Introducing the 2023 Intern-ets!

This year, Cloudflare welcomed a class of approximately 40 interns, hailing from five different countries for an unforgettable summer. As we joined both remotely and in-person across Cloudflare’s global offices, our experiences spanned a variety of roles from engineering, product management to internal auditing and marketing. Through invaluable mentorship, continuous learning, and the chance to make a real-world impact, our summer was truly enriched at every step. Join us, Anni and Emilie, as we provide an insider's perspective on a summer at Cloudflare, sharing snippets and quotes from our intern cohort.

printf(“Hello Intern-ets!”)

You might have noticed that we have a new name for the interns: the Intern-ets! Our fresh intern nickname was born from a brainstorm between us and our recruiter, Judy. While “Cloudies”, “Cloudterns”, and “Flaries” made the shortlist, a company-wide vote crowned "Intern-ets" as the favorite. And just like that, we've made Cloudflare history!

git commit -m “Innovation!”

We're all incredibly proud to have gotten the opportunity to tackle interesting and highly impactful projects throughout the duration of our internships. To give you a glimpse of our summer, here are a few that showcase the breadth and depth of our experiences.

Mia M., Product Continue reading

BrandPost: What do music and multi-cloud networking (MCN) have in common?

By: Nav Chander, Head of Service Provider SD-WAN/SASE Product Marketing at HPE Aruba Networking.In this first of a three-part blog series on SD-WAN, SSE, and multi-cloud networking (MCN), where we will highlight how these three technology areas are analogous to three different musical instruments that can be played separately. However, when these three technologies are “synchronized,” much like a musical ensemble of the three instruments blends the music to create a perfect harmony and an enjoyable listening experience.To read this article in full, please click here

Versa enhances SASE package with AI-based security tools

Versa is bolstering the AI security management features of its integrated Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) package to include improved malware detection for Advanced Threat Protection, network microsegmention and generative AI protection to help customers better detect and quickly mitigate threats to their networked service and applications.The vendor supports AI in its integrated Versa SASE package that includes SD WAN, a next-generation and web application firewall, intrusion prevention, zero trust support and data loss prevention.To read this article in full, please click here

Versa enhances SASE package with AI-based security tools

Versa is bolstering the AI security management features of its integrated Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) package to include improved malware detection for Advanced Threat Protection, network microsegmention and generative AI protection to help customers better detect and quickly mitigate threats to their networked service and applications.The vendor supports AI in its integrated Versa SASE package that includes SD WAN, a next-generation and web application firewall, intrusion prevention, zero trust support and data loss prevention.To read this article in full, please click here

Generating Network Diagrams from Netbox with Pynetbox

Here’s my typical disclaimer: I’m not a developer. I have the ability to make code give me an expected output, but I do not do anything “the right way.”

All the code I write for these blog posts is in my Github repo that you can and should freely copy and modify. Here’s the environment I’m running this stuff in. Python. Pynetbox. You know the drill by now.

Python         :  3.9.10
Pynetbox       :  7.0.0
Netbox version :  3.5.8

We’ve been working through some stuff, and, at this point, we have a lot of stuff in our Netbox instance. Let’s step up the game a little, though, and see if we can’t generate a network diagram based on that data. Let’s set some expectations, though. This is not going to be comparable to that Visio diagram you’ve managed by hand for the last 8 years. This is going to be a very simple diagram with subnet, nodes, and IP addresses — enough for an auditor or for some architect who doesn’t know what’s in their own data centers.

The logic is pretty easy. The first thing we do it query for all our prefixes. Continue reading

Generating Network Diagrams from Netbox with Pynetbox

Here’s my typical disclaimer: I’m not a developer. I have the ability to make code give me an expected output, but I do not do anything “the right way.”

All the code I write for these blog posts is in my Github repo that you can and should freely copy and modify. Here’s the environment I’m running this stuff in. Python. Pynetbox. You know the drill by now.

