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Cisco onePK: Now I Get It

I had an opportunity recently to sit in a Cisco onePK lab and it opened my eyes to exactly what Cisco is doing with onePK, why it's going to be so important as Software Defined Networking (SDN) continues to gain traction, and why onePK is different than what anyone else is doing in the industry.

onePK is a key element within Cisco's announced Open Network Environment SDN strategy. onePK is an easy-to-use toolkit for development, automation, rapid service creation and more. It enables you to access the valuable data inside your network via easy-to-use APIs.

Source: www.cisco.com/go/onepk

Since having my own eyes opened, I've been pondering how to explain my new found understanding in a way that others will grasp. In particular to business decision makers (BDMs) and technical decision makers (TDMs). I'm really, really, struggling to come up with a good analogy for BDMs. I'm still working on that one. Surprisingly, I'm also struggling to come up with a sound analogy that will work with the majority of TDMs that I know. Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised at that since all the TDMs I deal with are on the infrastructure side of things (networks, storage, Continue reading

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Your Career – Enemies Within and Without

In the mood for some self analysis and reflection around your career and your employer? Good. I’ve strong feelings about employment in general and even stronger ones around balancing it with your personal life (I wouldn’t dare say private any more) and making work work for you. I’m definitely in the work to live camp. […]

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The post Your Career – Enemies Within and Without appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Steven Iveson.

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Heatsink Upgrade

A little detour from the networking topics today to show off a little weekend tech project. I recently ran into some overheating problems with my home BYO PC. Core Temp was showing upwards of 70 degrees Celsius during normal operation, and under load, it would sometimes just shut down completely. Here’s the setup I had as of 2 days ago: The rear fan, which takes air in, was not working due to a short.

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Heatsink Upgrade

A little detour from the networking topics today to show off a little weekend tech project. I recently ran into some overheating problems with my home BYO PC. Core Temp was showing upwards of 70 degrees Celsius during normal operation, and under load, it would sometimes just shut down completely. Here’s the setup I had as of 2 days ago: The rear fan, which takes air in, was not working due to a short.

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Network Security and the N00b Meter

This morning I read an article in which the writer thought that wireless security was too inconvenient and difficult, so he simply disabled it, leaving his network wide open. He was tired of his complex password being too hard for guests to use and made the comparison that they didn’t have to use these kinds […]

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The post Network Security and the N00b Meter appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Mrs. Y.

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Optimizing and Protecting Spanning Tree – Lab Testing

Unfortunately the equipment I was using didn’t support PVST+ (Sup2Ts in 6503 Catalyst Switches), so I skipped testing UplinkFast and BackboneFast as these are incorporated in 802.1w (RSTP) and 802.1s (MSTP, which is basically an extension of RSTP).

BPDU Guard

For this test, SwitchD will be treated as a Rogue Switch being attached to the network.  Initially, SwitchC’s port 2/1 is configured as an access port with only PortFast enabled.

1. 1. Disconnect link between SwitchC and SwitchD
2. 2. Configure SwitchC port 2/1 as an access port in VLAN 10 with PortFast enabled.
3. 3. Configure SwitchD port 2/1 as an access port in VLAN 10. Configure the priority on VLAN 10 to be 0.
4. 4. Reconnect link between SwitchC and SwitchD and check topology for VLAN 10. SwitchD should be the root for VLAN 10.
5. 5. Disconnect link between SwitchC and SwitchD
6. 6. Enable BPDU Guard on Switch C port 2/1
7. 7. Reconnect link between SwitchC and SwitchD. SwitchC port 2/1 should move to an err-disable state. Verify with sh interfaces status err-disabled. Verify SwitchD is no longer the root for VLAN 10.

*Jul  5 22:02:06.023: %SPANTREE-2-BLOCK_BPDUGUARD: Received BPDU on port GigabitEthernet2/1 with BPDU Guard enabled. Disabling Continue reading

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Masterclass – Tcpdump – Expressions

This Masterclass article series aims to provide in-depth technical information on the installation, usage and operation of the classic and supremely popular tcpdump network traffic analysis program including alternatives, running tcpdump as a process, building expressions, understanding output and more. I’ve covered the Basics and Parameters previously and here I move on to filter Expressions; […]

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The post Masterclass – Tcpdump – Expressions appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Steven Iveson.

