[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Best way to learn networking fundamentals qu...
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       Ask HN: Best way to learn networking fundamentals quickly
        
       I have been tasked with getting traffic from AWS, to a colo, and
       out through a private link to a third party. I am a bit out of my
       depth here. How can I quickly learn to design and configure
       networks? I learned the basics of networking in university, and can
       work my way around all of the cloud provider networking primitives.
       However, this seems like a different beast. I need to learn about
       cross-connects, DHCP, ARP, BGP/ASNs, firewalls, etc. The reason I
       have found this difficult so far is that educational content I am
       discovering falls roughly into two categories: 1) Network
       programming, i.e how to use Unix sockets and system calls 2)
       Virtual networking, i.e AWS/GCP networking primitives which are
       useful and important but I believe I need to go further.  I am not
       exactly sure where to start and am hoping for some direction. A
       Cisco certification course? An MIT OCW networking 101 course? I
       have limited time and am looking to become simply proficient and
       provisioning and configuring to get my team unblocked.  Thank you
       so much in advance.
        
       Author : fierro
       Score  : 17 points
       Date   : 2021-06-04 19:31 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
       | brutus1213 wrote:
       | Actually the Cisco course is what you need. CSIP or something?
       | They have tons of videos and books. You should also seriously
       | consider a home lab to play around with the network config ...
       | i.e. get routers, switches, etc. People sell homelabs after they
       | do the cisco exam. I never did the exam but found the homelab and
       | videos quite useful when I was in a position similar to you. Be
       | prepared for a firehose of info and it takes A LOT of time.
        
         | is_true wrote:
         | There's a simulator if a homelab is too expensive
        
           | antman wrote:
           | How is it called?
        
             | kart23 wrote:
             | GNS3 probably
        
       | KiranRao0 wrote:
       | Unfortunately not thick, but instead very thorough is the TCP/IP
       | guide: http://www.tcpipguide.com/
       | 
       | Very good as a spot reference.
        
       | dharmab wrote:
       | Read the RFCs- they're surprisingly accessible.
       | 
       | Start with the TCP and IP related ones in the 7XX range, then
       | branch out into HTTP, DNS, DHCP and so on.
        
       | jka wrote:
       | Beej's Guide to Network Programming is a classic:
       | https://beej.us/guide/bgnet/
        
         | mooreds wrote:
         | That looks really interesting, but I'm not sure it addresses
         | OP's question. He seemed to be wanting to learn modern
         | networking architecture, rather than low level networking
         | programming.
         | 
         | I don't have a great reference, but I'd start with the
         | Networking Section from the Unix/Linux System Administration
         | Handbook: https://www.admin.com/
        
       | mixmastamyk wrote:
       | Do you have money or time, or both?
       | 
       | If you have money, you could hire a network engineer on contract,
       | and have them teach what they are doing while they set it up.
       | Combined with some book learning, you could take over the job
       | later. If the hire works out, make them an offer to stay.
        
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       (page generated 2021-06-04 23:02 UTC)