Tools 8. Visual Analysis of the Network Path with Open Source Databases and Python

Hello my friend,

Over the past several articles we have taken a look into the most popular tools for the network troubleshooting. To be precise, we have covered an approach to find your public IP address in a programmable way, how to measure your Internet connectivity speed with Speedtest, how to measure the connectivity speed between your endpoints using iPerf, rapid check of hosts presence in the network with fping, how to check the quality of the path through the network with MTR, and how to see what are in the packets you have in your network. Covering these tools for you and sharing ideas about automation with them led us to creating a new open source tool, which we are happy to share with the community. This time we decided not to think long on its name and just called it the Traceroute Analyzer.

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What is the network automation?

Continue reading

Tools 7. Show me your packets … with TCP dump

Hello my friend,

When something goes wrong with the distributed application, where the network is involved (e.g., between client and web service, or between frontend and backend of services), the network is a first thing to be blamed. After the troubleshooting, it is often turned out that the network is innocent, but we need first need to prove it.

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Automated troubleshooting for automated networks?

The truth is that automation helped me so many times to figure out the root cause of the network outages or malfunctions that I even stopped counting that. I may say that automaton solutions work perfect, if you create them to solve your issues and tailor to your environment.

That’s what our Live Network Automation Training (10 weeks) and Automation with Nornir (2 weeks) are all about: to show you real automation in a real environment with multiple vendors together. No matter what those vendors are, the automation principles, tools Continue reading

SP. Part 9. Health check of Segment Routing Traffic Engineering (SR-TE) tunnels with seamless BFD in Nokia SR OS

Hello my friend,

For a long time we haven’t posted blogs about pure network technologies. However, recently we were working on some interesting use case, which so far is not yet covered at a level of the working details nowhere in the internet. As such, we decided to share with you our findings and working details.

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How automation can help with SR-TE in SP network?

In some (big) networks the BGP-SR-TE is a good signal the SR-TE policies, so that the PE routers can build the SR-TE tunnels without the need to configure them locally. However, the BGP-SR-TE requires a full pledged SDN controller, so that you can generate the SR-TE policy in the backend using some UI/API and send the policies down to the network elements using the BGP. If you want to have a somewhat simpler setup, you may need need to deploy the tunnels manually. In this case, the automation is your closest Continue reading

Visualise and Analyse Your Data Centre Fabric with HAWK

Hello my friend,

Some time ago in LinkedIn we announced that we are working on the tool, which will allows you to model and analyse your network. As one of our primary focuses is data centres, we started from there. Despite it is an early stages, but we are happy and proud to introduce you HAWK: Highly-efficient Automated Weapon Kit. For now, this is a collection of the tools for the network management and analysis, but probably later we will put it under a joint hoot of some front-end, who knows…

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Where is the the border between network automation and software development?

In order to automate any network operation, you need to write a script, even if that is a simple one. On the other hand, any script is a program or software. This means that the creating of the scripts for the network automation is a form of the software development. And it is fun. Continue reading

Tools 6. Where are my packets lost? MTR edition.

Hello my friend,

after show pause we continue our blog series about the most popular network troubleshooting tools, which humankind has ever created. Today we’ll take a look at one of the most useful tool to obtain the information about the path between two endpoints and possible packet drops over that path. Ladies and gentlemen, please, welcome MTR.

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Can automation help with figuring what happened where?

In case of the infrastructure problems (networks, servers, VMs, containers), the time matters a lot. The quicker we can find the issue and fix that, the better it will be for our applications and our customers. Automation without doubts one of the key components, which allows you to quickly find and fix your issues.

In our trainings, the Live Network Automation Training (10 weeks) and Automation with Nornir (2 weeks), we explore a lot of real use cases, where the automation helps you to validate the state of you Continue reading

pygnmi 9. The safest way to store credentials for network devices.

