Podcast: State of Networking (Early 2021)
In January, Jason Edelman kindly invited me for a chat about the state of (software defined) networking and network automation in particular. The recording was recently published on Network Collective.
Introducing: Smarter Tiered Cache Topology Generation
Caching is a magic trick. Instead of a customer’s origin responding to every request, Cloudflare’s 200+ data centers around the world respond with content that is cached geographically close to visitors. This dramatically improves the load performance for web pages while decreasing the bandwidth costs by having Cloudflare respond to a request with cached content.
However, if content is not in cache, Cloudflare data centers must contact the origin server to receive the content. This isn’t as fast as delivering content from cache. It also places load on an origin server, and is more costly compared to serving directly from cache. These issues can be amplified depending on the geographic distribution of a website’s visitors, the number of data centers contacting the origin, and the available origin resources for responding to requests.
To decrease the number of times our network of data centers communicate with an origin, we organize data centers into tiers so that only upper-tier data centers can request content from an origin and then they spread content to lower tiers. This means content that loads faster for visitors, is cheaper to serve, and reduces origin resource consumption.
Today, I’m thrilled to announce a fundamental improvement to Argo Continue reading
Tiered Cache Smart Topology
A few years ago, we released Argo to help make the Internet faster and more efficient. Argo observes network conditions and finds the optimal route across the Internet for origin server requests, avoiding congestion along the way.
Tiered Cache is an Argo feature that reduces the number of data centers responsible for requesting assets from the origin. With Tiered Cache active, a request in South Africa won’t go directly to an origin in North America, but, instead, look in a large, nearby data center to see if the data requested is cached there first. The number and location of the data centers used by Tiered Cache is controlled by a piece of configuration called the topology. By default, we use a generic topology for every customer that strikes a balance between cache hit ratios and latency that is suitable for most users.
Today we’re introducing Smart Topology, which maximizes cache hit ratios by building on Argo’s internal infrastructure to identify the single best data center for making requests to the origin.
Standard Cache
The standard method for caching assets is to let each data center be a reverse proxy for the origin server. In this scheme, a miss in any Continue reading
How to fix Wi-Fi interference
Since Wi-Fi transmits over the airwaves, it’s of course much more susceptible to interference than the wired network. There can be interference from your own network or neighbor's, non-Wi-Fi wireless devices, microwaves, and even radar systems. Because there are so many possibilities, tracking down or fixing the interference can be quite a task, but knowing where to start can help.
The symptoms of interference issues can easily be mistaken for symptoms of other, more apparent problems such as poor Wi-Fi coverage. If so, maybe you blindly add more access points (AP) and, not knowing that you already had interference, that can actually cause more interference. So, try to find the root causes of any symptoms and be very intentional about the changes you make.
How to fix Wi-Fi interference
Since Wi-Fi transmits over the airwaves, it’s of course much more susceptible to interference than the wired network. There can be interference from your own network or neighbor's, non-Wi-Fi wireless devices, microwaves, and even radar systems. Because there are so many possibilities, tracking down or fixing the interference can be quite a task, but knowing where to start can help.
The symptoms of interference issues can easily be mistaken for symptoms of other, more apparent problems such as poor Wi-Fi coverage. If so, maybe you blindly add more access points (AP) and, not knowing that you already had interference, that can actually cause more interference. So, try to find the root causes of any symptoms and be very intentional about the changes you make.
How to fix Wi-Fi interference
Since Wi-Fi transmits over the airwaves, it’s of course much more susceptible to interference than the wired network. There can be interference from your own network or neighbor's, non-Wi-Fi wireless devices, microwaves, and even radar systems. Because there are so many possibilities, tracking down or fixing the interference can be quite a task, but knowing where to start can help.
The symptoms of interference issues can easily be mistaken for symptoms of other, more apparent problems such as poor Wi-Fi coverage. If so, maybe you blindly add more access points (AP) and, not knowing that you already had interference, that can actually cause more interference. So, try to find the root causes of any symptoms and be very intentional about the changes you make.
Book Updates 0221
Someone recently asked me to suggest a list of books on thinking skills; I figured others might be interested in the list, as well, so … I decided to post it here. Further, I’ve added a few books to my “recommended book list” here on rule11; I thought I’d point those out, as well. My first suggestion, of course, is that if you want to improve your thinking skills, read. I don’t just mean technical stuff, I mean all over the place, in the form of books, and a lot.
So, forthwith, some more things to read.
