[nflug] network admin/ engineer advise

[Ryan Slomiany]

hi

I'm still in school but i feel the need to start side
projects to further my knowledge in the networking/ IT
fields.

just a few questions:

i have a book for the CCNA cert, and am currently
reading this. what else could I do to broaden my cisco
knowledge?   which router series is most common? And
are there cheap routers/switches and whatnot out there
for me to buy and play around with?

what would be a better OS to get acquainted with?
FreeBSD or my current installation of Ubuntu Server?

what other steps would be beneficial? installing an
SMTP server? playing with sercurity and firewalls? 

what would be the best way to go about this?

i appreciate any help and i'll be attending
september's meeting as well :)

-ryan



       
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