Networking for DevOps Engineers

Bhagya-patelBhagya-patel
6 min read

🔹 What is Networking in DevOps?

In DevOps, 🌐 networking refers to the setup, management, and automation of network resources to enable seamless communication 📡, security 🔐, and scalability 📈 of applications and infrastructure. it ensures that CI/CD pipelines 🚀, containers 🐳, cloud services ☁️, and monitoring tools 📊 work efficiently across distributed environments.

🔹 Why is Networking Important in DevOps?

✅ 1. Infrastructure Automation

  • Tools like Ansible, Terraform, and Kubernetes automate deployments, but they need network connectivity to configure servers, databases, and cloud services.

✅ 2. CI/CD Pipelines (Code Deployment)

  • DevOps tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and GitLab CI/CD push/pull code between repositories and servers, requiring proper network access.

  • Misconfigured networks can break deployments or block access to resources.

✅ 3. Containers & Microservices Networking

  • Docker & Kubernetes use virtual networks for service discovery, internal communication, and load balancing.

  • Without proper networking, microservices won’t be able to interact effectively.

✅ 4. Cloud & Hybrid Cloud Networking

  • Knowledge of VPCs, subnets, security groups, NAT gateways, and VPNs is essential for cloud-based DevOps (AWS, Azure, GCP).

  • Hybrid cloud setups need network bridging, peering, and firewall rules to connect on-prem servers with cloud environments.

✅ 5. Monitoring & Logging

  • Tools like Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, and Datadog collect logs and performance metrics from different servers over the network.

  • If networking is slow or broken, monitoring data may be incomplete or delayed.

✅ 6. Security & Compliance

  • DevOps engineers must implement firewalls, IAM (Identity & Access Management), TLS encryption, API security, and Zero Trust Networking to protect systems.

  • Regular network scanning, intrusion detection (Snort, Suricata), and penetration testing ensure security compliance.

✅ 7. Performance & Reliability Optimization

  • Load balancing, caching (CDN, Redis, Memcached), and auto-scaling help maintain high performance.

  • Proper traffic shaping, failover strategies, and redundancy improve uptime and prevent downtime.

✅ 8. Remote Access & Collaboration

  • DevOps engineers often work remotely and need secure access via VPNs, SSH, and RDP.

  • Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) ensures only authorized users can modify infrastructure.

🔹 Types of Networks & Their Use Cases

1️⃣ LAN (Local Area Network)

✔ Definition: A small, localized network covering a home, office, or campus.
✔ Use Case:

  • Office Network – Employees share files & printers within the company.

  • Development Environment – DevOps teams connect local servers for testing.

  • IoT & Smart Home – Devices (Alexa, smart lights) communicate over Wi-Fi.

2️⃣ WAN (Wide Area Network)

✔ Definition: Connects multiple LANs across cities or countries over the internet.
✔ Use Case:

  • Cloud Computing – AWS, Azure, and GCP provide cloud services via WAN.

  • Remote Work & VPNs – Employees securely access company resources.

  • Global DevOps Teams – Developers collaborate across different locations.

3️⃣ MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)

✔ Definition: Covers a city or large campus, larger than LAN but smaller than WAN.
✔ Use Case:

  • Internet Service Providers (ISPs) – Provides broadband services to cities.

  • University Networks – Connects multiple campus buildings.

  • Smart City Infrastructure – Traffic management, surveillance, and IoT devices.

4️⃣ PAN (Personal Area Network)

✔ Definition: Smallest network used for personal device connectivity (1-10 meters).
✔ Use Case:

  • Bluetooth Devices – Wireless earphones, keyboards, smartwatches.

  • Hotspot Sharing – Mobile phones share the internet via Wi-Fi.

  • Medical IoT Devices – Smart health monitors like heart rate sensors.

