Needed some advice on where to start with learning Linux that will compliment my networking skill set ( CCNA level ). I have done things with Linux before ( Asterisk, Penetration testing with backtrack, etc ) but I have never stuck with it so I am a tad bit rusty.

Right now I am stuck between two books. "The first is Linux Networking Cookbook" which covers:
**Building a gateway, firewall, and wireless access point on a Linux network
Building a VoIP server with Asterisk
Secure remote administration with SSH
Building secure VPNs with OpenVPN, and a Linux PPTP VPN server
Single sign-on with Samba for mixed Linux/Windows LANs
Centralized network directory with OpenLDAP
Network monitoring with Nagios or MRTG
Getting acquainted with IPv6
Setting up hands-free networks installations of new systems
Linux system administration via serial console**

The second is "The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook" which covers:
**Read and write files efficiently
Use signals, clocks, and timers
Create processes and execute programs
Write secure programs
Write multithreaded programs using POSIX threads
Build and use shared libraries
Perform interprocess communication using pipes, message queues, shared memory, and semaphores
Write network applications with the sockets API**


Or if anyone has other suggestions?

The best thing I can tell you is work with it everyday.... do you know common things like how to do permissions, move files etc etc?

http://www.amazon.com/UNIX-Linux-System ... linux+book - is a very good book.

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"I will prepare and some day my chance will come." - Abraham Lincoln
http://danielhertzberg.wordpress.com - I blog about networks!

I've just moved over to Ubuntu 12.04. I took a 10-point Linux course as part of a university degree last year and learnt so much from that. For my assignment I had to or decided to do a bunch of stuff which I learnt out of scope.

I have a dual-boot with Win7 as a backup and for some certain things I need for work though but everything else is done with Ubuntu. It sounds like, from your OP that you probably know a whole lot more than me!

For my work, I built a CentOS 5.6 server for Cacti. I also applied a lot from what I learned on the course. VNC starts at bootup and doesnt require there to be anyone already logged in (like RDP for Microsoft), SSH server running, Webmin etc. My goal was to reap all the benefits of Linux (small footprint, low resources) but make it so that a Microsoft-only person could administer.

I kind of digressed -_-

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"Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past."

Hehe I didn't know where to start either but once I got my pi I started using it, then installed ubuntu on one more machine and now I've got puppy and backtrack which I'm playing around with.

Find something you know how to do in windows or osx like setting up remote desktop or a web server. Them give yourself that task in linux and don't quit until you have done it, you will learn quite a bit and you will be relating it to something you already know

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Networking is much like making love to a beautiful woman
Slide your equipment in to the rack, Stick your plug in the socket, and if you have done it right at the end everyone is happy

I just google what I don't know these days. There is always someone else having the same problem

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"Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past."

I would do something like the RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) which gives you a good understanding of basic right through to advanced tasks and you also get a valuable cert at the end of the day. Some of it is quite Red Hat specific, but it RHEL seems to be used more and more in enterprise deployments so it looks good on the C.V. as well.

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http://g711.info

I will be the one. Gentoo if you are looking to understand the depths of Linux

OP - pick up a Linux book sooner rather than later. I picked up one and kept falling asleep. After the eighth attempted suicide I decided to put it down for the sake of my family. I only had stubble at this time too.

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"Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past."

I would just start using it as your main OS at home, that way you will be familiar with it. And if you have time, try to program networking stuffs will help you learn a lot.

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"It can also be argued that DNA is nothing more than a program designed to preserve itself. Life has become more complex in the overwhelming sea of information. And life, when organized into species, relies upon genes to be its memory system."

If you really want to learn how to administer a *nix server then you must do it from the CLI. Ubuntu/RHEL and other do a good job with their GUI of helping you out just like a Windows wizard.

I went my first 3 years of being exposed to linux without ever seeing anything outside a headless (CLI only) server. Setup a lab or home server with several of the services you want to play with. Get them setup and working, then secure and lock down the server. Also at first try your hardest not to use apt-get or yum. They really take away the work needed to install packages. It sucks but it will help you learn.

When I was ramping up on Linux I worked through Linux Networking Cookbook along with the Linux Pocket Guide. both great resources.
http://www.amazon.com/Linux-Pocket-Guid ... 0596006284

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http://blog.movingonesandzeros.net/

This

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www.mellowd.co.uk/ccie/

I don't agree with that statement 100%. Sure CLI can come into it but for a standard home user I think they can get away with some distros like Ubuntu or Mint without using CLI. I mean Ubuntu is designed for that purpose, as a family product.

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"Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past."

Your life will be much easier if you learn the CLI. Linux is a CLI based operating system and you're best to embrace it.

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blog.brokennetwork.ca

Ubuntu is a fantastic distro to start learning Linux. It has enough GUI to use as a main OS and still lets you play around with the CLI.

You will eventually prefer the CLI over the GUI after a while, so learning basic CLI navigation and usage will be super helpful.

I agree with the life being easier part. But I don't agree with it being a must.

I could give my little sister the Ubuntu 12.04 CD and she could install it and run it without having to know sudo apt-get or commands such as those.

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"Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past."

I won't argue that, but you're all over the map here. You "didn't 100% agree" with Darren and that1guy15 that you should learn the CLI to administer Linux, and now you're talking about your little sister? Of course your little sister isn't going to learn the CLI, but that is not what this thread is about,

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blog.brokennetwork.ca

I'm just making a point that the general idea that you need to be a CLI guru isn't strictly true for Linux e.g. Ubuntu. If people want to learn Linux you don't need to enter the terminal, meaning you could get away without entering the terminal and still understand the Linux OS. It depends really on how deep the person wishes to go.

The CLI definitely gives you more power over things, I'm not denying that at all. Sorry for an all-over-the-place way about saying something. I tend to do that quite a bit

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"Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past."

In the work place you'll be hard pressed to find a linux box with a gui. For this reason alone you should be learning it the same way.

This is why I always tell people to lean vi - it'll always be there, no matter what version of *nix you have. And vi is both extremely powerful and easy to use once you've learnt the basics

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www.mellowd.co.uk/ccie/

I see this and thought it were relevant
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

Or more specifically, the "how-to" sections of the book: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/vie ... 1/how.html

This website is an instruction manual for building your own ground-up Linux distro as per your requirements.

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"Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past."

I ended up going with 'The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook' for the time being. On amazon it received 30 something reviews, all 5 stars. The preface says the first 3 chapters are for people not entirely familiar with Linux/Unix so I'll figure out if its the right book for me around chapter 4 or 5 ( currently on 2 ). Although, I have been looking into some of the other books suggested.

I had planned on re-installing CentOS and going from there. It was what I originally used some time ago on one of my laptops ( Before installing backtrack ). I dont exactly remember if they had a wizard for everything. I used Red Hat for a class but it was far to long ago.

Diesel, the website you just posted looks good. I will definitely look more into it tomorrow morning.