Linux! Man, this operating system (OS) is amazing! Instead of having virtually no control over the system (like MAC OS), we have access to everything! I hate in Windows that I cannot delete Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge...And trust me, I've tried.
Linux, it's time to shine! Being able to edit anything we feel like can be amazing, but can also break the entire computer. So, be aware and wise about the changes made!

Background:

Open source is the whole reason the internet works. From the server in your house to the FBI's website, there's sure to be a piece of open source software somewhere in the mix of it. The term open source means to make a piece of software, then freely give it to the world! This has came the norm for the software development industry; and we're all very grateful for this. It's led to the invention of so many fantastic revolutions in the tech industry.

All hail to the king and chief Linus Torvalds! This wonderful man gave us the start of all Linux based operating systems today. Linus starting working on a MINIX (mini unix) system, which was a free operating system at the time with little features. However, he started to customize it for his own liking. Then, he realized that maybe all people would love to start working on his new operating system. In fact, Linux coming from Linus's MINIX system.

In Linux, everything is stored in files. From processes, to keyboard inputs; it's all in files! Which, can make for some really fun and interesting manipulations of the OS. So, being able to manipulate the operating system, understanding where different items live is very important for creating a good environment to work inside of.

The System:

At the very top, is the root. The root is at the very top of the hierarchical structure. Inside of root are a myriad of directories: a few of which will be talked about.

Bin:

Bin is simply short for binary. Inside of this file are the binary executable programs that make up the operating systems commands. Commands such as ping, cat, kill and every other command in then (that are not alias's) are inside of this folder. Typically, we don't want to alter these. But, if installing something, put the binary compilation of the file into the bin directory.

Netstat exists as one of the best, yet simplest tools for the checking what is happening on the network. It is extends from viewing basic operations, like monitoring TCP(transmission control protocol) traffic and does complex operations such as showing the statistics of ports or protocols.

Background:

As a pre-req for this tutorial, it's important to understand some networking basics. This is quite obvious because this is a networking tool in itself.

TCP/UDP/ports:

There are two main protocols that we will be looking at; TCP and UDP(User datagram protocol). These are the underlying protocols for the sending of most information on the internet.

TCP is used for when information MUST be in a particular order. However, because they must be in a particular order, when packets (or little bits of information) are received out of order, it just calls for another packet. This makes the protocol quite slow.So, that's why UDP was invented!

UDP is much faster than TCP; this is because it does not keep track of the order of the packets that are coming in. Even though this leaves room for issues with some packets not reaching the destination, there are situations where speed is more important thanhaving the packets in perfect order. A perfect example of this is streaming videos; the basis of the Netflix streaming is over a protocol based on UDP.

Ports are where the information is being sent to. This helps keeps information going into the same exact area, on a network, all the time. At this point, the ports are only symbolic and have 'conventions' as opposed to rules. The most common port, that people use everyday, is the https port(443). Even though it uses 443, this is only by convention. In theory, it can run on any port.

Networking is much, much more complicated than what is explained above. But, this should cover you for the tutorial on Netstat.

Basic Commands:

Below is how to display all TCP connections currently running.

 netstat -at