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| Figure 1: Fabric: A Retrospective on Evolving SDN |
In my last post I talked about the broken trust in the Internet. Now let’s talk about steps we need to take to restore that trust. First, we need to realize that trust is regained by proving we are trustworthy. There is nothing we can do, or say, that will instantly restore trust; it is […]
The post Restoring Trust in the Internet – Part 2 appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Jonathan Strine.
I was just reading through Bob’s blog post from today and wanted to give a rebuttal of sorts. In his post, Bob tells us that’s he’s going to be at Cisco Live US in San Francisco this year but he won’t be coming on the Full Conference pass like he usually does. He’s going with the Social Event pass this year, which is actually a great, great way to attend. I know several people who are thinking about scaling back to the Social Event pass as well, and there’s nothing wrong with doing it like that. There are some things that it doesn’t get you, though.
The Social Event pass means no breakout sessions. These are the bread-and-butter of the conference and the real technical reason that I try to go each year (listen to me talk like I’m a 20-year NetVet…LOL). Yes, most of the sessions are available on Cisco Live 365 afterwards, but that leaves two problems for me. First of all, I will never actually make the time to go back and sit through these sessions after the event. It’s just something that won’t happen with life and work and everything going on. Secondly, I cannot sit Continue reading
It’s getting to be that time of year again when geeks across North America (and beyond) start getting excited for Cisco Live! The buzz is starting a bit early this year, but that’s because Cisco Live is about a month earlier this year (May 18-22) than it has been in recent years.
@Rob_Coote @blakekrone @scottm32768 @networkingnerd @BobMcCouch @fryguy_pa This is the backpack, no Dora this time pic.twitter.com/ZJ504qJ66P
— Kathleen Mudge (@KathleenMudge) March 20, 2014
@Rob_Coote @blakekrone @scottm32768 @networkingnerd @BobMcCouch @fryguy_pa My pics aren’t doing it justice. It’s cool pic.twitter.com/J2ZI8OgQzl
— Kathleen Mudge (@KathleenMudge) March 20, 2014
At Networking Field Day 7, the delegates were treated to vendor demonstrations that challenged our thinking about the future of networking. Perhaps the industry is not agreed on just how we’ll implement and operate our networks in the coming years, but one thing is for certain. The landscape will be different. In this and the previously […]
The post Show 184 – The Future of Networking Part 2 as Inspired by #NFD7 appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Ethan Banks.
Hadoop Operations Eric Sammer Hadoop is one of those applications all data centers seem to need to support – and there is a lot of information out there about how Hadoop works, how to use it, and how to build Hadoop systems. From these, it’s pretty easy to glean a general set of requirements for […]
The 3Com/HPN/H3C based Switches offers the utilization of interfaces such as Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, GigabitEthernet or TenGigabitEthernet. The Link Aggregation feature allows the gathering of many ports in order to increase the link’s velocity concerning the full duplex communication between the two devices.
In Link-Aggregation mode the ports are utilized in parallel, supporting the bandwith’s growth and expansion, without the need of buying an additional hardware.
For example, we can use four 100Mb ports in each device to form a communication between two switches using 400Mb among them. However, the utilization of redundant enlaces raises the possibility of loops within the network. Link Aggregation avoids the situation which the blocking state or loops, stop the gathered ports, treating them as one single interface. For the STP, SNMP and VLANs the interfaces are treated as one logical link.
Other name used for the Link Aggregation is EtherChannel.
The LACP protocol is part of the 802.3ad specification for Link Aggregation, allowing that switches and servers negotiate the port groups with different manufactures automatically. Both ports should offer constant support to the protocol, so that the Link Aggregation could work correctly.
Some Switch models can utilise the PagP (Cisco) protocol or interface Continue reading
Today marks Packet Life's sixth birthday, and I'm celebrating by launching the new site format I talked about in January. The relaunched site is hosted on an entirely new server from Linode, which means you can (finally) access packetlife.net via native IPv6! The entire code base has been rewritten on Django 1.6, and should feel lighter and more responsive. The layout has been rewritten as well using the Bootstrap CSS framework.
