Network design, architecture, thinking, working. Tech.
I’ve been working on making some predictions about 2012 and networking. I like to do this in the year of 2012 (not 2011 like everyone else) and I like to go further than anyone else and predict what WILL NOT be big in 2012.
I’ve been considering a small but vital problem in naming conventions in Networking. Namely, the use of underscores and hyphens in object names and devices. It’s a hot topic for argument when the time comes for corporate standards (and when Network Engineers have beverages in a public house). Now, I figure that there are three possible grammar options for making names – hyphens, underscore and CamelCase.
I’m responding to Brad Hedlund’s post “On optimizing traffic for network virtualization” where he seems to missed a key point. It’s about cost of ownership in terms of ability to troubleshoot.
Embrane uses concepts of IP Flows to scale virtual appliances. Embrane does this by managing IP flows and then directing to other appliances, in effect creating what I would call a two tier load balancing.
Wherein I consider using BFD in Network Designs.
In the article, “What Is the Definition of a Switch Fabric ?” on Switch Fabrics I looked at how a Crossbar switching fabric allow for concurrent circuit forwarding and how this is used to build a fabric. In most cases, frames would be received and forwarded from an input to an output, as show in [...]
These all suggest that the time for planning and designing Service Modules is over. There are no suggestions that service modules for the Nexus 7000 will be developed that I can see. I can prognosticate that it would slow down the development of the core switch / route / performance functions, and it will be some years before those core capabilities is complete enough that service modules would become viable product development tasks — they might be in development, but not much chance of going into production. [^1]
Do I sound bitter about Service Modules ? A bit. I’ve had a number of hard to solve problems that lasted months before code fixes arrived. I’ve been fan of the NAM but the price is now far removed from it’s practical value. USD$30K List is way over priced for its capabilities and even with a 30% discount, you can buy a lot of network management systems that deliver much better functions and features for that price.
Recently Iíve come across some interesting terms for variants of common network topologies, so I decided I’d try to list as many of them as I can for reference. Please suggest others to add.
A while back Greg wrote a great article about the “Rules of Design Documentation”†http://etherealmind.com/rules-design-documentation-etherealmind/these are really valuable rules when it comes to writing a design document and in my opinion is particularly relevant to a Low Level Design AKA Detailed Design Document. Ask yourself Before you can apply these rules of design you must [...]
Easy peasy lemon squeezy This seems a straightforward question! Just load up with advanced IP services license, install the license file and reboot the switch and you should be good to go. Well that’s what I thought until recently when I done the very steps above and on the surface seemed okay but I wanted [...]
