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There are 6 modules in this course
This course will transition you from working on a single computer to an entire fleet. Systems administration is the field of IT that’s responsible for maintaining reliable computers systems in a multi-user environment. In this course, you’ll learn about the infrastructure services that keep all organizations, big and small, up and running. We’ll deep dive on cloud so that you’ll understand everything from typical cloud infrastructure setups to how to manage cloud resources. You'll also learn how to manage and configure servers and how to use industry tools to manage computers, user information, and user productivity. Finally, you’ll learn how to recover your organization’s IT infrastructure in the event of a disaster.
By the end of this course you’ll be able to:
● utilize best practices for choosing hardware, vendors, and services for your organization
● understand how the most common infrastructure services that keep an organization
running work, and how to manage infrastructure servers
● understand how to make the most of the cloud for your organization
● manage an organization’s computers and users using the directory services, Active
Directory, and OpenLDAP
● choose and manage the tools that your organization will use
● backup your organization’s data and know how to recover your IT infrastructure in the case of
a disaster
● utilize systems administration knowledge to plan and improve processes for IT environments
Welcome to the System Administration course of the IT Support Professional Certificate! In the first module of this course, we will cover the basics of system administration. We'll cover organizational policies, IT infrastructure services, user and hardware provisioning, routine maintenance, troubleshooting, and managing potential issues. By the end of this module, you will understand the roles and responsibilities of a System Administrator. So let's get started!
What's included
16 videos7 readings2 assignments
Show info about module content
16 videos•Total 39 minutes
Course Introduction•4 minutes
What is Systems Administration?•2 minutes
Servers Revisited•4 minutes
The Cloud•3 minutes
Organizational Policies•2 minutes
IT Infrastructure Services•1 minute
User and Hardware Provisioning•4 minutes
Routine Maintenance•1 minute
Vendors•2 minutes
Troubleshooting and Managing Issues•3 minutes
In Case of Fire, Break Glass•1 minute
Dion: My Michelle Obama story •2 minutes
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility•4 minutes
Never Test in Production•3 minutes
Assessing Risk•2 minutes
Fixing Things the Right Way•2 minutes
7 readings•Total 25 minutes
Helpful resources and tips•4 minutes
Learn About KVM Switch•1 minute
Vendor Life-Cycle for Custom Services and Products•4 minutes
Vendor Life-Cycle for Support of Commercial Products•4 minutes
Change Management•4 minutes
Recording Your Actions•4 minutes
Glossary terms from course 4, module 1•4 minutes
2 assignments•Total 64 minutes
Module 1 challenge: What is System Administration?•60 minutes
Test your knowledge: Systems Administration Tasks•4 minutes
Network and Infrastructure Services
Module 2•9 hours to complete
Module details
In the second module of this course, we'll learn about network and infrastructure services. We will cover what IT infrastructure services are and what their role is in system administration. We'll also learn about server operating systems, virtualization, network services, DNS for web services, and how to troubleshoot network services. By the end of this module, you will know the most common IT infrastructure services you'll encounter when handling system administration tasks.
What's included
22 videos13 readings5 assignments3 app items
Show info about module content
22 videos•Total 63 minutes
What are IT Infrastructure Services?•1 minute
The Role of IT Infrastructure Services in SysAdmin•1 minute
Types of IT Infrastructure Services•5 minutes
Heather: My first job in tech•2 minutes
Server Operating Systems•1 minute
Virtualization•3 minutes
Remote Access Revisited•3 minutes
FTP, SFTP, and TFTP•3 minutes
NTP•2 minutes
Network Support Services Revisited•2 minutes
DNS•1 minute
DNS for Web Servers•2 minutes
DNS for Internal Networks•2 minutes
DHCP•2 minutes
Unable to Resolve a Hostname or Domain Name•3 minutes
What do Services Look Like in Action•2 minutes
Managing Services in Linux•5 minutes
Managing Services in Windows•3 minutes
Configuring Services in Linux•4 minutes
Configuring Services in Windows•4 minutes
Configuring DNS with Dnsmasq•6 minutes
Configuring DHCP with Dnsmasq•7 minutes
13 readings•Total 58 minutes
Supplemental Reading for IT Infrastructure Services•4 minutes
Supplemental Reading for Server Operating Systems•4 minutes
Remote Connections•8 minutes
Learn About Remote Access and SSH•1 minute
Learn About FTP Clients•1 minute
Learn About DNS Servers•1 minute
Learn About DNS and DHCP•1 minute
Qwiklabs guidelines and troubleshooting steps•8 minutes
Exemplar: Qwiklabs assessment: Managing services in Linux•8 minutes
Exemplar: Qwiklabs assessment: Managing services in Windows•8 minutes
dnsmasq•2 minutes
Glossary terms from course 4, module 2•4 minutes
Exemplar: Qwiklab: Get familiar with DNS and DHCP•8 minutes
5 assignments•Total 212 minutes
Test your knowledge: Reflect on a scenario•10 minutes
Module 2 challenge: Network Services•180 minutes
Test your knowledge: Intro to IT Infrastructure Services•6 minutes
Test your knowledge: Physical Infrastructure Services•6 minutes
Test your knowledge: Network Services•10 minutes
3 app items•Total 180 minutes
[Optional] Qwiklabs Assessment: Managing Services in Linux•60 minutes
[Optional] Qwiklabs Assessment: Managing Services in Windows•60 minutes
[Optional] Qwiklabs assessment: Get Familiar with DNS and DHCP•60 minutes
Software and Platform Services
Module 3•4 hours to complete
Module details
In the third module of this course, we'll explore software and platform services. We'll cover what types of software and platform services you may encounter in a tech role and how to manage them. We'll learn how to configure email services, security services, file services, print services, and platform services. We'll explore ways to troubleshoot platform services and common issues to look out for. By the end of this module, you'll understand how to setup and manage the IT infrastructure services to help a business stay productive, keep information secure, and deliver applications to its users.
