Electrical engineering and network engineering are popular choices, while computer science and information technology also offer similar learning opportunities. To become a network engineer, you must have a robust educational and experiential background that provides you with expertise in hardware, network protocols, and both analytical and technical skills. Typically, that means earning a degree and obtaining an IT certification.
Experts Weigh in on $500B Stargate Project for AI
While all the versions share a common core, they each have distinguishing characteristic suited to designated purposes. Secondly, we can’t ignore the proliferation of Linux-based projects such as OpenStack, Docker, and Kubernetes and the impact they are having in the IT space. Having the ability to effectively troubleshoot basic Linux networking constructs is quickly becoming a must-have.
Network engineers spend their days monitoring networks for performance, troubleshooting any issues, and completing regular maintenance. They are also responsible for network security, ensuring that virus protection software and other security tools are updated consistently. A network engineer is an IT professional who provides computer network support to businesses and organizations, whether developing new networks or maintaining existing ones. These networks often include intranets, extranets, phone systems, wide area networks (WANs), or local area networks (LANs). Explore how to become a network engineer, including what network engineer jobs entail, what skills are required, and what the average network engineer salary is.
If you want to test RHEL first, you can sign up for a free trial–a single 30-day subscription for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server for x86. We created a Red Hat login account, accepted the terms and conditions, and got access to download the OS. RHEL has a desktop version that supports x86-64 architectures and a server version that supports x86-64, ARM64, and even IBM System z mainframes. The filename was rhel-8.3-x86_64-dvd.ISO and it was a large 9.24GB file.
- I’ve used iperf many times to troubleshoot network slowness issues, verify whether the ISP would honor the DSCP marking, and measure the jitter value of UDP traffic.
- Some industries that employ network engineers include health care, financial services, technology, education, and telecommunications.
- It is important to make sure you are downloading the correct install image for the hardware you will run it on.
- The deeper you dive into any technology the more likely you are to see Linux.
- It’s also a good example of the direction things are heading and the skillset that will be required to effectively work and troubleshoot Linux host networking.
- Self-support gives users access to download and run RHEL and access to the Red Hat knowledge base.
Data Centers Can Slash Power Needs With One Coding Tweak
Canonical is also working closely with hardware vendors to improve compatibility and deliver stronger performance on advanced network switches. SONiC was developed to meet the rigorous requirements of cloud data centers, offering a robust and scalable solution for network management. At its core, SONiC employs a modular architecture that decouples network software from the underlying hardware.
I’ve used iperf many times to troubleshoot network slowness issues, verify whether the ISP would honor the DSCP marking, and measure the jitter value of UDP traffic. We have already written a post about using iperf in distributed monitoring, so I encourage you to read that if you want to learn more. Documentation and training—Debian offers a wealth of free downloadable documentation, which includes helpful manuals, guides, and release notes. The Debian Project doesn’t offer training, but there are third-party online training classes.
Cloud
In 2003, I attended a CCNA boot camp; the other students and I practiced routing protocols (RIP and OSPF) by building an overlay point-to-point network between our houses. We used OpenVPN for the tunneling and then RIP and OSPF inside the tunnels. The default Ubuntu boot loader is GNU GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) and the version is GRUB 2.04. Linux OSes can use different default filesystem types, with ext4 and xfs being common among popular Linux distros. The range and scope of technologies that leverage Linux is large and growing rapidly. The deeper you dive into any technology the more likely you are to see Linux.
Having access to the actual hardware gives you the opportunity to “mess around” with more aspects of the system. Rina Diane Caballar is a writer covering tech and its intersections with science, society, and the environment. An IEEE Spectrum Contributing Editor, she’s a former software engineer based in Wellington, New Zealand.
Despite modifications, having access to the native Linux shell affords us some significant wins. Tools and applications that were once reserved for the server world become available. Network switches can be managed more effectively from a policy level with automation and orchestration tools like Puppet and Chef.
Access to
Also support will likely be better because with more users, the higher the probability that others may have encountered and documented solutions to issues you might encounter. At first glance, the networking configuration of a single Linux host may seem trivial. However, there are actually many robust network features inside of Linux system. Many of the top open source projects find ways to leverage these features in interesting, and sometimes complex, ways. Having an understanding of the inherent networking features in Linux is a must if you want to understand how they can be used together.
By aligning with key industry players and contributing valuable feature enhancements, Canonical aims to accelerate SONiC’s adoption in data centers worldwide. This cooperative effort will empower linux for network engineers SONiC to deliver on its promise of providing an open, adaptable, and cost-effective networking solution for the cloud era. Security—During the installation process, a root password and a standard non-privileged user account was created, and that user was automatically added to the sudoers list. The SSH daemon was not installed and running by default so we had to add it before we could SSH into the OS.
Understanding I2C Communication in Linux: A Beginner’s Guide with Sample Code for Raspberry Pi
- Debian is a widely-renowned Linux distribution known for being incredibly stable and high-performance.
- Then, you’ll need to gain hands-on experience, which also tends to involve continuous learning.
- If you use it in client mode, it’s similar to telnet, and you can create a TCP connection to a specific port and send anything that you type.
The CentOS Project doesn’t offer its own training, but there are online classes offered by third parties. It is important to make sure you are downloading the correct install image for the hardware you will run it on. CentOS has narrowed the hardware architectures supported to x86-64 (the most popular), aarch64, and ppc64le. The OS comes with a host-based firewall, firewalld, installed and enabled by default.
6) A new breed of network devices from companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Cumulus Linux use Linux. In the future, CentOS Stream is likely to become the best option for anyone seeking an RHEL-adjacent distribution.
Implementing Cisco Enterprise Wireless Networks (ENWLSI) v 2.0
As a result, network engineers who use Fedora enjoy a greater level of familiarity with the RHEL systems they may encounter throughout their careers. Fedora is an open-source distribution that serves as a community equivalent to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). RHEL itself is commonly chosen as the operating system for enterprise-level systems. Linux is commonly preferred among network engineers—so if you’ve thought about installing it for your work, you’re not alone. They tested the functionality and performance of their modifications on different scenarios and workloads, and found that the kernel improvements can decrease power consumption by up to 30 percent. In the case of data centers, these processes entail figuring out where to send segments of information called “data packets” transmitted over the network.