The Art of Network Engineering

Featured

The ‘Mist’ification of Juniper Networks

The AONE team recently had the fantastic opportunity to attend the Juniper Networks 2023 Enterprise Analyst and Influencer Summit, held on the beautiful campus of UT Dallas. For this event, Juniper invited many different industry analysts and influencers (including us podcast folks) to showcase where they are now and where they are going in the future, across many of their different platforms and offerings. The goal of this summit was to get industry analysts and influencers up to speed on what Juniper has going on, so that we can assist in educating the community and consumers on our thoughts about what we learned. In just one day on the UT Dallas campus, we were educated on the developments of Juniper’s campus, wireless, data center, AI, and security offerings. There is a common theme across the different Juniper Networks platforms, and that is to drive an Experience-First methodology.

Experience-First Networking
The summit on the UT Dallas campus was kicked off with a keynote presentation from Juniper Networks’ CEO Rami Rahim about their unified approach to their products, that they call: Experience-First Networking. This has been a methodology of the company for quite some time, in fact I wrote about it back in 2021, when they presented about it at NFD26. My interpretation of Experience-First Networking is that no matter the technology or system implemented, the customer experience should be at the core of the solution. Rami spoke about having applications and systems that just work, and work well. I appreciate this approach to Juniper’s strategy. In my opinion, you can have all of the cutting-edge, top-of-the-line technology in the world, but if it is difficult to implement and use, there is a problem. Rami also went on to state how important data and analytics are to Juniper by stating that “data is the most precious resource on earth.” He then took it a step further by explaining that in conjunction to having access to data, we have to be able to tap into and operationalize it. To me, this is directly related to the work and investment that Juniper has put into the Mist and Marvis offerings over the last few years. Along with operationalizing the value of data across their different platforms, Juniper is also committed to integrating security into their different solutions. Toward the end of the keynote, Rami stated that “we have transitioned from a hardware company, to a solutions company.” This quote really resonated with me. I will be honest, up until the last couple of years, having minimal knowledge and exposure to the organization, I had seen Juniper Networks as being a data center and service provider switching company. However, I have recently had multiple eye opening experiences to the advancements and effort Juniper is investing into the enterprise campus, data center automation, and AI spaces. To paraphrase Rami; it is not just routers and switches anymore.

Enterprise Strategy and Acceleration

What stood out to me about the Enterprise Strategy and Acceleration session was the concept of the four pillars that Juniper Networks has outlined as a strategic vision for their solutions. Those four pillars include:

Assured user experiences
Cloud-first and cloud ready
- This is an interesting play. Being able to manage and operate networks via a SaaS delivered platform is intriguing. It can be a big relief for operations teams to not have to manage on-prem controllers and solutions.
Self driving automation with full programmability
Threat-aware
- I get the impression that this pillar speaks to Juniper’s committment to integrating security mechanisms across their platforms. They spoke to how security needs to extend to all points in the connection. I think we can all agree that avoiding blind spots is important.

And then we got to Mist, which is what really stole the show for me. It was alluded to in this presentation that Mist and the AI Driven Enterprise has really been a differentiator for Juniper Networks, and I must say that I agree. The enterprise campus has been near and dear to my heart for quite some time now and Mist really seems to have been the catalyst to bring Juniper into the enterprise campus space. Being able to manage and operate networks from a cloud portal and have to worry less about maintenance tasks like software upgrades on equipment like wireless access points can be a big win for operations teams, and in turn the business as a whole as IT teams can focus more effort on helping the business innovate. I will say, I would love to see this in action so I can better understand how it works. Being a traditional network engineer, I am mildly frightened by networks updating on their own during cloud release cycles, but I will by no means dimiss the thought. There were examples given of customers leveraging this feature successfully in production.

UT Dallas Campus Tour

Brian and Zack from UT Dallas OIT. I promise I’m not angry at Zack, just intently listening!

I am really glad that this campus tour happened. Not only is UT Dallas a beautiful campus, but we had the opportunity to have a walking, in depth Q&A session with the UT Dallas Office of Information Technology (OIT) staff. Brian and Zack did an incredible job giving us the lay of the land and explaining how their solutions support the students, faculty, and staff on campus. This is where I find an incredible amount of value in vendor-led engagments like these. As technologists, we listen to the marketing and sales pitches, but we usually want to see it for ourselves. The UT Dallas OIT team was very open and honest about their experience deploying Juniper Mist wireless throughout campus and how it has helped the university, as well as the challenges they have experienced over the years. When I heard that UT Dallas is able to support wireless across the entire campus with really just one person who specializes in wireless, I was blown away. That has to speak highly to the Juniper Mist solution.

Lexie having a conversation about the UT Dallas TECHKNOWLEDGY Bar

Before we ventured out on the tour we were told that there was a certain stretch of outdoor campus space that was covered with Wi-Fi. During the tour, when we got to the area in question I was intent on figuring out how they handle this feat. I looked up, over, and all around, but could not for the life of me see any access points that would provide the coverage for this outdoor area! Brian and Zack must have seen the look on my face, because they soon explained that the coverage was not coming from up above, but right there on the ground. Brian pointed at a bollard (post) on the ground. I was even more confused. Then, they explained the unique way they deliver wireless coverage by installing access points into these bollards along the path in this area. I had never seen anything quite like it, and wow, was it cool!

The New Juniper Marketing Experience
I have not had much experience getting to see behind the scenes of how marketing departments come up with their ideas and campaigns. It was a neat experience to get to hear about it at this summit. As far as marketing, Juniper Networks has taken the stance of wanting to combine humor with how IT teams actually feel when it comes to building, operating, and maintaining enterprise networks. They have also been investing more into a vertical-based approach and gaining visibility at industry conferences. Here is one of their commercials that better explains what I am writing about here.

Also, check out their ‘NOT-mercial’. I love when companies (especially tech companies) can show a sense of humor.

Apstra and the Cloud Ready Data Center
During the Juniper Networks Enterprise Analyst and Influencer Summit, we had the opportunity to record a podcast episode with Vinod, Senior Director of Product Management. The focus of this chat was around how Apstra can can be leveraged to automate the build and operations of data center fabrics. We discussed that some of the challenges of modern networks involve manual, reactive processes. Apstra provides an automated, multivendor approach. It allows customers to build and select templates of intent which abstract many of the configuration details away from the customer’s responsibility. Also, because the intent of the network is set, Apstra will provide warnings to the customer if a change is proposed that will ultimately go against the original intended configuration of the network. In reference to this, earlier in the day Vinod had stated that “Apstra makes it hard to make a mistake”. Abstraction and automation are not going anywhere in the networking space, and much like the other product lines, the Cloud Ready Data Center team adopts the Experience-First mindset. Juniper highlights three phases of data center networking and Apstra is leveraged in each phase:

Design and plan
Config and deploy
Operate

This was definitely a whirlwind of a trip and a lot of information to consume, but very beneficial. It was refreshing to see the passion and committment that the Juniper Networks team has for their solutions. I do not think that many people have more energy for their work than Sudheer Matta. The AONE team had a great time learning more about Juniper Networks solutions and getting to meet and network with industry analysts and influencers. Thanks to Juniper for the invite and hospitality. Finally, hey! We got to hang out with a couple of the Packet Pushers! There were definitely some great conversations.

Ep 144 – A Deep Dive into the Choreography of Connectivity and Critical Network Services

This episode was recorded January 4th, 2024

Join the virtual gathering around our tech-infused roundtable as we weave personal holiday tales with the threads of networking expertise. A.J. is joined by hosts Andy and Tim, who bring their personal flair to the table—Andy with his camera lens capturing life’s moments, and Tim as he steps into his new Cisco shoes. This episode is about connection: the kind that powers our digital lives and the kind that brings us closer as a community of network engineers.

You’ll be equipped to navigate the labyrinth of DHCP and DNS, as we pull back the curtain to reveal their essential roles in a seamless online experience. Our conversation will transport you through the DORA process of IP address assignment, offering a peek into the clever choreography of DNS records updating in real time. DHCP snooping steps into the spotlight too, as a guardian against network mischief. By the end of our chat, the digital infrastructure that’s so often taken for granted will hold no secrets from you.

Before we sign off, we take a moment to appreciate the unsung heroes of network engineering services—those critical cogs in the machine like DNS, NTP, and multicast rendezvous points that keep our world ticking with precision. Whether it’s through the lens of centralized logging or the promising horizon of streaming telemetry, you’ll leave with a richer understanding of the backbone that sustains our digital ecosystem. So, come for the tech insights, stay for the camaraderie, and don’t forget to connect with us in our ever-growing community of network aficionados.

TikTok! – https://www.tiktok.com/@artofneteng
Cables2Clouds! https://www.cables2clouds.com
Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/artofneteng
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/artofneteng/
Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/artofneteng
Join the group on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/artofneteng/
Check out our website https://artofnetworkengineering.com
Merch Store – https://artofneteng.com/store
Join the Discord Study group – https://artofneteng.com/iaatj

Ep 143 – 28 – Taylor Harris Returns

This episode was recorded on February 15, 2024.

When you mix the unpredictability of weather with the ever-evolving world of network engineering, you’re in for a whirlwind of a journey, much like Tim’s recent snowblower escapade. Join us as we chuckle over that tale and warmly welcome our new mustachioed co-host Kevin, who’s made waves as AdjacentNode on TikTok. We’re also catching up with the industrious Taylor Harris, whose VMware certification conquests by 24 are just the tip of the iceberg in his impressive career trajectory, as we learned in his previous episode.

We first met Taylor in episode 6. If you haven’t heard that yet go back and give that a listen because this is a follow up episode to see how much further he has come in his career.

Ever pondered the leap from the comfort of post-sales into the dynamic realm of pre-sales? Taylor Harris gives us the lowdown on his own transition and the unexpected nuances it entails. He expertly walks us through the tightrope walk between hands-on technology involvement and advisory roles, proving that technical chops are indispensable, even in a sales-centric position. Plus, we’re diving into the multifaceted life of tech account management, where adaptability is crucial, and Taylor’s insight as a pre-sales Solutions Engineer offers invaluable lessons.

We’re rounding off this episode by spinning the yarns of what it takes to be a standout engineer in today’s fast-paced tech landscape. Taylor, now a homeowner and engaged, shares his secret sauce for dodging burnout while keeping his tech passion ablaze. We’re also speculating on the tantalizing future choices an engineer faces: dive back into the deep end of pure tech work or ride the exhilarating wave of pre-sales? These stories and reflections are packed with wisdom that could spark your next career move or reignite your passion for the field, so tune in and be inspired!

More From Taylor
Taylor previous appearance on AONE – Ep 6
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VirTaylor
Blog: https://virtualizedtaylor.com/

Ep 142 – David Ruess Journey from Gaming Aspirant to Network Engineering Pro

This episode was recorded November 9, 2023.

From an aspiring video game designer to an accomplished network engineer, David Ruess’ tale is one of transformation and tenacity, a story we’re ecstatic to share with you. Navigating through the maze of certifications like CCNA and CCNP, David unpacks the treasure trove of advice and experiences that cemented his journey. Join us, your hosts Tim Bertino, Tim McConaughey, and Chris Miles, as we dissect not just the technicalities of network engineering, but the hearty, human connections that shape our professional lives.

Ever wondered what it takes to conquer the formidable CCIE exam? Brace yourself for a deep dive into the strategies that can make or break your ascent to the elite ranks of network engineering. We don’t just talk about the pressures and study tactics; we also celebrate the wins, like the thrill of applying theory to real-world puzzles and the camaraderie found within the walls of NOCs. It’s these shared challenges and collective wisdom that create our tight-knit tribe.

As we wrap up our session with David, we cast an eye towards the future, where the allure of tier-three networking roles calls to us. Our dialogue takes a personal turn as we examine the art of juggling intense study with life’s key moments, and the critical support systems needed to cross the finish line. This episode isn’t just a glimpse behind the curtain—it’s a heartfelt testament to the dedication, passion, and sense of community that fuels the fire of network engineers everywhere.

More from David:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kangarues

AONE Welcomes New Co-Host, Kevin Nanns, to the Team

This week we are excited to announce that we are adding a new co-host to the AONE team! During his episode recording the entire team just got good vibes from Kevin. We were impressed with Kevin’s background as a Network Engineer and his mission as a Content Creator on TikTok.

Kevin started creating TikTok’s in 2023 focused on introducing Network Engineering as a career opportunity to a younger generation. He takes the very technical topics we face daily in Network Engineering and boils them down for his audience. By introducing these complex topics in an easily digestible way he is opening the door to Network Engineering. The industry is in dire need and Kevin is among a small group of Network Engineer focused content creators trying to recruit the next generation of packet pushers.

For his day job Kevin is a Sr. Network Engineer in the Public Sector located in Tampa, Fl. He is currently focused on Network Security and completing a firewall migration.

To learn more about Kevin and how he got started on TikTok you can listen to his episode, and watch it on our YouTube channel! Also, follow him on TikTok and Twitter.

You can expect to see Kevin a lot more in future episode of The Art of Network Engineering!

Ep 141 – TikTok Creator and Network Engineer – AdjacentNode

We learn what sparked Kevin’s journey into becoming a TikTok creator and what motivates to continue spreading the word on Network Engineering.

Get the full show notes and listen to the episode at podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com!

Ep 140 – Breaking Down Barriers in Network Automation for Engineers with Danny Wade

Discover the fusion of innovation and expertise as Danny Wade, whose enthusiasm for network automation rivals his hoop dreams. We kick things off with a jocular exchange and dive into our own tech sagas, which evolved from household tech wizard to a networking aficionado at Blue Ally. Our conversation is a testament to the symbiotic relationship between academic learning and practical experience, all while navigating the complexities of enterprise networking.

Get the full show notes and listen to the episode at podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com!

Ep 139 – Doug Madory, The Man Who can See the Internet

Ever wonder what it’s like to navigate the high-stakes world of military network engineering or to become an authority on the internet’s most complex systems? This time around, Doug Madory, of Kentik, joins us to unravel his remarkable journey from the precision of military networks to the forefront of BGP analysis. Alongside Doug, we reminisce about the invaluable in-person connections forged at networking events like the Network User Group meetings driven by the US Network User Association, underscoring the irreplaceable sense of community and collaboration they foster.

Get the full show notes and listen to the episode at podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com!

Ep 138 – Navigating the Convergence of IoT Security in Network Engineering

his episode was recorded on September 28, 2023.

This episode is a warm blend of personal reflections and deep dives into the world of network engineering, where laughter and learning go hand in hand.

The digital frontier is expanding, and with it, the universe of IoT devices that touch every corner of our lives. From tracking wayward pets to revolutionizing agriculture, we traverse the intricate balance between the allure of smart technology and the vigilance needed to secure it. Join us as we exchange tales from the front lines, illustrating how the convenience of connected gadgets intertwines with the pressing need to safeguard our digital homesteads.

For the full show notes and links from this show head over to podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com

Ep 137 – The Art of Building a Tech Career with CryptoKnight

This episode was recorded on October 19th, 2023.

In this episode, featuring enterprise architect Brian aka CryptoKnightUS on TikTok, is your field guide, from navigating career crossroads to the power of mentorship, relentless learning, and neurodivergent.

When the security gates at Denver International Airport were left ajar, it wasn’t just the contractors who raced against time to seal the breach ahead of an audit. We uncover the pulse-racing narrative and the workplace alchemy that turns a professional crisis into a tale of triumph. Advocacy and talent recognition can spark career ascents, as proven by Jen’s spotlight on a contractor’s hidden genius. We’re peeling back the layers on the hiring philosophy that bets on technical skill and problem-solving finesse, often edging out the socially savvy, reshaping what makes IT teams not just function, but flourish.

The episode doesn’t shy away from shifting paradigms as we debate the merits of remote work and champion asynchronous communication—a godsend for the neurodiverse minds like those with ADHD, navigating the tech sphere. And in a plot twist worthy of its own platform, Brian’s adventures on TikTok reveal unexpected lessons on neurodivergence in tech leadership. As we tie together loose ends, you’ll walk away with a toolkit of career advice, from the art of networking to the grace of self-awareness, that’s as practical as it is transformative for anyone looking to climb the ranks in technology. Join us on this journey; it’s one for the cyber chronicles.

For more info, and to listen to the episode please visit https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com or watch it on our YouTube Channel https://youtube.com/@artofneteng

Ep 130 – Exploring the Influence of AI on Network Engineering

Imagine, if you will, a world where AI streamlines your network configuration changes, manages your network and even troubleshoots for you. Sounds like a far-off dream, right? Well, the future is here and we’re discussing exactly that. We weigh the pros and cons of using AI in network management, touching on issues like data accuracy and false positives. But it’s not all gloom and doom as we explore the positive impacts conversational AI can have on the networking industry.

