Many of the qualities of RHEL that make it attractive as an enterprise solution are just as appealing for independent users. By using RHEL, you’ll also become familiar with many of the systems you’re likely to encounter on the job. 6) A new breed of network devices from companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Cumulus Linux use Linux. If you think that we’ve incorrectly blocked you or you would like to discuss
easier ways to get the data you want, please file a ticket here. Modernizing the enterprise architecture is a critical path on the journey to becoming a digital, AI, and data-driven business.

If you want to be the MacGyver of your network, you must know the basics of netcat. 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. Another use case is testing whether your firewall is blocking certain traffic. For example, execute netcat in server mode on linux network engineer a host behind your firewall and then execute netcat in client mode from outside the firewall. If you can read on the server whatever you type on the client, then the firewall is not filtering the connection. If you use it in client mode, it’s similar to telnet; you can create a TCP connection to a specific port and send anything that you type.

Linux Fundamentals for Network Engineers

Pop OS is based on Ubuntu, so its applications and application repositories are version-locked. Because Pop OS is based on Ubuntu, it has access to the entire Ubuntu repository. Raspberry Pi OS is a house operating system of Raspberry foundation and often ships pre-installed on Raspberry machines. It is based on Debian and comes with many useful preinstalled applications, so you can get started with your task as soon as you install Raspberry Pi OS. So as you can see, there are a variety of reasons to learn more about Linux as a whole.

• Rolling Linux distributions are kept current using small and frequent updates.
• For the routing process, we first used Zebra and then Quagga (which at the time supported OSPF).
• The brilliant part of Linux is that there’s a multitude of “how to” articles on the internet that can walk you through just about anything you’re looking to do.
• Those with Linux skills are sought after in the industry which is why Linux jobs are currently on the rise.
• Modern courses and learning activities in state-of-the-art technologies prepare you for your new career.

Nmap allows you to quickly verify that; just run the Nmap command followed by the hostname or fully qualified domain name. While some Linux distributions are better suited to network engineers, almost any Linux distribution can be used with the right software and configurations. Well, I think that having a basic knowledge of Linux is no longer just for students and computer geeks. Network engineers will often run into Linux-based network operating systems and command lines. So, let’s take a look at some of the best Linux distros for different purposes. IOS-SX – a fork of IOS was made in the mid-2000s, with Ethernet Switching features added to the code.

Skills you’ll gain

But MX Linux has proved reliable over the last 6 months or so and I can’t see myself changing it. TecMint is the fastest growing and most trusted community site for any kind of Linux Articles, Guides and Books on the web. For this reason, they tend to be the preferred choice in enterprise environments and mission-critical tasks. The world of Linux distributions follows two philosophies regarding software and updates. That way, major releases of applications aren’t deployed by accident that might break something. Though there isn’t a single best Linux distro available for everyone, you can select the best Linux distribution based on your needs.

• The world of Linux is growing, and there’s demand for up-and-coming engineers.
• A virtual machine can also be used to run a proprietary OS on top of Linux.
• When I worked full-time as a network engineer, my Linux skills helped me with the tasks of design, implementation, and support of enterprise networks.
• That way, major releases of applications aren’t deployed by accident that might break something.
• Though there isn’t a single best Linux distro available for everyone, you can select the best Linux distribution based on your needs.
• This allows customers with special packet forwarding needs to craft whatever sort of pipeline they require, within the boundaries of what the ASIC they are using is capable of.
• Not all of the software packaged with Kali Linux is useful for network engineers, but luckily, new Kali installations are completely customizable.

Linux and coding are becoming very valuable skills for network engineers that want to expand their horizons in new areas such as SDN, network automation, and DevOps. 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.