The Hedge

One of the many reasons engineers should work for a vendor, consulting company, or someone other than a single network operator at some point in their career is to develop a larger view of network operations. What are common ways of doing things? What are uncommon ways? In what ways is every network broken? Over time, if you see enough networks, you start seeing common themes and ideas. Just like history, networks might not always be the same, but the problems we all encounter often rhyme. Ken Celenza joins Tom Ammon, Eyvonne Sharp, and Russ White to discuss these common traits—ten things I know about your network.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-134.mp3

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Multi-factor testing is one of the most important jobs a vendor takes on—and one of the most underrated. Testing across all possible configurations and use cases is nearly impossible. Brooks Westbrook joins Tom Ammon and Russ White on this episode of the Hedge to talk about the complexity of multi-factor testing and some of the consequences of that complexity.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-133.mp3

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We all intuitively know the DNS is complex—and becoming more complex over time. Describing just how complex, however, is difficult. Siva Kesava and Ryan Beckett just published a research paper taking on the task of describing DNS complexity, particularly in light of the new DNAME record type. It turns out its complex enough that you can no longer really validate zone files.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-132.mp3

One of the mainstays of scripting—and now network management—are increasingly focused on making things "easier" for the human operator. Does this focus on making things "easier" for the operator produce a better experience, though? Or does it create frustration as humans try to "outguess" the computer's programming and process? Join Tom Ammon and Russ White as they discuss the problems with scripting, automation, and ease-of-use.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-131.mp3

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Inventories are generally hard, and hence don't tend to be where you'd like to spend your time. The importance of having a good inventory, however, can hardly be overstated. Malcom Booden joins Tom Ammon and Russ White to talk about the importance of inventories and inventory ideas.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-130.mp3

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Mentoring is a topic we return to time and again—because it's one of the most important things we can talk about in terms of building your people skills, your knowledge, and your career. On this episode of the Hedge, Guedis Cardenas joins Tom Ammon and Russ White to talk about open source mentoring. We discuss how this is different than "regular" mentoring, and how it's the same. Join us as we talk about one of the most important career and personal growth things you can do.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-129.mp3

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A short update on upcoming classes and episodes of the Hedge for May, as well an update on what I'm working on and other places where I'm publishing material.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-may.mp3

Have you ever thought about getting a college degree in computer networking? What are the tradeoffs between this and getting a certification? What is the state of network engineering at colleges—what do current students in network engineering programs think about their programs, and what they wish was there that isn't? Rick Graziani joins Tom Ammon and Russ White in a broad ranging discussion on network engineering and college. Rick teaches network engineering full time in the Valley.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-128.mp3

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The FR Routing project is a fully featured open-source routing stack, including BGP, OSPF, and IS-Is (among others), supported by a community including NVDIA, Orange, VMWare, and many others. On today's episode of the Hedge, Tom Ammon and Russ White are joined by Donald Sharp, Alistair Woodman, and Quentin Young to update listeners on projects completed and underway in FR Routing.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-127.mp3

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ISDN, while an old technology, is still around in many parts of the world. When will it go away? George Michaelson joins Tom Ammon and Russ White to discuss the end of ISDN. The conversation then veers into old networking technologies, and the importance of ISDN in setting the terms and ideas we use today—ISDN is one of the key technologies around which network engineers built their mental maps of how to build and maintain networks.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-126.mp3

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