Best computer networks books according to redditors
We found 347 Reddit comments discussing the best computer networks books. We ranked the 77 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 347 Reddit comments discussing the best computer networks books. We ranked the 77 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
The "Practice of System and Network Administration"; probably a bit too early in your career but has some strong advice.
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165
There's also a volume 2 which is cloud/site reliability engineering related.
Consider buying these, or checking them out from local library:
Network Warrior
The Practice of System and Network Administration: Volume 1: DevOps and other Best Practices for Enterprise IT (3rd Edition) 3rd Edition
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Cisco / Networking
Stanford University Free Introduction to Networking Online Course
Cisco Learning Center - How to Study for CCNA for Free
Professor Messer's CompTIA Network+ Training Videos
Cybrary Free CCNA Training Videos
Cisco VIRL - Virtual Router & Firewall Training Tool
GNS3 Vault - Free Practice & Training Labs for Cisco Equipment
Cisco Live Training Convention Video Portal - Free Registration Required
Cisco Design Zone - Best Practices
PacketBomb - WireShark Training Center
NetCraftsmen - Network Consultants Blog
PacketPushers News & Podcasts
IOSHints - Ivan Pepelnjak's Blog/site
Cumulus Networks SDN Technical Videos
SDX Central - SDN Resources
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The Best of Cisco Live
Cisco Live is Cisco's annual Technology expo & training convention.
All of these presentations are available for free here: http://www.ciscolive.com/online - Many with video presentations of the lectures.
BRKARC-3001 - Cisco Integrated Services Router G2 - Architectural Overview and Use Cases (2013 Orlando) - 2 Hours
BRKARC-3001 - Cisco Integrated Services Router 4000 - Architectural Overview and Use Cases (2015 San Diego) - 2 Hours
BRKARC-2001 - Cisco ASR1000 Series Routers: System & Solution Architectures (2015 San Diego) - 2 Hours
BRKARC-1009 - Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switching Architecture (2016 Las Vegas) - 90 Mins
BRKARC-3438 - Cisco Catalyst 3850 and 3650 Series Switching Architecture (2015 San Diego) - 2 Hours
BRKARC-3445 - Cisco Catalyst 4500E Switch Architecture (2015 San Diego)
BRKARC-3465 - Cisco Catalyst 6800 Switch Architectures (2015 San Diego) - 90 Mins
BRKARC-2222 - Cisco Nexus 9000 Architecture (2015 San Diego)
...
BRKCRS-3147 - Advanced troubleshooting of the ASR1K and ISR (IOS-XE) made easy (2015 San Diego) - 2 Hours
BRKCRS-3146 - Troubleshooting Cisco Catalyst 3650 / 3850 Series Switches (2015 San Diego) - 2 Hours
BRKCRS-3142 - Troubleshooting Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Switches (2015 San Diego) - 2 Hours
BRKCRS-3143 - Troubleshooting Cisco Catalyst 6500 / 6800 Series Switches (2015 San Diego)
BRKDCT-3101 - Nexus 9000 (Standalone) Architecture Brief and Troubleshooting (2015 San Diego)
...
It seems your problem is not programming, but architecture. Namely, how the client-server architecture that most of the web is based on works.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find something that's both easy to understand and comprehensive enough, and I can't really write it here, as either I would have to simplify it too much or I'd have to write way much more than I'm comfortable writing.
So keep google for client server architecture until you find a book/tutorial/article/video/etc that makes you understand and go from there. Don't worry about languages, liibraries, frameworks and all that mumbo-jumbo for now, just focus on understanding what happens when you interact with a website, from start to end. Once you understand that, choose a language, find a framework that you think you'd like and start learning it (some frameworks, like Django, have very comprehensive tutorials). And then you keep improving that until you're satisfied with your project - or you hit your deadline, that product got to ship someday!
EDIT: Actually, I do have a recommendation: the Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach book. Reading the first chapter will probably be enough for you, but if you enjoy it, you can read a lot more and really (begin to) understand how the Internet (and computer networks in general) work.
Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (7th Edition)
https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-7th/dp/0133594149
CS144 Introduction to Computer Networking Stanford University
https://suclass.stanford.edu/courses/course-v1:Engineering+CS144+Fall2016/courseware/ac9d1eef5aaa4bb5bcfe4d42f51f0f5b/c5c384e648cf404c837d05497c6e36b0
Beej's Guide to Network Programming
http://beej.us/guide/bgnet
Unix Network Programming, Volume 1: The Sockets Networking API (3rd Edition)
https://www.amazon.com/Unix-Network-Programming-Sockets-Networking/dp/0131411551
High Performance Browser Networking
https://hpbn.co
Eli The Computer Guy Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF360ED1082F6F2A5
Load Balancing Servers, Firewalls, and Caches
http://www.amazon.com/Load-Balancing-Servers-Firewalls-Caches/dp/0471415502
More at http://Learn.SharjeelSayed.com
I was in your same shoes 3 years ago when I took my first SA internship. I was the only person on site for 8 employees locally, 30 around the country.
I was scared to make actions at first but the first thing you need to do is learn your network in and out and document the shit out of everything before you even make a change. After that, you will be confident and I am sure of it.
1.) Begin a document called "IT Department Handbook" - add everything you find to it, except passwords. Refer to it, love it, it will always save you. Include disaster recovery in it. Make it so that a third grader can understand it. I have one thats 50 pages right now. This will save you as it has saved me so many times. Make it confidential though, because it will end up holding information you don't want people to see on the outside such as IP addresses and your network map.
2.) Keep passwords file but separate from the system and indistinguishable. I actually keep a password file on my phone in my memo's app but I don't have the full account usernames associated with each one. I provide really indistinguishable hints to the username, usually riddles that only I would know.
3.) Get Veeam endpoint backup and find a place to backup your DC (full backup) and any databases at the very least. You can create a standard for backups later.
3a.) Find the Domain Controller's recovery password immediately.
3b.) Create a recovery USB for all your servers and put them in a location where you can find them later.
4.) Get a Network Diagram going, then after that...
5.) List all Roles and Features each server has on the network diagram, what each server stores, what applications run on them and how essential they are to the business. Example: Domain Controller. No domain controller, no work can be done. CRM: No crm, people can't keep of their cases on the webserver but rather locally, they can live without it for a short time. Start thinking about disaster recovery.
6.) Develop a Khanban System. It's an agile project management method I learned from reading This Book -- I highly suggest buying this to help you better your practice. Put tasks in the backlog and move the ones you think need to be done sooner than others to your daily or weekly sprint.
7.) Find out who uses what server for certain tasks. This may take a while but it helps.
8.) Something I do personally before doing any changes to Group Policy or Regedit is I save their current configurations before making changes. Therefore, if something doesn't work right after a setting is changed, you can quickly revert back to it's last state.
9.) If you have the capability and hardware, get clustering going. So if a DC1 fails, DC2 takes over and everyone can still authenticate and work.
10.) If you have the capability and hardware, create a test environment reflecting your live network on a very small scale but enough to test "Ok so if I make this change, can people from workstations still login, can they still access the development server... etc." - you can create a test domain under your current forest and have it remain separate in this test environment.
11.) If it's not already in place (this might take some time) create a naming nomenclature standard. I.E. DC1.example.com (domain controller 1), DC2.example.com, PS1.example.com (production), WEBS1.example.com (webserver), TE1.example.com (test env.), WK1.example.com (workstation number 1...2...), VM1.example.com (virtual machines). This will help when it comes to debugging issues. My boss likes to make personal names for his servers which drives me fucking nuts because we have 20 servers between us and our clients that we manage. It's a lot better for him to mention "yea I cant get into PS1." rather "I cant get into rabbit" - and there I am trying to remember which server rabbit is and what features it holds off the top of my head; which is where a network diagram can come into play.
This book has been suggested a few times so I finally got around to reading it. I think it has some good information in it. I'm only about halfway through it, but I like it so far.
Time Management for System Administrators
Other books would be any of the social books like "How to influence people", "7 healthy habits..." Etc.
I haven't read this one yet, but It has been suggested to me if you plan to go more into management/leadership Start with Why
Other books that have I have ear marked due to being mentioned:
Also, do a search for "Books for IT Professionals" to find a lot of other suggestions.
La mia classe (5° Informatica) ed un'altra (4° Informatica) sono le uniche dell'istituto con la LIM montata in classe e disponibile 24/7. Ne abbiamo anche un paio in altri laboratori.
Noi le LIM le usiamo spesso, sono parecchio utili in diverse materie e rendono la lezione più interattiva e meno pesante (No non sto cercando di vendervele).
Ad esempio in Italiano ci possiamo proiettare i testi degli autori che studiamo (reperibili gratis di solito visto che gli autori sono defunti da un bel po') e la Prof ci appunta sopra tutto quello che vuole, cosi': A) lei è contenta B) tu non ti perdi nulla C) Salvi il PDF e ce lo hai a casa sincronizzato su DropBox
In Storia mettiamo foto/quadri famosi oppure ogni tanto qualche reperto storico preso da YouTube (o addirittura vediamo documentari di Piero Angela).
In Inglese molto spesso usiamo Internet per trovare informazioni/qualcosa di più sugli argomenti che stiamo affrontando (in particolare inglese tecnico e specifico del campo informatico), visto che il libro qualche volta sbaglia (probabilmente perchè è scritto da gente che non ci capisce quasi nulla di informatica / programmazione)
In Matematica viene usata sia per disegnare grafici di studio di funzione / calcolo di limiti con software specializzati (GeoGebra ad esempio) che per vedere lezioni svolte su YouTube o esempi di esercizi affrontati in modo diverso da come li affronta il prof (Consiglio https://www.youtube.com/user/LessThan3Math).
Per materie più tecniche come (informatica / sistemi & reti / progettazione sw / elettronica) proiettiamo sempre documentazione / testi tecnici scritti da gente che ne sa veramente (ad esempio questo http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networks-Edition-Andrew-Tanenbaum/dp/0132126958 per sistemi & reti), che alla fine rendono inutili i libri di testo che le altre classi usano. Inoltre ci facciamo girare i programmi scritti a casa senza andare nei vari laboratori, oppure le simulazioni dei circuiti per elettronica.
Poi in ogni materia la LIM viene usata come lavagna e non c'è più il problema dei gessi finiti, del cancellino sporco, del "non c'è più spazio, posso cancellare ragazzi?", si salva tutto e lo si rilegge a casa.
Ovviamente poi sulla LIM si vedono bene i Film per le ore buche, si gioca bene a Scacchi/RTS con il touch e c'è anche un ottimo impianto audio per sentire anche dalle altre classi i video di YouTube, ma questa è un'altra storia.
Noi usiamo cosi' tanto e penso cosi' bene la LIM perchè i prof hanno seguito un corso per imparare tutti i minimi segreti, o meglio a raccogliere un pennarello finto e scrivere.
La nostra classe è anche una delle poche che usa il tablet al posto dei libri cartacei, se vi interessa dopo vi posso scrivere anche di questo.
