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Hectal

Networking · 8 phases · 32 topics · ~4 h

The Networking Roadmap

Every phase is labelled by level so you can start where you are. Each topic opens with a real-life analogy, then commands and code you run yourself, then questions with reveal answers. Progress is saved as you go.

Beginner no prior knowledgeIntermediate day-to-day workAdvanced production and interviews

The full curriculum

Level
Phase 0

How the Internet Actually Works

Beginner ~34 min0/4 · 0%

Packets, layers, and the journey of one request — the mental model every later topic hangs on.

Phase 1

IP Addressing & Subnetting

Beginner ~33 min0/4 · 0%

IPv4, binary, CIDR and subnet math, private vs public ranges, special addresses, and IPv6 — so VPC and Kubernetes network designs stop being magic.

Phase 2

Transport: TCP, UDP & Ports

Intermediate ~28 min0/4 · 0%

Ports and sockets, the TCP handshake and teardown, reliability and congestion control, connection states like TIME_WAIT, and when UDP (and QUIC) is the better choice.

Phase 3

DNS — The Internet's Phonebook

Intermediate ~28 min0/4 · 0%

How a name becomes an address, every record type you'll use, TTLs and caching, debugging with dig, and DNS inside Docker, Kubernetes, and the cloud.

Phase 4

Routing, NAT & the Edge

Intermediate ~28 min0/4 · 0%

How packets find their way: ARP and switching, routing tables and default gateways, NAT and PAT, BGP and anycast on the internet, and CDNs at the edge.

Phase 5

Load Balancing & Reverse Proxies

Intermediate ~27 min0/4 · 0%

L4 vs L7, balancing algorithms and health checks, then hands-on Nginx, HAProxy, and Envoy.

Phase 6

Troubleshooting & Container Networking

Advanced ~23 min0/3 · 0%

A repeatable debugging method and toolkit, reading packet captures of your own traffic, how containers get networks (namespaces, veth, bridges), and how Kubernetes CNIs and eBPF move pod traffic.

Phase 7

HTTP, HTTPS & Application Protocols

Intermediate ~39 min0/5 · 0%

The protocol almost every service speaks: requests, methods, status codes, headers, cookies and sessions, caching, HTTP/1.1 vs 2 vs 3, how HTTPS and certificates work, and the other application protocols you'll meet (SSH, FTP, SMTP, IMAP, ICMP).