[ WELCOME · START HERE ]

NEW HERE?
HERE'S WHERE TO START._

TheLineman is a hands-on CCNA + networking site by Dylan Doyle — CCNA-certified network analyst (CCNP Enterprise in progress) at Halton DSB and Fortinet home lab operator. Every article, lab, and tool here is documented from real work, real gear, and real mistakes. New here? Tell us where you're at — or follow the three steps below.

[ ▶ WHERE ARE YOU AT? ]
Brand new to networking How to start the CCNA ▶ Studying for the CCNA The guided study path ▶ Just here to practice Interactive tools ▶ Building a home lab The homelab path ▶
[ ★ NEW HERE? DO THESE 3 THINGS ]
1 Try today's Daily Drill Six fresh CCNA questions, graded instantly — the fastest way to see where you stand. ▶ 2 Open the CCNA Study Hub — your map All 53 official exam topics in study order, each linked to the article, lab, and tool that covers it. ▶ 3 Grab the free subnetting cheat sheet Every prefix /8 to /32 — mask, block size, hosts, wildcard — sent the moment you subscribe. ▶

★ PICK YOUR PATH

Not sure where to dive in? Pick the path that fits what you're here for — each one points you straight to the right place.

[ CCNA · STUDY ] STUDYING FOR
YOUR CCNA? 53 official exam topics, mapped in study order and linked to every article, lab, and tool that covers them — then drill each one until it's automatic. GO TO STUDY HUB ▶ PRACTICE TOOLS ▶
[ HOME LAB · FORTINET ] BUILDING A
HOME LAB? Real Fortinet gear, real configs, real costs — FortiGate, FortiSwitch, FortiAP, documented from scratch in a five-stage build order. THE HOMELAB PATH ▶
Fortinet on a Budget: My Stack The 1500-Byte Lie — MTU, MSS & the VPN Black Hole
[ SELF-HOSTING · LINUX ] SELF-HOSTING
ON LINUX? Apache, Cloudflare Tunnel, Pi-hole, Umami — this very site runs on a home-lab box. Here's how it's wired. READ THE BUILD ▶
Ditching Google Analytics for Umami
[ CAREER · NETWORKING ] EARLY IN YOUR
IT CAREER? Co-op to full-time network analyst — what the job actually looks like day to day vs. what you study for the exam. WHAT THE JOB'S LIKE ▶
Is the CCNA Worth It in 2026? — An Honest Take

★ WHO IS THIS GUY

░░░░░░░ ░ DD ░ ░░░░░░░ LVL 23 NET ANALYST

I'm Dylan Doyle — network analyst at Halton District School Board in Burlington, ON. BIT NET grad from Carleton and Algonquin. Two co-op summers at Halton's ISIS department, kept on full time after graduation.

I run a Fortinet home lab — FortiGate 60F, FortiSwitch 124D, FortiAP 421E — and self-host everything including this site on a Pop!_OS box running Apache2 behind a Cloudflare Tunnel.

Working toward my CCNA. Training for a full Ironman. Documenting all of it here — the labs, the certs, the mistakes, the grind.

FULL BIO ▶
[ ★ THE SHORT VERSION ] This site exists because I learn better when I write things down — and because every time I figured something out the hard way, I wished someone had documented it properly. If you're studying for CCNA, building a home lab, or trying to figure out what an IT career actually looks like in practice — you're in the right place._