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1. Understand the role and common tasks of a system administrator, including job titles, salary, certifications, professional societies, and required soft skills
2. Understand partitioning and disk layout, disk technology ( SCSI versus IDE), LVM (logical volume management)
3. Understand booting, dual booting, boot managers
4. Understand OS installation issues, install Linux, and troubleshoot common installation problems
5. Understand and manage basic system hardware, including disk drive, NIC, and RAM installation, hardware disposal procedures, and basic safety issues (such as shock) and risks (such as ESD)
6. Understand and manage disks and filesystems using tools such as fdisk, mount and umount (and the role of the fstab file), tune2fs, mkfs, fsck, and others
7. Understand and use removable media
8. Understand, use, and configure the graphic user interface
9. Understand change management (including time management, help desk setup, and using a trouble-ticketing system), configuration management, and patch management
10. Understand system startup and shutdown, run-levels
11. Understand how to start and stop services manually and automatically at boot time, and how to use and configure inetd (and xinetd)
12. Understand policies and procedures, such as a disaster recovery policy (DRP)
13. Understand and use essential tools to perform system administrative tasks
14. Install, manage, and update software packages using RPM and apt on Linux, and pkg on Solaris and BSD
15. Understand kernel modules
16. Understand and configure printing services, including local and remote printing using CUPS
17. Understand basics of database servers (MySQL, PostgreSQL, and basic SQL), and how to configure them
18. Understand how to add, remove, and manage user and group accounts
19. Understand and manage passwords
20. Understand and manage disk quotas
21. Understand and perform basic network configuration, including TCP/IP and DNS, ISP connections using modems (PPP), cable modems (PPPoE), and DSL
22. Understand backup and restore strategies and methods

Grading scale:  A=90-100,   B=80-89,   C=70-79,   D=65-69,   F=0-64
(Or you can elect to audit the class during the add/drop period.)

• No makeup exams will be offered without the prior approval of the instructor.
• Exams will be closed book and closed note multiple choice exams.  While the exams are non-cumulative, each does build upon knowledge acquired earlier.  Exams are based mostly upon material presented in class however some questions may be from assigned readings (the textbook and on-line resources).
• Exams will never cover material not yet discussed in class.  Should the class fall behind the course schedule some topics shown on the syllabus due for an earlier exam will be tested on the following exam instead.
• Regular attendance is imperative for the successful completion of this class.  The textbook and on-line resources should be considered as required course supplements; in other words the course is not based on the text.
• All phones, pagers, and beepers must be turned off during class time, except with prior permission of the instructor.  No food or drink is permitted in HCC classrooms.
• Attendance will be taken within 5 minutes of the start of class; after 4 absences and/or lateness, the student will lose 2 points off the final grade for each additional occurrence.
• If you miss a class you are still responsible for the material covered in that class.  All students should exchange contact information (name, email address, phone number) with at least one other student in the class.  If you must miss a class, you should then contact another student and request they take class notes for you.  (Note Campus Cruiser has email and discussion board areas for our course.)
• Credit for class participation includes attendance, preparedness, and adding to class discussions by asking questions and participating in discussions.  Playing computer games, surfing the Internet, or working on assignments for this or other classes during class time will lose you credit.
• Additional time outside of class will be required.  For typical students an average of between 6 and 10 hours each week outside of class are required for preparation, practice, projects, and homework assignments.
• Students are expected to prepare for each class by completing all reading assignments, reviewing examples and model solutions provided, and practicing outside of class.  This is important — you can't learn a skill such as system administration only by attending class and reading books.  You must practice several hours a few days each week!  If you won't have enough time available, consider auditing the course.
• Students are expected to check the class website regularly.  Any syllabus changes, class cancellations, project assignments, and homework assignments are announced in class and posted to the website and the RSS feed for this class.
• Working together on individual assignments is considered as cheating!  Turning in someone else's work without giving them credit is also considered cheating (plagiarism).  Cheating will result in an automatic F (zero) for the project for all parties.  Note that some projects may be group projects, where each member of a small group works together on a project.  It is also OK to ask a fellow student for class notes (in the event you miss a class) or for help in understanding the text or material given to the class (e.g., examples on the class website).  It is encouraged to study together as well.
• You must follow the academic honesty policy for HCC.  A second cheating offense will result in an F for the course, and your name will be turned over to the dean for further handling.  I take these matters very seriously.  You have been warned!
• Communications Policy:  I will respond to your emails within 48 hours or two business days.  HCC policy is that grades can only be discussed in person during office hours, or via email only if you use your assigned HCC HawkNet (or Campus Cruiser) email account.
• Every effort will be made to stick to the weekly schedule for our course.  However it may happen that we will fall behind the schedule at some point.  If so no topics will be skipped.  Instead we will attempt to catch up over the following weeks.
• Please be aware that if we fall behind on the weekly schedule, the topics discussed may not match what shows on the syllabus.  The weekly schedule may (but probably won't be) updated in this case.
• In the case we fall behind, the homework assignments are automatically postponed until we do discuss that topic in class (i.e., the next class).  Projects and in-class exams will not be automatically postponed.  Should your instructor deem it necessary, projects and exams may be rescheduled; this will be announced in class.
• Late Policies:  Late assignments ( homework assignments, projects, or exams) generally will not be accepted.  An assignment is late if not turned in by the start of class on the day it is due.

  Late assignments will be accepted late only if you obtain the instructor's permission prior to the due date of the assignment, or for a documented serious medical reason.  All late assignments are subject to a late penalty of at least one letter grade (10%) regardless of the reason for the delay.

  Projects and homework assignments later than one week will receive a more severe late penalty; very late assignments without adequate excuses will receive a grade of F (0).  However if you have a very good reason your instructor may waive any or all of the late penalty.  (Examples of good reasons include extended illness that prevents working, or being out of town for work reasons.  Remember documentation will be required.)

Projects will be assigned at various times.  You will have sufficient time to complete the projects, at least a week but usually two weeks.  Although there will be in-class group exercises you must work individually on the projects, typically outside of regular class hours, except when a project is designated as a group project.  You may work together in small groups on group projects provided the names of all who worked together are listed.  Each student must still submit their own copy of the assignment.

Projects are graded on the following scale:

A = 95% (Excellent: Good design with good comments, style, and extras)
B = 85% (Good: Good design, some comments, readable style, and it works)
C = 75% (Acceptable: Project objectives are met or are close to being met)
D = 65% (Unacceptable)
E = 10-64% (Variable credit: At least you tried)
F =  0% (Didn't hand in the project)

Minor extras worth +5 points, minor omissions or poor design worth -5.

Projects are not graded when turned in.  They are graded all at once, sometime after the project deadline has passed (usually the next weekend).  (See also submitting assignments below.)

Do not send any email to wpollock@YborStudent.hccfl.edu.

The HCC email server automatically accepts and silently discards email with certain types of attachments.  If you must send email to my Internet (non-YborStudent) email account please avoid using any attachments, but especially zip files.

In the event a student submits more than once for the same assignment, I will ignore all but the last one received up to the deadline.  Assignments submitted after the deadline will not count toward your grade except as allowed by the course late policy.

If you have an email problem you may turn in a printout instead.  Be sure your name is clearly written on the top of any pages turned in.  Please staple multiple pages together (at the upper left).