La nostra scuola usa anche un registro elettronico al posto di quello cartaceo, anche qui se volete vi dico i pro e contro.
TL;DR: Abbiamo la LIM, elenco gli usi della LIM, se i prof la sanno usare è utilissima. Infine un TL;DR.
Visto che il commento è stato di gradimento di alcuni allora spiego anche i tablet e i registri elettronici.
Tablet
All'inizio della terza la nostra classe è stata scelta per questo progetto di usare i tablet in classe, in particolare al posto dei libri cartacei e / o come supporto di lavoro.
La scuola si è offerta di pagare metà tablet mentre noi dovevamo pagarci l'altra metà. Il tablet scelto è stato un Nexus 7 32GB di prima generazione. Un buon tablet. Chi aveva già un tablet a casa (4 o 5 su 27) avevano il permesso di usare il loro.
Consegnato il tablet (dopo aver atteso 1 mese e mezzo circa, forse 2) abbiamo subito acquistato i libri di testo disponibili sulla piattaforma Scuolabook. Il prezzo dei libri digitali è minore rispetto a quello di quelli cartacei.
Il primo problema che abbiamo riscontrato è stato riguardo all'applicazione per tablet di Scuolabook (sia Android che iOS): crashava di continuo, lenta, faceva tutto tranne quello che doveva fare. Ti faceva passare la voglia di studiare. Alla fine ci siamo un po' abituati.
Qui nasce ora la domanda: meglio la carta o il tablet? Sono gusti. E' una cosa personale, c'è gente che non lascerebbe i libri di carta per nulla al mondo, soprattutto se ci devi studiare sopra, ma ad esempio io mi sono abituato abbastanza bene a studiare sui pixel. I quaderni, almeno quelli, sono sempre di carta.
Cosa può servire il tablet? Si evitano fotocopie, si scrive abbastanza veloce con la tastiera, eviti di trovare forme falliche sugli appunti etc etc.
In 3° molti perdevano tempo con giochini vari e cazzate del genere ma anche a causa del wifi scarso della scuola la nullafacenza è via via scomparsa. Ora il tablet viene usato per cazzeggiare solo in lezioni particolarmente noiose, perchè prima o poi i giochi finiscono.
Il problema dell'app scarsa di Scuolabook è stata risolta rimuovendo i DRM dai libri e convertendoli in PDF da aprire con adobe.
Dopo/domani scrivo riguardo il registro.
I'm sort of in the same boat as you, except with an aero and physics background rather than EE. My approach has been pretty similar to yours--I found the textbooks used by my alma mater, compared to texts recommended by MIT OCW and some other universities, looked at a few lists of recommended texts, and looked through similar questions on Reddit. I found most areas have multiple good texts, and also spent some time deciding which ones looked more applicable to me. That said, I'm admittedly someone who rather enjoys and learns well from textbooks compared to lectures, and that's not the case for everyone.
Here's what I gathered. If any more knowledgeable CS guys have suggestions/corrections, please let me know.
Full disclosure: I haven't actually read more than the preface of any of those books. Software engineering topics are more directly applicable to me than CS topics right now, so here are some that I've actually started reading:
Some very good books on networking basics:
Computer Networks
TCP/IP Illustrated
Thanks ;). Not so skilled on that and my advice might be misleading; though I got a background in cs:This would be my suggestion for someone beginning.
You can also search for those books pdf by using google hacks eg
filetype:pdf "title of the book here"orintitle:index.of "title of the book here"Big fan of that book. New edition due soon too!
You will pick up the knowledge fairly quickly, but the wisdom part comes slowly.
Read some books:
Start humble, stay humble, be quick to listen and slow to speak, and don't make changes on Friday!
Good on you for looking to grow yourself as a professional! The best folks I've worked with are still working on professional development, even 10-20 years in to their profession.
Programming languages can be thought of as tools. Python, say, is a screwdriver. You can learn everything there is about screwdrivers, but this only gets you so far.
To build something you need a good blueprint. For this you can study objected oriented design (OOD) and programming (OOP). Once you have the basics, take a look at design patterns like the Gang of Four. This book is a good resource to learn about much of the above
What parts do you specify for your blueprint? How do they go together? Study up on abstract data types (ADTs) and algorithms that manipulate those data types. This is the definitive book on algorithms, it does take some work to get through it, but it is worth the work. (Side note, this is the book Google expects you to master before interviewing)
How do you run your code? You may want to study general operating system concepts if you want to know how your code interacts with the system on which it is running. Want to go even deeper with code performance? Take a look at computer architecture Another topic that should be covered is computer networking, as many applications these days don't work without a network.
What are some good practices to follow while writing your code? Two books that are widely recommended are Code Complete and Pragmatic Programmer. Though they cover a very wide range (everything from organizational hacks to unit testing to user design) of topics, it wouldn't hurt to check out Code Complete at the least, as it gives great tips on organizing functions and classes, modules and programs.
All these techniques and technologies are just bits and pieces you put together with your programming language. You'll likely need to learn about other tools, other languages, debuggers and linters and optimizers, the list is endless. What helps light the path ahead is finding a mentor, someone that is well steeped in the craft, and is willing to show you how they work. This is best done in person, watching someone design and code. Also spend some time reading the code of others (GitHub is a great place for this) and interacting with them on public mailing lists and IRC channels. I hang out on Hacker News to hear about the latest tools and technologies (many posts to /r/programming come from Hacker News). See if there are any local programming clubs or talks that you can join, it'd be a great forum to find yourself a mentor.
Lots of stuff here, happy to answer questions, but hope it's enough to get you started. Oh, yeah, the books, they're expensive but hopefully you can get your boss to buy them for you. It's in his/her best interest, as well as yours!
I'd go read books about the A+ cert (you don't need to certify but it's great material).
For other technical things I recommend a lot of books that are amazing:
Use technology books to learn processes, not end results. To be a better IT person, you should know how computers work as a system, not how to do say "Map network Drive in Windows", learn how those drives are mapped, what are the underlying fundamentals?
The Practice of System and Network Administration.
A few general principles:
Even more formatting fun!
By the way, thank you for this list.
Here are a few books I recommend:
Blue Team Handbook
Defensive Security Handbook
The Practice of Network Security Monitoring
Crafting the Infosec Playbook
And don't forget the NIST Cyber Security Framework
The TCP/IP Illustrated series is very good, if you have some basic knowledge. If you are just starting out, then I'd recommend Tanenbaum's Computer Networks. Whatever book you get, make sure it's one that focusses on Ethernet and TCP/IP, for the most part. You can specialize into other networks later as you need to, but those two are the most widely used in industry by far.
Another way to learn about networking is through practice. Set up a home network, write a basic client and server using sockets, play with tcpdump, etc.
Worth noting that there is a third edition that is significantly updated. I own both would say they're both good but you'll get a lot more out of the third edition.
https://www.amazon.ca/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165
Vendor neutral and probably the best/most frequently recommended book:
MPLS-Enabled Applications: Emerging Developments and New Technologies
Very good Cisco-centric MPLS book:
MPLS Fundamentals
The gold standard, or so I hear, for L2VPN (I believe it's Alcatel/Juniper heavy):
Designing and Implementing IP/MPLS-Based Ethernet Layer 2 VPN Services: An Advanced Guide for VPLS and VLL
Computer Networking: A Top Down Approach by Kurose and Ross is often highly recommended.
The Practice of System and Network Administration: Volume 1: DevOps and other Best Practices for Enterprise IT (3rd Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321919165/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_YBkxDb2D8ZNHG
/thread
Get this book.
http://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Edition-ebook/dp/B004JLMUJ0
Read something like this to get the ideas first, then go to TCP/IP Illustrated for the details. The TCP/IP Illustrated book is almost like an encyclopedia. If you want practical knowledge quick:
http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/wiki/
and also play around with virtual machines. You can establish networks between your virtual machines. The networking certification exams have study guides too, although they have a poor reputation (I don't really know why).
I also don't really know why I'm getting downvoted.
https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-7th/dp/0133594149
Loved reading this during my undergrad
The senior part is more of a technical grade level and not necessarily management... granted I'm in the lead role here, it's my first time as one. All I can say is what help me spring forward at a lull at mid-level was picking up Thomas Limoncelli's books, [the sysadmin one] (https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512041042&sr=8-1&keywords=thomas+limoncelli) and [the cloud one] (https://www.amazon.com/Practice-Cloud-System-Administration-Practices/dp/032194318X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1512041042&sr=8-3&keywords=thomas+limoncelli) /r/sysadmin recommends them too. These are your best practice books, these tell you why to do things, not how. It will turn you from being the guy that mops the floor in a burning building into knowing when to yell, "FIRE!"
Cert wise, unless a specific company or contract requires it, I don't bother with the time and money on certs if you already have years of experience on the books. I'd probably go for a Security+ and then go for a Red Hat and/or CCNA certification as they are both prestigious. Red Hat is a big deal just by its practical application test.
If you want to go into cloud related stuff, you might want to brush up on your programming. This is what is limiting me, I have very minimal bash scripting experience coming from military in the Windows world then making a move to Linux.
Honestly, I would focus on being both as they both overlap very often unless you are in really large stovepipe enterprise environments, but you never know if you need to make a move to something smaller where you have the many hats role. I'd get your degree in something Computer science related (CS, CIS, EE, CE, etc) and then go RHCSA/CE and maybe Sec+/Net+ or instead of Net+ just go for something Cisco related. My networking is Net+ strength at best and I resent not doing better when I was younger.
EDIT: Also, if you can do the math, BS is Computer Science all the way... sysadmins are still really kind of not doing well in the degree program department, mainly because were so... trade-like I guess. Honestly, we're the new Millwrights like my dad was. We keep the factory going and fix it when production stops. It's kind of cool actually, it's nice to be able to have some kinship to my dad in that way.
Hint: It's plain text. Totally unencrypted. And there is no such thing as a telnet network. Telnet is a command line protocol used to control devices remotely. All it does is send ascii text back and forth. None of the protocols you listed were encrypted protocols. SSL (secure sockets layer) is used to encrypt other protocols (ie https) but it is not a communication protocol in and of its self.
You might want to do some reading on both networking protocols, and wireshark.
Start here:
Practical Packet Analysis, 3E: Using Wireshark to Solve Real-World Network Problems https://www.amazon.com/dp/1593278020/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_3amXAb1FZT4YJ
Start with Andrew Tannenbaum's book?
Honestly, you are never going to find a way to shortcut you out of this situation. No one answer is going to be perfect and get you from A to B if your already at C. I had a similar experience with programming and web development.
I studied computer networking all my adult life and never thought I would be developing as my career at the moment. It is the burden of knowing too much and not having a clear direction. What I needed was more confidence in my skills which can only really develop over the years through experience.
You say you already know a lot of Linux and Bash concepts. CD/CI pipelines try to abstract a lot of OS related involvement since your code doesn’t need to know how low level kernel operations are happening.