To get the full show notes and listen to the episode head over to https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com or find it on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@artofneteng

Ep 129 – Exploring Tech Certification Challenges with Brent Morris

Imagine this: you’re a tech enthusiast who’s just passed the Security Plus exam. You’re filled with immense pride, but also a newfound understanding of the importance of failure and taking training seriously. We explore this in depth with Tim Bertino, a fellow tech enthusiast who shares his candid insights and experiences. A.J. also talks about his first USNUA meeting and the local NUG network user group he formed — a testament to the power and value of community in the tech world.

To get the full show notes and listen to the episode head over to https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com or find it on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@artofneteng

KTech CONNECT Recap

The AONE team recently had the opportunity to attend a KTech Connect event in Knoxville, Tennessee thanks to the Knoxville Technology Council. KTech is an organization in the Knoxville area with the goals of promoting the technology industry in the area and bringing people together. Read more about KTech in our previous blog post. This event spanned over three days and was full of networking and educational events. I was so happy to get to see my friends A.J. Murray, Andy Lapteff, and Dan Richards again. Also, we got to meet Alex Perkins of the Cables 2 Clouds podcast for the first time! We missed Lexie this go around, but there is always next time.

8/16/2023 – Travel Day
On Wednesday, A.J., Andy, Dan and I made our way Knoxville. We (mainly I) were lucky to not have any travel issues on the way there. We all made it by mid-afternoon and were ready to get these events started. It is still amazing to me that this podcast has been going on for over three years and we have still only met in-person a few times. I think that is why we always try to make the best out of our time together. After getting settled in to our home for the rest of the week, we headed out on the town. We stopped in to Downtown Grill and Brewery for an excellent meal and conversation.

8/17/2023 – ORNL Tour and KTech CONNECT Networking
We definitely started off our week of events with a big day one. The day started off with finding an amazing local spot for breakfast, Scrambled Jake’s, which we ended up going back to the next day as well because it was awesome. Then, we headed out for a tour of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). ORNL has a storied past that started with a mission to race to develop “a terrible weapon based on splitting uranium atoms, which had been demonstrated — in Germany — a few years before World War II broke out.” (More history of ORNL here.) This was better known as the Manhattan Project. Since then, the lab has shifted focus to peacetime projects and the betterment of humankind. An example of this is how ORNL assisted early on in the COVID-19 pandemic with their high performence computing environment. Thanks to Daniel Pelfrey, a senior network engineer with ORNL, and team, we had the opportunity to learn more about high performnace computing and get an up close look at the Frontier and Summit supercomputers! It was amazing to learn about what makes up a supercomputer, and how vital a role the network plays in ensuring it is a functional system.

After the tour at ORNL, we attended the KTech CONNECT Networking event at Printshop Beer Co. This was a great way to cap off the first day and we were all impressed with the turnout. There were many local people from the KTech community who we were able to meet and get to know, as well as AONE fans who traveled from near and far (some folks flew in) to be with us for the week. Our friends of the show will never cease to amaze us. It was great to meet new people and reconnect with those who we do not get to see often. Selfishly, as a side perk, I enjoy these types of events because they get me out in front of people to focus on my communication skills. It definitely helps when you can network with people about networking!

8/18/2023 – Studio Tour / Alex Arrives! / Lunch and AI chat / Top Golf
We followed up our eventful day one with another one of excitement for day two. Part of this slate of KTech CONNECT events included a live podcast episode which was happening the next day, so on Friday morning, we were able to go see the JTV studio where the show was to be hosted. We had the opportunity to meet with the broadcast team who graciously gave us a tour of how things look and operate behind the scenes of their operation at JTV. This is something I have not had exposure to before, so it was very cool to see!

After the JTV tour, we headed back to the house, just in time to meet Alex Perkins of the Cables 2 Clouds podcast for the first time! We have been chatting and working with Alex for quite a while now online, so it was great to finally meet him in person!

We then headed out for the next KTech CONNECT event which was the VIP lunch at The Chop House. While we enjoyed a delicious meal, we got to hear an informative presentation from Edmon Begoli, PhD with ORNL on artificial intelligence. This was a beneficial presentation because it started with a very high level picture on what AI really is, then delved into how it can be used and what some of the potential implications are around AI. The presentation ended with an intriguing Q&A discussion on different topics surrounding artificial intelligence.

Later that afternoon, we worked on some content, then headed out for the next KTech Connect event, which was held at Top Golf.

8/19/2023 – Breakfast, Lunch, and Simulcast
The day of the main event arrived on Saturday. We started it off on a great note with breakfast at Loco Burro. We once again were able spend some time with the KTech community, enjoy more great food, and partake in some fantastic conversation. Then it was on to a wonderful lunch at Chesapeake’s Seafood House where we had the opportunity to chat more with the sponsors of the KTech CONNECT events. After that it was time to prepare for the live simulcast at the JTV studios. For the live recording, we reconnected with Daniel Pelfrey to have a chat about high performance computing and the supercomputers at ORNL. Prior to these events, I did not have a good idea of what high performance computing really is and what a supercomputer can be used for, so this was very beneficial for me. Hearing about how ORNL empowers its users to succeed was very powerful. One key takeaway for me was that ORNL does not just provide time on a supercomputer, but also offers expertise as well. That is quite the value-add. Being able to record this episode in front of an audience, in this studio was quite the experience. After the show, we had a reception with the sponsors and those who attended the live simulcast.

The Wrap Up
We had such an amazing time this week for many reasons. Members of the team got to reunite, meet new people, see new sights, eat great food, and learn new things. We would like to thank the Knoxville Technology Council for organizing this event and bringing us out, Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the tour, and the sponsors of the KTech Connect events (Alkira, JTV, Opengear, Rodefer Moss) for making this all happen.

Ep 128 – Navigating the CCIE Landscape w/help from 3 CCIEs!

Picture yourself acing the CCIE certification exams with confidence and coming out victorious. Seems like a far-fetched dream, right? Not when you have CCIEs Erica Cooper, Tim McConaughey, and Chris Miles sharing their insider tips and strategies on navigating the tough terrain of CCIE certification. Pulling back the curtain on their own journeys, they reveal their motivations, preparation methodologies, and the value this certification has brought to their careers. Erica’s narrative especially stands out, as she shares her inspiring journey from failing the route switch exam to succeeding in the data center track.

To get the full show notes and listen to the episode head over to https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com or find it on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@artofneteng

Back to School!

As summer holidays come to their end, a popular “trend” will start to make the rounds on social media. Over the next few weeks social platforms will be a wash with pictures of children on their way to (and in some instances from) their first day of school. It doesn’t take a lot to see that parents love sharing this kind of information.

“Doesn’t Achilles look amazing in their uniform? First day of school, So EXCITED!”
“I can’t believe Medusa turns 10 today”
“40 weeks seemed to fly by! It was tough but Hera is here.”
“Hercules scored again this week, so proud”
“Athena and her first pet Owl ‘Polias’. “

As adorable as it is to see these new generations conquer countless feats, are we compromising their security later in life?

Blah, blah, nostalgia

As someone born in the late 80’s, personal computing was not a corner stone of my childhood. A single computer in a household was rare, digital cameras were expensive, and the landline was the quickest method of communication.

The internet was popularized in my lifetime. As a teenager, I was there during the early social media wars. Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, and more were all vying to be the main social platform. Regardless of who won, this was a massive step forward in communication and sharing of personal information. Teenagers were predominantly at the helm and we fell hard into sharing more and more about our lives online. These teens are now adults and, quite frankly, use these services in the same way they did all those years ago with little concern for what is being shared.

The reason for this small trip down nostalgia boulevard is to demonstrate that, as a young(ish) adult, it is very difficult to find digital information about me as a before I was a teenager. This is because the digital age just wasn’t prevalent before I was 13. There are no pictures of me in my uniform, or cuddling my first dog, or even a picture of me wrapped in a swaddle in a cute little hat still barely able to open my eyes.

“Cake or Death?”

Because social media just wasn’t a thing when I was born, as an adult I get to chose what information about myself I want to share. I have freedom of choice to share this information if I wish.

“You!!! Cake or Death?”

“… I’ll have the cake please”

“Very well! It’s a popular choice today.”

Younger generations don’t seem to get this option however. The generation before them has made this choice for them. And it has always reminded me of the Eddie (Suzy) Izzard bit…

“How about you?! Cake or Death?”

“I’ll take the cake too please”

“Well were all out of Cake!?

“So my choice is “..or death?””

Sharing pictures of your child removes part of their choice later in life. We all have embarrassing childhood photos, most of which usually make a singular appearance when we achieve a milestone age. But 364 days out of the year they are hidden away somewhere.

There is a whole-nother field of study (that I have no expertise to comment on) surrounding the impact of sharing so much information about our children could have on them mentally.

For me however, I’m concerned about their security. Identity theft and fraud are all too easy when someone voluntarily gives information away. Is that not what we are doing to our children?

The adorable picture of them in their uniform ready for their first day of school.

Hackers will now know the Year they went to school, and most likely what school they went to.

The birthday post you make every year about how much they have grown.

Hackers will now know their Date of Birth

The “Mum and baby both doing well” announcement.

Hackers could figure out what hospital the child was born in

The exceeding at sports/activities posts

Hackers will know what club or activities the child is part of

The cute cuddling their pet picture

Hackers now might know the name of the child’s first pet

Hopefully some of you have spotted the pitfalls already, but if you haven’t these are typically the answers required to be authorized for bank accounts, mobile phone contracts, and credit cards!

Not only are we removing a child’s choice in what they want to share (when at an age deemed appropriate) but we are also just freely giving away every tiny piece of information that adults have to use regularly.

Unfortunately it is security that will be forced to change (if it isn’t already) because sadly there is an entire 2 decades of this information already shared. How have you seen this change? Or have we ruined it for our children already?

Ep 127 – Observability with Phil Gervasi and Kentik!

This episode is sponsored by Kentik!

Ever felt baffled by your network’s performance? It’s time to join us on a journey into the world of network engineering with our esteemed guest, Phil Gervasi. We’ll explore the intricate world of network visibility and discuss the importance of diagnosing network issues.

To get the full show notes and listen to the episode head over to https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com or find it on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@artofneteng

Ep 126 – Surviving the Storm: Navigating Layoffs and Job Hunting in the Tech Industry with Brittany Mussett

Are you ready to navigate the treacherous waters of the tech industry during trying times? Join Dan and Tim as we share our recent adventures, including a thrilling toll booth escapade at the airport, and deep dive into the challenging process of layoffs and rehiring. We’re also joined by Brittany Muset, who opens up about her personal journey dealing with the aftermath of being axed from a large tech company!

Get the full show notes and listen to the episode over at https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com

CCNA Series – NGFW and IPS

It is time to dig into some security on the CCNA Series! In the post, we will be covering Network Fundamentals > Explain the role and function of network components > Next generation firewalls and IPS of the exam topics. Devices implementing security functions are commonplace in organizations, and not just necessarily at the edge of networks. Specifically, when connected to the network, these devices can be used to enforce policy, or act as a passive sensor to alert when configured alarm conditions are met. Network security devices such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) can either be deployed in a physical or virtual form factor. What specific security devices are selected, how many are implemented, and where they are placed in the network will depend on the security requirements of the organization. In the rest of this post, we will take a deeper look at next generation firewalls (NGFW) and intrusion prevention systems (IPS).

Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)
Before we get into describing a next generation firewall, let’s first cover the concept of a traditional or packet filtering firewall. A traditional, packet filtering firewall is a physical or virtual security appliance that inspects traffic in one direction, typically up to Layer 4 of the OSI model. This means that configured policy and inspection will be able to look at IP addresses and TCP/UDP ports. In this case, ‘one direction’ means that the traditional, packet filtering firewall is stateless. The firewall is not tracking conversations. This means that if traffic is wanted to be allowed between two hosts or networks, separate rules need to be implemented to cover both directions of those conversations. A next generation firewall has the ability to take inspection and policy enforcment all the way through Layer 7 (application layer) of the OSI model. With an NGFW, administrators can set policy based on the type of application, rather than relying strictly on TCP/UDP port numbers. For instance, administrators could write a policy that blocks video streaming applications from all popular entertainment companies except one specific application. Next generation firewalls also understand conversation state. For example, if I want to allow a computer in one network to communicate with a server in another network throught the firewall, I just need to create one rule, and because the firewall understands the state of the flow, it automatically allows the return traffic from the server back to the original computer. Here are two images that compare the concept of a stateful next generation firewall, and a stateless packet filtering firewall.

Stateful firewall traffic flow from computer to server and back.

Stateless packet filtering firewall traffic flow from computer to server and back.

Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)
The goal of an intrusion prevention system (IPS) is to monitor the network or a specific device for anomalous, malicious activity and take action to stop it from happening. Intrusion preventention systems can be network based (either physical appliance or virtualized) or host based, running in software on an individual client machine, protecting that specific device. A network based IPS will somehow sit inline of network traffic so that it has the ability to take action on that traffic (for instance by dropping it) when necessary. In contrast, a network based intrusion detection system (IDS) will typically not sit inline. It will be fed data by means such as SPAN/mirrored ports. Because it does not sit inline of the network traffic, it is not able to take action on active packets on the network. The goal of an IDS is to monitor and provide alerting when there is an event.

Conclusion
Many security devices, such as next generation firewalls (NGFW) and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) are integrated into the network, which means that network administrators and engineers should at least be familiar with them. In fact, because they participate in the network, firewalls will often provide networking functions such as routing (static and dynamic) and network address translation (NAT). So, even if a network administrator or engineer is not involved in the actual rule configuration firewall, there is a good chance they will get involved to support at least some of the network functions of that firewall.

References
https://www.vmware.com/topics/glossary/content/intrusion-prevention-system.html#:~:text=An%20intrusion%20prevention%20system%20(IPS,it%2C%20when%20it%20does%20occur.

https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cyberpedia/what-is-an-intrusion-prevention-system-ips

Ep 125 – The Bearded IT Dad

This week we talk to the Bearded IT Dad, Dakota Snow! Dakota talks to us about his career, and how he rose to a management position, as well as the challenges he faced while doing so. We also discuss what inspired him to start creating content, and ultimately his YouTube Channel, The Bearded IT Dad!

Get the full show notes and listen to the episode at https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com

Ep 12 – Where are all the Cloud Cost Savings?!

Welcome back to Cables2Clouds! Today, your hosts Tim, Alex, and Chris dive into the “Economy of Scale” concept preached by major cloud providers like AWS and Azure. But, have these cost savings really come to fruition? Let’s see!

Get the full show notes and listen to the episode at https://cables2clouds.com

Ep 124 – Social Media

In this episode, Lexie, Tim, and guest co-host, from our Cables2Clouds team, Tim McConnaughy, talk about the pros and cons of being engaging on Social Media.

Get the full show notes and listen to the episode over at https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com

The AONE – KTech Connection

While the Art of Network Engineering is primarily a technology podcast, it is not necessarily the tech that ‘keeps us going’. The podcast was born from a sense of community. It started as a group of like-minded people wanting to work together as a study group toward a common goal. I like to think of the AONE podcast as being a side effect of community involvement. It is definitely much more than just a podcast to us. The co-hosts have become close friends over the years and we are graciously supported by fans of the show and especially by the It’s All About the Journey Discord community. I really believe that the show would not be what it has become without the IAATJ Discord community. It is a constant example of people helping people and being just generally cool. Within that community, there are channels for certification study, job postings, sharing wins and losses, and plenty of non-tech channels as well, just so people can connect online. The IAATJ community helped us meet and get to know many new people, and ultimately gave us the inspiration to put on a live event in 2022, in Asheville, North Carolina. That event was an absolutely incredible experience. Personally, it was so interesting to physically meet so many people for the first time, however it felt like it was just old friends catching up. During the AONE event in Asheville, we held an in-person meetup with a live recording of the show. We had not even left Asheville, and we were already talking about how we could plan the next one. Well, that time has come, and thanks to the Knoxville Technology Council, another live event is happening in August of 2023!

Earlier this year, we were contacted by KTech about working together and attending one of their in-person events. What is a KTech event? Well, let’s start with who the Knoxville Technology Council is and what they do. What better way to do that then to check out their mission statement:

“The mission of the Knoxville Technology Council is to connect, develop, promote, and advocate for the technology industry in the Greater Knoxville region.”

