Appreciating the Networking Fundamentals

When I started creating the How Networks Really Work series I wondered whether our subscribers (mostly seasoned networking engineers) would find it useful. Turns out at least some of them do; this is what a long-time subscriber sent me:


How Networks Really Work is great, it’s like looking from a plane and seeing how all the roads are connected to each other. I know networking just enough to design and manage a corporate network, but there are many things I have learned, used and forgotten along the way.

So, getting a broad vision helps me remember why I chose something and maybe solve my bad choices. There are many things that I may never use, but with the movement of all things in the cloud it’s great to know, or at least understand, how things really work.


Parts of the webinar are accessible with free ipSpace.net subscription; you need one of the paid subscriptions to watch the whole webinar.

Introducing Fast, Automated Packet Capture for Kubernetes

If you’re an SRE or on a DevOps team working with Kubernetes and containers, you’ve undoubtedly encountered network connectivity issues with your microservices and workloads. Something is broken and you’re under pressure to fix it, quickly. And so you begin the tedious, manual process of identifying the issue using the observability tools at your disposal…namely metrics and logs. However, there are instances where you may need to go beyond these tools to confirm a potential bug with applications running in your cluster.

Packet capture is a valuable technique for debugging microservices and application interaction in day-to-day operations and incident response. But generating pcap files to diagnose connectivity issues in Kubernetes clusters can be a frustrating exercise in a dynamic environment where hundreds, possibly thousands of pods are continually being created and destroyed.

First, you would need to identify on which node your workload is running, match your workload against its host-based interface, and then (with root access to the node) use tcpdump to generate a file for packet analysis. Then you would need to transfer the pcap files to your laptop and view them in Wireshark. If this doesn’t initially generate the information you need to identify and resolve the Continue reading

176 Steps Closer To The Mythical All-Flash Datacenter

We have nothing against disk drives. Seriously. And in fact, we are amazed at the amount of innovation that continues to go into the last electromechanical device still in use in computing, which from a commercial standpoint started out with the tabulating machines created by Herman Hollerith in 1884 and used to process the 1890 census in the United States, thus laying the foundation of International Machines Machines.

176 Steps Closer To The Mythical All-Flash Datacenter was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Tagging commands on Linux

Tags provide an easy way to associate strings that look like hash tags (e.g., #HOME) with commands that you run on the command line. Once a tag is established, you can rerun the associated command without having to retype it. Instead, you simply type the tag. The idea is to use tags that are easy to remember for commands that are complex or bothersome to retype.Unlike setting up an alias, tags are associated with your command history. For this reason, they only remain available if you keep using them. Once you stop using a tag, it will slowly disappear from your command history file. Of course, for most of us, that means we can type 500 or 1,000 commands before this happens. So, tags are a good way to rerun commands that are going to be useful for some period of time, but not for those that you want to have available permanently.To read this article in full, please click here

Top metrics for effective multicloud management

When it comes to effectively managing a multicloud environment, there are a ton of network and application metrics that enterprise customers should be watching.Among enterprises, the trend is toward multicloud environments, which can include workloads running on-premises and in public clouds run by multiple cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM/Red Hat, Google Cloud Platform and others. Gartner predicts by 2021, more than 75% of midsize and large organizations will have adopted some form of a multicloud and/or hybrid IT strategy. Likewise, IDC predicts that by 2022, more than 90% of enterprises worldwide will be relying on a mix of on-premises/dedicated private clouds, multiple public clouds, and legacy platforms to meet their infrastructure needs.To read this article in full, please click here

Combining Snyk Scans in Docker Desktop and Docker Hub to Deploy Secure Containers

Last week, we announced that the Docker Desktop Stable release includes vulnerability scanning, the latest milestone in our container security solution that we are building with our partner Snyk. You can now run Snyk vulnerability scans directly from the Docker Desktop CLI.  Combining this functionality with Docker Hub scanning functionality that we launched in October provides you with the flexibility of including vulnerability scanning along multiple points of your development inner loop, and provides better tooling for deploying secure applications.

You can decide if you want to run your first scans from the Desktop CLI side, or from the Hub.  Customers that have used Docker for a while tend to prefer starting from the Hub. The easiest way to jump in is to configure the Docker Hub repos to automatically trigger scanning every time that you push an image into that repo. This option is configurable for each repository, so that you can decide how to onboard these scans into your security program. (Docker Hub image is available only for Docker Pro and Team subscribers, for more information about subscriptions visit the Docker Pricing Page.)

Once you enable scanning, you can view the scanning results either Continue reading

History of Cable Networks with Rouzbeh Yassini

Cable networks account for the majority of the connectivity at the network edge. Given we started with dial-up over plain old telephone lines, and then with DSL, and were promised “ATM to the home,” how did cable networks grab the edge? Rouzbeh Yassini joins Russ White and Donald Sharp to give us the history of cable networks.

