Summary of G679 – Computer Systems Design and Administration

This subject is Computer Systems Design and Administration (course code 9), an optional fourth-year course in the Degree in Computer Systems Engineering at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Cantabria, for academic year 2025–2026. It carries 6 ECTS credits, is taught face-to-face in Spanish, and is coordinated by Jose Ange Herrero Velasco.

Scope and aims

This course aims to provide students with the essential skills required to perform the duties of a junior system administrator in enterprise computing environments. Students will learn advanced design and management principles for data center environments. Through the integration of various infrastructure components, students will learn to implement advanced services for managing computational resources, distributed storage, and networking across both intranet and internet environments. Special emphasis will be placed on key security mechanisms for these services. Additionally, the course will cover industry-standard open-source tools for infrastructure monitoring and configuration management.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students will understand the core responsibilities, best practices, and operational philosophies of data center system administration, including facility design and energy efficiency metrics. Students will gain hands-on experience in designing, deploying, and integrating advanced infrastructure services for both intranet and internet environments—specifically focusing on computational resource management, distributed storage, networking, web publishing, and email services. Additionally, they will be able to implement fundamental security mechanisms to harden these services and effectively utilize industry-standard open-source tools for systems monitoring and configuration management.

Program content

The syllabus is organized around four main blocks plus a laboratory component.

  • Prolog: Introduction to Computer System Administration: Fundamentals of SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION (the sysadmin role).
  • Unit 1: IT Configuration & Monitoring tools: Server and service CONFIGURATION management systems and MINITORING tools.
  • Unit 2: IT integration for Deploying Computing Services I - The Intranet: Computer systems for deploying INFORMATION and VALIDATION services and third-party NETWORKING services.
  • Unit 3: IT integration for Deploying Computing Services II - Storage: Computer systems for data STORAGE and RESOURCES sharing management.
  • Unit 4: IT integration for Deploying Computing Services III - The Internet: Computer systems for deploying WEB hosting & Email services.
  • Epilog: Introduction to the Data Centers: Fundamentals of DATA CENTER design and operation.

Labs: environment setup; Using Google Cloud Platform (GCP) computing resources, students will develop a complete management and compute infrastructure (frontend/backend) to deploy various virtual servers. These servers will implement key roles using the systems studied throughout the course, including: Directory Services (LDAP), Network Configuration (DHCP), Domain Name Resolution Servive (DNS), Large-Scale Storage Management (OpenZFS), Network File Services (NFS), Secure Web Services (HTTPS via Apache), and Secure Email Services (SMTP Postfix, IMAP Dovecot).

Teaching materials

The essential bibliography listed is UNIX and Linux system administration handbook by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Trent R. Hein, Ben Whaley, Dan Mackin, published in August 2017 (5th edition).

For more information, go to GUÍA DOCENTE