Online network administration degrees teach students how to manage the hardware and software involved with an organization’s networks, including local area networks (LANs) used within an office building and wide area networks (WANs), which are not limited to one location and may connect a company’s national or global enterprise. Student learn how to assign network addresses and configure networks, implement routing protocols, and deploy network intrusion detection systems.
While the primary focus of an online network administration degree is networking fundamentals and management, students also round out their technical education with course work in operating systems, programming, and computer integration. On the networking end, students explore telecommunications, network operating systems, methods of supporting such systems, and networking infrastructure (including the open architecture of the Internet and the closed infrastructures of organizations’ intranet systems). The best online network administration degrees will allow students to earn technical certifications, such as those offered through Cisco, along the path to earning their degree.
Other practical skills that students learn in a network administration degree is server maintenance, or making sure an organization’s servers are running smoothly. This includes regularly reviewing the servers’ performance, evaluating and mitigating network security risks, checking disk space, and making sure that network equipment is not overheating.
Graduates of online network administration programs may go on to pursue careers as network administrators, network support analysts, network/VoIP administrators, network/system integrators, and related positions. Almost every industry employers network administrators, with a broad selection including colleges and schools, hospitals, banks and other financial institutions, large corporations, and government agencies.