Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: I was able to watch a good chunk of the morning session of the OpenFlow Symposium in San Jose. The stream was having issues at the beginning of the afternoon session, plus I was pulled away for other issues, so I was only able to watch the morning session. I’d like to provide a bit of a write-up from what I was able to catch, and point out some of the highlights that I took interest in from the day’s speakers. For those that haven’t heard – OpenFlow is the newest iteration of Software Defined Networking, which abstracts the control plane…
OpenFlow Symposium 2011 – Morning Session
October 27, 2011 by 2 Comments
Well there’s your problem….
October 25, 2011 by 1 Comment
I think they refer to this as a Layer 1 issue:
Link-State vs. Distance Vector – The Lowdown
October 25, 2011 by 2 Comments
Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: I’ve been trying to get more into networking message boards like Networking Forum and TechExams.net lately. It’s a great way to get in touch with fellow packet lovers and gain some interesting perspectives along the way. In fact, it’s great for anyone in networking, whether you’re a hardened veteran or a newbie – there’s usually a place for you in at least one of these sites. As a result, I’ve seen quite a few posts asking about fundamental concepts, which is great because it shows that new networkers are getting out there and learning new things proactively. I’d like to address one such post…
Network Humor: Partial Mesh
October 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Partial Mesh
[pahr-shuh
l mesh]
noun
1. A type of networking where each node must not only capture and disseminate its own data, but also serve as a relay for other nodes, that is, it must collaborate to propagate the data in the network.
2. What happens to your screen doors when you get cats
Image and definition courtesy of Wikipedia
Neighbor Solicitation – IPv6′s Replacement for ARP
October 9, 2011 by 15 Comments
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Excerpt: Like most others that start tinkering with IPv6, I quickly learned that there was no such thing as broadcasts on v6 networks. Since I thought that was a pretty revolutionary concept, I started thinking about all the protocols that until now have relied upon the ability to send via broadcast. The first that came to mind was ARP, which resolves known IP addresses to unknown MAC addresses by sending to the Layer 2 broadcast address of FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF. It wasn’t thought of as a big deal when TCP/IP was first invented, but now it’s rather pesky, as each broadcast, ARP included,…
Virtual Switching System (VSS) on Cisco Catalyst 6500
October 5, 2011 by 7 Comments
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Excerpt: I’m currently working on a project that, among other things, involves the installation of two Catalyst 6509 switches. I was recently shown a redundancy feature that I had never heard of before called Virtual Switching System (VSS). The more I looked at it, the cooler it was. The main reason for VSS is something that is typically addressed when there are redundant routing platforms on a network. There are actually quite a few solutions that can be used in the presence of redundant devices, such as the popular and Cisco-proprietary Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), or the IETF open standard Virtual…
I Am “Cisco Man”
October 3, 2011 by 1 Comment
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Excerpt: Hello. Let me begin by saying you have arrived. Pardon me, where are my manners? I am CiscoMan – the comforting presence at the top of a large number of Cisco documents such as configuration and installation notes for Catalyst switches. I’m here to tell you that everything is going to be alright – that it’s okay to be scared. CiscoMan is here to help you out. Believe me, you’re not my first. Most people that see me are just like you. Maybe your network is down, or you’re struggling through a difficult configuration – either way, I got you covered. Look at the way…