Hello my friend,

Recently we were asked, what is the safest way to store the credentials for network devices to your automation tools (e.g., the one based on Python and gNMI). Building the network automation solutions for a while, we have a good answer to you.

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What is the most promising network automation protocol ?

gNMI was created by Google to manage their data centres and backbone network and is widely used by other biggest companies worldwide. However, it doesn’t mean that only the big guys can benefit from that. Every company and network can get the advantage of a single protocol for the configuration, operation, and streaming telemetry in their network provided your network devices support that.

At our trainings, advanced network automation and automation with Nornir (2nd step after advanced network automation), we give you detailed knowledge of all the technologies relevant:

• Data encoding (free-text, XML, JSON, YAML, Protobuf)
• Model-driven network automation Continue reading

pygnmi 8. Securing the gNMI connectivity with self-signed certificates.

Hello my friend,

Continuing our explanation of the pyGNMI, we’ll take a loon into the security aspect of the tool. Namely, we will take a look how quickly and easily you can implement the encryption between your host running pyGNMI and the gNMI speaking network function.

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Where is the GNMI in the Network Automation?

The automation world (network and not only) can at a high level be split into text-based automation and model-driven automation. The text based automation is all about Linux systems, where we typically template the whole configuration files, put them in the corresponding folders and then restart daemons. The model driven approach is where we communicate with the network devices using the NETCONF, RESTCONF or gNMI based on the YANG modules. At the current moment, gNMI is most dynamically developing protocol. We not only teaches you how it works and when to use it, but we also created a Python library, Continue reading

SEC 4. Complete guide for integrating Nokia, Arista, Cumulus, as well as CentOS and Raspberry PI Linux in your own PKI

Hello my friend,

In one of the previous blogposts we have share the details how you can build the containerised PKI relying Docker, Alpine Linux and OpenSSL. Today we’ll show how you can use it.

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How automation can increase the security?

In one of the recent articles dedicated to threats to the national security with respect to 5G caused by the current operation models in the big service providers, one the network automation were named as one of the key mitigation approaches. The reason is very simple: network automation allows you to keep (or even increase) the pace of the network changes with increasing the stability without increasing the size of your network operation teams.

We absolutely agree with this statement. We have observed ourselves that in many cases the key technical competence for service providers is being outsourced and in certain cases the service providers have to rely on the external parties to perform Continue reading

Tools 5. Searching for live hosts with fping. IPv4 and IPv6 version.

Hello my friend,

Quite often, when we do the troubleshooting of our networks and systems, we want to figure out, which hosts are alive in the certain range. The quickest and the easiest way (though, not 100% accurate) is to run the ping against a specific range of IPs. There is a brilliant tool for this purpose, which is called fping.

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Can automation help to find issues in the network quickly?

All the time, when the outage is happening in the production environment, either with the network or server/application infrastructure, the race starts to restore the service as soon as possible. Automation is a key helper there.

In our trainings, the Live Network Automation Training (10 weeks) and Automation with Nornir (2 weeks), we explore a lot of real use cases, where the automation helps you to validate the state of you network and change it if necessary. You will learn the whole spectre of Continue reading

SEC 3. Building your own containerised PKI (root CA) with Linux and Docker to simplify and secure network automation

Hello my friend,

You know our passion to network automation. We truly believe, that this is the only sustainable way for the network development and operation. In the same time, one the key goals of the automation is to make your network secure and safe. Therefore, the security of the automation and communication channels used by automation is very important. So today we’ll take a look how to build

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Can automation make your network better?

Automation is the key component of the perpetual engine of your network development and operation. It allows you to run the network quick, stable, and safe. And we are willing you to benefit as much as you can from that.

We have created a new training, which is focused only on the Nornir and you can use it for the network (and not only) automation. It is an organic extension of our network automation training, which assumes you are already Continue reading

Tools 4. Checking bandwidth between your servers, VMs, containers or even PIs and Android/Apple phone using iperf

Hello my friend,

We hope you are doing well and staying safe during this COVID times. To make your stay a bit more pleasant, we are offering you and interesting read, which will give you ideas how to test network performance between your endpoints, which can be any Server, virtual machine (VM), container, or even Raspberry PI node. Yes, we continue our troubleshooting series. Take a brew, and get started.