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Ambassadors Cookbook for Enterprise now available

At the beginning of 2013 I was asked to join the Juniper Ambassador team; essentially an outreach program to those active in social channels including the J-Net community.  Whilst I was appreciative of the vendor swag; it wasn’t until the community manager had the bright idea for us to collaborate on a book did it […]

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The post Ambassadors Cookbook for Enterprise now available appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Glen Kemp.

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KIClet: IOS “network” Command Cheating

I have always used the “network 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0” statement to describe “all interfaces” when configuring a routing protocol like EIGRP. I know that it’s not correct, but I never stopped to wonder why my bad habit still worked. Then, I found this good article by @jdsilva explains this is IOS just assuming you had a “brain fart” and meant to type the proper “network 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255” I’m studying for the CCIE and it can be really good to identify these bad habits that, while in real life may not be too bad, especially this kind, where the result is the same, but on exams can mean the difference between failure and success.

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KIClet: IOS “network” Command Cheating

I have always used the “network 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0” statement to describe “all interfaces” when configuring a routing protocol like EIGRP. I know that it’s not correct, but I never stopped to wonder why my bad habit still worked. Then, I found this good article by @jdsilva explains this is IOS just assuming you had a “brain fart” and meant to type the proper “network 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255” I’m studying for the CCIE and it can be really good to identify these bad habits that, while in real life may not be too bad, especially this kind, where the result is the same, but on exams can mean the difference between failure and success.

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You have a new manager – now what do you do?

We’ve all been there – a recent re-org or maybe your boss gets promoted or your boss leaves and you end up with a new manager. As I have mentored people over the years, I’d say that the most common reaction is “Crud! I have to start over.” But once you get past that moment […]

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The post You have a new manager – now what do you do? appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Michael Bushong.

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Traditional AQM is not enough!

Note: Updated October 24, 2013, to fix some editorial nits, and to clarify the intended point that it is the combination of a working mark/drop algorithm with flow scheduling that is the “killer” innovation, rather than the specifics of today’s fq_codel algorithm.

Latency (called “lag” by gamers), once incurred, cannot be undone, as best first explained by Stuart Cheshire in his rant: “It’s the latency, Stupid.” and more formally in “Latency and the Quest for Interactivity,” and noted recently by Stuart’s 12 year old daughter, who sent Stuart a link to one of the myriad “Lag Kills” tee shirts, coffee bugs, and other items popular among gamers.

Out of the mouth of babes…

Any unnecessary latency is too much latency.

Many networking engineers and researchers express the opinion that 100 milliseconds latency is “good enough”. If the Internet’s worst latency (under load) was 100ms, indeed, we’d be much better off than we are today (and would have space warp technology as well!). But the speed of light and human factors research easily demonstrate this opinion is badly flawed.

Many have understood bufferbloat to be a problem that primarily occurs when a saturating “ Continue reading

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Vendor mandated certs only degrade integrity

I dont doubt that vendors have a tight line to walk when it comes maintaining their brand integrity. To build up a skill set in the market the certification teams put in many weeks developing a program that is relevant, useful and achieves the goals required. Followed by countless hours reviewing each of the certifications regularly to ensure integrity. There is the added benefit that these certifications build of community of loyal followers – The Cisco and VMWare certification programs are evidence to this.

I personally have been involved in the development, technical review, and exam rewrite process and I can attest to the effort that the certifications teams go to to ensure the validity and integrity of their offerings. Weeding out sources of brain dumps and NDA violations and other activities that threaten this integrity work becomes an on going commitment that requires many hours of dedication.

