Network Study advice needed plz

[DarkStorm]

Hi fellow MyBB peeps.

Need some advice on what to study, or weblinks to tutorials, ebooks or any means to gain further knowledge in the networking area.

I met a few weeks back who was basically network and server administrator as far as my knowledge goes, for a few business there, and used his Ipad with a few apps like system scope and webmin for monitoring all the networks statuses, signal, pings, IP printers, shares etc.

I asked him a bit about everything and seems he basically installs and sets up Unix boxes running NetOS or Zeus (if i remember correctly)in VM's and routes the internet through there, and admins them via WebGui backend apps like webmin and is remotely
I think basically what this means is the Unix box becomes the Internet gateway...almost similiar to smoothwall running in a VM.

Also setups Unix file servers etc. and back end company databses which stores employees info.

I was really impressed and felt like I might have met a real life HaXoR, and would really love to learn and gain more knowledge on this and do this a job one day. His advice was to play around with routers and learn by DIY. But im not sure, reckon one should still have a basis to work on.

Anyone who does similiar jobs or can point me in the right direction as to which courses to study and what the qualification is for doing these things....or Links to tutorials etc. will greatly be appreciated. I tried Googling Unix boxes in Virtualbox, but don't really get anything..don't have the terminology correct.

Some people advised to go and do MCSE 2003 and then MCITP ( I did go check up on this, but seems all Microsoft related, and nothing really Linux / Unix wise )

Thanks again for reading, and thanks in advance for all the help and advice.

 

[katangeleus]

My advice is focus on one area of work instead of becoming a jack of all trades. Don't study MCSE or MCITP unless you want to go into Microsoft fields.

If you want a good understanding of networking do an N+ and specialize in one area of networking such as security, wireless.

From my side I went into the field of a Server Admin and weekends were never the same. You are constantly being pestered, moaned at and even though I have an uptime of about 98 % on most servers. Something will always go wrong and when it does you will loose sleep and friends....


I have always found that Network Admins have a better life as if you do your job properly, you hardly ever get called out.

 

[DarkStorm]

Yes that makes perfect sense to not go mainstream MS, the field is pretty much very saturated.
More and more companies are going Linux servers, and most peeps that know Linux also know the MS equivalent.
The opposite is raaarely true.

True what you say not to go the jack of all trades route, so the best place then is to look into and go N+, does this cover the Linux server setup & admin like I mentioned above? (webmin, apache, squid etc etc.)

Geez dude the Server admin route sounds like slavery almost, thanks for the heads up, gonna think twice before considering this.
Just for interest sake...what did it involve ? is this basically what i am aiming for in my original post ?

Whats the difference then between Network admins and server admins.
I basically want to learn how to setup those Linux boxes the people speak of and companies have, that handles the Internet and has firewalls, squid, apache, basically controls the whole network etc...think they use Webmin to admin it as far as my knowledge goes.

Im really confused on how, where and what to study. ? should i rather try and find someone to job shadow off from and pay him, for the real world xp and knowledge? or must i go and study a degree that will in anycase teach it to me ?

Im really very interested in this, and talked to a few IT peeps, but they are all mainstream MS peeps
No one can really give me a push in the right direction.

 

[chan0o]

I basically want to learn how to setup those Linux boxes the people speak of and companies have, that handles the Internet and has firewalls, squid, apache, basically controls the whole network etc...think they use Webmin to admin it as far as my knowledge goes.

Best way to learn is to go and fiddle around with it.
So a simple exercise:
- Install VMPlayer or oracle virtual box.
- Get ubuntu server iso (any version with long-term support or LTS) from ubuntu's website.
- Make a couple of server VMs
- Follow this guide: https://help.ubuntu.com/12.04/serverguide/index.html
- make a DNS, mail and web (apache) server - make them recognize/bind to each other with local IPs.
- have your host machine communicate with the server VMs

This would teach you the basics of configuring servers and basic networking in a LAN environment.
Once you've done that stuff by hand, install webmin or zimbra to make things easier.
Post or snoop around the forum if you run into trouble

 

[katangeleus]

Yes that makes perfect sense to not go mainstream MS, the field is pretty much very saturated.
More and more companies are going Linux servers, and most peeps that know Linux also know the MS equivalent.
The opposite is raaarely true.

True what you say not to go the jack of all trades route, so the best place then is to look into and go N+, does this cover the Linux server setup & admin like I mentioned above? (webmin, apache, squid etc etc.)

Geez dude the Server admin route sounds like slavery almost, thanks for the heads up, gonna think twice before considering this.
Just for interest sake...what did it involve ? is this basically what i am aiming for in my original post ?

Whats the difference then between Network admins and server admins.
I basically want to learn how to setup those Linux boxes the people speak of and companies have, that handles the Internet and has firewalls, squid, apache, basically controls the whole network etc...think they use Webmin to admin it as far as my knowledge goes.

Im really confused on how, where and what to study. ? should i rather try and find someone to job shadow off from and pay him, for the real world xp and knowledge? or must i go and study a degree that will in anycase teach it to me ?

Im really very interested in this, and talked to a few IT peeps, but they are all mainstream MS peeps
No one can really give me a push in the right direction.

No Company in their right mind would let you play with their servers, Follow ChanOo's advice and install it and play around with it.

 

[robertwj]

I Studied "Advanced PC Engineering" which is basically MCSE. I did about 8 MCSE modules, Network +, A+, Linux and Project Management. Studied over 2 years at Damelin College. I went with this course because it offered a wide range of PC related subjects instead of going to Uni and studying maths and science along with it.

I'm in my 2nd year of work now and im a network/Field technician. Hopefully i'll become a LAN/Network admin in a few years when i have more experience

 

[swsup97]

Do the groundwork yourself, download ebooks, read articles, do tutorials, sign up with a few tech Internet forums within the speciality u want to get into. Build up your knowledge so u get that foundation in place first. Once u have that you more than likely in a better position to find a mentor that can guide you further with practicals and give you insight into the nitty gritty, the stuff u really want to know which books cannot teach you.