A real Linux server in every lesson

Watch a short video, then practise on your own Linux server in the browser. Break it, fix it, and click Check my work.

Built for career changers

No IT background needed. Every term and every command is explained, word by word.

Only what Splunk admins use

We cut what you won't need. You learn permissions, logs, DNS, ports, certificates, disks and scripts: the daily work of a Splunk admin.

Why Splunk? A career with real demand

Well-paid work, room to grow

Splunk admins average about $102,000 a year in the US (ZipRecruiter, 2026). With experience you can grow into architect roles at $170,000 to $230,000, and Cisco's own Splunk engineer jobs list $170,000 to $315,000 (2026 job posts).

Security jobs are growing fast

US jobs for information security analysts are projected to grow 29% from 2024 to 2034, with about 16,000 openings a year (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Security teams watch their systems with tools like Splunk.

A gold standard for security teams

Splunk has been a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) 11 years in a row (Splunk, 2025). Cisco bought Splunk in 2024.

Your path into IT

Companies everywhere need people who can run Splunk, and every Splunk job starts with Linux. This course teaches the Linux and networking you need for that job, and leaves out the rest. You start with your very first command. Step by step you learn to manage files and permissions, install and run services, follow data across the network, read logs, keep servers healthy and write small scripts. Every lesson has a short video, a hands-on lab on your own Linux server, and a quiz. At the end you fix a broken server on your own, pass a readiness check and install your first Splunk server. Then you are ready for Splunk training.

Watch. Practise. Check.

Every lesson follows the same simple loop. Watch a 5 to 8 minute video, or read the slides as a PDF. Practise on your own Linux server: follow the steps, then break something on purpose and fix it. Check yourself with Check my work and a short quiz. Already know a topic? Skip ahead.

Curriculum

14 Chapters · 64 Lessons

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Welcome to the server room

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Terminal survival skills

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      The Linux map: folders and paths

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Working with files and folders

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Reading files and watching logs

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Editing config files with nano and vi

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Connecting commands: pipes and redirection

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Users, groups and service accounts

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Permissions: read, write, execute

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Folder permissions: the hidden blocker

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Root and sudo: just enough power

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      ACLs: give one account access

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Installing software

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Downloads, archives and checksums

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Environment variables and PATH

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Processes: what is running and who owns it

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Services with systemd

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Scheduled jobs with cron

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      How networks work: IP addresses and routes

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      How computers find each other (DNS)

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Ports and protocols (TCP and UDP)

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Testing a connection step by step

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Firewalls: open exactly one port

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Remote access with SSH

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      The web and APIs (HTTP and curl)

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Where logs live

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Searching logs

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Log formats

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Time, time zones and time sync

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Log rotation

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      The troubleshooting method

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Disks, partitions and filesystems

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Mounting and /etc/fstab

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Disk full: find what is filling it

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Growing storage with LVM

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Security basics and protecting secrets

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Hardening SSH and accounts

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Reading security logs

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Certificates and TLS made simple

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Slicing text: top-5 reports

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Regular expressions

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      sed and awk basics

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Bash scripts

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Project: server health-check script

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      CPU and load

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Memory, swap and the OOM killer

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Is the disk slow?

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Limits Splunk checks (ulimit and THP)

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Syslog over the network

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      See the traffic with tcpdump

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Config file styles

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Which setting wins?

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Safe changes and rollback

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Cloud basics

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Create your own cloud server

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Snapshots, resizing and switching off to save money

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Capstone: fix a broken server

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Linux readiness assessment

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      What Splunk does: the journey of a log line

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Prepare Linux and install one Splunk server

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Splunk on Linux, day to day

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Get Linux data into Splunk

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      The missing-data checklist

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Optional: Connect Splunk to Kafka (just the basics)

Break it. Fix it. Learn it.

Not sure yet? Try one lesson free first: DNS Made Simple, on your own Linux server, in about 20 minutes. Find it under All products.

Join the course