High Value Certifications For 2021 And Beyond
In looking back on 2020 we think about all of the things we did to keep ourselves busy.
Some of us starting baking bread at home, some started home gardens, and if you are part of the networking twitter community you probably saw a lot of folks chasing some new certifications.
Throughout 2020, with isolation and the pandemic in full swing, networking vendors and certification facilitators found ways to serve the community by providing remote exams and free trainings.
Whether it was the need to stay busy or trying to learn something new, whatever your reason is to pursue a new certification, the question is which one?
With 2020 now behind us and our future constantly changing, which certifications will give you the biggest impact for 2021 and beyond?
In today’s episode we talk to 2 prominent networking influencers:
- Ernest the “Cisco Panther” and
- Yasmin Lara the “mom who can fix anything”
We’ll go over topics covering
- their certification journey
- how it’s positioned them to continue growth throughout the pandemic and
- which certifications give you the best bang for your buck for 2021 and beyond.
Yasmin Lara
Guest
Ernest Ogbuanya
Guest
Tony Efantis
Host
Jordan Martin
Host
Outro Music:
Danger Continue reading
Through the eyes of a Cloudflare Technical Support Engineer
This post originally appeared on Landing Jobs under the title Mission: Protect the Internet where you can find open positions at Cloudflare Lisbon.
Justina Wong, Technical Support Team Lead in Lisbon, talks about what it’s like working at Cloudflare, and everything you need to know if you want to join us.
Justina joined Cloudflare about three years ago in London as a Technical Support Engineer. Currently, she’s part of their Customer Support team working in Lisbon as a team lead.
I can’t speak for others, but I love the things you can learn from the others. There are so many talented individuals who are willing and ready to teach/share. They are my inspiration and I want to become them!
On a Mission to Protect the Internet
Justina’s favourite Cloudflare products are firewall-related ones. The company’s primary care is for the customers and they want to make attack mitigation as easy as possible. As she puts it, “the fact that these protections are on multiple layers, like L7, L3/4, is very important, and I’m proud to be someone who can help our customers when they face certain attacks.”.
Cloudflare is constantly releasing new products to help build a better Internet, Continue reading
To SASE or Not? Delivering Value-added Services Through an SD-WAN Infrastructure
It is important that enterprises pay careful attention to the SD-WAN functionalities underneath SASE, including multi-path selection, choice of interfaces, performance, and deployment flexibility.Routing in Stretched VLAN Designs
One of my readers was “blessed” with the stretched VLANs requirement combined with the need for inter-VLAN routing and sub-par equipment from a vendor not exactly known for their data center switching products. Before going on, you might want to read his description of the challenge he’s facing and what I had to say about the idea of building stackable switches across multiple locations.
Of course it’s possible that my reader failed to explain the challenge in enough details to get good advice from the vendor SE, or that he had to deal with a clueless SE, or that he’s using ancient gear or that the stars just weren’t aligned… but I don’t think anyone should ever be painted into the corner he found himself in.
Here’s an overview diagram of what my reader was facing. The core switches in each location work as a single device (virtual chassis), and there’s MLAG between core and edge switches. The early 2000s just called and they were proud of the design (but to be honest, sometimes one has to work with the tools his boss bought, so…).
Routing in Stretched VLAN Designs
One of my readers was “blessed” with the stretched VLANs requirement combined with the need for inter-VLAN routing and sub-par equipment from a vendor not exactly known for their data center switching products. Before going on, you might want to read his description of the challenge he’s facing and what I had to say about the idea of building stackable switches across multiple locations.
Of course it’s possible that my reader failed to explain the challenge in enough details to get good advice from the vendor SE, or that he had to deal with a clueless SE, or that he’s using ancient gear or that the stars just weren’t aligned… but I don’t think anyone should ever be painted into the corner he found himself in.
Here’s an overview diagram of what my reader was facing. The core switches in each location work as a single device (virtual chassis), and there’s MLAG between core and edge switches. The early 2000s just called and they were proud of the design (but to be honest, sometimes one has to work with the tools his boss bought, so…).
Getting Started with Intent-Based Networking
Intent-based networking applies a deep level of intelligence to enterprise networks. Here's how your organization can benefit from this powerful emerging technology.Technologies that Didn’t: Directory Services
One of the most important features of the Network Operating Systems, like Banyan Vines and Novell Netware, available in the middle of the 1980’s was their integrated directory system. These directory systems allowed for the automatic discovery of many different kinds of devices attached to a network, such as printers, servers, and computers. Printers, of course, were the important item in this list, because printers have always been the bane of the network administrator’s existence. An example of one such system, an early version of Active Directory, is shown in the illustration below.
Users, devices and resources, such as file mounts, were stored in a tree. The root of the tree was (generally) the organization. There were Organizational Units (OUs) under this root. Users and devices could belong to an OU, and be given access to devices and services in other OUs through a fairly simple drag and drop, or GUI based checkbox style interface. These systems were highly developed, making it fairly easy to find any sort of resource, including email addresses of other uses in the organization, services such as shared filers, and—yes—even printers.
The original system of this kind was Banyan’s Streetalk, which did not have the Continue reading
Know an Innovator Who’s Made Groundbreaking Contributions to the Internet? Nominate Them to the Internet Hall of Fame
Adiel Akplogan expanded Internet access across Africa. Jean Armour Polly redefined the role of the librarian as a digital educator and Internet advocate. Suguru Yamaguchi led cybersecurity research and helped found organizations to make the Internet more secure.
All three have been recognized with many others by the Internet Hall of Fame for their groundbreaking contributions to the Internet. Their extraordinary work has made the Internet, its global availability and use, and its transformative nature possible.
Do you know of an exceptional individual who has done the same? Perhaps a pioneer who expanded the Internet. A trailblazer who made a major technical innovation to make the Internet faster or better. Or a passionate advocate who made the Internet more inclusive and accessible.
If you answered yes, nominate them to the Internet Hall of Fame!
Nominations for the 2021 class of inductees open today – the deadline is April 23, 2021. Individuals worldwide who have played an extraordinary role in the conceptualization, building, and development of the Internet globally will be considered for induction.
This global pandemic has shown us how critical the Internet is. It is our lifeline, where we communicate, create, connect, and collaborate – and we cannot imagine Continue reading