Ethan Banks
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Ethan Banks
StayFocusd Extension For Chrome
During the last month or two, I’d gotten into a habit of trawling through Imgur, looking for memes I could spin into humorous tweets about networking. It became a game to see what tweets I could create that people would find funny.
That game was successful, in that I had many tweets that were liked and/or retweeted dozens or, in a few cases, hundreds of times. But there was a downside. I was spending a lot of time on Imgur seeking inspiration. I was also spending a lot of time composing tweets and checking reactions.
I Hurt Myself Today
This led to the familiar cycle of Internet addiction. I was hooked on Twitter…again. I’ve been through this with Twitter off and on for many years now. My use of Imgur was also obsessive, opening the app on my phone multiple times per day and scrolling, scrolling, scrolling while looking for new fodder.
Using social media in the context of addiction is subtly different from simply wasting time. Addiction, for me, means using social media when I didn’t plan to. There’s a compulsion that would drive me to fire up Tweetdeck and check out all of my carefully curated columns, review Continue reading
StayFocusd Extension For Chrome
During the last month or two, I’d gotten into a habit of trawling through Imgur, looking for memes I could spin into humorous tweets about networking. It became a game to see what tweets I could create that people would find funny.
That game was successful, in that I had many tweets that were liked and/or retweeted dozens or, in a few cases, hundreds of times. But there was a downside. I was spending a lot of time on Imgur seeking inspiration. I was also spending a lot of time composing tweets and checking reactions.
I Hurt Myself Today
This led to the familiar cycle of Internet addiction. I was hooked on Twitter…again. I’ve been through this with Twitter off and on for many years now. My use of Imgur was also obsessive, opening the app on my phone multiple times per day and scrolling, scrolling, scrolling while looking for new fodder.
Using social media in the context of addiction is subtly different from simply wasting time. Addiction, for me, means using social media when I didn’t plan to. There’s a compulsion that would drive me to fire up Tweetdeck and check out all of my carefully curated columns, review Continue reading
PQ 146: Practical Python For Deploying BFD
Today on the Priority Queue, some practical Python for network engineers.
My guest is Billy Downing, and we walk through an example of how to use Python to deploy BFD, or Bidirectional Forwarding Detection.
We start by describing BFD and how it works, and then explore how to use Python to make it go in your network.
Billy is a data center engineer who works for the Department of Defense. Check out his blog at NetworkTechStudy.com.
Show Links:
NetworkTechStudy.com – Billy Downing’s blog
Learning Python from a Network Engineer’s Perspective – NetworkTechStudy.com
The post PQ 146: Practical Python For Deploying BFD appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Show 385: Getting Inside Cisco Tetration (Sponsored)
If you d heard of Cisco Tetration when it was first announced, you might have a vague memory of it being this huge rack of hardware at an eye-watering price that did some sort of analytics for massive data centers.
Tetration has evolved into a platform that meets needs for organizations of many sizes. Tetration also has a bunch of genuinely interesting use cases, as Cisco has become increasingly clever about what they can do with all of that data Tetration gathers.
For example, you can auto-implement a whitelist policy for application workloads. You can detect when your apps are deviating from their normal traffic patterns. You can detect software vulnerabilities. And depending on where you run Tetration, you can still get deep network performance insights, what I think of as the original Tetration value proposition.
Today on this sponsored episode, we delve into what Tetration does, explore use cases, and dive into how it fits into compute environments. Our guests from Cisco are Jason Gmitter, Principal Systems Engineer; and Yogesh Kaushik, Senior Director of Product Management for Tetration.
Show Links
Cisco Tetration – Cisco Systems
Cisco Tetration Workload Protection Extended with new Options: SaaS and Virtual Appliance – Cisco Continue reading
BiB 039: Reviewing The D-Link DGS-1510-52
Ethan Banks does a five minute review of the enterprise-oriented D-Link DGS-1510-52 Ethernet switch.
The post BiB 039: Reviewing The D-Link DGS-1510-52 appeared first on Packet Pushers.