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Can automation help with fixing your network issues?

Automation is your extra pair of hands. Or even more than that. Capability to create the network automation solutions, from a basic scripts for info collection or simple configuration to complicated logic, which takes into account exiting environment and is integrated with your other OSS/BSS, is one of the key skills, what allows you to build a successful career in the constantly changing network field.

We have created a new training, which is focused only on the Nornir Continue reading

pygnmi 7. Integration of pygnmi with Nornir

Hello my friend,

With this blogpost we continue the series of pygnmi tutorials covering various use cases of our Python library created to help you with managing your network devices via GNMI. And today we show you, how easily you can use it with Nornir, if you like this automation framework.

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Can it be enough automation?

Yes, it can be. But how to understand, what you should automate and what shouldn’t? What are the success strategies to start the automation projects and what are the receipts of disaster? What is the most efficient ways and technologies depending on context, and how to identify? Should you still stick to CLI? Is the model-driven automation all the time suitable? There are gazillions of questions about the network automation, which you may have in your mind, but don’t know whom to ask. We are here to help you.

At our trainings, advanced network automation and automation with Nornir (2nd Continue reading

Tools 3. Checking your connectivity bandwidth with Speedtest

Hello my friend,

Continuing our discussion about the network troubleshooting tools we can’t pass by one of the most popular and widely used, which is named SpeedTest.

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Can automation help with performance troubleshooting?

Doing the collection and initial analysis of the information during the troubleshooting could be quite a time-consuming task. On the other hand, the troubleshooting of the live outages should be as quick as possible to minimise the downtime of the affected services. That’s where the automation can help you.

In our network automation training we explain how to use existing open-source tools and create your own with Ansible, Bash and Python. Leveraging them and all possible interfaces (CLI, NETCONF, RESTCONF, gNMI) we teach you how to effectively build, operate and troubleshoot your network.

Start your automation training today.

Brief description

From the name of the tool, SpeedTest, it is obvious that the main goal is to measure the “speed”. In fact, it measures Continue reading

DC. Part 17. High-available server cluster connected to DC fabric.

Hello my friend,

In the vast majority of cases we speak about the network, network devices and network configuration. Which is absolutely legitimate, as we write about the networks. However, sometimes exactly the same network technologies live in the server world and do the same things under different names. So today we’ll take a look how to create the high-available server cluster using the Keepalived.

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Servers are perfect for automation

The network exists to span the applications and customers. However, it doesn’t host applications itself; instead, they are hosted on the servers. That’s why automation of the servers is very big topic and, in all honesty, the automation originally has started in the server world.

In the same time, the tools and approaches you learn at our network automation training are universal: they are applicable both for the network and servers automation. Automate all things!

At our network automation training we explore the Linux setup and Continue reading

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2021

Dear friend,

This year was unbelievable. But despite all the horrible things related to COVID19 and lockdown, you and we are still alive. Moreover, the networking and automation industry is growing. It means, we are together on the right side, but we need continuously sharp existing and develop new skills.

We sincerely thank you for your interest in our projects, blogs and trainings. For your questions, comments and suggestions. It means for us a lot.

We wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Stay healthy and safe during the holiday times and the whole new year.

All the best,
Team Karneliuk.com

pygnmi 3. Usage of gNMI Capabilities.

Hello my friend,

Some time ago we’ve started sharing with you the details of pygnmi – our new open-source Python library created to simplify the management of the network elements with gNMI. The library is already almost fully operational and we want to start sharing the usage scenarios with you.

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Don’t you want to automate boring stuff?

