CNIT 271  Prerequisite skills:   A list of some important concepts and tools from the prerequisite/advisory classes.   I expect you will know most of the concepts  & be able to use most of the commands in each category.   If these are mostly unknown to you, then please take the corresponding class first. 

• from Intro to Linux/Unix (CS 160A):
• how to use "ssh" to login to your student linux account on host: hills.ccsf.edu
• comfortable working at the linux/unix command line (typing in commands is not a problem)
• structure of unix -- kernel, shell, commands, utilities
• know that there can be differences in command names, arguments & pathnames between versions of linux & unix.
  
• unix file structure -- absolute and relative pathnames, the difference between starting a command with "/", "./", "../"
• home directory & current working directory
• $PATH - what it contains, when is it used?   how to display it?
  
• basic file and directory permissions
• basic file & directory-related commands, like:  pwd, cd, mkdir, rmdir, ls, ll, df, du, mv, rm, cat, ">", ">>"
  
• basic Unix commands and utilities, like:  grep, head, tail, cut, sort, find, who, id, type, ps
  
• basic regular expressions (asterisk, period, caret, dollar sign, square brackets, question mark)
• how to use pipes
• how to redirect standard output
• the seven fields defining a unix account as stored in /etc/passwd -- username, password, uid, gid, real name, home directory, startup shell
• what is superuser, root, su -
  
• processes:  ps    (great if you also know:   ps -ef)
  
• how to view a text file a page at a time with "more"  (or "less")       and search through it with:  /pattern
  
• how to edit a text file with a text editor, like "pico" or "nano" (better if you know how to use the more powerful "vi" or "emacs" editors)

• from Intro to Networking (CNIT 106 or CNIT 201)
  
• OSI & TCP/IP models, how many layers, names, basic functions, how the layers map to each other
• one or two protocols at each TCP/IP layer
  
• what is encapsulation?   what is packet-switching?   how does a packet move through a network?
  
• client and server model for network applications
• making a connection:  IP addresses locate the computers, logical port numbers locate the programs at those computers.
• network troubleshooting commands, like:  ifconfig (ipconfig on windows), netstat -rn, ping, traceroute, ps -ef

• additional Unix commands that are taught in class (but it is great if you already know them)
  
• basic navigation of the GUI on RedHat/Fedora Linux
• creating and restoring from a backup archive using "tar"
  
• copying a backup archive across a network using "scp" to your student unix account on hills.ccsf.edu
  
• using "make" to automatically compile & link a server program from a source code package

last updated: 2/06/2009