KTech events align well with what we do with the AONE podcast, because community is essential. Individuals can meet, network, and gain benefits that can extend well past the events themselves. Something else that I am excited to hear and learn more about while we are at the upcoming event is KTech’s Women In Technology initiative. We love to see more advocates for women in technology roles as inclusivity helps all. Having different perspectives opens up the opportunity to challenge ideas and start conversations that may not happen otherwise, which benefits everyone involved. Let’s take a look at the Women in Tech mission statement:

“KTech Women in Tech (WIT) exists to revolutionize the experience of women in technology and establish a new standard of inclusion for tech culture & leadership by providing a forum to promote women in technology through networking, education, and community outreach.”

KTech – AONE Event – August 2023
So, what exactly are we doing with KTech, and when? As mentioned earlier, the AONE team has really wanted another community meetup event since we left Asheville in 2022. I am personally looking forward to meeting more community and technology minded people and seeing firsthand how KTech carries out their mission. Here is a list of events planned for our engagement with KTech, from the KTech CONNECT page:

8/17/2023 – KTech CONNECT Networking – 4:30 – 6:30pm EDT
- Join KTech and The Art of Network Engineering team for a night of networking and socializing at a local Knoxville brewery!
8/18/2023 – KTech CONNECT VIP Lunch – 12 – 2pm EDT
- This VIP luncheon will give you the opportunity to connect with the Art of Networking Engineering team and a select group of professionals.
8/19/2023 – KTech CONNECT Breakfast Mingle – 8 – 10am EDT
- Join us as we bring together tech professionals from East Tennessee and across the nation for a morning of meaningful connections.
8/19/2023 – KTech CONNECT Sponsor Meet & Greet – 12 – 2pm EDT
- KTech and the Art of Network Engineering team invites all KTech CONNECT sponsors to join us for a meet & greet!
8/19/2023 – KTech CONNECT Live Simulcast – 4 – 7:30pm EDT
- Get ready for a special event featuring some of the brightest minds in network engineering!

Check out KTech and Register for these Events!
The AONE team would love to connect with as many people as possible, so if you are in the Knoxville, TN area or can get there, we would love to meet you! Our last in-person community event meant so much to us and we are ready to experience that again. We are incrediby grateful for the KTech team supporting AONE and making this happen. Be sure to visit the KTech CONNECT page to view and register for any or all of the events listed above!

Ep 11 – Using AI for Cloud Networking

Join Tim, Chris, and Alex as they dive into some responses to questions fed into ChatGPT. The point of this discussion was to feed it some simple and some more complex scenarios and then break down what the responses looked like. There are definitely some interesting takes and approaches. Come listen and see how well we think it fared!

Get the full episode over at https://www.cables2clouds.com

Ep 123 – Cisco Live ’23 Recap

In this episode, A.J. Lexie, and Tim discuss their Cisco Live ’23 experience. A.J. participated remotely while Lexie and Tim were onsite. We talk about their different perspectives on Cisco’s announcements, as well as their event experiences. We also make recommendations for future attendees.

To listen episode and get the full show notes head over to https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com

Ep 10 – Network Engineering to Cloud Strategist: A Conversation with Eyvonne Sharp

In this podcast episode, the hosts bring Eyvonne Sharp in to discuss transitioning from traditional infrastructure engineering to working at GCP as a Customer Engineer/Tech Transformation Lead. Eyvonne has a long history with the networking community and used to be a co-host of the Network Collective.

Listen to the episode and see all the show notes at https://www.cables2clouds.com

Ep 122 – What is OT? (vs IT)

In this interview we speak to Josh Varghese, owner of Traceroute, LLC, and subject matter expert in Operational Technology. OT is a bit different than traditional IT, but what is it exactly, and how is it different? We learn so much from Josh about OT we know you’re going to enjoy this one!

Listen to the episode and get the full show notes at https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com

Ep 9 – Cloud journey spotlight with Mersedes ( @blkwomenread )

In this episode, we are joined by Mersedes, aka @blkwomenread. We talk about her journey from working at one of the countries busiest Dominos, to call center, to today. These days Mersedes works as a Systems Engineer/Monitoring Engineer which lines up very nicely with her strong interest in the field of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE). We dive into the nitty gritty about her transition from fast food worker to network engineer and learn about what her day-to-day looks like in her current role. This was a great roundtable discussion, suitable for anyone wondering about or currently working in the cloud!

Listen to the episode and get the full show notes over at www.cables2clouds.com!

Ep 121 – Juniper Apstra

This episode is sponsored by Juniper Networks!

This episode was recorded in-person at the 2023 Juniper Enterprise Analyst and Influencer Summit at University of Texas, Dallas! A.J., Tim, Dan, and Lexie chat with Vinod, Senior Director of Product Management.

We talk about the many challenges facing Network Engineers and then we talk about how Juniper Apstra can address them!

Try Apstra for free in Juniper’s virtual CloudLab: https://juni.pr/3CmZSn3
Learn more about Juniper Apstra: https://juni.pr/40ld3OM

Check out the full show notes on https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com!

Ep 8 – How to Avoid Falling for Tech Scams: Tips and Red Flags to Look Out For

In this podcast episode, the hosts discuss the rise of tech scams during the pandemic, particularly in relation to people looking to transition into tech careers. They offer advice on avoiding these scams, including red flags to look out for and the importance of doing research. The hosts also discuss the value of certifications in the tech industry and caution against pursuing them just for the sake of collecting them. They emphasise the need to be realistic when it comes to transitioning into a tech career and to be cautious of scam companies that prey on vulnerable individuals.

Get the full show notes with links and audio over at https://www.cables2clouds.com!

Ep 120 – Military Transition

In this episode, we chat with three different former and current members of our armed forces to get some helpful tips on transitioning from a career in the Military to a career in Tech as a civilian. John Berth, Julio Perez, and Tom Maryland join us to share their insights!

Listen to the episode and get the full show notes at https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com!

Ep 7 – Terraform for the Network Engineer

In today’s episode, hosts Chris Miles, Alex Perkins, and Tim McConnaughy are joined by special guest Will Collins, Principal Architect at Alkira and LinkedIn Learning Instructor. The topic of discussion is “Terraform for the Network Engineer.”

Listen to the episode and get the full show notes at https://www.cables2clouds.com/

Ep 119 – Cyber Security with Kyser Clark

Kyser Clark is a Sagt in the U.S. Air Force. Kyser has a number of Networking and Security related certifications and credentials. We talk to Kyser about his role in the Air Force, how he got into tech, his experience with the various certifications, and we go in-depth on Cyber Security.

Get the full show notes and listen to the episode over at https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com!

Ep 6 – Real World Cloud Transition with @GiftedLane

In this episode, we are joined by Shala, aka @GiftedLane. Shala is currently a Cloud Associate Architect and has held multiple cloud positions over the last 12 months. We dive into the nitty gritty about her transition from network engineering into DevOps and learn about what her day-to-day looks like in her current and past cloud roles. We also explore the importance of salary negotiation within the industry and how she used certain methods to assure she was getting paid properly. This was a great roundtable discussion, suitable for anyone wondering about or currently working in the cloud!

Listen to the episode and check out the full show notes over at https://www.cables2clouds.com/

Ep 118 – Jeremy Stretch

This week Andy, Lexie, and Tim chat with Jeremy Stretch. Jeremy talks about his career in Networking and his transition to Software Developer! Jeremy is also the creator of the Packet Life blog and cheat sheets we have all used to study for our network knowledge!

Get the full show notes and listen to the episode over at https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com!

Ep 5 – Cisco’s NEW Cloud Connectivity Certification (300-440) with Hank Preston

In this episode, we talk with Hank Preston, one of the lead creators of the new Cisco Enterprise Hybrid Cloud Connectivity exam. We cover why the exam is needed, what role it plays as part of Cisco’s larger certification ecosystem, and what the blueprint means.

Listen to the episode and see all of our show notes at https://www.cables2clouds.com/

Ep 117 – What is Network as a Service?

This week the team dives in and tries to answer the question – What is Network as a Service? Listen to the full episode and see show notes here: https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com/2127872/12500133-ep-117-what-is-network-as-a-service

Ep 4 – Cloud Industry Myths

In this episode, we tackle common myths surrounding cloud in general.

The cloud is someone else’s data center
The cloud is always more/less expensive than on-prem
Everything should run in the cloud
Enterprises should not go multicloud
We are too small to take advantage of the cloud
AWS 7 Rs

Listen to the episode and read the full show notes here: https://www.cables2clouds.com

Ep 116 – Jason Gintert

In this episode, Andy and Lexie talk to Jason Gintert. Jason is the CTO of WAN Dynamics, he also volunteers with the US NUA, and the OH IX. Jason teaches what exactly an IX does and how it works. We also talk about the US NUA and why Network Engineers should find a local chapter and engage with the community. We also get nerdy and talk about SD-WAN!

Get the full show notes and listen to it here: https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com

Ep 3 – Translating Security to Cloud

In this episode, we talk with Steve McNutt, a cybersecurity professional at Cisco. Steve has seen the industry change several times, and together we cover the traditional security design as well as how to design for cloud security in the new age. We bounced around between a lot of security topics in this show, so there are a lot of links to share!

Check it out here: https://www.cables2clouds.com

Ep 115 – From the Cables 2 the Clouds

In this episode, we talk to three Cloud SMEs. Tim McConnaughy, Chris Miles, and Alex Perkins. We also have a very special announcement – but you’ll have to listen to hear what it is!

https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com/2127872/12410999-ep-115-from-the-cables-2-the-clouds

How ‘telnet’ and similar tools help you troubleshoot

In Episode 110 of the Podcast there was a brief discussion of “telnet” as a troubleshooting tool (starts around 22:00).

The question arose about why telnet is a troubleshooting tool, what it can (and can’t) do – and I thought I would use this opportunity to detail why this works, how far up the OSI ladder you can use it to troubleshoot and what tools will take it even a step further.

Telnet dates back into the late 60’s, when the Internet was just a bunch of universities and research facilities connecting to each other, known as the ARPAnet, interconnected to exchange data.

You might think now: “The 60’s? Didn’t IP and therefore TCP start out in the 70’s?”
And you’re right. These early RFCs talking about TELNET and the HOST-HOST-Network connection were written before TCP/IP came to light and do not mention it.

They do however mention the most important characteristic of telnet:

* Is "teletype-like", i.e.:
               - ASCII characters are transmitted;
               - Echoes are generated by the remote HOST;
               - The receiving HOST[s] scan for break characters;
               - The transmission rate is slow (less than 20
               characters/sec).

RFC 15

The host-host connection is meant to be “teletype-like” – meaning like the old telegraphy transmission from the 19th century, and also what got telnet it’s name: TELetype NETwork.

I could make this article a long list of subsequent RFCs, but to sum things up: The goal was to type on a keyboard cross-country from the computer you are working on, instead of having a terminal directly connected to it. This was over the course of years and RFCs standardised to be 7-bit ASCII text and a few control characters.

When TCP/IP gained traction and protocols were defined, telnet was moved over, as – beside from a few terminal control infos – just this plain text over a TCP socket, using Port 23.

As you can see in Wireshark, after the TCP handshake – SYN, SYN/ACK, ACK – the telnet data starts flowing.

There is some data exchanged nowadays about the terminal in use and it’s capabilities, but then you see just plain ASCII going back and forth in the TCP segments.

The “00 00” before the blue highlighted data still belongs to the TCP header, the “0d 0a 0d 0a” are already the first CR-LF before the “User Access Verification” text (55 hex = 85 dec, which is “U” in the ASCII table)

So the answer to the question “What is it about telnet that makes it possible to use it to connect to other services?” is: all telnet does is open a TCP socket, and waiting for either side to send data. Either you start typing, or the server on the other side sends something.

As it is only opening a a connection to a port and waiting for data, there is really nothing from stopping you to connect to other services that talk TCP. Just put a second parameter after the host or IP address as TCP port and off you go. If the TCP handshake is successfully completed, the telnet application either displays the text that the other end sends, or just waits for you to send text. “Text” in this context is meant as data – not necessarily something you can read, depending on the protocol.

% telnet artofnetworkengineering.com 80
Trying 192.0.78.25...
Connected to artofnetworkengineering.com.
Escape character is '^]'.

As we’re connecting on TCP port 80 here, the web server on the other end waits for us to send data, and if we don’t send any, quits the TCP connection after a few seconds.

What have we accomplished with this?
We checked a connection up to layer 4, the TCP handshake was successful when we see “Connected to x”. Not getting a timeout here tells us:

Our cable, their cable, and the cables in between are plugged in or wirelessly connected (layer 1)
Data-link is working, whichever is used – probably Ethernet (layer 2)
IP routing works from end to end, maybe with NAT somewhere (layer 3)
TCP on a specific port works (layer 4), and an application is listening

So we can infer that no firewall – on one of the hosts, or between them – is blocking our connection, at least not the typical kind (looking at layers 3 & 4). But we also checked another thing – we use the hostname/FQDN here, not an IP address, which means that DNS resolution is also working. “Unknown host” or similar error messages would point to DNS resolution failing, “Operation timed out” to the host not responding on this port or a firewall blocking.

This works with every TCP protocol. We can connect to ssh – it even gives us some plain text with version info before the ciphers are negotiated:

% telnet 172.17.71.210 22
Trying 172.17.71.210...
Connected to 172.17.71.210.
Escape character is '^]'.
SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_7.5

Connection closed by foreign host.

Or DNS (yes, DNS runs on UDP and TCP) – we won’t see anything, because DNS is a binary protocol, but the TCP connection would be established:

% telnet 172.17.71.1 53   
Trying 172.17.71.1...
Connected to 172.17.71.1.
Escape character is '^]'.

Connection closed by foreign host.

If the TCP handshake fails – because nothing is listening, or the connection is blocked – it would lead to a timeout.

% telnet 172.17.71.1 52
Trying 172.17.71.1...
telnet: connect to address 172.17.71.1: Operation timed out
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host

If we are looking at a layer 7 plain text protocol, we can even troubleshoot more. Many of our upper layer protocols came out of the UNIX world, and there were strong proponents to make them plain text protocols – which means there are no complex bit sequences indicating different things, but strings of readable text going back and forth. This has the advantage of relatively easy expansion (your new idea wont fit into the 2 bit value? Too bad. With text, you can just write more), easy to program (just read newlines from the TCP socket), and easy to troubleshoot.

One example of such an plain text protocol is HTTP. Nowadays of course it serves mostly as redirector to HTTPS (which wont work as easy in telnet), but you can check a TCP/IP+HTTP connection that way:

% telnet cisco.com 80      
Trying 2001:420:1101:1::185...
Connected to cisco.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
GET / HTTP/1.1
HOST: cisco.com

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved permanently
Location: https://cisco.com/
Connection: close
Cache-Control: no-cache
Pragma: no-cache

Connection closed by foreign host.

The “GET” line is the HTTP request method, and the “HOST” is needed because we have more than one site on one IP nowadays. Press enter two times, and you get an HTTP answer back. You can see that we would be redirected to the HTTPS site, so HTTP is working fine – even with IPv6 if you have noticed. Without any redirect, we would be getting the HTML code of the site after the HTTP header, directly into our telnet window.

More protocols that work great debugging this way are the mail protocols SMTP, POP3 and IMAP, or the chat protocol IRC.

So what can’t telnet do?

It has to be a TCP service, as telnet always opens a TCP socket. If you need to test UDP, have a look at netcat – it can do TCP like telnet too, but you can switch it to UDP. But – as there is no connection establishment with UDP – you won’t know if you are really connected. So you need to control the receiving end too (for example, with netcat running there too), or have a UDP service running sending something back (for example, echo).
If you want to try troubleshooting a layer 7 protocol like above, it has to be unencrypted. A way around that would be stunnel – it handles the SSL/TLS for you, and you can then connect through it with telnet.
If you suspect that some certificate change or mistake is the culprit, the openssl command is great in troubleshooting that. It is not only to create and manage certificates, but you can use it to connect on any TCP or UDP port and get the certificate, chain, and cipher information when an encrypted connection is expected. openssl s_client -connect artofnetworkengineering.com:443 is all you need to see the public server certificate of this website.

These tools – telnet, netcat, stunnel, openssl – are in part already installed on Linux/UNIX distributions (even macos), or easily installed. To get them on Windows, the easiest way for me is always to install WSL, the Windows Subsystem for Linux. That way you’ll have a great shell too.

Of course, for all of this dedicated tools exist – nmap, curl, swaks, to name a few – but nothing beats telnet for a quick check, as it is easy enough and most of the time already installed.

Ep 114 – Things are getting Cloudy

In this episode, we talk to Shean Legion, a Cloud and SDN Product Manager. Shean and the group discuss what is the cloud, the challenges, and of course the benefits. Shean also shares some great resources for learning Cloud.

You can see the rest of the show notes and listen to the episode over at https://podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com/

Import Announcement

We’ve moved to a new podcast-hosting platform.

if you’re hearing this message that means you are still subscribed to our old RSS feed, and missing our new shows.

