sdnog workshops

sdnog workshops provide hands-on training and technical sessions for network operators in Sudan, focusing on areas like network security, IPv6, routing, DNS , etc. These workshops aim to build local capacity and enhance skills among IT professionals, fostering a stronger internet infrastructure in the region.

ISOC Chapters collaboration (Sudan & Lebanon) : DNS/DNSSEC Workshop

The Internet Society (ISOC) Chapters of Sudan and Lebanon have joined forces to strengthen regional expertise in DNS and DNSSEC technologies. This collaboration aims to foster knowledge exchange, build technical capacity, and promote best practices in secure domain name system management.

The DNS/DNSSEC Workshop serves as a platform for participants to learn from experienced trainers and peers, enhancing their skills in DNS operations, DNSSEC implementation, and overall internet security. By working together, the Sudanese and Lebanese ISOC Chapters are creating opportunities for technical advancement and regional cooperation, contributing to a safer and more resilient internet.

Workshop Level

Intermediate Level.
Anyone working with DNS in their corporate or carrier infrastructure will find this class worthwhile. IT technicians, Systems administrators,..

Instructor
Date & Time
Workshop Modules 
Module 1: Introduction to DNS
Gain a solid foundation in how the Domain Name System works, including its critical role in the internet infrastructure. This module also includes practical exercises using tools like dig and drill for testing and troubleshooting DNS configurations, ensuring participants thoroughly understand DNS operations.

Module 2: DNSSEC
Understand the importance of DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) in ensuring the authenticity and integrity of DNS responses, protecting against attacks like DNS spoofing. This module will cover all aspects of DNSSEC, from key management to signing zones, and will include testing using tools like dig to verify DNSSEC implementation.

Module 3: Hands-on Deployment of DNSSEC
Participants will deploy DNSSEC using a real domain on provided Virtual Private Servers (VPS). This practical exercise will ensure a deep understanding of DNSSEC implementation and validation processes.


Requirements 
Participants are required to meet the following:
- Stable Internet Connection
- SSH Client (PuTTY for Windows, macOS/Linux: Built-in terminal)
- Background in Linux: command line, Managing files and directories, permissions and processes, vim & nano, installing packages

Load Balancing Strategies: From Theory to Practice with HAProxy

Date & Time
Intended Audience

This workshop is specifically designed for Senior Systems Engineers who are looking to deepen their understanding of load balancing and HAProxy configuration.

Description

This workshop is a comprehensive 2-hour session that includes both theoretical concepts and practical hands-on labs, with a short break about the Importance of load balancing in modern infrastructure

Instructor
Tutor 
Agenda
Introduction (5 minutes)
Load Balancing Fundamentals (15 minutes)
 * Layer 4 (L4) vs. Layer 7 (L7)
 * Round Robin
 * Least Connections
 * IP Hash
Introduction to HAProxy (10 minutes)
HAProxy Configuration Basics (20 minutes)
 * Frontend
 * Backend
Advanced HAProxy Features (20 minutes)
Live Demo: Setting up HAProxy (30 minutes)
Best Practices and Performance Tuning (10 minutes)
Session Hands-On
Registration URL

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/9U6KTiQfQl2-VJXpqFR7mA 

BGP Resource Management Workshop

The IRR system is a global databases where network operators publish their routing policies and announcements in order for other interested network operators to use that data, for ease of interconnecting and working together. In this workshop we will discuss in details the IRR system and to use it to manage your resources. Attendees will learn how to use common automation techniques to use the IRR easily and efficiently to perform network management.

Special Thanks To Our Sponsors

We Would like to Thanks our wonderful sponsors! without whom our workshop would not be possible:

Objectives

By the end of this workshop you will be able to :

Workshop Level

Intermediate Level

Who should attend

Individuals involved in BGP, BGP network filtering.

Requirements
Date & Time
Instructors
Fees

Free :-)

Materials

You can download the slides from here

Reference

Some useful reading material

ICANN DNS Workshop

Domain Name System "DNS" is one of the core services in the Internet, it translates domain names to IP addresses. This is a 3-days, online theoretical workshop in collaboration with ICANN. You’ll get a comprehensive overview of DNS operations, abuse and security.

Objectives

By the end of the workshop, attendees will know what is DNS? how it works? how to prevent DNS abuse and how to secure it?

Workshop Level

Beginner Level

Prerequisites
Date & Time
Trainers

This online workshop will be delivered by

Agenda

Day 1: DNS Operations

  1. What is DNS?
  2. Some common DNS records
  3. DNS resolution process
  4. Caching
  5. Some best practices

Day 2: DNS Abuse

  1. What is abuse of DNS?
  2. Categories of DNS abuse
  3. Solutions overview
  4. Recommendations

Day 3: DNSSEC

  1. Why DNSSEC ?
  2. What does DNSSEC protect and what doesn’t it protect?
  3. DNSSEC deployment status around the world and in the region.
  4. Who can implement DNSSEC?
  5. Overview of DNSSEC concepts and new resource records.
Offline Materials

Hardening a web-server for the modern internet

Introduction

Hands on how to secure your network Three day course – Philip Paeps

Objectives

By the end of the workshop, everyone should know how to run secure services in jails on FreeBSD and use the pf firewall to keep malicious people on the internet out of their jails.

Prerequisites

Participants should be familiar with Unix-style operating systems. The course is taught on FreeBSD but the environment will be familiar to people with a systems administration background on Linux or Solaris. Participants should bring their own laptops.

Participants

Systems administrators and network operators who are running Network services in their organization.

