Skip to main content

Networking

Learn​

Readings​

Key elements​

  • Computer network types

    • Local Area Network (LAN)
    • Storage Area Network (SAN)
    • Virtual Private Network (VPN)
    • Wide Area Network (WAN)
    • Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)

  • Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR)

  • Content Delivery Network (CDN)

  • Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

  • Domain Name System (DNS)

  • Gateway

  • Firewall

  • Quality of Service (QoS)

  • Load balancers

  • Network Address Translation (NAT)

  • Network topologies

    • Bus
    • Ring
    • Star
    • Mesh
    • Tree

  • Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model

    • (1) Physical Layer
    • (2) Data Link Layer
    • (3) Network Layer
    • (4) Transport Layer
    • (5) Session Layer
    • (6) Presentation Layer
    • (7) Application Layer

    → 7 layers diagram

  • TCP/IP

    • Internet Protocol (IP) addresses
    • Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports

    DNS in TCP/IP

Unofficial laws​

The Twelve Networking Truths​

(1) It Has To Work.

(2) No matter how hard you push and no matter what the priority, you can't increase the speed of light.

  (2a) (corollary) No matter how hard you try, you can't make a baby in much less than 9 months. Trying to speed
       this up *might* make it slower, but it won't make it happen any quicker.

(3) With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be
    sure where they are going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly overhead.

(4) Some things in life can never be fully appreciated nor understood unless experienced firsthand. Some things
    in networking can never be fully understood by someone who neither builds commercial networking equipment nor
    runs an operational network.

(5) It is always possible to aglutenate multiple separate problems into a single complex interdependent solution.
    In most cases this is a bad idea.

(6) It is easier to move a problem around (for example, by moving the problem to a different part of the overall
    network architecture) than it is to solve it.

  (6a) (corollary) It is always possible to add another level of indirection.

(7) It is always something.

    (7a) (corollary) Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick any two (you can't have all three).

(8) It is more complicated than you think.

(9) For all resources, whatever it is, you need more.

  (9a) (corollary) Every networking problem always takes longer to solve than it seems like it should.

(10) One size never fits all.

(11) Every old idea will be proposed again with a different name and a different presentation, regardless of
     whether it works.

  (11a) (corollary) See rule 6a.

(12) In protocol design, perfection has been reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is
     nothing left to take away.

→ rfc1925 - April 1, 1996

Foundations​

LF (Linux Foundation) Networking​

→ lfnetworking.org

LF Networking Projects​

Social media​