Here is a link to our new feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2127872.rss

Some podcast syndicators, like Apple, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, automatically updated our feed to the new one, while others accepted the new feed as an entirely new and separate podcast. You may need to search through their catalog and re-subscribe to the new feed. So far we know PocketCasts is doing this and we are working with them to correct this.

If you’re listening to our episodes on the web you can go to our new site podcast.artofnetworkengineering.com to keep listening.

If you’re manually subscribed you’ll need to grab the new RSS feed. That link is https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2127872.rss

If you’re still having problems please reach out to us. You can Tweet at us or DM us on Twitter, we are @artofneteng

or you can email us directly at artofnetworkengineering@gmail.com.

We hope you join us on our new platform and catch up on all of our latest content, and Thank you so much for listening to the Art of Network Engineering Podcast!

Ep 113 – Russ White

In this episode, we chat with Russ White! Russ has made significant contributions to Networking, such as writing some of the very RFCs we use today! Russ hold’s a Ph D., is one of a handful of Cisco Certified Architects, and is the host of the Hedge Podcast, among other things. Please enjoy our conversation with Russ!

More from Russ:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rtggeek
Website: https://rule11.tech/
Podcast: https://rule11.tech/hedge/

Check out our Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/artofneteng
Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/artofneteng
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/artofneteng/
Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/artofneteng
Join the group on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/artofneteng/
Check out our website https://artofnetworkengineering.com
Merch Store – https://artofneteng.com/store
Join the Discord Study group – https://artofneteng.com/iaatj

Book Reaction – Big Magic

Given that this is the Art of Network Engineering, I thought it appropriate to write about a book I recently finished, around creativity. Big Magic – Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert sheds some light on what it is like to live a creative lifestyle. To me, after going through this book, a creative lifestyle means consciously finding what interests you, both inside an outside of your career, and continuing to explore those interests. In my opinion, it is about finding what “makes you tick” as a person and spending time to do it justice. It might be easy as IT professionals to think that we do not need creativity to function in our careers, or maybe that there is not much room for creativity. There are protocols, standards, and documentation that we need to follow, so we don’t ever have to think outside of the box, right? Well, that just is not true. We constantly need to think of new and creative ways to integrate solutions and make technology fit our requirements. Network design is a great example of this concept. There are often many more ways than just one to design and implement a solution. We must take inputs of our requirements, business goals, scale considerations, and internal staff skill to architect the right solution. There are not always guidelines or tutorials to walk us through this thought and decision process. Believe it or not, we must get creative. I found this book interesting and helpful. It made me take an audit of how I spend my time and what I could do to better leverage and grow my own creativity. I would like to highlight some of the concepts of this book that resonated with me.

Creativity as a Means to an End
It seems natural for us to always want to try to get the most out of life. I don’t think there is necessarily an issue with that by itself, however, I think the problem is when we take that a step further. I think the issue here lies with only wanting to pursue creative ventures as a means to monetize or make a career out of the creative act. This can easily put a lot of pressure on you to be successful so that you able to support yourself, which could take some luster off of the creative pursuit. The author writes about examples of people quitting what interests them becuase they have not been financially successful, and how she stuck with writing even when she was not successful because she genuinely enjoyed the craft. In my opinion, she became a successful writer because she wanted to write, not because she had to write. Elizabeth Gilbert sees no shame in having a day job to support the creative lifestyle. In fact, she encourages it. This allows you to truly be creative because you want to, rather than relying on it to make a living.

Passion vs Curiosity
I often fall into the potential trap of having an “all or nothing” mentality. What I mean by this is that sometimes if I do not think I can maximize the benefits of trying something new and dedicate tons of time to it, I often will not even try. In other words, I seem to be pressuring myself to find things that I am passionate about, otherwise, what’s the point, right? After going through this book, I now see how that can be an issue. What I am doing is putting up guard rails around what I am willing to spend time on, and not allowing myself to adequately explore new things. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are two sides to this. If all I do is dabble in a million different things, I will probably never focus on anything. As with practically anything, a balance must be struck. What Elizabeth Gilbert suggests is rather than pressuring yourself to find a passion, allow yourself to be curious. Curiosity opens your mind up to new ideas and can even surprise you with what you may end up finding. An example she gave was that at one time she was curious about gardening, ended up starting a garden at home, which led her to research adjacent topics, and ultimately led to an entire book idea. Essentially, what I gathered from this was that we should give ourselves a chance by being curious.

“Perfect is the Enemy of Good“
While I do not think this exact quote was mentioned in the book, the idea was definitely there. It is easy to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do things right the first time and only be satisfied with something as close to perfection as possible. This mentality can easily lead to us never actually finishing a creation. When I decided to start a blog a few years ago, my initial thought was that “well, I’m not going to publish anything until my site looks good”, whatever that really means. However, I received some solid advice to just create, just get some content out there so I can practice and grow. Looking back, I fear that if I had not taken that advice, I may have never started writing, or at least would not have done as much as I have to this point. The author also gave an example of how she almost missed her first short story being published in a magazine. She had a story accepted, then due to budget constraints was told that she had to either cut out a percentage of the story, or it would not have been able to be publised in the upcoming edition of the magazine. Hopefully, it could have been published in its entirety in the next edition, but it was by no means a guarantee. After consideration, she put the work in to rewrite the story enough so that it could be shortened enough and could get published. Getting a story published at all meant more than waiting and maybe never getting the “perfect” story published. Let’s face it, perfection is an incredibly difficult, lofty, and frankly unattainable goal. What I mean be that is that we will always have room for improvement. Try not to let the goal of perfection keep you from creating something awesome.

This book gave me a lot to ponder. I think my biggest takeway, as you can probably gather from this post, is that I need to relieve the pressure. I put these lofty unwritten requirements on myself that I think keep me from reaching my full potential. I probably need to make more of an effort to get out of my own way. Making a conscious effort to allow myself to be curious and see where it takes me seems to be a good start. If you are looking for ways to approach your own creativity, I definitely recommend this book.

Featured image credit – Ricardo Esquivel
Pexels
Website
Twitter

Ep 112 – NFD30 Special!

In this episode, A.J. and Tim are joined by repeat guest Girard Kavelines, of TechHouse570. The guys all attended Networking Field Day 30 together and wanted to share their thoughts on what they saw at the event.

TechFieldDay
NFD30 Event Page: https://techfieldday.com/event/nfd30/
Become a Delegate: https://techfieldday.com/delegates/become-field-day-delegate/

Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/artofneteng
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/artofneteng/
Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/artofneteng
Join the group on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/artofneteng/
Check out our website https://artofnetworkengineering.com
Merch Store – https://artofneteng.com/store
Join the Discord Study group – https://artofneteng.com/iaatj

Cooking up Coding Fun, from ‘Scratch’

Have you ever wondered of a fairly low effort, fun way to get your kids, friends, or family members into the basics of programming? Or maybe even yourself for that matter? On the surface, this can seem like a daunting task. I mean, when I think coding, I immediately default to command line and start seeing “The Matrix” gloss over my mind’s eye. Having a low barrier to entry method for learning basic programming principles in a fun way would be fantastic. Well, such a platform does exist, and it is called ‘Scratch‘. The Scratch community and program strives to teach and get people involved in coding with a fun, free platform. To get started, all you need to do is go to the website and click “Create” near the top left. This opens up the Scratch editor and you can either just click around and start creating, or you can view some of their many, very informative video tutorials. If you want to be able to save your projects, you can create a free account. With Scratch, you can let your imagination run wild. You can create projects such as animations, stories, and games. Let’s jump right in and create a scene to show some of the possibilities with the Scratch platform.

First, we will select our backdrop for this scene.

Rock and roll! This is a pretty cool backdrop, but something is missing. Let’s add a sprite (AKA a character or object). A sprite can be selected from an available list of sprites, or we can upload something. First, we will upload a sprite to give this scene some extra character.

Now that is what I’m talking about, AONE Live, in concert! Now, it is coding time. We will want to start with the action that will begin our program, then the first steps of our code. One easy way start a program is with a click of the green flag. For this program, we will say that when the green flack is clicked, we will set the backdrop to our concert stage and place the AONE flag where it is shown above. Here is what that will look like in the Scratch GUI. One thing to keep in mind is that as we are building this portion of code, I have the AONE flag sprite selected, and the code is being built around that sprite.

There are many different action groups and options that you can see above and I encourage you to explore them. We are really just scratching the surface here (pun definitely intended). The small snippet of code above is what sets the concert stage scene that was shown earlier. One really nice thing is that as you move a sprite around in the workspace screen on the top right, the “go to” coordinates option in the blue Motion action group automatically update so you can place a sprite where you want, then just click and drag the “go to” option into your code, like I did above. Like eluded to earlier, each sprite requires it’s own code section. Now, we will add a sprite from the available options, similar to the upload that we did earlier, but now we can just click the cat icon to select a sprite from the listing.

Now, we have added a sprite named Devin and the image above shows the flow of the Devin’s code. When the green flag is clicked, Devin goes to the coordinates on the screen listed, appears, waits for two seconds, then gives an introduction. I definitely like the idea of this scene. Maybe we’ll have to take this AONE act on the road sometime in the future!

This tutorial was really just to highlight some of the basics of this platform, there are so many possibilities here. Scratch is a fantastic, fun, and free way to start learning the basics of programming. You can even do some in depth projects as well. By searching the Scratch website you can view and interact with projects that people have built and made public. I definitely recommend checking this out. Happy coding!

Ep 111 – Wireless Networks

In this episode, we talk wireless network with Rowell Dionicio, from @ClearToSend !

More from Rowell:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rowelldionicio
Website: https://rowelldionicio.com/

Clear to Send:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cleartosend
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ClearToSend
Website: https://www.cleartosend.net/

NFD30 – Gaining Intelligent Observability w/ Selector AI

Troubleshooting networks can be a very difficult, manual process. Businesses run disaggregated systems and operators often need to jump from one to another when trying to find and fix problems. A large amount of valuable time can be spent investigating different systems and infrastructure while trying to gather data, to then go through a manual correlation process to find what specifically needs to be fixed or adjusted to resolve an issue. What if there was a solution that aggregated all of this “go-to” information, correlated it for us, and then sent us a message pointing us in the right troubleshooting direction? That is the solution that Selector AI is proposing. From their first ever Networking Field Day event (NFD30), below is the problem that Selector AI believes enterprises are facing and what we covered in their presentation.

Introduction to the platform.
Specifically, the Selector AI platform is pulling in and aggregating different types of network infrastructure state information. This could be information such as logs, metrics, and events from network devices. Telemetry from the infrastructure can be streamed directly to the Selector platform, or Selector can pull from an existing aggregated source, such as Kafka. The Selector platform can run on-premises or in the cloud. The images below show Selector’s target customers and environments, then some of the available source data types, protocols, and integrations they support today.

So, Selector has the data, now what?
It was mentioned earlier that a challenge that network operators have is manually correlating events from different systems to find just what might be the problem. A core competency of the Selector platform is doing just that. Selector AI treats the process of collecting, correlating, and delivery actionable information as a data pipleline.

Once raw data is collected, the platform tags different data types to pull in meaningful information, which makes the platform able to compare and correlate that information to different types of data, for instance, logs and metrics. To put it one way, this is how they compare apples to oranges when it comes to data.

Do Selector AI customers need to go in and set up thresholds for all of these different data types so the platform knows what specifically is good and bad to alert accordingly? Absolutely not, the Selector platform leverages a baselining method to analyze data and automatically determine what is, and is not a problem. The baselining method turns numbers into events and displays what events are good and bad, or more specifically, normal and abnormal.

Event Correlation Result
Alright, so the Selector platform is ingesting data, performing baselines, doing the data conversion, and event correlation; now what? In the demo, they showed us how they integrate with platforms such as Slack to be able to deliver meaningful, actionable information to individuals and teams so they are made aware of an issue and immediately pointed in the right direction to go solve it. Users of the Selector platform can even interact with the Slack messages to query the platform to get more information about the specific alert. As part of the event correlation process, multiple events are combined into a single, correlated alert. This way, teams are not inundated with a large number of alerts and can more easily focus on solving the problem in front of them.

In my opinion, Selector AI really seems to have a special product here that can provide a lot of value to large companies. The target audiences that were listed in one of the above images make sense as far as who would benefit from this platform. Having aggregated and correlated intelligence that is automatically delivered to not only alert you about an issue, but to also essentially point you in the right direction for next steps is extremely valuable. As mentioned earler, this was Selector’s first Networking Field Day presentation, but you would not have been able to tell. The team is clearly passionate and excited about their product and where they are going in the future. Click here to watch Selector’s NFD30 presentation so you can see exactly what the delegates saw from them.

NFD30 – Juniper Campus Fabric and Segmentation

Major goals for enterprise campus networks are flexibility, reliability, and security. With legacy networks, it sometimes seems to be difficult to get all three in one solution. For example, to build flexible networks, we would end up spanning VLANs across many switches and potentially compromising reliability. One solution to this is to adopt the underlay/overlay concept of building fabrics. With fabrics, we can build stable and scalable Layer 3 end-to-end underlay networks and then leverage technologies such as LISP and VXLAN (as examples) to build our flexible networks in which users and devices can roam the infrastructure and maintain their Layer 2 and Layer 3 adjacencies as needed. Juniper provides this level of flexibility, reliability, and security through their Campus Fabric solution, managed by Mist AI.

Juniper presented at Networking Field Day 30 (NFD30) and told the story of how they are helping their customers build campus fabrics from the Mist AI cloud platform, with security tagging and enforcement embedded into the infrastructure. This solution is just part of their overall goal to provide “Experience-First Networking“.
(***Don’t blame Juniper for the image quality. I took these as screenshots from their NFD30 presentation. Blame me, I deserve it.***)

As stated earlier, campus fabrics provide us some benefits over legacy networks. Juniper presented those benefits as follows:

Next, Juniper understands that customers may be in different stages of their campus network journeys. Due to this, when standing up a campus fabric, they provide you with three topology architecture options. This flexibility allows customers to decide how far they want to take their EVPN-VXLAN fabrics.

One more concept that I want to cover out of Juniper’s Campus Fabric solution is around security; specifically around authentication and authorization. Over the years (like it or not), the network infrastructure has become a natural security sensor and policy enforcement point. There are a few different ways of accomplishing this in enterprise campus networks. One of these methods involves leveraging a Radius solution to determine authentication and authorization actions, then instructing the infrastructure implement that authorization policy via VRFs, VLANs, ACLs, and/or some sort of packet tagging. Juniper’s Campus Fabric solution allows for this method. They implement Group Based Policy so that you can enforce VRF, VLAN, ACL, and tag based segmentation. You can create and set static security tags (which get added into the VXLAN header), but the more common and dynamic method seems to be leveraging a Radius solution to perform dynamic tagging, as mentioned earlier.

One thing that I thought was particularly interesting is that Juniper supports scalable group tag enforcement at either ingress or egress. In having a great chat with Jordan Martin, we discussed that while ingress enforcement seems more efficient from a bandwidth perspective, something to keep in mind is that the entire database of tag policy has to be downloaded to the switch to be able to support that level of enforcement. That has the potential of causing TCAM concerns. Whereas, if you allow the packet to traverse the network to the destination switch, the destination switch only needs to do a lookup to the policy database for the given source and destination to decide whether to permit or deny the packet. In typical campus networks, maybe egress enforcement isn’t a big deal because we may not be worried as much about potential inefficient use of bandwidth.

Campus fabrics, or the concept of underlay/overlay networks can help organizations achieve all three goals of flexibility, reliability, and security. In Juniper’s case, they lean into the cloud based Mist AI platform to perform that fabric management plane function for their customers.

As far as this NFD 30 presentation, I have to give the Juniper team a lot of credit. The delivery was very engaging and flowed very well from presenter to presenter. As questions were asked, each presenter seemed to jump in effortlessly when it was a topic within their expertise. They clearly work very well together. Also, I appreciate that the product management team maintains close relationships with their customers so that are able to operate a strong feedback loop. They truly seem to want to make sure that they are developing products and solutions based off of real customer need and desire. I had a great time participating in this presentation.

Ep 110 – Network Tools

In this episode, the team discusses some of their favorite network tools!

Ep 109 – Labs, Labs, Labs!

In this episode, Tim and Lexie talk all about labs! Home Labs, study labs, and even labs at work!

