netlab: Sample Cisco ASAv Topology
A happy netlab user asked for a sample Cisco ASAv topology that would include an inside and an outside router.
We don’t have anything similar in the netlab examples yet, so let’s build a simple topology with two routers, a firewall, and a few hosts.
However, we have to start with a few caveats:
With Gelsinger Gone, Who Benefits From An Intel Break Up?
Well, that was surprising.
When we sat down to work this morning, starting out the final month of the 2024 year, we did not think that we would be writing about Pat Gelsinger “retiring” from the company that he loves best and most. …
With Gelsinger Gone, Who Benefits From An Intel Break Up? was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.
US Curbs HBM Exports To China – More For The Rest Of Us
Current US president Joe Biden and once and future president Donald Trump do not agree on much. …
US Curbs HBM Exports To China – More For The Rest Of Us was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.
How AI Chatbots Improve Network Configuration Management
Templating and Data Representation: Aspect of Network Automation using a tailor made AI Chatbot just to handle this scenario
In today’s exploration, we’ll dive into the fascinating world of automation frameworks and how different data formats work together to create powerful, maintainable solutions. Drawing from extensive hands-on experience, I’ll share insights into how XML, JSON, and YAML complement each other in modern automation landscapes.
The Three Pillars of Automation Data Handling
- Expression Through XML XML has long served as the backbone of structured data expression. Its verbose yet precise nature makes it particularly valuable for scenarios requiring strict schema validation and complex hierarchical relationships. Think of XML as the detailed blueprints of your automation architecture.
- Serialisation with JSON JSON has revolutionised data interchange in modern applications. Its lightweight structure and native compatibility with JavaScript have made it the de facto standard for API communications. Consider JSON as your data’s travel format – efficient, universally understood, and easy to process.
- Presentation via YAML YAML brings human-readability to configuration management. Its clean syntax and support for complex data structures make it ideal for writing and maintaining configuration files. Think of YAML as your user interface to data representation – intuitive, clean, and Continue reading
Example: Multi-AS netlab Topology
A few weeks ago, Urs Baumann posted a nice example illustrating the power of netlab: a 10-router topology running OSPF, IS-IS, and BGP:
He didn’t post the underlying topology file, so let’s create a simple topology to build something similar.
From Python to Go 005. Code Flow Control: Loops and Conditionals.
Hello my friend,
In the previous blog post we briefly touched on the conditionals, when we talked about looking for presence of some element in Python list or Go slice. So I thought, it would make sense to introduce now the key concept of the code flow control, which are conditionals and loops. These items are essential for any production code, so let’s see how it works.
Does Automation Come Last?
Surfing through the LinkedIn today I’ve found an interesting picture, which was attributed to Elon Musk and Twitter (or X, how is that called now):
I don’t if that is really related to Mr Musk and Twitter in any capacity, but thoughts it contains are quite important: your first remove all unnecessary steps and optimize everything you can, before you start any automation. That’s very true and in our network automation trainings we talk about how to optimize network operations processes to ensure that they are viable for automation. Join our network trainings to learn how to build viable automation:
We offer the following training programs in network automation for you:
Configuring the Cisco Aironet AP 1142
The Cisco Aironet AIR-AP1142N-E-K9 is a versatile, legacy dual-band access point that uses 802.11n (Wi-Fi […]
The post Configuring the Cisco Aironet AP 1142 first appeared on Brezular's Blog.
Lab: Dual-Stack IS-IS Routing
Contrary to the OSPF world, where we have to use two completely different routing protocols to route IPv4 and IPv6 (unless you believe in the IPv4 address family in OSPFv3), IS-IS provided multi-protocol support from the very early days of its embracement by IETF. Adding IPv6 support was only a matter of a few extra TLVs, but even there, IETF gave us two incompatible ways of making IPv6 work with IS-IS.
Want to know more? You’ll find the details in the Dual-Stack (IPv4+IPv6) IS-IS Routing lab exercise.
IPv6 Support for Multiple Routers and Multiple Interfaces
Fernando Gont published an Individual Internet Draft (meaning it hasn’t been adopted by any IETF WG yet) describing the Problem Statement about IPv6 Support for Multiple Routers and Multiple Interfaces. It’s so nice to see someone finally acknowledging the full scope of the problem and describing it succinctly. However, I cannot help but point out that:
- I was ranting about that problem in 2009 (15 years ago) and did a summary of older rants in 2015.
