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Category Archives for "Networking"

39 – DCNM 11.1 and VXLAN EVPN Multi-site Update

Dear Network experts,

It took a while to post this update on DCNM 11.1 due to other priorities, but I should admit it’s a shame due to all great features that came with DCNM 11.1. As mentioned in the previous post, DCNM 11.1 brings a lot of great improvements.

Hereafter is a summary of the top LAN fabric enhancements that comes with DCNM 11.1 for LAN Fabric.

Feel free to look at the Release-notes for an exhaustive list of New Features and Enhancements in Cisco DCNM, Release 11.1(1)

Fabric Builder, fabric devices and fabric underlay networks

  • Configuration Compliance display side-by-side of existing and pending configuration before deployment.

  • vPC support for BGWs (VXLAN EVPN Multi-site) and standalone fabrics.

Brownfield Migration

  • Transition an existing VXLAN fabric management into DCN.

Interfaces

  • Port-channel, vPC, subinterface, and loopback interfaces can be added and eddited with an external fabric devices.

  • Cisco DCNM 11.1(1) specific template enhancements are made for interfaces.

Overlay Network/VRF provisioning

  • Networks and VRFs deployment can be deploy automatically at the Multi-site Domain level from Site to Site in one single action.

External Fabric

  • Switches can be added to the external fabric. Inter-Fabric Connections (IFCs) can be created Continue reading

Save the Date: Hackathon@AIS

The third Hackathon@AIS will take place in Kampala, Uganda on the 19th and 20th of June 2019. The Hackathon@AIS is an event aimed at exposing engineers from the African region to Internet Standards development and usage. This will be the third event in the series following successful events held in Nairobi (2017) and Dakar (2018), each alongside the Africa Internet Summit (AIS).

See what was covered in 2017 and 2018 Hackathons@AIS here:
2017 Hackathon@AIS
2018 Hackathon@AIS

The event is targeted at network/system engineers, software developers, and/or computer science students to introduce them to existing and evolving Internet standards development that can help further their careers.

Applications for the event will open in April 2019.

Fellowships will be awarded to strong applicants where possible.

Applications will close on 12 May 2019.

For more information please contact Kevin Chege: [email protected].

Read testimonials from the 2018 Hackathon@AIS fellows.

The post Save the Date: Hackathon@AIS appeared first on Internet Society.

Help us update the Cloudflare Blog!

Help us update the Cloudflare Blog!
Help us update the Cloudflare Blog!

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As you’ve probably noticed over the years, we’re always evolving and improving the look and feel of different aspects of the Cloudflare experience. Sometimes it’s more about function, other times it’s more about form, and most of the time it’s a combination of both. But there’s one area of the site that many users visit even more frequently than they visit the homepage or their dashboard, and strangely enough it hasn’t really seen any major updates in years. And if you’re reading this, that means you're looking at it.

With more than 150 current contributors, and more than 1,000 posts, we have a lot of people dedicating a lot of their time to writing blog posts. And based on the responses I see in the comments, and on Twitter, there are a lot of people who really like to read what these authors have to say (whether it has much to do with Cloudflare or not).

Well, we’d like to finally give some love to the blog. And we really want to know what you, our loyal (or even occasional) readers, think. There are two options to choose from. Continue reading

OpenConfig and Wi-Fi – The Winning Combo

Wireless isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. Most people fixate on the spectrum analysis part of the equation when they think about how hard wireless is. But there are many other moving parts in the whole architecture that make it difficult to manage and maintain. Not the least of which is how the devices talk to each other.

This week at Aruba Atmosphere 2019, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel of wireless and security experts for Mobility Field Day Exclusive. It was a fun discussion, as you can see from the above video. As the moderator, I didn’t really get a change to explain my thoughts on OpenConfig, but I figured now would be a great time to jump in with some color on my side of the conversation.

Yin and YANG

One of the most exciting ideas behind OpenConfig for wireless people should be the common YANG data models. This means that you can use NETCONF to have a common programming language against specific YANG models. That means no more fumbling around to remember esoteric commands. You just tell the system what you want it to do and the rest is easy.

As outlined Continue reading

Why Is MPLS Segment Routing Better than LDP?

A while ago I made a statement along the lines of “MPLS segment routing is the best thing that happened to MPLS control plane in a decade”. Obviously some MPLS-focused engineers disagree with that and a few years ago I decided to write a lengthy blog post explaining the differences between using MPLS SR with IGP (or BGP) versus more traditional IGP+LDP approach.

Obviously, I wasn’t making any progress on that front, so the only way forward was to record a short video on the topic which didn’t work well either because the end-result was a set of three videos (available with free or paid ipSpace.net subscription).

Why blockchain (might be) coming to an IoT implementation near you

Companies have found that IoT partners well with a host of other popular enterprise computing technologies of late, and blockchain – the innovative system of distributed trust most famous for underpinning cryptocurrencies – is no exception. Yet while the two phenomena can be complementary in certain circumstances, those expecting an explosion of blockchain-enabled IoT technologies probably shouldn’t hold their breath.Blockchain technology can be counter-intuitive to understand at a basic level, but it’s probably best thought of as a sort of distributed ledger keeping track of various transactions. Every “block” on the chain contains transactional records or other data to be secured against tampering, and is linked to the previous one by a cryptographic hash, which means that any tampering with the block will invalidate that connection. The nodes – which can be largely anything with a CPU in it – communicate via a decentralized, peer-to-peer network to share data and ensure the validity of the data in the chain.To read this article in full, please click here

RIP Up Your Dynamic Routing With OSPF

What is dynamic routing? Why is Routing Information Protocol (RIP) horrible, and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) ever so slightly less horrible? How does Linux handle OSPF, and what advantages does it bring over traditional networking gear in complex, intent-based, infrastructure-as-code environments?

RIP and OSPF are Interior Gateway Protocols (IGPs). IGPs are protocols designed to allow network routers and switches within an organization’s internal network to dynamically reconfigure the network to respond to changes. These changes may include the addition or removal of network equipment or network links between network devices.

The purpose of IGPs is to tell networking equipment which devices live where. While devices that are part of the same subnet can find one another, they require a router to communicate with devices on other subnets. Routers and switches keep routing tables of which devices are on which physical interface, and VLAN. These routing tables allow each device to know where to send a packet to reach a given system, and whether or not that packet needs to be encapsulated or tagged.

IGPs allow routers and switches to exchange some or all of their routing tables so that other devices within the network fabric know where to send Continue reading

BrandPost: Edge Computing is Key to Meeting Digital Transformation Demands – and Partnerships Can Help Deliver Them

Organizations in virtually every vertical industry are undergoing a digital transformation in an attempt to take advantage of edge computing technology to make their businesses more efficient, innovative and profitable. In the process, they’re coming face to face with challenges ranging from time to market to reliability of IT infrastructure.It’s a complex problem, especially when you consider the scope of what digital transformation entails. “Digital transformation is not simply a list of IT projects, it involves completely rethinking how an organization uses technology to pursue new revenue streams, products, services, and business models,” as the research firm IDC says.To read this article in full, please click here