The Hedge 30: Ethan Banks and Network Fundamentals
In this episode of the Hedge, Ethan Banks, Ethan’s old-timey routers, Tom Ammon, Tom’s printer, Eyvonne Sharp, and Russ White sit around the virtual hedge to talk about networking fundamentals. What are they, why are they important, how you learn them, and how to be intentional about your career.
Understanding Internet Peering
The world of provider interconnection is a little … “mysterious” … even to those who work at transit providers. The decision of who to peer with, whether such peering should be paid, settlement-free, open, and where to peer is often cordoned off into a separate team (or set of teams) that don’t seem to leak a lot of information. A recent paper on current interconnection practices published in ACM SIGCOMM sheds some useful light into this corner of the Internet, and hence is useful for those just trying to understand how the Internet really works.
The Hedge 29: Remote Work and Security
The massive numbers of people staying home to work because of the ongoing pandemic are placing a lot of strain on network infrastructure. One area many operators are not considering, however, is security—how does having a lot of remote workers impact DDoS? Is split tunneling really the right way to manage remote connectivity? Roland Dobbins joins Eyvonne Sharp and Russ White to discuss security in times of mass remote work on this episode of the Hedge.
Working from Home: Myth and Reality
The last few weeks have seen a massive shift towards working from home because of the various “stay at home” orders being put in place around the world—a trend I consider healthy in the larger scheme of things. Of course, there has also been an avalanche of “tips for working from home” articles. I figured I’d add my own to the pile.
The Hedge 28: Intent Based Networking in the IRTF
Intent based networking is on the upslope of the hype cycle right now. In this episode of the Hedge, Alex Clemm and Jeff Tantsura join Alvaro Retana and Russ White for a discussion of Intent-Based Networking – Concepts and Definitions, a draft working its way through the Internet Research Task Force.
An Interesting take on Mapping an Attack Surface
Security often lives in one of two states. It’s either something “I” take care of, because my organization is so small there isn’t anyone else taking care of it. Or it’s something those folks sitting over there in the corner take care of because the organization is, in fact, large enough to have a separate security team. In both cases, however, security is something that is done to networks, or something thought about kind-of off on its own in relation to networks.
I’ve been trying to think of ways to challenge this way of thinking for many years—a long time ago, in a universe far away, I created and gave a presentation on network security at Cisco Live (raise your hand if you’re old enough to have seen this presentation!).
The Hedge 27: New directions in network and computing systems
On this episode of the Hedge, Micah Beck joins us to discuss a paper he wrote recently considering a new model of compute, storage, and networking. Micah Beck is Associate Professor in computer science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he researches and publishes in the area of networking technologies, including the hourglass model and the end-to-end principle.
Enterprise and Service Provider—Once more into the Windmill
There is no enterprise, there is no service provider—there are problems, and there are solutions. I’m certain everyone reading this blog, or listening to my podcasts, or listening to a presentation I’ve given, or following along in some live training or book I’ve created, has heard me say this. I’m also certain almost everyone has heard the objections to my argument—that hyperscaler’s problems are not your problems, the technologies and solutions providers user are fundamentally different than what enterprises require.
Let me try to recap some of the arguments I’ve heard used against my assertion.
The Hedge 26: Jason Gooley and CHINOG
CHINOG is a regional network operators group that meets in Chicago once a year. For this episode of the Hedge, Jason Gooley joins us to talk about the origins of CHINOG, the challenges involved in running a small conference, some tips for those who would like to start a conference of this kind, and thoughts on the importance of community in the network engineering world.
The Art and Necessity of Refocusing
Staring at the white line is fun at first, then mesmerizing, then it is frightening… then finally it is just plain dull. But let’s talk about the terrifying bit because it’s the scary stage that makes us all reject change out of fear for the future. And, trust me, a kid sitting in a car with no doors staring down at the white line while his uncle drives 60 miles-per-hour is going to be frightened from time to time.