Entry Level Cloud Certification

About mid-way through 2022 I was looking for the next step in my learning journey. Earlier in the year I had taken on an architecture role and saw it fit to start branching out from purely network infrastructure related concepts. It seemed like a good time to start gaining broader skillsets and knowledge. For me, cloud seemed like the right path to take. To be honest, I would sit in certain meetings and hear phrases and acronyms that would go right over my head. My objective was to gain some base-level knowledge around cloud concepts. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but personally, I didn’t want to jump straight into one of the major cloud vendors learning paths. I wanted that vendor-agnostic approach to get the basics down first. By basics I mean characteristics of cloud computing (what makes something a cloud offering) and hopefully pick up and understand some of this terminology that I was not grasping. That lead me to start looking at some of the CompTIA options. Given the new role I had taken on, I wanted something that gave me a good mix of high level technical and business related concepts. This would hopefully help me “speak the language” when it comes to groups and individuals outside of the IT department. CompTIA has two main options for cloud related studies, the Cloud+ and the Cloud Essentials+ certifications. After a little research, I landed on wanting to prepare for the Cloud Essentials+ (CLO-002) exam.

Reasoning for Cloud Essentials+ Journey
A big reason that I went with preparing for the Cloud Essentials+ exam was that it covers that mix of technical and business principles that I was looking for to start building my knowledge around cloud. This really is an entry-level path and my starting cloud knowledge was practially zero, so I felt this was a really good option for me. The curriculum started with the basics which is what I really wanted. Personally, I typically try to make sure I hit and reinforce the basics when I am learning something new so that I do not miss something important which can make learning future concepts more difficult. You definitely do not have the follow what I do, find what is right for you. I will say that my method typically takes longer when it comes to cerfications, but I am alright with it. One of the early topics that was covered was the main cloud characteristics, as defined by NIST. According to NIST, the five characteristics that a cloud service must have are:

1. On-demand self service
2. Broad network access
3. Resource pooling
4. Rapid elasticity
5. Measured service

This is exactly what I wanted to see early on because I wanted that base level understanding of what makes up a clould service and be able to have somewhat intelligent conversations regarding cloud services. Some other topics that I enjoyed covering were:

Cloud Service Models
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Cloud Deployment Models
- Private Cloud
- Public Cloud
- Hybrid Cloud
Cloud Migration Types
Disaster Recovery Concepts
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
- Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
- (The two sub-concepts above are examples of acronyms I would hear out in the wild and not know what they were.)

Preparing for the Cloud Essentials+ Exam
To prepare for the Cloud Essentials+ Exam, I used the following materials:

CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ Exam Prep Bundle:
- Official Study Guide (ebook)
- CompTIA CertMaster Practice
- Exam Voucher and Retake Voucher
CBT Nuggets course for Cloud Essentials+
Pluralsight learning path for Cloud Essentials+
Anki cards throughout the entire journey for review as there are a lot of concepts that you should be able to understand and explain.

How it’s Going
I found that preparing for the Cloud Essentials+ exam was just what I was looking for in my intro to cloud concepts journey. I was able to take and pass the exam near the end of 2022. One thing that I have started doing somewhat recently is documenting my learning journey in blog form as I go. I will typically take a concept that I am learning and write up a blog post about it. I find that it not only helps solidify the knowledge, but also allows me to practice writing, which I really enjoy. You can find my Cloud Essentials+ Journey series on my blog site. Happy learning!

Featured image photo credit – A.J. Murray
Website
Facebook
Twitter

You Are Good Enough

As I think it is natural for us to do near the end of a year, I have been doing some reflection. While ups and downs are often the norm, it seems to have been quite the year for many of us. All I have to do is check out the IAATJ Discord winning channel to be reminded. One thing that I find in common with successful people both inside and outside their careers is that they invest in themselves and those around them. What does it mean to invest in yourself? Well, that’s the beautiful part, it can take on many different meanings.

First, I think you need to understand something. You need to understand that you ARE worth the investment. Imposter syndrome is alive and well in our lives, often on a daily basis. Imposter syndrome is that nagging feeling that we inflict on ourselves that tells us that we are not good enough to be where we are, doing what we are doing, and that we do not belong. In small doses, imposter syndrome probably is not a terrible thing. It can cause us to want to continue to better ourselves, because let’s face it, we’re never going to know everything. We cannot, however, let imposter syndrome consume our lives. We need to understand that there is a reason we are in the positions we are currently. For instance, let’s say you are in a new role and feel like you are not skilled enough to be in that role. Well, there is a reason you made it into that role. Someone or a group of people saw something in you to give you that chance. Or let’s say you are making a change in your life and trying something new. Well done for taking that step! You are good enough to be you and share your contributions. Take a chance, bet on yourself. I think you will be surprised what you can accomplish and where your journey can take you.

To me, investing in yourself is a making a conscious effort to continue to better something about your life. I am not just talking about your career either. This is by no means a plea for you to go out and get as many certifications as you can. That is a completely different conversation, I’ll just say that certifications are great and all, but there are other ways to gain experience and confidence in your skills. I am taking a holistic approach here. There are many different facets to our lives and I find that trying to maintain some sort of balance is key. Investing in yourself can take many different forms, and this is by no means an exhaustive list.

Mental Health
- Many of us have probably heard a phrase similar to “you cannot fill up the cup of others if your cup is empty”. My translation is that it is very difficult to take care of others and responsibilities without first making sure that you are taking care of yourself. I am by no means even a novice when it comes to mental health, but I will say that you should keep yourself honest. Understand when something does not feel right or when you need a break. And when that happens, seek the assistance of others. You do not need to fight battles on your own or suffer in silence. Remember, you are good enough. You are worth it.
Physical Health
- This is an opinion article, so I have no peer reviewed facts, but I feel that physical health can tie directly into mental health. Exercise has been an important part of my life, especially recently. Let me caveat exercise really quick. Anyone who has seen me can probably tell very quickly that I do not do a lot of strength training. However, I make a conscious effort to get my heart rate up and move around most days for a sustained period of time (usually around 25 minutes). Second caveat, much like my lack of mental health expertise, I do not claim to know what I am talking about when it comes to physical health either. But, I do know what seems to work for me, and physical exercise is definitely a piece of that puzzle.
Support System
- I mentioned seeking assistance in the mental health section above. Some of us are lucky enough to have people (and I count furry friends here as well) that care deeply about us. It is easy to take things for granted, especially our support system of awesome people. I feel we should invest in our support systems as well. I am not saying you need to continuously buy people lots of cool gifts either. Investing in your support system can be as simple as reaching out. I am a big fan of the check-in. I like to reach out to people over time just to say “hi” and see how they are doing. I know how awesome it feels when people do the same for me, and this is how I invest in my support system.
Career
- I think I may have left this one last in the list on purpose (again, not an exhaustive list). I wanted to convey how important I think the other items in the list above are to me. That being stated, I am also very passionate about my career and continual growth within it. Investing in yourself from a career standpoint in IT can mean many different things and a combination of many different things. First, I think it is important to understand what you want out of your career, and it is definitely fine if that changes over time. In fact, I would expect it to change over time. Once you have at least a high level idea of what you want your career to look like, it is time to invest. I mentioned certifications earlier and that is definitely a good method, but not the only one. Other options to invest in your career can be to lab things up to improve knowledge, volunteer to jump into something new and even lead new initiatives, and ask questions. Asking questions and showing that you are curious is a great way to invest in yourself.

This post has all been a bit of a lengthy way for me to state and reiterate that you are good enough. You are good enough to be invested in, starting with yourself. Understand that you are worthy enough to take a chance on yourself, your development, and your happiness. The examples of success are plentiful. Take the AONE team for example. There has been a lot of growth in the co-hosts since the show has started, largely in part to self-investment. Do I even need to mention the rockets? Seriously though, you are good enough, and I cannot wait to see you grow in life. Happy holidays, happy new year, and happy reflecting, from the AONE team.

Ep 108 – TME Panel

In this episode, we talk to two different Technical Marketing Engineers to learn more about this position, what it entails, and the type of work a TME does. Pete Lumbis and Wes Kennedy join us for this exciting episode!

More from our guests:
Pete Lumbis: https://twitter.com/PeteCCDE
Wes Kennedy: https://twitter.com/wesdottoday

Ep 107 – Augtera Networks

In this episode, we interview the Founder and CEO of Augtera Networks, Rahul Aggarwal. We learn about Augtera and how they can help network engineers!

Ep 106 – Data Center Network Design

This week we talk to Gabe Pariacote. Gabe is a Principal Architect with Sirius Computer Solutions (a CDW company). He helps customers design and implements enterprise campus and data center networks. Gabe also has a background in the service provider space and is a 3X CCIE Routing and Switching, Service Provider, and Data Center.

Ep 105 – Leadership

In this episode, we discuss leadership with Mike Bushong, GVP of Cloud Ready Data Center at Juniper Networks. We reveal what leadership is, the characteristics of a good leader, leading with your strengths, connecting with people in a genuine way, the power of questions, cognitive biases, influence, and work/life balance.

More from Mike:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbushong

“FREE” IT/Cyber Training for Air Force People

When it comes to money, I don’t like to spend it. Furthermore, one of the key tenets to writing is ‘write what you know’ or so says a few people anyways. So here we are. There is a lot of training out there so in the following I hope to provide stuff that’s not only free/almost free but stuff that’s actually good content and worth your time. Even if you are not getting any of the following for ‘free’ because you are not in the Air Force, you can at least get a bit of insight into a few learning platforms and what I find valuable in each.

O’Reilly Books

Access to O’Reilly books can be had by any current military member through the MWR library system. MWR libraries has had available subscriptions to O’Reilly for a long time, way back when they were called Safari Books. These days, not only does O’Reilly provide thousands of digital books, they also offer cloud labs and sandboxes to try out code so you can get a bit of hands along with their book offerings. O’Reilly also has a bunch of video on demand courses and most Packt publishing books.

If you were to purchase this great service on your own it would run you $49/month or $499/year. If I had just $50 to spend on training this is probably where I’d spend it. The amount of content you get here is just unparalleled. Just getting every book by the Manning and No Starch publishing are worth it on it’s own.

Digital University

DigitalU or DU for short, is a new offering for those in the Air Force. It’s main page tries to get you organized into specific training goals. Once you actually begin a course, skill or goal you are then redirected to one of their many platforms that actually provides the training.

While I currently don’t use Digital University the way it’s intended, as I find it’s UI difficult and non intuitive, it allows access/subscription to some great resources. Namely, DataCamp, Cloud Academy, Udemy and Pluralsight. To get to these websites, you search for a course or skill path within Digital University and then pay attention to who is providing the course, regardless of whether you are interested in that course in general:

Once you click on ‘continue’ or ‘start next’ you will be redirected to the platform I’ve outlined in the rectangular box. Now you can do anything within that particular platform/website, and that’s usually how I navigate and use this resource.

DataCamp

DataCamp has been an absolute joy to use. So far, I’ve completed four courses introducing Python data science concepts. It’s got short explainer videos and then you spend most of your time doing related exercises. Here is the common interface for most of your exercises:

In here you can try stuff out on the iPython Shell before running your script, look at the slides if you need a little help with syntax, get help with a hint if you’re a bit stuck. I just think this is such a great learning tool/environment. I plan to keep using DataCamp to learn some data science skills as I think it’s valuable to get more comfy with Python in general but even more so to wrangle large datasets into something useful no matter where I find myself. If you were to purchase this subscription on your own it would run you $39/month or $300/year. A quick aside, I always prefer the month approach to subscriptions as you never know what sort of projects/interest you maybe in 8 months from now.

Cloud Academy

This is my other favorite platform whose access is provided by Digital University. So far I’ve completed a Docker and Kubernetes learning path. The video instruction is really clear and concise yet their labs are where this platform really shines. Every lab requires you to access a cloud provider and some initial setup no matter if the topic you are covering is strictly cloud or not. To do this they give you a username and password to Azure or AWS for example and you are on your way. The lab guides are also top notch as I’ve found nothing unclear or incorrect which means they are staying up to date with the ongoing changes of each cloud provider to make sure their labs are accurate and on point.

I just started Microsoft Azure Fundamentals today and hope to test on AZ-900 by mid November. More on Microsoft certifications later in this post. The cost of Cloud Academy if you were to purchase this on your own is, at the time of this writing, $39/month or $399/year.

Pluralsight and Udemy

The last two big offerings through Digital University are Pluralsight and Udemy. I’m not the biggest fan of either platform, so I’m not here to tell you how awesome they are. See how that works. Pluralsight in it’s defense, may have the best mobile app out of the bunch. So if you find yourself with a long commute, and enjoy some of the courses, you may find a home with Pluralsight. The best use I’ve got out of Udemy thus far are the practice tests associated with certifications. There are a few courses that are nothing but some very well written practice exams. Cost for both platforms are comparable to DataCamp and Cloud Academy’s pricing.

Splunk

Splunk offers free training to veterans. Once verified with your ID.me you’ll have access to many eLearning courses and eLearning courses with labs. Each class with labs is a $300 value. I first got started with Splunk Training with Splunk 7.x Fundamentals Part 1 (eLearning). It seems they broke apart the Fundamentals training into the smaller eLearning modules. Furthermore, instead of having you install a local instance of Splunk to go through the labs, they have you use a cloud instance. Other than that, the training seems to be about the same and of the same quality.

Although I use Elastic for most of my work related tasks, getting acquainted with Splunk, learning how to parse large amounts of data to make useful insights will be great for anyone. While most eLearning training is free from Splunk, you are saving $300 per course with labs and able to get valuable hands on experience.

VetSec

VetSec is probably the coolest program out there for veterans. I’m not currently active but have been in the past yet continue to have a smile on my face whenever Thomas Marsland (VetSec Board Chairmen) posts come across my LinkedIn feed. As I’m interested in training, I’m continually impressed by what they have put together to offer the military community. Furthermore, their slack channel is where the true magic happens. From mentoring to resume help to job posting to special training opportunities there is an abundance of help there for anyone who needs it. If you need more direction/help/community do not hesitate to sign up with VetSec.

Hopefully this post introduced you to a few new ways to save a few dollars and get some quality training, and at the very least make sure you get connected with VetSec.

Free Microsoft Certs

As mentioned above, I just started going through the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals learning path in Cloud Academy. Well one reason for doing so is because Microsoft is currently offering 100% discounted exam vouchers to those in the Air Force. The discount looks to expire 6/30/2023:

To ‘get’ the discount you simply enter your .mil email before heading to checkout:

So I’m giving Azure a try, you can also do the associated learning path through Microsoft as well but I’m going to stick with Cloud Academy and see what happens. I’ll report back.

The Bat Cave

Me on the Left, Pedicab Mentor on the Right

Manny Pimentel recently wrote a blog post describing his ‘Nurse to CCNA’ journey. It was a great post and very cool to see the man behind the man who is the president of short IT Twitter. This got me reflecting a bit on my own journey. I’m not up for telling the whole story of how I came to 40 years of age, so I’ll stick to just one…

Somewhere between 2006-2008 I found myself drawn to the Bat Cave, 909 Marion St in downtown Seattle. I just got my Associates degree from South Seattle Community college and I was working at a place not far from the Bat Cave, a corporate lunch spot called Mel’s Market tossing salads. As luck would have it, I spotted an ad on craigslist while looking for some sort of bike messenger position, a pedicab driver. I contacted the ad and let them know of my interest.

My First Business

I felt a bit of apprehension as the guy ‘interviewed’ me and let me drive him around the block as he explained to me what it was about to do this sort of work. He let me do a few days, expecting me to fail or realize this work wasn’t for me, but, as it turns out, this work was just my cup of tea, in my own way.

To be a pedicab driver I would have to obtain a business license and then I’d rent the pedicab from this man. I completed the paperwork, I think at this time you could obtain a business license for about $80. Then I’d show up for work at the Bat Cave where all the pedicabs were stored…

Pedicab rental rates varied depending on what was going on that day. I don’t recall exact rates but the were something like:

Mariners Games $35
Football Games $60
Any old day $15 – $25

So I’d show up, do a quick check on my bike and head out, I’d have to payout the rental fee once I was done for the night. That was it, keep anything I made past my rental, all cash.

We had about the same group of riders while I was there. It consisted of about 2-3 old timers and 6-8 young new comers.

A Typical Shift

A Mariners game is a good example of a typical shift. I’d arrive to the Bat Cave at around 2:30 – 3 pm for a typical 5ish first pitch. Back in these days there was usually between 3 – 6 pedicab drivers in total, on any given night. We’d lineup like taxis before the games start at the ferry dock, waiting for would be baseball fans to get off and take them to the gates at Safeco Field.

The price of this service would fluctuate a bit, most of the time I’d quote $12 or $17. I was taught to always use an odd number so that you can expect at least $15 or $20 by the end of the ride. Even so, I’d very rarely have the change needed at this point, especially early in this shift. On a good day, I’d hopefully get 3-4 trips from the ferry to the baseball game. So I’d already be well into making money time having already covered my rental fee.

