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Category Archives for "Networking"

Google SRE: Site Reliability Engineering at a Global Scale

When DevOps was coined around 2009, its purpose was to break down silos between development and IT operations. DevOps has since become a game of tug-of-war between the reliability needs of the operations team and the velocity goals on the developer side. Site reliably engineering became that balancer. As Benjamin Treynor Sloss, designer of Google’s SRE program, puts it: “SRE is what happens when you ask a software engineer to design and run operations.” The SRE team has emerged as the answer to how you can build systems at scale, striking that balance between velocity, maintainability and efficiency. It was only logical that this year’s books on site reliability engineering. Of course, almost everyone outside of Google will probably not work on anything at this scale, but, because increasingly distributed systems are constantly integrating with others, Continue reading

Tunnel: Cloudflare’s Newest Homeowner

Tunnel: Cloudflare’s Newest Homeowner

Cloudflare Tunnel connects your infrastructure to Cloudflare. Your team runs a lightweight connector in your environment, cloudflared, and services can reach Cloudflare and your audience through an outbound-only connection without the need for opening up holes in your firewall.

Tunnel: Cloudflare’s Newest Homeowner

Whether the services are internal apps protected with Zero Trust policies, websites running in Kubernetes clusters in a public cloud environment, or a hobbyist project on a Raspberry Pi — Cloudflare Tunnel provides a stable, secure, and highly performant way to serve traffic.

Starting today, with our new UI in the Cloudflare for Teams Dashboard, users who deploy and manage Cloudflare Tunnel at scale now have easier visibility into their tunnels’ status, routes, uptime, connectors, cloudflared version, and much more. On the Teams Dashboard you will also find an interactive guide that walks you through setting up your first tunnel.  

Getting Started with Tunnel

Tunnel: Cloudflare’s Newest Homeowner

We wanted to start by making the tunnel onboarding process more transparent for users. We understand that not all users are intimately familiar with the command line nor are they deploying tunnel in an environment or OS they’re most comfortable with. To alleviate that burden, we designed a comprehensive onboarding guide with pathways for MacOS, Continue reading

Intel’s 2nd-gen neuromorphic chip is 10x smarter than the first

Four years after Intel first introduced Loihi, the company’s first neuromorphic chip, the company has released its second generation processor, which Intel says will provide faster processing, greater resource density, and improved power efficiency.CPUs are often called the brains of the computer but aren’t, really, since they process only a handful of tasks at once in a serial manner, nothing like what the brain does automatically to keep you alive. Neuromorphic computing attempts to replicate the functions of the brain by performing numerous tasks simultaneously, with emphasis on perception and decision makingChip shortage will hit hardware buyers for months to years Neuromorphic chips mimic neurological functions through computational “neurons” that communicate with one another. The first generation of Loihi chips had around 128,000 of those digital neurons; the Loihi 2 has more than a million.To read this article in full, please click here

Sweet-spot spectrum for enterprise 5G is growing, but slowly

A new auction for enormously valuable mid-band spectrum and a rollback of availability for a different piece of it illustrates the uneven progress of 5G rollouts in the U.S. and represents a challenge for enterprises looking to take advantage of 5G technology. 5G resources What is 5G? Fast wireless technology for enterprises and phones How 5G frequency affects range and speed Private 5G can solve some problems that Wi-Fi can’t Private 5G keeps Whirlpool driverless vehicles rolling 5G can make for cost-effective private backhaul CBRS can bring private 5G to enterprises The mid-band is valuable because it’s in a “Goldilocks” zone of the wireless spectrum—its frequencies are high enough to support higher throughput, while also being low enough to propagate effectively across relatively large areas.To read this article in full, please click here

Mid-band spectrum for 5G growing, with fits and starts

A new auction for enormously valuable mid-band spectrum and a rollback of availability for a different piece of it illustrates the uneven progress of 5G rollouts in the U.S. and represents a challenge for enterprises looking to take advantage of 5G technology. 5G resources What is 5G? Fast wireless technology for enterprises and phones How 5G frequency affects range and speed Private 5G can solve some problems that Wi-Fi can’t Private 5G keeps Whirlpool driverless vehicles rolling 5G can make for cost-effective private backhaul CBRS can bring private 5G to enterprises The mid-band is valuable because it’s in a “Goldilocks” zone of the wireless spectrum—its frequencies are high enough to support higher throughput, while also being low enough to propagate effectively across relatively large areas.To read this article in full, please click here

Intel’s second-generation neuromorphic chip is 10x smarter than the first

Four years after Intel first introduced Loihi, the company’s first neuromorphic chip, the company has released its second generation processor, which Intel says will provide faster processing, greater resource density, and improved power efficiency.CPUs are often called the brains of the computer but aren’t, really, since they process only a handful of tasks at once in a serial manner, nothing like what the brain does automatically to keep you alive. Neuromorphic computing attempts to replicate the functions of the brain by performing numerous tasks simultaneously, with emphasis on perception and decision makingChip shortage will hit hardware buyers for months to years Neuromorphic chips mimic neurological functions through computational “neurons” that communicate with one another. The first generation of Loihi chips had around 128,000 of those digital neurons; the Loihi 2 has more than a million.To read this article in full, please click here

5G base stations could be powered by lasers

Laser-powered 5G base stations could become an operational reality in a few years using technology from Seattle-based PowerLight Technologies. 5G resources What is 5G? Fast wireless technology for enterprises and phones How 5G frequency affects range and speed Private 5G can solve some problems that Wi-Fi can’t Private 5G keeps Whirlpool driverless vehicles rolling 5G can make for cost-effective private backhaul CBRS can bring private 5G to enterprises In trials, PowerLight’s system transmitted “hundreds of watts over hundreds of meters through the air” to power up a 5G cellular base station, according to Ericsson, which ran the demo in cooperation with PowerLight using an Ericsson Streetmacro 6701 base station. (It consumes a maximum of 300W.)To read this article in full, please click here

netsim-tools: Start a Virtual Lab with a Single Command

In mid-October I finally found time to add the icing to the netsim-tools cake: netlab up command takes a lab topology and does everything needed to have a running virtual lab:

