IPv6 Buzz 099: Why You Need An IPv6 Proof Of Concept Lab

In this episode of IPv6 Buzz we talk about what a Proof of Concept (PoC) lab is and why you probably need one as part of your IPv6 initiative. We discuss technical challenges and considerations, how much of your production network you need to model, learning opportunities that come with a lab, and more.

The post IPv6 Buzz 099: Why You Need An IPv6 Proof Of Concept Lab appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Meet The New WPA3 Wi-Fi Security Suite

WPA3, the latest Wi-Fi security suite, is finally making its way into products around the world. Here’s what you need to know for using it at home and in enterprise networks. What Is WPA? Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is the suite of standards that define security for both WPA-Personal (passphrase) and WPA-Enterprise (802.1X) based wireless […]

The post Meet The New WPA3 Wi-Fi Security Suite appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Alibaba, Microsoft launch Arm-based cloud instances

While the on-premises server business remains firmly in the grip of the x86 world, cloud service providers are giving Arm-based servers a much more welcoming embrace. Both Chinese cloud giant Alibaba and Microsoft Azure have recently launched new instances with Arm processors.Alibaba Cloud unveiled its Yitian 710 processor design for use in its data centers back in October 2021. The company also announced the development of its proprietary servers, called Panjiu, promising optimized computing performance and energy efficiency.Yitian 710 is built on a 5nm manufacturing process and has 128 Arm cores, each with a top clock speed of 3.2GHz. It’s built on the Armv9 architecture and includes eight DDR5 memory channels per CPU and 96-lane PCIe 5.0. Alibaba claims the Yitian 710 achieved a SPECint2017 that beat the current state-of-the-art Arm server processor by 20% in performance and 50% in energy efficiency.To read this article in full, please click here

Alibaba, Microsoft launch Arm-based cloud instances

While the on-premises server business remains firmly in the grip of the x86 world, cloud service providers are giving Arm-based servers a much more welcoming embrace. Both Chinese cloud giant Alibaba and Microsoft Azure have recently launched new instances with Arm processors.Alibaba Cloud unveiled its Yitian 710 processor design for use in its data centers back in October 2021. The company also announced the development of its proprietary servers, called Panjiu, promising optimized computing performance and energy efficiency.Yitian 710 is built on a 5nm manufacturing process and has 128 Arm cores, each with a top clock speed of 3.2GHz. It’s built on the Armv9 architecture and includes eight DDR5 memory channels per CPU and 96-lane PCIe 5.0. Alibaba claims the Yitian 710 achieved a SPECint2017 that beat the current state-of-the-art Arm server processor by 20% in performance and 50% in energy efficiency.To read this article in full, please click here

10 most powerful Wi-Fi vendors

The global Wi-Fi market is expected to grow by 65% to reach $25.2 billion by 2026.  As wireless installations expand, so does the complexity of deploying and managing the technology. In response, network professionals are demanding smarter, more automated networks that reduce complexity, while providing actionable intelligence for quick problem resolution.IDC says that growth in the Enterprise Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) market is being driven by the introduction of 802.11ax or Wi-Fi 6 which delivers faster speeds and increased reliability over Wi-Fi 5. Wi-Fi 6 currently makes up more than 60% of current WLAN sales, while Wi-Fi 6E products, designed specifically for dense environments like stadiums and offices, are also shipping. And Wi-Fi 7, which promises even faster speeds and better performance, is on the horizon.To read this article in full, please click here

New in netlab: More MPLS and VRFs, Dell OS10, Cumulus 5.0 on Containerlab

I already mentioned the netsim-tools Easter Egg, here are the other cool features shipping in release 1.2.1:

In release 1.3, we renamed netsim-tools to netlab.

netsim-tools Release 1.2.1: More MPLS and VRFs, Dell OS10, Cumulus 5.0 on Containerlab

I already mentioned the netsim-tools Easter Egg, here are the other cool features shipping in release 1.2.1:

To upgrade netsim-tools, use pip3 install --upgrade netsim-tools; if you’re starting from scratch, read the installation instructions.

Basing network security on IP addressing: Would it be worth it?