What it sounds like you need is knowledge of OS concepts, not just Linux concepts. I say this because every OS has its own way of doing the same thing one way or another.
For example virtual memory, if you understand the concept of virtual memory in any OS rather than a specific OS’s semantics regarding Virtual memory then I think you would be better off in the long run.
If I am wrong and you are the master of the Linux environment, I believe you just need to deep dive into development strategies and the core principles of CD/CI. Once you have a foundation it doesn’t really mater if you are a Jenkins expert or CircleCI expert, all that matters is if you have a foundation to fall back on.
Edit: if you wanted my two cents on material here are some books I recommend.
The Practice of System and Network Administration
Operating Systems Concepts
UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/
Books don't get more wind baggy than this.
If you ask me, Andrew Tanenbaum books are AWESOME. Not cheap but this guy takes a good bottom to top approach, if you really want to understand networking down to the TCP/IP stack get this.
Computer Networks If I can offer you a shred of advice, understanding what is happening under the hood and the 'big picture' of network design becomes an easy concept.
On the flipside - here is a good Top Down approach to networking Computer Networking Top-Down
Best of luck with your studies!
A good start would be to study for any standard certifications in the field, since they cover the basic topics and hey, why not get certified while you are at it? Comptia's N+, Cisco's CCENT or CWNP's CWTS cover the fundamentals of networking.
On the other hand, you could just go through free online lectures like this one on youtube or this one offered by MIT. Of course, there's always the good old-fashioned way to learn- borrow any standard textbook like Tanenbaum.
I know this isn't the answer you are looking for, but this book might be worth looking in to. I haven't received my copy yet, but so far it seems to have been getting quite good reviews from the VMWare community.
As far as recommended reading goes I would have a look at the practice of system and network administration (https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539629401&sr=8-1&keywords=practice+of+network+and+system) and The phoenix project. As far as technical courses, I'm assuming your role will be mostly strategic and managerial (unlike some of us in smaller companies where the IT Manager is also expected to be a technical lead) I would focus on the managerial side and surround yourself with technical experts.
'Best practice' is such a vague term that you're going to run into issues defining it in a meaningful way for your client's environment.
I'd look at generic guides (u/jhend28 mentions a good one) but also read up on specifics that apply to your environment. For example: best practice for a level 4 data center hosting financial data for banks etc. will not apply at all you a SME with two servers on premise that don't sell direct and hold no Top Secret data.
Have a read of The Practice of System and Network Administration: Volume 1 for a good starting place.
What are you studying?
First (In any order)
Unix
https://www.amazon.com/Sams-Teach-Yourself-Unix-Hours/dp/0672328143/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1525399317&sr=8-2&keywords=unix+in+24+hours
Networking
https://www.amazon.com/Network-Guide-Networks-Printed-Access/dp/1133608191/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525399474&sr=1-2&keywords=network%2B+6th+edition
Focus in these areas in networking
The OSI Reference Model
Network Infrastructure Devices
Specialized Network Devices
Virtual Network Devices
IPv4 and IPv6 Addresses
Address Translation
Command-Line Tools
Network Security
Network Troubleshooting
UDP vs TCP
DNS
JAVA/Python Don't need to be a master, but experience is a plus.
Hackerrank.com
Some SQL experience.
Hackerrank
Basic terminology of the cloud.
http://whatiscloud.com/
Familiar yourself with JSON, and API technologies. Know the differences between nosql and sql.
After all that AWS
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=aws+offical+study+guide&sprefix=aws+offical%2Caps%2C199&crid=X9667J8H0Z1
If you are starting from nothing it may take 1 - 2 years. Take your time to learn, no hurry.
I can suggest that you can read Foundations of Python Network Programming. (http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Python-Network-Programming-comprehensive/dp/1430230037) It covers dozens of networking subjects...
how deep in the weeds do you want to get into OSPF? do you want to understand enough just to be able to troubleshoot and bring up a new router, or [re]design the entire network?
John Moy's book should still be the standard; he wrote the RFC.
If you want to actually design a network, I still love Russ White's Cisco Press book on Optimal Routing Design.
If you just want an overview, the Cisco OSPF design guide can give you the nomenclature. Though the examples are IOS, the principles carry over.
Along with /u/totallygeek recommendations, if you're going to deploy OSPF onto a network, I would add:
Personally, I would stay away from virtual links as your abstracting what should be physical links onto harder-to-troubleshoot virtual links. I would also keep the area IDs the same as the top level network. For instance, if I was using 172.16.0.0/16 as the supernet for a building, the OSPF area ID would also be 172.16.0.0/16, but that's just me. There is more than 1 way to build a good network and as long as you are consistent on a logical design, that's what matters.
This is your curriculum:
1 & 2 below are basically required reading in my CSIRT; 3 is optional, but advisable.
Next get yourself and/or your organization to participate in FIRST
Tl;dr Python works, it's super popular and you'll be able to transfer most things you learn there to other languages.
Some examples you might run into:Caprica - ACL descriptive language (https://github.com/google/capirca)
You should understand caprica as a tool, and why you might want to use it (not deeply, just enough to see why you might use things like rule/subnet minimization etc.)
Rancid - Backup automation (uses *cringe* Expect http://www.shrubbery.net/rancid/) look at oxidize instead but rancid was the standard for years (over a decade?)Nmap - Lua scripting (you may need to write custom scanners https://nmap.org/book/man-nse.html)
Network Security Monitoring - This is more a discipline you'll probably need to understand, and even while it's a little dated I would suggest the no starch press book on the practice. Understanding where you should use a simple beam splitter or an active tap etc is important too, but you've probably had plenty of experience there. I wouldn't focus on too many different tools but you can certainly test things like Bro/Surricata out on your personal network with pretty minimal modifications to understand the concept.--
Scripting will help you do really basic things like be able to take a single SNMP walk command for a single OID and run it against a csv/txt file list of assets. It helps give you the fundamentals to fix/change the tools you'll have to use as a network security engineer.
Understanding Certs is super important, so knowing some basic things: how to extract a certificate/private key in any format you need it. How to verify a certificate is valid with a copy of the Certificate Authority, how to verify a certificate is still valid. What's the minimum required process to renew a certificate etc.
Also, you'll probably have to deal with break/inspect (*transparent* tls proxies) so learning and understanding how certificate (x.509) based systems work even lends itself there. Unfortunately scripting tools for that kinda thing suck/are missing pieces so basically I would say learn how to use openssl really well/make yourself some good bookmarks for references.
Practice of Network Security Monitoring is the best place to start.
https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-6th/dp/0132856204
When I was in school we used this in our networks class (but it looks like there's a 7th edition out now), and I thought it was a good book. Very detailed and explained things in a way that actually made sense (to me).
I am sure many people will add to this but what I find is the biggest gap is not having a good base of understanding of why all of this "Infrastructure" is needed.
There is so much content to learn and I am not even scratching the surface. There is much to learn and you are not alone.
Hands-on labs
https://labs.hol.vmware.com/HOL/catalogs/catalog/1212
Physical networking (My teacher)
https://www.pluralsight.com/authors/ross-bagurdes
Virtual Networking
https://www.amazon.com/Networking-VMware-Administrators-Press-Technology/dp/0133511081
Storage
https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-VMware-vSphere-Storage-Victor-ebook/dp/B00YSIL6HQ
vSAN
https://www.amazon.com/VMware-vSAN-6-7-Deep-Dive-ebook/dp/B07L8CNZ53
NSX
https://blogs.vmware.com/networkvirtualization/2018/10/nsx-vmworld-2018-europe-the-technical-geek-guide.html/
ESXi Deep dive
https://pages.rubrik.com/host-resources-deep-dive_request.html
vVols are making a comeback
https://blogs.vmware.com/virtualblocks/2019/07/25/vvols-vmworld-2019/
Project pacific
https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2019/09/project-pacific-at-tech-field-day-extra-at-vmworld-2019.html
Good mentions
https://storagehub.vmware.com/
https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/techpaper/virtual_networking_concepts.pdf
And any VMware feature you need a walkthrough
https://featurewalkthrough.vmware.com/
Edit: adding newest deep dive for Pacific https://cormachogan.com/2019/11/22/project-pacific-vmworld-2019-deep-dive-updates/
Computer networking top down approach. Very very good book, I can't praise it enough: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0136079679?pc_redir=T1
Also, https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=0T9DJZC3VHQTS8MFT7WT
Thanks for linking this, I hadn't seen it yet. As a Windows admin looking to get into Linux, this seems interesting.
Also, for your automation, I'd recommend Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, if you haven't read it already. It can also be found for free here: Automate the Boring Stuff.
I'll add another plug for The Practice of System and Network Information, even if you have a good feel for the philosophical part of the job.
Probably the best book out there for system administration.
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
Read Limoncelli's book: The Practice of System and Network Administration: Volume 1. That would give you a good place to start and learn best practices.
​
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1537969093&sr=1-4&keywords=The+Practice+of+System+and+Network+Administration&dpID=5139XV0QYsL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
​
Is this the one you mean? I am looking for some good books to read as I start to enter the work force.
https://www.amazon.ca/Practice-System-Network-Administration-3rd/dp/0321919165
A few thoughts. Hopefully at least one of them will be helpful.
I could go on, but most of the above is already in the two books I listed and I'd just be riffing on a theme. I'll leave you with this:
For reference, /u/fatgypsythief is referring to this.
Read these:
http://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Vol-Addison-Wesley-Professional/dp/0201633469
http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networks-5th-Andrew-Tanenbaum/dp/0132126958
I learnt a lot from Tanenbaum's Computer Networks, though it's not exactly light reading.
If you're going to be/are a Cisco shop*, then a CCENT/CCNA would be really useful (and it also gets you a discount on equipment, but it never beats eBay) - though it's not a bad certification even if you're not a Cisco shop. If you do take that track, I'd recommend CBTNuggets/Jeremy Cioara's videos, though they're not cheap (and I can't think of any way to see videos without paying for them ;) ). By that same token, ASP/APP if you're going to be an HP shop*, JNCIE/JNCIP if Juniper*, BCNE if Foundry/Brocade*, or if you're going to be a Linux/BSD shop*, start tinkering (which is probably the best way to learn anyway).
I've never done or met anyone who's done Network+, though my experience is that CompTIA's certifications aren't held in high esteem.
* Once you start needing managed/enterprise gear, it's generally a good idea to try and keep all their gear from one supplier where possible, because some features don't work between competing products, it makes it easier for the employer to find employees, and it generally makes life easier. For unmanaged/consumer gear, you can mix and match all you want, though most sys/net-admins tend to develop biases for one vendor or another.
Computer Networks by Andrew S. Tanenbaum
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networks-Edition-Andrew-Tanenbaum/dp/0132126958
http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networks-Edition-Andrew-Tanenbaum/dp/0132126958/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1BZMSRCH40428ZF99CRS
I don't get how you're in a masters program in cybersec without knowing how to code...
