The GitHub sflow-rt/containerlab project contains example network topologies for the Containerlab network emulation tool that demonstrate real-time streaming telemetry in realistic data center topologies and network configurations. The examples use the same FRRouting (FRR) engine that is part of SONiC, NVIDIA Cumulus Linux, and DENT network operating systems. Containerlab can be used to experiment before deploying solutions into production. Examples include: tracing ECMP flows in leaf and spine topologies, EVPN visibility, and automated DDoS mitigation using BGP Flowspec and RTBH controls.
The screen capture at the top of this article shows a real-time dashboard displaying up to the second traffic analytics gathered from the 5 stage Clos fabric shown above. This article walks through the steps needed to run the example.
git clone https://github.com/sflow-rt/containerlab.git
cd containerlab
./run-clab
Run the above commands to download the project and run Containerlab on a system with Docker installed. Docker Desktop is a conventient way to run the labs on a laptop.
With the move to the cloud, CISOs must shift priorities from operating security programs to overseeing (monitoring and auditing) outsourced cybersecurity programs.
Today on Network Break we discuss big moves in open source, including HashiCorp switching from an open source license to "business source" and Red Hat competitors banding together to offer an alternative to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We also discuss Google's odd attempt to get employees back to the office by charging them to stay at an on-campus hotel.
Today on Network Break we discuss big moves in open source, including HashiCorp switching from an open source license to "business source" and Red Hat competitors banding together to offer an alternative to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We also discuss Google's odd attempt to get employees back to the office by charging them to stay at an on-campus hotel.
A clear sign of maturing for any new programming language or environment is how easy and efficient debugging them is. Programming, like any other complex task, involves various challenges and potential pitfalls. Logic errors, off-by-ones, null pointer dereferences, and memory leaks are some examples of things that can make software developers desperate if they can't pinpoint and fix these issues quickly as part of their workflows and tools.
WebAssembly (Wasm) is a binary instruction format designed to be a portable and efficient target for the compilation of high-level languages like Rust, C, C++, and others. In recent years, it has gained significant traction for building high-performance applications in web and serverless environments.
Using tools like Wrangler, our command-line tool for building with Cloudflare developer products, makes streaming real-time logs from our applications running remotely easy. Still, to be honest, debugging Rust and Wasm with Cloudflare Workers involves a lot of the good old time-consuming and Continue reading
At AnsibleFest 2022, we announced a new addition to the content ecosystem offered through Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform: Ansible validated content. Ansible validated content is use case-focused and provides an expert-guided path for performing operational tasks.
While Red Hat Ansible Certified Content Collections focus on how to integrate platforms (typically in the form of modules), Ansible validated content offers expert best practices and guidance for how to perform operations or tasks (typically in the form of roles or playbooks). Some Ansible validated content may depend on certified content (modules) for integration.
Specifically in the network automation area, we have already seen the release of network.base and network.bgp validated content.
Network engineers commonly ask about automation for network interfaces, which are the fundamental connection point for endpoints as layer 2 access ports, or other networking devices that extend the network to other domains as layer 3 interfaces. However it is extremely challenging to be able to collect data at scale and at the same time standardize settings for interfaces following specific rules through automation.
For this reason, we want to introduce you to the new network.interfaces collection. In this blog, we will show how Continue reading
Pricing API will provide an inventory of public services and SKUs along with account-specific custom prices and discounts with additional metadata, down to the SKU level.
This year I had a pleasure and privilege to attend KubeCon Europe 2023 and this was the first time I’ve heard about MicroK8s. That sounded interesting and I decided I shall experiment with it and write a blogpost; but it didn’t catch my attention to a degree that I put it on top of my list; instead, I’ve put it to back burner. The last week I was talking to a colleagues of mine, who told me that he needs to test something in his production Kubernetes at home. I was quite interested, what does the one mean by “production Kubernetes cluster at home” and it appeared to be MikroK8s. At this stage I though, I don’t have any more excuses, so I just should sit and write it.
Is Kubernetes Used in Network Automation?
It is, indeed. The last week when we posted a blog about starting programming in C we got an interesting discussion in LinkedIn about Go vs Python with one right-honorable gentleman, who rightfully suggested that one of the main weaknesses of Python is that it requires to install dependencies on the host before you can use application. However, to be brutally honest, many Continue reading
It's challenging to measure the uptake of DNSSEC in the DNS. There are just so many aspects of the DNS that are occluded from view! How many DNS names are there in the
DNS? How many of these are signed? How many queries are processed by DNS infrastructure? How many queries add DNSSEC validcation. We present a new measurement here which is
a query-weighted view of the DNS, looking the amount of queries for DNS names that are DNSSEC-signed as a proportion of the total query load.
