Network course help

[dannat]

I have been offered some time running a small netwrok for a school -while i have good genral skills i have not ever worked ona network like this..can anyone recommend a training course -for win server/network admin -the school has some mac servers & imac but i can look after those OK

[supernova1965]

You might try your local TAFE that is where I did my training and it got me a good job and we went right into setting up networks from start to finish. I just found this link proclaiming to provide free training.

http://www.intelligentedu.com/cat1.html

Hope this helps

Have a great XMAS

[tlgerdes]

CCNA - Cisco Certifed Network Associate

Great foundation course in networking. A lot of TAFEs run this, else you can also buy online trying or books. The online course used to be around $1000 10 years ago.

[snowyskiesau]

There are a LOT of good books on networking theory but those for getting a CCNA qualification are good for real world examples of what you'll need to know.

One problem with the CCNA is that you have to have a network setup to do the labs. This is not a trivial expense although you can often pick up second had equipment on eBay, often from people who have attained/given up on the CCNA and are getting rid of their labs.
Another alternative is emulator/simulator software for the PC. Most of this costs but there is a free emulator called GNS3 (http://www.gns3.net/) that is very good. I've been running this on a Linux server (it also runs on Windows and Mac) to set up various network scenarios. I had planned to get the CCNA - one day.

As previously mentioned, most TAFEs have Cisco courses and (I think) also do the exams. If you're game to do the CCNA study by yourself, you can just do the exam without sitting the course.

[Hans Tucker]

Vision Fix offers training via correspondance.

http://www.visionfix.com.au/

CCNA might be a bit much for what you want plus it is more specific to CISCO products. Depends if your network uses CISCO Routers and/or Switches. If you opt to go this way there is the Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) course. CISCO does have self study packages and most of their reference books are pretty good.

Alternatly you could go for a more generic Network training through CompTia N+.

This all depends on whether you want or need to be certified or whether you just want the knowledge to see you through.

[snowyskiesau]

Re-read your original post and I agree that perhaps the Cisco training is overkill.
I would read the CCNA sections about routing protocols and subnetting, they're very good and not Cisco specific.

Never having set up a Microsoft network, I can't offer any advice in that direction.
I've worked on UNIX/Linux networking for 25 years or so, setting up Microsoft servers/workstations was always someone else's job :)

[zipdrive]

Whatever training you decided to do, I highly recommend you still set up a lab at home and hit the books. I still do after 10 years as a Network Engineer..

Also virtualization is your best friend when it comes to Windows server labs.

You may even get away with Networking for dummies book if it's only a 'small' network. How many workstations are we talking about 10-20? or 100's? I would imagine IT guys from Dept of Education take care of all the Internet bound stuff?...

[dannat]

thanks for the advice - we have very little cisco hardware - network is about 100 stations..i will go buy some virtialization softwae for my mac to set some stuff up

[snowyskiesau]

Before you buy, check out Virtualbox (http://www.virtualbox.org/) for free virtualisation software (Intel Mac only). The other one to look at (not free but quite cheap) is VMware Fusion (http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/).

I don't run Macs (well I do have a PPC based Mac Mini for Starry Nights) but use both Virtualbox and VMware Workstation extensively, both under Linux.
The only Windows system I have is a virtual workstation running XP under VMware Workstation.