Lukas Krattiger wrapped up his EVPN-versus-MLAG presentation (part of EVPN Deep Dive webinar) with an overview of the advantages and drawbacks of EVPN-based multihoming solutions:
I got this question from one of my readers:
Why are OSPF and BGP are more complex than STP from a designer or administrator point of view? I tried everything to come to a conclusion but I couldn’t find a concluded answer, ChatGPT gave a circular loop answer.
There are numerous reasons why a protocol, a technology or a solution might be more complex than another seemingly similar one (or as Russ White would have said, “if you haven’t found the tradeoffs, you haven’t looked hard enough"):
I got this question from one of my readers:
Why are OSPF and BGP are more complex than STP from a designer or administrator point of view? I tried everything to come to a conclusion but I couldn’t find a concluded answer, ChatGPT gave a circular loop answer.
There are numerous reasons why a protocol, a technology or a solution might be more complex than another seemingly similar one (or as Russ White would have said, “if you haven’t found the tradeoffs, you haven’t looked hard enough”):
One of my readers worried about the control-plane-induced MAC learning lag in EVPN-based networks:
In all discussions about the advantages/disadvantages of VXLAN/EVPN, I can’t find any regarding the lag in learning new macs when you use the control plane for mac learning.
EVPN is definitely slower than data plane-based dynamic MAC learning (regardless of whether it’s done in hardware or software), but so is MLAG.
One of my readers worried about the control-plane-induced MAC learning lag in EVPN-based networks:
In all discussions about the advantages/disadvantages of VXLAN/EVPN, I can’t find any regarding the lag in learning new macs when you use the control plane for mac learning.
EVPN is definitely slower than data plane-based dynamic MAC learning (regardless of whether it’s done in hardware or software), but so is MLAG.
You can configure many firewalls to act as a router (layer-3 firewall) or as a switch bridge (layer-2 firewall). The oft-ignored detail: how does a layer-2 firewall handle ARP (or any layer-2 protocol)?
Unless you want to use static ARP tables it’s pretty obvious that a layer-2 firewall MUST propagate ARP. It would be ideal if the firewall would also enforce layer-2 security (ARP/DHCP inspection and IPv6 RA guard), but it looks like at least PAN-OS version 11.0 disagrees with that sentiment.
Straight from Layer 2 and Layer 3 Packets over a Virtual Wire:
You can configure many firewalls to act as a router (layer-3 firewall) or as a switch bridge (layer-2 firewall). The oft-ignored detail: how does a layer-2 firewall handle ARP (or any layer-2 protocol)?
Unless you want to use static ARP tables it’s pretty obvious that a layer-2 firewall MUST propagate ARP. It would be ideal if the firewall would also enforce layer-2 security (ARP/DHCP inspection and IPv6 RA guard), but it looks like at least PAN-OS version 11.0 disagrees with that sentiment.
Straight from Layer 2 and Layer 3 Packets over a Virtual Wire:
Anne Baretta decided to use netlab to test a proposed DMVPN topology. As netlab doesn’t support DMVPN (and probably never will), he decided to use netlab capabilities to start the lab topology and perform initial configuration, adding DMVPN configuration commands as custom configurations. Here’s how he described the process:
In this case I used netlab as a quick way to get a topology up and running, and then add the DMVPN configuration by hand.
Anne Baretta decided to use netlab to test a proposed DMVPN topology. As netlab doesn’t support DMVPN (and probably never will), he decided to use netlab capabilities to start the lab topology and perform initial configuration, adding DMVPN configuration commands as custom configurations. Here’s how he described the process:
In this case I used netlab as a quick way to get a topology up and running, and then add the DMVPN configuration by hand.
Avery Pennarun published a lovely rambling on magic, science, engineering and a pinch of AI. You might enjoy reading it1 with your Sunday morning coffee 😎.
Avery Pennarun published a lovely rambling on magic, science, engineering and a pinch of AI. You might enjoy reading it1 with your Sunday morning coffee 😎.
Pim van Pelt built an x86/Linux-based using Vector Packet Processor that can forwarding IP traffic at 150 Mpps/180 Gbps forwarding rates on a 2-CPU Dell server with E5-2660 (8 core) CPU.
He described the whole thing in a 8-part series of blog posts and a conference talk. Enjoy!
Pim van Pelt built an x86/Linux-based using Vector Packet Processor that can forwarding IP traffic at 150 Mpps/180 Gbps forwarding rates on a 2-CPU Dell server with E5-2660 (8 core) CPU.
He described the whole thing in a 8-part series of blog posts and a conference talk. Enjoy!
Pradosh Mohapatra started the Typical SD-WAN Solution Architecture section of Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Overview webinar with the backend architecture.
Next step: CPE architecture, the topic of today’s video.
Pradosh Mohapatra started the Typical SD-WAN Solution Architecture section of Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Overview webinar with the backend architecture.
Next step: CPE architecture, the topic of today’s video.
Daniel left an interesting comment on my Studying EVPN to Prepare for a Job Interview blog post:
I also never build a VXLAN fabric with two vendors. So, is it possible now to build one large fabric consisting of multiple vendors?
TL&DR: Yes, but just because you could doesn’t mean that you should.
Daniel left an interesting comment on my Studying EVPN to Prepare for a Job Interview blog post:
I also never build a VXLAN fabric with two vendors. So, is it possible now to build one large fabric consisting of multiple vendors?
TL&DR: Yes, but just because you could doesn’t mean that you should.
While I was developing Network Automation Concepts webinar and the network automation online course, I wrote numerous blog posts on the Network Infrastructure as Code (NIaC) concepts, challenges, implementation details, tools, and sample solutions.
In March 2023 I collected these blog posts into a dedicated NIaC resources page that also includes links to webinars, sample network automation solutions, and relevant GitHub repositories.
While I was developing Network Automation Concepts webinar and the network automation online course, I wrote numerous blog posts on the Network Infrastructure as Code (NIaC) concepts, challenges, implementation details, tools, and sample solutions.
In March 2023 I collected these blog posts into a dedicated NIaC resources page that also includes links to webinars, sample network automation solutions, and relevant GitHub repositories.
One of my readers sent me this question:
In your observations on IPv6 assignments, what are common point-to-point IPv6 interfaces on routers? I know it always depends, but I’m hearing /64, /112, /126 and these opinions are causing some passionate debate.
(Checks the calendar) It’s 2023, IPv6 RFC has been published almost 25 years ago, and there are still people debating this stuff and confusing those who want to deploy IPv6? No wonder we’re not getting it deployed in enterprise networks ;)