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Is Your Network "Cloud Ready"?
October 17, 2011 9:45 AM
I am as tired of the whole "cloud" blitz as you are. But I can assure you that someone will ask you if your network is cloud-ready at some point this year. It is easy to just say "yes," but is that the truth? What does being cloud-ready mean? That depends. Do you plan on being the cloud, using the cloud or both? Let's leave being the cloud alone for now and talk about using the cloud. Is your network ready to use the cloud? Here are some steps you need to take before you say yes.
Crunching The Virtualization Numbers
September 16, 2010 9:34 AM
Network engineers are doing a good job of handling virtualization in their environments. Yes, you heard that right. There are some performance problems, but the adjustment from physical to virtual servers has not resulted in a large uptick in the key Layer 2 KPIs that we use to quantify LAN performance. That means that the cries from application teams about the LAN under-performing now that servers and their corresponding applications are virtualized is not based in fact. So, let's look at some facts.
IT Is Woefully Behind Network Updates
August 31, 2010 1:00 PM
The focus on software features and APIs in network equipment means a renewed emphasis on network maintenance that is severely lacking today. Network automation, adaptation and virtualization are increasingly focused around the software features of network equipment. The days of "speeds and feeds" have given way to the API. It is funny, I hear so much talk about APIs from network vendors that I am waiting for someone to tell me about the "Virtual, open-source, multi-port network appliance." It is probably out there already, so send me the link if you have it.
LISP's Future Is Not In The Data Center
July 21, 2010 11:30 AM
LISP (Locator/Identifier Separation Protocol) is an IETF draft protocol that separates location information from host information on the Internet. The essential problem that LISP is designed to solve is the cost and viability of increasingly large Internet routing tables. As a side benefit, LISP is also touted as addressing the lack of flexibility and mobility in Internet routing architectures that limit the ability of an enterprise, or even an individual user, from moving providers or locations easily.
Despite A Claim of Five-Nines Uptime, A 48 Hour Outage Blew The Curve
July 09, 2010 10:45 AM
As an organization that prides itself on working smarter, not harder, we have been an early adopter of cloud computing. This has meant learning the hard way that just because an application is "in the cloud" does not mean it is more scalable, more reliable, or that it performs any better than if you ran it on a server down the hall. If you are considering any type of "cloud" variation, you had better take the time to address much more than just the technology you are trying to offload from your data center.
Network Automation In The Field
June 15, 2010 3:30 PM
Has virtual Networking met its match? I mentioned last week that network automation holds huge potential for network architects. It gives you control of not only the normal behavior in your environment, but it extends this to allow you to check configurations before they are deployed, monitors changes in the network and take corrective action, and in the case of our test, gathers important statistics and detailed information and sends it to you for further analysis.
Tomorrow's Network Automation Today
June 02, 2010 2:30 PM
Switch infrastructure vendors are leading the way in opening up a broad set of capabilities for network engineers. Network automation, or network scripting, combines the functionality of network infrastructure devices with simple scripts that empower network engineers to move beyond passive network monitoring and post-mortem analysis to real-time adaptive networks. The question is will it work and how can you use it in a practical manner?
Virtual Networking Is Not A Requirement
May 17, 2010 12:50 PM
Our clients ask us how network virtualization can help them and what it means for their IT priorities. I think most concepts of network virtualization add significant complexity to our IP networks where we really don't need it. In most cases, we tell our customers that it won't help much and that there are many other things they should worry about first.
Fumble Your MPLS Handoff: Shaping And Policing
April 13, 2010 10:00 AM
Getting maximum performance from an MPLS network that is managed by the carrier and delivered via an Ethernet hand-off can be a challenge for your network if you don't take some additional steps to utilize it effectively. We see performance issues in these topologies on a regular basis. Think about this: how do you know if you are dropping traffic or your traffic is being slowed down considerably in some virtually bottomless queue across the MPLS cloud? Hopefully, your only feedback mechanism isn't the help desk. Don't trust the carrier to provide you with any shaping or any protection for traffic over your purchased rate. For that matter, don't even trust them for that. Make sure you actively test the MPLS cloud at least quarterly. There are some steps you can take to improve this performance before the traffic leaves your network.
You Still Have Time To Catch Up With 10GbE
April 01, 2010 11:49 AM
We're all hurtling toward the next generation network in the next few years, and this is reflected in vendor marketing. But IT lives in the moment. Before we start looking to the future, let's spend a little time reviewing where we are. I took a quick sample of 109 analytics engagements over the past four months and decided to find out where those organizations are on this path to the future. Specifically, I wanted to see if the drive to 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) is as pervasive as it would seem from listening to vendors such as Cisco, Brocade and HP
Best of the Web
VXLAN termination on physical devices
VXLAN is an Experimental IETF draft of protocols to enable the creation of a large overlay, multi-tenant network.
ONF Deadly Serious About OpenFlow-Based SDNs
: OpenFlow is poised to reach over-hyped status, yet there are practical, useful reasons for keeping an eye on Openflow. The biggest cloud players are involved and driving the feature creation.
Practical Introduction to Applied OpenFlow
Get a primer on the Openflow protocol and what it can do for networking.
On Resilience of Spit-Architecture Networks
This research papers investigates the practical issues in split-architecture networks and the placement of the controllers, such as Openflow controllers, in the network.
