Options. Everyone needs options. Whenever I travel somewhere with my wife, Christine, even if it’s for a weekend, she needs to check a bag. When I ask her why, she says, “A girl needs options,” hence the oversize luggage.While it’s been easy for someone like my wife to have options, network engineers have never really had the same luxury. Network switches were typically built with fixed functionality, so an organization would need to purchase a wide range of equipment to meet all their needs. Network professionals need greater flexibility from the network
Recently, the chip manufacturers have been building more programmable, flexible products. One of the examples of this is the Cavium XPliant processor that is the silicon that powers Arista’s 7160 switch. Another example is the Barefoot Networks Tofino processor. In addition to being one of the most scenic places on the planet, Tofino is a powerful system on a chip with a fully programmable parser and pipeline. The chip supports 256x 25 Gig-E Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) at speeds of 1, 10, 25, 40, 50, and 100 Gig-E.To read this article in full, please click here
The terms software defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) are often used interchangeably, which is incorrect. In a sense, the two are tied together as companies start using NFV as part of their SDN plans but that doesn’t have to be the case.Enterprises could maintain their current network architecture and shift to NFV or they could roll out an SDN and never leverage the benefits of NFV, so it’s important to understand what each is and the benefits of both.[ For more on SDN see where SDN is going and learn the difference between SDN and NFV. | Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ]
What is software-defined Networking
SDNs are a fundamentally different way to think about networks. Technically, SDNs can be defined as the separation of the management, control and data-forwarding planes of networks. Many people, including technical individuals read that definition and say, “So what?”, but the separation of these planes has a profound impact on networks and enables things that have never been done before.To read this article in full, please click here
When Windows Server 2019 is released this fall, the updates will include features that enterprises can use to leverage software-defined networking (SDN).SDN for Windows Server 2019 has a number of components that have attracted the attention of early adopters including security and compliance, disaster recovery and cusiness continuity, and multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud[ For more on SDN see where SDN is going and learn the difference between SDN and NFV. | Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ]
Virtual-network peering
The new virtual networking peering functionality in Windows Server 2019 allows enterprises to peer their own virtual networks in the same cloud region through the backbone network. This provides the ability for virtual networks to appear as a single network. To read this article in full, please click here
In the eternal words of Yogi Berra, “If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.” So how does this sage advice apply to the new world of application performance and hybrid IT?As the pace of application migration to the cloud continues to accelerate, enterprise networking teams have turned to hybrid and SD-WANs as practical solutions to open up more localized internet access and direct routing to the cloud. So the theory goes that by deploying broadband and internet connections at the edge of the network, users can bypass the MPLS bottlenecks and avoid transiting the centralized data center internet egress points.So with the proliferation of hybrid and SD-WAN deployments, which according to most analysts is well past the tipping point and going mainstream, why is it that enterprise IT teams are still struggling with cloud application performance? User frustration with the performance of applications like Office 365, Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow, and others is only growing, rather than waning.To read this article in full, please click here
CIOs everywhere are faced with a common question: do we have the right infrastructure for our business today and tomorrow? The question is complicated since there is no right answer – even though the major public cloud providers would say otherwise.Most large companies have hybrid infrastructures, comprising internal data centers, private clouds and at least one public cloud service. Increasingly, companies are using more than one public cloud service, as each one has something different to offer and prices are always changing. These choices provide needed flexibility and the potential for carving out the perfect environment for a company’s multifarious needs.To read this article in full, please click here
