The Third App from J2sw: Prefix Advertisement Checker

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prefix

A prefix can appear in the global BGP table and still have a routing problem. The route may originate from the wrong ASN. Its ROA may also authorize a shorter prefix but reject the advertised prefix length. Checking each part normally means pulling data from several routing tools. The J2SW Prefix Advertisement Checker, my 3rd … Read more

My Plan for an All-Alta Labs Home Network

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Being in the ISP world I see the home router and network cause a majority of the problems blamed on the ISP. Most home networks put the router, switch, firewall, and Wi-Fi radios into one do-it-all box. This can be underpowered in terms of both processing power and Wi-Fi signal strength.  In this post, I … Read more

Mikrotik Winbox 4.3 is out

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What’s new in 4.3 (2026-Jul-20 10:14): *) app: add Windows for arm64 version in file WinBox_Windows_arm64.zip;*) form: make multiline input field height logic as in WinBox v3;*) table: add quick comment feature (allow multi-row commenting);*) table: allow opening “Table settings” also via right mouse click;*) table: calculate implicit height to fit 16 regular rows including … Read more

Introducing the J2sw MTU and Encapsulation Calculator

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Ever wondered what the effects of different combinations of PPPoE, GRE, and others have on the MTU of a packet? I am excited to announce the first of many J2 Network tools: the J2SW MTU and Encapsulation Calculator. You select the service MTU and the encapsulation used on the path. The calculator then works out … Read more

Why Your Traffic Didn’t go the way you expected

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3 Mintue read timeJustin Wilson PacketsDownRange A common problem I run into when diagnosing route issues is traffic not going across the path it’s supposed to. An established BGP session only means the routers successfully exchanged routes. It says nothing about which route your router actually installed in the forwarding table. Let’s get into some … Read more

Understanding BGP Route Types: Full Routes vs Partial vs Default vs Customer Routes

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5 minute read time.Justin Wilson j2sw.com When you configure a BGP session, one of the first questions is what routes you actually want to receive.  If you have ever filled out a questionnaire with Hurricane Electric or another transit provider, they ask you what “kind” of routes you want.  In this article, I plan to … Read more

What Is IPoE?

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4 minutes read time.Many of us ISP veterans are familiar with Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE), also referred to as Triple P O E.  PPPoE is showing its age.  It showed its age 15 years ago.  DHCP was the simple fix for modern networks.  It had less overhead and was simple. Now along comes IPoE. … Read more

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