[nflug] network admin/ engineer advise

[Cyber Source]

Those were some nice posts guys. Nice to see such helpful, professional 
advice handed out.

Brad Bartram wrote:
> 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 
> <mailto:ryamigo at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
>     and the subject's suppose to be advice not advise lol
>
>     ><
>
>     --- Ryan Slomiany <ryamigo at yahoo.com <mailto: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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