Anyway, if you are leaning towards pentesting/networks, https://www.amazon.ca/Hacking-Art-Exploitation-Jon-Erickson/dp/1593271441 as well as black hat python/violent python are what you want to start off, as well as a good book on networking book: https://www.amazon.ca/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-6th/dp/0132856204.
I'm actually confused about what the content of an msc program could be in cybersec if you don't already know how to code.
I got a lot of value out of this book. You'll need to understanding networking fairly well if you want to be a decent VMware engineer.
https://www.amazon.com/Networking-VMware-Administrators-Press-Technology/dp/0133511081
Chris Wahl has a great blog as well: http://wahlnetwork.com/
This is a great list, thank you very much.
I also happened to decide to study networking but for a bit deeper, my choice was this book.
https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-7th/dp/0133594149
This is a complete networking essentials, for grads, phDs, masters.
Is also has a helper site with video notes and animations
https://wps.pearsoned.com/ecs_kurose_compnetw_6/216/55463/14198700.cw/index.html
Nand to Tetris (coursera)
the first half of the book is free. You read a chapter then you write programs that simulate hardware modules (like memory, ALU, registers, etc). It's pretty insightful for giving you a more rich understanding of how computers work. You could benefit from just the first half the book. The second half focuses more on building assemblers, compilers, and then a java-like programming language. From there, it has you build a small operating system that can run programs like Tetris.
Code: The Hidden Language of Hardware and Software
This book is incredibly well written. It's intended for a casual audience and will guide the reader to understanding how a microcontroller works, from the ground up. It's not a text book, which makes it even more more impressive.
Computer Networking Top Down Approach
one of the best written textbook I've read. Very clear and concise language. This will give you a pretty good understanding of modern-day networking. I appreciated that book is filled to the brim of references to other books and academic papers for a more detailed look at subtopics.
Operating System Design
A great OS book. It actually shows you the C code used to design and code the Xinu operating system. It's written by a Purdue professor. It offers both a top-down look, but backs everything up with C code, which really solidifies understanding. The Xinu source code can be run on emulators or real hardware for you to tweak (and the book encourages that!)
Digital Design Computer Architecture
another good "build a computer from the ground up" book. The strength of this book is that it gives you more background into how real-life circuits are built (it uses VHDL and Verilog), and provides a nice chapter on transistor design overview. A lot less casual than the Code book, but easily digestible for someone who appreciates this stuff. It culminates into designing and describing a microarchitecture to implement a MIPS microcontroller. The diagrams used in this book are really nice.
https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-7th/dp/0133594149
This is the 7th edition, i have the 5th which is extremely valuable and precise in it's context. Built very good and easy to understand, but also VERY in-depth.
I used Computer Networking: A Top Down Approach [0]. The title pretty much sums it up, you start at the application layer and work your way down through each layer. I found this approach helpful since it started with something relatively familiar (app layer) and then digs down through the layers to find out how it's really working. For me, at least, this is preferable to starting on the bottom where you don't really have as much context for what's happening.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-7th/dp/0133594149/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1536784010&sr=8-2&keywords=networking+textbook
I'd be interested if there is something like what you're looking for out there. I don't think there is.
One of the things I've discovered over the years is how much of these "golden nuggets of networking history" are sprinkled about in various non-certification networking textbooks. They're generally not in certification-oriented books because there isn't enough room, but they are quite often found in textbooks that cover particular networking topics.
For example, one of my favorites is contained in Developing IP Multicast Networks. Beau Williamson writes:
> There’s an interesting story as to why only 23 bits worth of MAC address space was allocated for IP multicast. Back in the early 1990s, Steve Deering was bringing some of his research work on IP multicasting to fruition, and he wanted the IEEE to assign 16 consecutive Organizational Unique Identifiers (OUIs) for use as IP multicast MAC addresses. Because one OUI contains 24 bits worth of address space, 16 consecutive OUI’s would supply a full 28 bits worth of MAC address space and would permit a one-to-one mapping of Layer 3 IP multicast addresses to MAC addresses. Unfortunately, the going price for an OUI at the time was $1000 and Steve’s manager, the late Jon Postel, was unable to justify the $16,000 necessary to purchase the full 28 bits worth of MAC addresses. Instead, Jon was willing to spend $1000 to purchase one OUI out of his budget and give half of the addresses (23 bits worth) to Steve for use in his IP multicast research.
And that's why we have a 32:1 overlap of multicast IP addresses to multicast MAC addresses today :-)
There are tons of these kinds of things sprinkled about in Radia Perlman's Interconnections book as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Internetworking-TCP-IP-Vol-5th/dp/0131876716/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351099800&sr=1-1&keywords=Internetworking+with+TCP%2FIP
(think theres a newer edition, thats the one i have however)
One of (if not) the best book ive ever read on networking, I read it whilst i was studing CCNP and have read it another couple of times whilst studying for CCIE, also this;
http://www.amazon.com/Interconnections-Bridges-Switches-Internetworking-Protocols/dp/0201634481/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351099354&sr=1-1&keywords=Interconnections%3A+Bridges%2C+Routers%2C+Switches%2C+and+Internetworking+Protocols
Sounds like you're asking for a link to https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
First, read our Wiki. It is very thorough and answers a lot of these common questions such as
day to day? The Practice of System and Network Administration
And the topical reference books listed below.
Books to help in shaping a sysadmin? The above &:
The Phoenix Project
Time Management for System Administrators
Topical Books I see mentioned often and have been very helpful to me:
Powershell in a month of lunches
Learn Python the hard way
Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook
Windows Server 2016: Inside Out
Group Policy
AbsoluteBSD
FreeBSD mastery:ZFS
CCNA
RHCSA/RHCE
Pro Puppet
SSH Mastery
On my docket:
FreeBSD Mastery: Advanced ZFS
Michael W. Lucas and Thomas Limoncelli are very good sysadmin writers, you can't go wrong with a topic they have chosen to write about.
Most of the *nix stuff assumes a baseline knowledge of how to use a unix-based system. I learned as I went but did pick up an old copy of Unix Visual Quickstart Guide not too long ago at a used books sale, which seems like a good starting place for someone overwhelmed with sitting at a terminal and being productive.
I notice I don't have any Virtualization books, perhaps someone else can fill in good books. Most of my knowledge regarding virtualization and network storage has been a mix of official docs, video training, and poking at it. Seems innate but it isn't.
Even earlier versions would be a very good read despite the DevOps hype, but the 3rd (new) version includes best DevOps practices even without having any devs.
must read the [third edition](
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520930004&sr=1-1&keywords=the+practice+of+system+and+network+administration&dpID=5139XV0QYsL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch) instead of the second
Learn to program. Edx/Harvardx CS50x gets pretty good reviews.
Learn to and make a habit of writing extensive technical documentation on everything you do.
Read this book. https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480705767&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Practice+of+System
Apply everything you learn to the current systems you work with
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0321919165/
If you wait a few weeks, you can pick up the new edition of this book:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321919165/
If you think "there is nothing to do", you are probably in "don't know what you don't know" territory, which is fine. They key is to first start discovering what you don't know, then you can start taking steps to resolve it by learning.
As you learn, you will realized that there is far more that you don't know than you though, and the side effect will be that you feel dumber and dumber, but you will actually be improving at your job.
A quick google for "low level python network programming book" found this:
https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Python-Network-Programming-comprehensive/dp/1430230037
I haven't read it, but at least one of the author (Brandon Rhodes) is known for giving good talks about Python. So i'd suggest you go with that.
Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/share/101XwqAkcZc1ZWRXQ=/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1491931256/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_yLdZDb73E1ZT0
Yep! Just hanging around to see if anything breaks, really. Reading up on Optimal Routing Design for fun in the meantime.
https://www.amazon.com/End-End-QoS-Network-Design/dp/1587143690
This is actually the model they use in this book, which I highly recommend.
I hope Tom Limoncelli doesn't mind me quoting from his book, but there's a brief section from The Practice of System and Network Administration about this:
Moving to/Opening a New Building
Limoncelli, Thomas A.; Christina J. Hogan; Strata R. Chalup (2007-07-05). The Practice of System and Network Administration (2nd Edition) (pp. 5-6). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004JLMUJ0 for the lazy
I'd like to preface this by saying that I am certainly not the world's greatest security expert and that there are many people who are more qualified to speak to this matter. Hopefully some of them will see your post and chime in.
In my experience the less complex the product is, the easier it is to both maintain and secure. Therefore, knowing what you're building and how to build it gives you much better control over the security of it. Unless you're apart of an extremely tight-knit team that includes your SysOps and DevOps people or you're developing the product and the product's host environment by yourself, then there will always be aspects of security outside of your control. However, putting time and effort into the security of the product itself is typically a rewarding investment.
Books:
This book is focused on introducing security considerations into the phases of the SDLC. The information in this book is a bit more advanced than Security Software (included below) but not inaccessible to a beginner. Understanding architectural risk analysis is a valuable skill in any tech environment.
I would say this book is a must-have if you develop any sort of Java web app or API. The authors manage to cover a lot of territory in a very understandable format.
Another book that is primarily aimed at introducing security into each phase of the SDLC. When I first started working in software development I found it extremely helpful at convincing some "old guard" types why red teaming products is extremely valuable. You may want to read this before reading Threat Modeling.
Networking is definitely not my strongest skill but this book breaks down some concepts of network monitoring and threat detection in ways that are easy to understand.
the tao of network security monitoring explains a framework for stitching together different pieces of network security data into a process for investigation (the follow-up is also good).
yes, the thing you want is called 'full packet', and yes, it usually involves just sniffing, saving, and indexing all traffic at your network ingress/egress. there's some good open source frameworks like moloch for doing that, or if you've got money kicking around, something like solera or netwitness will do the trick nicely.
I haven't read it but this is one book I've been considering since I'm also working on a QoS project in the coming months.
I think in that case you're better off finding a book somewhere. Tanenbaum's "Computer Networks" book is one that I enjoyed reading a lot (even the outdated stuff like Token Ring networks). It goes really deep into how networks work.
Automate the Boring stuff with Python is a pretty good book that covers some basics of things and gets the creative juices flowing. They also have one for Powershell.
​
The other book that I found really interesting was Practical Packet Analysis. It really opened my eyes to the power of wireshark.
​
And enough can't be said for Phoenix Project. Really interesting read that explains it in a real world like scenario instead of just a White Paper of how to do stuff. Above all else...avoid being a Brent.
THE book, 5th Edition
Computer Networks https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006Y1BKGC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_m8MxCb6JF63XC
Computer Networks - Andrew H Tanenbaum All you ever wanted to know and then some.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006Y1BKGC/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Thanks I'll start with that. Also what's your guys opinion on the tanenbaum's book? https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networks-Tanenbaum-International-Economy/dp/9332518742
Security onion is amazing, I use it myself as a VM in a home esxi server with a cheap 5 port smart switch.
A few quick notes:
My suggestion is to get a cheap switch with port mirror capabilities, like the Mikrotik Routerboard 260gs. Get a wireless AP (or an old router which has AP only mode), and plug this into your switch. Plug your actual router (the one doing the NAT) into the switch, and mirror these to a port that is connected to the security onion box.