Workshop Requirements
Instructors

Philip Paeps

Agenda
Time Day 1: Sunday 14 August Day 2: Monday 15 August Day 3: Tuesday 16 August
08:30 – 09:15 (45 minutes) Registration and coffee Registration and coffee Registration and coffee
09:15 – 11:15 (120 minutes) • Installing FreeBSD in a VM
• Where to find installation media
• Which installation to choose
•Installing on a clean machine
• Advanced jails
• Installing a jail from scratch
• Isolating jails with pf
• Nested jails
 • Jailing the Postfix mailserver
• Installing Postfix from a package
• Configuring a basic Postfix in a jail
• letsencrypt.org certificate for SMTP
11:15 – 11:30 (15 minutes) Coffee break Coffee break Coffee break
11:30 – 13:00 (90 minutes) • FreeBSD is not Linux
• Filesystem overview
• init(8) and rc(8) (NO SYSTEMD!)
•Starting and stopping processes
• Package management with pkg(8)
• Using ezjail for easier management
• Installing a dozen jails in two minutes
•Upgrading jails
• Deleting and archiving jails
• Package management across many jails
• Hardening Postfix against spammers
• DNS blacklists and whitelists
•Sender and recipient restrictions
•Fun tricks with multiple IP addresses
13:00 – 14:00 (60 minutes) Lunch Lunch Lunch
14:00 – 15:30 (90 minutes) • pf: the BSD firewall
• Default-deny ruleset
• Allowing services
• NAT and port forwarding		 • Jailing and securing nginx
• Installing nginx in a fresh jail
• Tuning nginx for maximum security
•Obtaining and managing letsencrypt.org certificates
•Online tools for confirming webserver security		 • Building your own custom packages
• Introduction to Poudriere
• Installing Poudriere in a jail
15:30 – 15:45 (15 minutes) Coffee break Coffee break Coffee break
15:45 – 16:30 (45 minutes) •Introduction to jails
• Lightweight virtualisation
• Jails vs. virtual machines
• Mention bhyve		 •Exercises with nginx
• Reverse proxies across multiple jails
•Dodgy services locked up in nested jails		 • Putting it all together
• ezjail, poudriere, nested jails
•Mostly automated installations
•Using multiple package repositories

DNS Workshop

The Domain Name System is one of those topics in IT that you hope is simple and straightforward even though you know everything in IT is complicated. And guess what? DNS is much more complex than first meets the eye! In this hands on focused class we start with the basics and work our way through all of the DNS complexity. The goal of the workshop is to enable the participants to understand the basics of DNS , How to build and activate a caching/authoritative DNS Server and also to understand the role of DNS on the Internet. This workshop is suitable Systems administrators and network operators responsible for the DNS services in their organization.

Workshop Level

Intermediate Level.
Anyone working with DNS in their corporate or carrier infrastructure will find this class worthwhile. IT technicians, Systems administrators,..

Instructor
Requirements
Date & Time
What you will learn
Registration
Workshop materials

you can find this workshop materials at:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eI9PeE5KBad8Y_BAPdal6QyaCmipk2Xp

DNSSEC Workshop

Introduction

Hands on DNS and DNSSEC Three day course – Philip Paeps

Objectives

At the end of this course, participants will be familiar with the Domain Name System and Security Extensions to the Domain Name System (DNSSEC). The course is taught "hands-on" in a virtualised FreeBSD environment. Participants will configure authoritative and recursive domain name servers and will learn to analyse and debug common misconfigurations and bugs

Prerequisites

Participants should be familiar with Unix-style operating systems. The course is taught on FreeBSD but the environment will be familiar to people with a systems administration background on Linux or Solaris. Participants should bring their own laptops. The virtualised lab environment is hosted on a server in Germany. Reliable internet connectivity with reasonable latency is required

Participants

Systems administrators and network operators responsible for the DNS services in their organisation.

Workshop Requirements
Instructors

Philip Paeps

Agenda
Time Day 1: Sunday 23 August Day 2: Monday 24 August Day 3: Tuesday 25
08:30 – 09:15 (45 minutes) Registration and coffee Registration and coffee Registration and coffee
09:15 – 11:15 (120 minutes) • Introduction to DNS
• Resource records
• Delegation
• Queries, responses and flags
 •Configuring authoritative nameservers
• Setting up DNS zonefiles
• Delegating authority
• Debugging common zonefile problems
 • Introduction to DNSSEC
• New resource records and flags in DNSSEC
• Validating a domain from the root step by step
11:15 – 11:30 (15 minutes) Coffee break Coffee break Coffee break
11:30 – 13:00 (90 minutes) • DNS packet analysis
• DNS data flow
• DNS vulnerabilities		 • Very brief introduction to cryptography
•Using TSIG to secure queries		 • Key management: ZSKs and KSKs
• Theory of key rollover and best practices
13:00 – 14:00 (60 minutes) Lunch Lunch Lunch
14:00 – 15:30 (90 minutes) • Tools: dig, drill, host, nslookup, tcpdump
• Tools exercises
• Resolving a domain from the root by hand		 • Configuring secondary nameservers
• Configuring TSIG to secure zone transfers
• Debugging common zone transfer issues		 • Manually signing a zone with BIND 9
• Configuring automatic DNSSEC with BIND 9
• Brief introduction to OpenDNSSEC
15:30 – 15:45 (15 minutes) Coffee break Coffee break Coffee break
15:45 – 16:30 (45 minutes) • Introduction to the lab environment
• Discussion and Q&A
 • Configuring unbound as a recursive resolver
• Discussion and Q&A		 • Configuring unbound with trust anchors
• Demo with SSHFP and TLSA
• Discussion and Q&A

Ethical Hacking Workshop

One Day workshop about Ethical Hacking and Information Security that will introduce a general background for students to know how to scan, test, hack and protect their own systems and gives each student in-depth knowledge and practical experience about the current essential security systems. It will also help them to understand how to secure and protect their networks.
The goal of this course is to help participants to master an ethical hacking methodology that can be used in a penetration testing or ethical hacking situation and its techniques.
This workshop is suitable for Network Engineers, Network Security Engineer, network administrators and for those who have strong interests in information security and hacking.

Workshop Level

Intermediate Level

Instructor
  • Farah almohager
  • Mohaund Altayib
Requirements
  • Participants must have a good knowledge about networking and IP addressing; also know the basic commands of Linux and how to work in UNIX systems.
  • Participants should bring a laptop computer to participate in the lab, with 4GB RAM as minimum.
Date & Time
  • Date: Saturday, x.x.x
  • Time: 9:30AM - 5:30PM
Outline
  • Introduction CHE
  • Foot printing
  • Scanning network
  • Enumeration
  • System hacking
  • Social Networking
  • Web hacking
  • Metasploit
  • Web application attack
  • Kali installation and configuration network.
Registration

*Paste registration link here*

 

Containerization with Docker

This workshop introduces participants to Docker and the fundamentals of containerization. You’ll learn how containers work, how they differ from virtual machines, and how to set up and use Docker to run, manage, and build containerized applications.

