Hedge 198: Nephio with Wim Henderickx

13 October 2023

Automation is a bit of theme recently on the Hedge. In this episode we’re joined by Wim Henderickx to talk about the Linux Foundation Nephio project, which adapts Kubernetes management into a cloud native network management platform. This new take on managing networks is definitely discovering.

On the ‘net: Building Consensus in the IETF

7 October 2023

You cannot simply post a draft to the IETF repository and expect “someone, somewhere,” to take action. No one is going to read your draft. No one is going to send you comments. No one is going to call for your document to progress forward through the process.

On the ‘net: Mediocrates and LLMs

7 October 2023

Might I suggest a name for anyone building yet another Large Language Model (LLM)? Mediocrates would be a far more honest name than the ones big tech companies choose.

Hedge 197: Old Engineering Books (1)

5 October 2023

It’s time for the October Roundtable! This month Eyvonne, Tom, and Russ are reading quotes from an engineering book published in 1911 and reacting to them. How much has engineering changed? How much has engineering stayed the same? How well can advice from a hundred years ago apply to modern engineering problems and life? It turns out that, inspite of their faults, there is a lot of great wisdom in these old books.

Hedge 196: What’s up with Ethernet? (with Peter Jones)

29 September 2023

Ethernet is the technology used to move most of the world’s data at the physical layer. What has been going on for the last few years in Ethernet, and what is coming? Peter Jones joins Tom Ammon and Russ White to talk about current and future work in Ethernet, AI, and other odds and ends.

Hedge 195: DDoS Inflection with Barry Greene

21 September 2023

DDoS attacks still play a major role in the global Internet, costing organizations tens (or hundreds) or millions of dollars each year. What are the current and future trends in DDoS attacks? Barry Greene, a global expert in DDoS mitigation, joins Russ White and Tom Ammon to discuss the future of DDoS.

Simple or Complex?

19 September 2023

A few weeks ago, Daniel posted a piece about using different underlay and overlay protocols in a data center fabric. He says:

There is nothing wrong with running BGP in the overlay but I oppose to the argument of it being simpler.

One of the major problems we often face in network engineering—and engineering more broadly—is confusing that which is simple with that which has lower complexity. Simpler things are not always less complex. Let me give you a few examples, all of which are going to be controversial.

On the ‘net: Network Models at Packet Pushers

17 September 2023

I’ve just started a new series on network models over at Packet Pushers. The first two installments are here:

I learned the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model way back in the mid-1980s, as a part of my basic networking education. Ever since then, I’ve used the OSI model in my day-to-day work as a network engineer.

First, models are not sacrosanct. A model is just a tool. If the model you are using is not working for you, feel free to modify it.

On the ‘Net: The IETF at Packet Pushers

17 September 2023

I’ve been writing a series about working within the IETF to publish a new standard over at Packet Pushers. The most recent installments are:

There are other seemingly mystical concepts in the IETF process as well—for instance, what is a “document stream,” and what is a document’s “status?”

You’re almost ready to submit a shiny new document to the IETF for consideration, right? Not quite yet—we still need to deal with mandatory sections and language.

Hedge 194: Network Automation with the Network Automation Forum

7 September 2023

Year after year network engineering media, vendors, and influencers talk about the importance of network automation—and yet according to surveys, most network operators still have not automated their network operations. In this episode of the Hedge, part 2 of 2, Chris Grundemann and Scott Robohn join the Hedge to give their ideas on why network automation isn’t happening, and how we can resolve the many blockers to automation.