Heavy Networking

We do a bit of troubleshooting on today’s Heavy Networking podcast.

Turning up a new circuit should be easy. Some IP addressing, maybe a routing adjacency to bring up, or perhaps a default route.

Do some pings, run a speed test, check for interface errors, make a few notes in the NMS, and that’s about it. Routine stuff for any network engineer.

Except sometimes it isn’t. What happens when all the normal stuff seems okay, but you’ve got weird connectivity problems? How do you fix that issue?

Our guest is Chris Parker, a network engineer who works for a London ISP, and is also a Juniper Networks ambassador. Chris blogs at Network Fun Times.

He and Ethan start the show talking about certifications, why Chris has earned so many, and his favorite books and blogs that helped him.

Then they walk through an issue that Chris encountered with an SRX firewall, the troubleshooting steps he took and why they didn’t help, and then how a “monitor traffic” command finally provided the clue he needed.

Chris also shares his personal recommendations on troubleshooting:

* More eyes

* Say it out loud

* Trust no one. Trust nothing. Make no assumptions

* Improve your process

* Don’t assume all vendor kit works the same

* Even “RFC-compliant” doesn’t mean it all works the same

* Automation is good because humans suck where robots excel

Sponsor: ITProTV

Get over 65 hours of free technical training from ITProTV. ITProTV offers online instruction in CompTIA, Cisco, VMWare, Microsoft and more. You can stream courses live and on demand on your favorite device. Sign up for a free membership at itpro.tv/packet-pushers and try it with no obligation.

Sponsor: ExtraHop Networks

ExtraHop is the enterprise cyber analytics company delivering performance and security from the inside out. ExtraHop offers complete visibility with machine learning to help you make quick, confident decisions about your IT environment. Explore the ExtraHop Performance Platform at extrahop.com/packetpushers.

Show Links:

Chris Parker on Twitter

Lessons In JunOS Troubleshooting: Fixing A LAN With A Weird Problem – Network Fun Times

“Monitor Traffic” Juniper Documentation – Juniper Networks

Cisco IOS Debug Command Reference – Cisco Systems

On today’s Heavy Networking we explore the evolution of the NSX platform with sponsor VMware.

This episode has two parts. In the first, we look at how NSX is expanding from the data center to encompass the WAN via integrations with VeloCloud, and into the public cloud.

We also examine new security features and capabilities in NSX-T, including the service-defined firewall and adaptive microsegmentation. Our guest for part one is Tom Gillis, SVP and General Manager in VMware’s Networking and Security Business Unit.

In the second segment we hear from an NSX customer. James Cruikshank, Platform Engineer at Sky UK, shares how NSX-T makes it possible for the networking side of the house to enable developers to quickly provision resources such as VLANs, load balancers, and other elements using CI/CD tools.

He also talks about how VMware helps remove barriers between infrastructure and developer teams, and what that means for overall operations.

Show Links:

VMware Network Virtualization Blog – VMware

Introducing NSX-T 2.4 – A Landmark Release in the History of NSX – VMware

NSX Mindset – VMware

VeloCloud by VMware

Networking and Security – VMware Radius – Networking – VMware

On today’s Heavy Networking we explore the intersection of policy, politics, and technology with the Internet Governance Project (IGP).

A non-profit hosted at Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy, the IGP examines how technology and government policies affect critical Internet issues such as free expression, individual rights, and cybersecurity.

The IGP produces research, writes commentary, and participates in global bodies such as ICANN and Regional Internet Address Registries (RIRs).

The IGP connects technology experts and policy experts to help bridge gaps in understanding between these two communities, with the goal of influencing outcomes in global governance and standards bodies.

Our guests are Milton Mueller, Ph.D., Director of the IGP and a professor at Georgia Tech; and Brenden Kuerbis, a post-doctoral researcher at IGP.

We discuss issues such as technology nationalism (think the US vs. Huawei) and its affects on trade and technology development, cyber-attribution of state-sponsored attacks, privacy and GDPR, and more.

Show Links:

Internet Governance Project

Cyber Nationalism and Digital Trade: IGP Workshop Report – IGP

Russia tries to double down on a “national” Internet – IGP

Research on public attribution of state-sponsored attacks – IGP

Whois-Privacy Reform Hits its First Milestone – IGP

Another Facebook privacy scandal you have never heard of! – IGP

Today’s Heavy Networking dives into QUIC, a transport protocol originally developed by Google and now an IETF project.

