Archive of posts with year '2014'
HP is making more resources available to help with learning Comware. They’ve added free labs and courses to the already published simulators and virtual routers. This is a good resource for those looking...
Review schemes are useful for identifying good consumer products and applications. But that doesn’t mean that everything needs to prompt me to leave a review. Cisco has started prompting for reviews for IOS versions, but...
Whenever you build a complex system, you need to test that it works as expected, including properly handling failures. It’s easy enough to do simple component failure testing, but harder to...
HP has finally announced a migration path for Operations Manager to OMi. It’s about time too. This looks like a good path. If you want to stick with HP Software for managing...
We’re approaching Christmas, and for many of us, that means we’re about to enter an extended change freeze. This means an extended period when we shouldn’t change anything, hoping to improve stability. ITIL Change Management...
This article is Part 8 in a 12-Part Series. Part 1 - War Stories: Loops that Permanently Broke the Network Part 2 - War Stories: Switches Lying about Duplex Mismatches...
Outsourcing is complex, and there are lots of ways it can go wrong, or simply fail to deliver. I’ve put together a list of things that I see going wrong...
Somehow I missed this when it was announced, but the Juniper SRX-110H-VA is End of Life, and is no longer supported for new software releases.
It is a stereotype, but engineers really do like whiteboards. Problem is, you can’t carry one around with you. Plus there’s still a few unenlightened employers who don’t provide whiteboards....
It’s pretty common practice to ‘comment out’ lines in scripts. The code stays in place, but doesn’t get executed. Perfect for testing, when you might need more debug output, or you want...
Many of the ‘security’ measures in our networks add complexity. That may be an acceptable tradeoff, if we make a meaningful difference to security. But often it feels like we...
This article is Part 7 in a 12-Part Series. Part 1 - War Stories: Loops that Permanently Broke the Network Part 2 - War Stories: Switches Lying about Duplex Mismatches...
There’s a constant tension between delivering new services, and running the existing services well. How do you figure out how to prioritise work between Operations tasks and Project work? Skewing...
Years ago a wise engineer gave me these rules for meetings:
Recently I’ve been idly speculating about how campus networking could be shaken up, with different cost and management models. A few recent podcasts have inspired some thoughts on how Cumulus Networks might fit...
Recently I’ve been thinking about Root Cause Analysis (RCA), and how it’s not perfect, but there may be hope for the future.
Recently I posted about Rewarding Effort vs Results, how different contract structures can have different outcomes. This post covers Time & Materials vs Fixed-Price a little more, looking at pros & cons,...
Andrisoft Wansight and Wanguard are tools for network traffic monitoring, visibility, anomaly detection and response. I’ve used them, and think that they do a good job, for a reasonable price....
I’m currently reading and enjoying “The Practice of Cloud System Administration.” It doesn’t go into great depth in any one area, but it covers a range of design patterns and implementation...
We all know that IT changes rapidly, but we still don’t always accept what that means. Companies and technologies change over time, and good engineers recognise this. Poor engineers cling...
Sometimes we confuse effort with outcome. We think that hours spent are more important than outcomes achieved. Or we unintentionally create a system where effort is rewarded, rather than outcomes....
Yes, we know: Your product has an API. Yawn. Sorry for not getting excited. That’s just table stakes now. What I’m interested in is the pre-written integrations and code you...
In Episode 167 of The Cloudcast - “Bringing Advanced Analytics to DevOps”, Dave Hayes brings up an interesting point about Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR). At about 8:30 in, he...
Almost every SDN vendor today talks about policy, how they make it easy to express and enforce network policies. Cisco ACI, VMware NSX, Nuage Networks, OpenStack Congress, etc. This sounds...
Automated Root Cause Analysis promises a lot. High-end network monitoring systems promise that they can automatically isolate network problems, and only tell you about the thing that needs fixing. This sounds...
BYOD policies sound alluring. No more forced use of a crappy old corporate laptop - “hey look, we’ll let you choose whatever you want!” But I think it is a way to...
If you’re just starting out working with ‘Enterprise’ products, you may not have come across Support Lifecycles. It’s important to know what these are, and how it affects you. They...
