Re: System Administration Certification & Capabilities

[Andy Poling <andy@globalauctions.com>]

I said:
>If you don't understand DNS then you don't properly understand TCP/IP.


Then Sean Kamath said:
> Um, did I miss something?  If you understand DNS, you understand
> TCP/IP?

That's backwards.  I never said the corollary was true - and it's certainly
not.


> If you don't understand DNS, you don't understand TCP/IP?
> That's like saying if you know perl, you know UNIX.

Backwards... again.

Many times, when troubleshooting IP problems you need to check the DNS
involved.  If you don't understand DNS, then you cannot properly verify that
a fundamental part of most IP activity (converting hostnames into IP
addresses, and addresses into hostnames) is working correctly and eliminate
it as the problem.

The real issue is whether you can effectively administer systems without
understanding how they work.  I will always argue that you cannot consider
yourself a SA (and certainly not a "senior" SA) if you do not understand the
system that you're supposed to be administering.


> Sheesh.  This has gone from a discussion about whether certification
> is a good thing into a discussion of what it means to be an SA.

Which, as someone else pointed out, is kind of important.  If you cannot
determine the latter, how can you do the former?

-Andy