We’ve covered networking on our home planet. But what happens when we send signals where no man has gone before?Space networking is two-way communication between base stations on Earth, and unmanned space probes, planetary rovers, orbital satellites or manned spacecraft. These radio signals bring back messages, images and scientific discoveries. Someday they’ll be used to communicate between colonies on Earth and the moon or Mars.Of course, we can’t just “call” Mars. Networking in outer space is vastly different from what we experience on Earth.Communications travel at the speed of light. This means that it can take 20 minutes or more for a radio signal to reach a Martian planetary rover. It’s like going back to dial-up.To read this article in full, please click here
It’s no secret that the public Internet is a quagmire of latency and packet loss problems. No wonder, many of clients are reluctant to trust Internet-based SD-WANs with VoIP and business-critical applications. After all, how can an SD-WAN running over Internet provide a predictable user experience if the underlying transport is so unpredictable?To answer that question, SD-WAN Experts recently evaluated the performance and stability of long-distance Internet connections. Our goal: to determine the source of the Internet's performance problems by measuring variability and latency in the last and middle miles.What we found was by swapping out the Internet core for a managed middle mile makes an enormous difference. Case in point is Amazon. The latency and variation between our AWS workloads was significantly better across Amazon’s network than the public Internet (see figure). Why that’s the case and how we tested is explained below and in greater depth from this post on our site.To read this article in full, please click here
The Internet of Things (IoT) era has arrived, and over the next few years, billions of devices will be connected to company networks. How many? ZK Research has forecast that by 2022, there will be 80 billion connected devices. (Note: I am an employee of ZK Research.) ZK Research
Given many network managers struggle running today's networks, adding orders of magnitude more devices certainly won’t make life better. Even if it seems IoT may be a few years off, it’s critical that network professionals start prepping their network now.To read this article in full, please click here
When it comes to technology, nothing is static, everything is evolving. Either we keep inventing mechanisms that dig out new security holes, or we are forced to implement existing kludges to cover up the inadequacies in security on which our web applications depend.The assault on the changing digital landscape with all its new requirements has created a black hole that needs attention. The shift in technology, while creating opportunities, has a bias to create security threats. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, these trends will continue to escalate, putting web application security at center stage.Business relies on web applications. Loss of service to business-focused web applications not only affects the brand but also results in financial loss. The web application acts as the front door to valuable assets. If you don’t efficiently lock the door or at least know when it has been opened, valuable revenue-generating web applications are left compromised.To read this article in full, please click here
As enterprises consider outsourcing their IT infrastructure, they should consider moving their public authoritative DNS services to a cloud provider’s managed DNS service, but first they should understand the advantages and disadvantages.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
Onboarding devices has always been kind of a pain, but IT has managed to muddle its way through the process.The bring your own device (BYOD) wave hit created some problems. Still, many organizations allowed employees to bring those devices onto the network by shifting the responsibility to the end user. What happens, though, when there are so many new devices that IT can’t keep up? Or when devices are brought in without IT’s knowledge? That’s the trend businesses are about to face as the Internet of Things (IoT) goes mainstream.[ Read also: Network World's Corporate Guide to Addressing IoT Security. ]
The IoT era is here, and it’s about to make IT’s life a lot more difficult
The IoT era has arrived, and I say this because more and more companies I talk to are connecting non-traditional IT devices, such as lighting systems and point-of-sale devices, to the internet without uttering the phrase “IoT.” It’s no longer this futuristic thing that we ponder and pontificate over.To read this article in full, please click here
Continuing our quest for robust, enterprise-grade open source network monitoring, we tested Icinga Core 2 (version 2.8.1) and the stand-alone Icinga Web 2 interface. Created in 2009 as a fork of the Nagios network monitoring tool, Icinga has come a long way.We found Icinga to be a powerful monitoring tool with many great features. The Core install is straightforward and basic monitoring is easy with either pre-configured templates or plugins. However, we discovered that the Web install is a bit more complicated and could stand to be streamlined.