Why is it that over 90% of enterprises tell me that they expect to spend more on security over the next three years, and almost 60% say they expect to spend less on networking? We obviously think that network technology is getting more efficient, more competitive. Why isn’t that the case for security? The short answer is that enterprises have been chasing acronyms and not solutions.Acronym-chasing comes about because by nature, security is hard to plan for. The average network expert finds out there’s an issue because some higher-up reads or hears about a breach. Maybe they do a quick search, and they find out that what they really need is SASE. Or maybe they need SSE, which we’re told is SASE without SD-WAN. In any event, what happens is that there’s pressure to add this new thing on, and that creates another layer of protection...maybe.  Complication and cost? Surely.To read this article in full, please click here

Basing network security on IP addressing: Would it be worth it?

Why is it that over 90% of enterprises tell me that they expect to spend more on security over the next three years, and almost 60% say they expect to spend less on networking? We obviously think that network technology is getting more efficient, more competitive. Why isn’t that the case for security? The short answer is that enterprises have been chasing acronyms and not solutions.Acronym-chasing comes about because by nature, security is hard to plan for. The average network expert finds out there’s an issue because some higher-up reads or hears about a breach. Maybe they do a quick search, and they find out that what they really need is SASE. Or maybe they need SSE, which we’re told is SASE without SD-WAN. In any event, what happens is that there’s pressure to add this new thing on, and that creates another layer of protection...maybe.  Complication and cost? Surely.To read this article in full, please click here

IP addressing could support effective network security, but would it be worth it?

Why is it that over 90% of enterprises tell me that they expect to spend more on security over the next three years, and almost 60% say they expect to spend less on networking? We obviously think that network technology is getting more efficient, more competitive. Why isn’t that the case for security? The short answer is that enterprises have been chasing acronyms and not solutions.Acronym-chasing comes about because by nature, security is hard to plan for. The average network expert finds out there’s an issue because some higher-up reads or hears about a breach. Maybe they do a quick search, and they find out that what they really need is SASE. Or maybe they need SSE, which we’re told is SASE without SD-WAN. In any event, what happens is that there’s pressure to add this new thing on, and that creates another layer of protection...maybe.  Complication and cost? Surely.To read this article in full, please click here

IP addressing could support effective network security, but would it be worth it?

Why is it that over 90% of enterprises tell me that they expect to spend more on security over the next three years, and almost 60% say they expect to spend less on networking? We obviously think that network technology is getting more efficient, more competitive. Why isn’t that the case for security? The short answer is that enterprises have been chasing acronyms and not solutions.Acronym-chasing comes about because by nature, security is hard to plan for. The average network expert finds out there’s an issue because some higher-up reads or hears about a breach. Maybe they do a quick search, and they find out that what they really need is SASE. Or maybe they need SSE, which we’re told is SASE without SD-WAN. In any event, what happens is that there’s pressure to add this new thing on, and that creates another layer of protection...maybe.  Complication and cost? Surely.To read this article in full, please click here

EVPN-VXLAN Explainer 1 – Static VXLAN

EVPN-VXLAN Explainer 1 - Static VXLAN

In this series of blog posts I'm going to break down how to configure Aruba AOS-CX switches for VXLAN and EVPN, plus explain how to read the EVPN table and various 'show' commands.
In this first post I will look at VXLAN, its configuration and operation.

A note about EVPN-VXLAN

VXLAN: encapsulation type of 8 bytes, works at the data plane, concerned with the forwarding of packets.
Ethernet VPN (EVPN): Extension to BGP, works that the control plane, concerned with learning and advertising MAC/IP addresses.

Static VXLAN - Start Here

VXLAN configuration is one of the basic building blocks of a EVPN-VXLAN network, it is worth familiarising yourself with static VXLAN configuration, even if you are never going to use it.

Example Network

Figure 1 below shows a network comprised of three Aruba 6300 switches acting as VTEPs, with two customer VLANs, VLAN10 and VLAN 20, that are bound with VNI 1010 and VNI 1020 respectively across the VXLAN network.

EVPN-VXLAN Explainer 1 - Static VXLAN

VXLAN Configuration

Component parts of the configuration:

  1. Customer-side VLAN - carries the traffic to be encapsulated.
  2. An IP network between VTEPs (the underlay network)- there must be bi-directional connectivity between an IP address designated on the VTEP. Continue reading