QUIC promises advances over TCP and the opportunity for faster innovation, but it also poses a potential problem; developers may try to tune congestion control algorithms such as BBR in their favor, gobbling up available throughput while other connections limp along.

If competitors respond with their own tweaks, this could, as our guest writes “trigger a race to the bottom, and potentially break the Internet, unless network providers start deploying adequate Active Queue Management algorithms.”

That guest is Christian Huitema, an author and contributor to IETF standards with more than 40 years’ experience with software and Internet protocols. A former Microsoft engineer, he’s founder of the consulting firm Private Octopus, Inc.

We discuss how QUICK and BBR function, how they work around traditional gatekeepers and the pros and cons of those workarounds, and how QUIC differs from TCP.

We also examine the potential problems that QUIC could unleash, and explore congestion control and Adaptive Queue Management (AQM) algorithms as possible solutions.

Show Links:

Will Transport Innovation Collapse The Internet? – Christian Huitema

Christian Huitema’s Blog

Christian Huitema on LinkedIn

QUIC

BBR

Private Octopus, Inc.

QUIC, a multiplexed stream transport over UDP – The Chromium Projects

Network scheduler – Wikipedia

RFC 7567 – IETF Recommendations Regarding Active Queue Management – IETF

BBR, the new kid on the TCP block – APNIC Blog

TCP and BBR (2018) – Geoff Huston (PDF)

On today’s sponsored Heavy Networking episode we speak with AppNeta. AppNeta wraps user metadata around Netflow records, deep packet inspection, and discovery of networks to provide a complete picture of application performance. You can find out more at AppNeta.com/packetpushers.

With AppNeta, engineers get a continuous view of end user performance and the telemetry to find and fix problems.

Delivered as a cloud service, AppNeta supports virtual and physical monitoring points, so customers can choose the configuration that fits their needs. Physical appliances range from 100% solid-state devices that are half the size of home cable boxes, to data center-class rackmount options with redundant power supplies and support for up to 100Gbps.

Our guests from AppNeta are Adam Edwards, Chief Customer Officer; and Sean Armstrong, VP of Products.

We discuss the kinds of data that AppNeta collects and analyzes, explore common use cases, and dive into the value of user experience for performance and troubleshooting.

Show Links:

AppNeta.com/packetpushers

AppNeta Blog

AppNeta on Twitter

AppNeta on LinkedIn

Welcome to Packet Pushers Heavy Networking. In this sponsored show with VIAVI Solutions we dive into the intersection of Network Performance Management (NPM) and security.

VIAVI has a substantial portfolio of products, but today’s episode focuses on the Observer family–including Apex, GigaStor, and GigaFlow–for NPM and security use cases.

We discuss how VIAVI performs full packet capture for detailed analysis of performance and security events, how VIAVI enriches flow records with additional data to provide valuable context, and how the concept of end user experience informs its approach to NPM.

We also examine the critical role Observer can play in security operations, including the forensic value of high-fidelity packet capture, and why it’s essential for network and security teams to to work from the same data sources.

Our guests from VIAVI are Charles Thompson, Sr. Director, Product Management; and Mike McGrath, Partner Director.

Show Links:

VIAVI Solutions

VIAVI on Twitter

VIAVI on LinkedIn

Today on Heavy Networking, we return to the subject of networking in AWS, with a focus on AWS Transit Gateways.

The Transit Gateway is an evolution of Amazon’s transit VPC. It centralizes VPN connectivity to multiple VPCs, allowing for greater scale as well as simplified connectivity and management of the VPNs that connect VPCs.

Nick Matthews is our inside guide to this service. He’s a Principal Solutions Architect at AWS.

Nick will also peel back the onion on other networking features including Global Accelerator, TLS termination on Network Load Balancer, and odds and ends such as Client VPN.

In addition, Nick shares details about the technology and architecture that underpins Amazon’s networking services.

This is not a sponsored show. More and more listeners are involved with cloud networking, so this episode aims to help you understand what you’re getting into.

We first heard from Nick back in show 387. If you’d like some insight into what’s really happening under the hood of AWS networking, that’s a good place to start.

Sponsor: ITProTV

Get dozens of hours of free technical training from ITProTV. ITProTV offers online instruction in CompTIA, Cisco, VMWare, Microsoft and more. You can stream courses live and on demand on your favorite device. Sign up for a free membership at itpro.tv/packet-pushers and try it with no obligation.

