Ethan Banks
Author Archives: Ethan Banks
- Home → Author's archive:
Ethan Banks
Show 399: Open Networking In Production
Today, we talk to network architect Andrey Khomyakov, who s helped his organization make the transition from traditional to open networking in production.
What s it like to disaggregate switch hardware from network operating system? Was it hard? Does it really work? What s support like? Was any money saved? Will I get fired for suggesting my company go the open networking route? Andrey will answer these and more questions.
Pete Lumbis, long time friend of the Packet Pushers and contributor to the networking community, also joins with some of his insights learned in his role at Cumulus Networks. This is not a sponsored show. We just want to share the real-world experience of going new-school disaggregation with your networking.
We’ll look at the distinctions between open networking, disaggregation, and whitebox. We’ll also look at day-to-day operations with whitebox, common problems, how to choose a whitebox, and more.
The post Show 399: Open Networking In Production appeared first on Packet Pushers.
BiB 047: Arrcus ArcOS Competes With Cisco, Juniper, Arista
Arrcus is a startup that’s built a modern network operating system for the disaggregated networking market. They are running on $15M of Series A funding, and as of 16-July-2018, they have emerged from stealth. In this briefing, Arrcus shared some of the details behind ArcOS, their core product offering.
The post BiB 047: Arrcus ArcOS Competes With Cisco, Juniper, Arista appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Show 398: The Tradeoffs Of Information Hiding In The Control Plane
Today on the Priority Queue, we re gonna hide some information. Oh, like route summarization? Sure, like route summarization. That s an example of information hiding. But there s much more to the story than that.
Our guest is Russ White. Russ is a serial networking book author, network architect, RFC writer, patent holder, technical instructor, and much of the motive force behind the early iterations of the CCDE program.
The latest tome to flow from his keyboard (and mine, actually) is Computer Networking Problems and Solutions available on Amazon right now. While I wrote or contributed to several of the chapters in this book, Russ did the lion s share, and we re going to dive into one of his book chapters, devoted to the topic of information hiding.
We discuss the reasons for information hiding in the control plane, including resource conservation and reducing the failure domain; the pros and cons of dividing a network in multiple failure domains with information hiding; and the criticality of convergence.
We also talk about techniques for information hiding, including filtering reachability information and using overlays.
Sponsor: InterOptic
InterOptic offers high-performance, high-quality optics at a fraction of the cost. Find out more Continue reading
I Didn’t Even Know I Was Sick
This piece was originally published in the Packet Pushers’ Human Infrastructure Magazine, a publication about the human side of working in technology. HIM is sent every other week or so to Packet Pushers Ignition members. Sign up for free.
I recently tweeted…
I’ve become okay with only having so much time in my schedule. Would adding this { new | random | unexpected } thing to the mix stress me out? Yes? Then I can’t do it. Have to leave some space. Have to execute well on the things already on the list.
I grabbed a couple of replies that especially impacted me.
Cutting Things Loose Has A Cost
The hard part for me is deciding when to cut things loose in order to make room for new things that are more valuable. Sometimes it’s natural, like a job transition, but most of the time it’s not. I’d rather make intentional choices, not wait until I’m burned out. Of course, often the major problem with intentionally stopping a project is the social cost. Disappointing people is expensive for multiple reasons. And it’s very difficult to weigh that against the benefit of doing something new.
Benson crammed a whole lot Continue reading
I Didn’t Even Know I Was Sick
This piece was originally published in the Packet Pushers’ Human Infrastructure Magazine, a publication about the human side of working in technology. HIM is sent every other week or so to Packet Pushers Ignition members. Sign up for free.
I recently tweeted…
I’ve become okay with only having so much time in my schedule. Would adding this { new | random | unexpected } thing to the mix stress me out? Yes? Then I can’t do it. Have to leave some space. Have to execute well on the things already on the list.
I grabbed a couple of replies that especially impacted me.
Cutting Things Loose Has A Cost
The hard part for me is deciding when to cut things loose in order to make room for new things that are more valuable. Sometimes it’s natural, like a job transition, but most of the time it’s not. I’d rather make intentional choices, not wait until I’m burned out. Of course, often the major problem with intentionally stopping a project is the social cost. Disappointing people is expensive for multiple reasons. And it’s very difficult to weigh that against the benefit of doing something new.
Benson crammed a whole lot Continue reading
BiB 046: Arista 7170 Multi-function Programmable Network Switches
Ethan Banks attended a technical webinar held by Arista Networks talking about their recently announced 7170 series multi-function programmable network switches. In this webinar, Arista explained what the new 7170 switch line was all about. The central reason this switch line exists is programmability.
The post BiB 046: Arista 7170 Multi-function Programmable Network Switches appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Show 394: Technology Problems Are Mostly People Problems
You are a problem…maybe the biggest problem of all. No? The crashing router code is the biggest problem? The leaking memory in the switch?
The app needs layer 2 stretched between data centers–what problem could be worse than that?
Today on the show, we re here to argue that, no…it s you. And me. And everyone else you work with.
