NAN093: Network Automation – There Must Be a Better Way!
“There must be a better way!” is guest Bart Dorlandt’s motto, which he applies to network automation, among other things. In today’s episode, Bart shares what he’s learned about network automation, explains why he focuses on process over tools, and reflects on the importance of mentorship. Bart and Eric also discuss why even if listeners... Read more »PP065: A Microsegmentation Overview
Microsegmentation divides a network into boundaries or segments to provide fine-grained access control to resources within those segments. On today’s Packet Protector we talk about network and security reasons for employing microsegmentation, different methods (agents, overlays, network controls, and so on), how microsegmentation fits into a zero trust strategy, and the product landscape. Episode Links:... Read more »HS105: How to Train Your Unicorn: Thoughts on Ops Architects
You need someone to design your operations processes–or perhaps redesign them. That’s an Ops Architect. Should you take an ops person and train them up in architecture? Or an architect and train them up in operations? Do you even have that ops/engineer/architect organizational structure – and should you? Johna and John dive into this discussion... Read more »
NB529: HPE Debuts 8Tbps Switch with Onboard DPUs; NVIDIA Revenues Run Wild
Take a Network Break! We start with a Red Alert for the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Tool, which has an unpatched (as of recording time) vulnerability that could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code. On the news front, Salesforce ponies up $8 billion for Informatica to improve data governance capabilities, Google researchers revise estimates of... Read more »Tech Bytes: NetFlow Optimizer: More Insights, Less Flow Volume (Sponsored)
Today on the Tech Bytes podcast, we talk about how to get more out of your NetFlow records with sponsor NetFlow Logic. NetFlow’s been around for a long time, and if you’re already including flow records as part of your monitoring and management arsenal, you may think you’re extracting all the value you can from... Read more »HN783: BGP Routing Policy for Enterprise Networkers: Unpacking IRR and RPSL
If you participate in the public Internet by announcing your own netblocks, you should be familiar with Internet Routing Registries (IRRs) and the Routing Policy Specification Language (RPSL). These are tools that help you be a good network citizen. In a world of BGP hijacks and other problems, these tools matter more than ever. We... Read more »TNO031: Attracting New Talent to Networking, Pairing Dev With NetOps, and More With Justin Ryburn
Total Networks Operations sits down with Justin Ryburn for a wide-ranging discussion on the state of the networking industry. Topics including how to attract new talent to network engineering and network operations; getting literate in DevOps/infrastructure tools such as GitHub, Terraform, and Python; pairing Dev and NetOps to maximize domain expertise; integrating tools and trying... Read more »IPB176: How to Number Point-to-Point Links
Let’s chat about point-to-point links. On today’s episode we cover what should and shouldn’t be done, and discuss why following RFC’s doesn’t always get you to the right place. We dig into questions including: Don’t we just use link-local addresses for point-to-points? Shouldn’t we assign a /127, just like we do a /31 in IPv4?... Read more »N4N028: The Wide World of WANs
We wanted to do an episode on SD-WAN, but realized we needed to set the stage for how wide-area networking developed. That’s why today’s episode is a history lesson of the Wide Area Network (WAN). We talk about how WANs emerged, public and private WANs, how WANs connect to LANs and data centers, the care... Read more »HW053: Ubiquiti in the Enterprise
Ubiquiti is known primarily for wireless equipment for residential and small business use, but it can be a player in the enterprise world. On today’s show, we talk with Darrell DeRosia, Sr. Director, Network & Infrastructure Services with the Memphis Grizzlies, about how he provides that connectivity for the FedExForum, home to the Memphis Grizzlies... Read more »D2DO273: Azure VNets Don’t Exist
Cloud networks aren’t like traditional data center networks, so applying a traditional network design to the cloud probably isn’t the best idea. On today’s Day Two Cloud, guest Aidan Finn guides us through significant differences between Microsoft Azure networking and on-prem data center networks. For instance, subnets don’t segment hosts, network security groups do; every... Read more »PP064: How Aviatrix Tackles Multi-Cloud Security Challenges (Sponsored)
Aviatrix is a cloud network security company that helps you secure connectivity to and among public and private clouds. On today’s Packet Protector, sponsored by Aviatrix, we get details on how Aviatrix works, and dive into a new feature called the Secure Network Supervisor Agent. This tool uses AI to help you monitor and troubleshoot... Read more »NB528: IP Fabric Adds Firewall Rule Simulation; Extreme Networks Debuts Agentic AI in Platform ONE
Take a Network Break! We begin with a Red Alert for critical vulnerabilities Kubernetes Gardener. Up next, a threat actor has been squatting on unused CNAME records to distribute malware and spam, and IP Fabric rolls out a new firewall rule simulation capability to let administrators test the effect of firewall rules on traffic patterns.... Read more »HN782: Netris Meets Your Network Automation Challenges in AI Data Centers (Sponsored)
Netris is tackling the issue of automating multi-tenancy in an AI data center. Netris has your answer to this challenge, and it’s a solution certified to work with NVIDIA. We’re going to get into the nuts and bolts of Netris network automation with Alex Saroyan, CEO and co-founder of Netris. Along the way, we will... Read more »TNO030: The Backbone of AI: Data Center Ops in the Age of Explosive Growth (Sponsored)
Data Center construction has reached an incredible pace over the last few years with implications on NetOps and operations of all kinds. Today we with talk with sponsor Siemon regarding the state of data centers, past, present and future. We explore legacy data centers and how they are evolving to work in today’s environments. We... Read more »TL014: Scaling Your Leadership with Dr. Brad Topol
On today’s episode, we are joined by Dr. Brad Topol, Distinguished Engineer and Director of Open Source Technologies at IBM, to talk about how to scale your leadership. We explore the process of how he went from individual contributor to distinguished engineer to director and executive. We chat about how you build a career... Read more »N4N027: Tunneling Quirks & Features
On today’s show, we’re going to dig deeper into tunnels and explore some of the quirks and features of tunnels. This week we’ll discuss maximum transmission units (MTUs), maximum segment size, IP fragmentation and more. Today’s bonus material is more RFCs – RFC 4821 and RFC 8899. Episode Links: What Is a Tunnel? – N... Read more »NAN092: From Stealth to Scale – Decoding Network Data Management with Damian Garros
Damien Garros, CEO and co-founder of OpsMill is with us once again for today’s podcast. Since we last spoke with Damien, OpsMill has emerged from stealth mode and is making progress as one of the leaders in network source of truth in the field. Today, we’ll talk through the progress Infrahub has made and get... Read more »PP063: Wi-Fi Security and AI in the WLAN at Mobility Field Day
Wireless security takes center stage in this episode of Packet Protector. Jennifer Minella and guests discuss “secure by default” efforts by WLAN vendors; the current state of PSK, SAE, and WPA3; NAC and zero trust; more WLAN vendors adding AI to their products (or at least their messaging); and more. Jennifer is joined by Jonathan... Read more »0520 HS104: How Long Should Your Planning Horizon Be?
How far ahead should you plan, and what things belong in your strategic plan? Conventional wisdom holds that a 3-year planning horizon is “about right”–but in a period of rapid technical and geopolitical change (such as we’re arguably in right now) does that go too far out, particularly when agile methodologies recommend shorter action plans... Read more »