OS & Networking Fundamentals

Before mastering DevOps tools, you must understand how operating systems work and how computers communicate over a network.

1. Operating Systems (Linux)

In the DevOps world, Linux is King. While Windows is used in corporate environments, the vast majority of servers, containers, and automation tools run on Linux.

[!TIP] Key Linux Skills

• 📂 Navigation: Moving through directories and manipulating files (ls, cd, mkdir, cp, mv).
• 🔑 Permissions: Understanding chmod, chown, and root vs. standard users.
• 🔄 Process Management: Monitoring system health and killing stuck processes (ps, top, htop, kill).
• 📝 Text Manipulation: Editing files with vim or nano and filtering logs with grep, awk, and sed.
• ⚙️ Systemd: Managing background services (start, stop, enable).

2. Networking Fundamentals

You cannot debug a deployment if you don't understand how computers talk to each other.

The Network Stack

• OSI Model & TCP/IP: Understanding how data travels from an app to the wire.
• Protocols: Deep dive into HTTP/HTTPS, DNS, SSH, and FTP.
• Addressing: Understanding IP addresses (IPv4 vs. IPv6) and Subnetting.

Infrastructure Networking

• Firewalls & VPC: Securing your network and creating private clouds.
• Load Balancers: Distributing traffic to ensure high availability.
• CDN: Speeding up content delivery using edge locations.

[!NOTE] Use tools like tmux, ssh, or online Linux terminals to practice these skills in a real environment.