Show Links:

Weekly 387: AWS Networking – A View From The Inside – Packet Pushers

Nick Matthews on Twitter

AWS Transit Gateway – AWS Blog

AWS re:Invent Session NET402: AWS Transit Gateway & Transit VPCs, Ref Arch for Many VPCs – Nick Matthews at AWS re:Invent via YouTube

Shuffle Sharding: Massive and Magical Fault Isolation – AWS Blog

AWS Global Accelerator – AWS Blog

AWS VPC Sharing – AWS Docs

AWS Client VPN – YouTube

AWS C5n – 100g instances – AWS

Network Load Balancer Now Supports TLS Termination – AWS

New – TLS Termination for Network Load Balancers – AWS News Blog

A collection of AWS re:Invent videos and p...

Three SD-WAN analysts walk into a podcast.

No, it’s not the start of a joke. Today’s Heavy Networking dives into the business and strategy aspects of SD-WAN with three guest analysts.

We look at the business drivers of SD-WAN, compare market hype to actual deployments, debate the notion you can ditch MPLS for DIA, and get insights about the operational challenges and cost considerations that come with SD-WAN.

Our guests also talk about deployment strategies, offer advice on how to build a vendor shortlist, and explore the concept and ramifications of SD-WAN as a multi-sided market.

Our professional pontificators are Greg Bryan from Telegeograhy, Jason Gintert from WAN Dynamics, and Steve Garson from SD-WAN Experts.

Sponsor: INE

If you’re looking for training, consider INE.com. INE is a training resource for networking and a whole lot more. Visit ine.com/packetpushers to get a free 3-day trial. INE–experts at making you an expert.

Sponsor: ThousandEyes

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 thousandeyes.com/packetpushers and choose a free ThousandEyes t-shirt.

Show Links:

Telegeography Blog

WAN Summit

SD-WAN Experts.com

SD-WAN Experts on Twitter

Steve Garson on Packet Pushers

WAN Dynamics.com

Jason Gintert on Twitter

Packet Pushers SD-WAN Survey – Packet Pushers Ignition (free membership required)

In today’s sponsored podcast, InterOptic returns to update us on SFP modules.

Based on the feedback we get, lots of people aren’t happy about how brand vendor price SFPs. And when you look at alternatives, there’s a wide variety of suppliers making the same products, but it’s hard to tell what the actual difference is.

Decision paralysis, here we come.

InterOptic produces optics with the same capabilities and quality as brand-equivalent modules, but at a significantly reduced cost.

We look at how InterOptic uses the same manufacturers as OEMs and how that impacts your ROI, the role of firmware in modules and why it’s important to get the firmware right, and the rise of 400G.

We also look at emerging trends in the optics market, the differences between OSFP and QSFP, and the state of silicon photonics.

Joining us today is Robert Coenen, Vice President of Business Development at InterOptic. And for an independent perspective, we’re also joined by Tim Doiron, Principal Analyst, Intelligent Networking at ACG Research.

Show Links:

InterOptic.com

InterOptic on Twitter

Show 360: All About Optics With InterOptic (Sponsored) – Packet Pushers

Welcome to Heavy Networking, a podcast on data networking that gets ‘heavy’ with the conversation.

Back in May 2011 I first met our guest, Guido Appenzeller, with a startup that was working on the idea of Software Defined Networking–a company called Big Switch Networks.

While OpenFlow didn’t work out the way we both thought it would, Big Switch Networks continues today, but in 2014 Guido joined his colleague from Stanford, Martin Casado, in the NSX business unit.

After four years at VMware leading and building the NSX business as CTO, he is leaving for new pastures. But before he gets there, we wanted to have a discussion about the future of networking.

We talk about the role of public cloud in IT, where the industry is with the adoption of “software-defined,” the rise of whitebox, the P4 programming language, and more.

We also find out about Guido’s new gig at Yubico.

Sponsor: INE

If you’re looking to take the next step in your career, INE is a training resource for networking and a whole lot more. With an INE subscription, you’ll gain unlimited streaming access to over 13,000 training videos, workbooks, and practice exams on Cisco, AWS, Microsoft, Linux, Google and more! Visit ine.com/packetpushers to get a free 3-day trial. INE: Experts at making you an expert.

Sponsor: ThousandEyes

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 thousandeyes.com/packetpushers and choose a free ThousandEyes t-shirt.

Show Links:

Guido Appenzeller on Twitter

Guido’s Blog