Fumbling Through Networking

This blog post is written by a systems person who has always dodged networking ... until now. I gave Ansible networking modules a try with a vyos Vagrant image. This blog describes how I fumbled through the process of writing my first Ansible playbook to successfully gather facts from a running vyos virtual machine.

First things first, I need a network thingy to run commands on. I don’t have a physical networking thingy so let’s go searching for a virtual one. After some googling for a Cisco IOS virtual machine I found and started to download an ISO. While that was going on I pinged my co-worker Ben on Slack. Ben’s a networking guy within Ansible. I asked him what virtual device he uses. He pointed me at a vyos Vagrant image. So I canceled the Cisco IOS ISO download and ran the needed vagrant commands.

vagrant init higebu/vyos
vagrant up

Ok, that did something but what did it do? Let me try the old vagrant ssh. Nope, that didn’t work. Oh, I got another message from Ben on slack. He mentions I’m going to need a plugin to make this work smoothly with Vagrant and to run:

vagrant plugin install  Continue reading

Stuff The Internet Says On Scalability For October 6th, 2017

Hey, it's HighScalability time: 

 

LiDAR sees an enchanted world. (Luminar)

 

If you like this sort of Stuff then please support me on Patreon.

• 14TB: Western Digital Hard Drive; 3B: Yahoo's perfidy; ~80%: companies traded on U.S. stock market 1950-2009 were gone by 2009; 21%: conversion increase with AI-enabled site personalisation; $1 billion: US Air Force jets off the cloud; 1 billion: iOS devices in use; 1000x: new DeepMind WaveNet model produces 20 seconds of higher quality audio in 1 second; 96: vCPUs on new GCE machine type, with 624GB of memory; 


• Quotable Quotes:
  • fusiongyro: The amount of incipient complexity in programming has been growing, not going down. What's more complex, "hello, world" to the console in Python, or "hello world" in a browser with the best and newest web stack? Mobility and microservices create lots of new edge cases and complexity—do non-programmers seem particularly well-equipped to handle edge cases to you? The problem has never really been the syntax—if it were, non-programmers would have made great strides with Applescript and SQL, and we'd all be building PowerBuilder libraries for a living. The problem is Continue reading

Back In The Saddle Of A Horse Of A Different Color

I’ve been asked a few times in the past year if I missed being behind a CLI screen or I ever got a hankering to configure some networking gear. The answer is a guarded “yes”, but not for the reason that you think.

Type Casting

CCIEs are keyboard jockeys. Well, the R&S folks are for sure. Every exam has quirks, but the R&S folks have quirky QWERTY keyboard madness. We spend a lot of time not just learning commands but learning how to input them quickly without typos. So we spend a lot of time with keys and a lot less time with the mouse poking around in a GUI.

However, the trend in networking has been to move away from these kinds of input methods. Take the new Aruba 8400, for instance. The ArubaOS-CX platform that runs it seems to have been built to require the least amount of keyboard input possible. The whole system runs with an API backend and presents a GUI that is a series of API calls. There is a CLI, but anything that you can do there can easily be replicated elsewhere by some other function.

Why would a company do this? To Continue reading

Google, Barefoot Networks Add Legs to P4 with Runtime API

P4 Runtime overcomes SDN shortfall of a programmable forwarding plane.

Level 3 Expands Its Network Security in APAC, Africa

The security platform is designed to be compatible with SD-WAN.

A Fast, Secure Migration to Google Cloud Platform using Cloudflare

OnAir Video Presentation

Abstract

Looking to host your website, application, or API in the cloud, or migrate to a new cloud provider while keeping your data secure? In this webinar, Trey Guinn, Head of Solutions Engineering at Cloudflare, will discuss how companies should approach security, during and after migration. We'll highlight the migration story of LUSH, one of the largest global e-Commerce cosmetic retailers, and how they took the right steps to migrate from their previous cloud provider to Google Cloud Platform, in less than 3 weeks. Trey will be performing a live demo on setting up Cloudflare load balancing across cloud providers, as well as

Speakers

Asad Baheri
Security & Networking Partner Manager
Google Cloud Platform

Trey Guinn
Head of Solutions Engineering
Cloudflare

Webinar Transcription and Load Balancing Demo

Asad Baheri
Today we're going to talk about LUSH's migration to Google Cloud and how Cloudflare, one of our top security and performance partners, can help you with your own cloud migration. Throughout our presentation, we'll be talking about security best practices, how CDNs and the CDN Interconnect program works, and we're also going to also give you a demo of Cloudflare's load balancing to start your migration.

