Cache-Based Packet Forwarding

In the previous blog post in this series I described how convoluted routing table lookups could become when you have to deal with numerous layers of indirection (BGP prefix ⇨ BGP next hop ⇨ IGP next hop ⇨ link bundle ⇨ outgoing interface). Modern high-end hardware can deal with the resulting complexity; decades ago we had to use router CPU to do multiple (potentially recursive) lookups in the IP routing table (there was no FIB at that time).

Network devices were always pushed to the bleeding edge of performance, and smart programmers always tried to optimize the CPU-intensive processes. One of the obvious packet forwarding optimizations relied on the fact that within a short timeframe most packets have to be forwarded to a small set of destinations. Welcome to the wonderful world of cache-based forwarding.

Read more …

Cache-Based Packet Forwarding

In the previous blog post in this series I described how convoluted routing table lookups could become when you have to deal with numerous layers of indirection (BGP prefix ⇨ BGP next hop ⇨ IGP next hop ⇨ link bundle ⇨ outgoing interface). Modern high-end hardware can deal with the resulting complexity; decades ago we had to use router CPU to do multiple (potentially recursive) lookups in the IP routing table (there was no FIB at that time).

Network devices were always pushed to the bleeding edge of performance, and smart programmers always tried to optimize the CPU-intensive processes. One of the obvious packet forwarding optimizations relied on the fact that within a short timeframe most packets have to be forwarded to a small set of destinations. Welcome to the wonderful world of cache-based forwarding.

Read more …

Why we are acquiring Area 1

Why we are acquiring Area 1

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Why we are acquiring Area 1

Cloudflare’s mission is to help build a better Internet. We’ve invested heavily in building the world’s most powerful cloud network to deliver a faster, safer and more reliable Internet for our users. Today, we’re taking a big step towards enhancing our ability to secure our customers.

Earlier today we announced that Cloudflare has agreed to acquire Area 1 Security. Area 1’s team has built exceptional cloud-native technology to protect businesses from email-based security threats. Cloudflare will integrate Area 1’s technology with our global network to give customers the most complete Zero Trust security platform available.

Why Email Security?

Back at the turn of the century I was involved in the fight against email spam. At the time, before the mass use of cloud-based email, spam was a real scourge. Clogging users’ inboxes, taking excruciatingly long to download, and running up people’s Internet bills. The fight against spam involved two things, one technical and one architectural.

Technically, we figured out how to use machine-learning to successfully differentiate between spam and genuine. And fairly quickly email migrated to being largely cloud-based. But together these changes didn’t kill spam, but they relegated to a Continue reading

Mobile Wi-Fi: How a wireless router helped catch a thief

As an IT pro, it’s not often that I get to tail a suspect, track down a stolen vehicle and provide digital evidence of the thief’s getaway. But that was all part of a day’s work as some colleagues and I kept tabs on the hijacked maintenance truck and ultimately recovered it with the help of a GPS-enabled mobile router.It happened last summer, and I was on the job the IT department of the transit authority I work for when word came in that one of our maintenance vehicles was stolen.The worker on the truck left it running when he stepped out of the vehicle to check what needed to be done at a city bus stop, and an opportunistic thief drove off with it—a six-figure heist given the value of the truck plus the maintenance gear it carried.To read this article in full, please click here

Access denied: Always check for protocol compatibility

While working on a base-wide network cutover at a military installation recently, I was verifying configurations on core, distribution, and access-node devices. Using a local host computer on the network, I was connected to the distribution node via an Ethernet port in a separate room and successfully pinged the node to verify network connectivity.Then I tried to access the node using PuTTY via SSH (port 22), the recommended and secure method, and received this error message: “Network Error: Connection Refused. The network connection PuTTY tried to make to your device/server was rejected by the server.” This error usually happens because the server does not provide the service which PuTTY is trying to access.To read this article in full, please click here

NCAR Pits Azure Cloud Against Its Own Big Iron For Climate Models

When people think of supercomputers, they think of a couple of different performance vectors (pun intended), but usually the first thing they think of is the performance of a big, parallel machine as it runs one massive job scaling across tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of cores working in concert. …

NCAR Pits Azure Cloud Against Its Own Big Iron For Climate Models was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Tech Bytes: Misconceptions About Connecting Your Network To The Cloud (Sponsored)

This Day Two Cloud Tech Bytes episode, sponsored by Singtel, discusses common customer misconceptions about connecting private networks to the public cloud. For instance, SD-WAN might seem like a simple option, but things get tricky when you're talking about hundreds of sites across different countries. Our guest is Mark Seabrook, Global Solutions Manager at Singtel.

Tech Bytes: Misconceptions About Connecting Your Network To The Cloud (Sponsored)

This Day Two Cloud Tech Bytes episode, sponsored by Singtel, discusses common customer misconceptions about connecting private networks to the public cloud. For instance, SD-WAN might seem like a simple option, but things get tricky when you're talking about hundreds of sites across different countries. Our guest is Mark Seabrook, Global Solutions Manager at Singtel.

The post Tech Bytes: Misconceptions About Connecting Your Network To The Cloud (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Podcast Guest: Can You Have A Successful IT Career Without A Degree?

I was a guest on the February 22, 2022 episode of the So You Wanna Be In IT podcast.

Certifications

I chatted with hosts Pat & Dean about how my career got started. I’ve been around IT since the 90s, so my start was with Novell certification that became Microsoft certification that became Cisco certification. We talk about certs and the job opportunities I took advantage of driven by those certs.

Can You Have A Successful IT Career Without A Degree?

Along the way, we discussed whether or not someone can have a successful IT career without a college degree. Put another way, are IT certifications good enough? I think that yes, you can have a successful IT career without a degree, but that the question, “College degree. Yes or no?” deserves more analysis than a simple yes or no answer offers. Like anything, choosing not to attend university has tradeoffs. We discuss this at some length in the podcast.

What IT Roles Are In Demand In 2022?

The degree vs. certifications part of the discussion transitioned into my takes on IT careers in 2022–especially related to infrastructure. 2022 is an interesting time to be in IT. There are Continue reading

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