Archive

The API is the new CLI.  If you’re a network engineer who pays attention to new technology, you’ve certainly heard some variation of this statement. But is it true?  Let’s start with the basics.  You know what a Command Line Interface (CLI) is; it’s how you talk to your switches and routers, and possibly many other devices […]

The demands on modern IT organizations are increasing at a rate faster than ever before. Initiatives to “go digital” abound. There is a mounting pressure to be a service provider to internal clients, making it easier for employees and customers to consume a wider range of IT tools on demand and under budget. This burgeoning […]

Two of the hottest trends in networking today are network disaggregation and SDN. This is great for many reasons. It’s also confusing. The marketing hype makes it hard to understand either topic. SDN has become so vague that if you ask 10 experts what it means, you are likely to get 12 different answers. Network […]

I attended AWS re:Invent 2016 about three or four weeks ago. Being new to both AWS and to re:Invent I was an outsider again, observing with virgin eyes. This means I learned a lot. Hopefully it means I saw things a bit differently than those more fully entrenched in this new community. So while others have […]

After a quick break to catch our breath (and read all those IPv6 Security Resources), it’s now time to look at our tenth and final IPv6 Security Myth. In many ways this myth is the most important myth to bust. Let’s take a look at why: Myth: Deploying IPv6 Makes My Network Less Secure Reality: […]

The Internet is an interesting phenomenon. I say phenomenon because it’s more than a single network or technology, larger than any single nation or continent, and serves a multitude of purposes for people all over the world. I say interesting because it is fundamentally unlike anything we’ve seen before; it’s an experiment that escaped the […]

We are approaching the end of this 10 part series on the most common IPv6 security myths. Now it’s time to turn our eyes away from security risks to focus a bit more on security resources. Today’s myth is actually one of the most harmful to those who hold it. If you believe that there […]

Most of our IPv6 Security Myths are general notions, often passed on unwittingly between colleagues, friends, conference attendees, and others. Today’s myth is one that most often comes specifically from your vendors or suppliers. Whether it’s a hardware manufacturer, software developer, or Internet Service Provider (ISP), this myth is all about trust, but verify. Myth: […]

Today I’m re-reading an IETF RFC that was published just this month. RFC 7454 is titled “BGP Operations and Security” and that’s exactly what it’s about. The documents’ abstract does a great job of summarizing the content: This document describes measures to protect the BGP sessions itself such as Time to Live (TTL), the TCP […]