Concepts

Is Sticking With A Networking Vendor As Risky As Changing?

Ethan Banks · 5 minutes to read

^{Published May 4, 2021 · Updated June 21, 2021}

Let’s think about what happens when a business does not stick with their incumbent networking vendor. Is changing networking vendors adopting new technology, and therefore fraught with risk? If I change from Cisco to Arista for data center switching, or to Aruba for my wireless, or to Juniper for my edge routing, or whoever and go all-in on their ecosystem, is that change really as risky as Cisco’s continuing dominance implies? My experience is that no…it isn’t.

A Networking Perspective On Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA)

Ethan Banks · 4 minutes to read

^{Published April 19, 2021 · Updated June 21, 2021}

Zero trust assumes that every endpoint has been compromised and represents a threat. Therefore, even though an endpoint is connected to the network legitimately and allowed secure access to resources, the access requests themselves are suspect.

IPv6 Q&A For The Home Network Nerd

Ethan Banks · 8 minutes to read

^{Published February 1, 2017 · Updated February 1, 2017}

I was a guest on the Daily Tech News Show, episode 2957A. We chatted about the news of the day, then had an IPv6 discussion aimed at folks who are curious, but haven’t had a chance to work with v6 yet. My goal was to dispel FUD and spread the gospel of IPv6 to the nerdy public.

Complexity – My Friend, My Enemy

Ethan Banks · 5 minutes to read

^{Published July 6, 2016 · Updated July 6, 2016}

Over my years of network engineering, I’ve learned that the fewer features you can implement while still achieving a business goal, the better. Why? Fewer features mean fewer things that can potentially go wrong. The less that goes wrong, the higher the network uptime.

Webinar – Challenges Delivering Apps The Modern Way

Ethan Banks · 2 minutes to read

^{Published June 16, 2016 · Updated June 16, 2016}

I’m hosting a webinar with Citrix about application deployment in the context of a modern data center — containers, NFV, etc. They are bringing nerds, and I am going to ask them questions. There’s a live demo at the end, so they’ve promised me. You should register and attend via http://bit.ly/1XSHvgU. The event is soon – Wednesday, June 22, 2016.

A Few Points About VMware EVO SDDC Networking

Ethan Banks · 4 minutes to read

^{Published October 5, 2015 · Updated October 5, 2015}

A Packet Pushers listener that heard us chatting about VMware’s EVO SDDC solution raised a few concerns about the networking functionality in the current version of EVO SDDC. I was able to talk briefly with Krish Sivakumar, Director of Product Marketing, EVO SDDC & Ven Immani, Senior Technical Marketing Engineer, EVO SDDC at VMware to help clarify some of the issues.

Centralized vs. Distributed SD-WAN Functions

Ethan Banks · 3 minutes to read

^{Published September 1, 2015 · Updated September 1, 2015}

In the world of idealistic fantasy, an software defined network of whatever kind would centralize all functions. Pesky reality gets in the way of idealism, and so it is that we find full centralization to be an impractical idea.

Scalability Is A Matter Of Context

Ethan Banks · 4 minutes to read

^{Published July 30, 2015 · Updated July 30, 2015}

Scale is a relative term. While every technology needs to scale to some point to be useful to IT practitioners, not every technology needs to scale infinitely. Every technology has a context in which it is viable — where it proves to be the best choice. But in another context, the opposite technology might rise to the surface as more appropriate. Don’t be religious about such a decision. Know your business need well, research the technology thoroughly, plan for the future, and choose wisely. Don’t pick a tool that solves someone else’s problem.