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Support staff suggestions..

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by kurt g

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I work for a community college in Michigan. Currently, we have a 2000+ node Windows network with approximately 25 NT 4 Servers providing e-mail (Exchange 5.5), file and print services to 6 separate sites. Also, we have an Intranet, several online-learning services, and a Metro-Area-Network that uses ATM technology and about 40 routers and switches to perform the necessary network traffic mgmt. (and provide high-speed Internet access). Also, we have an Internet presence and are working towardonline registration, etc. Due to some financial concerns the college has scaled back its spending in a number of areas, including IT.

I'd like to know if anybody could provide me with an estimate or an opinion of the minimum number of individuals required to support such a network. (i.e. 1 administrator, 1 help-desk tech, etc.). I don't want to disclose the current staffing level because I'm curious to see what others think would be required.

Thank you,
Kurt G.

5 replies

by bdhansen

The required staff to support your site depends on a few different questions. How many nodes are used for students? are those nodes reloaded after each course? If they are reloaded are you using a imaging package to reload the nodes? What software is being supported? these are a few questions that would give me a better idea on what your situation is. I work for a company that supports a huge variety of sotware and hardware. We support about 500 nodes internal and about 300 external nodes. The staff we have is 4 IT Techs and 3 Network Techs. All of us have 3+ years expierence so that is another issue in your staffing. I hope this helps you out.

by kurt g

Thank you. Actually, we have one. Me. I thought that my workload was unbearably huge.

Also, we about 1200 nodes for students. These machines are manually reloaded when needed. The college won't buy Ghost or any other imaging software.And, there are about 15 software packages in use, including Office 2000, Office 97, Unix Telnet utilities, etc.

Thanks again,
Kurt G.

by bhrdwh

Hi Kurt, assuming you want 7x24 hours support, I suggest you have the following...
1. IT Manager - 01
2. Administrator - 02 (one for day one for night)
2. Tech Enginners - 06 (03 for day / night) -double up as help desk teach support guys for allyour NT, Exchange, Sites, Portals & srvices
3. Nework Engineers - 06 (03 for day / night) - for 4000+ nodes, network, ATM, LAN, Routers, Switches & Network Magt.

Total IT staff = 15

Let me know if it halped.
Akash
Akashdeep_b@yahoo.com

by kurt g

Well, actually, because this is a college we only NEED basic 8-6 support. However, per my reply to the first answer, we still don't seem to have enough administration. We have me. Thanks for your suggestion.

Kurt G.

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