Linux Unix Network Administration Prerequisites

To complete this course, students must be familiar with basic UNIX system administration functions, including:

1. Starting and stopping a UNIX system
2. Setting up user and group accounts on individual machines
3. Basic backup and restore commands and procedures
4. Monitoring a UNIX system’s activity

In addition, student should know how to:

1. Configure TCP/IP networking on UNIX systems
2. Administer TCP/IP services on UNIX systems
3. Monitor TCP/IP network activity using UNIX tools

Knowledge of shell programming is helpful, but not required.

Studying Unix Network Administration requires a solid foundation in several key areas. Here’s a breakdown of the prerequisites:

1. Basic Unix/Linux System Administration
   • Understanding of Unix/Linux command-line interface (CLI)
   • File system structure and permissions (ls, cd, chmod, chown, find, etc.)
   • Process management (ps, top, kill, nice, cron, systemd)
   • User and group management (adduser, usermod, passwd)
   • Shell scripting with Bash (loops, conditions, scripts)
2. Networking Fundamentals
   • OSI Model and TCP/IP Stack
   • IP addressing and subnetting (IPv4 and IPv6)
   • DNS, DHCP, ARP, and NAT basics
   • Common network protocols: HTTP, FTP, SSH, SMTP, SNMP
   • Socket programming basics (optional)
3. Unix/Linux Network Configuration and Services
   • Configuring network interfaces (ifconfig, ip, nmcli, netplan)
   • Managing firewall rules (iptables, firewalld, ufw)
   • Troubleshooting tools (ping, traceroute, netstat, ss, tcpdump, wireshark, nmap)
   • Configuring network services:
     • SSH (Secure Shell)
     • FTP/SFTP (File Transfer Protocol)
     • DNS (Bind)
     • HTTP/HTTPS (Apache, Nginx)
     • Mail servers (Postfix, Sendmail)
     • Proxy servers (Squid)
4. Security and Authentication
   • Secure network administration practices
   • SSL/TLS and certificate management (openssl, letsencrypt)
   • Authentication mechanisms: PAM, LDAP, Kerberos
   • Secure shell key management (ssh-keygen, ssh-copy-id)
5. Unix Scripting and Automation
   • Bash scripting for automation
   • Python/Perl for network administration tasks
   • Ansible/Puppet for configuration management
6. Experience with Unix/Linux Distributions
   • Working knowledge of RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, or BSD variants

Recommended Hands-On Experience

• Set up a virtual lab with VirtualBox, KVM, or Docker for practice
• Work on real-world networking scenarios (configuring routers, VPNs, monitoring)
• Experiment with cloud-based networking (AWS, GCP, Azure)

You can take this course on any of the following platforms:

1. Windows 10/11
2. UNIX (any version)
3. Mac OS