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Icinga runs on most of the popular Linux distros and the vendor provides detailed installation instructions for Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat (including CentOS and Fedora) and SUSE/SLES. Icinga does not publish specific hardware requirements, but our installation ran well on a quad-core processor with 4 GB RAM and this is probably be a good starting point for a basic installation.To read this article in full, please click here
Industry bellwether Cisco revealed some important financial numbers this week – its revenues were $12.5 billion, up 4 percent for the third quarter year-over-year, with product revenue up 5 percent.But one of the of the more interesting tidbits is that the company said it was selling some 40 Catalyst 9000 systems a day in and has installed 2,700 of the big boxes this quarter bring the total to 5,800 since its introduction in 2017. The Catalyst 9000 is key to a number of Cisco’s future initiatives – one of the most important being its drive to build out its Network Intuitive plans for intent-based networking.[ Related: Getting grounded in intent-based networking] |
The other is that the way its software is sold – via a variety of subscription/feature levels is a key component of its overall strategy to become a more software-oriented company.To read this article in full, please click here
If you remember, in a previous Switch IT Up blog post I referenced Wireless AC and Wave 2 — some of the things that we could expect and some of the problems we could run up against. Things like having enough bandwidth to our APs to support a 6.8 gig connection.So, what can be done about that?Well, in 2015, Cisco introduced its Catalyst Multigigabit Technology, along with a new group of products, that address that issue and allow users to get more than just that 1 gig speed that most people have in their closets or in their infrastructure. How can users leverage that and still use their preexisting infrastructure rather than having to rip everything out and replace it?To read this article in full, please click here
The Justice Department investigation into Huawei recalls a similar probe into whether Shenzhen rival ZTE broke U.S. sanctions by exporting devices containing American components to Iran. ZTE was found guilty last year not only of breaking the sanctions, which resulted in an $892 million fine, but of breaking the settlement deal’s terms by failing to punish those involved.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
You’re supposed to meet someone for coffee. If they’re three minutes late, no problem, but if they’re thirty minutes late, its rude. Was the change from “no problem” to “rude” a straight line, or were there steps of increasing rudeness? Do we care why? A good reason certainly increases our tolerance. Someone who is always late reduces it.Network performance follows many of the same dynamics. We used to talk about outages, but they have become less frequent. “Slow” is the new “out.” But how slow is slow? Do we try to understand the user experience and adjust our performance monitoring to reflect it? Or is the only practical answer to just wait until someone complains?To read this article in full, please click here
Every big vendor has had to start small and then grow into a major platform. Nutanix is no exception. And this week at its .NEXT user conference, the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) provider outlined a plan to move from being a niche vendor that makes VDI work better to becoming the next big enterprise platform vendor.In a recent interview, Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey talked about the building blocks of becoming a major enterprise vendor. Nutanix started off with an integrated hardware/software appliance to deliver its HCI solution. Pandey referred to this as their “iPhone,” meaning it was a fully integrated and turnkey product where Nutanix owns the entire experience.To read this article in full, please click here
Every big vendor has had to start small and then grow into a major platform. Nutanix is no exception. And this week at its .NEXT user conference, the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) provider outlined a plan to move from being a niche vendor that makes VDI work better to becoming the next big enterprise platform vendor.In a recent interview, Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey talked about the building blocks of becoming a major enterprise vendor. Nutanix started off with an integrated hardware/software appliance to deliver its HCI solution. Pandey referred to this as their “iPhone,” meaning it was a fully integrated and turnkey product where Nutanix owns the entire experience.To read this article in full, please click here
10 competitors Cisco just can't kill offImage by IDG / jesadaphorn, Getty ImagesCreating a short list of key Cisco competitors is no easy task as the company now competes in multiple markets. In this case we tried to pick companies that have been around awhile or firms that have developed key technologies that directly impacted the networking giant. Cisco is now pushing heavily into software and security, a move that will open it up to myriad new competitors as well. Take a look.To read this article in full, please click here
When I started my journey in the technology sector back in the early 2000’s, the world of networking comprised of simple structures. I remember configuring several standard branch sites that would connect to a central headquarters. There was only a handful of remote warriors who were assigned, and usually just a few high-ranking officials.As the dependence on networking increased, so did the complexity of network designs. The standard single site became dual based with redundant connectivity to different providers, advanced failover techniques, and high availability designs became the norm. The number of remote workers increased and eventually, security holes began to open in my network design.To read this article in full, please click here