Shellshock was released a little over a month ago, to wide predictions of doom & gloom. But somehow the Internet survived, and we lurch on towards the next crisis. I...
I have recently started working with Check Point products again, after a 5-year break. This has given me a different perspective on how they are progressing. It has been disappointing to...
Some people are corporate survivors, sticking with one company for decades. Some people move around when it suits, while others would like to move, but are fearful of change. Here’s...
HP’s SDN App Store has finally seen the light of day. This is intended to be a common platform for users and developers, to find and distributed real-world, practical SDN applications....
Utility, or Consumption-Based pricing models offer an interesting way of matching costs to revenues. But if they’re not managed well, customer costs could blow out just trying to keep the...
We all know that you’re supposed to “Know Your Audience.” Doing so improves engagement, and avoids faux pas like “Suggested Tweets.” But recently I realised that this doesn’t have to be subtle....
The Chassis Switch is Dead. For most networks, chassis-based switches are no longer appropriate due to cost, inflexibility and risk. I see this as similar to servers, in that server...
The term “Single Pane of Glass” became something of a running joke during Network Field Day 8. The term has become over-used & abused, and it’s time we stopped using...
ThousandEyes is a network monitoring company that provides application performance visibility across the Internet. They don’t just show how an application is performing, but can identify where across the Internet issues...
Why is it that people will pay a lot of money for a consultant’s time and expertise, but then hobble them by limiting the tools they can use?
TFTP was first defined in 1980. That is a very long time ago in IT, and while it’s had a good run, it’s time for network engineers to stop using...
Consolidation is happening in the New Zealand wholesale ISP market, with Vocus acquiring FX. Consolidation can lead to less competition, or it can strengthen it, by making players stronger and...
CPUG, a Check Point user forum, is near death. The owner has been forced to get rid of it, but rather doing a graceful handover, it has been shut down...
A year ago I asked “Has HP Abandoned Operations Manager?” There had been no significant development for a long time, and the signs were that HP was moving away from...
HP NNMi version 10.0 has been released. This is a good release, with many usability enhancements. I’m pleased to see continued development, as the future nirvana of all-powerful software defined networks...
I’ve written before about “Why Screen Scraping Sucks.” Well, I can report that nothing has changed. It still sucks. This time I got caught out by the changed behaviour of...
This article is Part 6 in a 12-Part Series. Part 1 - War Stories: Loops that Permanently Broke the Network Part 2 - War Stories: Switches Lying about Duplex Mismatches...
Packetpushers show 198 was a great episode about Network Automation. At one point, Greg asks:
ScienceLogic 7.5 includes many enhancements and new features. One I’m interested in is “Global Manager” which can be used to massively scale out the ScienceLogic architecture. Here’s some more detail on...
I have an HP 2910al switch in my lab. I was running firmware version W.15.12.0012, but needed to upgrade, to fix a bug where “~” gets added to the snmp...
HP has released an updated Network Simulator. This uses VirtualBox to provide a hypervisor, as opposed to QEMU in earlier versions. When I tried it previously, it was unusably slow....
Network equipment pricing has traditionally been based around hardware, even though most of the cost comes from the software. Trends such as bare-metal switching will clarify this cost/price relationship. But are we...
A reader asked how I use OmniFocus to help with studying for certification exams. Here’s how I’m using OmniFocus to help with CCDE study. This may not be the ‘best’...
I am lucky enough to be invited to attend Network Field Day 8 this September, in Silicon Valley. For 3 days, I get to hang out with some of the smartest people...
Network monitoring is often a reactive process. Engineers see an alarm, and take action. Alarms mean someone broke something, and it needs attention. Deal with the alarms, and all will...
We don’t see as many comments on blog posts these days, as most discussion has moved to other forums, such as Twitter or Google+. But this doesn’t mean that comments...
Dobias van Ingen is working to get an HP Networking scripting community together. This is to take advantage of various HPN scripting capabilities, such as:
Counter data types are commonly used in SNMP monitoring. They are extremely useful, but there’s a couple of caveats around how to use them. Here’s a couple of issues I’ve...
