About 6 months ago, we put a whole new computer system in place. WE
wired our whole campus (a small campus), put in place two Netware 3.12 file
servers, added an AS/400 running CMDS school administration software, and
have two ISDN links attaching three buildings in a V-pattern. We currently
have about 120 workstations with around 150 or so users. More are on the
way. Also, we are running MSMail/Schedule+ campus-wide(100+ users so far).
We also have two computer labs (6 system, 12 system), one of which is
running McAfee NetTools for desktop control.

        Our IS department currently consists of my boss, the manager. He
handles all AS/400 related work, including apdates, system maintenance, and
all workstation issues. He also manages the department. I am the only other
full-time staff in the IS department.
        I handle both file-servers, basic network infrastructure(new wirings,
hubs, etc.), and all other workstation concerns. I do trouble-shooting and
repair on the workstations, software installations, hardware upgrades,
and..., well, everything. We also have a part-time student worker that helps
us with some of the less technical stuff.

        As you may imagine, we are completely swamped. We have not had a
chance do many htings that we want to do, such as document our network,
procedures, and other specifics of our environment. Furthermore, we are not
even sure what all to do. Now, for my question:

        We are working on next years budget and are pushing for more people.
But, our higher-ups want some concrete evidence that we need more people. I
was hoping that you could help me by giving me a "Day in the Life of a
Network Administrator." I have no formal training with Netware. Therefore,
as you can imagine, I am not doing everything I need to be because I don't
know what it is. Things are running, but we would be lost if we had a
serious problem.

        I hope that you can help. Any information that I can use to show the
extensive duties of a department looking over the setup listed above would
be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your patience and help.

Derek

**************************************************************
Derek Mangrum
Pacific Christian College
DMang...@gnn.com
**************************************************************

Alright!  Tell the truth!!  When do you sleep??

Actually, it is not uncommon for I.S. staffers to be understaffed and
overworked.  Your case may be extreme, however.  

Our I.S. department is structured around a director, who oversees all
staff and makes sure that we are all doing what we are supposed to.
He makes purchases and approves all purchase requests.  He also plans
and executes budget decisions and makes sure that the department is
working towards a larger goal for the organization.

Under the Director, we have 3 Analysts, a Data Processing Manager, and
a Network Administrator (me) all on equal political plains and
pay-scale.  The Data Processing Manager recently took on the Telecom
issues that I was handling until recently.   She has a small staff of
3 Computer Operators (day) and 1 other Nighttime computer operator.
Our Hospital utilizes the Meditech computer system on our DG Avion
mini computers, of which we have 5.  There are about 200 to 250 dumb
terminals on this network which are overseen by the Data Processing
manager.  We have 2 buildings that are connected with fiber to the
wiring closets in both buildings.  We use the same fiber backbone for
our Novell network which is growing incrementally every year and
currently sits at (about) 100 PC's give or take a few.  The analysts
that I spoke of earlier, are strictly applications analysts on our
proprietary software (Meditech) dealing with the Financial, Clinical
and Nursing areas.  That leaves the PC's, PC applications, Network and
Network Administration to me.  There are probably another 20 or so
PC's that are not currently on our Novell network.  In addition, I
offer software and hardware support for a PC-based system that runs in
our OB area and has it's own NT server, 6 workstationsl, and a gateway
connection to our proprietary software (Meditech again.).  On top of
this, I also manage the pocket pager system that we run in-house.  We
have our own transmitter and run with both voice and data pagers.
Many of these are aging and falling appart, so the pagers themselves
require frequent repair/replacement.  (You can see why I was 'REAL
GLAD' to dump the telecom issues.)  

All of our staff, is stretched to the max.

I hope this data helps.  It just makes me tired to think about it!
Good Luck!!!

Steve Spencer
ssp...@kdsi.net

  I am a member of the Distributed Systems Adminstration (DSA) group at
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. Our enviroment includes:  Novell 3.11 &
4.1, AIX/Unix, CCMail, Lotus Notes, IBM mainframe, Wang, Xerox and OS/2
workstations. We currently support in excess of 10,000 users scattered across
the country.

  Ths support the IS systems, we have the following groups:

DSA - handles daily admin tasks (backups,password changes, new user id's,
monitoring, reporting, troubleshooting of the above systems)

Novell Engineering - Deals with configuration issues on the Novell servers

AIX Engineering - Deals with configurations issues in the AIX enviroment

OS/2 Engineering - Deals with standard desktop images.

Marketplace and Train Mgmt Analysts - basically a very skilled help desk.
Responsible for the various proprietry apps and minor networking issues.
First level repsonse to users problems.

Desktop support - Second level support for end users

End User Support - Handles user calls regarding shrink wrap software (Lotus
Suite, Notes, CCmail, OS/2).

Situation Desk - Monitors all systems and coordinates resources for problem
management.

Data Quality Support - verifies train information on the mainframe. Also
responsible for apps on the Wang system.

Data Network Mgmt - Responsible for the hubs, routers etc

Operations Mgmt - all mainframe issues.

  This is a thumbnail sketch of the Information Systems Operation Center (ISOC)
for the railroad. The ISOC is manned 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Personell are
physically located in Ft Worth and St Paul with a few filed DSA folks scattered
around the country.

  Hope this helps some. If you would like further information, feel free to contact
me.