Networking labs - online - free

[The Cosworth]

Hey guys, so Im really becoming interested in network infrastructure network management. It has a correlation to my current career and skillset. I've been playing with different device firmware on my devices, gateways, NAS's, DNS Server, etc.

I do think I am starting to get to the edge of my knowledge that I am willing to put out to the internet / reset my devices. I'm about at UPD hole punching, how IPV6 doesn't use NAT, running a MariaDB server, setting up external accesses to systems, running pmpAdmin / SQL servers, JSON, doing SoHo, etc. This is all self taught from wikipedia, breaking things and going on a journey, etc.

So I guess my #1 is I am looking for some sort of labs that may exist online I could complete assignments on or something similar to 'learn' or 'test' without using my own network as a gunnea pig. If anyone knows of decent formal courses in general, I'd do that as well. I am sure I've missed huge gaps doing self-directed learning.

[The_Rural_Juror]

A gunnea pig?

[The Cosworth]

A gunnea pig?

If you're saying I should use some sort of rodent in a maze; I've considered it, but the issue was that I recycled most of my cardboard that I could build into a DHCP server. Our recycle day was 2 days after Christmas unluckily.

[The_Rural_Juror]

Good luck. Studying the Marangoni Effect sounds more interesting.

[The Cosworth]

Good luck. Studying the Marangoni Effect sounds more interesting.

Fluid dynamics is up there next; just have to wait until my plumbing starts to go or something.

[taemo]

Cisco CCNA is pretty much where almost everyone in Networking started from, this or Comptia Network+
look for CBT Nuggets CCNA training on youtube, lots of useful courses, training and information in there.

pretty much most organizations will have some sort of Cisco hardware on their network

found this pretty good as a basic explanation of a LAN and WAN network.
_IOZ8_cPgu8

[pheoxs]

Yeah, cisco is pretty wisely used and good courses / certs to learn though $$$. There's also some free learning material out there and I think even some virtual command lines you can play with to practice setup and configuration.

Network infrastructure is a huge field, a lot in the IT space but it's also growing rapidly in the industrial automation space since so many devices are networked now. Many plants have thousands of IP devices connected now. We use multiple vlans to stack networks onto switches to seperate different types of data for security (though many places still use entirely separate switch networks). One network for the remote IO panels, another network for the plant network, another for the corporate network, another intermediary network between the plant and the corporate network. Sometimes MCCs having with own network sub loops

[killramos]

What about one of those free education programs like iTunes U or open Ed?

Maybe more formal than you are looking for but I bet comp sci and IT are incredibly well represented.

[The_Rural_Juror]

I do coursera and EdX for my pre-EIT courses. It's like pre-med but more prestigious.

[nzwasp]

Network infrastructure is a huge field, a lot in the IT space but it's also growing rapidly in the industrial automation space since so many devices are networked now. Many plants have thousands of IP devices connected now. We use multiple vlans to stack networks onto switches to seperate different types of data for security (though many places still use entirely separate switch networks). One network for the remote IO panels, another network for the plant network, another for the corporate network, another intermediary network between the plant and the corporate network. Sometimes MCCs having with own network sub loops

To add to this the process control companies such as the one I work with also generally work on older switches and are very slow to approve new switch models and technologies. We are still recommending people buy 2960X and 3850 for their plants despite the fact there is newer stuff out there and that stuff has already been given a End of Life date. Theres nothing cutting edge happening in industrial automation, so all the courses recommended so far are probably perfect for SCADA if that is what you are looking at.

https://www.cybrary.it/catalog/career-path/network-engineer/

[ExtraSlow]

I like the Coursera system. Here's a few: https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=network

[firebane]

Not sure what you have for equipment but I have an older HP ProCurve J4903A 2824 I'd let go for cheap.

[nzwasp]

Oh yes thats a good point - I have a bunch of cisco switches, you can have one for free if you want.