With a server recession underway and its latest Epyc CPUs and Instinct GPU accelerators still ramping, this was a predictably soft, but still not terrible in the scheme of things, quarter for AMD. …
Welcome to Technology Short Take #169! Prior to the recent Spousetivities post, it had been a few months since I posted on the site; life has been busy, and it hasn’t left much time for blogging. Hopefully things will settle down soon, but until then I’ll continue to do the best I can to share useful information with folks. Hopefully something I’ve included in this Technology Short Take proves to be useful to someone. OK, let’s get on to the content!
Here we go again. As a side note, I am curious to know what other CPU architectures, if any, are affected. Will something like this spark a (larger) migration to ARM-based architectures?
Three of Red Hat’s chief enterprise Linux competitors are banding together to create an alternative to Red Hat-based software, after the company made changes to its terms of use earlier this summer, making it more difficult to access its source code.Oracle, SUSE, and CIQ, in a joint statement issued Thursday, said that the new Open Enterprise Linux Association will “encourage the development” of Linux distributions compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux by providing free access to source code.“With OpenELA, CIQ, Oracle and SUSE join forces with the open source community to ensure a stable and resilient future for both upstream and downstream communities to leverage Enterprise Linux,” said CIQ CEO Gregory Kurtzer, in the statement.To read this article in full, please click here
Three of Red Hat’s chief enterprise Linux competitors are banding together to create an alternative to Red Hat-based software, after the company made changes to its terms of use earlier this summer, making it more difficult to access its source code.Oracle, SUSE, and CIQ, in a joint statement issued Thursday, said that the new Open Enterprise Linux Association will “encourage the development” of Linux distributions compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux by providing free access to source code.“With OpenELA, CIQ, Oracle and SUSE join forces with the open source community to ensure a stable and resilient future for both upstream and downstream communities to leverage Enterprise Linux,” said CIQ CEO Gregory Kurtzer, in the statement.To read this article in full, please click here
I’m no stranger to disagreement with people on the Internet. Most of my popular posts grew from my disagreement with others around things like being called an engineer, being a 10x engineer, and something about IPv6 and NAT. I’ve always tried to explain my reasoning for my positions and discuss the relevant points with people that want to have a debate. I tend to avoid commenting on people that just accuse me of being wrong and tell me I need to grow up or work in the real world.
Buying the Farm
However, I’ve noticed recently that there have been some people in the realm of social media and influencing that have taken to posting so-called hot takes on things solely for the purpose of engagement. It’s less of a discussion and more of a post that outlines all the reasons why a particular thing that people might like is wrong.
For example, it would be like me posting something about how an apple is the dumbest fruit because it’s not perfectly round or orange or how the peel is ridiculous because you can eat it. While there are some opinions and points to be Continue reading
To keep the world connected, telecommunication networks demand performance and programmability to meet customers when and where they are, from streaming the winning goal of the world cup to coordinating responses to the latest natural disaster.
When switchboards were still run by human operators, telco companies were all about custom hardware with “black boxes” from vendors providing the speed the network needed. These black boxes controlled the performance of the network, which also made it dependent on where they were actually deployed.
As telcos moved from traditional phone calls to additional services like messaging and mobile data, the demands on the network pushed the boundaries of what was possible. Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) sought to allow telcos to use “white box” commodity hardware to scale out throughput and increase flexibility.
Technologies like the Data Plane Development Kit (
Metrics are important for a microservices application running on Kubernetes because they provide visibility into the health and performance of the application. This visibility can be used to troubleshoot problems, optimize the application, and ensure that it is meeting its SLAs.
Some of the challenges that metrics solve for microservices applications running on Kubernetes include:
Visibility: Microservices applications are typically composed of many small, independent services. This can make it difficult to get a clear picture of the overall health and performance of the application. Metrics provide a way to aggregate data from all of the services, giving you a single view of the application.
Troubleshooting: When something goes wrong with a microservices application, it can be difficult to identify the root cause of the problem. Metrics can help you to track down the problem by providing information about the state of the application at the time of the failure.
Optimization: Metrics can be used to optimize the performance of a microservices application. By tracking metrics such as CPU usage, memory usage, and network traffic, you can identify areas where the application can be improved.
SLAs: Many microservices applications have SLAs that they must meet. Metrics can be used to Continue reading
This week on Heavy Networking we've assembled a roundtable of network engineers to talk about...stuff. Each guest has brought a topic to discuss with the table, so we've got lots of subjects and lots of experiences and opinions. In particular we explore SPB, career advice, getting network automation off the ground, and the joys and perils of self-hosting.
This week on Heavy Networking we've assembled a roundtable of network engineers to talk about...stuff. Each guest has brought a topic to discuss with the table, so we've got lots of subjects and lots of experiences and opinions. In particular we explore SPB, career advice, getting network automation off the ground, and the joys and perils of self-hosting.
