Network Operations

Internet Service provider topics, Network operations, and other topics. Some topics include Mikrotik, Cisco, Arista and other configurations.

Securing MikroTik Management with Cloudflare Zero Trust (Part 1)

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Architecture diagram for managing a MikroTik router through Cloudflare Zero Trust, Cloudflare Access, Cloudflare Tunnel, cloudflared, and a management VLAN.

I, due to recent SSH vulnerabilities in MikroTik, figured this series of articles would be relevant. The router may have strong passwords and firewall filters, but those services still receive constant login attempts from automated scanners. For years, the normal answer was a VPN with a management network. VPNs work well, but they require another … Read more

Mikrotik 7.23/7.24 and LTE

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The following is from the 7.23.7 changelog. What’s new in 7.23.7 (2026-09-16): *) lte – prevent the modem firmware from being deleted for RBSXTLTE3-7, EC25-EU&KNe, EG25-G&KNe, EC25-EU&SXTsq, EG25-G&SXTsq (introduced in 7.23.6); If you have already upgraded to 7.23.6 or 7.24.3, follow these steps to restore LTE functionality on affected devices: For more details, see:https://forum.mikrotik.com/t/warning-lte-interface-stops-working-after-upgrade-to-7-23-6-7-24-3

A first-hand forensic walkthrough of a real router compromise

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What it looks like when an intruder tries to make your own router work against you. A note before we start: Anything in this post that could identify my network, my organization, or my router’s real hostname and IP address has been redacted or made generic. The attacker’s own infrastructure, such as IP addresses, ports, … Read more

What N, N+1, 2N, and 2(N+1) Mean in a Data Center

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Diagram comparing N, N+1, and N+2 data center capacity

Have you ever looked at a data center marketing slick and wondered what N, N+1, 2N, and 2(N+1) actually mean? The main thing they tell you is how many components can fail before the system drops below the capacity needed to support the load. When I evaluate a data center, I want to know what … 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

What Is an AAU in Cellular Networks?

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A little off the beaten path on this one. We are diving into a big part of a Cellular tower deployment. Many sites now use an Active Antenna Unit, or AAU. The radio and the antenna are built into the same enclosure. An AAU combines the antenna, radio transceivers, power amplifiers, and low-noise amplifiers into … Read more

Useful Python Libraries Every Network Engineer Should Know

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A Python script usually spends very little time doing actual Python work. Most of the actual work comes from libraries that know how to connect to network devices and do the work. They interact with APIs. Once you understand what each library does, you can spend less time writing code and more time solving network … Read more

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