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

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...

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 *...

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...

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/ *...

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

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...

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 *...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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: *...

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:...

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 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...

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/ *...

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...

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...

No plan, no script, no net. In this episode Tony and Jordan give a peek behind the curtains on what has been going on with them both personally and professionally. This episode has a bit of everything. Personal struggles, new hobbies, work news, and a Defcon capture the flag story. This is the Smörgåsbord.   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...

From barber to Technical Leader and Developer Advocate, learn how Stuart Clark on the Cisco DevNet team transformed his career over the past 15 years.  In this episode, we talk with Stuart about his career journey, his role as a Developer Advocate focused on network automation, and the role Cisco DevNet can play along the way for those looking to enhance their automation skills.  We close by asking the question, “Will there be a DevNet Expert exam?” Listen and find out! Links: DevNet:...

The long standing tradition of having a secure network perimeter and a lightly protected interior has been going by the wayside for quite some time now. But the introduction of new models of connectivity are forcing us to change the way we look at security all together and invent whole new models for protecting our networks. In today’s episode we’re going to be exploring how these changes are impacting security and talk about some of these new models that meet the needs of modern...

Open source continues to accelerate in the network domain with projects such as Netmiko, NAPALM, and Nornir–all of which are led by individuals, not large organizations or venture-backed startups.  In this episode we sit down with Tony Nealon, creator of Netpalm. Netpalm is a network API platform that can abstract and render structured data, both inbound and outbound, to your network device’s native telnet, SSH, NETCONF or RESTCONF interface–leveraging popular libraries like NAPALM, Netmiko,...