What Is Network Administration? – IT Glossary | SolarWinds

What does network administration consist of?

Network administration primarily consists of, but isn’t limited to, network monitoring, network management, and maintaining network quality and security.

Network monitoring is essential to monitor unusual traffic patterns, the health of the network infrastructure, and devices connected to the network. It helps detect abnormal activity, network issues, or excessive bandwidth consumption early on and take preventative and remedial actions to uphold the network quality and security.

Network management encompasses multiple administrative functions, including network planning, implementation, and configuration. It involves:

• replanning the network based on changing organizational requirements
• implementing the network for maximum efficiency
• configuring various networking and security protocols
• applying security patches and updating the firmware of the networking infrastructure, such as routers, hubs, switches, and firewalls
• assessing the network for weaknesses
• evaluating quality and capacity to increase or decrease network capacity and manage resource wastage

Network security employs various techniques to ensure a network is secure. For example, it uses multiple tools such as firewalls, intrusion detection or prevention systems, and anti-malware software to prevent or detect malicious activity in the network.