On the other side of the line is the requirement to have the partners representing the vendor to maintain a level of skills and customer satisfaction. This ensures that when the brand is represented in the market that it will be delivered by the most skilled people capable of delivering the Continue reading

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The Illusion of Perfection

I spend a lot of time commuting. During that commute, I listen to technical podcasts and lots of different leadership and career oriented audio books. One of the topics that experts seem to have differing opinions on is defining what is good enough. I’ve heard many refer to Nike’s ad campaign, Just Do It, and […]

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The post The Illusion of Perfection appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Paul Stewart.

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Snowden Media Douchebaggery

Recently the New York Times posted an article stating that while Edward Snowden was at the NSA, he learned to be a hacker by taking a CEH course and getting the certification. But the certification, listed on a résumé that Mr. Snowden later prepared, would also have given him some of the skills he needed […]

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The post Snowden Media Douchebaggery appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Mrs. Y.

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Cisco ASA Virtualization with Mixed-Mode Security Contexts

The Cisco ASA firewall has supported multiple security contexts since version 7 was released in 2005. This feature allows you to configure multiple independent logical firewalls in the same ASA hardware.  When version 8.5(1) released in July 2011, support was added for mixed mode firewalls in which both routed and transparent contexts can reside on […]

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The post Cisco ASA Virtualization with Mixed-Mode Security Contexts appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Eyvonne Sharp.

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The Smartest Guy in the Room

There is one thing that anybody who has been in a room with me longer than 5 minutes can tell you – I am not a smart guy! I have lots of smart friends. I am not one of them. Sometimes I feel like I’ve done more stupid things, more often than I would like to admit, and its only that I have been stupid enough often enough that I have eventually learned “dont do that!“.

A couple of things have happened over the past few weeks that made me think about “The Smartest Guy in the Room”, and I thought I would share a few incomplete thoughts on the matter.

As a Consultant

Back on June 18, Matthew Norwood (who I would nominate for the award of “Nicest man in Network Blogging and Puppeteering”) wrote this blog post about consulting. In this post he talks about how as a consultant sometimes you have to accept that you are not the smartest guy in the room. At first this may seem odd, especially because usually our customers are paying us lots of money because we are experts. Funnily enough, on consulting engagements my job is more “I Continue reading

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Show 152 – Nexus Announcements from Cisco Live 2013 with Ron Fuller – Sponsored

Ethan Banks and Greg Ferro are joined by Brent Salisbury for a discussion with Cisco’s Nexus-geek-at-large Ron Fuller about a whole lot of things happening in the Cisco data center product line in this sponsored edition of the Packet Pushers Podcast. First up, we review the announcement from the previous Cisco Live (London 2013) about […]

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The post Show 152 – Nexus Announcements from Cisco Live 2013 with Ron Fuller – Sponsored appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Ethan Banks.

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How to Prepare for CCDE Practical Exam

I was a bit harsh when I wrote: you have to be CCIE to pass CCDE. Couple of friends of mine, who are not CCIEs, came to me after reading that post and said I had demolished their hope to pass the exam.

I won't lie. It's easier to become CCDE if you have already had a CCIE. But fear not, there is still chance for non-CCIE to pass CCDE exam as well. And several guys who are not CCIE but able to put their name in this Hall of Fame is the proof.

The next CCDE practical exam date is on August 27. So there is still time for both groups of CCIE and non-CCIE to pass it, and here is another version of "how to prepare for CCDE exam" that may help to do so:

1. You still need a good reason to do it
You need a good reason as your main motivation to keep continue pursuing this certification, after you fail the exam. Or after you fail the exam several times.
So find your reason.

2. You still need the experience
You can't skip experience. I'm not kidding.
From CCDE Techtorial it says "CCDE Practical is Continue reading

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Healthy Paranoia Show 14: Digital Forensics and Incident Response with Andrew Case

Get ready for another nerdilicious episode of Healthy Paranoia featuring Andrew Case, digital forensics researcher and a core developer for the Volatility Framework. Liam Randall joins Mrs. Y. as they discuss topics such as: The difference between forensics and incident response. Malware analysis vs. reverse engineering. Why you should treat a compromised system like a […]

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The post Healthy Paranoia Show 14: Digital Forensics and Incident Response with Andrew Case appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Mrs. Y.