Layer 2 protocols you should know as a network person
Layer 2 protocols you should know as a network person
Network Operations
Internet Service provider topics, Network operations, and other topics. Some topics include Mikrotik, Cisco, Arista and other configurations.
Data Center tool kits every technician should have
Anyone who has been to a data center has run into the problem of not having the correct tool. In this article, I discuss various tools you should have
Dust cover for Ethernet in outdoor or dusty environments
As many of you know, I have recently dove headfirst into the 3D printing world. One of the things I came across was these little “dust covers” for Ethernet. https://makerworld.com/en/models/2065227-ethernet-dust-cover The jury is still out on how much dust and the like these will keep out, but thats not the intriguing thing about them. Let’s … Read more
BGP troubleshooting for the network operator
I recently wrote an article called “The Mess we call BGP. I received several questions about how I go about monitoring BGP and knowing how traffic flows. More importantly, to know when it goes wrong and how to deal with it. In this post, I will go over some of the philosophies, tools, and methods … Read more
The Top 6 Most Common MikroTik Configuration Errors Made by Network Administrators
Whether you’re a seasoned engineer or just getting started, this post will walk you through the six most common MikroTik configuration errors and how to avoid them.
The Challenges That Keep ISP Engineers Up at Night
ISP engineers have traditionally been a “person of many hats”. There are many things that keep us up at night. Among them are some of the following.
The Grey Area of Customer Problems in ISP networks
When you run a network, you’ll hit this situation sooner or later. A customer buys a service, but the issue they are dealing with is not related to your network. It is theirs. But do you help them?
Management networks and the Internet Service Provider (ISP)
Most ISPs don’t start with a management network. Instead, they add it later as the network expands. They add a router, an OLT, some core switches, and a few servers. Everything runs smoothly—until it suddenly doesn’t. Then someone asks a tough question, usually during an outage: If the main network goes down, how do we … Read more
Differences between a VLAN and a Private VLAN
Many engineers use the term VLAN in a broad way, often referring to any logical separation on a switch. However, a standard VLAN and a Private VLAN address different needs. Mixing them up can lead to network design mistakes.
What Network Time Protocol Is and Why You Should Care
If you manage a network and haven’t considered synchronizing your devices with the NTP protocol, this article is for you. Logs, BGP sessions, RADIUS accounting, DHCP leases, syslog, NetFlow, security alerts. Every one of them depends on accurate time. Network Time Protocol, usually called NTP, is the protocol that keeps clocks in sync across IP networks. It runs over UDP port 123.
AI-Driven Network Operations: What’s Real and What’s Marketing for ISPs
This is the second installment in my series about the modern Internet Service Provider. The term AIOps gets thrown around liberally, and it’s worth being precise about what machine learning actually does well in network operations versus where it’s still a pipe dream. Where ML Delivers Measurable Value Today Anomaly detection is the most mature … Read more
How the Modern ISP Network Is Actually Structured
The three-tier model of core (edge), distribution, and access remains the foundation of ISP network architecture, though the distinctions between these layers have become less defined. A current assessment requires analysis beyond standard diagrams.