Heavy Networking

Today's Heavy Networking gets entangled in a discussion about quantum communications or quantum networking. We discuss qubits, the challenges of moving them across a network, use cases such as key distribution, and more. Our guest is Dr. Joshua Slater. The post Heavy Networking 598: The Future Of Networking – Quantum Communications With Joshua Slater appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Today's Heavy Networking podcast discusses the pros and cons of building a private 5G network in the enterprise. We examine use cases, contrast 5G with Wi-Fi, unpack the hardware and software required, and more. Intel is our sponsor for this episode. The post Heavy Networking 597: Why Enterprises Want Private 5G (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Today's Heavy Networking podcast dives into academic research on DDoS attack techniques. Our guests have published a paper about how the TCP protocol and middleboxes such as firewalls can be weaponized by bad actors and used in reflective amplification attacks. We discuss technical details, how they performed this research, potential countermeasures, and more. The post Heavy Networking 596: Weaponizing Firewalls And Middleboxes For DDoS Attacks appeared first on Packet Pushers.

In today's sponsored Heavy Networking show, we talk to Opmantek about NMIS, an intelligent network management platform that spans monitoring, visibility, automation, and configuration management. Our guest is Opmantek CTO Keith Sinclair. The post Heavy Networking 595: Detect, Diagnose, And Act With Opmantek’s Automated Network Management Software (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Like anything in the world of IT, TLS has gone through various versions. TLS 1.1 and 1.2 are still commonly used, but TLS 1.3 is really where it’s at. Our guest is Ed Harmoush. Ed’s a professional instructor who’s researched TLS 1.3 and more as he’s prepped for his latest course offering, Practical TLS, which you can find at http://pracnet.net/tls. Use coupon PacketPushers100 to get $100 off this deep dive course from Ed. The post Heavy Networking 594: TLS 1.3 Down Deep With Ed Harmoush appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Back in the day, an SNMP element manager was just the thing when a host was bare metal and you knew every cable, switchport, IP address, and firewall rule. As soon as you saw the green object go red, you were on it. You knew what to do. Not any more. These days, a network monitoring tool needs to encompass VMs, virtualized distributed network devices, and cloud networking. That tool should put together end-to-end flows, so you know exactly how all this virtualized stuff is actually talking. That saves you from having to figure it out artisanally, which is a losing proposition. On today’s Heavy Networking, we drill into VMware’s vRealize Network Insight (vRNI) to learn how it provides end-to-end monitoring, how it uses flow records and other data sources, and its architecture. We’ll also discuss modeling/digital twin capabilities, and applying vRNI to security, troubleshooting, and other use cases. VMware is our sponsor, and our guests are Matt Just, Sr. Technical Marketing Manager; and Martijn Smit, Technical Marketing Architect both of VMware. Show Links: VMware vRealize Network Insight – VMware Try A 30-Day SaaS Version Of vRealize For Free – VMware Tech Bytes: VMware vRealize Network Insight: App-Aware Network Monitoring And Assurance (Sponsored) – Packet Pushers @H1_TEK_Matt – Matt Just on Twitter @smitmartijn – Martijn Smit on Twitter @vmwnetinsight – vRealize Network Insight on Twitter vRealize Network Insight Cookbook! – VMware Cloud Management – Martijn Smit (all proceeds to charity) vRealize Network Insight Blogs – VMware Explore Deep Dives, Demos, and Videos with Pathfinder – VMware The Gorilla Guide To…® Network Visibility with VMware vRealize Network Insight – VMware IDC Technology Spotlight: Network Analytics – IDC

Today on Heavy Networking, it’s VAR life. We check on Value Added Resellers (VARs) to get a sense of what they are hearing from customers, what customer needs are, and what technology is in demand. We also examine the competitive landscape for VARs, including the effect of customer DIY, public cloud and SaaS, and direct vendor relationships. Our guest is Remington Loose, Solutions Architect at Dynamix Group, a mid-sized VAR. We discuss: * The demand for security as well as cyber insurance * The push for automation * An increased focus on visibility * The competitive landscape for VARs * The state of VAR/vendor relationships * VAR and customer skills gaps * VARs and managed services * More Sponsor: Itential Itential is network and cloud automation. Itential’s software makes it easy for network teams to get insights into your entire infrastructure, immediately detect non-compliant assets for rapid remediation, and manage and deploy changes across both CLI & API infrastructure. Find out more at www.itential.com/packetpushers. Show Links: Remington Loose on LinkedIn LocalPref – Remington’s Blog Dynamix Group

