What networking topics should I brush up on as a beginner?
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TechyTurtle87
I'm looking to refresh my networking knowledge since it's been a while since I really focused on anything beyond basic commands like ping and tracert. I want to prepare for an upcoming interview and I have a feeling they'll ask about different classes of IPs, private IPs, and port numbers. My experience has mostly been with ports like 80, 443, and 53, as well as 20/21, but I need to know what else I should cover.
Answers
Don't forget about RFC 5735 vs 1918! Someone's likely to ask you about IPs for internal use, so make sure you understand those standards before trying to use any unused space that might be allocated to someone else.
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You should definitely brush up on ARP, DHCP, DNS, and MTU sizes. It might also be good to familiarize yourself with concepts like Site-to-Site VPNs, Split Tunneling, VLANs, and web filtering. A little wiring knowledge wouldn’t hurt either!
CuriousCoder99: It's always amusing when a networking person asks about the differences between the various standards!
TechyTurtle87: Never worked with split tunneling or set up VLANs or web filtering, but I'll look it up and add it to my notes. Thanks!
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Make sure you've got a grasp on the basics of IPv6. Knowing about Router Advertisements (RA), Stateless Address Autoconfiguration (SLAAC), and how to read notations of address bits will be valuable. Plus, for ports, it's okay to look them up if you don't have them all memorized!
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CuriousCoder99: Unless it's Oracle's IP space. Definitely better to stay away from that!