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It's been a while, hope all are well. This is a behind the scenes update to share with you what has been going on with us at NC and where we are headed. Short story, we've taken a break but are getting back to it with new content, new ideas, and quite a few changes. If you want a heads up on what is coming, give this episode a listen. If you like surprises, well just ride it out and you'll see soon enough. It's good to be back. 

In this episode, Phil and Brandon interview Kary Rogers, AKA PacketBomb, and discuss the need to drill down into packets when troubleshooting. The group shares a few stories from the trenches on how packets helped them solve issues and Kary explains how he got started looking at Packets for deeper information. Reference Links: https://community.riverbed.com https://riverbed.com Kary Rogers Guest Phil Gervasi Host Brandon Carroll Host The post The Packets Never Lie appeared first on Network Collective.

A few weeks ago we released an episode on the fundamentals of gRPC. And while programmatic interfaces are excellent tools for network automation, often that is only the beginning of the story. That’s no exception with gRPC. In this episode we continue down the path of that gRPC conversation and into gNMI, a standards based approached to programmatic interaction with network devices utilizing gRPC. We discuss what it is, how it works, and where it stands in today’s fast moving environment. Relevant Links: Cisco’s reference to using gNMI with Python Nick Russo’s Evolving Technologies book gNMIc Tool Nick Russo Guest Roman Dodin Guest Tony Efantis Host Jordan Martin Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post What is gNMI? appeared first on Network Collective.

In this episode we will discuss the idea of SD-WAN vs. Application Acceleration and WANop.  With the proliferation of SD-WAN we’ve heard a lot of people say that SD-WAN gives you the traffic control, but does it negate the need for application acceleration or WAN optimization tools?  We attack this common misconception and discuss our stance on the matter in this episode. Reference Links: https://www.riverbed.com/blogs/sd-wan-or-wan-optimization.html https://community.riverbed.com https://riverbed.com Phil Gervasi Host Brandon Carroll Host John Pittle Guest The post The case for App Acceleration with SD-WAN appeared first on Network Collective.

As the world of network automation continues to evolve, we are seeing different options emerge in how we programmatically interface with our devices. In this episode we take a look at one of the newest and more interesting methods, gRPC. gRPC was developed by Google as a way to execute remote procedure calls in the orchestration of their system and includes such concepts as Protocol Buffers, authentication, bidirectional streaming, and flow control. Join us as we dive into how gRPC works, why it’s different than what you may already know, and why you may want to look into using it to orchestrate your infrastructure. Nick Russo Guest Darren O'Connor Guest Tony Efantis Host Jordan Martin Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post Introduction To gRPC appeared first on Network Collective.

In this episode, we talk with Dinesh Dutt, former Cisco Fellow & Cumulus Chief Scientist, and Justin Pietsch, former AWS veteran, about SuzieQ. SuzieQ is an open source network observability platform they launched last year. We talk about the general problem space of network monitoring and how the industry needs better tools to understand operational state data. Reference Links: https://github.com/netenglabs/suzieq https://suzieq.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ https://elegantnetwork.github.io/index.html Dinesh Dutt Guest Justin Pietsch Guest Jason Edelman Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post SuzieQ with Dinesh Dutt and Justin Pietsch appeared first on Network Collective.

In this episode we discuss the 80/20 rule for SaaS and IaaS, what it is according to Vince, and why you should care. Is this a temporary phenomenon due to the pandemic and WFH or is it how we should view WAN traffic from now on?  We’ll answer that question and more in this episode. Reference Links: https://community.riverbed.com https://riverbed.com Brandon Carroll Host Phil Gervasi Host Vince Berk Host The post 80/20 Rule For SaaS and IaaS appeared first on Network Collective.

In looking back on 2020 we think about all of the things we did to keep ourselves busy. Some of us starting baking bread at home, some started home gardens, and if you are part of the networking twitter community you probably saw a lot of folks chasing some new certifications. Throughout 2020, with isolation and the pandemic in full swing, networking vendors and certification facilitators found ways to serve the community by providing remote exams and free trainings. Whether it was the need to stay busy or trying to learn something new, whatever your reason is to pursue a new certification, the question is which one? With 2020 now behind us and our future constantly changing, which certifications will give you the biggest impact for 2021 and beyond? In today’s episode we talk to 2 prominent networking influencers: Ernest the “Cisco Panther” and Yasmin Lara the “mom who can fix anything” We’ll go over topics covering their certification journey how it’s positioned them to continue growth throughout the pandemic and which certifications give you the best bang for your buck for 2021 and beyond. Yasmin Lara Guest Ernest Ogbuanya Guest Tony Efantis Host Jordan Martin Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post High Value Certifications For 2021 And Beyond appeared first on Network Collective.