Workshop Level

Medium  Level

Instructor
Requirements
  • Participants should  have ubuntu as OS or VM ready with sudo access
Language

Arabic

Date & Time
  • Date: Saturday, 12 July 2025
  • Time: 11:00 UTC ( 13:00 Sudan Time)
Outlines

Introduction: What is a Container?
- Understanding containers and their benefits
- Why use containerization in modern development and operations?

Containers vs Virtual Machines (VMs)
- Key differences in architecture and performance
- Use cases: when to choose containers vs VMs

Setting Up Docker
- Installing Docker on Linux, macOS, and Windows
- Docker Desktop vs Docker Engine
- Running your first Docker command

Running Your First Container
- Docker run, exec, and logs commands
- Working with interactive and detached modes
- Pulling images from Docker Hub

Managing Containers
- Listing, stopping, restarting, and removing containers
- Understanding container lifecycle
- Using Docker Compose for multi-container apps (intro)

Containers and Storage
- Volumes vs bind mounts
- Data persistence across containers
- Managing storage for stateful applications

Building Docker Images
- Writing a Dockerfile
- Using docker build and tagging images
- Best practices in image creation

Publishing and Sharing Images
- Pushing to Docker Hub or private registry
- Image versioning and access control
- Automating builds (intro to CI/CD pipelines with Docker)

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/FEyYqXpnTMWvv_YwV6gubg 

High Availability in LAMP Stack workshop

The workshop will show how to deploy LAMP Stack web application in a high availability environment to avoid single point of failure by utilizing different tools and technologies such as load balancer, clustering and distributed storage.

Workshop Level

Intermediate Level

Instructor

Samir Abdullatif

Requirements
OS, Software and tools used

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS,

Date & Time
Outline
Lab topology

Lamp-ha-lab.jpg

Registration

paste registration link here

HAProxy Lab Setup Guide : Multi-OS Installation

Prerequisites
VM Setup
  1. VM1: HAProxy
    • IP: 192.168.1.X
  2. VM2: Apache Server
    • IP: 192.168.1.Y
  3. VM3: Nginx Server
    • IP: 192.168.1.Z
Local Hosts File Configuration

Add the following entries to your local hosts file, pointing them all to the HAProxy IP (192.168.1.X):

192.168.1.X lb.lab.afnog.org 
192.168.1.X www.lab.afnog.org      
192.168.1.X nginx.lab.afnog.org
192.168.1.X apache.lab.afnog.org
Step 1: Install and Configure HAProxy (VM1)

Red Hat-based systems (CentOS, Fedora)

sudo yum update
sudo yum install haproxy

Debian-based systems (Ubuntu, Debian)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install haproxy

FreeBSD

sudo pkg update
sudo pkg install haproxy
Step 2: Install and Configure Apache (VM2)

Red Hat-based systems

sudo yum update
sudo yum install httpd
sudo systemctl start httpd
sudo systemctl enable httpd

Debian-based systems

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

FreeBSD

sudo pkg update
sudo pkg install apache24
sudo sysrc apache24_enable="YES"
sudo service apache24 start

Create a custom index.html:

echo "This is the Apache Server" | tee /var/www/html/index.html

On FreeBSD

echo "This is the Apache Server" | tee /usr/local/www/apache24/data/index.html

Step 3: Install and Configure Nginx (VM3)

Red Hat-based systems

sudo yum update
sudo yum install nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

Debian-based systems

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

FreeBSD

sudo pkg update
sudo pkg install nginx
sudo sysrc nginx_enable="YES"
sudo service nginx start

Create a custom index.html:

echo "This is the Nginx Server" |  tee /var/www/html/index.html  
 # For FreeBSD:
echo "This is the Nginx Server" | tee /usr/local/www/nginx/index.html
HAProxy Configuration
Step 1: Basic Frontend and Backend Setup (Round-Robin)

HAProxy Configuration: Edit the HAProxy configuration file:

Add the following configuration:
global
    log         127.0.0.1:514 local1 info
    chroot      /var/empty
    pidfile     /var/run/haproxy.pid
    maxconn     4000
    user        haproxy
    group       haproxy
    daemon

defaults
    mode                    http
    log                     global
    option                  httplog
    option                  dontlognull
    option http-server-close
    option forwardfor       except 127.0.0.0/8
    retries                 3
    timeout http-request    10s
    timeout queue           1m
    timeout connect         10s
    timeout client          1m
    timeout server          1m
    timeout http-keep-alive 10s
    timeout check           10s
    maxconn                 3000

frontend http-in
    bind *:80
    default_backend www_back

backend www_back
    balance roundrobin
    server nginx_server vm1.log.afnog.org:80 check
    server apache_server vm2.lab.afnog.org:80 check

Restart HAProxy:

 systemctl restart haproxy
Step 2: Advanced Configuration with ACLs (Access Control Lists)

Updated HAProxy Configuration:

Modify the existing HAProxy configuration to include the following:

frontend http_front
    bind *:80
    acl url_nginx hdr(host) -i nginx.lab.afnog.org
    acl url_apache hdr(host) -i apache.lab.afnog.org
    use_backend nginx_back if url_nginx
    use_backend apache_back if url_apache
    default_backend www_back

backend www_back
    balance roundrobin
    server nginx_server 192.168.1.Z:80 check
    server apache_server 192.168.1.Y:80 check

backend nginx_back
    server nginx_server 192.168.1.Z:80 check

backend apache_back
    server apache_server 192.168.1.Y:80 check

To set up an active-passive configuration for your backend node, adjust the existing HAProxy configuration to include the following:

backend www_back
    balance roundrobin
    server nginx_server 192.168.1.Z:80 check
    server apache_server 192.168.1.Y:80 check backup

this setup will make node apache_server as a passive node and will not recive traffic unless node nginx_server is down

Restart HAProxy:

 sudo systemctl restart haproxy
Step 3: Adding a Status Page

Final HAProxy Configuration:

Add the following configuration for the status page:

listen stats
    bind *:8404
    stats enable
    stats uri /
    stats refresh 5s

Restart HAProxy:

sudo systemctl restart haproxy

Testing the Status Page:

You can access the status page by navigating to http://192.168.1.X:8404/ in your web browser.