I switched this blog over to using CloudFlare a few days ago. It’s all been pretty painless, and I highly recommend it to others.
APNIC entered their “final /8” phase in April 2011. From that time, new and existing APNIC members could request a maximum of one IPv4 /22 prefix. Once you had requested...
Fortinet makes an email security/anti-spam appliance called FortiMail. I wanted to collect spam and virus statistics from it, to integrate with our Network Monitoring Systems. Unfortunately the data is not exposed via SNMP or API,...
I freely admit to not truly understanding the American political/economic system. Sure, I get the general mechanics of it, but I don’t understand the subtle plays, and why people do certain...
Packet Pushers normally focuses on networking, but episode 192 covered “Logging Design and Best Practices.” I often think about logging in the context of network management, so it was good...
Cisco ACI represents a significant shift in the way we approach networking. This sort of shift will need massive customer education to explain their new vision. I’m getting the impression...
I periodically re-evaluate my career, and my current position, and try to decide A) Should I change, and B) What sort of change should I make? One part of evaluating...
This article is Part 5 in a 12-Part Series. Part 1 - War Stories: Loops that Permanently Broke the Network Part 2 - War Stories: Switches Lying about Duplex Mismatches...
Proxy ARP was often used in network designs 10–15 years ago, to enable NAT. It helped get around some specific challenges, but it was always an administrative hassle, and caused...
When I’m evaluating products, I’m more interested in their progression and development, than the exact feature list currently shipping. I like products that have a frequent release cycle, with a...
I use a Juniper SRX 110 at home, and my ISP is enlightened enough to offer IPv6 by default to all customers. My devices are dual-stack, and I know that a...
Good documentation is critical to the success of any product. Write clear deployment & configuration information, and you’ll have a higher project success rate. Detailed command references and troubleshooting information...
Most Network Management Systems are built to make it easy to poll data via SNMP. But ‘interesting’ data is not always available via SNMP. Sometimes it’s in another format, such...
This article is Part 4 in a 12-Part Series. Part 1 - War Stories: Loops that Permanently Broke the Network Part 2 - War Stories: Switches Lying about Duplex Mismatches...
A Miktrotik course was held in my area recently, and I thought “They make some really cool stuff, and it’s amazing value. Maybe I should go on the course?” But then...
I got angry and swore and shouted during a business meeting recently, when I felt someone was doing a poor job. Ultimately this reflected poorly on me, not the other...
Earlier this year I came across Scalyr, a newer player in the cloud-based log management scene. They’re taking a slightly different approach to products like Loggly and Splunk. I’ve been...
A recent Gigaom article asks: “Will transparent caching reshape the future of video on the internet?”
HP has announced that HP Master ASE holders can now get VIP support. This is supposed to give me:
SNMP may be outdated, and is definitely unloved, but it still serves a purpose. We’re moving to a new world, with new methods and data structures for interrogating and configuring...
SDN is the buzzword du jour in the networking industry, but it’s hard to make sense of what it might mean for “normal” people. Here’s my take on what SDN...
In New Zealand, one company controls the copper cabling delivered to houses. They sell access to Retail ISPs, at a fixed price. Individual customer connections are mapped through to the...
Technical people often have problems with Project Managers. It doesn’t have to be this way though - if you can each recognise the other’s strengths and weaknesses, you can work...
The “Best of Interop 2014 Finalists” have been announced. Pretty much all the products and technologies that you would expect, but I found the categorisation interesting. As you’d expect, there’s...
SDN career certifications are starting to emerge. Network engineers are well-used to certifications, and use them as a badge of marking progress. But developers prefer to focus on code, not...
Network Field Day 7 had many interesting presentations and discussions. I’m still working through them all, but one from Dell caught my eye, where they declared that CCIEs were no...
Vendor ‘clubs’ or programs have troubled me for some time. They are not all bad, but I am concerned about the influence that vendors are trying to exert, and the...
Many engineers struggle with business writing. They get easily lost in detail, and produce tortured documents that are technically correct, but of little business value. This is classic “technician” or...