With us today to defend the idea that technology problems are really people problems is Eyvonne Sharp, network architect and co-founder of The Network Collective.
We talk about how people and processes can contribute more to a problem than a technology. We also talk about three different organizational culture types (Pathological, Bureaucratic, and Generative), how to evaluate your own organization, and Eyvonne recommends a few books on team building and culture development.
Show Links:
Using the Westrum typology to measure culture – Andy Kelk
Forget about broad-based pay hikes, executives say – Axios
The Undoing Project – Michael Lewis
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable –
Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World – General Stanley McChrystal
The post Show 394: Technology Continue reading
BiB 045: Rubrik Alta 4.2 AWS Native Protection For EC2
Rubrik Alta 4.2 offers AWS native protection for EC2, VMware vCloud Director integration, Windows full volume protection, as well as AIX & Solaris support. We zoom in on the EC2 part of the announcement.
The post BiB 045: Rubrik Alta 4.2 AWS Native Protection For EC2 appeared first on Packet Pushers.
BiB 044: Juniper Announces MX Series 5G Universal Routing Platform
Juniper makes announcements around the upcoming MX Series 5G Universal Routing platform, including Si5 silicon, hardware acceleration for CUPS, and MX variants of the Universal Chassis.
The post BiB 044: Juniper Announces MX Series 5G Universal Routing Platform appeared first on Packet Pushers.
PQ 150: HCI Networking With Big Switch’s Big Cloud Fabric (Sponsored)
One promise of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) is ease of management. Break down the silos, put all the components into a unified whole displayed on a single pane of glass, and voila! Apps are served.
But networking hasn t been integrated as effectively into HCI as the other components of the IT stack. Networking, even in an HCI world, tends be difficult. And with the dynamic needs of HCI, networking just isn’t keeping up.
The days of standing up the network and letting it run are past, because a best effort, rough approximation of how the network should behave isn t something you have to settle for anymore.
Discussing integration of HCI with networking is Big Switch Networks, our sponsor for today s Priority Queue. Prashant Gandhi, Chief Product Officer at Big Switch, is our guest.
We talk about why “best-effort” networking isn’t suited for HCI, and look at HCI-specific operational issues and use cases including container networking and multi-tenancy.
For hands-on experience with Big Cloud Fabric, register for BSN Labs, a demo environment in the cloud that lets you experience the technical differentiation, management CLI, and GUI of Big Cloud Fabric.
Show Links:
IPv6 Buzz 001: Sixth World IPv6 Launch Anniversary
Ed Horley, Tom Coffeen, and Scott Hogg discuss the state of IPv6 adoption in 2018, reflecting on the sixth anniversary of the World IPv6 Launch.
The post IPv6 Buzz 001: Sixth World IPv6 Launch Anniversary appeared first on Packet Pushers.
BiB 043: DriveScale’s Software Composable Infrastructure For Flash
In this briefing, DriveScale announced Software Composable Infrastructure for Flash, which they claim is a market first. Flash storage is all about high bandwidth and low latency, and the latest NVMe flash drives have ferocious network-filling capability. If you think serving storage over Ethernet is a performance compromise, think again.
The post BiB 043: DriveScale’s Software Composable Infrastructure For Flash appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Show 391: IXP Peering Security With Cisco (Sponsored)
The Internet is a network of networks. Where do each of these networks meet to form the global Internet? At Internet Exchange Points or IXPs. In North America, these IXPs are also known as network access points, or NAPs.
Over the years, connecting to a NAP has become increasingly crucial for service providers to get right because of the sheer volume of traffic the Internet carries these days (Hello, Netflix!), the complexity of service provider peering agreements, and endless troubles with security threats.
Joining us today to discuss how to better plan, design, operate, and secure peering is our sponsor Cisco. Our guests from Cisco are Phil Bedard, Service Provider TME; and Bruce McDougall, Consulting Systems Engineer.
We discuss the evolution of Internet traffic flow and interconnection, how peering designs among service providers have changed, the role of telemetry and data, and peering security issues.
Show Links:
BGP Monitoring Protocol (BMP) – IETF
Internet Edge Peering – Current Practice – GitHub
BGP Operations and Security – IETF
Observing BGP activity with BGP Monitoring Protocol – Cisco
Streaming Network Analytics System (SNAS) – snas.io
The Death of Transit And Beyond – Geoff Huston (PDF)
Eyeball network – Wikipedia
The Continue reading
Show 390: Visualizing Complex SD-WAN With LiveAction (Sponsored)
Today on the Packet Pushers Weekly show, we investigate how to monitor hybrid and SD-WAN.
If your WAN looks like a mix of legacy MPLS, SD-WAN, and uplinks to cloud, this is your show. Our sponsor today is LiveAction, who is going to shine a light on the hybrid and SD-WAN through monitoring and automation.
Our guest is John Smith, Founder, CTO and EVP of LiveAction.
We talk about LiveAction’s software and how it works, why it’s essential to have visibility into your hybrid WAN and SD-WAN, and how LiveAction can provide highly visual and intuitive insights and actionable intelligence for day-to-day operations, troubleshooting, and long-term planning.