SSL Termination on HAProxy

Generate a Self-Signed Certificate:

openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/private/haproxy.key -out /etc/ssl/certs/haproxy.crt

Combine the Certificate and Key:

cat /etc/ssl/certs/haproxy.crt /etc/ssl/private/haproxy.key |  tee /etc/ssl/certs/haproxy.pem

Note: For development SSL certificates, you can use the repository at https://github.com/BenMorel/dev-certificates

Update HAProxy Configuration to Use SSL:

Add the following to the `frontend http_front` section:

bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/haproxy.pem
redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }

Restart HAProxy:

sudo systemctl restart haproxy
Example for Layer 4 Load balancing , DB port :
frontend mysql
 mode tcp
 bind :3306
 default_backend mysql_servers

backend mysql_servers
 mode tcp
 balance leastconn
 server s1 192.168.0.10:3306 check
 server s2 192.168.0.11:3306 check
Configure Syslog for HAProxy Logging
  1. Open the syslog configuration file for editing:
vi /etc/syslog.conf
  1. Add the following lines to configure logging:
*.err;kern.warning;auth.notice;mail.crit                /dev/console
local1.*                                                /var/log/haproxy.log
*.notice;authpriv.none;kern.debug;lpr.info;mail.crit;news.err   /var/log/messages
  1. Create the HAProxy log file:
touch /var/log/haproxy.log
  1. Set the appropriate ownership for the log file:
chown haproxy:haproxy /var/log/haproxy.log
  1. Update the syslogd flags to bind to localhost and run in compatibility mode:
sysrc syslogd_flags="-b localhost -C"
  1. Restart the syslog service to apply changes:
service syslogd restart
Testing

Using `web browser`:

  1. Test round-robin for `www.lab.afnog.org`:
  2. Repeat the command several times to see alternating responses from Nginx and Apache.
 nginx.lab.afnog.org
# This should consistently return the Nginx server response.

 apache.lab.afnog.org
# This should consistently return the Apache server response.

 https://www.lab.afnog.org
# This should return responses over HTTPS, with round-robin load balancing between Nginx and Apache.
Troubleshooting: Common Issues and Solutions

HAProxy not starting:

haproxy -c -f /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg

Backend servers not responding:

SSL certificate issues:

ACLs not working as expected:

Performance Tuning: Optimizing HAProxy

Increase maximum connections:

Enable kernel TCP splicing:

Use HTTP/2:

bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/haproxy.pem alpn h2,http/1.1

Implement caching:

Optimal Configuration Options for Web-Based Frontends

It's crucial to customize the following according to your application's specific requirements.

   frontend http-in
   bind *:80
   bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/haproxy/certs/cert.pem no-sslv3
   mode http
   option httplog
   log global
   
   # Redirect HTTP to HTTPS (enforce HTTPS for all traffic)
   http-request redirect scheme https code 301 if !{ ssl_fc }
  
   # Set default security headers for responses
   # Enforce HSTS for HTTPS (1 year, include subdomains, preload)
   http-response set-header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"
   
   # Clickjacking protection, allow only the same origin to embed this site
   http-response set-header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN"
   
   # XSS filtering enabled in browsers, block if an attack is detected
   http-response set-header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block"
   
   # Prevent MIME type sniffing (force browser to honor content type declared by the server)
   http-response set-header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
  
   # Add Content Security Policy to mitigate XSS and data injection attacks
   http-response set-header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; object-src 'none'"
  
   # Disable referrer information leakage when navigating to a different origin
   http-response set-header Referrer-Policy "no-referrer-when-downgrade"
   
   # Prevent browsers and proxies from caching sensitive data
   http-response set-header Cache-Control "no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate, max-age=0"
   
   # Set secure cookies (only for HTTPS, HttpOnly, and prevent cross-site requests)
   acl secure_cookie hdr_sub(cookie) Secure
   http-response set-header Set-Cookie %[res.hdr(Set-Cookie)] if secure_cookie
   http-response set-header Set-Cookie Secure; HttpOnly; SameSite=Strict if secure_cookie
   
   # Forward client's original IP in X-Forwarded-For header
   http-request add-header X-Forwarded-For %[src]
   
   # Forward the protocol used by the client (HTTP/HTTPS) in X-Forwarded-Proto header
   http-request add-header X-Forwarded-Proto https if { ssl_fc }
   http-request add-header X-Forwarded-Proto http if !{ ssl_fc }
   
   # Preserve the original Host header
   http-request add-header X-Forwarded-Host %[req.hdr(host)]
   
   default_backend servers
Security Considerations
  1. Regularly update HAProxy and backend servers
  2. Implement strong SSL/TLS configurations
  3. Use IP whitelisting for the HAProxy stats page
  4. Consider implementing Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules in HAProxy
  5. Regularly audit your HAProxy configurations and access logs

This guide provides a comprehensive setup process for HAProxy, starting from a basic configuration and progressing to more advanced setups with ACLs, SSL termination, and performance optimization. Always ensure to test thoroughly in a staging environment before applying changes to production systems.

Author

Manhal Mohamed , sdnog team

How to Secure your Network Workshop

Introduction

Hands on how to secure your network Three day course – Philip Paeps

Objectives

At the end of this course, participants will be familiar with new ways and methods to help them to secure their networks. The course is taught "hands-on" in a virtualised FreeBSD environment. Participants will configure some tasks and will learn to analyze and debug common mis-configurations and bugs

Prerequisites

Participants should be familiar with Unix-style operating systems. The course is taught on FreeBSD but the environment will be familiar to people with a systems administration background on Linux or Solaris. Participants should bring their own laptops.

