What is the importance of linux in a network?

I've seen several ads for companies wanting a network admin. but you have to be able to run linux. I was just wondering what a person would use linux for in their network. Is it like a firewall or does it have another purpose?

 

Linux is very commonly used for server, firewalls and just genral purpose file servers. Linux is a very customizable os, so thats why lots of networks are using it.

 

There is No Linux Network.

The common Network used by most is Ethernet. On an Ethernet Network, you can network together Computers that run Windows OS', Apple, Linux, and more.

Importance of Linux in a network?

It is not a matter of importance, some people have there own reasons to run a combination of computers.

As an Example, many inexpensive Host services run Linux Hardware because they can get very inexpensive Linux Internet appliances, so they can start a service with very little investment.

On the other hand, these appliances would not run (or would run with limitation), some of the fancy newer sites that use updated windows programming

 

i wasn't meaning a linux network cat5e, i worded my post poorly sorry. Colemanguy- thanks for the info it helped explain what linux machines are primarily used for on a network.
Cat5e- thank you too for the input it shed light on some grey areas also.
i've worked very little with linux so i just am trying to ask some questions so if i run into a linux machine on a network one of these days i'll have an idea of what it's purpose is. another question. why is it that a distro for home use and some client distros are free but if you buy any corporate linux distros it's really expensive? i can't think of an example right off hand, but i think fedora core is like this also. also if you were using a linux file server are the files you put on it only recognized by a windows machine or is there a file type that is recognized by both operating systems? sorry if i don't make much sense, but linux is confusing to me. thanks again for all your help.

 

While there are many free distibutions of Linux, there's nothing in the linux license agreement (The Gnu Public License or GPL) that says that someone can't take a linux distribution, modify it for a specific purpose or environment, and then sell the modified version for a profit. This is exactly what some companies (like the distributors of suse linux - IIRC, IBM had a hand in that) have done. Essentially, they are trying to make a product out of free materials... For example, suse is an enterprise edition of the operating system.

As for a file server, there is a specific configuration (or is it a 3rd party app - sorry, I'm rusty with *nix myself), but it is a fileserver called SAMBA, and that is specifically for having a linux host serving windows clients. Linux can actually emulate the windows file system...its called vfat for virtual file allocation table (Windows originally worked on ONLY FAT filesystems before NTFS was introduced - which, btw is a bit of a rip off of Linux's filesystem in the first place)

 

From a network admin side of things, knowing how *nix systems work is of a great advantage. A lot of network appliances be it a mail server to a file server to a web server to a firewall to a router (embedded linux solutions) use some form of *nix.

*nix are very good OSes to maintain, and you can tailor it to your exact requirements. You have complete power over their operation in most cases, and you can make them do anything you want them to. They have other useful capabilities such are remote syslogging (very handy if you've got a NOC and want a centralised place to monitor a lot of different machines).

Not only that they can also be very compact - and run on minimal hardware. Such is the case in embedded linux which is run on a lot of home ADSL WiFi routers these days.

A lot of industry grade software will run on *nix, too. For example, CheckPoint firewall will run on Linux, solaris, HP-UX to name a few.

There are million and one reasons why knowing *nix is helpful to an advanced network admin.

 

One of the primary reasons is that it's more secure, even by default, than Windows.

 

That can be debated to the end of time and you will get many opinions about Linux/Windows security.

No, operating system is secure out of the box. They all have to be hardened. The major security advantage of Linux over Windows is that Linux User Accounts do not have elevated privileges when first created. Windows by default assigns all new User Accounts to the "Administrator Group". This is very bad from the security stand point. Viruses and worms can wreck the entire system this way, instead of confining the damage to the User Account only.

 

Obviously no operating system is completely secure out of the box as it can't be completely secure anyway, but in my opinion Linux is more secure after a fresh install than Windows is.

 

Though if you don't know what you're doing you can make it pretty insecure very quickly!

 

Yeah that's true. The learning curve is one of the things that puts Windows users off Linux, but then it's the same with everything new.