Once the game starts till it ends is more of an adventure. You can choose to wait at any of the exit gates, the easiest rides being the one closest to the ferry. People tend to trickle out of the game after the 5th or 6th inning with a big rush at the end of the game. After the game people ask to go to all sorts of places, from a pub, a strip club or the Siren tavern. Even a couple hours after the game it’s not hard to pick up a ride in Pioneer Square to make some extra cash. Also, the later it gets the more people are willing to pay. Not sure if this has anything to do with alcohol consumption but could be an indicative variable.

Two rides I remember more than any other. One such ride was giving two girls a ride to a Tavern and they were groping and kissing my back the way whole way there. I did not enter into that tavern nor ever speak to them again, still a story (for another day or another platform??!)…The other was a single rider whom I’d taken from the stadium area all the way to a place in Belltown. This one stands out because it was the longest one way trip I’d ever done on a pedicab. I told her that and also the chance I’d be getting more rides was slim and she paid me more in one trip than I usually made in most nights. Great conversationist that one as well.

And I digress…

At the end of the night, usually around 11 pm I’d venture, we’d all end up back in the Bat Cave counting our money. Back in those days I wore some pretty form fitting pants and I’d just have bills stuffed in my sweaty pockets. I wasn’t even to dare trying to do too much with those bills in my pockets out in public, so I’d get back and begin separating bills and see what I ended up with.

A good shift to me was anytime I had over $100 profit. These were easy to do for Mariners and Seahawks games and took some REAL work when you’re just going up and down the waterfront or through Pioneer Square.

The People

With any job I always think whether you had fun or enjoyed what you were doing depends on who you are working with and who you are serving. This job was no exception. There were some awesome people pedicabing and some cool stories from customers I’ll take with me for the rest of my life. People like talking and there is no better place to let someone talk as you are trying to catch your breath peddling them up a small incline…

The night usually ended eating some bbq duck and/or drinking a cloudy beer. To end the night I’d bike the 6-8 miles back to my place of residence back then. Good shape I was in (compared to today me).

Unfortunately, a new pedicab driver had a tragic accident and at least one life was lost. This brought up city politics and the person who’d I’d been renting from moved on after this tragedy. This is about the time I also moved on from pedicabbing as well but always hold this time in my life in high regard even though at the time I was too immature to truly appreciate it. I often wonder what would have been of me had I stuck this out or ventured into buying my own cab had things been different?

How Did this Shape Me

I suppose it shaped me in a lot of ways, but sticking strictly to my career it helped me get out of my shell. The reason the guy, at the interview I initially had was so skeptical of me being a pedicab driver was because I was a shy soft-spoken kid. In this line of work you have to put yourself out there, literally. After pedicabbing I went to barista work and a bit of food service on the side. I don’t think I wouldn’t picked these jobs up as fast or been as successful had it not of been for this experience.

Above all, I got to learn about Seattle. I got to meet all of its citizens. From the out-of-towners that came to the games, to the houseless people eating a Food Not Bombs lunch on a Sunday, to the hot dog vendor cart owners outside of the stadiums. I got to meet and hear so many people’s story in a short amount of time.

So in the end the Bat Cave will always hold a prestigious grip on my heart. We are but the experiences that brought us to where we are.

Ep 104 – Scary Stories!

You sent them in and we’re sharing them! These are some of your scary network outage stories! We even share some of our own scary stories too!

Ep 103 – Packet Capturing with Chris Greer

In this episode, we’re talking Packet Capturing with Chris Greer! Chris shows us all a thing or two about capturing packets and packet analysis with Wire Shark!

If I Could Start Over in Tech

I’ve written maybe 20 posts or so on this here website. Almost all of them have been explainers or reviews. The following will be something different, something personal. It will probably be a bit short, but I’ll work on that, a journal entry so to speak. Incoming.

The timeline has been a bit cluttered with people giving advise, based on their experience, on what they would focus on if they were starting over in tech. For example, one of my favorite follows on twitter John Breth weighs in:

Everyone is posting "If I had to start over in tech" posts the past few days.

Almost all the tech vets have cloud as one of the technologies they said they would focus on.

I couldn't agree more!

So if you want to start…here's 20 cloud vids (AWS/Azure/CCSP) to help you!!!🧵 pic.twitter.com/D7LeVmteFp
— John Breth (JB) | CyberInsight® on YouTube (@JBizzle703) October 4, 2022

Follow John! good content from a good dude 🙂

This got me thinking a bit about my own journey and what it means to ‘start over’ in tech.

The Beginning

I’ve started over, money/job/career wise about 5 ‘major’ times since I turned 18; 40 today. I ‘started over’ in tech in July of 2018, enlisting full-time in the Washington State Air National Guard. The first year and change, when you first dive into the job and associated study, it’s easy. Not necessarily the content/job. What I’m talking about is the motivation.

Everything is seemly made for you. The new person in tech. The books, seminars, lectures, YouTube, study groups are 90% for those who are in the beginning stages of their careers. Or, at least that is what it seems to me. Especially after consuming tons of this content over the last 4 years and change.

The rush of taking your first few certs is pretty bad ass. It rivals that of finals week at the collegiate level in my opinion. Sharing your news with those that helped you along the way and those who you’ve studied with is equally as fun. I’m pretty close online with the connections I’ve made at or around this time. It’s a very special time.

But I don’t really want to talk about the beginning. What comes after that first little rush. When you’re just getting your feet wet but think you’ve come to some standard of knowing something. Right before you realize you barely know anything.

The Hard Part

I’ve been in this hard part for the latter part of the last 3 – 3.5 years. Trying to climb your way out of being a novice and getting to something deeper, unsure of what you can call yourself. To motivate myself I spend a lot of time online. Most of the people I look up to online are some sort of engineer, gave talks at conferences, been doing the thing for at least 15 years or some 18 year old CCIE candidate. There are so many freaking awesome people out there to be inspired by.

All that inspiration you get when you are first starting out, when inevitably comparing yourself to those you are inspired by, begins to weigh on you when you are reaching year 3 and into year 4 and you are diving into yet another new technology and having to learn the fundamentals of something new.

I can tell I’ve made progress when I’m talking to those I work with, or someone who themselves are just starting to learn a certain aspect in tech I’ve spent some time on. I surprise myself by how articulate I can explain something. After the conversation I’ll marvel at how much I actually do know.

But then I’ll do something like go to my first tech conference and meet a bunch of super amazing people again. An inner dialogue begins. Am I good enough? Is this the right career? Do i ‘love’ this? What am I doing with this?

How do I relate what I do to my kids? This question right here weirds me out, as the answer is something close to: I respond to emails, solve puzzles and google stuff for people that are too lazy to read. How is this a rewarding life? I’ve always had trouble selling stuff, myself included. I don’t see it as a bad thing but rather see it as me having a true heart and an understanding of what’s actually important (I have trouble lying…).

The Next Thing

This is what I’ve come to accept as what whatever this tech thing is. It’s continually learning. It’s not knowing (but finding out). It’s not something to master, it’s something to be in awe of, to be curious about.

How do you know tech is right for you? If you see something, tech related, and wonder how that works. How can you make it do something else. How can I get it to do what your friend did. I think this attitude, if you are nodding your head north and south, means you are in the right spot.

I doubt 10 years from now will look a lot like today. So that means nothing but learning ahead. Even though I’ll never be Ivan Pepelnjak, the hope is that I’m able to draw on my experience to pick up things faster. Notice that this new thing is actually this old thing bolted on to this other old thing. Speaking of finding little nuggets. When thinking about ‘if I could start over in tech’ I’m reminded of a cool RFC I was linked to a book I was reading. I find it fun to follow a lot of the links when reading 🙂

1. Introduction

   This Request for Comments (RFC) provides information about the fundamental truths underlying all networking. These truths apply to networking in general, and are not limited to TCP/IP, the Internet, or any other subset of the networking community.

2. The Fundamental Truths

   (1)  It Has To Work.

   (2)  No matter how hard you push and no matter what the priority, you can’t increase the speed of light.

(2a) (corollary). No matter how hard you try, you can’t make a baby in much less than 9 months. Trying to speed this up *might* make it slower, but it won’t make it happen any quicker.

(3)  With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly overhead.

(4)  Some things in life can never be fully appreciated nor understood unless experienced firsthand. Some things in networking can never be fully understood by someone who neither builds commercial networking equipment nor runs an operational network.

(5)  It is always possible to aglutenate multiple separate problems into a single complex interdependent solution. In most cases this is a bad idea.

(6)  It is easier to move a problem around (for example, by moving the problem to a different part of the overall network architecture) than it is to solve it.

     (6a) (corollary). It is always possible to add another level of indirection.

(7)  It is always something
     (7a) (corollary). Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick any two (you can’t have all three).

(8)  It is more complicated than you think.

(9)  For all resources, whatever it is, you need more.

    (9a) (corollary) Every networking problem always takes longer to solve than it seems like it should.

(10) One size never fits all.

(11) Every old idea will be proposed again with a different name and a different presentation, regardless of whether it works.

     (11a) (corollary). See rule 6a.

(12) In protocol design, perfection has been reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

Request for Comments: 1925 [1 April 1996]

So if I could do it all over I’m not sure I have any better advice to give. Do what you like to do. I’ve heard John Capobianco on more than one occasion ask people what they are interested in, whether it be Pokémon or baseball, and tie those interests or hobbies into a tech project. I think this is great advice, and I’ve tried to share it with others. There are so many ways to tie something tech related to things out there in the world. If you can combine the two you can learn more about both at the same time.

Like I alluded to above, sometimes I don’t feel all that into everything all the time. Sometimes I use this hobby/job/phase of my life to distract myself from other aspects of my life. We all have our lows. I’ve been there. I doubt myself. I wonder what I’m doing.

In the end I’m just a curious dude. I studied philosophy and my favorite word when I was a seven year-old was why. Every profession I’ve taken up I’ve looked into the science, tried to hone my craft with a bit of flare. Perhaps I’m just in this particular game because I enjoy puzzles. This is just another phase in my life. Another chapter. Will the next chapter be tech. Maybe, but I’ll be equally immersed in whatever I’m doing because as I’ve come to find out that’s just the kind of guy I am.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Like this blog post.

If you feel something in your heart is pulling you, I’d say follow it, and give it your entire heart. This might not be it for you or maybe it isn’t for you ‘right now.’ I’m not super into long term goals. For me, I focus on daily routines. What do I like to do? Spend time with my family? Yes, put it in the routine. Read? Yes, put it in the routine. Run? Yes, put it in the routine. I control each day, as much as one can, and put my effort in things I enjoy. Where will this get me in 10-20 years? I don’t know career wise, but I know I will have been an active parent who attempted to do his best on any given day.

As with journeys, i’ll see you around the bend, until next time. If you see me, say hi.

Basic NBA Data Parsing with Python

About eight weeks ago I saw John Capobianco and Tim Bert were holding an online meeting about trying to pull down some NCAA football data using an API. I, myself, finally finished up the last certification exam I’ve had on my plate shortly thereafter. Since then, I’ve taken to doing a little bit of DataCamp and CloudAcademy each day.

DataCamp has a python track that teaches you the basics of python while adding in some packages a data scientist may use along the way, specifically, numpy and pandas. I’m square in the middle of DataCamp’s ‘intermediate python’ course.

Then, like a shower whose water never gets warm, I thought to myself, why not try and do some stuff with NBA data while going through the examples and practice during the course. So here we are 🙂

As the title says, this is going to be ‘basic’ as i’m just beginning and truth be told, i’ll prob do some non best practices going forward in this post. This is what learning in public looks like.

Getting Some Data

If I’m going to parse some data using what I’ve been presented thus far in my training, I need some data. In my current lesson we are doing basic data parsing with pandas series objects and pandas dataframe objects. I took to the googleverse and found an interesting github repo. This python package was created to make it easier to interact with stats.nba.com APIs. To install:

pip install nba_api pandas requests

From here it’s all about figuring out a bit from the documentation found on the github I linked above. Jimmy Butler is my current favorite NBA basketball player so the first thing I need to find out is his PLAYER_ID so I can use it to get further info on him.

>>> from nba_api.stats.static import players
>>> players.find_players_by_full_name('jimmy butler')
[{'id': 202710, 'full_name': 'Jimmy Butler', 'first_name': 'Jimmy', 'last_name': 'Butler', 'is_active': True}]

From the output, we can see that Jimmy Butler’s ‘id’ is 202710. I’ll use this when making my next call:

>>> from nba_api.stats.endpoints import playercareerstats
>>> Jimmy = playercareerstats.PlayerCareerStats(player_id=202710)
>>> print(type(Jimmy))
<class 'nba_api.stats.endpoints.playercareerstats.PlayerCareerStats'>

So, at this point we are almost there, just a little bit more mangling and we will get to the types of objects I need…I’m going to use the get_data_frames() function included in the nba_api and select the first table in this object with the ‘[0]’ and assign this to the variable ‘jimmy_panda’:

>>> jimmy_panda = Jimmy.get_data_frames()[0]
>>> print(type(jimmy_panda))
<class 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame'>
>>> print(jimmy_panda)
    PLAYER_ID SEASON_ID LEAGUE_ID     TEAM_ID TEAM_ABBREVIATION  PLAYER_AGE  GP  GS     MIN  ...  OREB  DREB  REB  AST  STL  BLK  TOV   PF   PTS
0      202710   2011-12        00  1610612741               CHI        22.0  42   0   359.0  ...    23    33   56   14   11    5   14   20   109
1      202710   2012-13        00  1610612741               CHI        23.0  82  20  2134.0  ...   136   192  328  115   78   31   62   97   705
2      202710   2013-14        00  1610612741               CHI        24.0  67  67  2591.0  ...    87   243  330  175  127   36  102  106   878
3      202710   2014-15        00  1610612741               CHI        25.0  65  65  2513.0  ...   114   265  379  212  114   36   93  108  1301
4      202710   2015-16        00  1610612741               CHI        26.0  67  67  2474.0  ...    79   279  358  321  110   43  132  124  1399
5      202710   2016-17        00  1610612741               CHI        27.0  76  75  2809.0  ...   129   341  470  417  143   32  159  112  1816
6      202710   2017-18        00  1610612750               MIN        28.0  59  59  2164.0  ...    79   235  314  288  116   24  108   78  1307
7      202710   2018-19        00  1610612750               MIN        29.0  10  10   361.0  ...    16    36   52   43   24   10   14   18   213
8      202710   2018-19        00  1610612755               PHI        29.0  55  55  1824.0  ...   105   185  290  220   99   29   81   93  1002
9      202710   2018-19        00           0               TOT        29.0  65  65  2185.0  ...   121   221  342  263  123   39   95  111  1215
10     202710   2019-20        00  1610612748               MIA        30.0  58  58  1959.0  ...   106   280  386  350  103   32  127   81  1157
11     202710   2020-21        00  1610612748               MIA        31.0  52  52  1745.0  ...    94   265  359  369  108   18  109   71  1116
12     202710   2021-22        00  1610612748               MIA        32.0  57  57  1931.0  ...   102   234  336  312   94   27  121   88  1219

[13 rows x 27 columns]

Alright. We made it.