That way will get you both ethernet and WiFi traffic. If you have any questions about running security onion in a home setting, feel free to send me a PM.
Got u fam!
https://www.amazon.com/End-End-QoS-Network-Design/dp/1587143690
Yes, those are the two sections that I haven't done v4 recordings for yet. Multicast will be added in the near future as part of a larger multicast series I'm working on.
QoS hasn't changed from the SPv3 to SPv4 blueprints. Here they are side by side:
SPv3 Blueprint:
SPv4 Blueprint:
Beyond those QoS videos in the playlist, I would recommend to read the following:
Edit: Also, check out Packet Volume 7 No. 1, First Quarter 1995.. There's a great article on page 11 titled "Building Consistent Quality of Service into the Network". ;)
I have heard a lot of great reviews of Computer Networks by Tanenbaum in terms of its ability to teach networking. Alternatively, you could get the 4th edition book a lot cheaper with the caveat that it is older and may not be completely up to date.
Computer Networks by Tanenbaum is the de facto standard for an introductory textbook on networking. Hard to beat.
Computer Networks A Top Down Approach, by Kurose and Ross. Amazon.
I did not understand the internet. I didn't think that was a big deal, but networking shows up a lot and understanding it has helped me out enormously. This book is excellent, too. It is extremely readable, almost colloquial. It covers the network stack in depth (application/transport/network/link/physical!) as well as other important topics like network security and networked algorithms and data structures. Stuff like distributed hash tables, routing algorithms, and even large scale data center design. Seriously, this book is amazing.
Plus, I was surprised at how many times I've been asked a networks question in interviews. That's not to be sneezed at.
What specifically? I'd suggest learning about networking in general. I.e. good place to start would be the OSI networking stack, learning about packets & how they organized, downloading and using wireshark to look at the packets going into and out of your machine.
This is the one I used, and it worked really well for me to get a good view of networking. If there's something you don't understand, I think you could google and find relevant tutorials/articles explaining the concepts there, though there's some obscure stuff that you don't need to fully understand (queuing theory) for a basic understanding.
Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach by Kurose & Ross is pretty good.
I've read parts of that https://www.google.ch/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-6th/dp/0132856204&ved=0ahUKEwiRlIrF4sHUAhUCb1AKHVeeBvYQFghoMAs&usg=AFQjCNFJEsWQ4VHsSGx9fcNpEt0Z2Wip_w&sig2=bsLxWN2VX4CX_8HXPluczA book. It's really good and helps you get an overview of what's going on on the internet.
Since you are a student of Computer Science, am presuming you are already familiar with programming. So, your next step is mastering Operating Systems - Start by learning UNIX which is a multi-tasking cum multi-user operating system aimed to provide high level of security. (Source to learn UNIX : http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/)
Next, Learn Networking concepts - Infact you should know Networking concepts in finer details because as a cybersecurity professional, you would either need to check vulnerabilities in a network or identify and exploit one. (Check this ebook for networking concepts).
In case you need more information, find here
Everybody probably has his favorite book. The book I had to study for my Networking class was Computer Networking: A TopDown Approach by Kurose and Ross.
Great book and very pedagogical. I read the Tanenbaum's book and my preference goes to the one I linked.
These are the best texts for each subject, IMO.
Algorithms & Data Structures
Operating Systems
[Networking] (https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-6th/dp/0132856204/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525873112&sr=1-1&keywords=computer+networking+a+top-down+approach+6th+edition)
Programming Language Theory
Theory of Computation
When I said "the network" I meant the physical network. The virtual port will be the secondary's assigned virtual port of course.
The hosts can be connected to the same or to different physical switches, but they'd be connected to the same logical networks/vlans. In either case, the physical switchs will eventually see a frame from the VM on a physical port it had not before. When this happens the switch will add the source MAC address of the VM to it's forwarding table indicating that "this MAC exists on port N". Future frames destined for the VM's MAC will now be sent to this new port.
There is a NIC Teaming policy for each vSwitch called "Notify Switches" related to this. If this policy is enabled the destination host will send out frames with the MAC of the incoming VM so that the physical switches know ahead of time to start sending frames destined for the VM's MAC to the new physical port. This way when the VM stops executing on the source host and starts executing on the destination host, there will be a much smaller number of packets that potentially don't make it to the VM. I'm not sure if this settings applies to FT fail over events, but it would be easy to test with the right equipment in a lab.
If you're interested in knowing more about networking from the perspective of a VMware administrator check out this book. It starts from the very basics of networking (first 6 chapters) and then goes from there to vSphere specific topics. Would probably be a good read for you.
I looked at the FreeCodeCamp curriculum, it looks good for an entry level javascript developer, so since you already started it, you might as well finish it (since, like I said, everybody implicitly expects you to know at least one of python/js/perl as well as HTML+CSS).
2 hours per day is a bit too little IMO - but I understand that it's hard to find time when you have a demanding job and a family that needs time and attention. Just study as much as you can, 2h being the mininum (do keep in mind that CS students, your competition, will be studying at least 8h/day for at least 4 years with tons of homework and more advanced material). So you should probably focus on studying more in the weekends (just typing and thinking about this, I'm actually lucky I started when I was a kid, with all my bills paid for!)
Anyways. You should focus on getting a job first - do keep doing the FreeCodeCamp, as many hours in the day and weekends as you can. Explain to your significant other, if you haven't already done so, your plan - that you're studying hard to upgrade your career, that it might take some time away from them but it will pay off in the long run, etc. Ideally you should be studying at least 4h/day, so try to keep close to that, study more on weekends if necessary. Check this guy for reference on his plan and what he's studying (and note that he's studying full-time - a luxury, I know, but just to put your 2h/day into perspective). This guide is helpful too. Note that you don't need to know all that to get an entry-level development job, but keep that plan in mind for the long run (as you progress your career).
Once you finish the FreeCodeCamp, or even before (I would say, once you finish "Basic Algorithm Scripting"), try doing some local interviews if you can do it without jeopardizing your current job just to get a feel of how interviews work. You won't be trying to get a job (but hey, if you do, awesome), this is just to get your feet wet on interviewing (which is a skill in itself). Since you're not shooting to get a job right now, you won't be as nervous, which is the state of mind you want to be in. If you're relaxed you can talk better, think better, make jokes, be more presentable, which is great - this will put you in the right mood for your future interviews. Try finding people online that can do mock interviews with you in the area you will be focusing on (web/javascript/frontend initially).
Once you're past the basic HTML/CSS part and you start studying JavaScript, I suggest you look into Python as well at the same time. It is a very simple language, quick to learn, and will double your opportunities for employment. As you study both at the same time, you might notice that you like one or the other better - if that happens, focus more on the one you like better, this will accelerate your learning and get you ready for a job faster in your chosen language.
At one point you'll finish HTML/CSS and JavaScript+Python (finish as in be comfortable with them - you'll see that you'll still learn new things as years go by, it will take a few years for you to "master" them). After you're comfortable with JavaScript and Python (and hopefully gainfully employed in development), start studying that book (where you'll learn a GREAT deal about many important things, it will be a dense read, and you will come out of it knowing assembly and C) and then you can focus on algorithms and exercising your thinking with algorithmic puzzles and how computer networks work, operating systems and everything that is generally on this list.
Then after studying all that and with 2-4 years of experience under your belt (and still studying 4h/day), you can start thinking about the next level in your career and preparing for it (larger companies, mid to senior positions, etc) - add a couple more years of experience and you'll be ready to interview for large Valley companies (Google, Apple, FB, etc).
If you plan to self-study all the way through and never join an University, you can look into full-fledged CS courses online and follow that to get a complete theoretical background on CS (that all your colleagues will eventually have and expect of you, at some point in the future).
Internet is a very complex global network of networks. Internet security is a bit vague term, what you really are looking for is network security, but even before you go for understanding security you first need to understand how network communication works. First understand the basics.
Network communication is made possible by hardware and software stack. Electrical/telecom engineers take care of the hardware part, i-e how the data has to be multiplexed into signals (see Frequency division multiplexing, Time Division Multiplexing) and transmitted over through some medium and de-multiplexed again at the receiver end.
Software stack is an implementation of set of protocols/standards through which communication between processes, devices and networks is made possible, the famous one is TCP/IP stack. There is another conceptual networking model OSI model as well but TCP/IP is the most well known and widely implemented protocol stack. Make yourself familiar with the TCP/IP stack, you should grasp basics like how different layers of stack communicate with each other and how different protocols work together to make the magic of internet possible.
You should learn the HTTP request/response flow and then relate it to what you have learned so far.
When you are done with these, move towards more advance stuff. Network security involves understanding about cryptographic algorithms that includes symmetric (eg AES) and public key cryptography (RSA) and hashing algorithms (SHA, MD5 etc). Get an overview about these systems, how and why they are used. These cryptographic algorithms/concepts Cryptography is based on mathematics especially number theory but you don't need to worry about that at the moment. Abstract understanding is important before you get into more details.
Learn about how SSL works. Exploits work at almost all levels of protocol stack, starting from exploits in HTTP and TCP to lower level packet sniffing and Man in the middle attacks. Learn a front end web language i-e javascript and at least know about one server side scripting language, PHP is one of the easiest to learn.
I recommend Computer Networking: A top down Approach by Kurose, this book explains the complex concepts in a very intuitive language and is used as a text for undergraduate networks course throughout the world.
Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach
Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice
There is another very good book TCP/IP Protocol Suite by Behroz Forouzan but the text is very dense and detailed, and usually is taught at advanced undergraduate or graduate level networking courses.
Read good and famous security blogs and Keep learning with a lot of patience. Cheers!
Computer Networking : A Top Down Approach
Also check out CompTIA N+ materials
I don't know much about any other websites other than Coursera, so I don't know if there are any courses I'm missing on the other websites.
Security:
On Coursera, I highly recommend the
Cyber Security Specialization. It covers a varied approach to security from multiples perspective and a great start for anyone.
After that you will have to look around for the specific type of security you are interested in. You won't find a MOOC because it is probably too specialized.
If you want a more mathematically rigorous courseload in crypto, I would suggest doing both Crytography I and Lectures by Christof Paar
Networking:
Sadly I haven't come across a good networking course. My current suggestion is to read Computer Networking: A Top down approach. You should be able to find PDFs of 6th ed (don't tell anyone I said that) which is similar to the 7th ed except the last chapter.
After that, you should be comfortable enough, but if you want to dive in deeper, read CCNA and CCNP books for the specific part you want to get a good understanding of (I would suggest starting with CCNA R&S).
If you have the time, this textbook is the real deal: Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach
http://smile.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-5th/dp/0136079679/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453149284&sr=1-2&keywords=computer+networking+a+top-down+approach
I actually started off watching networking and CCNA tutorials on Youtube, as well as some online guides. They do introduce some concepts, but for me, it was still difficult to grasp how everything was built and how they interact. I'd be able to spout off what the 7 layers of the OSI model are, the basic differences between TCP and UDP, and some other pieces of info. Yet, I didn't feel like I actually understood how networking worked. I felt like I was learning facts here and there, but not learning the fundamentals that tie everything together. Nothing made me go "Ohhh so that's how/why it works!"
