Week 1: Networking Challenge (Phase 2)

🚀 DevOps Key Protocols & Ports You Should Know!

You've undoubtedly heard a lot of lingo, including HTTP, SSH, DNS, and more, whether you're an IT professional or simply interested in the collaboration between modern development and operations, or DevOps.

1. 🌐 1. HTTP & HTTPS – Talking to the Web

   Protocols: HTTP (Port 80), HTTPS (Port 443)

   🔍 What it does:
   /HyperText Transfer Protocol is referred to as HTTP. It's how webpages communicate with your browser. With HTTPS, your data is encrypted, making it the secure version (🔒).

   🛠 Why it matters in DevOps:

   Utilized in monitoring tools, online apps, and APIs. DevOps developers use HTTP/HTTPS to automate the deployment of online services.

   💡 Example:
   When your app talks to PayPal, it's using HTTPS to keep payment info secure.

2. 📂 2. FTP – File Transfer Protocol

   Protocol: FTP (Port 21)

   🔍 What it does:

   It enables file transfers between your computer and a server.

   🛠 Why it matters in DevOps:

   Used to move backups, logs, and builds.
   FTP procedures are still used by some legacy systems.

   💡 Example:
   Uploading a new version of a website to a server manually using FileZilla (a popular FTP client).

3. 🔐 3. SSH – Secure Shell

   Protocol: SSH (Port 22)

   🔍 What it does:

   SSH allows you to safely access a computer from a distance, such as your cloud server.

   🛠 Why it matters in DevOps:

   Used to deploy code, run scripts, and log into servers.
   A daily resource for cloud developers and system administrators.

   💡 Example:

   Typing ssh user@myserver.com to log into a remote machine.

4. 🌍 4. DNS – Domain Name System

   Protocol: DNS (Port 53)

   🔍 What it does:

   It converts domain names into IP addresses, such as google.com.

   🛠 Why it matters in DevOps:

   Apps must search for services by name. U tilized in multi-cloud configurations, load balancing, and automation.

   💡 Example:

   When a server makes a call to api.mycompany.com, DNS finds the right machine to talk to.

5. 📡 5. ARP & RARP – Finding Your Neighbors

   Protocols:

   • ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)

   • RARP (Reverse Address Resolution Protocol)

     🔍 What they do:

     ARP: Determines which hardware address (MAC) corresponds to an IP address.

     RARP: Does the opposite—finds out the IP address based on MAC

     🛠 Why it matters in DevOps:

     Cloud networking is essential for debugging networks.
     Supports Kubernetes and other container orchestration platforms.

     💡 Example:
     Your laptop asking, "Hey, who has 192.168.1.1?" ARP replies with, “That’s me, here’s my MAC!”

6. 🧮 6. CIDR – Smarter IP Grouping

   Term: CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing)

   🔍 What it does:
   CIDR helps define IP address ranges using a format like /24, /16, etc.

   🛠 Why it matters in DevOps:

   Used to configure Kubernetes clusters, cloud VPCs, and firewalls.
   limits the IPs that can access services.

   💡 Example:
   192.168.1.0/24 means all IPs from .1 to .254 in that network are part of the same group.

7. 🎯 7. MAC – The Hardware Address

   Term: MAC (Media Access Control) Address

   🔍 What it is:

   Similar to a fingerprint, each device has a distinct MAC address. Like a fingerprint. It's used for local networking.

   🛠 Why it matters in DevOps:

   Beneficial for troubleshooting, access control, and network security.
   Required occasionally for static DHCP reservations.

   💡 Example:
   A router assigns your laptop the same IP every time, based on its MAC address.

☁️ AWS EC2 & Security Groups: A Beginner's Step-by-Step Guide

🚀 What You'll Learn:

✅ How to launch a Free Tier EC2 instance
✅ How to create and configure Security Groups
✅ Why Security Groups are the firewalls of the cloud

🧰 Tools You’ll Need:

✅ An AWS account (Free Tier is perfect!)

✅ Basic understanding of web interfaces

✅ About 20 minutes ⏰

🧭 Step 1: Log In to AWS Console:

🔗 Go to: https://aws.amazon.com

1. Sign in with your AWS credentials.

2. In the search bar, type EC2 and click the result.

🖥 Step 2: Launch an EC2 Instance:

1. Click “Launch Instance”.

2. Name your instance something fun like MyFirstServer.

🧩 Choose the AMI (Amazon Machine Image)

• Pick Amazon Linux 2023 or Ubuntu 20.04 LTS – both are Free Tier eligible.

💻 Choose Instance Type

• Select t2.micro – Free Tier eligible ✅

🔐 Step 3: Configure a New Security Group:

What is a Security Group?

🛡 It’s like your cloud server’s personal firewall. It controls:

• Who can access it

• Which ports are open (e.g., web, SSH, database)

🛠 Step-by-Step: Create Security Group

1. Choose “Create new security group”

2. Name it something like my-ec2-security-group

3. Add Inbound rules:

   • ✅ SSH (Port 22) – from My IP only (for secure remote login)

     • 🔍 This prevents others from accessing your server via terminal

   • 🌍 Optional: HTTP (Port 80) – from Anywhere (for websites)

   • 🔒 Optional: HTTPS (Port 443) – from Anywhere (for secure websites)

4. Leave Outbound rules as default (all traffic allowed) ✅

📂 Step 4: Create or Select a Key Pair 🔑:

You’ll need a key pair to access your server via SSH.

1. Choose “Create new key pair”

2. Name it (e.g., my-key)

3. Select format:

   • .pem for Mac/Linux

   • .ppk for Windows (for PuTTY)

4. Download the key file – keep it safe!

✅ Step 5: Launch Your EC2 Instance!:

• Review everything

• Click Launch Instance

• Wait a few seconds ⏱

🎉 Boom! Your server is live!

📘 Summary Table:

📦 Wrap-Up:

🔹 You've just set up a safe AWS EC2 instance!

🔹Ready to launch websites, execute scripts, or experiment with cloud magic?

🔹 Set up your first Security Group like a pro 🧠

💡 Final Tip:

"In the world of DevOps/Cloud computing, security isn't a one-time setup — it's a mindset. 🌤️
Start small, stay curious, and build with security in every step. The cloud gives you the power to scale — but it’s your knowledge that makes it resilient. 🔐💪
Keep exploring, keep learning. The more you automate wisely, the more time you gain to innovate boldly." 🚀✨

🙏 Thanks for reading! If this helped you, feel free to drop a like, comment your thoughts, or share it with your cloud-curious friends.