27 August 2010

VMware “vFabric” And the Potential Impact on Data Centre Network Design

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If the VMware vFabric speculation is true, then the service focussed data centre designs just got very, very, interesting.

Show 15 – Saving the Web With Dinky Putt Putt Firewalls

Web Application Firewalls, Talking Puppets, ATM to IP migration and Dinky Putt Putt Firewalls.

Why Buy Dual Supervisors on Cisco Nexus 7000 ?

One reason you’ve never thought of for buying dual supervisors for the Nexus 7000, or even the Catalyst 6500.

The TRILLing Brain Split

The split personality Cisco has exposed at Cisco Live 2010 is amazing: on one hand you have the Data Center team touting the benefits of Routing at Layer 2 (an oxymoron if I’ve ever seen one), on the other hand you have Russ White extolling the virtues of good layer-3 design in the CCDE training (the quote I like most: “It all meets at Layer 3 … that’s why CCDE is layer-3 centric”). If you’re confused, you’re not the only one, so let’s try to analyze what’s going on.

On the Difference Twinax and Cat6 UTP 10 Gigabit Ethernet

There are two types of copper cabling for 10GbE. What’s the basic difference between them ?

Cisco and Their Security Strategy

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Recently, the Security Strategy from Cisco has become vague and ill defined.

TRILL: It’s a DéJà-Vu All Over Again

If you’re old enough to remember what ZX-81 was all about, you’ll probably experience a weird sense of déjà-vu when being exposed to the beauties of TRILL says Ivan Pepelnjak.

Market Positioning Acadia, EMC, Cisco and the Whole vBlock Idea

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So a while back, Cisco, VMWare and EMC announced that they are forming a partnership to co-operatively sell and support products in a joint venture named Acadia. Selected engineers and sales grunts, USD$200 million bucks and “no large customer left untouched” door to door marketing campaign. Is there anything to it ?

Cisco FWSM and ACE Resource Allocation Strategies

This post looks at design models for handling the allocation of resources within the Cisco ACE and FWSM modules. In may be relevant to other virtualisation system where allocation of virtual resources needs a strategy.

Opinion: Giving Up on Cisco CS-MARS

The CS-MARS was an exciting product when Cisco acquired it. Now, I’m looking for other tools.

Google: Meet Skipfish, Our Automated Web Security Scanner. Security Industry – You Failed.

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Google releases Skipfish into open source for automated web security scanning. The fact that this exists is an inditement on IT Security and their failure to address threats.

Blessay: Autonegotiation on Ethernet – It Works, It Should Be Mandatory!

EVERYONE – Autosensing on ethernet works just fine, and all manufacturers recommend using autosensing. Why aren’t you !

Lets look at how it works and why you should be using it.

Network Dictionary – Straw Man Review

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Define “Straw Man Review”

Interesting Switch Designs for Data Centre Racks From Juniper

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I was reviewing the Juniper Virtual Chassis Technology and there are some very interesting designs possible with their specific stacking technology.

The Harbinger of Death for PABX and IP Telephony

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Unlimited voice/text/data plans in the UK signal the end of Legacy and IP Telephony market as we know it.

Blessay: On Stackable / Fixed vs Chassis / Modular Ethernet Switches

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The debate on Stackable vs Chassis based switches has a long and proud pedigree. Here is my addition to the debate.

The Ten Networking Commandments

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If you run a Network team using these as a basis for business planning and operational excellence then you won’t go wrong.

Is EEM Ready for the Big Time ?

Can I use Embedded Event Manager as a tool for High Availability networking ?