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fflarex

Member

Registered: 2007-09-15

Posts: 466

any good, free resources to learn about networking?

I am currently extremely confused about some things I am trying to research and am wondering if anyone could point me to a free resource of some sort. Networking terminology is confusing! I definitely need something theoretical and generic, but anything practical and/or linux-specific would be good too (such as iptables or tor/i2p).

I just need a good, clear overview of the basics: ports (and port forwarding), servers, packets, routers, proxies, protocols, ISPs, local networks, DNS, possibly encryption (big subject I know, but again, I mostly just need basics), and any other fundamental topics I may be missing. Many of those topics are things which I often think I understand until I see them mentioned in an odd way that makes me realize how ignorant I am.

Thanks in advance.

Last edited by fflarex (2008-02-13 07:37:30)

peets

Member

From: Montreal

Registered: 2007-01-11

Posts: 936

Website

Re: any good, free resources to learn about networking?

I understand how you feel.

This may not help, but I've enjoyed reading Wikipedia's article about the internet. It could be a starting point.

If you ever find anything, I'm interested too.

PJ

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2005-10-11

Posts: 602

Re: any good, free resources to learn about networking?

Searching for 'network' and 'tutorial' on google gave me the following url:
http://www.comptechdoc.org/independent/ … ing/guide/

I Looked through the tutorial and it seems to be pretty decent, nowhere near the quality of Cisco's documentation for CCNA but that is something I didn't expect to find for free.

Last edited by PJ (2008-02-13 13:15:30)

zenlord

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2006-05-24

Posts: 1,221

Website

Re: any good, free resources to learn about networking?

Searching for 'network' and 'tutorial' on google gave me the following url:
http://www.comptechdoc.org/independent/ … ing/guide/

I Looked through the tutorial and it seems to be pretty decent, nowhere near the quality of Cisco's documentation for CCNA but that is something I didn't expect to find for free.

Nice find! Bookmarked for later use - THX!

Zl.

fflarex

Member

Registered: 2007-09-15

Posts: 466

Re: any good, free resources to learn about networking?

This may not help, but I've enjoyed reading Wikipedia's article about the internet. It could be a starting point.

I think Wikipedia actually has almost all the information I need, but it's frustrating to read because every article almost assumes you already know a great deal. So there is a lot of cross-article reading and re-reading, trying to make sense of everything. PJ's link looks a little more organized (and dated), I'll give that a try.

Anyone else know of any good resources?

onearm

Member

From: Anywhere but here

Registered: 2006-07-06

Posts: 359

Website

Re: any good, free resources to learn about networking?

Everything I know about networks, I learned from http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_toc.htm. I spent a whole week to read it but was really worth it.

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To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three persons, two of them absent.
--
My Github

remote

Member

Registered: 2007-12-28

Posts: 44

Re: any good, free resources to learn about networking?

I highly suggest http://rute.2038bug.com/rute.html.gz which covers many items.

el_zoona

Member

From: Argentina

Registered: 2008-02-01

Posts: 58

Website

Re: any good, free resources to learn about networking?

This maybe helps you too: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Electrical-En … /index.htm

I haven't looked it yet, seems pretty theory oriented, but, as I said, maybe it helps too.

---

// Send more Chuck Berry

RedShift

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2004-07-16

Posts: 230

Re: any good, free resources to learn about networking?

Although bit old and not up to date, but contains valuable information: http://www.faqs.org/docs/linux_network/index.html
Linux advanced routing & traffic control howto: http://lartc.org/lartc.html

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:?

peets

Member

From: Montreal

Registered: 2007-01-11

Posts: 936

Website

Re: any good, free resources to learn about networking?

I found a wikibook called FOSS: Network Infrastructure and Security. It doesn't look too long, and it looks like it covers a wide range of basic topics. I haven't read it yet though.

sph

Member

Registered: 2008-05-01

Posts: 63

Website

Re: any good, free resources to learn about networking?

"The Linux Network Administrator's Guide, Second Edition"
by Olaf Kirch and Terry Dawson

Online version: http://tldp.org/LDP/nag2/index.html

PDF version: http://tldp.org/LDP/nag2/nag2.pdf