Participants

Systems administrators and network operators who are running Network services in their organization.

Workshop Requirements
Instructors

Philip Paeps

Agenda
Time Day 1: Sunday 14 August Day 2: Monday 15 August Day 3: Tuesday 16 August
08:30 – 09:15 (45 minutes) Registration and coffee Registration and coffee Registration and coffee
09:15 – 11:15 (120 minutes) • Introduction to security
• Network layers
• Defence in depth
•Basic physical layer security
• Firewalls
• Inclusive and exclusive policies
• Simple ACLs
 • Securing websites: HTTP and HTTPS
• Configuring Apache and nginx
11:15 – 11:30 (15 minutes) Coffee break Coffee break Coffee break
11:30 – 13:00 (90 minutes) • Layer 1 and layer 2
• Ethernet: VLANS
• Wireless basics		 • Statefull firewalls
•pf: the BSD packet filter		 • Introduction to cryptography
• PKI, basics of letsencrypt.org
13:00 – 14:00 (60 minutes) Lunch Lunch Lunch
14:00 – 15:30 (90 minutes) • Wireless: WEP, WPA, WPA2?
• Captive portals
• Ethernet 802.1x		 • Securing higher layers (applications)
• E-mail: what about spam?
• Sensible outbound filtering		 • Generating letsencrypt.org certificates
• Configuring nginx and Apache with HTTPS
• Using SSL in other applications
15:30 – 15:45 (15 minutes) Coffee break Coffee break Coffee break
15:45 – 16:30 (45 minutes) •Introduction to firewalls (more tomorrow!)
• Discussion and Q&A		 •Configuring postfix and dovecot to protect against spam (abuse)
• Discussion and Q&A		 • Mitigation: what if it all goes wrong?
• Discussion and Q&A

Internet Governance Forum

This is a half-day workshop. An introductory workshop about Internet Governance which focus on Internet ecosystem, key players, key issues and how Internet is governed? how we can take part? how it is affecting our life?

Objectives
Workshop Level

Basic Level

Instructor

Hiba Abbas

Requirements
Date & Time
Registration

Paste registration link here

IPv6 Workshop by AFRINIC

Introduction

This is the keystone foundation module for all our technical workshops. It gives the participants a solid understanding of IPv6's core concepts and is required for understanding all other IPv6 topics.

Objectives

for more details check: http://learn.afrinic.net/en/course/ipv6/foundation

Registration

The registration is closed.

Instructors
Feedback from Mr.Musa
 Hello SdNOG, We had a great time thanks to you in Khartoum last week. 
 On behalf of us all at AFRINIC, we thank you for joining us on this mission to
 ensure that no network engineer gets left behind on the skills required to build and run IPv6 networks.
 
 We rate our workshops using the Net Promoter System which has a range of -100 → 100.  
 - International benchmark for IT Training is 70
 - On this workshop the score was 77. 

more info at: AFRINIC blog

afrinic-ipv6-workshop-stats.png

IPv6 Fundamentals Workshop

Ready or not, IPv6 is here!

IPv6 was developed more than a decade ago, but now is being implemented by both service providers and companies alike primarily due to the lack of IPv4 addresses. This one day hands-on will cover IPv6 concepts, IPv6 Address Basics, and IPv6 basic configuration in a Cisco infrastructure. This workshop is suitable for network engineers, network operators or Systems/IT admin who are responsible about network operation in their organization.

Objectives

This workshop will help to :

Workshop Level

Intermediate Level

Instructor
Requirements
Date & Time
Outline
Registration

*Paste registration link here*

IXP Best Practices

Introduction

As at July 2015, there are known shortcomings to how the SIXP operates. With the assistance of PCH, the SdNOG team will host this workshop on IXP best practices as a pre-cursor to the sdnog-2 event. It is intended that the event will attract the key stakeholders for the SIXP, as well as the relevant participants from the NTC and NIC.

Layout

The workshop is intended to be a one day event, split between, an understanding of the economic elements, and strategic objectives of an IXP; it's role in the local Internet economy, and technical and operational management. The table below has a suggested overview of the topics that would be addressed.

Day 3 : 25 August 2015 Topic
Session 1 Internet Economics; the value of peering and the role of the IXP in the Internet economy

Discussion: Strategies for IXP development.
Session 2 Regulatory best practices for economic growth

Total Internet security of a country.
Session 3 Technical operations and management
Session 4
Instructor List

Nishal Goburdhan, PCH

Networks Fundamental Workshop

A strong foundation of basic networking concepts is fundamental to have a successful career in information technology. This Workshop will help you understand Networking Fundamentals. By the end of this Workshop, you will gain real-world practical skills necessary for Networking
This workshop is suitable for BSc Students, fresh graduate and for those who have strong interests in networking

Workshop Level

Basic Level

Instructor
Requirements
Date & Time
Outlines

1.Basics of Networking

2.Network Devices
3.IP Addressing

4.Overview about Switching
5.Overview about Routing

Registration

paste registration link here

Network Management and Monitoring Workshop

Introduction

This workshop is designed for engineers and system staffs at ISPs and large networks including academic networks who are involved with system management, network monitoring and management and problem response. The course is for those who need to manage diverse Network and NOC operations. There will be hands-on for three days.

Objectives

By the end of this course you will be able to: Distinguish between network management and monitoring.

Requirements
Instructors
Agenda
Time Day 1: Sunday 14 August Day 2: Monday 15 August Day 3: Tuesday 16 August
09:00 – 11:00 Welcome, Introductions, Workshop Details Cacti software Nagios3 Software
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break Coffee break Coffee break
11:30 – 13:00 Introduction to Network Monitoring & Management Smokeping software LOG Management
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch Lunch Lunch
14:00 – 16:30 Cisco Configuration Basics and SNMP LimbreNMS software Version control RANCID / WebSVN and NetFlow / NfSen

Networking Best Practices Workshop

Introduction

This tutorial is aimed at teaching Best Practices in network deployment. The intent is to sensitise operators, and participants to things that they should be aware of, from a macro level, and to stimulate discussion, interest, and knowledge in the mechanisms for operation. It is not intended for this to be extremely low level.

