Every application runs on a network. This course covers the switch and routing fundamentals, VLANs for segmentation, DHCP and DNS for address management, and the monitoring tools that catch network problems before users notice them.
This is a text-first course that links out to the best supporting material on the internet instead of trying to replace it. The goal is to make this the best course on network administration and infrastructure you can find — even without producing a single minute of custom video.
This course is built by people who ship production network systems for a living. It reflects how things actually work on real projects — not how the documentation describes them.
Every day has working code snippets you can paste into your editor and run right now. The emphasis is on understanding what each line does, not memorizing syntax.
Instead of shooting videos that go stale in six months, Precision AI Academy links to the definitive open-source implementations, official documentation, and the best conference talks on the topic.
Each day is designed to finish in about an hour of focused reading plus hands-on work. You can do the whole course over a week of lunch breaks. No calendar commitment, no live classes, no quizzes.
Each day stands alone. Read them in order for the full picture, or jump straight to the day that answers the question you have today.
How Layer 2 switches forward frames using MAC address tables, 802.1Q VLAN tagging for network segmentation, trunk ports, and spanning tree to prevent loops.
How routers forward packets using routing tables, static routes, and dynamic routing protocols (OSPF, BGP basics). NAT for private IP address space.
How DHCP assigns IP addresses, the DORA handshake, DHCP scopes and reservations, relay agents for multi-subnet DHCP, and the dhcpd.conf patterns for common configurations.
Recursive vs authoritative DNS, zones and records (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, PTR), the resolution chain from stub resolver to root, and split-horizon DNS for internal/external resolution.
SNMP polling, syslog aggregation, ICMP-based uptime monitoring, NetFlow for traffic analysis, and the alerting thresholds that matter for each metric.
Instead of shooting our own videos, Precision AI Academy links to the best deep-dives already on YouTube. Watch them alongside the course. All external, all free, all from builders who ship this stuff.
VLANs, routing, and the TCP/IP stack — the network administration foundation.
The DNS resolution chain from stub resolver to root server. A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, and PTR records.
DHCP scopes, reservations, relay agents, and dhcpd.conf configuration.
SNMP polling, uptime monitoring, and building network dashboards.
The best way to understand any technology is to read the production-grade implementations that prove it works. These repositories implement patterns from every day of this course.
Real-time infrastructure monitoring covering the metrics from Day 5. The SNMP and syslog collectors implement the patterns taught.
The most deployed authoritative DNS server. Reading the zone file parser explains how DNS records map to server configuration.
Ansible modules for automating network device configuration — the automation layer on top of everything in this course.
The metrics collection system used in Day 5 network monitoring. The scrape configuration for network targets and alerting rules.
You configure switches and routers but networking fundamentals feel shaky. This course builds the systematic knowledge behind the commands you already run.
Kubernetes networking, VPC routing, and cloud load balancers all build on these fundamentals. This course fills in the layer below cloud networking.
Network+ and CCNA test this material. This course builds practical understanding alongside the theoretical content those exams cover.
The 2-day in-person Precision AI Academy bootcamp covers network administration and infrastructure hands-on. 5 U.S. cities. $1,490. 40 seats max. June–October 2026 (Thu–Fri).
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