Then I got this book. It really explains the concepts well. It felt almost too easy. It begins by explaining how the internet works, what are the different components, how it all came to be, and how they're all connected. It then handles each layer (it does talk about the OSI model, but the book is structured around TCP/IP) from top to bottom and goes into technical detail, along with some math, as well as providing real world examples.
Each concept usually has an accompanying analogy (during the first couple chapters), if that helps you learn. After the TCP/IP chapters, it goes into more specific topics like wireless, security, etc. The end of each chapter also has guided labs (like with Wireshark, for example) and problem sets.
I'd really recommend going through each chapter, taking notes, and doing the labs and problems if you want a solid foundation in how networking works. Having this sort of understanding, to me, really helped when studying CCNA material - which by then would just be learning the commands and configuration.
Get a copy of this
Radia Perlman's book here. It is fantastic to see the world in which all this stuff started from.
I never knew IS-IS had EIGHT levels.
Senior Level Software Engineer Reading List
Read This First
Fundamentals
Development Theory
Philosophy of Programming
Mentality
Software Engineering Skill Sets
Design
History
Specialist Skills
DevOps Reading List
Time Management for System Administrators: Stop Working Late and Start Working Smart
The Practice of System and Network Administration, Second Edition
Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed
Windows Server 2016 Unleashed includes Content Update Program
The Practice of Cloud System Administration: DevOps and SRE Practices for Web Services, Volume 2
The Practice of System and Network Administration: Volume 1: DevOps and other Best Practices for Enterprise IT
Network Warrior: Everything You Need to Know That Wasn't on the CCNA Exam
3rd edition was just released.
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
I'm going to recommend a book: https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165
Read the first edition of this 20 years ago. Great book about doing the "job" of being a sysadmin. Nothing OS specific.
Also, learn a scripting language. You're not a real IT guy unless you know one. Python is my preference, but PowerShell is fine if you primarily work in a Windows environment.
If you are looking for stuff to do in your environment, this book will give you some pretty good pointers:
The Practice of System and Network Administration
The Visible Ops Handbook: Implementing ITIL in 4 Practical and Auditable Steps
The Practice of System and Network Administration: Volume 1: DevOps and other Best Practices for Enterprise IT (3rd Edition)
For us a Change is any change to the environment that isn't controlled by a separate process, like new employees, termination, etc.
If your not sure, it's a CM.
So I have the MCSE Mobility and I do not know if that alone will last.
Would rather say it depends on your skill. You can also become a sysadmin without a certificate as the others have already mentioned. The MCSE Mobility does not really go deeper into server landscapes like the MCSA Server 2016 does.
The topics to be covered is:
Deplyoment
Inunte
And SCCM with intune I think.
I chose Deployment because I already had experience.
This contains:
LTIDeployment (mdt)
ZT Deployment (sccm)
WDS
USTMIf you really want to go deeper I can recommend the following book
is also recommended here in the wiki.
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-3rd/dp/0321919165/hope you get your sysdamin place :)
Or for cheap starters, this book with an overly long title:
The Practice of System and Network Administration: Volume 1: DevOps and other Best Practices for Enterprise IT (3rd Edition)
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501175669&sr=8-1&keywords=practice+of+system+and+network+administration
The Practice of System and Network Administration: Devops and Other Best Practices for Enterprise it
Also OneNote,
I'd recommend reading:
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QNAPT9P3GEA7NRR24K7X
Also read this book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321919165/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdb_t1_.OHYDb49VR92P
Did you get that old edition or the latest 3rd edition with it's cloud admin partner?
Check out "The Practice of System and Network Administration: Volume 1: DevOps and other Best Practices for Enterprise IT (3rd Edition)" by Thomas Limoncelli.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321919165
I'm also pretty new to this job, and this book has been really helpful in better understanding all that we get to do.
I am in a similar boat as OP and also found the book you recommended, so just wanted to add that there is a new edition coming very soon, the one you linked is from 2007.
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-3rd/dp/0321919165
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0321919165/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 deals with a lot of issues, among them support/helpdesk/people stuff.
You can start with the same book I did... seriously
https://www.amazon.com/Networking-Dummies-Doug-Lowe/dp/111925776X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1503420588&sr=8-2&keywords=networking+for+dummies
There was a line in the forward from an older version of the book that stuck with me; "From this moment on everything is your fault"
The Cisco CCNA books are actually pretty good for reference
https://www.amazon.ca/CCENT-ICND1-100-105-Official-Guide/dp/1587205807/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1503420668&sr=8-5&keywords=ccna
https://www.amazon.ca/Routing-Switching-ICND2-200-105-Official/dp/1587205793/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1503420668&sr=8-6&keywords=ccna
I liked
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1430230037?pc_redir=1405047805&robot_redir=1
It's starts small and simple and builds on itself very well.
I would also encourage you to make another website with tornado or django. I really enjoy web dev in python and there are a lot of job opportunities in that popping up right now. You should also be using virtualenv. For data analysis you should def checkout Pandas and ipython. You can maybe even integrate your interests. For example make a script that scrapes a bunch of data from the web and displays it in cool graphs. I would also recommend getting a 5$ a month Linux server off for example digital ocean. Learn how to ssh and transfer files to it. You can start running some bots or website on it also.
Hope this helps good luck.
Nice congrats!
Right now my plans are to not study anything for a while. But after that I am going to study more Python and this:
https://www.amazon.com/Network-Programmability-Automation-Next-Generation-Engineer-dp-1491931256/dp/1491931256/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=
I work a very expanded helpdesk roll at a small credit union, so boss wants me to start studying MCSA and ITIL and eventually Security+. So I have a path there.
I know everyone one likes to carry their momentum into the next cert, but I am just gonna slow down and enjoy some other aspects of my life for a while. I put a lot of stuff on hold as I studied, so I am looking to get a better balance in my life.
https://www.amazon.com/Network-Programmability-Automation-Next-Generation-Engineer/dp/1491931256
I bought a copy of this book for my whole team.
Off the bat I know we look for candidates who know python or powershell. Knowing how to automate is extremely valuable. We've been giving this book to our network engineers, but I feel it could be helpful for sys admins as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Network-Programmability-Automation-Next-Generation-Engineer/dp/1491931256/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1521053597&sr=8-3&keywords=network+automation
Also, LEARN and LOVE virtualization. If I can trust you to spin up a VM for something like a training or testing environment, I will hire you. The MCSA is still valuable as well. You're already on the right track for management because your holding a degree. Get your skills up some and you'll be making bank.
Unsure if it meets your requirements exactly, but I liked this book:
Defensive Security Handbook
I actually just started reading MPLS Fundamentals from Cisco Press. I'm several chapters in and so far I've found it to be clear, comprehensive, and very informative.
https://www.amazon.com/Optimal-Routing-paperback-Networking-Technology/dp/1587142449/
The book "End to End QOS" was really quite helpful to me when I started doing campus QOS design. I have the 2004 edition, but it looks like there is a new edition out this year.
http://www.amazon.com/End---End-QoS-Network-Design/dp/1587143690/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1371745187&sr=8-2&keywords=end+to+end+qos
Learn the fundamentals before you touch any of the crap from a vendor.
Computer Networks by Andy Tanenbaum. Available from Amazon but you should buy a used copy on abebooks for < $10. A newer (e.g. 2002) edition is preferable.
Once you've read that feel free to pick up the trade-oriented certification guides that will teach you command line stuff.
Also, put Linux on an old computer or two. Don't spend more than $100, any old junk will do. Play around with the network tools.
Good luck!
Computer Networks by Tanenbaum & Wetherall
Μάλιστα, δηλαδή για εσένα Internet = hypertext; Θα έπρεπε να πεις ότι δεν έχεις τεχνική κατάρτιση ώστε να αναπαντούσα αναλόγως. Βέβαια η τελευταία σου πρόταση με κάνει να αμφιβάλω για το κατά πόσο μπορούμε να συνεννοηθούμε. Μπορείς να αναζητήσεις πληροφορίες από εδώ για παράδειγμα για το τι είναι το Internet, πότε, πού και γιατί αναπτύχθηκε και πώς λειτουργεί.
Υ.Γ.: Τα μάγουλά μου ήταν εντελώς στεγνά καθ' όλη τη διάρκεια της πληκτρολόγησης αυτού του μηνύματος.
I enjoyed reading Networks 5th edition by A. Tanenbaum. It's thorough and pricey, but very well written, witty and provides historical context.
Yes, ARPA was on X.25, but that was not the only communication protocol out there. The IP stack was built because the different networks used different protocols and the desire to communicate between them required a standardized one.
Yes, ARPANet, NSFNet, CSNET, and a slew of others were the roots of the internet, but there was NO internetworking going on before that. The internet was born when they started internetworking. Argue with Tanenbaum, not me.
Since I can't find the full text of his book, here's a wiki article citing it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet#Transition_towards_the_Internet
http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networks-5th-Andrew-Tanenbaum/dp/0132126958/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1377285254&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=Computer+Networks
Have fun.
You must read Computer Networks. No excuse.
I'd check out these two books from the local library and read the first 2-3 chapters. It might contain more than what you need, but these are pretty well written books and don't assume a lot of previous knowledge.
http://www.amazon.com/Structured-Computer-Organization-5th-Edition/dp/0131485210
http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networks-5th-Andrew-Tanenbaum/dp/0132126958/ref=la_B000AQ1UBW_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1376126566&amp;sr=1-1
Or you could just check out your network settings and search for the terms that you encounter (IP address, DNS, DHCP, gateway, proxy, router, firewall)
For networking I would recommend:
Pretty much the standard for most cs networking courses. here
>https://www.amazon.com/Computer\-Networking\-Top\-Down\-Approach\-6th/dp/0132856204
We are using this book for our intro networking course. It is really good because they really break some complex concepts down with really good everyday analogies and explain everything in detail.
I would recommend this book as it gives a general overview of computer networks (aka "the Internet").
I haven't read it in years, but I remember The C Programming Language being very useful.
If you want to learn more about the low level details of how computers work in general, I own the following books and recommend them:
---
Computer Systems: A Programmers Perspective
Computer Organization and Embedded Systems
Hacking: The Art of Exploitation
Operating System Concepts Essentials
Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach
Well you're not going to learn any programming without a computer. But just a book on computer systems or a book on networking will easily overflow 20 days and should be a very interesting read.
I recommend either this book on computer systems or this book on networking.
Nice, the terms "client-server" and "peer-to-peer" is the correct one to use. I learnt that from Computer Networking course at university. https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-6th/dp/0132856204.
Popular "client-server" are Facebook, YouTube, etc, "peer-to-peer" is torrent.
Appreciate all the upvotes. Given no one has commented, I'm wondering if that means people think it's a cool idea but don't live in NYC? Would anyone be interested in doing this as a remote discussion group?
