On 03/09/2015 21:09, Francisco Ares wrote: > > > 2015-09-02 17:23 GMT-03:00 Alan McKinnon <alan.mckin...@gmail.com > <mailto:alan.mckin...@gmail.com>>: > > On 02/09/2015 21:43, J. Roeleveld wrote: > > On Wednesday, September 02, 2015 02:19:24 PM Francisco Ares wrote: > >> Hi, > >> > >> Sorry for such WAY out of topic message, but Gentoo users are also way > out > >> of regular computer users. > >> > >> I intend to learn more deep details about networking intrinsics, > (packets, > >> ports, negotiation, UDP, multicast, unicast, TCP, ethernet, DHCP, > >> protocols, and so on) so I decided to recur to this list. Googling the > >> terms, just gets me to network administration and equipment > interconnection. > >> > >> Any hints on web resources for this research? > > > > It would depend on the level you are at now. :) > > > > Generally, I know more than enough about how it all works to do my job > and > > keep my own systems running reliably. > > > > But generally I simply listen when the likes of Alan McKinnon start > talking > > about networking. > > Hey, that's me! > > As it turns out, I got a call last week from an old mate who needed > someone to deliver his 2-day TCP/IP course on short notice. I had 2 days > free anyway so I help out. > > It all went well till we got into the dirty details of TCP header > fields. You know how that stuff works - a whole bunch of fields that we > mostly ignore and concentrate on just the few we know are important. > Anyway, there was me standing in front of a class going down the list. > And all I could think of was "WTF is most of this stuff??? Half of these > fields I've never heard of!" > > There was more fun to come. Someone asked to clarify the exact > differences between unicast, multicast, anycast and any other *cast that > happens to be. Holy cow. Try explain that off the cuff without having > time to think the answer through first :-) > > To the OP: > > Someone suggested RUTE. That's a good one, it may be 14 years old, but > networking basics have not changed. The Linux Network Administrator's > Guide available at tldp.org <http://tldp.org> is also worth reading. > > And then wikipedia too. Technical facts are usually reliable there and > most articles give you nice pictures and tables without assuming you > already know it all anyway. > > Finally you already have Gentoo, which is probably the best tool you > could have to find out such stuff. Read up on a topic, grasp the basic > theory, then follow it all through on Gentoo seeing how the bits fit > together. > > For the full picture in strict technical language, nothing beats the > proper Internet RFCs. They are not for the faint-hearted though. > > I don't want to scare you off but working in spare time it probably > takes something like a year to go from networking user to having a > decent depth of knowledge about it. It's all logical, all the info is > there, and it can be understood. There's just so much of it :-) > > > > > > You could start with sites like: > > > > > > http://web.stanford.edu/class/msande91si/www-spr04/readings/week1/InternetWhitepaper.htm > > > > -- > > Joost > > > > > -- > Alan McKinnon > alan.mckin...@gmail.com <mailto:alan.mckin...@gmail.com> > > > > Thanks, Alan. > > Well, I have noticed that, for the few details I got an eye on, it will > take a good time for an deep dive in. > > I will start to look into some RFCs and see how much can be digested. > Also, downloaded RUTE to read during lunch, alternating with some RFCs ;-)
The absolute best network RFCs are the ones about coffeepot over HTTP, and IP by carrier pigoen (or is it Avain IP? something like that) -- Alan McKinnon alan.mckin...@gmail.com