User Productivity Services: Agreements and Licenses•2 minutes
Web Server Security Protocols•3 minutes
Heather: Managing self-doubt•2 minutes
What are file services?•1 minute
Network File Storage•3 minutes
Mobile Synchronization•3 minutes
Configuring Print Services•3 minutes
Web Servers Revisited•3 minutes
What is a database server?•1 minute
Is the website down?•3 minutes
Cloud Concepts•3 minutes
Typical Cloud Infrastructure Setups•2 minutes
When and How to Choose Cloud•2 minutes
17 readings•Total 56 minutes
Supplemental Reading for Chat Communication Services•1 minute
Learn About Email Protocols•1 minute
Spam Management/Mitigation•4 minutes
Supplemental Reading for File Services•1 minute
Supplemental Reading for Network File Storage•1 minute
Mobile Synchronization•4 minutes
Supplemental Readings for Mobile Synchronization•1 minute
Print Services•4 minutes
Supplemental Reading for Print Services•8 minutes
Learn About Web Servers (Revisited)•1 minute
Load Balancers•8 minutes
Supplemental Reading for Database Admin Jobs•1 minute
Exemplar: Qwiklab: Manage websites with Apache2•8 minutes
Supplemental Reading for Troubleshooting with Developer Tools•1 minute
Common Cloud Models•4 minutes
Managing Cloud Resources•4 minutes
Glossary terms from course 4, module 3•4 minutes
4 assignments•Total 55 minutes
Module 3 challenge: Software and Platform Services•35 minutes
Test your knowledge: Software Services•8 minutes
Test your knowledge: File, Print, and Platform Services•8 minutes
Test your knowledge: Troubleshooting Platform Services•4 minutes
1 app item•Total 60 minutes
[Optional] Qwiklabs Assessment: Manage Websites With Apache2•60 minutes
2 plugins•Total 30 minutes
Troubleshooting Printer Issues•15 minutes
Common Printer Types•15 minutes
Directory Services
Module 4•5 hours to complete
Module details
In the fourth module of this course, we'll learn about directory services. Specifically, we'll cover how two of the most popular directory services, Active Directory and OpenLDAP, work in action. We'll explore the concept of centralized management and how this can help SysAdmins maintain and support all the different parts of an IT infrastructure. By the end of this module, you will know how to add users, passwords, and use group policies in Active Directory and OpenLDAP.