For the first book I'm thinking:
Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach
With this self-paced 8 week course (lectures / exams / transcripts all available) https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/Engineering/Networking-SP/SelfPaced/info
Let me know =)
I haven't read it yet but have been recommended this book (https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-7th/dp/0133594149/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=computer+networking&amp;qid=1562364382&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1) by some co-workers.
Looking for solutions manual of Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (7th Edition) in 7th edition only:
The solutions manual is easily available in 6th Edition, but I am looking for the 7th Edition Solutions Manual only. Willing to pay $5 PayPal. There seems to be a version here but I cannot access it, so perhaps someone else can.
Willing to pay $5 PayPal.
Thanks!
Best book: Computer Networking Top Down Approach: https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networking-Top-Down-Approach-7th/dp/0133594149/?pldnSite=1
It’s not Go specific but you need to start at the fundamentals.
> For those who prefer video lectures, Skiena generously provides his online. We also really like Tim Roughgarden’s course, available from Stanford’s MOOC platform Lagunita, or on Coursera. Whether you prefer Skiena’s or Roughgarden’s lecture style will be a matter of personal preference.
>
> For practice, our preferred approach is for students to solve problems on Leetcode. These tend to be interesting problems with decent accompanying solutions and discussions. They also help you test progress against questions that are commonly used in technical interviews at the more competitive software companies. We suggest solving around 100 random leetcode problems as part of your studies.
>
> Finally, we strongly recommend How to Solve It as an excellent and unique guide to general problem solving; it’s as applicable to computer science as it is to mathematics.
>
>
>
> [The Algorithm Design Manual](https://teachyourselfcs.com//skiena.jpg) [How to Solve It](https://teachyourselfcs.com//polya.jpg)> I have only one method that I recommend extensively—it’s called think before you write.
>
> — Richard Hamming
>
>
>
> ### Mathematics for Computer Science
>
> In some ways, computer science is an overgrown branch of applied mathematics. While many software engineers try—and to varying degrees succeed—at ignoring this, we encourage you to embrace it with direct study. Doing so successfully will give you an enormous competitive advantage over those who don’t.
>
> The most relevant area of math for CS is broadly called “discrete mathematics”, where “discrete” is the opposite of “continuous” and is loosely a collection of interesting applied math topics outside of calculus. Given the vague definition, it’s not meaningful to try to cover the entire breadth of “discrete mathematics”. A more realistic goal is to build a working understanding of logic, combinatorics and probability, set theory, graph theory, and a little of the number theory informing cryptography. Linear algebra is an additional worthwhile area of study, given its importance in computer graphics and machine learning.
>
> Our suggested starting point for discrete mathematics is the set of lecture notes by László Lovász. Professor Lovász did a good job of making the content approachable and intuitive, so this serves as a better starting point than more formal texts.
>
> For a more advanced treatment, we suggest Mathematics for Computer Science, the book-length lecture notes for the MIT course of the same name. That course’s video lectures are also freely available, and are our recommended video lectures for discrete math.
>
> For linear algebra, we suggest starting with the Essence of linear algebra video series, followed by Gilbert Strang’s book and video lectures.
>
>
>
> > If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is.
>
> — John von Neumann
>
>
>
> ### Operating Systems
>
> Operating System Concepts (the “Dinosaur book”) and Modern Operating Systems are the “classic” books on operating systems. Both have attracted criticism for their writing styles, and for being the 1000-page-long type of textbook that gets bits bolted onto it every few years to encourage purchasing of the “latest edition”.
>
> Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces is a good alternative that’s freely available online. We particularly like the structure of the book and feel that the exercises are well worth doing.
>
> After OSTEP, we encourage you to explore the design decisions of specific operating systems, through “{OS name} Internals” style books such as Lion's commentary on Unix, The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System, and Mac OS X Internals.
>
> A great way to consolidate your understanding of operating systems is to read the code of a small kernel and add features. A great choice is xv6, a port of Unix V6 to ANSI C and x86 maintained for a course at MIT. OSTEP has an appendix of potential xv6 labs full of great ideas for potential projects.
>
>
>
> [Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces](https://teachyourselfcs.com//ostep.jpeg)
>
>
>
> ### Computer Networking
>
> Given that so much of software engineering is on web servers and clients, one of the most immediately valuable areas of computer science is computer networking. Our self-taught students who methodically study networking find that they finally understand terms, concepts and protocols they’d been surrounded by for years.
>
> Our favorite book on the topic is Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach. The small projects and exercises in the book are well worth doing, and we particularly like the “Wireshark labs”, which they have generously provided online.
>
> For those who prefer video lectures, we suggest Stanford’s Introduction to Computer Networking course available on their MOOC platform Lagunita.
>
> The study of networking benefits more from projects than it does from small exercises. Some possible projects are: an HTTP server, a UDP-based chat app, a mini TCP stack, a proxy or load balancer, and a distributed hash table.
>
>
>
> > You can’t gaze in the crystal ball and see the future. What the Internet is going to be in the future is what society makes it.
>
> — Bob Kahn
>
> [Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach](https://teachyourselfcs.com//top-down.jpg)
>
>
>
> ### Databases
>
> It takes more work to self-learn about database systems than it does with most other topics. It’s a relatively new (i.e. post 1970s) field of study with strong commercial incentives for ideas to stay behind closed doors. Additionally, many potentially excellent textbook authors have preferred to join or start companies instead.
>
> Given the circumstances, we encourage self-learners to generally avoid textbooks and start with the Spring 2015 recording of CS 186, Joe Hellerstein’s databases course at Berkeley, and to progress to reading papers after.
>
> One paper particularly worth mentioning for new students is “Architecture of a Database System”, which uniquely provides a high-level view of how relational database management systems (RDBMS) work. This will serve as a useful skeleton for further study.
>
> Readings in Database Systems, better known as the databases “Red Book”, is a collection of papers compiled and edited by Peter Bailis, Joe Hellerstein and Michael Stonebreaker. For those who have progressed beyond the level of the CS 186 content, the Red Book should be your next stop.
>
> If you insist on using an introductory textbook, we suggest Database Management Systems by Ramakrishnan and Gehrke. For more advanced students, Jim Gray’s classic Transaction Processing: Concepts and Techniques is worthwhile, but we don’t encourage using this as a first resource.
>
> (continues in next comment)
Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach
The book should be mostly sufficient for a modern approach to "end systems". The text content for SDN and NFV is fairly short, while the rest of the content digs pretty deep into the technical side of networking. If you get the newest version, it has been updated to accommodate newer concepts like SDN etc. Included with the book is access to online resources like Wireshark labs to reinforce learning.
I've always used Computer Networking A Top-Down Approach by Kurose and Ross. (it's also fairly easy to find a PDF of it). It's a good read for understanding the fundamentals and the bigger picture.
Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols (2nd Edition)
Internetworking with TCP/IP Volume 1 (5th Edition)
TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols (2nd Edition)
are the three 'vendor neutral' books that are recommended by INE as resources for all CCIE tracts.
Cisco CCIE book list contains the following:
Other Publications
Cisco Documentation
Configuring IPv6 for Cisco IOS (Edgar Parenti, Jr., Eric Knnip, Brian Browne, Syngress, ISBN# 1928994849)
Interconnections: Bridges & Routers, Second Edition (Perlman, Addison Wesley, ISBN# 0201634481)
"Internetworking Technology Overview" Available through Cisco Store under doc # DOC-785777
Internetworking with TCP/IP, Vol.1: Principles, Protocols, and Architecture (4th Edition)
(Comer, Prentice Hall, ISBN# 0130183806)
IPv6: Theory, Protocol, and Practice, 2nd Edition (Pete Loshin, Morgan Kaufmann, ISBN# 1558608109)
LAN Protocol Handbook (Miller, M&T Press, ISBN# 1558510990 )
Routing In the Internet (2nd Edition) (Huitema, Prentice Hall, ISBN# 0130226475)
TCP/IP Illustrated: Volumes 1, 2, and 3 (Stevens/Wright, Addison Wesley, ISBN# 0201633469, 020163354X, 0201634953)
edit1:
I own the first three and recommend them for vendor neutral network engineering books, with Perlman's book being the best switching book I've personally ever read.
edit2:
also I find wikipedia articles on computer related topics to be top shelf. I would recommend many of the references and papers referenced in the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_theory
article.
This post is Cisco-centric.
Books:
http://www.amazon.com/Interconnections-Bridges-Switches-Internetworking-Protocols/dp/0201634481/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1318854135&amp;sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Certified-Network-Associate-640-802/dp/0470901071/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1318854213&amp;sr=8-1
Website of someone I know and I'm very impressed by:
http://www.stubarea.net/workbooks/cisco/ccna/
I took general networking courses in college as part of my major and honestly, I didn't learn much. If you want a good book on general networking, read this fantastic book by Radia Perlman:
Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols (2nd Edition)
http://www.amazon.com/Interconnections-Bridges-Switches-Internetworking-Protocols/dp/0201634481/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1321155480&amp;sr=8-1
If it's a college course where you can get a CCNA at the end, I'd recommend taking that.
Interconnections by Radia Perlman -- It has an L1/L2 focus, so you'll also need to read TCP/IP illustrated. After that, go for the CiscoPress CCNA books if you're taking the Cisco path.
> As for a Sysadmin Bible, i would recommend the book: The Practice of System and Network Administration: Devops and Other Best Practices for Enterprise it.
This is going to sound dumb, but I don't want to spend $50 for the same book. I have "The Practice of System and Network Administration: 2nd Edition", already:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/practice-of-system-and-network-administration-thomas-a-limoncelli/1100835152/2675158637613?st=PLA&amp;sid=BNB_DRS_Marketplace+Shopping+Textbooks_00000000&amp;2sid=Google_&amp;sourceId=PLGoP20452&amp;k_clickid=3x20452
The DevOps one (3rd edition) is an entirely different book, right? Or is it just the 2nd edition with some DevOps stuff added to the end? Hard to tell when taking the Amazon page at face value.
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165
The 3rd edition was released a couple of months ago:
[Amazon] (https://smile.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1484778994&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+practice+of+system+and+network+administration)
Book One
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165
You won't need book two until you start looking at cloud based deployments or have a need for scalability.
There are a number of books for RHCSA I personally found Michael Jang's to be more digestible but that is more of a personal preference. I'd see if a local B&N has either and see which looks better if its an option. Also be aware that if you do intend to go for the cert; Redhat will be upgrading their exam to use the newer version of the Redhat distro which would make some of the material less relevant.
https://www.amazon.com/RHCSA-Linux-Certification-Study-Seventh/dp/0071841962/
Give me a DM if you need some help and I am cool pointing out resources or giving some pointers. The key is to make the data in the end valuable, instead of a jumble of graphs.
It was recommended to me by the Practice of System Administration book, which I highly recommend as it outlines many great 2017-2018 practices .
Just wanted to add, it seems that there is a newer version here. Considering picking this up myself!
