Networking for Application Developers

This post is about IT Networking. Having been in Web Application Development all of my career, I spent a couple of months learning about computer systems networking. My belief in being that well-rounded technology architect, basic networking knowledge is fundamental. More than just knowing how to use ‘ping’ and ‘ipconfig’ command line tools, I wanted to know more.

I wondered about the following:

• Networking hardware in-depth
• Network protocols
• How to troubleshoot extensively
• Other command line networking tools
• DNS, DHCP, Firewall

My Sample Network Diagram

And so for those of you in any type of application development, especially SharePoint, I highly encourage understanding the many basics elements of networking and server software.

 

The key benefits in doing so are

• Interface with IT administrators and IT architects
• Know how to ask the right questions
• Understand their designs and implementation that they provide
• Understand the infrastructure of your development machine, testing environments and production environments
• As a result, troubleshoot problems and escalate to IT
• Fix your own networking problems
• Become a well-rounded Technology Architect
• Design architecture with IT touch points in mind.

 

Understanding networking and system administration involves a different mind set and I can appreciate the skill and breadth of knowledge of a competent IT administrator. For example, IT must understand the relationships and dependencies of all layers of hardware, server software, networking protocols and configuration. Whereas a software developers’ troubleshooting process is simpler with the use of debuggers and custom error/exception logging. IT must rely on multiple tools with a methodical mindset in troubleshooting issues.

 

So invest in learning networking and troubleshooting issues, and you’ll impress the IT folks when you hand them root cause analysis and perhaps a recommendation to the solution 😉

 

And so to wrap up my knowledge and my notes, I have assembled a powerpoint presentation deck. There are some notes and resource links in the Notes section of each slide. I have presented to my colleagues and plan to speak at technology user groups and conferences.

 

Networking For Application Developers by Roy Kim

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