If I Can’t Fix It, I’ll Break It. And That’s OK, It Needed Fixing Anyway.

When explain­ing out­age risks in a change review, I often need to grit my teeth and say quietly to myself.….

“Just in Case” Versus “Just in Time” Learning. Or Why Am I Learning This Useless Crud !?

You need to learn what you don’t know to suc­ceed in Networking. Understanding “Just in Case” instead of “Just in Time” learn­ing might help you to under­stand why.

Cisco: Questions I Have About Cisco, UCS and the Market

I was recently asked to con­sider Cisco and their UCS and whether it is ready for adop­tion. This raised a num­ber of ques­tions that I’d like to have answers for.

Network ZEN: Management or Monitoring

Network ZEN on Network Management

Designer or Engineer, Artist or Painter

Are you a painter or an artist ? Are you an engin­eer or a designer ? Can you Paint with a Hammer?

Is This the Year of 10 Gigabit Ethernet in the LAN ?

A num­ber of switch vendors have announced (and they are cer­tainly hop­ing) that 10Gb Ethernet is the THING for 2010. Really ?

Etherealmind — Motto Selection

I’m get­ting some new busi­ness cards prin­ted and want to ask you for some input on a suit­able slogan.

Why Does iSCSI Use TCP Instead of IP ?

The iSCSI pro­tocol car­ries block data from stor­age array to server. Typically, that is inside a data centre where loss is not a prob­lem. So why use TCP and have all that overhead ?

Musing:on Not Owning an E-​​Reader or Buying E-​​Books

I have been look­ing at e-reader’s with a beady eye. Who wouldn’t rather have a small, port­able gizmo instead of the 2.2 kilo­gram text­book of Routing TCP/​IP Volume II.

But there are really two HUGE prob­lems that mean I won’t be buy­ing one any­time soon. DRM and Data portability.

The Balloon Story

Quite some time ago, someone sent me this joke. To this day, it should be funny but it isn’t because it is still true.

Blinken Lights, It’s All About the Blinking Lights

Classic Slashdot.

Why Can’t I Ping My ACE Module ? Diatribe on Service-​​Policy.

Had a prob­lem with an ACE mod­ule today. It took two of us a while to real­ise what was wrong. And mus­ings on service-​​policy syntax.

Network ZEN: Stackable or Chassis Switches

The Zen Master was med­it­at­ing over his net­work, at one­ness with the Flow. A stu­dent approached the mas­ter and asked ‘may I not stack the c3750 to cre­ate more con­nec­tions to the Flow’.

Too Many Directions, Too Much to Think About

I’m work­ing on too many things — too many tech­no­lo­gies, too many vendors. How did I get here ?

Why Does This Remind Me of Putting FCoE in My Network ?

This photo reminds me of net­works that I have worked on. FCoE anyone ?

Microsoft OpenDocument Doesn’t REALLY Work

Microsoft con­tin­ues to dis­ap­point its cus­tom­ers. This time the loudly announced ODF sup­port doesn’t appear to actu­ally work.

Musing:Schooner Launches Specialized Servers for Speedy Data Delivery

Musing:There Is Hope for the World After All

Knowing that there are young people like this in the world is excit­ing. Not only does she do math, she does APPLIED math and can clearly artic­u­late the vis­ion and applic­a­tion of the sci­ence.
Network Designers could learn a lot from watch­ing this.
ISEF ’08 Winner: Knot Theory Mathematics
Via Boing Boing.

Next Page »