The Linux Foundation Announces Free Introduction to Open Source Networking Technologies Course

Grazed from The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced the opening of enrollment for LFS165x – Introduction to Open Source Networking Technologies. Students may pre-register now for this free course, and full course content will be available beginning in early August. 

The 2017 Open Source Jobs Report from The Linux Foundation and Dice found nearly half of hiring managers are looking to hire individuals with networking expertise, and 55 percent report that formal training or certification is a priority when choosing new hires. On top of that, the way networks are built and deployed is evolving, with open source networking projects being responsible for much of this transformation.

LFS165x explores open source networking projects, from The Linux Foundation and beyond, that are shaping the future of networking and telecoms. Designed for open source enthusiasts, university students, network architects and engineers, security architects and engineers, and system engineers, this course offers an introduction to open source networking.

This course covers the open networking stack from top to bottom, starting from networking hardware disaggregation and modern 100G and 400G switches, through network operating systems, network controllers, virtualization and orchestration. Students will develop an understanding of the use cases and technical options for modern open networking in enterprises, service providers, and cloud datacenters. The course provides familiarity with the following open source networking projects and their use cases:

• Open Compute Project, ONIE, Akraino
• FD.io, OVS, IO Visor, DPDK, Open Dataplane, P4
• OpenSwitch, Open Network Linux, FRR, DANOS, SONIC, FBOSS
• OpenDaylight, Tungsten Fabric (OpenContrail), ONOS, CORD, Open Security Controller
• ONAP, OPNFV
• PNDA, SNAS

"Open source software is becoming core to the networking industry, with software-defined networking and network function virtualization sitting at the heart of coming 5G technologies," said Linux Foundation General Manager, Networking Arpit Joshipura. "There is a major need for more individuals with the qualifications to develop and implement these technologies. This course, along with other open source networking courses from The Linux Foundation and edX, is a great first step for individuals looking to break into this fast-growing industry, and also to help industry veterans gain a baseline understanding of these concepts."

Students will leave the course with an understanding of:

• The software-defined and open source networking landscape
• How networking hardware is being disaggregated
• How open network operating systems (NOS) run on different networking hardware
• Ways to automate networking tasks
• How software-defined network (SDN) controllers manage underlay networks
• How network function virtualization (NFV) can help reduce the complexity of today’s data center environments
• Ways orchestration tools can build a bridge between applications and networking

The Linux Foundation and edX already offer two additional open source networking courses, LFS163x – Introduction to ONAP: Complete Network Automation and LFS164x – NFV Acceleration: An Introduction to OPNFV, which also provide useful knowledge for individuals looking to improve their open source networking skills.

LFS165x was developed by Reza Toghraee, a network and security expert. For the last 20 years, Toghraee has designed and deployed many large campus and datacenter projects, leveraging his skills in networking, security, virtualization, compute, and storage across a range of major networking vendors.

In 2013, Toghraee started exploring the hardware and software of Ethernet switches and was inspired to build an AVB (Audio Video Bridging) Ethernet switch by designing hardware and software protocols. Soon he discovered SDN and early SDN controllers and dedicated his time to promoting and contributing to SDN and the OpenNetworking community. He is the director of ArpaWare Ltd in the UK, a professional services consultancy for SDN, NFV, network automation, network virtualization and cloud projects. Toghraee is the author of Learning OpenDaylight and he is currently authoring another book about Data Plane programming.

Registration is open now for LFS165x on edX.org. There is no charge for the course, though a verified certificate of completion is available for $99.