In this episode, we sit down with Ivan Pepelnjak and talk about the state of networking.  We briefly talk about cloud-networking and move onto network automation discussing the pros & cons of the various solutions and frameworks in the market highlighting the importance of extensibility.  Finally, we talk about Ivan’s new open source project targeted to simplify the process of standing up a new virtual lab environment. Relevant Links https://github.com/ipspace/netsim-tools Ivan Pepelnjak Guest Jason Edelman Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post The State Of Networking With Ivan Pepelnjak appeared first on Network Collective.

Networking is one of the industries where every time a good idea comes around it doesn’t take long for that idea to get coopted and turned into something to sell products, often drastically changing the intent of the original idea. Today we’re going to try to roll back the clock a bit and discuss the original idea around Intent Based Networking. What is it? What does it mean for you? And how do products fit into the original intent. Show Notes Compare/contrast the original intent of Intent Based Networking with what it has been marketed as Trajectory towards Intent Based Networks Traditional models Automation added Orchestration added Intent added Three pillars of Intent Based Networking Defining Intent Fulfilling Intent Assuring Intent Gaps between the vision and current reality Approach vs. Product – what’s the right way to think about Intent Based Networking Daren Fulwell Guest Tony Efantis Host Jordan Martin Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post The Real Intent Behind Intent Based Networking appeared first on Network Collective.

In this episode we (Brandon, Phil, and Vince) introduce ourselves and share what drives our passion for network visibility and performance.  While we are all from Riverbed, this is not your typical vendor podcast.  We have a lot planned to discuss around why visibility is a key that networks must focus on today.  We talk about cloud and what that overused blanket term really means to us, and how migrations to the cloud are a key time to ensure that we have visibility into apps that have been forgotten, where our data is, what’s leaving the cloud, and what the performance looks like, before, during, and after. We touch on Security, AI/ML, and performance as well, as we setup shop and plan to discuss these areas in further detail. Reference Links: https://community.riverbed.com https://riverbed.com Brandon Carroll Host Phil Gervasi Host Vince Berk Host The post Introduction To The Riverbed Technical Podcast appeared first on Network Collective.

Running and building a regional provider network is a challenging proposition. When your network is your profit center, every decision is made through a different lens. Add a global pandemic on top and you’re certainly going to walk away with a few lessons learned. In this episode we talk with Marek Isalski about his experiences building and operating a regional provider network in the UK. Show Notes Faelix Overview  How did Faelix get started? What services does Faelix offer? How many people are on your team? Move from Mikrotik to VyOS Motivated by a few factors, including CVE-2018-19299 Using NetBox as a single source of truth How do we do logical topology stuff, like OSPF, BGP, in netbox? Have open-sourced our project for mixing saltstack + netbox + vyos Recent bugs encountered: FRR (RPKI crash in early 2020) FRR (ospfv3 crash in late 2020) Intel i40e NIC drivers (late 2020) Standing up three new POPs in the height of travel restrictions of 2020 Presentations/Recordings UKNOF: NetMCR: Networkers in & around the Manchester etc… Links https://www.uknof.org.uk/ https://www.netmcr.uk/ https://twitter.com/maznu Marek Isalski Guest Tony Efantis Host Jordan Martin Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post Lessons Learned From A Regional Provider Network appeared first on Network Collective.

In today’s episode we’re talking about IPv6. More specifically, we discuss what it takes to run an IPv6 only network. Why now? And why not dual stack? Well, in the middle of November (2019), the US government put out a memo outlining their updated guidelines and expectations for IPv6. In it, they mandate a future vision of 80% of devices connected to IPv6 only networks by 2025. That’s not that far away. So, as many of our peers who work in US federal organizations are preparing for a world that is IPv6 only, we figured it might be time for us to do the same.  Show Notes Impact of OMB memo (is this the same as last time or not?) Other IPv4 Flag days (turn off IPv4) Washington State Policy 300, IPv4 decommissioned Dec. 31, 2025 https://ocio.wa.gov/policy/statewide-migration-ipv6 China 100% by 2025  https://blog.apnic.net/2019/06/06/100-by-2025-china-getting-serious-about-ipv6/  IPv4 Flag Day (February 1st, 2030)   https://ipv4flagday.net/ Benefits of running an IPv6-only network IPv6 has the potential to perform better than IPv4 Prevailing recommendation for IPv6 adoption has been dual stack. This memo mandates IPv6 only network adoption. What are some of the additional considerations that need to be considered when jumping straight from IPv4 to IPv6.  What is the current state of IPv6 networking hardware today?  Data Plane Management Plane Orchestration? What are some of the biggest hurdles to adopting IPv6 exclusive networks, as compared to a dual-stack approach? Other challenges of IPv6-only Disabling IPv4-stack on hosts, how to signal to them that this is an IPv6-only access network   Thank you to BlueCat Networks for sponsoring today’s episode. BlueCat is putting together some great content and a great community surrounding the topics of DNS, DHCP, and IPAM. You can join the Network VIP community and register for the next roundtable by going to bluecatnetworks.com/certainty. Thank you to Unimus for sponsoring today’s episode. Unimus is a fast to deploy and easy to use Network Automation and Configuration Management solution. You can learn more about how you can start automating your network in under 15 minutes at unimus.net/nc. Nick Buraglio Guest Scott Hogg Guest Tony Efantis Host Jordan Martin Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post Running IPv6 Only Networks appeared first on Network Collective.