Finding Out Some Basic Info About our Data

Alright, above it says at the end of the output we have 13 rows x 27 columns. We definitely see the 13 rows but we don’t see anywhere close to 27 columns. Let’s see how we can see what the 27 column headers are, to do this i’m going to dtypes to see the info about each column in the table as shown:

>>> jimmy_panda.dtypes
PLAYER_ID              int64
SEASON_ID             object
LEAGUE_ID             object
TEAM_ID                int64
TEAM_ABBREVIATION     object
PLAYER_AGE           float64
GP                     int64
GS                     int64
MIN                  float64
FGM                    int64
FGA                    int64
FG_PCT               float64
FG3M                   int64
FG3A                   int64
FG3_PCT              float64
FTM                    int64
FTA                    int64
FT_PCT               float64
OREB                   int64
DREB                   int64
REB                    int64
AST                    int64
STL                    int64
BLK                    int64
TOV                    int64
PF                     int64
PTS                    int64
dtype: object

So this table we have is kind of exciting, at least for a first go at this, am I right?! We can now select to print off only certain columns in the output or slice only specific years of Jimmy Butler’s career or both. One way to do this is to use pandas and make sure the object we are dealing with is a DataFrame, allowing us to use all the options assoicated with this object type. Let’s see how we can accomplish this:

>>> pd.DataFrame(data=Jimmy.get_data_frames()[0], columns=['SEASON_ID', 'PTS', 'AST'])
   SEASON_ID   PTS  AST
0    2011-12   109   14
1    2012-13   705  115
2    2013-14   878  175
3    2014-15  1301  212
4    2015-16  1399  321
5    2016-17  1816  417
6    2017-18  1307  288
7    2018-19   213   43
8    2018-19  1002  220
9    2018-19  1215  263
10   2019-20  1157  350
11   2020-21  1116  369
12   2021-22  1219  312

###
Above we basically changed the Jimmy object into the Data
Frame object we want to play with.  It's the same as doing
what's below because we've already assigned 'jimmy_panda' and
made sure it was a Pandas Data Frame
###

>>> pd.DataFrame(data=jimmy_panda, columns=['SEASON_ID', 'PTS', 'AST'])
   SEASON_ID   PTS  AST
0    2011-12   109   14
1    2012-13   705  115
2    2013-14   878  175
3    2014-15  1301  212
4    2015-16  1399  321
5    2016-17  1816  417
6    2017-18  1307  288
7    2018-19   213   43
8    2018-19  1002  220
9    2018-19  1215  263
10   2019-20  1157  350
11   2020-21  1116  369
12   2021-22  1219  312

Or, an even simpler way to select columns, since we know ‘jimmy_panda’ is of the data type we need:

>>> print(jimmy_panda[['SEASON_ID', 'PTS', 'AST']])
   SEASON_ID   PTS  AST
0    2011-12   109   14
1    2012-13   705  115
2    2013-14   878  175
3    2014-15  1301  212
4    2015-16  1399  321
5    2016-17  1816  417
6    2017-18  1307  288
7    2018-19   213   43
8    2018-19  1002  220
9    2018-19  1215  263
10   2019-20  1157  350
11   2020-21  1116  369
12   2021-22  1219  312

Alright, that was fun, let’s see how we can slice a specific year (row) out of this chart (how did i figure out how to do this you ask, I checked the pandas loc docs):

>>> jimmy_panda.loc[jimmy_panda.index[[12]], ['SEASON_ID', 'PTS', 'AST']]
   SEASON_ID   PTS  AST
12   2021-22  1219  312

Let’s Compare

Now that we’ve seen we can pull out specific columns, rows and the like, we can now decide to do so based on certain thresholds. For example, it maybe useful to know only the years Jimmy Butler shot over 30% from 3-point range.

The first step we need to do is figure out which column we will be using to do our comparison, specifically, which column represents 3 point percentage. We can scroll up and look at the output of our dtypes command or do it again:

>>> jimmy_panda.dtypes
PLAYER_ID              int64
SEASON_ID             object
LEAGUE_ID             object
TEAM_ID                int64
TEAM_ABBREVIATION     object
PLAYER_AGE           float64
GP                     int64
GS                     int64
MIN                  float64
FGM                    int64
FGA                    int64
FG_PCT               float64
FG3M                   int64
FG3A                   int64
FG3_PCT              float64
FTM                    int64
FTA                    int64
FT_PCT               float64
OREB                   int64
DREB                   int64
REB                    int64
AST                    int64
STL                    int64
BLK                    int64
TOV                    int64
PF                     int64
PTS                    int64
dtype: object

Alright, we can see we will be working with the ‘FG3_PCT’ which is the object type float. Next let’s check out the specific values we will be comparing, specifically, we are going to check which years Jimmy Butler shot the 3-ball better than 30%.

>>> jimmy_panda.loc[:,"FG3_PCT"]
0     0.182
1     0.381
2     0.283
3     0.378
4     0.312
5     0.367
6     0.350
7     0.378
8     0.338
9     0.347
10    0.244
11    0.245
12    0.233
Name: FG3_PCT, dtype: float64

Alright, now to see which years he shot beyond 30%; to do this we will simply add the operator at the end of the statement above:

>>> jimmy_panda.loc[:,"FG3_PCT"] > 0.300
0     False
1      True
2     False
3      True
4      True
5      True
6      True
7      True
8      True
9      True
10    False
11    False
12    False
Name: FG3_PCT, dtype: bool

Every ‘True’ is when Jimmy shot better than 30% and every false is when he failed to do so. Next, i’ll show a series of commands. First, i’ll assign the variable FG3_is_good to the comparison and then use that variable as an index. Lastly I’ll use the value_counts() function to see how many ‘True’ or ‘False’ in total, so you can see how many years he was better than 30% and how many years he was not.

>>> FG3_is_good = jimmy_panda.loc[:,"FG3_PCT"] > 0.300
>>> print(type(FG3_is_good))
<class 'pandas.core.series.Series'>

>>> jimmy_panda[FG3_is_good]
   PLAYER_ID SEASON_ID LEAGUE_ID     TEAM_ID TEAM_ABBREVIATION  PLAYER_AGE  GP  GS     MIN  ...  OREB  DREB  REB  AST  STL  BLK  TOV   PF   PTS
1     202710   2012-13        00  1610612741               CHI        23.0  82  20  2134.0  ...   136   192  328  115   78   31   62   97   705
3     202710   2014-15        00  1610612741               CHI        25.0  65  65  2513.0  ...   114   265  379  212  114   36   93  108  1301
4     202710   2015-16        00  1610612741               CHI        26.0  67  67  2474.0  ...    79   279  358  321  110   43  132  124  1399
5     202710   2016-17        00  1610612741               CHI        27.0  76  75  2809.0  ...   129   341  470  417  143   32  159  112  1816
6     202710   2017-18        00  1610612750               MIN        28.0  59  59  2164.0  ...    79   235  314  288  116   24  108   78  1307
7     202710   2018-19        00  1610612750               MIN        29.0  10  10   361.0  ...    16    36   52   43   24   10   14   18   213
8     202710   2018-19        00  1610612755               PHI        29.0  55  55  1824.0  ...   105   185  290  220   99   29   81   93  1002
9     202710   2018-19        00           0               TOT        29.0  65  65  2185.0  ...   121   221  342  263  123   39   95  111  1215
>>> FG3_is_good.value_counts()
True     8
False    5
Name: FG3_PCT, dtype: int64

One funny thing that jumped out at me is that Jimmy has been unable to shoot better than 30% from three after the age of 30. Interesting. Furthermore, we can easily conclude Jimmy has shot better than 30% from 3 61% of the seasons he’s played thus far.

Playoff Jimmy has been said to be a thing. One aspect of this is that he shoots better from three in the playoffs as well. We can use the same format as we did above to quickly figure out his percentage. Jimmy Butler’s playoff stats happen to be [2] index of the original ‘Jimmy’ object we pulled down using the nba_api:

>>> print(Jimmy.get_data_frames()[2])
   PLAYER_ID SEASON_ID LEAGUE_ID     TEAM_ID TEAM_ABBREVIATION  PLAYER_AGE  GP  GS    MIN  FGM  FGA  FG_PCT  ...  FTM  FTA  FT_PCT  OREB  DREB  REB  AST  STL  BLK  TOV  PF  PTS
0     202710   2011-12        00  1610612741               CHI        22.0   3   0    4.0    0    0   0.000  ...    0    0   0.000     0     0    0    0    0    0    0   1    0
1     202710   2012-13        00  1610612741               CHI        23.0  12  12  490.0   50  115   0.435  ...   45   55   0.818     9    53   62   32   15    6   16  26  160
2     202710   2013-14        00  1610612741               CHI        24.0   5   5  218.0   22   57   0.386  ...   18   23   0.783     6    20   26   11    6    0    3  13   68
3     202710   2014-15        00  1610612741               CHI        25.0  12  12  506.0   94  213   0.441  ...   59   72   0.819    18    49   67   38   29    9   21  27  275
4     202710   2016-17        00  1610612741               CHI        27.0   6   6  239.0   46  108   0.426  ...   38   47   0.809     9    35   44   26   10    5   15  10  136
5     202710   2017-18        00  1610612750               MIN        28.0   5   5  170.0   28   63   0.444  ...   15   18   0.833     3    27   30   20    4    1    5   9   79
6     202710   2018-19        00  1610612755               PHI        29.0  12  12  421.0   79  175   0.451  ...   63   72   0.875    22    50   72   62   18    7   22  20  233
7     202710   2019-20        00  1610612748               MIA        30.0  21  21  806.0  144  295   0.488  ...  164  191   0.859    46    90  136  127   41   14   59  37  467
8     202710   2020-21        00  1610612748               MIA        31.0   4   4  154.0   19   64   0.297  ...   16   22   0.727     6    24   30   28    5    1    9   6   58
9     202710   2021-22        00  1610612748               MIA        32.0  17  17  629.0  166  328   0.506  ...  111  132   0.841    41    84  125   78   35   11   25  25  466

Now I can quickly assign this to a variable so I can interact with it as a pandas object.

>>> Playoff_Jimmy = Jimmy.get_data_frames()[2]
>>> Playoff_Jimmy.loc[:,"FG3_PCT"] > 0.300
0    False
1     True
2    False
3     True
4    False
5     True
6    False
7     True
8    False
9     True
Name: FG3_PCT, dtype: bool
>>> Playoff_Jimmy.loc[:,"FG3_PCT"]
0    0.000
1    0.405
2    0.300
3    0.389
4    0.261
5    0.471
6    0.267
7    0.349
8    0.267
9    0.338
Name: FG3_PCT, dtype: float64

Kind of funny that Butler has a perfect True False pattern throughout his playoff career. Also, as with anything in IT there are at least 25 ways to do the same thing, the more you learn. Above I was able to pull the “FG3_PCT” for each row. Here is another way to do the same thing using a for loop:

>>> for column, row in Playoff_Jimmy.iterrows():
...     print(str(row['SEASON_ID']) + ' 3ptfg%: ' + str(row['FG3_PCT']))
... 
2011-12 3ptfg%: 0.0
2012-13 3ptfg%: 0.405
2013-14 3ptfg%: 0.3
2014-15 3ptfg%: 0.389
2016-17 3ptfg%: 0.261
2017-18 3ptfg%: 0.471
2018-19 3ptfg%: 0.267
2019-20 3ptfg%: 0.349
2020-21 3ptfg%: 0.267
2021-22 3ptfg%: 0.338

Conclusion

Well, if you read this far you realized we didn’t do anything mind bending. I suppose writing this out and doing the same type of practice activities I’m doing in my DataCamp course on some data I pulled down myself helped me learn quite a bit more than simply going only through the course.

I’ve always enjoyed doing data parsing in Linux. I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts how much I’ve enjoyed doing log parsing on the Linux shell using cut, grep, awk, uniq and sort to break down logs. This data science stuff seems to tickle a bit of that same excitement. I’m also excited to continue this project. Specifically, making visualizations should be fun, and i’m sure i’ll check back in here once I make it that far. I’ve seen some people plot shot charts as well, which would be a fun little side quest. I imagine a site like statmuse.com does a lot of what’s shown here behind the scenes when you ask a question.

See y’all around the bend.

Sharkfest22 Kansas City Review

I was scrolling through twitter.com and saw a post about a new podcast, ‘Sharkbytes‘ hosted by Roland Knall. The first episode is an interview with Betty DuBois and Sasha Mullins-Lassiter. In the interview, Sasha goes over her experience getting into cyber security and attending Sharkfest. This got me reminiscing, Sharkfest was my first ever ‘in-person’ tech conference and I don’t think I could have had a better experience.

Why write a retrospective? Well, I want more people on the fence, thinking about going to perhaps read this while they are researching and end up pulling the trigger. I remember before I attended I saw Denise Fishburne’s ‘review’ of Sharkfest on her YouTube channel Networking with Fish. Now I will never be as charismatic as Ms. Fishburne or on a podcast with Roland so I’ll fill this page with words behind my keyboard 🙂

Pre-Conference Classes

A great way, as it turns out, to lower any pre-conference social anxiety issues is to attend the pre-conference classes. My first class of two classes was titled ‘Introduction to Packets-How to Capture and Analyze with Wireshark’ and I simply couldn’t wait.

Before we even entered the class, we had a catered breakfast just outside of the classroom in a fairly fancy hotel in downtown Kansas City. Upon finishing, making sure to refill on my coffee, I entered the class to be met with one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in tech, my instructor, Betty DuBois. At my desk I had a notebook with sharks on it, Wireshark pens and a place to plug my laptop into. All in all I think we had less than 20 students in this two day ‘get to know’ Wireshark course.

The main point of this course was to try and take everyone, from where ever they are at skillset wise, and set them up for success during the following course and the conference itself. Highlights being a few hands on labs and most importantly all the ways in which to make your pcap sing by creating specific profiles for specific types of traffic within Wireshark.

Each day in these courses we all ate together around big tables, rubbing shoulders with the Wireshark development team as well as fellow students. It being such a small group you can’t help but feel included, no matter how nervous you might be on the inside. As mentioned before, these small groups helped ease the transition as we got a little more crowded in the second pre-conference course I attended ‘Cyber Threat Hunting with Wireshark’ taught by Chris Greer.

This course doubled in size, we had to be getting close to 40 people in the room. Chris had on a microphone and it seemed as though we were gearing up so to speak. The course was great with every lecture leading into a hands on lab. I took away some major advantages of pcapng vs pcap file structure as well as getting some practice using Betty’s profiles to quickly solve some lab challenges. Besides using Wireshark I tried to solve every lab using tshark, the cmd line version of Wireshark, as well.

After this one day course, we had a kickoff dinner. All the food that was catered was very good. I was continually surprised each meal of each day. I’ll discuss finances later, but will mention here that breakfast and lunch were included on pre-conference class days and then lunch and dinner was included on conference days (dinner with an open bar mind you).

The kickoff dinner was the first time you start to see a bigger group. But, in talking to the other attendees this is still a very small conference. I’d guess we had maybe 100 – 150 people at the opening night dinner and talk. Having met people during my two pre-conference classes I felt as though I already made connections and had conference friends. No awkward ‘all these people i don’t know’ feeling ever crept in. Like Sasha mentioned in the SharkBytes podcast, I felt like I belonged.

The Conference

The conference had three options for every time block with each time block consisting of about 90 minutes. So we had two talks before lunch and then two talks after lunch. As an attendee you get to decide which talk interests you the most, or mosey around the snack table, whatever suits you.

One of the main highlights was that I got to meet Tony Efantis. I’d been following him online since he started posting streams about his CCIE journey. Getting to know him a bit online before the conference as I’ve done with quite a few people over the last 3-4 years, Tony was the second person after A.J. Murray whom I got to connect with in person. Come to find out, our jobs are pretty closely aligned as he works on the hardware that the Air Force uses to do Defensive Cyber Operations.

Tony Efantis giving a talk titled “Build your own: Remotely accessible packet-capture drop box for troubleshooting networks <$100”

Besides Tony, if I had to give awards out to my favorite talks they would be Josh Clark’s “Troubleshoot like a doctor” on the first day. The attention to detail on the presentation and its foundational approach both moved me. In summary, this talk gave an illustration on how a doctor goes through training and then quickly makes choices on what to do with a patient and then he seamlessly ties this into how we could do this with IT troubleshooting. Taking into account that doctors have honed their troubleshooting methodology for way longer than IT has been a thing and it’s this experience he believes we can take from and apply to IT troubleshooting.

Another talk that has stayed with me was Mike Kershaw’s talk about software defined radio magic stuff on the last day! My current position in the Air Force deals mainly with different kinds of RADAR data sets and having Mike discuss ADS-B got me all excited. It was only a 90 minute talk but I enjoyed how he went from how to initially capture the traffic from the air to trying to make something meaningful out of it. Wireless technology has always been one of my weakest points but the things Mike is able to do make me want to get better in this field for sure!

The last person I’d give a special speaking award is Hansang Bae. He gave a talk on troubleshooting I believe, I don’t even recall the name of the course. I remember he was using a Remarkable2 for his presentation. Something I’ve been looking at purchasing for a long time and this was my first ever time seeing it in person. Mr. Bae was using it to draw or illustrate his point during his lecture. The way he was able to tell where a specific server was based on the time it took it to respond was the first thing that blew me away. I’ll admit the talk may of been a tad too advanced for me, but seeing him carve a pcap, make quick determinations, I knew I was in the presence of greatness.

Beyond the talks, I was most enthralled in Sake Block’s CTF. I believe this went live the first morning of the conference and ended the morning on the last day. I diligently worked through every challenge. Seemed as though this CTF was made for me difficulty wise. The prompts were difficult but not so difficult I wanted to dispose of my laptop in the nearest trash receptacle. Every break and meal I was following Sake around, probably annoying the shit out of him, looking for ways to accomplish whatever flag I was on and share with him the excitement of previous flags I finally got. I ended up clearing all but one flag by the time the buzzer sounded and placed 4th overall. Staying up to 2 am each night working on flags almost won me a trophy, if it wasn’t for those pesky online attendees, I would’ve been second behind Chris Greer. NEXT TIME!!! 🙂 But in all seriousness, Sake Block was a huge part of this conference for me. At the end of the conference I felt like I jived well with all the people whom trekked over from Europe.