Show Links:
LiveAction’s Packet Pushers Resources – LiveAction
The post Show 390: Visualizing Complex SD-WAN With LiveAction (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Don’t Reply To Everything
I recently came across a simple idea that is having a positive impact on productivity. That idea is to not reply to everything. While this can be applied to social media broadly, I’m focused on email management here.
For me, not replying is more difficult than it sounds. I am a personality type that doesn’t like loose ends. I like to meet other’s expectations, and have them think cuddly, happy thoughts about what a swell person I am. I know that when I send an email, I hope to get a response. Therefore, when I receive an e-mail, my natural inclination is to respond.
Now, I don’t feel I overly waste time on replying to email. I’ve improved my response technique over the years. I bring an e-mail thread to a conclusion as rapidly as possible by anticipating and proactively answering questions. That’s more time-consuming than a quick, lazy “back to you” response, but saves time in the long run.
However, an advance on the proactive reply is never replying at all. Not responding is the ultimate way to bring an email thread to a conclusion.
You’re So Rude
On the surface, ignoring inbox messages seems rude. However, Continue reading
Don’t Reply To Everything
I recently came across a simple idea that is having a positive impact on productivity. That idea is to not reply to everything. While this can be applied to social media broadly, I’m focused on email management here.
For me, not replying is more difficult than it sounds. I am a personality type that doesn’t like loose ends. I like to meet other’s expectations, and have them think cuddly, happy thoughts about what a swell person I am. I know that when I send an email, I hope to get a response. Therefore, when I receive an e-mail, my natural inclination is to respond.
Now, I don’t feel I overly waste time on replying to email. I’ve improved my response technique over the years. I bring an e-mail thread to a conclusion as rapidly as possible by anticipating and proactively answering questions. That’s more time-consuming than a quick, lazy “back to you” response, but saves time in the long run.
However, an advance on the proactive reply is never replying at all. Not responding is the ultimate way to bring an email thread to a conclusion.
You’re So Rude
On the surface, ignoring inbox messages seems rude. However, Continue reading
Show 389: Using MPLS In The Enterprise
Today on the Weekly show, MPLS in the enterprise, especially for the use case of segmentation.
Should you do it? Why would you do it? Considering the equipment you ve got, could you do it even if you wanted to? And even if you should, you would, and you can, what about all those other people you work with?
Discussing this emotionally fraught topic of MPLS in the enterprise is Tom Ammon, a senior network engineer who s supported it in a few different environments. He blogs at blog.tomammon.net.
We start by discussing the general case for MPLS in the enterprise, walk through the hardware and software requirements necessary to support MPLS, and then drill into segmentation more specifically.
We also look at reasons why you’d want to use MPLS for segmentation, and explores issues around operations, skillsets and training, and troubleshooting.
The post Show 389: Using MPLS In The Enterprise appeared first on Packet Pushers.
PQ 149: WPA3 And Wireless Security Improvements
In January 2018, the WiFi Alliance announced that WPA3 was coming this year, a collection of security enhancements to address issues with WPA2.
Today, we discuss WPA3 with Dan Harkins, a scientist at Aruba Networks, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. Dan has been closely involved with WPA3 s development, and I heard Dan present on his work at Aruba Atmosphere 2018 in March of this year.
Dan was kind enough to join us today for a preview of what s coming, with a special focus on one aspect of WPA3 that interests me personally, Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE).
We also discuss the fixes that WPA3 makes to WPA2, and when we can anticipate product support.
Sponsor: Paessler AG
Paessler AG is the maker of PRTG Network Monitor. PRTG monitors your whole IT infrastructure 24/7 and alerts you to problems before users even notice. Find out more about the monitoring software that helps system administrators work smarter, faster, better. Visit paessler.com today.
Show Links:
Wi-Fi Alliance® introduces security enhancements – Wi-Fi Alliance
The post PQ 149: WPA3 And Wireless Security Improvements appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Show 388: The Future Of Networking With Kyle Mestery
The Future of Networking series continues with guest Kyle Mestery.
Kyle is well known to many corners of the networking community including the open source community. He recently re-joined Cisco as a Distinguished Engineer.
We talk with Kyle to get his take on where the packets are flowing over the next several years, including the tech conference scene, open-source networking, the proliferation of open-source networking OSs, what’s inside Open Network Linux (ONL), and cloud-native network functions virtualization.
Sponsor: ThousandEyes
ThousandEyes gives you performance visibility from every user to every app over any network, both internal and external, so you can smoothly migrate to the cloud, transform your WAN, troubleshoot faster and deliver exceptional user experiences. Sign up for a free account at thousandeyes.com/packetpushers and choose a free ThousandEyes t-shirt.
Show Links:
Silicon Loons.com – Kyle’s blog
Network Service Mesh – GitHub
Three Years On: Open Standards, Open Source, Open Loop – Cisco Systems
Verizon Launches Virtual Service Bundles – Light Reading
The post Show 388: The Future Of Networking With Kyle Mestery appeared first on Packet Pushers.
