Systems & Hardware Courses
Operating systems, servers, and the physical layer - Linux and Windows administration down to components and repair
This is the category underneath every other technical category. Cloud is somebody else's operating system; security is mostly things happening to an operating system; development eventually meets a server that will not start. What sits here is that layer: Linux and Windows administration, directory services, virtualisation, and the computer architecture courses that explain why a cache miss costs what it does. Nobody searches for it by name, and everybody needs it.
The listings show four strands running side by side. Linux administration and its practice tests. Windows and Active Directory, increasingly through PowerShell and automation. Virtualisation, with the VMware networking courses as the visible example. And computer organisation and architecture, the university material about instruction sets, memory hierarchies and CPU design that most working administrators never studied and would be better for. They share a category because Udemy's categories put them there, and they belong together because a person who understands all four can be trusted with a machine.
Where each strand leads
| Strand | The certificate that examines it | Exam page |
|---|---|---|
| Linux administration | Three options with different formats and languages | Linux+, LPIC-1, RHCSA |
| Windows and directory services | No vendor-neutral exam; Microsoft's identity paper covers the cloud half | SC-300 |
| Networking underneath both | The vendor-neutral paper, then Cisco's if the kit is Cisco | Network+, CCNA |
| Hardware and repair | CompTIA's two-exam entry certificate | A+ |
The Linux choice is the one people agonise over, and the exam pages settle it in a paragraph each: Red Hat's is performed on live systems and matters where Red Hat is run; LPI's is two exams, widely translated and valid for five years; CompTIA's is English only and renews the rest of CompTIA's ladder. The course you take should match the exam you intend to sit, because the three examine the same operating system with different emphases and, in Red Hat's case, a different format entirely.
How to work through it
- Install two Linux distributions from different families and break both. Everything else in this category assumes you have.
- Take one architecture course even if nobody asks you to. Knowing what the memory hierarchy does turns performance from folklore into arithmetic.
- Learn PowerShell if you touch Windows, because Active Directory administration by clicking does not scale and the courses here already assume you know that.
- Leave virtualisation until you have a reason, then take the vendor's own course for the platform you run.
The practice-test listings are for a specific exam
Several courses here are question banks for a named Linux or networking exam. They are useful in the last fortnight before that exam and useless as teaching material. Check the exam code against the certification pages before buying one, because banks for retired exam versions stay on sale.
Certifications in this area
Concepts behind this area
TCP/IP
TCP/IP is the family of protocols on which the internet runs: IP moves packets between addresses without guarantees, and TCP or UDP ride on top to deliver either a reliable ordered stream or fast unordered messages.
OSI Model
The OSI model is a seven-layer reference framework that separates networking into physical transmission, link, network, transport, session, presentation and application concerns, used to reason about where a problem sits rather than to describe any real protocol stack.
IP Addressing
IP addressing is the scheme that gives every interface on a network a numeric address, with IPv4's four-byte addresses now supplemented by IPv6's much larger space, and with private ranges reserved for use inside networks that reach the internet through translation.
Caching
Caching keeps the result of expensive work, such as a rendered page or a database query, and serves that stored copy until it expires, making it the largest single source of speed on any busy website.
Uptime & SLA
Uptime is the proportion of time a service answers requests, quoted in nines, and a service level agreement is the contract clause setting out how that proportion is counted and what the provider owes when it falls short.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting puts your website on a machine that is simultaneously running hundreds of other people's, pooling its processor, memory and disk between all of you, which is both why it costs so little and why your speed partly depends on strangers.
The field, explained: Hosting & Cloud
This category belongs to the field IT Support, Networking and Infrastructure, which maps the topics, concepts and certifications behind these courses.
Frequently asked
- Linux or Windows first?
- Linux, unless your employer is a Windows shop and says so. It is where the cloud runs, where the security material lives, and where a command line is unavoidable, which is the skill that transfers. Windows administration can be learned on the job more easily than Linux can.
- Do I need the computer architecture material?
- Not to pass any certificate here, and yes to understand why anything is slow. It is the strand people skip and later wish they had not, usually while staring at a profiler.
- Which Linux certificate should I aim for?
- Let the employer decide: Red Hat shops want RHCSA. Where nobody has chosen for you, LPIC-1 is neutral and translated, and Linux+ makes sense if you already hold other CompTIA certificates.
- Is a repair and hardware course still worth taking?
- For a support career, yes, and A+ examines it. For anyone heading toward cloud or security, the hardware layer matters less than the operating system on top of it, and the time is better spent there.
Why Learn Systems & Hardware?
The layer beneath the apps: Linux from first shell commands to server administration, Windows Server, virtualization, and the hardware knowledge - components, assembly, troubleshooting - that still underpins every IT career.
Last reviewed 26 September 2026 · Getting Digital