Okay, so I’m trying to educate myself on networking and security with a home lab using proxmox, a cheap TP link managed switch and a little pfsense sff PC. I’ve been watching videos from L1, apalrd’s adventures, Lreaning Linux.TV and even started some Corusera courses from Cisco. Come to find out I’m living up to my self-title of “linux-noob”.
What I’m getting at is that I need some more help getting my head around the while network and network security thing.
Do you guys have any recommendations for me? Playing around with the hardware I have will be awesome, as I’m very much a hands on kinda guy, but any resources to guide me along the way would be great!
Try to find some networking documentation (try humble bundle, etc.) that go into the OSI and internet models of networking so you understand how the protocols are layered. You can bluff/fumble your way through a lot of your early career without knowing this (I DID back in the late 90s!), but knowing the fundamentals will make it SO MUCH EASIER to diagnose problems and understand what is going on. Understanding the internet 4 layer model completely transformed my ability to diagnose, document and design IP networks.
Or even get some books out of the library or borrow electronically…
The CCNA course material if you can find it is good. Even if you don’t bother with the cert, the material is good.
Basically once you understand the fundamentals of the internet model layers 1-4, you’re in good standing to diagnose reasonable complex problems by determining which layer the issue is in and then diagnosing that layer. You’ll also understand at a fundamental network the basics of how this modern network IP over ethernet stuff works.
Without that knowledge your diagnostic process is going to be more akin to throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.
The short version internet model:
Layer 1 = link layer
Layer 2 = internet layer
Layer 3 = transport layer
Layer 4 = network sessions
The 7 layer OSI model has more layers and not worth learning really until you know the basic internet networking model above which is only 4 layers. It doesn’t map as easily to what we actually use in reality.
Once you know what the layers are, learn what they are responsible for in detail. Makes diagnostics much easier. Also makes it much easier to know what other network guys are talking about with regards to layer 2 switches, layer 3 switches, layer 2 problems, etc.
More in depth than the one @jode pointed out, but there is also one for the network+ course. It does overviews of ideas, rather than actual hands-on with miraki or Aruba or whatever
But, is free to browse through
It covers a bunch of principals in general, without dialing in to making firewall allow lists, or setting up routing tables, or openwrt wireguard plugins or other specifics
Thanks everyone for your recommendations! They have all been super helpful and I am currently setting up OPNsense along with Cisco’s packet tracer to get a more hands-on experience. I feel a lot better about putting my focus into these courses and getting ready for CCNA or whatever else I can get certs for.