Thinking Books
- Algorithms in a Nutshell
- The Inquiring Mind
- What Tech Calls Thinking
- Unintended Features
- The Elements of Reasoning
- Deep Work
- Being Logical
Recently Added Books
- From Counterculture to Cyberculture
- Escape from Reason
- The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
- Death in the City
- Rational Cybersecurity
- The Age of Access
- Curing Mad Truths
- Called to Freedom
You can find my list of recommended books here, and my goodreads profile, which lists a lot of the books I’ve read, I’m currently reading, and plan to read, here.
The Hedge #71: Nick Russo and Automating Productivity
When we think of automation—and more broadly tooling—we tend to think of automating the configuration, monitoring, and (possibly) the monitoring of a network. On the other hand, a friend once observed that when interviewing coders, the first thing he asked was about the tools they had developed and used for making themselves more efficient. This “self-tooling” process turns out to be important not just to be more efficient at work, but to use time more effectively in general. Join Nick Russo, Eyvonne Sharp, Tom Ammon, and Russ White as we discuss self-tooling.
Zodiac FX Gets a 3D Printed Case
Not content with having dug the Northbound Networks Zodiac FX out of a pile of overlooked technology in my office, I thought that the poor thing desperately needed to have a case to sit in. When I originally received the switch, I did not have a 3D printer and had no idea what it would take to make a case; now though, I do have a 3D printer … and no idea what it would take to make a case. Sounds like a plan to me!
Measuring the Zodiac FX
The most important tool I bought to go with my 3D printer (a Creality CR6-SE) was some digital calipers. I discovered early on how important it was to ensure that if I was going to screw up, I should be able to screw up accurately.
These calipers are made by RexBeti, and if you’ve never heard of that company that’s ok, because before I purchased this I hadn’t either. The calipers claim to be accurate to 0.01mm, but I don’t have any way to validate that claim, so let’s just assume that they are. I do know that it beats using a ruler. A few minutes of careful Continue reading
Response: Global Internet Map Map 2021
Bandwidth map of global internet
Data Model Transformations in Network Automation Solutions
Last year I wrote an article describing data model optimization going from a simple this is what we need to configure individual devices to a highly polished high-level network nodes and links model. Not surprisingly, as Jeremy Schulman was quick to point out, the latter one had Jinja2 templates you wouldn’t want to debug. Ever. You can’t run away from complexity… but you can manage it.
Many successful network automation solutions (example: Cisco NSO) solve the “we’d love to work with high-level data models but hate complex templates” challenge with data transformation: operators work with an abstracted data model describing services, nodes and links, and the device configuration templates use low-level data derived from the abstracted data models through a series of business logic rules or lookups (aka network design).
Data Model Transformations in Network Automation Solutions
Last year I wrote an article describing data model optimization going from a simple this is what we need to configure individual devices to a highly polished high-level network nodes and links model. Not surprisingly, as Jeremy Schulman was quick to point out, the latter one had Jinja2 templates you wouldn’t want to debug. Ever. You can’t run away from complexity… but you can manage it.
Many successful network automation solutions (example: Cisco NSO) solve the “we’d love to work with high-level data models but hate complex templates” challenge with data transformation: operators work with an abstracted data model describing services, nodes and links, and the device configuration templates use low-level data derived from the abstracted data models through a series of business logic rules or lookups (aka network design).
Finally, Internet…and Then There Were 10,000
Eric Rux takes a deep dive into Starlink: Broadband Internet for remote and rural areas.Internet Shutdowns: How to Undermine Trust in the Network of Networks
The Indian government’s recent Internet shutdown during farmer protests impacted over 50 million residents. It is a stark warning of the danger of tampering with the foundations that make the Internet work for everyone.
Internet shutdowns are a dangerous tactic increasingly used by the state to quell situations of unrest. In this instance, it occurred during protests in the capital, Delhi, where farmers are asking for a repeal of three state-proposed farm laws. But while the initial Internet shutdown was targeted in Delhi and lasted around 29 hours, it soon extended to districts in the neighboring state of Haryana from 26 January to 1 February to “prevent disturbance to peace and public order”.
The consequence of shutting down parts of the Internet to prevent citizen access is profound: it undermines the global Internet infrastructure, which is based on collaboration and trust, and has severe individual and economic consequences that can extend far beyond a nation’s borders.
The Internet is an incredibly successful and powerful tool, a fact that has become all too clear during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a key technology for supporting education, economic activity, and even access to healthcare for those under stay-at-home orders. Continue reading