The project in five facts.
Challenge, approach and results.
In modern information technology (IT) environments, system administration forms the foundation for ensuring stable, secure and efficient operation of IT systems. The aim of the diploma thesis was to evaluate the impact of automating key system administration tasks on the efficiency, reliability, security and responsiveness of IT systems. Several advanced tools are also presented, such as Darktrace, which utilises artificial intelligence and machine learning for improved anomaly detection and decision support in both system administration and cybersecurity. The results confirm that automation of system tasks reduces the risk of data loss and the number of security vulnerabilities, improves response time to system issues, optimises disk space usage and shortens system recovery time after failures.
Problem
In modern information technology (IT) environments, system administration forms the foundation for ensuring stable, secure and efficient operation of IT systems. The aim of the diploma thesis was to evaluate the impact of automating key system administration tasks on the efficiency, reliability, security and responsiveness of IT systems. The diploma thesis begins with a historical overview of computing and a definition of the role of the system administrator.
This is followed by a review of selected tools that support automation and advanced analytics – from basic scripting languages such as Shell, PowerShell and Python, to specialised tools such as Ansible for configuration management and CheckMK for system monitoring.
Solution and Method
Several advanced tools are also presented, such as Darktrace, which utilises artificial intelligence and machine learning for improved anomaly detection and decision support in both system administration and cybersecurity. The importance of automation for security compliance is also addressed theoretically, particularly in the context of user account management. The central part of the diploma thesis then focuses on in-depth implementation of automation of specific system tasks, where practical examples are used to test some of the stated hypotheses.
In this section, a custom PowerShell script AD-Toolkit was also developed, which offers a set of tools for managing user accounts in an Active Directory environment through an interactive menu. Automation of data backup and system recovery using Proxmox VE, as well as automated installation of software updates using Ansible, were also implemented.
Results
The results confirm that automation of system tasks reduces the risk of data loss and the number of security vulnerabilities, improves response time to system issues, optimises disk space usage and shortens system recovery time after failures. Although some more advanced topics, such as full implementation of artificial intelligence-based solutions due to practical limitations, are addressed predominantly through the theoretical part, practical tests and development of a custom tool clearly demonstrate that automation is an indispensable element for achieving high efficiency, reliability, security and responsiveness of modern IT systems.
Module, programme and stories.
Your diploma project for a real company.
A diploma thesis at Academia solves a challenge from a company – often the one where you do your 800 hours of placement. Read about the Sistemsko inženirstvo module or book a consultation.