- It was evident to everyone but the religious zealots that the only solution we have at the moment is either NAT (because stuff simply does not work otherwise) or host-based solutions that never got implemented (apart from a few rare cases of multipath TCP).
Anyway, Fernando wraps up his draft with:
Post-Quantum Cryptography
If we ever get to the point of being able to build capable quantum computers when much of the security infrastructure of today's digital world is at risk. For some its not "if" but "when" and if that's the case then its already time to prepare.D2DO258: How System Initiative Rethinks Infrastructure as Code
System Initiative is a new product that aims to improve on Infrastructure as Code (IaC). On today’s episode we talk with System Initiative creator Adam Jacob to find out why he wanted to improve on IaC, how System Initiative works, how it compares to other platforms in the market, how it handles key features such... Read more »Fat Server Spending Props Up Slowing AI Servers At Dell
Just because you are the number one supplier of servers, storage, and PCs in the world does not mean the job of building those machines and making money is easy. …
Fat Server Spending Props Up Slowing AI Servers At Dell was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.
Technology Short Take 184
Welcome to Technology Short Take #184! This Tech Short Take is a bit shorter than the usual ones, but then again this week—at least in the US—is a bit shorter than most weeks due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Even so, I hope that I’ve managed to include some information that folks find useful. Also, thanks to some feedback from readers, I’ve tried hard to ensure that links are more descriptive and informative than they’ve sometimes been in the past; let me know how I did. Now, on to the content!
Networking
- I love reading geeky blog posts like this one that combines Linux network namespaces with WireGuard for VPN split tunneling. Neat stuff.
- Scott Laird shares his experience using Pulumi to connect UniFi and Netbox together in his home network.
Security
- Ofek Itach and Yakir Kadkoda discuss a security vulnerability in AWS CDK that could—under the right conditions—allow an attacker to gain administrative access to an AWS account.
- Carlos Mora reviews a (now-patched) confused deputy vulnerability in Amazon DataZone.
Cloud Computing/Cloud Management
- Luc van Donkersgoed explains how he optimized caching for his AWS News site to improve performance.
- Rory McCune takes a moment to explain the many IP addresses of Continue reading
HW041: Dealing with Client and AP Power Mismatch
Today on Heavy Wireless we dive into how to address power mismatches that can arise between wireless clients and APs. We talk about how to measure output from antennas and APs, regulations that affect your deployment, why cranking up the output on an AP doesn’t necessarily result in better coverage, and more. Guest Connor Burke... Read more »PP041: Cyber Insurance from a Policyholder Perspective
Cyber insurance provides compensation if a company suffers financial loss due to a security incident such as a ransonware payment, costs of data recovery, legal expenses or fines, or damage to a company’s reputation. Today on the Packet Protector podcast, we discuss the ins and outs of cyber insurance with a policy holder. Joe Stern... Read more »HPE Upgrades Supercomputer Lineup Top To Bottom In 2025
If you want to buy an exascale-class supercomputer, or a portion of one so you can scale up, there are not a lot of places to go shopping because there are not a lot of companies who have a balance sheet that is big enough to get all of the parts to build the machines. …
HPE Upgrades Supercomputer Lineup Top To Bottom In 2025 was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.
AMD ROCm 6.3 Has Goodies For AI Aficionados And HPC Gurus Alike
Speeds and feeds are great, but hardware is only as useful as the software that can harness it, and, for AMD, that’s the ROCm software stack. …
AMD ROCm 6.3 Has Goodies For AI Aficionados And HPC Gurus Alike was written by Tobias Mann at The Next Platform.
Cloudflare incident on November 14, 2024, resulting in lost logs
On November 14, 2024, Cloudflare experienced an incident which impacted the majority of customers using Cloudflare Logs. During the roughly 3.5 hours that these services were impacted, about 55% of the logs we normally send to customers were not sent and were lost. We’re very sorry this happened, and we are working to ensure that a similar issue doesn't happen again.
This blog post explains what happened and what we’re doing to prevent recurrences. Also, the systems involved and the particular class of failure we experienced will hopefully be of interest to engineering teams beyond those specifically using these products.
Failures within systems at scale are inevitable, and it’s essential that subsystems protect themselves from failures in other parts of the larger system to prevent cascades. In this case, a misconfiguration in one part of the system caused a cascading overload in another part of the system, which was itself misconfigured. Had it been properly configured, it could have prevented the loss of logs.
Cloudflare’s network is a globally distributed system enabling and supporting a wide variety of services. Every part of this system generates event logs which contain detailed metadata about what’s happening with our systems around Continue reading