Python         :  3.9.10
Pynetbox       :  7.0.0
Netbox version :  3.5.8

We’ve been working through some stuff, and, at this point, we have a lot of stuff in our Netbox instance. Let’s step up the game a little, though, and see if we can’t generate a network diagram based on that data. Let’s set some expectations, though. This is not going to be comparable to that Visio diagram you’ve managed by hand for the last 8 years. This is going to be a very simple diagram with subnet, nodes, and IP addresses — enough for an auditor or for some architect who doesn’t know what’s in their own data centers.

The logic is pretty easy. The first thing we do it query for all our prefixes. Continue reading

New report: The state of Calico Open Source 2023

We are excited to announce the publication of our 2023 State of Calico Open Source, Usage & Adoption report! The report compiles survey results from more than 1,200 Calico Open Source users from around the world, who are actively using Calico in their container and Kubernetes environments. It sheds light on how they are using Calico across various environments, while also highlighting different aspects of Calico’s adoption in terms of platforms, data planes, and policies.

Report highlights

The report shows that Calico continues to be a pivotal part of the container and Kubernetes ecosystem, finding large-scale adoption across major Kubernetes platforms.

• Calico Open Source is mainly used for Kubernetes networking and security
  • 63% are using Calico as a security policy engine on top of an existing CNI
• The top 3 Calico capabilities driving user adoption are its scalable networking, security policies and interoperability across different environments
• Calico users are using a combination of data planes including eBPF, standard Linux and Windows
  • 16% of respondents use Calico’s newer eBPF data plane
• Calico policy creation and deployment is driven by the need for workload access control and secure egress access
  • 85% of users need to achieve network segmentation and protect east-west traffic

Continue reading

Beyond OSI: The ‘Four Things’ Model Of Networking

A model is a tool to help you think about something. The 'Four Things' model described here helps me ask questions about networking protocols, how they work, and how to solve problems.

The post Beyond OSI: The ‘Four Things’ Model Of Networking appeared first on Packet Pushers.

How GitHub Learned How Hard Distributed Systems Are

Anne Baretta found a great video describing the October 2018 GitHub failure. Here’s the TL&DW:

• The failure was caused by a short (~ 1 minute) disconnect of the primary data center
• The database replicas failed over to the secondary data center, but that failover was never tested and of course some stuff didn’t work.
• In the meantime, batch jobs modified data in the primary data center, making the two replicas out-of-sync.
• It took them over 24 hours to clean up the mess.

How GitHub Learned How Hard Distributed Systems Are

Anne Baretta found a great video describing the October 2018 GitHub failure. Here’s the TL&DW:

• The failure was caused by a short (~ 1 minute) disconnect of the primary data center
• The database replicas failed over to the secondary data center, but that failover was never tested and of course some stuff didn’t work.
• In the meantime, batch jobs modified data in the primary data center, making the two replicas out-of-sync.
• It took them over 24 hours to clean up the mess.

The Top Feature Releases In Kubernetes v1.28

Kubernetes version 1.28, just came out. The latest version is called Planternetes, in part because a lot of the maintainers of Kubernetes are getting really into the idea of ensuring that Kubernetes is running as effectively and efficiently as possible. In this  post, I highlight a few of the great features and updates in version […]

The post The Top Feature Releases In Kubernetes v1.28 appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Networking vendors highlight AI opportunities as order backlog challenges begin to subside

The heavy buzz around all things AI got louder in the financial reports of networking vendors this quarter, even though AI hasn’t made a significant impact on most vendors’ financial performance and supply chain challenges remain a more immediate concern.Vendors such as Cisco, Arista, Juniper, Extreme and HPE’s Aruba report that they are shipping more products, thanks to multi-month efforts that include significant product redesigns and relentless efforts by their supply-chain teams to address component shortages. But the situation is still challenging, and some enterprise customers still face order delays.To read this article in full, please click here

Nvidia Gooses Grace-Hopper GPU Memory, Gangs Them Up For LLM

If large language models are the foundation of a new programming model, as Nvidia and many others believe it is, then the hybrid CPU-GPU compute engine is the new general purpose computing platform. …

The post Nvidia Gooses Grace-Hopper GPU Memory, Gangs Them Up For LLM first appeared on The Next Platform.