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My Cisco DevNet Core Exam Journey

Cisco DevNet Specialist

On 23 October 2020, I took and passed the Cisco Certified DevNet Professional Core exam (350-901 DEVCOR) on my first attempt. I explain here the resources I used to study and pass this exam. My background and experience Before I explain what and how I have studied, you need to understand what I already knew, what was my background and experience with some of the topics of the exam before I started to study for it. At the end of April 2018, I already passed a Cisco specialist certification on…

The post My Cisco DevNet Core Exam Journey appeared first on AboutNetworks.net.

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Review: CPLAY2air Wireless CarPlay Adapter

In late September, I was given a CPLAY2air wireless CarPlay adapter as a gift. Neither of my vehicles support wireless CarPlay, and so I was looking forward to using the CPLAY2air device to enable the use of CarPlay without having to have my phone plugged into a cable. Here’s my feedback on the CPLAY2air device after about six weeks of use.

In general, the device works reasonably well. Setup with the factory radio in my GMC Sierra truck was pretty straightforward, and only took a few minutes. Since then, the device connects to my phone every time I start the vehicle, and all CarPlay functions—music, maps, Siri, sending/reading messages, etc.—all work as expected. I can leave my phone in my pocket and still gain all the benefits of CarPlay, which is incredibly convenient.

The CPLAY2air is not without a few caveats, however. The wireless connection between the CPLAY2air and my iPhone does introduce some noticeable latency. When switching music tracks, for example, it will take between one and three seconds to stop playing the old track and start playing the new track. (By comparison, the same operation using traditional wired CarPlay is nearly instantaneous.) Similarly, when talking on Continue reading

Bienvenue Cloudflare France! Why I’m helping Cloudflare grow in France

Bienvenue Cloudflare France!
Why I’m helping Cloudflare grow in France

If you'd like to read this post in French click here.

Bienvenue Cloudflare France!
Why I’m helping Cloudflare grow in France

I am incredibly excited to announce that I have joined Cloudflare as its Head of France to help build a better Internet and expand the company’s growing customer base in France. This is an important milestone for Cloudflare as we continue to grow our presence in Europe. Alongside our London, Munich, and Lisbon offices, Paris marks the fourth Cloudflare office in the EMEA region. With this, we’ll be able to further serve our customers’ demand, recruit local talent, and build on the successes we’ve had in our other offices around the globe. I have been impressed by what Cloudflare has built in EMEA including France, and I am even more excited by what lies ahead for our customers, partners, and employees.

Born in Paris and raised in Paris, Normandie and Germany, I started my career more than 20 years ago. While a teenager, I had the chance to work on one of the first Apple IIe’s available in France. I have always had a passion for technology and continue to be amazed by the value of its adoption with businesses large and small. In former roles as Solution Engineer Continue reading

Fast Failover: The Challenge

Sometimes you’re asked to design a network that will reroute around a failure in milliseconds. Is that feasible? Maybe. Is it simple? Absolutely not.

In this series of blog posts we’ll start with the basics, explore the technologies that you can use to reach that goal, and discover one or two unexpected rabbit holes.

Fast failover is just one of the topics we’ll discuss in Advanced Routing Protocol Features part of How Networks Really Work webinar.

Fast Failover: The Challenge

Sometimes you’re asked to design a network that will reroute around a failure in milliseconds. Is that feasible? Maybe. Is it simple? Absolutely not.

In this series of blog posts we’ll start with the basics, explore the technologies that you can use to reach that goal, and discover one or two unexpected rabbit holes.

Fast failover is just one of the topics we’ll discuss in Advanced Routing Protocol Features part of How Networks Really Work webinar.

Tech Bytes: Nation-Wide Dentistry Network Chooses Integrated SD-WAN, SD-Branch, Security With Fortinet (Sponsored)

Today’s Tech Bytes, sponsored by Fortinet, explores an SD-WAN deployment with Smile Brands, a nation-wide network of dental practices. Smile Brands started with one SD-WAN product and then switched to an integrated security, SD-WAN, and SD-Branch solution with Fortinet. Our guest is Brett Stetzko, Senior Network Engineer at Smile Brands.

Tech Bytes: Nation-Wide Dentistry Network Chooses Integrated SD-WAN, SD-Branch, Security With Fortinet (Sponsored)

Today’s Tech Bytes, sponsored by Fortinet, explores an SD-WAN deployment with Smile Brands, a nation-wide network of dental practices. Smile Brands started with one SD-WAN product and then switched to an integrated security, SD-WAN, and SD-Branch solution with Fortinet. Our guest is Brett Stetzko, Senior Network Engineer at Smile Brands.

The post Tech Bytes: Nation-Wide Dentistry Network Chooses Integrated SD-WAN, SD-Branch, Security With Fortinet (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.