You might have noticed that some components of the old site are now gone: The discussion forums and wiki have been axed in favor of focusing more on the site's core content. The tools armory, which was initially in jeopardy, has been maintained in response to community interest (although I do intend to spend a good amount of time cleaning it up).
There are no doubt bits of code here and there that need a tweak or three, but generally speaking the site is up and running. If you do encounter an error, rest assured that I've been alerted and should have it fixed in little time. If you feel that something is terribly amiss, give me a shout on Twitter and I'll look into Continue reading
In the first five parts of this series we covered all the steps necessary to distribute QoS and monitoring to a large backbone. I guess at this point I should mention that this technology has a name (and acronym, of course.) Cisco calls it QoS Policy Propagation through BGP (QPPB.) I hope these blog posts […]
The post Secret CEF Attributes Part 6, The BGP Connection appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Dan Massameno.
One of my pleasures of traveling is listening to the way people speak both with their dialects and their phrases. For those of you that have been to London and ridden “The Tube,” you know that familiar recording, “Mind the Gap.” After talking with several people at this year’s Open Networking Summit (ONS) this past week, I heard that same phrase in my head.
Why?
In this case, the “gap” is the chasm that early software defined networking (SDN) adopters have to cross to get started. Because SDN is a new idea, crossing the gap represents being prepared to challenge old ideas about networking and even your own experiences.
If you really think about it, you don’t want to just mind the gap—you want to be careful not to fall into the old ways of thinking—but you want to cross that gap and keep moving forward. To do that from an open networking perspective, you have to create an opportunity and dig in, grab a controller and an SDN-ready switch and start hacking.
I had a fantastic discussion with a customer at the ONS week who had safely crossed the gap. Let’s call him Joe. Joe is Continue reading
A recent ‘conversation’ around VXLAN encapsulation and MTU with Matt Oswalt got me thinking about this subject recently. My calculations were mostly wrong (Matt’s were not) and I also found a shocking amount of incorrect information on the subject out on the ‘net too. So, let’s let the maths do the talking. TL;DR – As […]
The post TCP/IP over VXLAN Bandwidth Overheads appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Steven Iveson.
As the weather warms up articles to remind us about cleaning up our devices, online accounts, making backups, and changing passwords are sure to show up, but don’t forget to add your wireless router to this list. Over time the wireless environment may have changed and the number of devices connecting to the network has increased and you have noticed a decrease in the performance. I have listed some items to check to either improve the performance or security of your wireless network.
Upgrade the Router
Electronics age fast and if you’re still running an 802.11g router it is time to upgrade. Look for an 802.11n protocol wireless router or get the latest and greatest 802.11ac router and be ready for the next wave of wireless devices. Either way you’ll notice a performance boost and the router won’t create a bottleneck in the network.
Check for the Latest Firmware
While not as often as Windows or Apple software updates a routers software called firmware does get the occasional update. Firmware could add functionality, patch bugs, or add security features. When you log into the routers management interface look for the firmware section to verify the current version and download Continue reading
Hey, remember vTax/vRAM? It’s dead and gone, but with 6 Terabyte of RAM servers now available, imagine what could have been (your insanely high licensing costs).
Set the wayback machine to 2011, when VMware introduced vSphere version 5. It had some really great enhancements over version 4, but no one was talking about the new features. Instead, they talked about the new licensing scheme and how much it sucked.
While some defended VMware’s position, most were critical, and my own opinion… let’s just say I’ve likely ensured I’ll never be employed by VMware. Fortunately, VMware came to their senses and realized what a bone-headed, dumbass move that vRAM/vTax was, and repealed the vRAM licensing one year later in 2012. So while I don’t want to beat a dead horse (which, seriously, disturbing idiom), I do think it’s worth looking back for just a moment to see how monumentally stupid that licensing scheme was for customers, and serve as a lesson in the economies of scaling for the x86 platform, and as a reminder about the ramifications of CapEx versus OpEx-oriented licensing.
Why am I thinking about this almost 2 years after they got rid of vRAM/vTax? I’ve been Continue reading
