The 6 Best Linux Distros for Network Engineers

The 6 Best Linux Distros for Network Engineers

Recommend hardware appropriate for the network and support that hardware as needed. Learn how to manage and monitor Linux network usage and optimize it. Implement security systems and ensure the security of the data stored on your network. On our side, we’ll do our best to give a smooth but solid introduction to Linux for network engineers.

Becoming a Linux engineer means overseeing the processes of installing servers and transitioning hardware from other operating systems into Linux. If you want to perform testing and troubleshooting while monitoring system performance, then Linux engineer could be your next move. In the past year over 147,000 jobs for Network Engineers were posted. These days, networks have multiple layers of protocols, protection firewalls, and devices.

Check out CompTIA’s Tech Job Report video series now premiering on CompTIA Connect. Learn more about the latest data and trends in tech hiring and the implications for employers and the U.S. workforce with new episodes each month. Linux is also a fundamental part of the curriculum for many networking and IT courses. Automation is a key component of modern network management, and Linux excels in this area.

Juniper Networks certified associate – Junos (JNCIA-Junos)

Only experienced network engineers or developers can modify and access the shadow file. With different flavors called “distributions or distros,” there are currently more than 2 hundred in the industry! Learning how to work with different distros is a key skill for network engineers and developers.

Another use case is testing whether your firewall is blocking certain traffic. For example, execute netcat in server mode on 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.

Certifications like CompTIA Linux+ validates the skills of IT pros with hands-on experience configuring, monitoring and supporting servers running on the Linux operating system. Check out the CompTIA Career Roadmap to see what other certifications can help you become a Linux engineer. In this series of posts we will try to make a smooth introduction to Linux for network engineers that have zero to very little knowledge of Linux. The monetary investment will be of minimal cost to you since you will only need to spend $60 (at most) to buy a Raspberry Pi (this includes the board, power supply, SD card, enclosure).

Get ready with one of these options and in the next post we’ll talk how to access your Linux box remotely and without a password (but securely) with linux network engineer ssh. Enterprise Networking Design, Support, and Discussion.Enterprise Networking –Routers, switches, wireless, and firewalls. You should test out software like Nmap and familiarize yourself with networking on your new Linux distro so that lack of familiarity doesn’t become an obstacle later on. Much like Fedora, CentOS Stream is a distribution that stays in line with the development of RHEL.

Linux for Network Engineers: How to Get Network Statistics with bmon

To avoid this, network engineers must comply with security regulations like GDPR and take preventive security measures like encryption and backups, which can add to the overall workload. While network engineering is rewarding, like providing a good salary and knowledge of new technologies, it also has some challenges. Displays the distribution name and version with additional information, useful when network engineers or developers want to know which distribution to work with for a particular project. The Linux kernel is all that is needed for a small operating system. Linux’s size means it’s even been ported to smaller, size-constrained game consoles like Dreamcast. It’s even possible to run a complete Linux system with a graphical window manager on surprisingly light hardware.

Real-life Projects in Virtual Lab

Network Automation tools such as Ansible don’t run the command node on Windows. You are probably going to use Linux with tools such as Ansible, Netmkio, NAPALM and other network automation tools. SDN controllers such as OpenDaylight, ONOS, RYU and APIC-EM run on Linux.

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  • Not all of the software packaged with Kali Linux is useful for network engineers, but luckily, new Kali installations are completely customizable.
  • While OVS isn’t native to Linux, it does have its own Linux kernel module and is used extensively with open source projects such as OpenStack.
  • You should test out software like Nmap and familiarize yourself with networking on your new Linux distro so that lack of familiarity doesn’t become an obstacle later on.
  • Different vendors offer varying degrees of access to the underlying Linux operating system with the trend being to give the user more and more access into system internals.
  • This course is for Network Engineers, Network Architects and anyone who wants to learn about Linux from a networking perspective.
  • As a distribution designed for penetration testing, Kali Linux comes with a massive variety of preinstalled tools that network engineers are certain to find useful.

This meant that being able to configure a Cisco switch didn’t imply I could configure a Juniper switch. If we consider that most network switches are built off of a Linux base, and provide similar functionality, the CLI becomes an abstraction of the underlying Linux system. While I think this is a fair generalization, it’s also fair to say that most vendors don’t run a completely vanilla version of Linux or the Linux kernel.

They are responsible for maintaining and optimizing networking and server infrastructure. This role often includes troubleshooting network issues, maintaining network security, setting up and configuring network hardware and software, and managing system updates. The network administrator also plays a vital role in planning for network expansion or upgrades. There are even more reasons, but make sure you don’t get left behind!

Cisco systems,Netflix,Nasa,the international space station,and data centers spanning the globe,where can’t we see Linux? It’s the most powerful kernel developed by linus torvald when he was a student in Helsinki in Finland. We help you gain critical insights and make more informed decisions across your business priorities. Use this tool to assess the bandwidth available between two computers.

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Share what you’ve learned, and be a standout professional in your desired industry with a certificate showcasing your knowledge gained from the course. According to Lightcast, the median advertised salary for a Linux engineer is $99,000 as of July 2022. Although, there are many factors that influence salary such as location, job level, years of experience, company size and more. It’s common for a Linux engineer to hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, computer engineering or engineering or have equivalent experience. Imagine you have just been hired by Simco Financial Services, Inc., to join their Network Engineering team. In this initial project, you will demonstrate your ability to analyze network traffic, configure a basic network, and make an RDP/VNC connection on…

Each version of RHEL has a 10-year lifecycle, meaning that you’ll be able to use your chosen version of RHEL (and enjoy little to no compatibility issues) for years.

  • My home network was routed by a Pentium 2 workstation running Slackware and configured with IP forwarding and IP tables.
  • Displays the content of the shadow file password, it contains the user’s login information such as encrypted passwords, and requires root access to modify anything related to users.
  • 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.
  • There are even more reasons, but make sure you don’t get left behind!

It serves as the upstream edition of RHEL, meaning that the content in the latest edition of CentOS Stream is likely to appear in RHEL’s next release. By using RHEL, you’ll also become familiar with many of the systems you’re likely to encounter on the job. Join our newsletter to receive your cheat sheet and other amazing content directly in your inbox. However, to do this efficiently, they need to master programming languages like Go, Python, C++, and Ruby. Displays the distribution name, and version, in a shorter format compared to the previous command with additional information. This website is owned and operated by Informa TechTarget, part of a global network that informs, influences and connects the world’s technology buyers and sellers.

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