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Anyone have any recommendations for a beginner who would also like to learn what's meant by ARP, NDP, ethernet, and basically everything. I've been a developer

Anyone have any recommendations for a beginner who would also like to learn what's meant by ARP, NDP, ethernet, and basically everything. I've been a developer for decades, and I understand the top level of http[s] well enough, but networking is basically a mystery to me.

ithrow 5y ago
Read a CCNA book for the fundamentals and basics.
stusmall 5y ago
Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach is a great text book on this. It is a huge text book but written in a way where you can drop in on the parts of the stack where you need to.
rnhmjoj 5y ago
I think a good way to learn networking is to set up your network from scratch: either build a router using a PC with some BSD, GNU/Linux or buy a router supported by OpenWRT. Start with something simple at first: a basic home network. You need to set up a firewall and NAT rules, a DHCP server, a DNS relay or maybe a recursive server. You'll learn a good deal about how the protocols works and why they work that way just by reading the manual pages and trying to configure the software. Also, read the RFCs, really, most are well written and do a better job at explaining how stuff works than a random tutorial. For more practical skills, you can also make your own cables by buying STP/UTP cables and connectors. Then try to build an IPv6-only network, this is especially fun if you don't have native IPv6 from your ISP (i.e. set up a 6in4 tunnel). With IPv6 you can try subnets and routing more easily, also configuring NAT64 and talking to old v4 devices from v6 is pretty fun. Finally you can experiment with more exotic stuff like IPSec encryption between your machines, hosting your email or authoritative DNS server, a VPN, etc.
anthk 5y ago
Networking 101 ftp://vert.synchro.net/main/INTERNET/NETWK101.ZIP A text file. Yes, old. But it works. EDIT: damn, the file is wrong.
gradstudent3145 5y ago
I recommend watching Ben Eater's series on networking. He starts from sending a signal over a basic cable and builds up a networking model from there. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypH19whXTVoG3oKSuOcw_XeW https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypH19whXTVoG3oKS...

ithrow 5y ago

Read a CCNA book for the fundamentals and basics.

stusmall 5y ago

Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach is a great text book on this. It is a huge text book but written in a way where you can drop in on the parts of the stack where you need to.

rnhmjoj 5y ago

I think a good way to learn networking is to set up your network from scratch: either build a router using a PC with some BSD, GNU/Linux or buy a router supported by OpenWRT. Start with something simple at first: a basic home network. You need to set up a firewall and NAT rules, a DHCP server, a DNS relay or maybe a recursive server. You'll learn a good deal about how the protocols works and why they work that way just by reading the manual pages and trying to configure the software. Also, read the RFCs, really, most are well written and do a better job at explaining how stuff works than a random tutorial. For more practical skills, you can also make your own cables by buying STP/UTP cables and connectors. Then try to build an IPv6-only network, this is especially fun if you don't have native IPv6 from your ISP (i.e. set up a 6in4 tunnel). With IPv6 you can try subnets and routing more easily, also configuring NAT64 and talking to old v4 devices from v6 is pretty fun. Finally you can experiment with more exotic stuff like IPSec encryption between your machines, hosting your email or authoritative DNS server, a VPN, etc.

anthk 5y ago

Networking 101 ftp://vert.synchro.net/main/INTERNET/NETWK101.ZIP A text file. Yes, old. But it works. EDIT: damn, the file is wrong.

gradstudent3145 5y ago

I recommend watching Ben Eater's series on networking. He starts from sending a signal over a basic cable and builds up a networking model from there. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypH19whXTVoG3oKSuOcw_XeW https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypH19whXTVoG3oKS...