One of Continue reading

IPv6, DNSSEC, Security and More at ION Malta

The Deploy360 team is back from ION Malta, which took place on 18 September alongside an ICANN DNSSEC Training Workshop. We again thank our sponsor Afilias for making this possible, and are now working toward our final ION Conference of the year, ION Belgrade in November. All the presentations from ION Malta are available online.

I opened the event with an introduction to Deploy360 and an invitation for everyone to get involved with the Internet Society’s 25^th anniversary the next day. We also heard from Jasper Schellekens, the president of the ISOC Malta Chapter about their activities and how to get more involved. They have a small but mighty presence in Malta and are looking forward to getting more members and increasing their activity.

Next, Nathalie Trenaman from RIPE NCC gave a fascinating presentation on the status of IPv6 in Malta. Unfortunately, IPv6 penetration in Malta is extremely low, but ISPs are transferring IPv4 address space around and, interestingly, have purchased over 30,000 IPv4 addresses from Romania. She encouraged ISPs to begin moving to IPv6 now, as RIPE NCC estimates that full transition takes about 2.5 years to complete.

Next up, Klaus Nieminen from the Finnish Communications Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: How to shrink your data-migration schedule

If there’s one problem just about every IT professional can relate to, it is the pain of a storage migration. Aging is part of life not only for us IT veterans, but also the storage systems we manage. Despite the fact that we’ve been having to move data off old storage for decades, the challenge of moving data from one storage resource to another, without disrupting business, remains one of the most time consuming and stressful projects for an IT team.Many of the IT professionals I speak with tell me that their migrations are scheduled over months, and can even take a year to plan and execute. It’s no surprise then that IT professionals named migrations as the number two issue facing their departments in a recent survey. Only performance presents a bigger challenge for today’s IT professionals.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Shrink your data migration schedule

If there’s one problem just about every IT professional can relate to, it is the pain of a storage migration. Aging is part of life not only for us IT veterans, but also the storage systems we manage. Despite the fact that we’ve been having to move data off old storage for decades, the challenge of moving data from one storage resource to another, without disrupting business, remains one of the most time consuming and stressful projects for an IT team.Many of the IT professionals I speak with tell me that their migrations are scheduled over months, and can even take a year to plan and execute. It’s no surprise then that IT professionals named migrations as the number two issue facing their departments in a recent survey. Only performance presents a bigger challenge for today’s IT professionals.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DDoS Protection: Arbor Networks vs. Kentik

DDoS Protection: Arbor Networks vs. Kentik

IDG Contributor Network: Moving fast and making friends: the power of a tight-knit industry community

The internet is a smaller place than it seems. Despite the gigantic weight of the industries built on it, the near ubiquity of the internet in our lives, and the complexity and scale of modern online applications, at its core the internet operates atop a relatively small set of systems.Pockets of deep knowledge and operational expertise around these key systems have developed over the years. There are tight-knit and cooperative communities focused on network operations, infosec, email and HTTP, to name just a few.DNS—the entry point to nearly every online application and a key anchor of the internet —is no different. A relatively small community of deep experts and operators drives the protocol and its key operational aspects. Homes for this community include DNS-OARC, IETF/ICANN, email lists and regular small meetings of key operators.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Basics on Riverbed WAN optimization Solution

Today I am going to talk about basics of Riverbed WAN optimization solution. WAN optimization solutions that deliver broad-spectrum improvement of WANs and the name comes into the mind is Riverbed WAN optimization solution. With Riverbed products, enterprises can implement solutions that help them empower their distributed workforce while eliminating IT capital expenditures and simplifying IT management. 

• With the help of Riverbed enterprise can Centralize distributed infrastructure like file servers, mail servers, network attached storage (NAS), and remote office backup systems without affecting remote users 
• It is a challenge to share large files but with the help of riverbed you can share large files among colleagues on different continents 
• Are you afraid of backup and replication over WAN links, well with Riverbed you can perform backup and replication over long distance WAN links and will have complete them during backup windows that were unachievable just a year ago 
• Enterprises need not to upgrade the bandwidth of their WAN circuits as with the Riverbed you can deliver significantly more services on existing WANs 

Fig 1.1- Riverbed Steelhead deployment in WAN

If you guys aware of the TCP, TCP has a window of packets that can be Continue reading

Networking Trends Discussion with Andrew Lerner and Simon Richard: Part 2

In June 2017, we concluded the Building Next Generation Data Center online course with a roundtable discussion with Andrew Lerner, Research Vice President, Networking, and Simon Richard, Research Director, Data Center Networking @ Gartner.

