Heavy Networking 502: Get Off My VLAN! Old Network Engineers On What New Engineers Should Know




Heavy Networking show

Summary: I see abstractions. I see automation. I see orchestration. I see people who think that because they can use a fancy management tool, they are an infrastructure expert. For networking, this drives me a little nuts.<br> Technology fundamentals are the foundation of network engineering. By contrast, Ansible and Terraform are tools that help you build a network, but in no way replace those fundamentals.<br> Sometimes I worry that tooling is replacing actual knowledge of how a network works. Abstractions–management layers, web UIs, magical scripts–may be replacing deep knowledge.<br> Welcome to Heavy Networking, grumpy old network engineer edition. I’ve gathered a couple of other grumpy folks to chat about what young networkers should know but don’t.<br> Our guests are <a href="https://twitter.com/netmanchris" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Young</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ioshints" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ivan Pepelnjak</a>.<br> We discuss:<br> <br> * The problems that come with a lack of understanding core concepts<br> * What newer engineers do know<br> * Just how deep core knowledge needs to go<br> * Does Spanning Tree matter?<br> * Are network engineers expected to be too multi-disciplinary?<br> * More<br> <br> Sponsor: ThousandEyes<br> ThousandEyes gives you performance visibility from every user to every app over any network, both internal and external, so you can migrate to the cloud, troubleshoot faster and deliver exceptional user experiences. Sign up for a free account at<a href="http://www.thousandeyes.com/packetpushers"> thousandeyes.com/packetpushers</a> and choose a free ThousandEyes t-shirt.<br> Sponsor: VIAVI Solutions<br> VIAVI Solutions is a network performance management leader enabling IT teams to understand user experience with a patent-pending End-User Experience score. VIAVI delivers  outcomes, not just more data. Learn more at<a href="http://viavisolutions.com/packetpushers"> viavisolutions.com/packetpushers.</a><br> Show Links:<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/netmanchris" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Young on Twitter</a><br> <a href="https://kontrolissues.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kontrolissues</a> – Chris Young’s site<br> <a href="https://www.ipspace.net/Main_Page" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IP Space</a> – Ivan Pelpeljak’s site<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/ioshints" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ivan Pepelnjak on Twitter</a><br>