Layout

The key ideas would be to talk about issues that operators should be engaged in already, in a 90min slot. Some topics for discussion could be:

Since this would be tutorial style, it's intended for the discussions to be as interactive as possible, and, where possible, include hands-on practical sessions. It is also intended to be an introductory/refresher tools that we can use to gauge interest, and competency, that will allow us to plan for future workshops.

Note: sdnog-1 attendance showed us a significant student population attending, so we expect that this workshop would be more appealing to them, vs. a more low-level, specific workshop on a particular topic.

A suggestion for the tutorial scheme could be:

  Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Session 1 IP address space design and planning Routing - IGP and EGP best practices DNS
Session 2 IPv6 and its role in your network BCP 38 and routing sanity Configuration management
Session 3 Designing a switching environment Network management systems RIPE ATLAS Tutorial
Session 4 Designing a switching environment (cont) Network management systems Open Q&A
Instructor List

It is desirable that the instructor be experts in their respective areas of presentation, and have significant experience in the topics that they are presenting. Additionally, a good mix of local, and foreign expertise would be desirable, to allow for different points of perspective.

UNIX Boot Camp

This bootcamp is designed to provide participants with a basic overview of essential Unix/Linux commands, enabling them to navigate the file system and perform tasks such as moving, copying, and editing files. It will also include a brief introduction to key networking commands in Unix.

This workshop is suitable for BSc students, recent graduates, and anyone with a strong interest in learning Linux.

Workshop Level

Basic Level

Instructor
Tutors
Requirements
  • Participants should  have a Linux VM ready with sudo access
Language

Arabic

Date & Time
  • Date: Saturday, 5 July 2025
  • Time: 11:30 UTC ( 13:30 Sudan Time)
Outlines
Part 1

5 July 2025

Session 1 - Intro To Linux:
- Birth of Linux.
- Linux features.
- Unix and Linux families.
- Command line vs Gui
- Accessing the command line

 

Session 2 - Managing Files from the command line:
- List options (ls).
- Change Directory (cd).
- Absolute path and relative path.
- copy and move (cp & mv).
- Wildcards.
Part 2

26 July 2025

Session 3 - Getting help in Linux:
- help options.
- man pages.
- Locating Files on the System (locate command).
- Find command.

 

Session 4 - Managing files in Linux:
- Using head, tail and grep.
- Creating and editing files.
- Nano text editor.
- Vim text editor.

Lab3 Link


Lab4 Link

 
Part 3

TBD

Session 5 - Managing Local Linux Users and Groups:
- Manage Linux users.
- Manage Linux groups.
- Files permissions.


Session 6 - Monitoring and Managing Processes and Services in Linux:                                                         
- Monitoring Processes.
- Managing Processes.
- Managing Services and Daemons.
Material
Registration 

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/LFswFUQoSg2KlhCjPFsNxg 

UNIX/Linux, Networking and DNS Online Course

The Internet Society invites engineers from Africa to participate in an intensive online course titled “Introduction to Network Operations: UNIX/LINUX, Networking and DNS” This is an introductory course targeted at novice/entry-level UNIX/Linux users pursuing careers in Network or System Administration. This course provides the necessary skills to progress to more advanced topics in the future. This course is practically oriented and provides step-by-step guidance on how to configure a UNIX/Linux server and then run a Caching Domain Name System (DNS) server in a virtualized environment. The techniques covered in the course are applicable in real-world environments to set up Internet-ready caching DNS servers.

Trainees who complete the course will be awarded with a Certificate of Completion.
Trainees will also be provided a remote server to carry out the hands on parts of the course and the exercises.
More info at: https://www.internetsociety.org/inforum/network-operations/

Course objectives

The course follows the following schedule:

 - Learn about and operate a UNIX/Linux operating system in a virtualized environment.  
 - Develop competences in key networking topics: IPv4 and IPv6.  
 - Install third-party software on a UNIX or Linux platform using common software management tools.  
 - Work with the UNIX/Linux shell and become comfortable with the command line interface.  
 - Edit files in UNIX/Linux environments without Graphical User Interfaces (GUI).  
 - Understand the role of the Domain Name System (DNS) in the operation of the Internet.  
 - Build and activate a caching Domain Name System (DNS) server.  
 - Learn about the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Request for Comments (RFC) process
Who Should Attend

Novice/entry level network engineers and system administrators (from Africa) who are interested in learning about UNIX/Linux, Networking and DNS.
The course is targeted at upcoming network engineers and system administrators from Research Education Networks (RENs), Network Operator Groups, Universities, ccTLD registries or Internet Service Providers (in Africa).

Our Certified Participants

Meet our certified Participants who complete the online course successfully. ⭐️

Participants' Feedback

What former participants say about the courses.

Language

Language of instruction will be English.

Moderation and Online Support

This course will be moderated by Eng. Manhal Mohamed. and assisted by Eng. Abdulrahman Mohammed Hassan.
Online remote support is available via Email or Telegram and also via Jitsi meet

Offline Content

Offline training materials are available and are frequently updated.

Registration Form

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd7MR1UkX4NoTS0OnHYeJCFCUxarBzuzIz3xpMxkawevBCQIg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Automation Tool: Ansible

Hands-on how to use automation in your network. Three day course

Objectives

By the end of the workshop, attendees will know how to use automation with Ansible to ease the burden of consistent configuration of servers and network devices and how to choose what/when to automate.

Workshop Level

Advance Level

Prerequisites
Participants

System administrators,Network engineers and Network technicians who are running network devices like servers, routers and switches in their organization.

Date & Time
Instructors

Sander Steffann

Agenda

IPv6 for Services

hands-on workshop to teach the concept of IPv6 protocol on most common services expected of any network

Objectives

by end of this workshop participants will be able to verify any application for IPv6 capability and Configure and test an dual stack DNS, HTTP and DHCP server.

Workshop Level

Intermediate Level

Prerequisites
  • Participants should be familiar with Unix-style operating systems.
  • Participants should have a good knowledge about IPv6 protocol architecture.
  • Participants should have a good knowledge about Network services like DNS, HTTP,...
  • Participants should bring their own laptops with WiFi access
Participants

System administrators,Network engineers and Network technicians who are running Network services in their organization. The course is taught on FreeBSD but the environment will be familiar to people with a systems administration background on Linux.

