Top 10 things to know about network administration
1. The OSI model - Can't enter n/w domain without having a thoroughknowledge of the seven layers and clear understanding of roles andresponsibilities of each layer. Since this is taught in everydata-communication class, I hope this shouldn't be an issue. IMHO, one ofthe best books written on this topic is: "Computer Networks" byA.S.Tanenbaum.
2. TCP/IP concepts: It amazes me that some n/w admin even after year ofexperience have trouble doing accurate subnetting and shocking when theygive that puzzled look when you debate on UDP/TCP/ICMP/IP packets. Ingeneral, one should know the differences between the basic protocols andtheir uses, benefits etc. For this, I believe there is nothing that canremove the combination of - RFC's, Ethereal and patience In books,"TCP/IP Illustrated" from Stevens comes handy. Also the SANS tcpdump ref.sheet is awesome.
3. Stacks: Since we know that all OS'es differ from the RFCspecifications, hence it's always good to know the n/w related registrysettings (windows) or the files (linux). This automatically comes withexperience, RTF' how-to's and googling. As the author mentions this isindeed very necessary if you handle troubleshooting.
4. Layer 2: If you have to google for what is layer 2, than probably youshould go to #1. It is not strange to bump into people who don't knowdifference between a switch and router. One should also know the varioustypes of switching method, terms like collision domains, broadcast domainsetc.. From security perspective also, this is important especially whenyou are testing a switched network. Tanenbaum's book mentioned in #1 hasvery nice explanation about layer 2.
5. Routing: Basic Cisco commands and basics of routing should be known bydefault. One can download Cisco emulators to practice, and for reading -nothing beats the RFC and Cisco Documents. Path Determination, Switching,Routing Algorithms, Routing Loops are some of the keywords that areused in everyday work.
6. Services: Web-server, DNS, DHCP, SMTP, SNMP, NFS.. yada yada yada ..The more you know the better .. One again for profound understandingnothing beats the "RFC + Ethereal + google".
7. Good networking reference material: One can find various lecture slideson the topic of interest (and in your language) just by googl'ing with"site:edu". RFC, How-to, IBM Redbooks are some popular sources ofinformation that no one should miss.
8. Security: if you are member of this then you already know its importance.
9. Output handling: Syslog messages, ms-events, router-logs,firewall-logs, IDS etc.its always beneficial learning how to dissect andanalyze this piece of information.
10. It's very important to get under the hood and learn how thingsactually work.
2. TCP/IP concepts: It amazes me that some n/w admin even after year ofexperience have trouble doing accurate subnetting and shocking when theygive that puzzled look when you debate on UDP/TCP/ICMP/IP packets. Ingeneral, one should know the differences between the basic protocols andtheir uses, benefits etc. For this, I believe there is nothing that canremove the combination of - RFC's, Ethereal and patience In books,"TCP/IP Illustrated" from Stevens comes handy. Also the SANS tcpdump ref.sheet is awesome.
3. Stacks: Since we know that all OS'es differ from the RFCspecifications, hence it's always good to know the n/w related registrysettings (windows) or the files (linux). This automatically comes withexperience, RTF' how-to's and googling. As the author mentions this isindeed very necessary if you handle troubleshooting.
4. Layer 2: If you have to google for what is layer 2, than probably youshould go to #1. It is not strange to bump into people who don't knowdifference between a switch and router. One should also know the varioustypes of switching method, terms like collision domains, broadcast domainsetc.. From security perspective also, this is important especially whenyou are testing a switched network. Tanenbaum's book mentioned in #1 hasvery nice explanation about layer 2.
5. Routing: Basic Cisco commands and basics of routing should be known bydefault. One can download Cisco emulators to practice, and for reading -nothing beats the RFC and Cisco Documents. Path Determination, Switching,Routing Algorithms, Routing Loops are some of the keywords that areused in everyday work.
6. Services: Web-server, DNS, DHCP, SMTP, SNMP, NFS.. yada yada yada ..The more you know the better .. One again for profound understandingnothing beats the "RFC + Ethereal + google".
7. Good networking reference material: One can find various lecture slideson the topic of interest (and in your language) just by googl'ing with"site:edu". RFC, How-to, IBM Redbooks are some popular sources ofinformation that no one should miss.
8. Security: if you are member of this then you already know its importance.
9. Output handling: Syslog messages, ms-events, router-logs,firewall-logs, IDS etc.its always beneficial learning how to dissect andanalyze this piece of information.
10. It's very important to get under the hood and learn how thingsactually work.
posted by e247net at 11:31 PM
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