A quick reminder - do not use the symbol ‘@’ in SNMPv1/2 community strings. I came across this again this week - it causes issues with monitoring some equipment, and...
This article is Part 3 in a 12-Part Series. Part 1 - War Stories: Loops that Permanently Broke the Network Part 2 - War Stories: Switches Lying about Duplex Mismatches...
The CCIE Routing & Switching v5 blueprint introduces a new module in the lab exam: DIAG. This section does not have any direct device access, but instead uses a variety...
Previously I’ve looked at the overall ScienceLogic architecture, and HA options for the Collectors and UI. This post looks at DR and HA options for the core Database layer - the...
Earlier I looked at the basics of ScienceLogic EM7 architecture. I didn’t cover how to achieve HA or DR with ScienceLogic. The architecture offers a few options for doing this,...
IPv4 exhaustion is a real issue for large parts of the world. IPv6 is the long-term solution, but it doesn’t solve today’s problems facing ISPs. Alternatives are needed - either...
HP recently released “Simware”, a Comware network simulator that lets you create test networks of emulated Comware switches and routers. This can be used to create “virtual” networks, ideal for...
[UPDATE 26/6/14] This code is now available as a Release Candidate.
This article is Part 6 in a 7-Part Series. Part 1 - CCIE Preparation: Commitment Part 2 - CCIE Preparation: Study Processes and Scheduling Part 3 - CCIE Preparation: Vendors...
Cisco Meraki offers a free wireless AP to anyone who registers for a webinar about their products. I had given up on receiving my AP, but after a moan on...
When implementing HP IMC UAM, you may need to redirect users to the IMC webserver, for device registration & configuration, and obtaining user 802.1x certificates. One method of doing this...
Network Engineers should be embracing the idea of automating away the drudgery of running a network. They should be looking for ways to ensure the network can dynamically change its...
This article is Part 2 in a 12-Part Series. Part 1 - War Stories: Loops that Permanently Broke the Network Part 2 - This Article Part 3 - War Stories:...
Companies pay a lot of money for software support. But do they always get value for it, and do vendors sometimes prolong the “supported” life of a product simply to...
I was recently asked about how to start IMC on a Linux server. After the initial installation, the system had been restarted, and now IMC wasn’t running. How to start...
HP has announced that they will only provide firmware updates to customers with a valid warranty, Care Pack or support agreement. HP says:
Recently I posted some speculation about where HP is going with their Comware and ProCurve networking lines. But what about the wireless gear? Where’s that going? As before, I have...
HP acquired 3Com in 2009. This added a large range of routing, switching and wireless networking to HP - but they already had existing ProCurve wired and wireless hardware. Clearly...
This is a basic overview of the ScienceLogic EM7 system architecture, describing the various components, their functions, and how they can be combined or split across multiple systems. I’ve been...
This article is Part 1 in a 12-Part Series. Part 1 - This Article Part 2 - War Stories: Switches Lying about Duplex Mismatches Part 3 - War Stories: Check...
HP has made some changes to the way Network Node Manager (NNMi) is licensed. These changes are a Good Thing, as they address two key pain points - license calculation,...
I have come to realise that I’ve tried to take part in too many communities, and it’s getting me down. Too many forums filled with too much noise, too many...
Recently I’ve been converting a network from an agent-based monitoring system to an agentless system. One challenge was handling custom application logfiles. Most agent-based monitoring systems make it very easy...
HP has been laying out their SDN vision over the last few months. They want to develop a complete SDN ecosystem, including an Open Standards-based network that can integrate with...
Network monitoring systems poll devices periodically, and then calculate average rates across the poll interval. Selecting the right polling interval is important - too frequently, and low-end devices can’t keep...
Last year I posted about my frustrations with getting the DHCPv6 client working on a Juniper SRX-110. I am pleased to report that Juniper has now released 12.1X46-D10.2, which resolves...
I’ve been thinking a lot about HP’s SDN App Store approach. In case you missed it, HP’s vision is to deliver an App Store for SDN applications, similar to Apple’s...
We needed a hosting provider that could deliver a platform to run a Virtual Appliance on. The issue was that we needed a reasonably high level of RAM, and we...