Date & Time
  • Date: Sunday 30 Sep - Tuesday 2 Oct 2018
  • Time: 8:30AM - 4:00PM
Instructors
  • Mohamed Alhafiz - Canar Telecom
  • Khansaa Abdallah - Canar Telecom
  • Rawan Shareef - MTN
Agenda
  • IPv6 refresher
  • FreeBSD refresher
  • IPv6 Network Setup
  • Packet berkeley filter overview
  • DNS for IPv6 / DNS troubleshooting
  • DHCP for IPv6
  • HTTP, SSH and SFTP for IPv6
  • Network Tools for troubleshooting

 

Network Services and Monitoring Online Course

Background

This is an intermediate level course for network and system engineers/administrators aiming to get operational experience with IPv6 with a focus on specific Internet services provided by Internet Society. The course covers the following main areas:

The course is strictly 3 weeks long. Each trainee will be assigned a virtual server and will be required to build working services as mentioned above to provide services on an IPv6 address. The course is lab intensive (70%) with trainees provided with theory materials that they can read. Trainees are also encouraged to do their own research in order to cover the concepts in the course.

Course Timetable

The course follows the following schedule:

 Week 1:
     - Introduction to DNS 
     - DNS Resolvers 
     - DNS Authoritative
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 1: install BIND
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 2: Zone set up 
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 3 : Zone file creation
 
Week 2: 
     - Email introduction 
     - Postfix Dovecot Introduction 
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 4: create MX record for your mail server 
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 5: Install Postfix and Dovecot 
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 6: Setup Postfix and Dovecot
 
   Optional Part - Securing mail system :
   -------------------------------------	
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 7 SENDING EMAILS
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 8 Apache setup
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 9 letsencrypt Part01 
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 10 letsencrypt Part02
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 11 Configure Dovecot
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 12  Configure Squirrel-mail
 
Week 3: 
     - Nagios Introduction 
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 13 Installing Nagious
     - LAB ASSIGNMENT 14 monitor DNS on localhost
Pre-Requisites to attend
Our Certified Participants

Meet our certified Participants who complete the online course successfully.

Participants' Feedback

What former participants say about the courses.

Language

Language of instruction will be English.

Moderation and Online Support

This course will be moderated by Eng. Manhal Mohamed & assisted by Eng. Abdulrahman Mohammed Hassan.
Online remote support is available via Email or Telegram.

Offline Content

Offline training materials are available and are frequently updated.

Registration Form

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSejyyI1yVwFjOFqNAjTUwr4irmh0YY5hv1Dv3HmOY2L24dCsw/viewform?usp=sf_link


OpenStack Workshop

OpenStack is a set of software tools for building and managing cloud computing platforms for public and private clouds. Backed by some of the biggest companies in software development and hosting, as well as thousands of individual community members, many think that OpenStack is the future of cloud computing.
This workshop will help the participants to assess the architectures, components, operation and tools of OpenStack.
Participate will have a hands-on labs showing how to build, use, and deploy an OpenStack Platform.

Workshop Level

Intermediate Level

Instructor
Requirements
Date & Time
Outline
Registration

Network Monitoring Workshop

Introduction

This workshop is designed for engineers and system staffs at ISPs and large networks including academic networks who are involved with system management, network monitoring and management and problem response. The course is for those who need to manage diverse Network and NOC operations. There will be hands-on for four days.

Objectives

By the end of this course you will be able to: Distinguish between network management and monitoring.

Workshop Level

Intermediate level

Requirements
Date & Time
Workshop Fees

200SDG

Instructors
Agenda

Security Workshop - Ethical Hacking

Introduction

This workshop is designed for system administrators, network administrators, auditors and web developers to gain knowledge about the security assessment and penetration testing processes. In addition, it will help to improve network and systems by analyzing the existing vulnerabilities to defend systems against attacks.

Objectives

By the end of this course you will be able to:

Workshop Level

Intermediate level

Requirements
Date & Time
Workshop Fees

200SDG

Instructors
Agenda

Layer 2 Security Workshop

LAN network protection is generally neglected, which is a high risk to the organization or company This Workshop will help you understand L2 vulnerabilities. By the end of this Workshop, you will gain real-world practical skills necessary for LAN security, this workshop is suitable for all interested in cybersecurity, Network Security and Penetration Testing.

Workshop Level

Intermediate level

Instructor

Mohanned Adil Omer

Requirements
Date & Time
Outlines
  1. Why L2 Security.
  2. Switching review.
    • How switch work?
    • Switch weakness.
  3. Sniffing Techniques
    • Packet Sniffers
    • PCAP and promiscuous mode.
    • Sniffing Tools.
    • Active and Passive Sniffing.
  4. L2 Attacks and Defenses
    • Mac table Flooding.
    • ARP attack.
    1. Introduction.
    2. When ARP is used?
    3. Types of ARP message.
    4. Example use of ARP.
    5. ARP cache.
    6. RARP.
    7. ARP Types.
    8. ARP Attacks.
    9. ARP Spoofing.
    10. ARP Denial of Service.
    11. Defenses.
    12. S-ARP.
    13. Conclusion.
  5. DHCP attack
    • How DHCP Work.
    • DHCP Spoofing Attack.
    • DHCP Starvation Attack.
    • Defenses.
    • Conclusion.
  6. Some Guides to Minimum Security Baseline for any organization.

Build your own e-mail Server

This workshop is designed for engineers and system staffs at ISPs and large networks including academic networks who are involved with system management, system administration and operations and problem response. The workshop is for those who need to manage mail servers and systems. Anyone working with mail system in their corporate or carrier infrastructure will find this class worthwhile. this one day workshop describes how to setup a local Email with best practices using Postfix, Dovecot And Squirrelmail.

