.
K1034B knowledge additional Knowledge of Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standards.
K1034C knowledge additional Knowledge of Personal Health Information (PHI) data security standards.
K1074A knowledge additional Knowledge of transmission records (e.g., Bluetooth, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Infrared Networking (IR), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi). paging, cellular, satellite dishes, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)), and jamming techniques that enable transmission of undesirable information, or prevent installed systems from operating correctly.
K112A knowledge additional Knowledge of systems engineering theories, concepts, and methods.
S170 skill additional Skill in configuring and optimizing software.
S194 skill additional Skill in diagnosing connectivity problems.
S195A skill additional Skill in troubleshooting failed system components (i.e., servers)
S202A skill additional Skill in identifying and anticipating system/server performance, availability, capacity, or configuration problems.
S206A skill additional Skill in installing system and component upgrades.
S209 skill additional Skill in maintaining directory services.
S386 skill additional Skill in using virtual machines.
S6590 skill additional Skill in interfacing with customers.
S6942 skill additional Skill in designing or implementing cloud computing deployment models.
S6945 skill additional Skill in migrating workloads to, from, and among the different cloud computing service models.
S892 skill additional Skill in configuring and utilizing software-based computer protection tools (e.g., software firewalls, anti-virus software, anti-spyware).

EWU courses that develop this role

CSCD240-S26 primary

CSCD 240 — C and Unix Programming

C and Unix course underwrites IT-451 System Administrator work.

CSCD240 primary

CSCD 240 — C and Unix Programming

C and Unix course is the foundation for IT-451 System Administrator work; shell, process, filesystem, permissions, and service management.

CSCD212 strong

CSCD 212 — Advanced Unix Environment

SysAdmin deep skills.

CSCD380 strong

CSCD 380 — Cybersecurity II: Systems and Operations

System Administrator under security posture.

CSCD470 strong

CSCD 470 — Operating Systems

System Administrator deep OS.

Related lectures and labs

Lectures

CSCD240-S26-L01 Setup: VPN, SSH, GitHub Classroom, Tokens, First Commands
CSCD240-S26-L02 Shell basics, navigation, file type identification, which
CSCD240-S26-L03 Files, directories, file command, wildcards, viewing
CSCD240-S26-L04 Command history, man pages, help system, history file
CSCD240-S26-L05 Permissions part 1: ls -l anatomy, rwx, file types
CSCD240-S26-L06 Permissions part 2: chmod octal + symbolic, directory x bit
CSCD240-S26-L07 I/O redirection, aliases, source, .bashrc, env
CSCD240-S26-L08 Pipes, filters, grep, sort, uniq, wc, tar

Labs

CSCD240-S26-LAB0 Lab 0: Setup Verification
CSCD240-S26-LAB1 Linux Lab 1: Navigation and Files
CSCD240-S26-LAB2 Linux Lab 2: Pathnames and History
CSCD240-S26-LAB3 Linux Lab 3: Permissions and Man Pages
CSCD240-S26-LAB4 Linux Lab 4: Redirection and Environment
CSCD240-S26-LAB5 Linux Lab 5: Quoting and File Utilities
CSCD240-S26-LAB6 Linux Lab 6: Processes and Pipes

Skill drills that practice this role

Exam questions from CSCD 240. Click any to work it.

CSCD240-E1-A-Q01 primary navigation pwd is /home/ssteiner/labs/lab1; home is /home/ssteiner. For each cd, show pwd after. Assume return to starting pwd.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q02 primary io Give a single command that does a long listing of the current directory and scrolls the output one page at a time.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q03 primary io-redirection Cause executable grader to run with stdout redirected to report.txt. pwd is part of PATH.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q04 primary permissions Given -rw-r-x--x 2 ssteiner faculty 4096 Apr 14 09:30 notes.sh — what does the - as first symbol mean?
CSCD240-E1-A-Q05 primary permissions-anatomy Describe what r, w, x, and - mean and what each group of three symbols means.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q06 primary permissions First symbol d — what does this mean?
CSCD240-E1-A-Q07 primary permissions First symbol l — what does this mean?
CSCD240-E1-A-Q08 primary permissions What does 4096 refer to in the ls -l line?
CSCD240-E1-A-Q09 primary permissions Who owns this file?
CSCD240-E1-A-Q10 primary permissions What group does this file belong to?
CSCD240-E1-A-Q11 primary permissions-chmod Change permissions of notes.sh: owner rwx, group rx, other none. Use octal.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q12 primary permissions-chmod Using only letters, remove write permission from the owner on notes.sh.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q15 primary env-path Add /opt/tools/bin to PATH for the current shell.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q16 primary file-ops Copy report.txt from current dir into subdirectory archive.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q17 primary process-listing Display PID and full process info for all processes containing "python".
CSCD240-E1-A-Q18 primary process-definition Define what a process is.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q19 primary job-vs-process Define what a job is and explain how jobs differ from processes.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q20 primary background Execute firefox and allow the shell to be used for other activities.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q21 primary jobs-output Firefox running in background; nothing else. What does typing jobs print?
CSCD240-E1-A-Q22 primary reading-comprehension 3 jobs: 1) firefox 2) gedit 3) code. Bring kate to foreground — give the command.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q23 primary signal ./daemon &. Terminate the JOB daemon (no other jobs active).
CSCD240-E1-A-Q24 primary process-termination ./daemon &. Terminate the PROCESS via PID (PID=7291). Show PID discovery AND kill.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q25 primary alias Create alias ll for long listing with human-readable file sizes.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q26 primary rm-recursive Using absolute path, remove subdirectory scratch under /home/ssteiner. Not in home dir.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q27 primary file-ops Remove empty subdirectory tmp under /home/ssteiner. You are in home dir.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q28 primary globbing Files: data, data1, data12, data2. Display only data1 and data12 via ls.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q30 primary archive Create gzip-compressed tarball backup.tar.gz of all .txt files in pwd.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q31 primary quoting var="Stu Steiner". A) echo "Hello $var" B) echo 'Hello $var'. Explain difference and output.
CSCD240-E1-A-Q32 primary help-system Explain man and --help. When to use each?
CSCD240-E1-A-Q35 primary redir-stderr Send only stderr of "scan /etc/shadow" to errors.log; keep stdout on terminal.