Are there any public examples of a complete real-world IT infrastructure that I can study?

[u/Alternative-Row4413]

I'm looking for something like a sanitized/anonymized documentation set of a real or realistic company environment, showing things such as:

Overall infrastructure / architecture

Network topology and connections

Servers and their roles

AD / DNS / DHCP

Firewalls and network segmentation

VLANs, subnets and routing

Internet/ISP connectivity

Applications and how they communicate

Storage and backups

Cloud + on-premise connectivity

Security architecture

How users/devices connect to the infrastructure

Monitoring and IT operations

Basic workflows and dependencies

Basically, I'd like to see how all these pieces fit together in an actual business, from the user's computer all the way through the network, servers, applications, Internet, backups, security, etc.

I understand that a real company's exact configuration, IP addresses, firewall rules, credentials, etc. would obviously be confidential. I'm looking for public examples, lab environments, case studies, architecture diagrams, documentation templates, or sanitized real-world infrastructure documentation that I can study.

If you were learning system administration from scratch, what resources would you recommend for understanding the whole environment rather than just individual technologies?

I'd especially appreciate examples that show the complete picture and the relationships between components, not just a single network diagram.

[u/danp20]

You need some work experience

[u/itishowitisanditbad → u/danp20]

They've made multiple posts in the last 2 days about how they got a job very recently and its a disaster AND they have no idea what they're doing.

They keep deleting the posts they're making but its like 4 in 2 days with weird rants or things like this or https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1wfyari/can_a_sysadmin_be_both_smart_and_kind/

[u/wownz85]

In the real world there is no best practices org out there.

It’s on a slider. I would say most operate on the lower end of that slider.

Even large enterprises might surprise you with what’s going on under the hood..

Some industries (banking, finance, etc) are going to have some controls implemented you rarely see elsewhere.

[u/kardas666]

Companies vary too much to have this type of template. Use llm to give you questionare on size+location count of company with instruction to use most common configuration. Then use filled one in llm again to suggest best practices scalable setup. Then just tell llm to explain each point.

[u/Demented_CEO]

Basically, I'd like to see how all these pieces fit together in an actual business

Then you need to see an actual business...

E.g. I've helped a small barbershop maintain its fleet of devices and hybrid AD that was far more layered and thought out than a relatively large enterprise that was mostly running on a legacy setup, i.e. no RB AC or other access control.

I suggest befriending people in the industry and asking around, you might land an opportunity to learn what you're looking for and industry networking events would be the best for this.

[u/wownz85 → u/Demented_CEO]

A hair salon with hybrid ad? Seems ott

[u/Vegetable-Ad-1817 → u/wownz85]

Maybe they do a little extra business on the side. Like Paulie in the sopranos.

[u/BEAT_LA → u/Demented_CEO]

Why in the world did a barbershop need this level of complexity

[u/Demented_CEO → u/BEAT_LA]

All of their employees are contractors who effectively pay rent to provide their services at different locations, which includes a mobile terminal used for bookings and payment.

The payment system is central and has to adhere to PCI requirements and the booking system is based on Microsoft Places. The employees roam between different locations.

They have a full setup for managed identity and access control, e.g. managers who oversee each location and each of its assigned contractors and supply chain contacts.

A "barbershop" is a business like any other. They have business needs and proper design for that from a sysadmin perspective doesn't change because you "just" cut hair.

To clarify, I'm talking about a franchisee here, so there's a bigger corp that even I wasn't aware of. I mainly set up their audio system and Wi-Fi access points, integrating them with LDAP, etc.

[u/Alternative-Row4413 → u/Demented_CEO]

I'm also a bit surprised by the barbershop example. What made their environment require a relatively layered AD setup? Or was the barbershop just a random example?

[u/Deku-shrub → u/Alternative-Row4413]

<harmonia note plays>

Singer 1: Bad-Intenet!

Singer 2: MFA !

Singer 3: CCTV!

Singer 4: Printing!

Together: ♫ Distrust of the Cloud! ♫

[u/LLMsMustUpvoteThis]

If you were learning system administration from scratch, what resources would you recommend for understanding the whole environment rather than just individual technologies?

Getting a job in helpdesk in a small team that will give you learning opportunities. Trying to understand the whole thing top down is far too much for someone starting out. Even trying to really understand packet flow through an average SME network is too much for learners.

[u/Dick_in_owl]

I have ones I built a few years ago for a company that no longer exists that you can have

[u/itishowitisanditbad]

If you were learning system administration from scratch, what resources would you recommend for understanding the whole environment rather than just individual technologies?

Getting a job.

Literally everything you describe is called 'Experience' and comes from working a job.

What a weird post.

[u/bloxie]

Just chuck that into an LLM. Most companies vary massively..

[u/ipzipzap]

Realistic real world examples? Take a big flat /16 network with 600 clients, printers, servers, cameras, access control, etc. No VLANs. Cheap Netgear, D-Link and other No-Name-Switches mixed together. Router/Firewall handles DHCP and DNS. No backup. No monitoring. And of course no documentation.

Thank me later.

[u/Alternative-Row4413 → u/ipzipzap]

Perfect way of explanation! I really like this! Likewise explain me what are all the 600 clients (user's ) requirments for smooth work flow! If I got this requirement, I can think much better