In the old days, you’d download your configs each night with some tool, and then get a report with diffs. You’d stare at the diffs, and go, “Hmm, yep, that seems right. I remember there was a change control that was scheduled to happen, and I even think the new config has something to do with the change. Network is still up. I’m sure it’s fine. Good job, everyone.” And then you’d get on with your inbox. That…sort of works as long as there’s a limited number of device types and limited number of changes on your network, and you care enough to pay attention. Of course, now you’re trying to automate and let the machines handle as much as possible. You really, really haven’t been checking those diffs, and don’t have much idea of where the configs are at. You want to bring everything back into compliance. In fact, you NEED to bring it all back into compliance. It’s the wild, wild west out there. And that’s just the legacy gear. We haven’t even mentioned all these cloudy VNFs with API hooks you keep having to stand up and manage. Our sponsor today is Itential, and we’re going to have a discussion about network compliance. The big idea is to rethink how you do compliance so that the process is automation friendly and accommodates all the network device types you have to manage. Our guest is Chris Wade, CTO at Itential. Show Links: Itential.com/packetpushers

Ever want to build your own ISP? If you’re a network engineer, I bet the thought has crossed your mind now and then, because how cool would that be? Connecting people to the greatest communications network in the world. Our guest today has spent most of his career building ISPs, and in fact he’s working on one right now. I got a peek a few weeks ago, and seeing this work in progress in production serving previously underserved customers was inspiring. Jim Troutman is Director of Technology, ISP at Tilson Technology Management. We discuss: * The business case for a local or regional ISP * The competitive (or not-so-competitive) broadband environment * The elements for a minimum viable ISP * Challenges of pole access * Cable plant maintenance * Running afoul of squirrels and woodchucks * Coping with single points of failure * Services an ISP can layer on top of broadband * Customer support and billing * Getting to the last mile * Running a Network Operations Center (NOC) * More Sponsor: InterOptic InterOptic makes high quality optical modules you can rely on. Plus, they are far cheaper than OEM optics. Save big money without compromising quality. Visit interoptic.com/packet-pushers. Show Links: @troutman – Jim Troutman on Twitter Jim Troutman on LinkedIn Troutman’s Networking Manifesto – Twitter Tilson Technology Management Tilson Technology Management Career Opportunities New England Peering Forum Why Is The Internet Still Working? – Jim Troutman via the New England Peering Forum (PDF) NYC Mesh Project Starting a Telephone Company in 2019, or How I Built Fiber to my Neighbors – Jared Mauch, NANOG (YouTube) ABCs of Starting A WISP – YouTube

We have a cloud networking show for you on today’s Heavy Networking. Why? Because cloud networking is an inconsistent beast from cloud to cloud, and simply isn’t like what we’ve been building on-premises all these years. There’s good. There’s bad. And there’s ugly. That’s how we’re going to approach today’s cloud networking discussion, a review of where things are at and how some of the nasty bits of cloud networking can be improved, particularly in the areas of troubleshooting, visibility, security, and automation. Our sponsor is Aviatrix, and they’ve sent us three architects to nerd out about cloud network design and how Aviatrix solutions might fit into the picture. We welcome Aviatrix Solutions Architects Brad Hedlund and James Devine, and customer Chris Oliver, Principal Infrastructure Architect with NI, to the Packet Pushers virtual studio. We discuss: * Challenges of troubleshooting cloud networks * How Aviatrix can leverage cloud flows for visibility * Enabling traffic engineering between clouds * Firewall insertion options with Aviatrix * Aviatrix’s support for multi-cloud networking * Terraform and automation * More Show Links: Aviatrix JamesDevine.info James Devine on LinkedIn AWS Certified Advanced Networking Official Study Guide: Specialty Exam – Amazon BradHedlund.com Brad Hedlund on LinkedIn Chris Oliver on LinkedIn

Here’s something you probably don’t think about much: subsea communications cables. And yet, they are an everyday and essential part of Internet traffic as well as B2B communications. They make an international Internet work, and are essential in areas such as the Asia-Pacific region with its many  nations separated by large bodies of water. Telstra is this episode’s sponsor, and they’ve sent us a couple of folks knowledgeable about undersea cabling. We’re going to get nerdy about how undersea cables are laid, signalling methods, POPs and landing stations, and who consumes services from these cables. We also explore how they can be damaged (and repaired), Telstra’s Network Operations Centers (NOCs) that monitor cables and ocean traffic, and whether low-earth-orbit satellite constellations might someday replace the need for these cables. Our Telstra guests are Andy Lumsden, Head of Network Engineering and Operations; and Jeff McHardy, General Manager, Network Development and Commercial Management. Show Links: Telstra @TelstraENT – Telstra Enterprise on Twitter Telstra Enterprise on LinkedIn Andy Lumsden on LinkedIn Jeff McHardy on LinkedIn The complexities (and quirks) of protecting our subsea cables – Telstra The facility that keeps Asia connected amid a pandemic – Telstra How adaptive IT infrastructure can enable a post-COVID workforce – Telstra Understanding data to restructure your business growth – Telstra Balancing priorities: The efficiency-experience dilemma – Telstra The connections behind every click – Telstra How a Zero Preventable Downtime framework can mitigate unplanned IT network disruptions – Telstra Telstra now providing direct connection to Microsoft Azure Peering Service and Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams – Telstra