Book recommendation: The Practice of System and Network Administration: Volume 1: DevOps and other Best Practices for Enterprise IT (3rd Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321919165/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_cAaozbN8ZK48W
If you want an insight into what their job might be, you can take a look at this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541606293&sr=8-1&keywords=the+practice+of+systems+administration
Do yourself a favor, either buy The Practice of System and Network Administration or get it from the library. Make sure it's the 3rd Edition. Read Chapter 49 Perception and Visibility on page 913.
Pay special attention to 49.1.2 Attitude, Perception, and Customers on Pg. 918.
Then ask yourself what are projecting calling yourself glorifiedhelpdesk and creating a video titled "You don't fail at computer, you fail at life"?
https://www.amazon.ca/Practice-System-Network-Administration-Enterprise/dp/0321919165/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=E97Z7PFVB2Z0Z8YF7TKR
"Ships from and sold by amazon.ca"
When I tried to go through the automated exchange process it said I didn't have a credit card on file when I clearly do. Phone support was able to process the exchange, but my experience with Amazon for this hasn't been great.
Only a small thing, but your link goes to the 2nd edition of the book, and now there is a 3rd edition.
Hopefully people can figure it out, but I don't want an errant bystander to accidentally get and older version.
Sure.
Good luck. You'll do fine.
Putting asside VA_Network_Nerd's condescending advice. If you want to go anywhere in your career you need to go beyond google. I'd go to indeed or DICE and search for Network Administrator or jr network admin in your area then look up job requirements and preferences.
Set up a GNS3 or Virl lab, or just buy some cheap switches/routers on ebay for homelab.
Get your CCNA. There should be no debate that CCNA is best for network admins starting out. I personally wouldn't let someone touch my network without at least a CCNA. Get hands on with Windows and Linux servers and various tools like nmap, nagios and other monitoring tools, wireshark.
Read:
The Practice of System and Network Administration
I also use cbtnuggets.com for my IT training. It's more than worth the monthly fee if you stick to it.
nice - added https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321919165 to buy list.
A+ and Net+ and all the other +-certs are entry level. CCNA is entry level, and 70-680 is entry level.
Something to consider is that everyone has certs these days, so the certs you get must make you better than "everyone".
For example, CCNP is a rather high-end cert. You don't see a lot of CVs with this on, because people with this cert only need a Linkedin page, and the offers will come in endless streams.
MCSE is absolutely good to have if you want to go anywhere in a Microsoft environment, though Microsoft doesn't really do high-end certs anymore, so the only thing you can really aim for with an MCSE is an MVP award, but that does take some serious effort.
WCNA is worth some brownie points in the right places.
You should also supplement certs with in-depth knowledge, and recommended practices, for example,
I can't really help much with regards to Linux though. It's not really my area.
Anyone who claims to "know a lot about hacking" would have learned them out of their Networking for Dummies book, if they actually knew what they were talking about.
In fact, Trump doesn't even use a computer, so he doesn't know the first thing about them.
I would skip certs for now, only because you need to get up to speed quickly.
I would check r/sysadmin and see what they think.
if you want some advice for books and such, then I suggest the following
1)
Networking for Dummies: - You can probably get this one free from the library. I think my library has it
https://www.amazon.com/Networking-Dummies-Computer-Tech/dp/111925776X/ref=asc_df_111925776X/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312114711253&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=472462205621134697&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019032&hvtargid=pla-327835119737&psc=1
This will give you an over view of networking.
2)
The Accidental SysAdmin Handbook: A Primer for Early Level IT Professionals 1st ed. Edition
https://www.amazon.com/Accidental-SysAdmin-Handbook-Primer-Professionals/dp/1484218167
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Understand the concepts, processes and technologies that will aid in your professional development as a new system administrator. While every information technology culture is specific to its parent organization, there are commonalities that apply to all organizations.
The Accidental SysAdmin Handbook, Second Edition looks at those commonalities and provides a general introduction to critical aspects associated with system administration. It further acts to provide definitions and patterns for common computer terms and acronyms.
What You Will Learn
Who This Book Is For
It is assumed that the reader has little to no experience in a professional information technology environment.
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https://www.amazon.com/Time-Management-System-Administrators-Working/dp/0596007833
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Please note - I'm not a system administrator
Network + is probably best for an intro, but CCENT will provide you some basic networkig and get more advanced as you progress (networking in regards to cisco) . A good book for an introduction to networking would be this book. This was a great book to introducing me to networking (used it in my college class). I am currently reading this book as a prerequisite for cisco networking. This book is great to refresh what I know on networking, also it is great to teach you some basic cisco networking!
http://www.amazon.com/Network-Guide-Networks-Printed-Access/product-reviews/1133608191/ref=cm_cr_pr_btm_link_next_4?ie=UTF8&amp;pageNumber=4&amp;showViewpoints=0&amp;sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
This is a newer edition to the Network+ book that I have. It's nothing super in depth or technical, but what it does do is lay some foundations out for you to expound upon.
Check out Foundations of Python Network Programming
> This book will be of interest to python programmers who need to program networked applications using Python. From web application developers, to systems integrators, to system administrators—this book has everything you need to know.
>This book assumes that you know how to program in Python, but does not assume that you know anything about networking. If you have used something like a web browser before, and are vaguely aware that your computer talks to other computers in order to display web pages, then you should be ready to start reading this book.
Network Programmability and Automation
This is a good book. It's probably not the best book to use for your very first exposure to Python but once you've got something else under your belt I would go here. Runs you through all the basic tools and data structures that get used in network automation.
I second the official Python tutorial. If you approach it with the right attitude that'll teach you everything you need to know to start feeling some comfort with the language.
Check out Jason Edelman's book on network programmability and automation, it's a great place to start.
https://www.amazon.com/Network-Programmability-Automation-Next-Generation-Engineer/dp/1491931256
Jason Edelman’s book is the defacto standard to get going - “network programmability and automation”
https://www.amazon.ca/Network-Programmability-Automation-Next-Generation-Engineer/dp/1491931256
Ansible for DevOps is another good one by Jeff Geerling
https://www.ansiblefordevops.com/
And, full disclaimer I am the author and self publisher, my book “Automate Your Network” if you are looking to learn how to use Ansible to automate Cisco network
https://www.amazon.com/Automate-Your-Network-Introducing-Enterprise/dp/1799237885/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=automate+your+network&amp;qid=1567425212&amp;s=gateway&amp;sprefix=automate+your+n&amp;sr=8-1
They are just now starting to come out. I would recommend these two books "Network Warrior" (this covers real-world applications not covered by the soon former CCNA R&S exam). It is a bit dated but a good read. The other is "Network Programmability and Automation". These should help tide you over until the books come out. Both are on amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/Network-Warrior-Everything-Need-Wasnt/dp/1449387861/ref=sr_1_3?crid=25XVKEVRZ1LXQ&keywords=network+warrior+3rd+edition&qid=1573413049&s=books&sprefix=network+warrior+%2Cstripbooks%2C232&sr=1-3
https://www.amazon.com/Network-Programmability-Automation-Next-Generation-Engineer/dp/1491931256/ref=sr_1_3?crid=5F6P0KHY1366&keywords=network+programmability+and+automation&qid=1573413098&s=books&sprefix=network+program%2Cstripbooks%2C207&sr=1-3
I have to recommend Amanda Berlin and Lee Brotherston's book : https://www.amazon.com/Defensive-Security-Handbook-Practices-Infrastructure/dp/1491960388
The bandwidth command on an interface affects routing protocol metrics (protocols like EIGRP and OSPF both use bandwidth as a part of their metric calculation) and as I recall it does affect the calcualtion (not actual bandwidth but the calculation which may then affect actual allocation in a policymap) in a QOS policies where the policy references bandwidth percentage (but not hard set expression listed in X bits per second).
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Since I am almost always running an RP on a WAN interface (this is MPLS) that more times than not has less of an allocation than its interface speed the bandwidth statement on the interface matches the allocation from the provider edge / circuit order.
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Then for QOS the shaping command is used to shape the traffic to the correct speed and a sub-policy is used to assign priority queue and bandwidth percentages based on class maps (which are often DSCP based). The is not the only way to skin the QOS cat though.
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This is a newer edition of a book that i used to use as desk reference material, I DO NOT KNOW what if this is the most current. Typically books are not, and instead Cisco online documentation is best. (but I am not hunting for that right now)
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https://www.amazon.com/End-End-QoS-Network-Design/dp/1587143690/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536680974&sr=8-1&keywords=Cisco+press+end+to+end+qos+network+design
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one last thing, the best thing to remember is QOS is a congestion management tool...try to avoid needing congestion management tools by buying circuits that do not get congested.
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Read this as your textbook:
https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Networks-Andrew-S-Tanenbaum-ebook/dp/B006Y1BKGC
Then start messing around with linux to be a novice sysadmin. Then play with wireshark. Then you are ready to start doing some of the Cisco training, start by reading some of the CCNA training material.
I agree with /u/IDA_noob check out the book below.
https://www.amazon.com/End-End-QoS-Network-Design/dp/1587143690
The Practice of System & Network Administration chapters 6 & 7 will definitely help you.
I do see your point to that. As for the different RAID types, I have a basic understanding, but not a professional's grasp. I'd definitely have to look to reference for usage, but I wouldn't feel completely out of my depth.
What would you recommend I should look at in regards to "learning the important stuff?" I've looked up the bootcamp link in the sidebar and plan on getting one of the books mentioned there for starters.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1593275099/
I am not sure about the size of your environment. If it's small, Splunk may be way outside your budget.
Take a look at that link above if you really want to build an open source solution for security monitoring. It'll take a lot of elbow grease and knowledge of your business to be effective. Pick up the book and build yourself a POC to see what you can see.
We normally recommend Computer Networks by Andy Tanenbaum as a good place to start.
Anyway, I was just blowing you some shit. We're not normally this mean.
If you are trying to shore up what you feel are knowledge gaps regarding networking - I am a fan of Chris Sanders practical packet analysis He has training that if fairly reasonable if you company does reimbursement His Site
Grab a book like TCP IP illustrated, which is very in depth, makes a great reference, and is vendor agnostic.
On network security monitoring (network ids/ips) you might want to have a look at that book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Practice-Network-Security-Monitoring-Understanding/dp/1593275099/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
Are you talking like a client and a server type situation? Where a client requests info and the server gives it (I guess through a pipe).
If so, I want to say Computer Networking as what you are looking for. I just took a class on it last semester using this textbook. Though that's not a beginner class/topic to start off with in general.
Look at the SANS website. They have some downloadable Word docs with basic questions. Other Google searches for 'audit' checklists will bring up some others.
From the audits that I've been part of, you need to focus on these key areas:
Also, take a look at this book. It helped me get a security program started, from the ground up. https://www.amazon.com/Defensive-Security-Handbook-Practices-Infrastructure/dp/1491960388/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=building+a+network+security&qid=1566233244&s=gateway&sr=8-15