BiB 038: Gluware Automates The Brownfield
Jeff Gray, CEO at Gluware, chatted to the Packet Pushers about how they can automate any network, including the one you've already got.
The post BiB 038: Gluware Automates The Brownfield appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Show 384: The Packet Pushers Unleashed
On today’s show Greg and Ethan talk about a few things that have been on their minds, including updates on the forthcoming Packet Pushers subscription site and a post-mortem of the recent Virtual Design Clinic.
They also hash out some tech conversations, including Cloudflare’s new DNS resolver, peak open networking, a review of the Aruba Atmosphere wireless conference, and more nerdy topics.
Sponsor: ThousandEyes
ThousandEyes gives you visibility, insights, and actionable intelligence into user experience from every user to every application over any network, so you transform your WAN, troubleshoot faster and deliver exceptional user experiences in the cloud and on premises. Try ThousandEyes for free at thousandeyes.com/packetpushers and grab a fun t-shirt!
Sponsor: Cumulus Networks
The Cumulus Linux network OS is simple, open, untethered Linux that can run on more than 70 hardware platforms and help you transition from your legacy infrastructure. Cumulus Networks is Web-scale networking for the digital age. Go to cumulusnetworks.com to find out more.
Show Links:
Introducing DNS Resolver, 1.1.1.1 (not a joke) – Cloudflare
Announcing 1.1.1.1: the fastest, privacy-first consumer DNS service – Cloudflare
jedisct1/dnsblast: A simple and stupid load testing tool for DNS resolvers – Continue reading
PQ 144: Engineer Roundtable: Encryption, Code Style, Tech Over 40
Today on the Priority Queue we have a roundtable show. We’ve gathered a few engineers around the microphone to talk about their experiences and what’s on their minds.
We often hear this format is an audience favorite, so we plan to record more of these in the Priority Queue and Weekly channels, so keep an eye out.
Today we welcome Alex Clipper, Eric Gullickson, Matt Elliott, and Stafford Rau to the podcast. We discuss encryption, code styles to ensure that code written by networkers is up to snuff, and what it’s like to work in technology after a certain age.
Sponsor: Paessler AG
Paessler AG is the maker of PRTG Network Monitor. PRTG monitors your entire IT infrastructure 24/7 and alerts you to problems before users notice. Find out more about the monitoring software that helps system administrators work smarter, faster, better by visiting paessler.com today.
Show Links:
Understanding Media Access Control Security (MACsec) – Technical Documentation – Support – Juniper Networks
Layer 2-Encryptors For Metro And Carrier Ethernet WANs And MANs – Inside-IT (PDF)
Thales L2 Encryption – Thales
Senetas – Senetas.com
What Is Optical Encryption? – Ciena
Google Style Guides – GitHub
BiB 037: Emulate Big WAN Links with Apposite’s Netropy 100G
CEO Neal Roche at Apposite Technologies briefed Ethan Banks about WAN emulation and their new Netropy 100G appliance.
Find out more about Apposite at https://apposite-tech.com.
The post BiB 037: Emulate Big WAN Links with Apposite’s Netropy 100G appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Space To Think My Own Thoughts
Everyone Creates
A challenge for people who make things is living in a world where everyone else makes things, too. On the Internet, everyone seems to be making something they want you to consider and approve of.
Sometimes, that Internet creation is as simple as a tweet or Facebook post. Like it! Share it! Retweet it! More complex creations, like this blog post, are still easy enough to make and share that there are likely hundreds of new articles you might be asked to read in a week.
If you were to carefully keep up with everything you subscribe to or follow, your mind would never have time to itself. You’d never be able to think your own thoughts. You’d be too busy chewing on the thoughts of other people.
Overconsumption
For this reason, I believe constant consumption damages productivity. Designers, architects, artisans, writers, and other creators need time to think through what they are making. Writers need a subject and word flow to clearly communicate. Technology architects need to deeply consider the implications of their designs from multiple angles.
Deep consideration takes contiguous blocks of time. Achieving a flowing state of mind takes uninterrupted time. Thoughts build one on Continue reading
Space To Think My Own Thoughts
Everyone Creates
A challenge for people who make things is living in a world where everyone else makes things, too. On the Internet, everyone seems to be making something they want you to consider and approve of.