In this episode, we talk with Damien Garros from Network to Code. Damien works with clients on a daily basis architecting and implementing Source of Truth strategies for network automation solutions.  We spend time talking through how to best approach source of truth, how to solve the age-old problem of populating the source of truth, and talk about several open source projects that can help you on your source of truth journey. Reference Links: https://github.com/networktocode/ntc-netbox-pluginonboarding https://github.com/networktocode/network-importer https://github.com/networktocode/diffsync https://github.com/networktocode/ntc-netbox-plugin-metrics-ext Damien Garros Guest Jason Edelman Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post NTC – Damien Garros – Source Of Truth appeared first on Network Collective.

All you have to do is take a look around you and it becomes obvious that people just simply don’t like change. Conversely, all you have to do is look around you and it becomes obvious that our industry is in almost a constant state of change. How do we reconcile these things? How can we adapt to the ever changing world around us, and how can we utilize this knowledge to be more effective influencers of change within our organizations and within our jobs. Links YouTube Live Stream: https://tnc.li/youtube  Nick Buraglio’s Website: https://forwardingplane.net/ Kevin Myer’s / IP Architechs: https://iparchitechs.com/ Show Notes Now this topic, like many of the topics that have become episodes on Network Collective lately, was prompted by a conversation in the Network Collective Slack. It has an IPv6 bend to it, as IPv6 seems to be the change the industry continually likes to avoid, but the avoidance of change isn’t something new. Nick, I’m going to start with you. Do you think the aversion to change in our industry is just a reflection of being human, or do you think there is more to it than that. What are some examples of where reluctance to change is causing us challenges IPv6 L2 adjacency dependence (legacy applications) The SDN “revolution” Automation (cattle vs. pets) Are there justifiable reasons for networkers to be resistant to change Everything depends on the network so stability is key We’re constantly being sold change as the answer to every problem – sometimes mature/proven solutions are the way to go Marketing fluff Money/ROI What are some of your tips for navigating change  Attitude (cynicism, snark is killing us) Confidence Specifically in fundamentals Fear of failure Stop firefighting Stop being the victim Try to make data based decisions (remove emotion from the equation) What are some of your tips for influencing change Take the time to understand motivations Understand it’s natural to fear change Communicate, communicate, communicate Build trust   Thank you to BlueCat Networks for sponsoring today’s episode. BlueCat is putting together some great content and a great community surrounding the topics of DNS, DHCP, and IPAM. You can join the Network VIP community and register for the next roundtable by going to bluecatnetworks.com/certainty. Thank you to Unimus for sponsoring today’s episode. Unimus is a fast to deploy and easy to use Network Automation and Configuration Management solution. You can learn more about how you can start automating your network in under 15 minutes at

A conversation in the Network Collective Slack prompted some conversation about how to build a network. No, not the packet switched networks that we’re all so familiar with, but rather a personal network of peers. Not everyone has the privilege to attend trade shows and conferences throughout the year, and all of us have lacked that privilege for a while now due to Covid, so how does one build a pervasive network without in-person events. We also discuss some methods to set yourself apart from the crowd in ways that don’t include peer relationships. Links: YouTube Live Stream: https://tnc.li/youtube    Thank you to BlueCat Networks for sponsoring today’s episode. BlueCat is putting together some great content and a great community surrounding the topics of DNS, DHCP, and IPAM. You can join the Network VIP community and register for the next roundtable by going to bluecatnetworks.com/certainty. Thank you to Unimus for sponsoring today’s episode. Unimus is a fast to deploy and easy to use Network Automation and Configuration Management solution. You can learn more about how you can start automating your network in under 15 minutes at unimus.net/nc. Tony Efantis Host Jordan Martin Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post Building A Network (no, the other kind) appeared first on Network Collective.

