Guest: Ivan Pepelnjak (@ioshints, IP Space blog) - Chief Technology Advisor at NIL Data Communications; co-host of the PacketPushers podcast Topic 1 - Merchant Silicon, OpenFlow, 40Gb, 100Gb, Fabric Networking, Converged Networking, Software Defined Networking (SDN). Tons of buzzwords, but what are the key (real) trends and drivers in the networking space these days?
Topic 2 - Many people tend to think about networking as being a very hardware-centric business because the network has to deliver performance. But software seems to be playing a much greater role these days. It could be vSwitch (or Virtual-Network-Appliance) capabilities in servers, it could be the embedding of flexible software in network devices (such as Arista Networks does with EoS) or it could be the separation of Data and Control plane with the various SDN discussions (eg. OpenFlow). What’s the role of software in networks these days?
- Good discussion on PacketPushers about using Server architecture and it’s impact on Networking Appliances and networking in general.
- Brian’s blog on SDN in the historical context of IT trends.
Topic 2.5 - PacketPushers recently did a webinar on OpenFlow and SDN. How did it go and what were the big takeaways from the event and is there a replay for those that are interested?
http://packetpushers.net/ipspace-webinar-sdn-openflow-bigswitch-sponsor/
Topic 3 - Sometimes we heard “Cloud” and “Big Data” talked about like they are separate conversations. That may or may not be valid at the application layer, but where do those environments overlap at the network layer? What characteristics do they share that are driving new demands (topologies, capabilities) in the network?
Topic 4 - Where is the automation and orchestration play for networking? Do the DevOps tools have a play in networking?
Topic 5 - Arista is doing some cool things with Piston Cloud Computing (see “installing a private cloud” video) regarding the integration of networking and server-awareness with the cloud code running on the servers. Arista does some similar things with VMware environments using Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP). Where do you see this evolving for the automation and deployments of large-scale networks for Cloud/Web apps or Big Data?
Topic 6 - You’re usually a fairly big thinker around networking topics. Beyond your day-to-day work, what big challenges are you just starting to think about? Networking for mobile? IPv6?
http://packetpushers.net/ipspace-webinar-sdn-openflow-bigswitch-sponsor/
Topic 3 - Sometimes we heard “Cloud” and “Big Data” talked about like they are separate conversations. That may or may not be valid at the application layer, but where do those environments overlap at the network layer? What characteristics do they share that are driving new demands (topologies, capabilities) in the network?
Topic 4 - Where is the automation and orchestration play for networking? Do the DevOps tools have a play in networking?
Topic 5 - Arista is doing some cool things with Piston Cloud Computing (see “installing a private cloud” video) regarding the integration of networking and server-awareness with the cloud code running on the servers. Arista does some similar things with VMware environments using Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP). Where do you see this evolving for the automation and deployments of large-scale networks for Cloud/Web apps or Big Data?
Topic 6 - You’re usually a fairly big thinker around networking topics. Beyond your day-to-day work, what big challenges are you just starting to think about? Networking for mobile? IPv6?
Links to content Ivan mentioned during the podcast:
- Packet Pusher & Tech Field Day's upcoming Data Center Fabric symposium in Silicon Valley in May.
- IBM + NEC field trials: http://blog.ioshints.info/
2012/02/necibm-enterprise- openflow-you-can.html - HP and OpenFlow: http://blog.ioshints.info/
2012/03/grumpy-monday-hp-and- openflow.html - OpenFlow in SMB data centers: http://blog.ioshints.info/
2012/03/openflow-perfect-tool- to-build-smb-data.html - OpenFlow used for bandwidth-on-demand: http://blog.ioshints.info/
2012/02/bandwidth-on-demand- is-openflow-silver.html - The IT-as-a-Service product that was mentioned: http://www.flipit.si/en/