The Rise Of The Cloud Administrator

Grazed from NetworkComputing. Author: Lawrence Garvin.

One of the significant developments emerging as a result of cloud computing and software-defined infrastructures is a blending of the system administrator and network administrator roles. With this convergence in mind, I can’t help but wonder what the future holds in store for the toolsets that IT pros in each of these traditional roles have come to rely on.

Before we explore this issue further, though, let’s set the stage by taking a closer look at the demise of the distinction between sysadmins and network admins. Historically, the demarcation between the two happened at the RJ-45 socket on the NIC. Anything that involved the cable, switches, routers, etc. was not the concern of sysadmins. Likewise, if the light was blinking on the NIC, anything happening inside the box was not the problem of network admins…

I’m not saying this is necessarily a sane way to run a data center, but it is the reality of how life has been up until now. It’s also true that sysadmins who have an understanding of how networks work, including DHCP, DNS, and IP routing, usually have a much easier time diagnosing server and application problems. Likewise, network admins who have an appreciation for the nature of the application traffic flowing across the wires and through the switches typically enjoy much better behaved networks…

Read more from the source @ http://www.networkcomputing.com/cloud-infrastructure/the-rise-of-the-cloud-administrator/a/d-id/1297173?_mc=RSS_NWC_EDT