🔹The OSI Model and Its Layers

The OSI model is a seven-layer framework for understanding data transmission in networks. Each layer has specific functions:

PDNT SPA(easy to remember)

  1. Physical Layer: Handles hardware aspects like media, bit representation, data rate, synchronization, and topology.

  2. Data Link Layer: Manages framing, physical addressing, error control, flow control, and access control.

  3. Network Layer: Responsible for routing, congestion control, and billing.

  4. Transport Layer: Ensures reliable communication via segmentation, reassembly, flow control, and error handling.

  5. Session Layer: Controls dialog and synchronization.

  6. Presentation Layer: it’s user for data encoding and encryption in short it’s for security of data

  7. Application Layer: Provides services like file transfer, email, and directory access.

🔹 What is TCP/IP?

TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. It is a suite of communication protocols used to connect network devices on the Internet.

TCP/IP is also widely used in private networks, such as intranets or extranets.

🔹Protocols and Ports for DevOps

1. HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) 🌍💻

  • Port: 80

  • Purpose: Used for transferring web pages (without encryption)

2. HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) 🔐🌐

  • Port: 443

  • Purpose: Secure version of HTTP, encrypts data with SSL/TLS for safe communication

3. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) 📂🔄

  • Port: 21 (Control), 20 (Data transfer)

  • Purpose: Used for transferring files between a client and a server

4. SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) 🔐📂

  • Port: 22

  • Purpose: Secure version of FTP that works over SSH for encrypted file transfer

5. SSH (Secure Shell) 🔒🖥️

  • Port: 22

  • Purpose: Secure remote login to servers for management and configuration

6. DNS (Domain Name System) 🌐📡

  • Port: 53

  • Purpose: Translates human-readable domain names (like google.com) into IP addresses

7. Telnet (📞)

  • Port: 23

  • Purpose: Used for remote access to devices or servers, typically for text-based communication (not secure).

8. SMTP (📧)

  • Port: 25

  • Purpose: Protocol for sending emails between mail servers.

9. SNMP (📡)

  • Port: 161

  • Purpose: Protocol for sending emails between mail servers.

🔹Networking key Points

IP Addressing

  • IP Address: A unique identifier for each device on a network. It’s like a phone number for devices!

    • IPv4: 32-bit address, written in four octets (e.g., 192.168.0.1)

    • IPv6: 128-bit address, written in eight groups of hexadecimal (e.g., 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334) 🌐

Subnetting

  • Subnet: Dividing a network into smaller, more manageable parts. Think of it as splitting a big city into neighborhoods

  • Subnet Mask: A way to define which part of the IP address is the network and which is the host. For example, 255.255.255.0

    • Network Portion: Identifies the specific network

    • Host Portion: Identifies individual devices in that network

Routing and Switching

Router

The router is a networking device that works at the network layer, which is the third layer of the ISO-OSI model. It is a multiport device that establishes a simple connection between networks to provide data flow. The router transfers data in the form of packets and is used in LAN and MAN.

Switch

A switch is a device used for point-to-point communication. It acts like a bridge, connecting different devices and providing better connections. It sets up and stops connections based on what is needed at the time.

VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)

  • Purpose: A VPC is a private, isolated network within a cloud environment (e.g., AWS, Azure). It’s like setting up your own private house (network) in a larger city (cloud)

  • Components of a VPC:

    • Subnets: Dividing your VPC into smaller sections, like rooms in your house

    • Route Tables: Determines how traffic should be routed within your VPC

    • Internet Gateway: Allows your VPC to communicate with the internet

Load Balancer

  • Purpose: A load balancer distributes incoming traffic across multiple servers or instances to ensure no single server is overwhelmed, improving availability and reliability

    • Types:

      • Application Load Balancer (ALB): Routes traffic based on the content of the request, like directing traffic based on the type of website (HTTP/HTTPS)

      • Network Load Balancer (NLB): Routes traffic at the transport layer (TCP/UDP) for high-performance and low-latency use cases

Firewalls and Security Groups

Security is a major concern for DevOps teams . Configuring firewalls and security groups ensures that only authorized traffic can access your resources . Understanding how to configure these network security measures is key to maintaining the integrity of your infrastructure .

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Bhagya-patel
Bhagya-patel