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2 Linux Primer for Network Engineers

Why Learn Linux?

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This topic discusses why learning Linux is important for Network Programmability Engineers.

Linux is everywhere—Used in various devices:

Mobile devices

Desktop Computers

Production Servers

Hypervisors

Network switches
The Linux operating system, originally developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991, is being used in some form at the
heart of the most familiar handheld devices to some of the most sophisticated pieces of computational and
networking equipment in the world.

Linux is everywhere. Linux operating systems can be found in:

Mobile devices: Most popular cell phones and tablets use some sort of Linux-based operating system

Desktop Computers: Many end users are leveraging the openness and cost savings of a Linux-based home
computer by using Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Arch, just to name a few.

Hypervisors: The technology industry’s most popular hypervisors use a Linux kernel to provide the core
virtualization infrastructure for modern servers to run completely in software.

Network switches: Many of the network switches, including the Cisco Nexus platform, use Linux as the
underlying operating system on which the NOS is built. The Linux shell is now exposed on switch platforms for
network engineers to use an additional means to manage the switch.

Though Linux is pervasive in technology, a network programmability engineer should learn Linux because:

Network devices now expose the underlying Linux shell

Network devices now enable engineers to run containers on the actual network device

Most software development environments are Linux-based

New open source projects such as Open vSwitch, Docker, and OpenStack all have a Linux foundation
Linux is a unique operating system that stands apart from others because of several key attributes helpful to
programming:

Capable of massive scale and micro footprints: Linux is used in very small devices such as the latest home
thermostats to the largest devices such as Cisco’s largest UCS platforms and at scale with companies such as
Facebook, Amazon, and Google

Open platform: Linux can run on almost any hardware making software portability very easy

Community-Driven: New development, features, bug fixes, and threat detection occur very quickly with a
focus on innovation. Companies can take Linux as-in and build upon it for their own products

Open Source: The end user is able to access the source code allowing for a much greater ability to customize,
troubleshoot, redistribute the OS

Stability: Linux systems tend to be very stable and less prone to viruses

Most programming tools run natively: Programming languages such as Python, Ruby, Git, C, C++, and PHP
run natively on Linux, and most are available by default in the most common distributions

Content Review Question

Which of the following are reasons why the network programmability engineer should learn Linux (Choose
two.)

Network devices now expose the underlying Linux shell

Network devices now enable engineers to run sectors on the actual network device

Standard operating systems such as NX-OS and IOS all have a Linux foundation

Most software development environments are Linux-based

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