To get the most out of this book

You should have a good basis in IT to understand the terminology used in this book. This book is best for people with at least a starting knowledge of monitoring systems, Linux, and network engineering.

Make sure you have a virtualization environment ready to create virtual machines for use with the recipes. VirtualBox, VMware, or any type of client/hypervisor will do.

Throughout the book, we will make use of VIM to edit files, so make sure to install it. If you do not feel comfortable using VIM, you can substitute the command for NANO or anything else you prefer.

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access the code from the book's GitHub repository (a link is available in the next section). Doing so will help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.