Objectives

By the end of this workshop you will be able to:

  • Understand the concept of the SMTP and electronic mail
  • Overview of common terms and protocols
  • How the mail system works
  • building a mail server using Postfix, Dovecot And Squirrelmail
  • knowing best practices on securing and setting your mail server
Workshop Level

Intermediate Level

Requirements
  • laptop with wireless capability , 64 bit OS , minimum 4G RAM "with enabled virtualization technology"
  • IPv4 addressing and general network concepts.
  • Good Knowledge of Linux.
Date & Time
  • Date: Saturday, x.x.x
  • Time: 9:30AM - 4:30PM
Instructors

Manhal Mohammed Mokhtar

Content
  • SMTP concept
  • Mail System terms
  • How mail system works
  • Setup and configure Postfix, Dovecot And Squirrelmail
  • Mail system security
Registration
Workshop materials

you can find this workshop materials at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OnHplRXTB59VAgPi9pl_fIZyX9tkB78A?usp=sharing

 

Introduction to Git Workshop

This workshop is an introduction to version control systems with Git. Version control systems are tools that keep track of the changes made on a document, and help version and merge files. They allow the user to decide which changes make up the next version, and keep useful data about them. Version control systems are usually used by developers and people who write code, but are very useful also for people working with documents in general. It is especially helpful for collaborative work with more than one person working on the same file.

Objectives

This workshop is designed for people who have never used Git or a version control system before to :

Who should attend?

From web developers to system administrators, Git is useful to anyone who writes code, configuration files, scripts, and text documentation.

Workshop Level

Basic Level

Requirements

laptop with wireless capability , 64 bit OS , minimum 4G RAM

Date & Time
Instructors

Sara Mohammed Abdulraheem

Content
  1. What is Git and Gitlab?
    • History of Git
    • Design Principles
    • Distributed Version Control
  2. Installing Git
  3. Git File Management
    • Common Git Commands
    • Configuring Git
    • Creating Repositories
    • Creating a Commit
  4. Branching
    • Visualizing Branches
    • Branch Naming Conventions
    • Creating a new Branch
    • Handling Merge Conflicts
Registration
Workshop materials

you can find this workshop materials at:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=12vGnb0TdEbxHif_ywp-AQsTsG2agKFgM

Automation with Ansible : The basics

Introduction

Ansible is an open-source software provisioning, configuration management, and application-deployment tool to automate all your system work. this is one-day , hands-on workshop. You’ll get a comprehensive overview of Ansible and then dive into Ansible Roles and playbooks.

Objectives

By the end of the workshop, attendees will know how to use automation with Ansible to ease the burden of consistent configuration of servers and network devices and how to choose what/when to automate.

Workshop Level

intermediate Level

Prerequisites
Date & Time
Instructors
Agenda
Registration
Workshop materials

you can find this workshop materials at:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OV4fWCRiLWAz4WQ-ohdT3msUXXY1EDPd

Automation with Ansible - Online Course

Introduction

Ansible is an open-source software provisioning, configuration management, and application-deployment tool to automate all your system work. this is 10-days , hands-on online workshop. in this online workshop You’ll get a comprehensive overview of Ansible and then dive into Ansible Roles and playbooks.

  • this is a 10-days , hands-on online Workshop .
  • Each trainee will be assigned a virtual server and will be required to build working services using Ansible tool
  • The Online Workshop is lab intensive (70%) with trainees provided with theory materials that they can read
Objectives

By the end of the workshop, attendees will know how to use automation with Ansible to ease the burden of consistent configuration of servers and network devices and how to choose what/when to automate.

Workshop Level

intermediate Level

Prerequisites
  • Participants should be familiar with Unix-style operating systems. The workshop is taught on UNIX "FreeBSD" but the environment will be familiar to people with a systems administration background on Debian or RedHat.
  • Knowledge of Linux/UNIX command line
  • Good understanding of network basics (IP networking)
  • Each participant will be assigned a virtual server to work on it , you only need a laptop with an internet connection for remote access to the server
Date & Time
  • Round One: 10 days. from 11 April 2020 to 21 April 2020
  • Round Two: 10 days. from 20 to 31 May 2021
  • Round Three: TBD
Moderation and Online Support

This online workshop will be moderated by:

  • Manhal Mohammed
  • Sara Alamin
  • Abdulrahman Mohammed
  • Shimaa babiker
  • Mohamed Ayman

Online remote support is available via Telegram Group only " group link will be sent to selected participates"

Agenda

Day (1 & 2) : Introduction to Ansible

  1. Module-01: Introduction to Automation
  2. Assignment 01 : Introduction to Automation
  3. LAB01 : deploying Ansible
  4. Assignment 02: Ansible Ad-Hoc
  5. Quiz #1

Day (3 & 4): Ansible Playbook

  1. Module-02: Ansible Play and Play-books
  2. LAB02: play book to install pkg
  3. LAB03: show uptime of remote servers
  4. LAB04 : Ansible Variables
  5. LAB05: working with ansible loops

Day (5 & 6) : Ansible detailed Playbooks

  1. Module-03: Ansible detailed Playbooks
  2. LAB06: working with ansible loops-2
  3. LAB07: Ansible conditions
  4. Assignment 03 : Implementing Ansible Playbooks using templates

Day (7 & 8) : Ansible Roles

  1. Module-04: Ansible Roles
  2. LAB08: working with Ansible roles

Day (9 & 10): final Project

Participants

Participants who complete this online course successfully. ⭐️

Offline Materials

You can find the offline contents for this online course here


 

DevOps Skills Roadmap

This workshop offers a beginner-friendly introduction to the essential skills required for anyone interested in DevOps. Whether you're a student, aspiring DevOps engineer, or just exploring the field, this session will help you understand the path to becoming skilled in DevOps.

Instructor

Omar Elhaj
https://www.linkedin.com/in/omar-aladdin/ 

Trainers
Level

Basic

Language 

Arabic

Workshop Content

We will walk through the DevOps Skills Roadmap, focusing on what you need to learn for each area, and what tools or technologies are commonly used in these points: 

By the end of the session, participants will have a clear picture of the DevOps landscape, the progression of skills, and how to start learning each area.

Registration 

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/49UvwwwWRU666QzSV2EmUA 


Materials