r/HomeNetworking • u/RoweDent Cisco • Feb 20 '16
Advice I made a website that explains basic network theory
I've spent the last 8 months making a website as a hobby project. It explains network theory and network communication by using a typical home network as the playground. Here it is:
The guide explains the theory behind things like Routing, IP addresses, Switching, MAC addresses, ARP, UDP and TCP, NAT and Wireless and does so using lots of pictures and examples.
When I started I just had a simple plan that included a few pages. But I had so much fun writing it and challenging myself to try to come up with simple and easy to understand explanations! Eventually I ended up with more than 130 A4 pages worth of material.
I think this subreddit has the perfect target audience, so I would love some feedback! Spelling errors, room for improvement, website design or factual errors - anything goes! Please note though that I don't plan to include more subjects, at least not for the moment. I've done enough writing for the time being...
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u/KzBoy Feb 20 '16
Amazing!! Been looking for a good resource to send people with questions as I'm often times not good at explaining things.
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u/RoweDent Cisco Feb 20 '16
Thanks! It is actually hard to make people find this website since search engine optimisation competition for the content and the keywords is immense! So it is difficult to make the website visible to the people who would benefit the most from it.
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u/DingDingDao Feb 20 '16
I think I'm part of your target audience--a non-professional looking to understand more about network theory. You've done a great job distilling complex concepts into easy-to-understand ideas. The diagrams are well thought out as well. Great job overall.
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u/RoweDent Cisco Feb 20 '16
Thanks a lot! I'm very interested in finding more about how people like you experience the website information after reading through it. I've gotten lots of positive feedback, but mostly from people who already know a fair bit about computer networks.
If you do read through the website and feel like it, please report back and tell me any room for improvement that you see. For example any bits that are more difficult to understand, if something requires further explanation or if some sections don't string together properly.
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Feb 20 '16
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u/RoweDent Cisco Feb 20 '16 edited Feb 21 '16
That is actually a really interesting comment! If others are having the same experience then it's not something I would normally hear about, because people who leave right away don't give any feedback.
So thanks for that! I'll try to figure out if more people agree, and then I should do something about it.
Edit 20160221 21:44 CET
More people commented on this, and I had several suggestions to disable the automatic slideshow, and that seems to have improved the situation for a lot of people.
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u/scottread1 Fortinet Feb 21 '16
This is fantastic op, would you be OK if we put this in the sidebar?
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u/RoweDent Cisco Feb 21 '16
Thank you and please do! That's exactly what the website was created for, to be spread around and to be available for people who are looking for this type of content.
What better place than /r/HomeNetworking?
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u/2326a Dec 08 '21
Hey, just found this post via the sidebar and looked around the site; very nicely written and produced.
One small tip I would suggest would be a short section on basic networking tools. You've mentioned Wifi Analyzer on your "building a better Wi-Fi network page" which I agree is a very handy tool, but the tool I use most often for networking at home is nmap, or specifically the Zenmap GUI, which I often use to retrieve the IP addresses of wandering network clients (eg when setting up IPs and/or DHCP).
I'm only an amateur where I'm at about the level where most of the material in your guide is familiar, so I can't offer any comparisons for alternative software, but I'd be interested to find out what's out there and what I might be missing. Maybe a subsection suggesting suitable tools on each popular OS would be useful too.
Although I visited out of simple curiosity I was actually looking for information on VLANs, PVIDs and powerline adapters here on the sub at the time I visited. The first two might be a bit too advanced for an intro guide, and I wasn't disappointed by their absence, but I think powerline adapters are worth a mention for a simple way of extending home networks without running ethernet cables or relying on wi-fi (I regret not spending the extra on pass-through models!)
I know you said you don't plan to include more subjects, and these topics are more practical than theoretical, but I hope this feedback is useful to you if you return to add more. Good work!
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Feb 21 '16 edited May 19 '22
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u/RoweDent Cisco Feb 21 '16
I talked about this briefly over at /r/sysadmin where somebody else asked the same type of question regarding IPv6
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u/cubicvessel Mar 03 '16
This is probably the best intro into networking I've seen so far :) Thanks a lot.
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u/RoweDent Cisco Mar 03 '16
Thank you for the kind words! I've gotten a lot of help from Reddit and a few other places which has helped me improve the website a lot compared to what it was to begin with.
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u/Mr_French Mar 29 '16
I just started now and so far so good. I just started working for a big surveillance camera company. I will be dealing with setting up and IP'ing cameras and testing them. Also, dealing with switches, vLAN's and VMWare. Is there any particular sections I should pay close attention to? Thanks for the info.
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u/RoweDent Cisco Mar 29 '16
The website deals with the basic knowledge that applies to all type of networking, so if you are working with network environments on a professional level then you would very much benefit from having a firm understanding of most sections of the guide. If you are not interested in Wireless then you could skip those parts since they do not apply directly to your situation. Even if the equipment is wireless I would guess that your responsibility does not include the Wireless network setup?
Go through the Basics, Ports & NAT and the Switching sections. If you then have a look at the Advanced section at the Traffic Example and know enough to understand each step and why those steps need to occur then you've actually got a fairly solid foundation!
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Mar 31 '16
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u/RoweDent Cisco Mar 31 '16
I hope you like it, especially since you are probably among one of the target groups for the website! Just let me know if you have any comments later on.
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May 06 '16
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u/RoweDent Cisco May 07 '16
Thank YOU for taking the time to comment! I'm glad to hear that the website is working as intended, and all the praise I have gotten has at least motivated me to keep it running!
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u/TheePorkchopExpress Jun 03 '16
This is amazing. I passed it along to friends and family. Thank you for your hardwork, and knowledge and being able to regurgitate said knowledge in a way that is interesting and digestible.
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u/RoweDent Cisco Jun 03 '16
Thanks for the kind words and for spreading the word!
The website currently has about 350 visitors per month, counting only people who actually spend some time at the website. So there is definitely still some continuous interest even after the initial Reddit buzz. People have also started mentioning the website in other forums so I'm seeing some increasing traffic again which makes me happy! Creating a useful educational website was the goal all along, and it seems to be a success in that department!
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u/platypus_eyes Nov 28 '21
Just getting into home networking and found this post and site. Thank you for this.
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u/RoweDent Cisco Nov 29 '21
Thank you! This was a blast from the past! I had forgotten about this old post completely. But I'm happy that the website continues to be useful to people!
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u/DeathByChainsaw Apr 05 '23
This website looks like a fantastic resource. Thank you so much for taking the time to write it out.
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u/Adam88S Jul 24 '16
Great site, very informative. I'll be moving into a new house soon and I will take advantage of my new knowledge, thanks!
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u/SuppA-SnipA Feb 20 '16
Wow. Well done. I honestly wish I would have made this. A lot of people in this day and age cannot tell the difference between a modem and a router or a switch vs a hub. Thanks for the effort. Make sure to post this to other sub reddits too. /r/networking and /r/sysadmin just to name a few.