Imagine you’ve got to build a network that delivers data no matter what, because the mission is critical.
And not just “mission critical” in the business sense–sometimes actual lives are at stake.
However, the constraints are enormous. All you’ve got to work with are satellite links with high latency and low throughput, no terrestrial infrastructure unless you provide it yourself, the very highest imaginable security requirements, and a limited budget.
This scenario is normal for the military. Here to chat with us about networking in this highly specialized environment is PC Drew.
We discuss issues such as working with bandwidth constraints, hostile environments, training and skills development, and more.
Drew is a major in the Marine Corps Reserve and was on active duty for ten years. He’s currently CTO at SchoolBlocks, and has a background in network and software engineering.
There’s a lot of interesting points in this show, so we’ve pasted the entirety of our show notes below.
Show Notes:
* We did a show with Peter Wohlers on the future of networking, which was also a bit of a look back at some evolution…QoS, SDN, etc. Some of that conversation had you both agreeing and disagreeing with us. Explain.
* Snowflake networks
* Unique configurations vs unique requirements/constraints vs unique networks
* Often, a “snowflake network” is a sign that it is misconfigured (not always…there are some actual unique requirements!)
* “QoS is the devil’s work” and “just get a bigger pipe”.
* It is the devil’s work–it’s hard, but necessary
* Many people can’t “just get a bigger pipe”–need to understand how to maximize what you have
* Overlaying networks adds significant complexity to an already complex environment (avoid tunnels!)
* Although we need tunnels, they make our lives harder. Sometimes they’re required and other times they’re an indicator of an architecture that was not designed appropriately.
* Path MTU issues that Peter described also happen on overlay networks, where <1500 byte frames are common.
* MSS and TCP Windowing also play a role here
* Commoditization of network skills. Deep technical experience is hard to come by in public AND private sectors. How do you run global operations with less experienced people?
* Military networks are rather specialized. Can you describe some of the common constraints?
* Running military communications is often like someone walking into a field in the middle of nowhere and telling you: “I want all the capabilities that I have in my office….right here…in a few hours.”
* We’re often given very little requirements and asked to just “build it.” Sometimes with very little notice.
* In practice, everything is limited by survivability, logistics, and bandwidth.
* Survivability
* Elements such as sand, water, heat/cold, unstable power, etc
* Mobility challenges (a force on the move)
* A thinking enemy (kinetic and cyber attacks)
* Physical security (concertina wire, barriers, being able to inspect cables for tampering, etc)
* Cyber security (evaluating your own posture, understanding the enemy’s capabilities and limitations, having tools that detect and potentially respond to network anomalies)
* Logistics
* In many cases, you have to pack up everything you need and take it with you.
