Network Automation Expert Beginners

Some network automation skeptics came to that place the hard way: they got burned by half-baked semi-tested systems. This is what one of my good friends had to say in a LinkedIn comment:

I am suspicious of automation, as I’ve unfortunately seen too many outages caused by either human error or faulty automation. Every time it required human CLI/GUI intervention to correct it. The problem is that the more automation we push, the fewer people know how to use the “old school” way to administer stuff.

Network automation is not the only IT discipline that could cause hard-to-correct errors requiring manual intervention. I’m positive everyone knows at least one horror story resulting in manual tweaking of the Windows registry, or a sequence of arcane SQL commands¹.

netlab Release 1.4.3: Cisco IOS XRv, MPLS on FRR

I had tons of plans to implement new netlab features during the last week of December, but then (fortunately) reality intervened and I spent my time relaxing and enjoying the break. I still managed to add IOS XRv support to netlab release 1.4.3 though ;). Other new features include:

• MPLS, LDP and L3VPN support on FRR by Oleg A. Arkhangelsky
• Optimized Linux container deployment that removes dependencies on Python and ip
• Custom templates for container configuration files

To upgrade, execute pip3 install --upgrade networklab.

New to netlab? Start with the Getting Started document and the installation guide.

netlab Release 1.4.3: Cisco IOS XRv, MPLS on FRR

I had tons of plans to implement new netlab features during the last week of December, but then (fortunately) reality intervened and I spent my time relaxing and enjoying the break. I still managed to add IOS XRv support to netlab release 1.4.3 though ;). Other new features include:

• MPLS, LDP and L3VPN support on FRR by Oleg A. Arkhangelsky
• Optimized Linux container deployment that removes dependencies on Python and ip
• Custom templates for container configuration files

To upgrade, execute pip3 install --upgrade networklab.

New to netlab? Start with the Getting Started document and the installation guide.

Worth Reading: Routing Protocol Implementation Evaluation

In 2018 I tried to figure out whether the rush to deploy new routing protocols in leaf-and-spine fabrics is anything more than another blob of hype (RIFT, OpenFabric, BGP), considering OSPF got the job done for AWS. Those discussions probably sounded like a bunch of smart kids trying to measure outside temperature with a moist finger, so the only recommendation I could give in 2021 was “use the best tool for the job, keeping in mind you’re not Google or Microsoft”

It’s always better to measure than to have opinions, and a group of academics did just that. They developed Sybil – a tool to measure routing protocol performance in leaf-and-spine fabrics – and Dip Singh used it to compare BGP to IS-IS and OpenFabric.

Worth Reading: Routing Protocol Implementation Evaluation

In 2018 I tried to figure out whether the rush to deploy new routing protocols in leaf-and-spine fabrics is anything more than another blob of hype (RIFT, OpenFabric, BGP), considering OSPF got the job done for AWS. Those discussions probably sounded like a bunch of smart kids trying to measure outside temperature with a moist finger, so the only recommendation I could give in 2021 was “use the best tool for the job, keeping in mind you’re not Google or Microsoft”

It’s always better to measure than to have opinions, and a group of academics did just that. They developed Sybil – a tool to measure routing protocol performance in leaf-and-spine fabrics – and Dip Singh used it to compare BGP to IS-IS and OpenFabric.

Lack of Use Cases: a Lesson about Handling Hype

Gerben Wierda published an interesting article documenting how overhyped technologies eventually wither due to lack of realistic use cases.

He’s writing about blockchain, but it would be relatively trivial to replace that with OpenFlow – when was the last time you’ve seen something implemented with OpenFlow that wouldn’t be easier to do with traditional tools?

Lack of Use Cases: a Lesson about Handling Hype

Gerben Wierda published an interesting article documenting how overhyped technologies eventually wither due to lack of realistic use cases.

He’s writing about blockchain, but it would be relatively trivial to replace that with OpenFlow – when was the last time you’ve seen something implemented with OpenFlow that wouldn’t be easier to do with traditional tools?

Video: MLAG with EVPN Deep Dive

In November 2022 I described some of the intricacies of using EVPN to implement MLAG control plane. You might have noticed that I didn’t dive deep into EVPN details, and I had a good reason for that – Lukas Krattiger did a wonderful job describing how MLAG works with EVPN in the EVPN Deep Dive webinar.

Video: MLAG with EVPN Deep Dive

In November 2022 I described some of the intricacies of using EVPN to implement MLAG control plane. You might have noticed that I didn’t dive deep into EVPN details, and I had a good reason for that – Lukas Krattiger did a wonderful job describing how MLAG works with EVPN in the EVPN Deep Dive webinar.

State of LDPv6 and 6PE

One of my readers successfully deployed LDPv6 in their production network:

We are using LDPv6 since we started using MPLS with IPv6 because I was used to OSPF/OSPFv3 in dual-stack deployments, and it simply worked.

Not everyone seems to be sharing his enthusiasm:

Now some consultants tell me that they know no-one else that is using LDPv6. According to them “everyone” is using 6PE and the future of LDPv6 is not certain.