Nvidia Gooses Grace-Hopper GPU Memory, Gangs Them Up For LLM was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Heavy Wireless 009: Ham Radio For Wi-Fi Folks

Heavy Wireless 009: Ham Radio For Wi-Fi Folks

In this podcast episode, Keith Parsons, Glenn Kate, and Lee Badman discuss the intersection of ham radio and Wi-Fi. Glenn and Lee share their personal experiences and involvement in both fields. They talk about how they got started in ham radio and Wi-Fi, the importance of joining amateur radio clubs, and the various activities and […]

The post Heavy Wireless 009: Ham Radio For Wi-Fi Folks appeared first on Packet Pushers.

VMware, Nvidia team on enterprise-grade AI platform

Companies trying to deploy generative AI today have a major problem. If they use a commercial platform like OpenAI, they have to send data up to the cloud, which may run afoul of compliance requirements and is expensive. If they download and run a model like Llama 2 locally, they need to know a lot about how to fine-tune it, how to set up vector databases to feed it live data, and how to operationalize it.VMware's new partnership with Nvidia aims to solve these issues by offering a fully integrated, ready-to-go generative AI platform that companies can run on premises, in colocation facilities, or in private clouds. The platform will include Llama 2 or a choice of other large language models, as well as a vector database to feed up-to-date company information to the LLM.To read this article in full, please click here

VMware combines SASE and edge management in new orchestration platform, announces private 5G service

Combining things to make them easier to manage and secure is a recurring theme at this week's VMware Explore conference in Las Vegas. To that end, VMware is announcing a single console for its SASE platform and edge stack to enable unified management of edge networking, security and compute infrastructure.SASE – secure access service edge – is a way to provide security and networking to end users and manage it in the cloud. It's grown in popularity since the pandemic as employees were sent home to work and companies scrambled to figure out how to get them connected.To read this article in full, please click here

Unnumbered Links In OSPF

This post is going to be a real deep dive! First, I want to send my sincere thanks to the maestro Peter Palúch and the guru Ivan Pepelnjak for helping me research this topic. Ivan wrote a couple of great posts on unnumbered links:

• Packet Forwarding and Routing over Unnumbered Interfaces
• Running OSPF over Unnumbered Ethernet Interfaces

In VXLAN fabrics, it is quite common to build the underlay using unnumbered links. The concept is not new. In the past, unnumbered links were mainly used with point to point serial links using encapsulation such as Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). There was a time before variable length subnet masks where addressing interfaces could be very wasteful. Using unnumbered links reduced the need for addressing. It was generally not allowed on multi access interfaces such as Ethernet, though. Even though we often use Ethernet as point to point links.

What benefits do unnumbered links provide in today’s networks? There are a few:

• Reduce the number of IP addresses needed to address links.
• Less unique configuration for each device.
• Fewer lines of configuration.

Let’s dive deeper into each of these:

Reduced need of IP addresses – While these may be private IP addresses, it still Continue reading

VMware NSX+ centralizes cloud networking and security for multicloud environments

VMware customers that have both on-prem and cloud-based architecture can now manage networking and security for both in a single management console. Unveiled at this week's VMware Explore conference in Las Vegas, NSX+ is new cloud-managed service that’s geared for multicloud environments and is designed to enable consistent network and security operations, centralized security policy management, network and application visibility, and network detection and response.This latest evolution of VMware's core networking package will be available to current NSX customers as an upgrade and to new customers as both a free trial and a paid offering effective today. By the end of the year, NSX+ will also extend to businesses running their cloud infrastructure natively in public clouds, says Rob Markovich, who leads product marketing for multicloud networking and network virtualization for VMware.To read this article in full, please click here

VMware Cloud gains faster ransomware recovery, expanded management capabilities

VMware announced a raft of improvements to its VMware Cloud platform at this week's VMware Explore conference in Las Vegas.Previously, VMware's on-premises private cloud solution, VMware Cloud Foundation, and its public cloud offerings were managed separately. Now, enterprises will be able to manage all their cloud deployments from a single location. In addition, customers will see improved integrations with the major cloud providers as well as faster disaster and ransomware recovery.Central management "We're actually bringing together a lot of disparate solutions under a common framework, VMware Cloud," says Rick Walsworth, VMware's director of product marketing for the cloud infrastructure team.To read this article in full, please click here