Sometimes, that Internet creation is as simple as a tweet or Facebook post. Like it! Share it! Retweet it! More complex creations, like this blog post, are still easy enough to make and share that there are likely hundreds of new articles you might be asked to read in a week.
If you were to carefully keep up with everything you subscribe to or follow, your mind would never have time to itself. You’d never be able to think your own thoughts. You’d be too busy chewing on the thoughts of other people.
Overconsumption
For this reason, I believe constant consumption damages productivity. Designers, architects, artisans, writers, and other creators need time to think through what they are making. Writers need a subject and word flow to clearly communicate. Technology architects need to deeply consider the implications of their designs from multiple angles.
Deep consideration takes contiguous blocks of time. Achieving a flowing state of mind takes uninterrupted time. Thoughts build one on Continue reading
PQ 142: TCP Latency Monitoring With Ruru
Today's Priority Queue peers into the Ruru project, which is open source software for TCP monitoring. Our guest is Ruru developer Richard Cziva. The post PQ 142: TCP Latency Monitoring With Ruru appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Announcing The Packet Pushers Virtual Design Clinic Series
Many of you tell us that traveling to tech conferences is not going to happen. You can’t get the time out of the office. You can’t get the expense approved. Your boss thinks you’ll be rolling down the boulevard in a limo drunk five minutes after the plane lands. Whatever your reasons, you’re not going […]PQ 141: Using Open-Source FastNetMon For DDoS Detection
FastNetMon is open-source software for DDoS detection. On today's Priority Queue we explore the software & its capabilities with project leader Pavel Odintsov. The post PQ 141: Using Open-Source FastNetMon For DDoS Detection appeared first on Packet Pushers.
PQ 140: OPNsense Wants To Be Your Open-Source Firewall
Today's Priority Queue looks at OPNsense, the open-source firewall and router. We examine features and capabilities, how it differs from other open firewalls, and more. The post PQ 140: OPNsense Wants To Be Your Open-Source Firewall appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Show 377: SD-WAN Use Cases With Silver Peak (Sponsored)
We explore real-world SD-WAN use cases, including service chaining and SaaS performance improvement, with sponsor Silver Peak in our latest Weekly Show podcast. The post Show 377: SD-WAN Use Cases With Silver Peak (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.
BiB 035: ReSTNSX Makes NSX Easier To Operate
Ethan Banks had a briefing with ReSTNSX, and they demoed their VMware NSX-enhancing platform to him. Have a listen for Ethan's impressions of the demo.
The post BiB 035: ReSTNSX Makes NSX Easier To Operate appeared first on Packet Pushers.
BiB 32: Netscout Adds Security Chaining To nGenius PFS5000
Netscout talked to Ethan Banks about how they are unifying visibility fabrics inside of an IT team with features like security tool chains.
The post BiB 32: Netscout Adds Security Chaining To nGenius PFS5000 appeared first on Packet Pushers.
BiB 31: VMware NSX 6.4 Release Notes Round Up
Ethan Banks does a quick walk through of VMware's official release notes for NSX 6.4.
The post BiB 31: VMware NSX 6.4 Release Notes Round Up appeared first on Packet Pushers.
The Pros & Cons Of Task Managers
Task managers are tools that allow you to maintain organized lists of the things you need to do. Over the last couple of months, I have shifted my workflow to revolve around a task manager. That means that what I do each day is driven by the tasks that are on my list.
If the task is on my list, I perform that task until it’s completed or at least moved as far as I can move it. If something pops up that must be dealt with immediately but is not my task list, I create a task, complete it, and cross it off.
My goal is to not simply to get things done. I want to get things done, in the right order, on time, and without forgetting any of my commitments. My workflow tends to have many small details as well as unexpected disruptions each day I must react to. My task manager helps me control all of these things.
Control is an important keyword, because control of your day is what a well-utilized task list can provide. Nonetheless, there are both pros and cons to the task-driven life.
Pros.
- Maintain focus. In my world, tasks must get Continue reading