Network Engineering Basics

This article was originally published in the InfoSec Survival Guide: Green Book. Find it free online HERE or order your $1 physical copy on the Spearphish General Store.

The computer networking field is broad, encompassing many focus areas similar to cybersecurity. If you’re new to the field or just interested in networking, knowing where to start can be challenging. Searching for a network engineer position on any job listing site will yield thousands of results, and no two job descriptions will be the same. However, there are some similarities. Below are three common roles associated with networking positions and brief descriptions:

• Network Analyst: Focuses on network maintenance and support.
• Network Engineer: Handles network implementation and complex troubleshooting.
• Network Architect: Focuses on long-term strategic planning and design.

Role Differentiation

While these descriptions help understand some differences between these roles, they often blend together. For example, a network engineer at a company with tens of thousands of employees may have different responsibilities than a network engineer supporting small businesses. Typically, as companies and networks grow larger, the jobs become more specialized. A network engineer in a small township might need to know a bit about everything the city uses, whereas a network engineer at a massive international company may only support one small network area and be expected to know it in depth.

Key Areas Within Networking

• Network Operations Center (NOC): A team responsible for monitoring and maintaining network performance and availability while proactively identifying potential issues to ensure minimal downtime.
• Enterprise Networking: Supports the daily operations of a large organization by providing connectivity for employees, devices, and business units.
• Data Center Networking: Manages data center infrastructure, such as virtual computing, storage systems, data processing, and large-scale applications. High performance and low latency are crucial.
• Cellular Networking: Supports wireless and mobile networking over large geographical areas, focusing on voice and data services and maintaining good coverage.
• Internet Service Provider (ISP): ISPs service wide-area networks (WANs) and facilitate global communication from large businesses to residential neighborhoods worldwide.
• Additional Areas Include: Network security, network automation, and cloud networking. This list is not exhaustive but offers a great starting point for investigating which area you might be interested in.

Career Opportunities

One day, you could be racking and stacking servers at Meta’s 4.6 million square foot data farm or helping to expand 5G and supporting the Internet of Things (IoT). Maybe you’ll be in charge of securing a classified network. There’s even the possibility of designing an underwater data center, like Google’s Project Natick, which deployed a shipping container-sized data center 117 feet deep into the ocean.

Standards

The good news is that the fundamentals remain largely the same no matter what you choose. Vendors may use their own names and terminology, but ultimately, everything runs on standardized protocols. Standardization is necessary for interoperability, ensuring that no matter the vendor or manufacturer, land or sea, Canada or China, toaster to rocket ship, they’ll all be speaking the same language.

Helpful Resources

• Cisco Networking Academy: Offers a range of courses, including CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate), which is a foundational certification in networking – https://www.netacad.com/
• Packet Tracer: A network simulation tool provided by Cisco that allows you to create network topologies and simulate network traffic –https://www.netacad.com/courses/packet-tracer
• GNS3: An open-source network simulator that allows you to run a virtual network – https://www.gns3.com/

Certifications

• CompTIA Network+: Covers the basics of networking, including network technologies, installation and configuration, media and topologies, management, and security.
• Cisco CCNA: A foundational certification for network engineers that covers a broad range of networking concepts.

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