What's included
21 videos14 readings4 assignments1 app item
Show info about module content
21 videos•Total 89 minutes
Module Introduction•1 minute
What is a directory server?•4 minutes
Implementing Directory Services•2 minutes
What is centralized management?•4 minutes
What is LDAP?•2 minutes
What is LDAP Authentication?•3 minutes
Heather: Overcoming obstacles•1 minute
What is Active Directory?•6 minutes
Managing Active Directory•3 minutes
Managing Active Directory Users and Groups•5 minutes
User Accounts and Groups•6 minutes
Managing Active Directory User Passwords•4 minutes
Joining an Active Directory Domain•4 minutes
Group Policy: Group Policy Object (GPO)•4 minutes
Group Policy Creation and Editing•13 minutes
Group Policy Inheritance and Precedence•8 minutes
Group Policy Troubleshooting•6 minutes
Group Policy Troubleshooting: Common Issues•7 minutes
Mobile Device Management (MDM)•2 minutes
What is OpenLDAP?•3 minutes
Managing OpenLDAP•2 minutes
14 readings•Total 31 minutes
Exemplar: Qwiklab: Utilizing Active Directory•8 minutes
Learn About Centralized Management•1 minute
Learn About LDAP•1 minute
Supplemental Reading for Kerberos•1 minute
Supplemental Reading for Active Directory•1 minute
Supplemental Reading for Group Security Principles•1 minute
Supplemental Reading for EFS Features•1 minute
Supplemental Reading for DFL & FFL•1 minute
Supplemental Reading for Group Policy Troubleshooting•4 minutes
Supplement Reading for Group Policy Troubleshooting Examples•4 minutes
Supplemental Readings for Mobile Device Management (MDM)•2 minutes
Supplemental Reading for OpenLDAP•1 minute
Supplemental Reading for Managing OpenLDAP•1 minute
Glossary terms from course 4, module 4•4 minutes
4 assignments•Total 94 minutes
Module 4 challenge: Directory Services•50 minutes
Test your knowledge: Introduction to Directory Services•6 minutes
Test your knowledge: Centralized Management and LDAP•8 minutes
Test your knowledge: Active Directory•30 minutes
1 app item•Total 90 minutes
Qwiklabs Assessment: Utilizing Active Directory•90 minutes
Data Recovery & Backups
Module 5•2 hours to complete
Module details
In the fifth module of this course, we'll learn about data recovery and backups. In any tech role, it's important to know how to backup and recover data -- it's even more important for system administration. We will also learn about common corporate practices like designing a disaster recovery plan and writing post-mortem documentation. By the end of this module, you'll know the tradeoffs between on-site and off-site backups, understand the value and importance of backup and recovery testing, know different options for data backup (as well as the risks) and understand the purpose and contents of a disaster recovery plan.
What's included
13 videos4 readings4 assignments
Show info about module content
13 videos•Total 38 minutes
Module Introduction•1 minute
What is Data Recovery?•3 minutes
Backing Up Your Data•3 minutes
Backup Solutions•3 minutes
Job transition•1 minute
Testing Backups•2 minutes
Types of Backup•5 minutes
User Backups•2 minutes
What's a Disaster Recovery Plan?•5 minutes
Designing a Disaster Recovery Plan•6 minutes
What's a post-mortem?•2 minutes
Writing a Post-Mortem•4 minutes
Interview Role Play: Sys Admin•3 minutes
4 readings•Total 8 minutes
Supplemental Reading for GitLabs Data Recovery•1 minute
Supplemental Reading for Backup Solutions•2 minutes
Learn About RAID Levels•1 minute
Glossary terms from course 4, module 5•4 minutes
4 assignments•Total 78 minutes
Module 5 challenge: Data Recovery & Backups•50 minutes
Test your knowledge: Planning for Data Recovery•14 minutes
Test your knowledge: Disaster Recovery Plans•10 minutes
Test your knowledge: Post-Mortems•4 minutes
Final Project
Module 6•2 hours to complete
Module details
Congratulations, you've made it to the final module in the course! The last module of this course is dedicated to the final project. For the final project, you will apply all the skills you've learned in this course by providing systems administration consultation. You will assess the IT infrastructure of three fictitious (but very real-life based!) companies and provide recommendations and advice about how to support their IT infrastructure. By the end of this project, you will demonstrate the skills and problem-solving techniques of a SysAdmin. Good luck!
What's included
3 videos2 readings1 assignment
Show info about module content
3 videos•Total 4 minutes
Final Project Introduction•3 minutes
Alex: How passion turned into success•1 minute
Congratulations!•0 minutes
2 readings•Total 6 minutes
Reflect and connect with your peers•4 minutes
Course 4 Glossary•2 minutes
1 assignment•Total 120 minutes
Module 6 challenge: System Administration Consultation•120 minutes
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D
DY
5·
Reviewed on Nov 16, 2019
I just cannot thank Google and Coursera enough for this opportunity. This particular module of the entire Google IT Programme really kindled my curiosity to learn more using this path. Thank you.
I
II
4·
Reviewed on Dec 25, 2021
Good course which gives as much details about administration and infrastructure services . A Big thank you for Google , Coursera and The instructor for giving a valuable knowledge to me. Thank you
M
MB
5·
Reviewed on Jan 8, 2026
The System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services course teaches the basics of managing systems, networks, and servers. It is practical, easy to understand, and useful for real-world IT jobs.
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When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Certificate, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.