Hi guys

I would like some advice please. I have seen quite a few guys post here and they clearly know what they talking about. How did you guys get there? From being involved in certain fields in IT, I prefer the networking part the most. I don't mean network administrator, I mean working on routers and switches, the behind the scenes that keeps everything going.

Any advice on a route I should take?

I am trying to get some basics done on my mikrotik at work but getting frustrated as nothing is working correctly, and I don't know what it is I am doing right or wrong which is the frustrating part. I am doing the MTCNA course in about two weeks time which I am hoping will help.

Sorry if this is the wrong section, thought it to be the most appropriate.

Thanks

Learn the OSI model - especially learn about lower layers 2, 3, and 4. Knowing what the various layers' functions are and how they fit together in the big picture is very important for design and troubleshooting purposes. Hubs/Media Converters/Repeaters = layer 1 -- switches, bridges, access points = layer 2 -- routers = layer 3 -- firewalls = layer4 - 7

Learn how subnet masking works. This is one of the very key concepts IMO. Routing decisions are made based on matching prefix lengths, etc - so knowing how to understand what is a subnet of what is crucial. I tell people to just go ahead and memorize the masks for 255.255.255.X (num-hosts): 0 (256) , 128 (128) , 192 (64) , 224 (32) , 240 (16) , 248 (8) , 252 (4) , 255 (1).

Understand the role of DNS and how it works. (I meet very few people in my area who actually understand how DNS really works)

Thanks for the reply ZeroByte

I am alright with sub-netting, would still need to get more experience though.

I would love to be able to work with and experience networking more than what I am now. What really helps is being able to see it work and how it works. Are there no programs that "simulate" networks, traffic flow etc? That will probably help me understand it a lot easier and quicker.

When you say understanding DNS, the general meaning for DNS is resolving IP addresses to names etc yes? Is there more to it than just that? What part is it that people don't understand?

MTCNA does not aim to properly teach you foundation of networking, it's more focused on enabling you to use basic features in RouterOS. It can not even remotely compare to CCNA for example. But if you want to troubleshoot some basic problems in your network, it might be helpful. Focus on one problem at a time if you are in learning process, read forums.

I would love to be able to work with and experience networking more than what I am now. What really helps is being able to see it work and how it works. Are there no programs that "simulate" networks, traffic flow etc? That will probably help me understand it a lot easier and quicker.

No two networks are the same, and rarely two engineers will come up with completely same solution to one problem. You are correct about hands-on experience in networking. That's why simulation suite called GNS3 is one of the most popular for creating custom software labs. The only problem is getting IOS images, but you can resolve that with certain search engines. You can also setup virtual machine environment and connect various OS's to learn networking in depth. Here is very detailed guide from another user on the forum on how to setup virtual MikroTik lab.

Thank you Che, appreciate it.

Definitely not comparing MTCNA to CCNA, don't think much can? I will be looking at doing my CCNA maybe early next year? I just thought that doing the MTCNA could assist as I have used mikrotik quite a lot and need to start leveling up. I did get frustrated about a month ago when I tried to implement something I see as being simple, a firewall and queue, all with my MTK and I could not even complete that successfully. I am now breaking it down and going through it slowly bit by bit so that I can understand what is going on and why. Hopefully I'll get some clarity through that.

I agree, everyone will setup and apply their own ways and means of getting things done. Thanks for the link, will go through it.

To gain some experience, I have also offered to help some friends at no charge. I posted up a thread about it but no feedback yet.

You should use GNS3.
If you can get your hands on an IOS image for the supported Dynamips routers, then you can easily play with Cisco routers in GNS3.
As for Mikrotik, you can define a CHR device (Mikrotik's virtual router image) and use that.
I personally prefer to run it with VirtualBox. I don't like how Qemu forces you to "power down" the virtual device to add/remove ethernet connections in the sim. VMWare may work well, but I just didn't want to mess with their virtual networking stuff - I use it for other things on my workstation.

Another thing you'll want to do is create a MS Loopback interface in your base Windows OS and for the sake of keeping things obvious, I named the connection profile "GNS3" so that it would be obvious what the interface is for. You can then put this virtual interface into the simulation by adding the "host" node (which represents your computer itself) and connecting something to the GNS3 interface.

There are many how-tos and tutorials on these subjects already on these forums, and in the MUM archives as well, so I won't go into any real detail about getting all of this done.