NOLUG -- TCP/IP and Linux course

Scott Harney

Barry McCormick

This book is a detailed expansion of three sessions we taught at the New Orleans Linux User's Group concerning implementing TCP/IP and Linux. It is aimed primarily at the novice but also will help the more experts amongst the group brush up on their knowledge as well.

Users often "fill in the blanks" in their networking setups without having any real understanding of what the information means or how it works. Having a framework of knowledge allows the user to adapt to new situations and environments and create solutions to match his/her needs. We will detail both the theory and show actual configuration details for current Linux distributions for our sample networks. We actually set up those sample networks in the meetings. Our ultimate intention, however, is to demonstrate that by understanding the workings of TCP/IP, the user can apply that knowledge to set up TCP/IP networking in any environment. The only way to find an answer to a question is to first understand and define the question (or questions) being asked.

You may also get a pdf suitable for printing here. You'll need a pdf viewer of course. Or if you have the cygnus docbook tools or sgmltools, you can grab the original sgml source here and format it yourself.


Table of Contents
1. Introduction to TCP/IP
History of TCP/IP and the Internet
TCP/IP - the OSI Model
TCP/IP - The Math Behind It All
The mathematical AND operator
Subnetting and subnet masks
TCP/IP Address Classes & Reserved IP Space
CIDR notation. Breaking out of Classful subnetting
Packets & Ports (You want me to put what where?)
Network Troubleshooting
2. Building Your Home Network
Acquiring Equipment(dumpster diving at it's best)
Network Cards
Hubs & Switches
Cables & Connectors
DHCP - Assigning IP addresses
NAT/IP Masquerade
Cable/DSL
Building a home Linux router (freesco)
Dialup to the Internet (you poor soul)
List of Tables
1-1. Layer Model
1-2. Layer Model
1-3. Binary to decimal translations
1-4. IP address classes
1-5. Subnetting examples table
1-6. Common ports