Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Network Administrators and System Administrators are different folks.
The cool thing about products like Vyatta, is that is helps bridge the gap between these two worlds. (more on that later)
As an intro blog, I'd like to highlight some of the differences between these two types of geek.
Common vendors:
Network folks: Cisco, Juniper, Nortel, Force10, Foundry, Extreme, etc.
System folks: RedHat, Dell, HP, IBM, Novell, Sun, Microsoft
Access to devices:
Network folks: Serial console, ssh, telnet, SNMP, command line
System folks: VGA console, ssh, VNC, GUI
Configuration methodology:
Network folks: One global system configuration file per device.
System folks: Various configuration files for different components on a device, usually in /etc.
"Protocols":
Networks folks: RIP, OSPF, BGP, TCP, SNMP, Ethernet, VPN
System folks: HTTP, CGI, TCP, XML, DNS, SQL, Mail, File & Printer
Software Management:
Network folks: Single system images, reboot to upgrade. (changing)
System folks: RPMs, Component Upgrades, restart upgraded services.
Hardware Management:
Network folks: Install and remove interfaces cards without shutdown.
System folks: Full system shutdown to upgrade hardware. (changing)
Reliabilty Expectations:
Network folks: 5 Nines per device (many systems : 1 network)
System folks: Much lower expectations (systems fail without catastrophic effect)
Scalability:
Network folks: Large deployments use hardware acceleration (generally ASICs) to scale.
System folks: Large deployments use clustering and parallelization to scale.
Do you have other views on the differences and similarities between these types of geeks?
Who would win in a fight? :)
The cool thing about products like Vyatta, is that is helps bridge the gap between these two worlds. (more on that later)
As an intro blog, I'd like to highlight some of the differences between these two types of geek.
Common vendors:
Network folks: Cisco, Juniper, Nortel, Force10, Foundry, Extreme, etc.
System folks: RedHat, Dell, HP, IBM, Novell, Sun, Microsoft
Access to devices:
Network folks: Serial console, ssh, telnet, SNMP, command line
System folks: VGA console, ssh, VNC, GUI
Configuration methodology:
Network folks: One global system configuration file per device.
System folks: Various configuration files for different components on a device, usually in /etc.
"Protocols":
Networks folks: RIP, OSPF, BGP, TCP, SNMP, Ethernet, VPN
System folks: HTTP, CGI, TCP, XML, DNS, SQL, Mail, File & Printer
Software Management:
Network folks: Single system images, reboot to upgrade. (changing)
System folks: RPMs, Component Upgrades, restart upgraded services.
Hardware Management:
Network folks: Install and remove interfaces cards without shutdown.
System folks: Full system shutdown to upgrade hardware. (changing)
Reliabilty Expectations:
Network folks: 5 Nines per device (many systems : 1 network)
System folks: Much lower expectations (systems fail without catastrophic effect)
Scalability:
Network folks: Large deployments use hardware acceleration (generally ASICs) to scale.
System folks: Large deployments use clustering and parallelization to scale.
Do you have other views on the differences and similarities between these types of geeks?
Who would win in a fight? :)
# posted by Joel @ 1:25 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
Network folks carry the bits across the network. Systems folks make the bits. A friend of mine and I used to argue about this all the time.... I used to say his servers could not get anywhere without my network. He'd say my network was worthless without his servers attached. And then another beer was consumed :)
Unlimited Earnings Potential - http://1greatfuture.com
Our company is rapidly growing and offers you an extraordinary income helping others succeed. The primary requirement is to follow up on client inquiries and point them in the right direction. It is stress free, rewarding and straightforward work.
For complete details: http://1greatfuture.com
(Please feel free to delete this post if you don't want it on your blog. Thanks for the informative blog and opportunity to post.)
Post a Comment
Our company is rapidly growing and offers you an extraordinary income helping others succeed. The primary requirement is to follow up on client inquiries and point them in the right direction. It is stress free, rewarding and straightforward work.
For complete details: http://1greatfuture.com
(Please feel free to delete this post if you don't want it on your blog. Thanks for the informative blog and opportunity to post.)
# posted by 
: 7:57 PM
: 7:57 PM << Home