Every job, especially network operation, has lots of routing tasks, which are boing and time consuming. Some of such tasks could be already automated in your company, but the vast majority is still waiting you. In our trainings:

• We explain the advantages and challenges of network automation in multivendor networks (leveraging network operating systems from Cisco, Nokia, Arista, Cumulus).
• We teach you how to reach quick wins in network automation to fuel your automation projects for a long run.
• We covers all the details of the automation protocols, data models and teach you how to apply it in real Continue reading

Tools 2. How to learn your public IP? Programatically?

Hello my friend,

Just recently we have started discussion about the tools about the performance troubleshooting in networks. One of the questions we were asked afterwards was, how to programatically get your public IP? Well, that is interesting one.

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Can automation help with performance troubleshooting?

Yes, and that was a question we’ve started this blogpost with is about that. How can we rely the automation tools by troubleshooting? How can we get our IP to make any diagnostics? You will see some things right in this blogpost

Our network automation training has two faces: either live or self-paced. So you can choose yourself, what works better for you. On our side, we guide you from the foundation of the automation for the small networks till advanced automation use cases in big data centres, service providers, and clouds. You will lean how to structure the data using YANG modules, how to serialise it using JSON, XML, Protocol Continue reading

Tools 1. Top 5 tools for network performance troubleshooting

Hello my friend,

some time ago we’ve been recently engaged in the troubleshooting of the performance issues. Namely, the speed of the communication between the application’s endpoints in two data centres was not persistent. Instead, it was deviating a lot having multiple TCP retransmissions for certain flows. The issues was successfully solved, and we’d like to share with you the tools we have used to identify and validate various aspects of traffic forwarding.

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Can automation help with performance troubleshooting?

Absolutely. During our network automation training we show how to utilise various Linux tools from configuration management tools (e.g. Ansible) and programming languages (Bash, Python). That gives you ready examples from our training, which you can use in your network immediately, and endless possibilities to create your own automated troubleshooting workflows.

Our network automation training has two faces: either live or self-paced. So you can choose yourself, what works better for you. On our side, we Continue reading

Installing FTP client (or any other Linux tool) on Cumulus Linux

Hello my friend,

Recently I’ve been engage in some troubleshooting with Cumulus and was looking for the way, how can I send the cl-support file from my switches directly to the vendor support bypassing downloading them to my laptop.

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Eager to learn about network automation?

We are here to help you. At our network automation training you learn all you need to know to be successful with such tasks in your profession:

• Foundation, operation and administration of Linux, Docker, KVM
• Structure, syntax, and content of YANG models
• Structure, syntax, and application of various data encoding formats: JSON, XML, Protocol Buffers (Protobuf)
• Operation and application of different transport protocols SSH, HTTP, gRPC
• Operation and application of management specifications: CLI, gNMI, NETCONF, RESTCONF/REST API
• How to use and manage everything above with Ansible, Bash, and Python

Start your automation training today.

Brief description

Let’s take a closer look into the issue. The Cumulus Linux is based on the Continue reading

Ansible 2.10 introduction

Hello my friend,

as you know, Ansible is one of the leading tools for the automation of the IT and network infrastructure. We have written a lot about it earlier (e.g. CLI configs, OpenConfig with NETCONF, or VNF-M). Recently Red Hat announced the new version of Ansible (Ansible 2.10), which changes a lot the way we used to work with that.

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retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any 

means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording, 

or otherwise, for commercial purposes without the 

prior permission of the author.

Eager to learn about network automation?

We are here to help you. At our network automation training you learn all you need to know to be successful with such tasks in your profession:

• Linux, Docker, KVM
• YANG models
• JSON, XML, Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) data formats
• SSH, REST API, gRPC transport
• gNMI, NETCONF, RESTCONF protocols
• How to use and manage everything above with Ansible, Bash, and Python

Start your automation training today.

What that is about

Ansible 2.10 is more than a just another Ansible’s update. It is a new approach, paradigm shift, Continue reading