Tag Archives: SMLT

Episode 13 – Campus Network Design

We returned to record our thirteenth episode on Sunday October 2, 2016.

 Interesting News and Events

Roundtable Discussion – Campus Network Design

How to build a Campus Network

How many devices will be on the network ?

What kind of Devices do you need ?

  • Switches , Core (maybe distribution) Access
  • L3 Routing , classic Routers, L3 Switches, Firewalls
  • WLAN Access Points, Controller
  • Wan Optimizer
  • Infrastructure for VoIP
  • What tools are you using?

How to build a redundant campus network:

Layer 2

  • Spanning tree, Multi Chassis Link Aggregation , LAG/LACP
  • Stacking, like Cisco Cat 3k line, VSS technology  or Avaya Switches, Juniper virtual Chassis , HP IRF
  • virtual Switch Clustering , Cisco vPC, Avaya SMLT, Cisco VSS

Layer 3

First Hop redundancy Problem:

  • VRRP
  • HSRP
  • RSMLT

Choose the right technology for your needs / usecase.

Protect your Network:

  • Loop prevention   STP, BPDU Guard
  • DHCP Snooping
  • Rate Limiting
  • Access control

Use a seperate management network for your network devices.

Use encryption for management such as SSH, SNMPv3 and HTTPS

Preconfig / Templates / Provisioning:

  • Switches
  • Ports
  • VLANs

Out of Band Management

  • Opengear
  • Cradlepoint

What tools are you using?

I recently needed a small compact remote jumpbox that i could use to help isolate a problem I was experiencing in a physically remote network. I employed a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B with Anker USB 3.0 to RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter which allowed me to use the small computer as both a jumpbox and a remote packet capture solution. I was able to manage the computer remotely over the built-in Ethernet adapter and then used the Anker (it’s actually a Realtek chipset) Ethernet adapter to capture the problem frames coming from a SPAN port using tcpdump with some capture filters. You’ll need to be careful of how much traffic you throw at the little computer but I was really impressed with how well the solution worked.

What tools are you using?

References:

Episode 6 – Discussion with Avaya’s Roger Lapuh

We returned to record our sixth episode on Sunday May 22, 2016.

Discussion

This week we had the opportunity to speak with Roger Lapuh, Product Line Manager and Architect for Avaya.

Past

The history of Avaya Networking, Wellfleet and SynOptics merged to form Bay Networks back in 1994. Northern Telecom acquired Bay Networks in 1998 and renamed itself Nortel. In 2009 Avaya acquired Nortel’s Enterprise Voice and Data business units through a bankruptcy auction.

In 1997 Bay Networks acquired Rapid City which spawned the first layer 3 switch in the Accelar product line. The product line was renamed to Passport and would eventually be renamed to the Ethernet Routing Switch.

SMLT Story and development
Layer 3 extensions RSMLT //  VRRP BackUp Master

Present

The first ideas to Shortest Path Bridging (SPB), the  development of SPB and the challenges presented in its design. The standards process in IEEE 802.1aq, the first implementation in the Ethernet Routing Switch 8600.

Packet Pushers Show 44 – The Case For Shortest Path Bridgingwith Paul Unbehagen and Peter Ashwood-Smith (Huawei).

Future

Distributed Virtual Routing (DVR) resolves the network tromboning between the Layer 2 fabric and Layer 3 gateways.

Port Mirroring over an SPB fabric creating a virtual tap network.

We have a large vibrant community using Avaya equipment over on the Network Infrastructure Forums, I would strongly urge you to stop by and see what’s going on.

Thanks again to Roger Lapuh for joining us!

Cheers!