State of LDPv6 and 6PE

One of my readers successfully deployed LDPv6 in their production network:

We are using LDPv6 since we started using MPLS with IPv6 because I was used to OSPF/OSPFv3 in dual-stack deployments, and it simply worked.

Not everyone seems to be sharing his enthusiasm:

Now some consultants tell me that they know no-one else that is using LDPv6. According to them “everyone” is using 6PE and the future of LDPv6 is not certain.

Updates: AWS Networking

It didn’t make sense to update Amazon Web Services Networking webinar before the re:Invent conference – even though AWS introduced only a few networking features during the conference, at least one of them made a significant impact on the materials.

However, once the conference was over, I went over the to-do list that has been slowly accumulating for months and spent days updating over a dozen videos¹. The major changes include:

Updates: AWS Networking

It didn’t make sense to update Amazon Web Services Networking webinar before the re:Invent conference – even though AWS introduced only a few networking features during the conference, at least one of them made a significant impact on the materials.

However, once the conference was over, I went over the to-do list that has been slowly accumulating for months and spent days updating over a dozen videos¹. The major changes include:

Is It Time to Replace TCP in Data Centers?

One of my readers asked for my opinion about the provocative “It’s Time to Replace TCP in the Datacenter” article by prof. John Ousterhout. I started reading it, found too many things that didn’t make sense, and decided to ignore it as another attempt of a proverbial physicist solving hard problems in someone else’s field.

However, pointers to that article kept popping up, and I eventually realized it was a position paper in a long-term process that included conference talks, interviews and keynote speeches, so I decided to take another look at the technical details.

Is It Time to Replace TCP in Data Centers?

One of my readers asked for my opinion about the provocative “It’s Time to Replace TCP in the Datacenter” article by prof. John Ousterhout. I started reading it, found too many things that didn’t make sense, and decided to ignore it as another attempt of a proverbial physicist solving hard problems in someone else’s field.

However, pointers to that article kept popping up, and I eventually realized it was a position paper in a long-term process that included conference talks, interviews and keynote speeches, so I decided to take another look at the technical details.

netlab Release 1.4.2: Juniper vMX and Junos Features

One of the last things I did before going on the Christmas break was to push out netlab release 1.4.2. Its highlights include:

• Juniper vMX by Stefano Sasso
• BFD, VRF, MPLS, SR-MPLS, and MPLS/VPN on Junos (also by Stefano)
• Full VLAN support on vMX and routed VLAN interfaces on vSRX (yet again, Stefano’s contribution)
• VyOS containerlab support by Oleg A. Arkhangelsky
• CSR 1000v VLAN and VXLAN support

Upgrading is as easy as ever: execute pip3 install --upgrade networklab.

New to netlab? Start with the Getting Started document and the installation guide.

netlab Release 1.4.2: Juniper vMX and Junos Features

One of the last things I did before going on the Christmas break was to push out netlab release 1.4.2. Its highlights include:

• Juniper vMX by Stefano Sasso
• BFD, VRF, MPLS, SR-MPLS, and MPLS/VPN on Junos (also by Stefano)
• Full VLAN support on vMX and routed VLAN interfaces on vSRX (yet again, Stefano’s contribution)
• VyOS containerlab support by Oleg A. Arkhangelsky
• CSR 1000v VLAN and VXLAN support

Upgrading is as easy as ever: execute pip3 install --upgrade networklab.

New to netlab? Start with the Getting Started document and the installation guide.

Happy Holidays and All the Best in 2023!

Two hundred forty blog posts and sixteen webinar sessions later, it’s time for yet another “year gone by” blog post – I’m shutting down my virtual office and will disappear until mid-January. I’ll read my email should someone experience an urgent support problem but won’t reply to 90% of the other stuff coming in.

I hope you’ll find a few days to disconnect from the crazy pace of the networking world, forget all the marketing shenanigans you encountered in 2022, and focus on your loved ones. I would also like to wish you all the best in 2023!

Finally, I couldn’t resist posting a few teasers of what’s coming in early 2023¹:

Happy Holidays and All the Best in 2023!

Two hundred forty blog posts and sixteen webinar sessions later, it’s time for yet another “year gone by” blog post – I’m shutting down my virtual office and will disappear until mid-January. I’ll read my email should someone experience an urgent support problem but won’t reply to 90% of the other stuff coming in.

I hope you’ll find a few days to disconnect from the crazy pace of the networking world, forget all the marketing shenanigans you encountered in 2022, and focus on your loved ones. I would also like to wish you all the best in 2023!

Finally, I couldn’t resist posting a few teasers of what’s coming in early 2023¹:

A Quick Look at AWS Scalable Reliable Datagram Protocol

One of the most exciting announcements from the last AWS re:Invent was the Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) Express functionality that uses the Scalable Reliable Datagram (SRD) protocol as the transport protocol for the overlay virtual networks. AWS claims ENA Express can push 25 Gbps over a single TCP flow and that SRD improves the tail latency (99.9 percentile) for high-throughput workloads by 85%.

Ignoring the “DPUs could change the network forever” blogosphere reactions (hint: they won’t), let’s see what could be happening behind the scenes and why SRD improves TCP throughput and tail latency.