In addition to server and client configuration and maintenance, many system administrators must understand access controls, network services and resource requirements for applications. They often find themselves working with directory and name services as well as network addressing, database services, web and desktop applications, email, and more.

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Making sense of all these different system administrator roles and accompanying certifications is no easy task. After examining various credentials, we came up with a list of our five favorite system administrator certifications for 2019.

The following chart shows the results of an informal job search we conducted that gives you an idea of the relative frequency with which our top five certifications appear in actual job postings. While all the certifications are popular, the CompTIA Server+ stands out as the clear favorite.