Learning Network stuff

[Powercat]

I have been a computer user going back many years ( before DOS even ). But I have never
learned what it takes to set-up and use network equipment. I have struggled every time I
need to add a router, switch, NAS, LAN or wireless. What would be a basic level study
course that will allow me to learn the terminology, and get the basics? Everything I do is
Windows based, PC devices. I am tired of being un-informed in this area and want to learn.
Regards,
Powercat

 

[drinkingbird]

I have been a computer user going back many years ( before DOS even ). But I have never
learned what it takes to set-up and use network equipment. I have struggled every time I
need to add a router, switch, NAS, LAN or wireless. What would be a basic level study
course that will allow me to learn the terminology, and get the basics? Everything I do is
Windows based, PC devices. I am tired of being un-informed in this area and want to learn.
Regards,
Powercat

CCNA is probably way overkill but it covers everything, can get one of the books and skip the more advanced stuff.

Any local college that has technical degrees would probably offer a night class in networking fundamentals too.

I'm sure there's a million online networking courses but I personally don't know which are good vs junk.

 

[Tech Junky]

Network+ is agnostic and covers the foundations of the subject.

 

[follower]

I have been a computer user going back many years ( before DOS even ). But I have never
learned what it takes to set-up and use network equipment. I have struggled every time I
need to add a router, switch, NAS, LAN or wireless. What would be a basic level study
course that will allow me to learn the terminology, and get the basics? Everything I do is
Windows based, PC devices. I am tired of being un-informed in this area and want to learn.
Regards,
Powercat

Home networking books.
Home networking information on internet.

 

[follower]

CCNA is probably way overkill but it covers everything, can get one of the books and skip the more advanced stuff.

Any local college that has technical degrees would probably offer a night class in networking fundamentals too.

I'm sure there's a million online networking courses but I personally don't know which are good vs junk.

CCNA doesn't give him a building home network.

 

[drinkingbird]

CCNA doesn't give him a building home network.

Much of the CCNA is focused on networking fundamentals which is what OP is asking for. They also didn't say home network. Like I said, probably overkill, but there are very clear sections in the books and courses and you can just go through the fundamental stuff and skip the Cisco specific stuff.

 

[coxhaus]

I did a lot of Windows PCs and Windows servers with Cisco. CCNA is a good direction for networking large networks. CCNA teaches you networking whether you do Cisco or not, but it is Cisco oriented. If you pass the CCNA then you will know basic networking.

I passed a lot of Novell certs in the old DOS days. They were more server specific, and you really did not learn networking.

 

[awediohead]

This starts very basic - which is a good thing IMO - as you can always skip forward. I like that it's calmly and clearly presented and makes good use of annotated graphics as learning aids - which is nearly always a step up from someone doing bad drawings on a whiteboard.

 

[awediohead]

I actually like this course a little better than the one I previously linked to. It's more practically based and doesn't go into excessive detail about things I really don't need to memorise - for example I'm quite happy just having a rough and ready idea of how IP addresses are put together, I really don't need to be converting decimal numbers into their binary equivalent for my fairly simple home network needs.