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Upskilling for work, best things to learn?

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  • 09-08-2012 4:07pm
    #1
    Ush1
    Registered Users Posts: 11,466 ✭✭✭✭


    Hi lads,

    I want to get a job as a network administrator but don't have much knowledge of Linux and Unix networks.

    I have just installed ubuntu on a laptop at home to play around with.

    I have a fairly decent knowledge of Windows networks but am interested to know what are the things I really need to learn from a business and workplace point of view with linux?

    Any help appreciated.


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    #2
    Skrynesaver
    Registered Users Posts: 1,109 ✭✭✭Skrynesaver


    Where to start, I'd have a read through the Network Administrators guide (free download but also available in dead tree if preferred)


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    #3
    syklops
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,966 ✭✭✭✭syklops


    Ubuntu is a great system if you want to get a working system up and running in an hour.. Unfortunately you dont learn very much. I learnt the most when things like the modem and in later years the wireless card or sound didnt work, and I would have to recompile the kernel, or compile kernel modules etc.

    So I would suggest using something like Fedora. The development versions are far from perfect, and need quite a bit of tweaking to work properly, but the stable versions go on to become Red Hat Enterprise Linux, one of the de facto enterprise Linux distributions.

    Make sure you know how to use a command line text editor. Also learn some shell scripting, and look into Perl, Python or Ruby(or all three). Also check the stickies at the top of the forum.


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    #4
    Ush1
    Registered Users Posts: 11,466 ✭✭✭✭Ush1


    Skrynesaver wrote: »
    Where to start, I'd have a read through the Network Administrators guide (free download but also available in dead tree if preferred)

    Thanks for the link but that seems fairly broad. I'd be fairly familiar with networking protocols.

    I suppose my question is, what do big businesses do with linux? Is it normally for data storage, client pcs, print server, etc...?


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    #5
    LiamOSullivan
    Registered Users Posts: 62 ✭✭LiamOSullivan


    Ush1 wrote: »
    Hi lads,

    I want to get a job as a network administrator but don't have much knowledge of Linux and Unix networks.

    I have just installed ubuntu on a laptop at home to play around with.

    I have a fairly decent knowledge of Windows networks but am interested to know what are the things I really need to learn from a business and workplace point of view with linux?

    Any help appreciated.
    Syklops has a good point about Red Hat; using Fedora will get you somewhat familiar with it, and it's almost standard in enterprise.
    If you want to get familiar with the actual workings of Linux, I'd recommend allocating a 5G partition and doing Linux from Scratch, as this will teach you quite a lot about Linux, with some networking knowledge included. Gentoo is also a very educational distribution by its nature.
    To learn about networking, try setting up a network at home if you have two computers around.

    I'm not sure if all you have in mind is using linux servers for data storage, etc. or have lots of users accessing the servers from various locations, etc.
    Generally though, my advice is to try to do whatever it is you want to learn.


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    #6
    Khannie
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Ush1 wrote: »
    I suppose my question is, what do big businesses do with linux? Is it normally for data storage, client pcs, print server, etc...?

    I would hazard that most stuff on the backend runs on Linux or some unix variant these days. Certainly data centres are absolutely packed with Linux / unix.

    So data storage? Yes. Anything that's running a web server with a database at the backend is likely to run on Linux.

    Client PC's? Not so much. Very techie here and only about 15% of client PC's are running Linux.

    Print servers? Yes.

    Windows still used quite extensively for exchange.

    As already stated, Red Hat Enterprise (CentOs is the free equivalent) is the dominant distro in server rooms.


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    #7
    Ush1
    Registered Users Posts: 11,466 ✭✭✭✭Ush1


    OSI wrote: »
    If you're looking to learn linux, then something like Arch, or LFS will be a good place to get stuck in. But honestly, if you're looking at becoming a network admin, I think you're looking in the wrong direction, you really need to be looking at a CCNA etc. Learning Linux will be helpful down the path of becoming a Sys Admin, but will be a much smaller part in becoming a network admin.

    Cheers.

    So look into doing CCNA, any other courses that are useful? What sort of workk would be involved in the role day to day?


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    #8
    syklops
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,966 ✭✭✭✭syklops


    Ush1 wrote: »
    Cheers.

    So look into doing CCNA, any other courses that are useful? What sort of workk would be involved in the role day to day?
    No offence, but if you don't know whats involved in the role day to day, how do you know thats what you want to do? No point spending ages learning the CCNA only to find yourself in a job you don't like.


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    #9
    Ush1
    Registered Users Posts: 11,466 ✭✭✭✭Ush1


    syklops wrote: »
    No offence, but if you don't know whats involved in the role day to day, how do you know thats what you want to do? No point spending ages learning the CCNA only to find yourself in a job you don't like.

    Well I know I enjoy working on networks, as in diagnosing networking problems, configuring switches, firewalls etc...

    Is that normally what a network admin would do and would that only apply to larger companies?


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    #10
    Nulty
    Registered Users Posts: 7,838 ✭✭✭Nulty


    LiamOSullivan wrote: »
    Syklops has a good point about Red Hat; using Fedora will get you somewhat familiar with it, and it's almost standard in enterprise.
    If you want to get familiar with the actual workings of Linux, I'd recommend allocating a 5G partition and doing Linux from Scratch, as this will teach you quite a lot about Linux, with some networking knowledge included. Gentoo is also a very educational distribution by its nature.
    To learn about networking, try setting up a network at home if you have two computers around.

    I'm not sure if all you have in mind is using linux servers for data storage, etc. or have lots of users accessing the servers from various locations, etc.
    Generally though, my advice is to try to do whatever it is you want to learn.

    I'm gonna start on the LFS right away! Its looks really cool, thanks for the post!


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    #11
    syklops
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,966 ✭✭✭✭syklops


    Ush1 wrote: »
    Well I know I enjoy working on networks, as in diagnosing networking problems, configuring switches, firewalls etc...

    Is that normally what a network admin would do and would that only apply to larger companies?

    Depends on the organisation really. Starting off you will probably end up working in the NOC, watching Nagios or something waiting for things to go down and then you reboot it, do some basic troubleshooting and then pass it to a Network Admin. Few people go straight from the CCNA to a Network Admin, unless its a small startup company, and in that case, you will do everything network related.


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