Today on Heavy Networking, the icanhazip story. On the surface, icanhazip.com is simple enough: You hit the URL, and get back your external, public IP address. That’s it. There are no blinky lights or banner ads, listicles or lechery. Just a tiny HTML page with the minimum number of tags required to render correctly. Many of you listening have probably used it before, and that’s kind of the problem. Icanhazip was, and is, popular. Really popular—as in, billions of daily requests. Our guest is Major Hayden, the person behind icanhazip.com. He’s going to share just how crazy this service he created in his spare time got, and the lessons about efficiency and scale he learned along the way as he scrambled to keep it running. We discuss: * Why Major started the project * How icanhazip began to spread * Nerdy networking details he had to learn to support it * His quest for hosting * How much of his own time and money he poured into it * What happens when icanhazip gets billions of hits every day * The impact of bad actors * Why some people thought icanhazip was a CIA front (it’s not) * More Sponsor: InterOptic InterOptic makes high quality optical modules you can rely on. Plus, they are far cheaper than OEM optics. Save big money without compromising quality. Visit interoptic.com/packet-pushers. Show Links: icanhazip.com @majorhayden – Major Hayden on Twitter Major.io – Major’s blog

Welcome to Packet Pushers Heavy Networking. Today’s show, sponsored by Intel, dives into multiple topics including 5G, virtualization, and AI. Intel’s 3rd Gen Xeon processors can support a variety of use cases, including running virtualized network functions in the data center, at the edge, and in the cloud. They also have built-in acceleration for AI and cryptography, giving organizations a flexible platform for a variety of workloads, including service providers building out 5G networks. Our guest is Cristina Rodriguez, Vice President Data Center Group General Manager Wireless Access Network Division at Intel. Show Links: 5G Network Performance Made Flexible – Intel Intel 5G Network Transformation – Intel 5G Overview – Intel Intel Network Builders – Intel The RAN revolution: Good news for 5G, edge, IoT, and enterprise private networks – VentureBeat

Welcome to Heavy Networking. Packets and routers and automation, oh my. Today is a career show. We chat with Curt Norris, a networker with proficiency in automation. But he didn’t start out that way. Just five short years ago, Curt was working his first tech job as an IT support specialist. How did Curt gain expertise and move into other roles so quickly? That’s what we’re going to find out today. We discuss: * Career milestones that led from IT support to network automation * Working in tech without a college degree * Pros and cons of mentorship * Ongoing learning * Taking vs. being given opportunities * The risks of career advancement * More Sponsor: CBT Nuggets CBT Nuggets is IT training for IT professionals and anyone looking to build IT skills. If you want to make fully operational your networking, security, cloud, automation, or DevOps battle station visit cbtnuggets.com/heavynetworking. Show Links: Curt Norris on LinkedIn

The promise of Software Defined Networking (SDN) has been a long time coming. Seven years ago or so, SDN was going to change everything. CCIEs wouldn’t be needed anymore, blah blah. Remember that? 2021 reality is that SDN hasn’t transformed everything we do in networking. But that doesn’t mean SDN has gone away. Our Heavy Networking sponsor today is Cisco. We’re going to dive into an example of SDN that brings the cloud (because of course it does), management plane disaggregation, deep metadata analysis of BGP, prefixes, and flow, change recommendations, and automation together. Specifically we’re talking about Cisco’s Crosswork Cloud Traffic Analysis. This tool is available to make you deeply knowledgeable about your BGP peering relationships and traffic flows throughout your infrastructure. Crosswork Cloud Traffic Analysis will also recommend the routing tweaks to be made in your IGPs, BGP, RSVP-TE, and segment routing to eliminate those pesky congestion points. Joining us from Cisco are Omar Sultan, Leader – Product Management, Network Automation; and Dan Backman, Portfolio Architect, Crosswork Cloud, SP Network Automation. Show Links: Cisco Crosswork Cisco Crosswork Cloud – Traffic Analysis Data Sheet Cisco Crosswork Network Automation (Video) @omarsultan – Omar Sultan on Twitter