Chapter 1

Working with Networks

In This Chapter

Understanding the need for networking professionals

Exploring the wide range of activities in networking jobs

Predicting the future for networking jobs

If you conduct an online search on the phrase demand for networking jobs, you'll find article after article citing networking jobs as one of the high-demand jobs. You've chosen a great time to learn more about this exciting and rapidly growing and changing field!

This chapter takes a closer look at the changes in business and technology that have given rise to the high demand for networking professionals. You will also discover why networking is such a great career field.

Why Are Networks Important?

Networks facilitate data communications in organizations, between organizations, and over the Internet itself. Without networks, computers are practically worthless. Then again, without computers, networks would not be needed. But let's not get caught up in circular arguments. Instead, let's look a little deeper into why networks are important.

Organizations of every kind, as well as a growing number of private citizens, rely on information systems to conduct their daily affairs more than ever before. We buy more and more products that are Internet connected, partly for convenience and partly for the cool factor. Before long, it will be easier to count the things that aren't connected to the Internet.

You might have heard that data and information are the new currency. Although this statement might sound like a cliché, it's true for several reasons:

• Organizations can use software tools to examine electronic business records and gain valuable insights that help them find new opportunities. For instance, a grocery store can add items to its inventory based on sales trends.
• Organizations can use information systems to make business processes more efficient. For example, if an organization puts sales details in an information system, the customer service department could electronically access those records and be far more efficient.
• For banks and other financial institutions, data actually is money, or at least the closest representation of money. For instance, transferring funds or paying bills online is mostly about making a number bigger in one place and smaller in another.

This increased reliance on Internet-connected systems and devices makes our businesses more efficient and our lives easier. Networks - and the professionals who design, build, and maintain them - are essential.

Computers and networks are inseparable

A networking professional who knows little about computers cannot be any more useful than a computer professional who knows little about networks. To be an expert in one requires skills and knowledge in the other.

Networks facilitate communications between computers. A networking professional must understand how computers communicate over networks to be able to set up and manage networks properly. And similarly, computer professionals must understand how networks work so that they can set up and manage computers in the right way. Computers and networks are like peanut butter and jelly, or drums and drumsticks, or . well, we think you get the idea.

Skills and Activities in Networking Jobs

You might be wondering what people do in a networking job. Well, networking tasks can vary widely from company to company, and from person to person within a company. If you asked twenty people what networking professionals do, you'd probably get twenty different answers. This section explores some of these activities.

In smaller organizations, a networking professional may do most or all of the activities discussed here. In larger organizations, the activities described inthis section may be assigned to different teams, so there would be less variety for individual networking professionals.

Managing network devices

Network devices such as switches and routers facilitate communications between computers in an organization and between organizations. A smaller organization may have just a single router that connects the internal network to the Internet via a DSL (digital subscriber line) or cable modem. A larger organization will have more routers, as well as switches, to connect various internal networks.

Setting up remote access

Remote access permits personnel to access an organization's internal systems from remote locations such as home or while traveling. Often, remote access is provided to an employee upon approval from management. Then networking personnel make the required configuration changes in the network equipment and the employee's workstation to facilitate remote access.

Networking personnel often help employees learn how to use and troubleshoot remote access. Connecting remotely sometimes requires a series of steps that don't always work, especially where Internet connectivity isn't great.

Maintaining user accounts

In many organizations, networking professionals must maintain user accounts. Generally, maintaining user accounts includes the following tasks: creating user accounts for new employees (as well as business partners and others authorized to access systems or networks), removing user accounts for departing personnel, and making changes in access rights as needed.

Often, a documented approval from management is required before a networking professional can make any additions, changes, or deletions.

Helping end users

In some organizations, networking professionals play (or support) the role of a help desk person who assists end users. Activities related to the help desk could range from operating system and program configuration on workstations to Internet and remote access connectivity.

In some organizations, front-line help desk people answer the phone and help with simple issues. In other organizations, network professionals and other IT workers help users directly.

Configuring firewalls

Firewalls are networking devices that play a role in keeping the bad guys (and gals) out of an organization's network. Some lucky networking professional's job is going to be designing, setting up, and managing those firewalls, including managing the complex rulesets that determine exactly which types of Internet traffic are allowed to pass through the firewall.

Monitoring antimalware consoles

Smaller organizations and home users run standalone copies of antivirus or antimalware on their individual workstations. In larger organizations as well, each system has antimalware (or antivirus) software, but they also have a central console where a (you guessed it) networking professional can view the state of antimalware across all the machines in the organization.

In addition to just monitoring, a networking professional can use the console to change the configuration of antimalware on individual systems as well as run malware scans on individual systems or all systems at once.

Issuing authentication tokens

Many organizations have gone beyond simple user IDs and passwords for authentication and are using token-based authentication. Depending on the organization, token-based authentication may be used for remote access, privileged access, or perhaps everyone.

Another form of strong authentication is where a code is sent to a user's mobile phone and the user must enter that number to log in to a system. Who's gonna set that up? A networking professional!

Setting up wireless networks

Everybody loves their Wi-Fi connections. In some organizations, Wi-Fi is the only way to communicate over networks. Many organizations provide guest Wi-Fi connections for visitors and customers.

Organizations that want Wi-Fi require networking professionals with skills to design a Wi-Fi network, which can be a challenge in a multistory building or a campus with multiple buildings.

Setting up Wi-Fi networks involves choosing good locations for radios, antennas, and controllers, and connecting these to the organization's data network and the Internet. Another issue is deciding how users will authenticate to the Wi-Fi network, which will require interconnections with domain controllers or LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) servers.

Configuring communications with business partners

Not long ago, it was common for companies with frequent data communications to set up dedicated telecommunications circuits such as T-1 or DS-3 connections. Nowadays, MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) or over-the-Internet VPN connections are often used. Networking professionals design and set up these connections, in coordination with their counterparts in the business partner organization.

Connecting storage devices

Computers access storage area network (SAN) and network attached storage (NAS) devices to store and retrieve data. Sometimes this communications is on the general data network, but often it will be on a separate network dedicated to storage. Someone has to figure out how to access storage devices and how to hook them up. If you're a networking professional, that person is you!

Managing telecommunications services

No man or business is an island. In the networking world, organizations connect their internal networks to the outside world. Those connections require telecommunications services of...