Technology

VMware “vFabric” And the Potential Impact on Data Centre Network Design

tludwig — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:45:37 -0600

By Greg Ferro

If the VMware vFabric speculation is true, then the service focussed data centre designs just got very, very, interesting.

Capturing VLAN Tagged Packets and Microsoft Windows

tludwig — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:45:36 -0600

Turns out the Windows Network driver implementation are so loose and uncontrolled that there is no consistent behaviour when capturing packets with VLAN tags.

Lippis Report 154: Is Networking Too Rigid?

root — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:15:09 -0600

Networking has become “rigid”. Yes I know it’s almost absurd to attribute inflexibility or rigidity to networking. Look what TCP/IP has done for us. There are nearly 2 billion people connected to the internet and according to the Internet World Stats internet user growth rate increased by 380% between 2000-2009. With 2 billion people and growing online, accessing a plethora of applications via a wide range of end-points there is no doubt that the internet and TCP/IP has been a much bigger success than anyone would have imagined back in the early ’90s. [..]

Always Fill a Rack From the Bottom Up

tludwig — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 03:15:18 -0600

Safety Tip that you may not have thought about when installing new kit into racks.

Are new IETF switching, routing specs needed?

root — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:45:30 -0600

Two high-profile specifications winding their way through the IETF promise to boost data center switching and service provider routing, but advances from Cisco and Juniper Networks raise questions about how much the specs are even needed.

Should a Networking Engineer Care About Servers and Storage?

tludwig — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 02:45:18 -0600

By Ivan Pepelnjak
As you might have noticed, everyone is talking about Data Centers lately and all the new “revolutionary” networking technologies are targeted at this segment. The reason is simple: server virtualization (not to mention the vapor-word) will forever change the networking landscape and the networking engineers might get badly hurt if caught unprepared.

Citrix Says Cache is King

root — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:45:39 -0600

Speed. More speed. And to get more speed with desktop virtualization, we hear more and more about how important IOPS are to being able to support the virtual desktop. Not enough IOPS means slowness. No speed. I've had a few blogs about it and plan to have a few more. What I wanted to talk about was an interesting discussion I recently had with 3 Senior Architects within Citrix Consulting(Doug Demskis, Dan Allen and Nick Rintalan). There are 3 smart guys who I talk to fairly regularly and the di...

It's Time to Start Loving Tunnels

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:23:13 -0600

I wrote a blog two years ago about how I could fix anything with a tunnel. Yes, it was a tad tongue in cheek, but it also had some truth to it. Tunnels are a weapon to use when faced with a difficult network design issue. However, as with any weapon, there can be collateral damage. Tunnels have proven to sometimes cost more than they are worth when they introduce sub-optimal routing, MTU issues,...

ESXi Hosts, AD Integrated Security Gotcha

tludwig — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 09:45:37 -0600

Configuring Active Directory-integrated security for ESXi hosts is easy; managing the license, a bit more complicated.

Managing Your Virtual Network

tludwig — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:45:24 -0600

Monitoring, migration and quality of service are some of the major challenges waiting in the world of virtual networking.