[nflug] network admin/ engineer advise

[Brad Bartram]

I'll put in my $.02 - take it as you will.

The first thing I would recommend is to get an idea of what exactly you want
to do.  Try to direct you efforts toward the goal you set.  It's real easy
to say IT / Networking, but the field is a mile wide and a mile deep.  It
helps to figure out what really scratches your itch.

With regards to the cisco stuff.  The book is great, but the best teacher is
to dig in on real hardware.  For a minimal investment ($100 - $200) you can
buy a ton of cisco hardware from previous generations on ebay and other
places.  Get some form of router - 1700 series would be good - you might
even find an old 1600 series real cheap.  Pick up an old catalyst switch
with enterprise IOS.  From there, you can play on the commandline until your
eyes bleed.  Once you get down the basic IOS, the more advanced stuff is
just mating theory with syntax.

Assuming you already know windows, familiarize yourself with some unix
fundamentals.  For that, Ubuntu is more than fine - just don't get too hung
up on the Ubuntu specific ways of doing things.  If you learn the basics of
the way things are done in unixland, most modern os's are fundamentally the
same.  Of course they all have nuances, but if you know the basics, the
specifics can be picked up without a huge learning curve.

Learn all of the major systems you can.  Learn web servers, mail servers,
file servers.  If not the specific servers, know how they work and interact
with each other.  Learn best practice security and the concepts of defense
in depth.  Learn packet filtering as well as how to read a packet capture.

In short - learn to build a network, enhance a network, protect a network,
and fix a network when things break.  If you can do that, you'll find
yourself in a great position.

The best way to go about that?  That's the $64,000 question.  My opinion is
that experience is the best teacher.  Sometimes, you have to go the
conventional route by taking courses.  Mostly, you have to love doing what
you do and find ways to make yourself better at it.  If I were you, I would
start slow.  Leverage the knowledge you already have and see if you can get
a position doing tech support or help desk type of stuff.  It'll introduce
you to a lot of various problems and situations.  Try to work your way into
being a sysadmin on some servers.  From there deal with the infrastructure
of the network.  Once you get to the point where you understand the system,
multiple systems, and then the infrastructure - you can choose where you
want to go from there.

It's a long road, but the journey's worth it.

Brad

On 8/30/07, Ryan Slomiany <ryamigo at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> and the subject's suppose to be advice not advise lol
>
> ><
>
> --- Ryan Slomiany <ryamigo at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > 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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