In the second half of our discussion (first half is here) we focused on these topics:

IPv10 – a Joke or a Serious RFC Draft?

The post IPv10 – a Joke or a Serious RFC Draft? appeared first on Noction.

Response to the Community on .CAT Issues

Last week I published a statement about Internet blocking measures in Catalonia, Spain.

The situation in Catalonia is delicate and politically sensitive. Understandably, my statement prompted some strong reactions from the Internet community.

In light of this, we feel it is important to clarify what we set out to do in the statement.

The statement was not drafted as a comment on the current political debate and it was not intended to be read in this way. There are many other stakeholders who are much better positioned than the Internet Society to deal with and comment on these political aspects.

Rather, we wanted to highlight the potential consequences for the Internet that stem from the court order requiring .CAT to monitor content and use the DNS (domain name system) to block that content. In this instance, the content in question related to the 1st October referendum.

We firmly believe that intermediaries (in this case the top-level domain (TLD) operator, but it could be any other intermediary such as an Internet Service Provider (ISP)) should not be put in the position of having to decide what content is legal and what is not. Simply put, this is not the role of Continue reading

Kubernetes in the enterprise with VMware NSX-T and vRealize Automation

We’ve all seen the VMware PKS announcement at VMworld 2017, and we are all excited about it. The idea of provisioning Kubernetes clusters in an easy way, with day-2 operations, inside your datacenters, has been a request from most of the VMware customers who are starting their journeys into the brave new cloud-native world. As... Read more →

Kubernetes in the enterprise with VMware NSX-T and vRealize Automation

We’ve all seen the VMware PKS announcement at VMworld 2017, and we are all excited about it. The idea of provisioning Kubernetes clusters in an easy way, with day-2 operations, inside your datacenters, has been a request from most of the VMware customers who are starting their journeys into the brave new cloud-native world. As we saw also from the announcement, PKS is currently under development by VMware, Google and Pivotal and is targeted for GA Q4 this year.

Until then, what if we have a solution today that you can start piloting right away without waiting? And what if it is based on the VMware solutions that you’ve grown to use and love. Better yet, what if we can add to that mix a solid networking and security capabilities to run your Kubernetes clusters in a self-service and IT governance to maintain your existing operational models?

Figure 1: Solution Overview

I’ve just started a new blog series that I named “Kubernetes in the Enterprise” which answers all those questions in a form of an enterprise-grade solution. This solution is very grounded to the real-world and business challenges, and driven by many discussions that I have been having with my Continue reading

Recapping the Incredible Presentations at future:net 2017

For those of you unable to attend future:net 2017 in Las Vegas, NV last month, fear not—what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas!

That’s right, thanks to the wonder that is YouTube, there are video recordings available of the amazing keynote speakers and presentations that took place at this year’s future:net conference, which brought together the technical and networking leaders shaping new network strategies, solutions and innovations for the future of digital transformation.

To cure you of any FOMO you may have, check out a recap of future:net presentations below, including links to their videos and a brief description of the speakers and topics discussed during each.

• Welcome Opening & CTO Perspective – Check out the presentation that kicked off future:net 2017! Pere Monclus, CTO of NSBU at VMware, offers his expert perspective and lays out his thoughts on the future of networking.
• Opening Keynote: Network Engineers Can Uncross Their Fingers by Emulating Hardware and Software Engineers – CEO & Co-Founder of Intentionet Ratul Mahajan argues that intent-based networking can be realized by borrowing and adapting approaches that have enabled hardware and software engineers to tame their own engineering complexity in his insightful opening keynote speech.
• What Is Continue reading

The Clever Machinations Of Livermore’s Sierra Supercomputer

The potent combination of powerful CPUs, floating point laden GPU accelerators, and fast InfiniBand networking are coming to market and reshaping the upper echelons of supercomputing. While Intel is having issues with its future Knights massively parallel X86 processors, which it has not really explained, the two capability class supercomputers that are being built for the US Department of Energy by IBM with the help of Nvidia and Mellanox Technologies, named “Summit” and ‘Sierra” and installed at Oak Ridge National Lab and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, are beginning to be assembled.

We have previously profiled the nodes in …

The Clever Machinations Of Livermore’s Sierra Supercomputer was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.