  • Create Vagrantfile or containerlab topology file
  • Create Ansible inventory
  • Start the lab with vagrant up or containerlab deploy
  • Deploy device configurations, from LLDP and interface addressing to routing protocols and Segment Routing

Glossary of networking terms

5G 5G is fast cellular wireless technology for enterprise IoT, IIoT, and phones that can boost wireless throughput by a factor of 10. Network slicing Network slicing can make efficient use of carriers’ wireless capacity to enable 5G virtual networks that exactly fit customer needs.To read this article in full, please click here

MUST READ: ARP Problems in EVPN

Decades ago there was a trick question on the CCIE exam exploring the intricate relationships between MAC and ARP table. I always understood the explanation for about 10 minutes and then I was back to I knew why that’s true, but now I lost it.

Fast forward 20 years, and we’re still seeing the same challenges, this time in EVPN networks using in-subnet proxy ARP. For more details, read the excellent ARP problems in EVPN article by Dmytro Shypovalov (I understood the problem after reading the article, and now it’s all a blur 🤷‍♂️).

DNSSEC with RSA-4096 keys

The role of cryptography is to keep one step ahead of advances in computing capability. One response is to keep using the same algorithm, but extend the key lengths. Here we look at the viability of DNSSEC when we use a 4,096-bit RSA key.

Heavy Networking 602: All About SPF, DKIM, DMARC Email Security

Today on Heavy Networking, all about improving email security with SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance), and DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail). Our guest is Alex Blackie. He wrote an article on Email Authenticity 101 that I thought explained these topics really well. If you're a domain manager, you should listen to this one, even if you don't route mail through your domain. You can keep the bad guys from spamming in your name!

Heavy Networking 602: All About SPF, DKIM, DMARC Email Security

Today on Heavy Networking, all about improving email security with SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance), and DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail). Our guest is Alex Blackie. He wrote an article on Email Authenticity 101 that I thought explained these topics really well. If you're a domain manager, you should listen to this one, even if you don't route mail through your domain. You can keep the bad guys from spamming in your name!

The post Heavy Networking 602: All About SPF, DKIM, DMARC Email Security appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Choosing the Least Incorrect Answer

My son was complaining to me the other day that he missed on question on a multiple choice quiz in his class and he got a low B grade instead of getting a perfect score. When I asked him why he was frustrated he told me, “Because it was easy and I missed it. But I think the question was wrong.” As usual, I pressed him further to explain his reasoning and found out that the question was indeed ambiguous but the answer choices were pretty obviously wrong all over. He asked me why someone would write a test like that. Which is how he got a big lesson on writing test questions.

Spin the Wheel

When you write a multiple choice test question for any reputable exam you are supposed to pick “wrong” answers, known as distractors, that ensure that the candidate doesn’t have a better than 25% chance of guessing the correct answer. You’ve probably seen this before because you took some kind of simple quiz that had answers that were completely wrong to the point of being easy to pick out. Those quizzes are usually designed to be passed with the minimum amount of effort.

Continue reading

Windows Subsystem for Linux is ready for Windows 11

Microsoft has just made the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) available in the Microsoft Store for Windows 11 systems. WSL is the application that allows Windows users to run a GNU/Linux environment directly on Windows without the overhead of a virtual machine or dual-boot setup.One good aspect is that it installs as a separate app, decoupled from the OS. This means that users can update the app without having to wait for Windows OS updates to become available.Summarizing your command-line usage on Linux The app in the Microsoft Store is not a new version of WSL. It’s still WSL 2, but is a preview version that was added as an option for end users to get the latest features faster and more conveniently. The binaries will no longer be part of the Windows image.To read this article in full, please click here

Windows Subsystem for Linux is ready for Windows 11

Microsoft has just made the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) available in the Microsoft Store for Windows 11 systems. WSL is the application that allows Windows users to run a GNU/Linux environment directly on Windows without the overhead of a virtual machine or dual-boot setup.One good aspect is that it installs as a separate app, decoupled from the OS. This means that users can update the app without having to wait for Windows OS updates to become available.Summarizing your command-line usage on Linux The app in the Microsoft Store is not a new version of WSL. It’s still WSL 2, but is a preview version that was added as an option for end users to get the latest features faster and more conveniently. The binaries will no longer be part of the Windows image.To read this article in full, please click here

Introducing Cloudflare’s Technology Partner Program

Introducing Cloudflare’s Technology Partner Program

The Internet is built on a series of shared protocols, all working in harmony to deliver the collective experience that has changed the way we live and work. These open standards have created a platform such that a myriad of companies can build unique services and products that work together seamlessly. As a steward and supporter of an open Internet, we aspire to provide an interoperable platform that works with all the complementary technologies that our customers use across their technology stack. This has been the guiding principle for the multiple partnerships we have launched over the last few years.  

One example is our Bandwidth Alliance — launched in 2018, this alliance with 18 cloud and storage providers aims to reduce egress fees, also known as data transfer fees, for our customers. The Bandwidth Alliance has broken the norms of the cloud industry so that customers can move data more freely. Since then, we have launched several technology partner programs with over 40+ partners, including:

  • Analytics — Visualize Cloudflare logs and metrics easily, and help customers better understand events and trends from websites and applications on the Cloudflare network.
  • Network Interconnect — Partnerships with best-in-class Interconnection platforms offer private, Continue reading