From working in unbelievable environments to dealing with unexpected bugs, the longer that you do networking for a career the more likely it is that you have a story or two from the trenches to share. Listening to other’s adventures can serve both as a cathartic release and as a warning for roads to leave untraveled. In today’s episode we talk with some experienced engineers about their stories. If nothing else, you as the listener can have some laughs at our expense. Enjoy!   Thank you to BlueCat Networks for sponsoring today’s episode. BlueCat is putting together some great content and a great community surrounding the topics of DNS, DHCP, and IPAM. You can join the Network VIP community and register for the next roundtable by going to bluecatnetworks.com/certainty. Thank you to Unimus for sponsoring today’s episode. Unimus is a fast to deploy and easy to use Network Automation and Configuration Management solution. You can learn more about how you can start automating your network in under 15 minutes at unimus.net/nc. Amy Arnold Guest Chris Cummings Guest Tony Efantis Host Jordan Martin Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post War Stories – The Trilogy appeared first on Network Collective.

In this podcast, we sit down with Daren Fulwell.  Daren is a long-time network engineer, CCIE and CCDE, and is now a network automation evangelist.  Tune in to hear about not only Daren’s journey, but a great discussion dissecting the intersection of SDN, intent-based networking, and how we need more focus on understanding operational processes and workflows to really make a dent within a network automation journey. Reference Links: https://ipfabric.io/ https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-irtf-nmrg-ibn-concepts-definitions-02 Daren Fulwell Guest Jason Edelman Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post NTC – A Conversation With Daren Fulwell appeared first on Network Collective.

Every few years the industry takes a significant step towards a more holistic and capable security model. At the beginning, everything and everyone was trusted, and for good reason. You knew every operator and every machine that was connected to the network. But as networks have become ubiquitous, that level of trust is simply unreasonable. So we’ve built firewalls, and differing levels of inspection, but all of these tools still allow for some implicit level of trust between a machine and those machines closest to them. That is changing and that is what we’re here to talk about today. The newest trend in security is the concept of zero trust, and while it’s suffering the common plight of any new trend with multiple vendors trying to shape the definition, removing implicit trust in our networks is the next logical step towards a truly secure infrastructure. Additional Resources NIST special publication 800-207 Takes a pragmatic approach Probably the best doc on zero trust arch today https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-207-draft2.pdf Gilman, E., Barth, D. (2017). Zero Trust Networks : building secure systems in untrusted networks. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media. This is a great book on implementing zero trust in a cloud native application environment. No More Chewy Centers : Introducing The Zero Trust Model Of Information Security The rosetta stone of zero trust https://media.paloaltonetworks.com/documents/Forrester-No-More-Chewy-Centers.pdf Kindervag, J. (2010). Build Security Into Your Network’s DNA: The Zero Trust Network Architecture Good doc for understand the logic of big honking firewall http://www.virtualstarmedia.com/downloads/Forrester_zero_trust_DNA.pdf   Network Collective thanks NVIDIA for sponsoring today’s episode. NVIDIA is positioned as the leader in open networking and provides end-to-end solutions at all layers of the software and hardware stack. You can experience NVIDIA Cumulus in the Cloud for free!  Head on over to: https://cumulusnetworks.com/ncpod to see what a modern open network operating system looks like for yourself. Steve McNutt Guest Darrel Clute Guest Tony Efantis Host Jordan Martin Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post What Is A Zero Trust Network Architecture appeared first on Network Collective.

The packet capture is the one tool in the network engineer’s pocket that doesn’t lie. Or does it? In this episode we talk about the fundamental components of packet captures and how to use them effectively in troubleshooting and managing your network. It’s also time for the NetDevOps survey. Whether you’re someone who utilizes automation as a fundamental tool of your network or someone who is just thinking about starting an automation journey, your input is needed. Please take a few minutes to fill out the NetDevOps Survey.   Network Collective thanks NVIDIA for sponsoring today’s episode. NVIDIA is positioned as the leader in open networking and provides end-to-end solutions at all layers of the software and hardware stack. You can experience NVIDIA Cumulus in the Cloud for free!  Head on over to: https://cumulusnetworks.com/automationpod to see what a modern open network operating system looks like for yourself. Jasper Bongertz Guest Tom Peterson Guest Tony Efantis Host Jordan Martin Host Outro Music: Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post PCAP Or It Didn’t Happen appeared first on Network Collective.