One of the biggest highlights/fun for me personally at #Sharkfest22 was @SYNbit's CTF 🙂

Favorite challenge goes to @showipintbri 🙂 pic.twitter.com/DNeegs62el
— André (@HugOfThunder) July 14, 2022

Economics

Sharkfest + All Pre-Conference Classes is just shy of $3,000. As mentioned above some food is also included, about 12 meals. In addition to paying for the conference you’ll need to secure air fare and lodging. So a total cost under $4500/person is very reasonable for those living within the US. Looking at the bigger conferences like CiscoLive I think you’ll see this cost is very good for what you end up getting.

Conclusion

I think this is a very good value given the content and atmosphere. From the small size of the conference to it being centered around an open source project, the feeling of inclusion and the lack of a feeling like someone trying to sell me something the entire time can not be overstated. The atmosphere was one of learning, especially the fundamentals as well as inclusion.

We all belong in tech.

Ep 102 – Deep Dive in Fiber Optics

In this episode, we chat with Iain Geddes, a Network Reliability Engineer that understands Fiber Optic networking at a deep level. We deep dive with Iain on how Fiber Optics works!

Download Iain’s slides from the show: Optical 101

More from Iain:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NetworkDoozer
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iaingeddes/

GNFA, GCFA, eCDFP, CySA+ & Pentest+

It’s been so long since I’ve sat down to write a blog post. I’ve conferred with Aninda Chatterjee on my lack of motivation to write, where did it go and if it would ever come back again numerous times with months in between. To be completely honest, the drive to do tutorial type stuff just isn’t there. I’m planning to embark on some Kube learning soon, so maybe that could spark something. Time will tell…

So what have I been up to in the last, say, 10 months since my last post? Well, a lot! I’m deep into trying to be a cyber analyst at work, perhaps trying to get fully onboard at a Cyber Operations Squadron (Air Force). In sharpening my skills at work I’ve also continued to study and take exams in my free time as noted by the title of this post.

In the following, I plan to take you on a round robin discussion of the courses and exams I’ve taken since I’ve last checked in, let you know what I think and cap it all off with what comes next. Always looking with an eye toward the future 🙂

GIAC Network Forensic Analyst (GNFA)

The GNFA is the exam associated with the SANS FOR572 course. I chose to do the ‘On-Demand’ version taught by Phillip Hagen. I really like the On-Demand format. From the content broken into smaller, easy to consume videos, to the digital book associated with lecture side-by-side, to the easy navigation, to the mobile App. It doesn’t miss and it shouldn’t given the course is now garnering an $8k+ price tag.

Before taking SANS FOR572 I completed SANS SEC503, which I’d recommend as a precursor if you are a bit new to the field. SEC503 spent a good amount of time going through how to use a certain tool whereas FOR572 assumed such knowledge and really hit the ground running using the same tools and spent most of its instruction in the actual analysis of the output. So it felt really good to feel like I was building upon a foundation started from a previous course and ‘advance’ into ‘doing the job’ type scenarios.

Scenarios, that’s one word to describe FOR572. Scenario! Everything you do deals with a specific, elaborate scenario. You are called in to a company, given network maps, logs from certain devices and start logging all your findings a long the way. Hands on learning from a large data set, allowing you to go far beyond what’s outlined in the lecture or in the lab. This is where SANS shines in my opinion. Not to discount the lecture, as I think that’s top quality as well, but the thought that goes into the scenarios, the lab book and how it’s so nicely put together is something I’ve not seen another vendor come close to (I know, I know, it costs $8k+).

I felt fairly confident going in to take the GNFA on exam day. I began studying networking, built upon what I learned in SEC503, I was ready! This exam turned out to be all multiple choice if I’m remembering correctly, no lab questions. Still, all the questions were paragraphs were you are deciphering log information to come up with conclusions about the data set. My brain was on fire at the end of the 3 hours. I passed the exam with an 80%. Lower than I expected but, like mentioned above, most of the course and this exam was not about knowing and using a specific tool, it was about being able to say things about the output.

Talk about leveling up. I feel as though if I were to relate this to my collegiate learning I’d say I learned as much in 4 months studying FOR572 as I did a whole year in college taking a full load. Furthermore, it’s at this point I think my confidence also begins to show through a bit more in the workplace. I’m beginning to share my opinion more in meetings (and I have a bit of experience to base my opinions on…).

CompTIA CySA+

I’m assuming if your reading this, you have an idea of what the Art of Network Engineering community is. If not, they do a podcast but even better, they have a discord. In the discord people talk about coffee, grilling meats and travel (that’s the channels I mostly check). Additionally, there are channels for studying/discussing specific technologies, sharing employment advice and simply lifting each other up.

One day I saw a post from someone offering up a CompTIA exam voucher. I reached out and a few minutes later I was signed up for the CompTIA CySA+ exam. This gentlemen, who I will not mention by name so he doesn’t get swarmed with free voucher requests, supplies CompTIA with exam questions for certain exams as a side hobby. In return, sometimes CompTIA gives him exam vouchers and he was simply passing this one on.

To study for the exam, I looked quickly at what was available on one of my favorite learning sites: O’Reilly. Each module and topic, after a quick skim, looked familiar. It was at this point I moved my exam up and said to myself “I’m already doing the job, let’s just go take the exam.” So, in short, I didn’t study at all.

The exam itself, I called it fair, insofar as I passed. My logic was that I’m doing the job and in my mind I’m ‘doing the job’ at a fairly high level, pat myself on the back. So, passing the exam would simply validate the skills and knowledge needed and since I passed everything seems to have lined up.

I wish I could give a more, if your just starting out is this worth it, type of opinion but I can’t really view this exam from that perspective, since it isn’t mine. I took to learn networking, learn some networking implementation and then some network design and then I got into cyber. The culmination of 4 years of studying on my own made this exam a pretty easy endeavor.

Beyond just passing an exam, this opportunity helped me garner all the required CEUs to renew my required Security+ certification for my current employment with the Air Force. So I wasn’t just out here passing an exam for no reason! 🙂

CompTIA Pentest+

So I quickly conferred with the person that gave me the previous CompTIA voucher my thanks and that I passed the CySA+. He replies back that he has another voucher…

Interesting.

I believe we are now into February 2022. At work, I’m getting ready to start a cyber exercise called Cobra Gold. In this exercise, I was to be a ‘red team’ member and provide cyber effects to teams defending a network and specific devices within their network as if I were an adversary.

This exercise started off with four days of academics, of which, I even taught a 90 minute course on ‘Linux Host Hardening’ but I had very little experience in offensive tools or techniques. So I had a bit to learn in a week to be a good adversary! This backdrop, and receiving another voucher prompted me to study for specific topics covered in the Pentest+ exam while I study, prepare and execute my tasks associated with my part of the Cobra Gold exercise I’m doing for work.

The main things I implemented and used was Metasploit, nmap and all the impacket tools. Not an exhaustive list by any means, but I had two weeks! One week focused simply on learning and another week implementing my attack. Have to start somewhere!

As mentioned in the exam above, I went back to O’Reilly to fill in the gaps on specific exam topics I wasn’t able to tackle during the work exercise. As far as the Pentest+ exam goes, getting the hands on practice with nmap and Metasploit payed off immensely. Knowing all the nmap options might even be a quarter of the exam, ok, maybe not that much but it’s there for sure!

I would call this exam very entry level as well after taking it. I studied for about two weeks and passed very easily. Again, I do have a lot of other types of experience beyond the two weeks I focused on it, so I’m not saying it’s ‘that’ easy. Now that I think of it, and I’m two CompTIA exams into this post, I haven’t really seen much content on exams from the point of view of a mid to advanced career. I mean people do posts on them that are, but I have to give them more credit on being able to empathize with how it relates to people ‘just starting out’ cause that is not as easy it seems.

GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst (GCFA)

Man. This was a tough one. Just looking at that heading I’m taken a back by the amount of work went in to me barely passing this exam. I just passed this exam a couple of weeks ago, which means, I started this course about 4 months ago. The GCFA is associated with the SANS FOR508 course.

For this course I decided to try the ‘Live Online’ format. Quick recap, I don’t like it as much as the On-demand format. One good thing, work allowed me some time away to do the Live-Online format that was not allotted to me when doing the On-demand format. But content wise, not the best for my learning.

First off, the course pace is FAST! I took this course because I’m mostly comfy with networking, including on the cyber side. This course was about learning about host artifacts. Something I knew very little about. By the end of day two my mind had melted and was on the floor. The lecture by day three, while I could hear words coming out of the speakers, they washed over me like a warm shower at the end of a long day. I knew something was happening but my mind was in a completely separate place, unable to make sense of much beyond day 2. I had trouble catching up at night as my dad duties were far too great for the amount of content I needed to grasp before the next day.

The next thing I don’t like in the Live-Online format is how the recordings of your lecture are laid out. They are simply an 8-9 hour video, unedited in your browser, breaks and lunch included. The connection would time out after a couple of hours and I’d have to reload my page and try to skip to were I’d left off. It just wasn’t ideal. I ended up going through the MP3s associated with the course over trying to deal with the recordings of my lecture as they were edited and in smaller more manageable chunks.

The labs, like all previous SANS courses, were off the charts. There were some 60+ specific tools discussed in the course and you had so much data, including full images, forensic images etc. to run them on. So many tools and so many different kinds of artifacts. A crash course unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Like FOR572, the labs for FOR508 use the same org but you have a completely new set of evidence so that you can learn how to analyze hosts. The labs built off each other as well. You are able to take what you learned from one tool as a starting point as we examine evidence from another tool or data set.

After going through the course, going through the course again with the MP3s, going through the course again by reading all the books, going through all the labs a few times I didn’t think I had any chance of passing the associated exam. I NEEDED TO CREATE A VERY GOOD index if I was to get anywhere close to passing.

On a GIAC exam, you are allowed to take any written notes, books, diagrams etc. in with you when you take your exam. Many people make an index, where they have a list of alphabetized key words associated with which book and page number to find it. So if you get a question about shimcache you can quickly find some relevant pages if you are stuck. I went through all the books again, reading each page, summarizing the page, and then adding any key terms to an index. This took about 2 weeks and I had around 900 entries in my index.

And when you go into the exam, there are about 85 questions and you have 5 books that are between 120-180 pages each. So you can’t really look up ‘every’ question. Even so, questions will often be framed with competing tools, viewpoints or ideas so you have to know more than one thing to get to what the answer should be. This exam also included a practical portion, where you get access to a VM and have to use some tools to come up with the correct answer. I much prefer these questions as they seem more straight forward.

I ended up passing the exam with a 76%, 72% was passing. While not impressive by merely looking at the score, just about everything I learned over the last four months was something I didn’t know or have experience with beforehand. Memory analysis was the most fun, most eye opening module to me. Didn’t know how many things you could find out by dumping someone’s RAM. Remarkable.

eLearnSecurity Certified Digital Forensics Professional (eCDFP)

Getting this exam voucher was akin to how I got my CompTIA ones. It’s not what you know it’s who know they say…Here a friend was not going to be able to use his voucher before the deadline due to commitments at work. So here comes me always willing to try my hand at an exam.

I choose to do the eCDFP over other eLearnSecurity exams due to the overlap with FOR508 and I was coming down to the wire of having to take the exam very soon. I signed up for the 7-day free trial to go through the associated course and I was on my way. Exam in seven days.

To say I had trouble with both the course and the exam would be an understatement. Half the labs for the INE course were ‘under maintenance’ and I wasn’t exactly blown away by having to go through some 1500 slides in seven days. The video lectures were short and didn’t really dive into any additional options with any of the tools discussed, very surface level. To INE and eLearnSecurity’s credit their support team was always there, responding quickly to whenever I needed help, mostly with the exam.

So the exam is a 24 hour timed 30 question test. 15 of the questions are typical multiple choice and 15 questions require you to connect to a lab network, perform tasks, analyze output to come up with the answer. I spent about 6 hours and 3 exam attempts simply trying to get properly connected to the lab environment. To note, I needed to install an OpenVPN client about 3-4 versions old to even connect. Then I had to hope that I was able to connect the the VMs in the exam lab environment. If you couldn’t connect, you’d have to reset the lab environment which took another 30 minutes. Very frustrating.

In any case, come the second restart on my third attempt (I was given another voucher due to my technical difficulties) everything was working perfectly. I correctly answered 28 out of 30 questions in about 4 and a half hours.

While this exam does have a lot of overlap with SANS FOR508, it digs a bit deeper into data acquisition from hard drives. How to decipher a MBR in a Hex editor and be able to make out partition tables/sizes and the like. So this wasn’t as simple to study for as the CompTIA exams mentioned above, I really had to dig in on a few modules. Whats more, even though they were trying to get at the same artifacts discussed in SANS FOR508, they were using completely different tools to achieve it. Feel as though I really became more of a pro with FTK imager in this course.

My main gripe with the exam beyond its lack of proper functionality is that it’s still on version 1. People have passed this exam since at least 2018, the same version. The linux machine was using Security Onion and I was using Wireshark version 1.12 which came out in 2014. I shouldn’t be using 2014 version of Wireshark in 2022…

So this exam, while the content is still ok, could use a bit of a refresh if only to fix what’s broken and bring in some new versions of the tools discussed and used. There’s a lot of additional functionality in even the tools discussed that could be of value. I’d like to see eCDFP version 2 come out before I fully endorse this exam and course.

Planning for the Future 🙂

Well were do I go from here??? I want to gain a deeper understanding and working knowledge of kubernetes so I think that might be the next big course I undertake. No associated exam, just in it to learn.

Beyond that, I just applied for a masters program in cyber defense at Dakota State University. Don’t think I can attend awesome SANS courses forever and they have a ‘technical track’ so I hope to be pushed and learn a lot here.

See you around the bend as we continue on this journey, till next time 🙂

Ep 101 – Netris

In this episode, we talk with Alex Saroyan, CEO and Co-Founder of Netris, VPC Networking for On-prem, Edge, and Bare Metal! We learn about how Netris can help us as Network Engineers.

Links:
Connect with Alex on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-saroyan/
Follow Alex on Twitter: https://twitter.com/alex_saroyan
Follow Netris on Twitter: https://twitter.com/netrisai
Try Netris: https://www.netris.ai/
Netris Videos: https://www.netris.ai/videos/
Netris Documentation: https://www.netris.ai/docs/en/stable/

Ep 100 – Community, Friendship, and 100 Episodes of AONE

This is episode 100 of The Art of Network Engineering! In this episode, we celebrate you our fans, the Network Engineer Community at large, and all the friends we’ve made over the last 100 episodes. Thank you!

Ep 99 – Mental Health 2

In this episode, Tim, Lex, and Andy talk about Mental Health and how they cope with it. Mental Health is a real problem in our industry as IT Professionals, as well as a serious problem around the world. Take the time for yourself and your mind. If you need help, get help and talk to someone.

Ep 98 – Jason Gooley Returns!

In this episode, Jason Gooely returns! With Tim at the helm, he is joined by two guest co-hosts. The first time we had Jason on the show it was a YouTube Live Stream and we were not able to release it as a regular episode. We are happy to be able to talk to Jason again and release this!

More from Jason:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jason_Gooley
Metal Devops: https://www.metaldevops.com/
AONE Live Stream: https://youtu.be/A9Umyi1PKkg

Ep 97 – Ramtin Rampour

In this episode, sponsored by Opengear, we talk to Ramtin Rampour. Ramtin is currently a Solution Architect at Opengear, but he started there as a warehouse employee packing and shipping units. His career journey is certainly one you don’t want to miss. Then we talk about the importance of Out-of-Band Management, and the Opengear Difference.

More from Ramtin:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramtin-rampour-370b5843/

Ep 96 – Jeff McLaughlin

In this episode, we talk to Jeff McLaughlin a Sr. Director of Technical Marketing at Cisco. Jeff, Andy, and Lexie talk about working for large tech companies, network automation, and a whole lot more, in addition to Jeff’s career.

More from Jeff:
Blog: https://subnetzero.info/
Substack: https://subnetzero.substack.com/

Ep 95 – Kori Younger

In this episode, we chat with Kori Younger! Kori shares with us how she was inspired by her own mother to seek a job in tech. She also shares her recent experience landing a job at Cisco and pursuing her CCNA, DevNet Associate, and CCNP. Hear all that and more on this episode of AONE!

You can find more of Kori:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CyberKori
Blog: http://totalpackets.com/

Ep 94 – Geoff Anderson – CCNA PM

In this episode, we interview Geoff Anderson, Program Manager for the CCNA Certification Program. Tim, Lexi, and Geoff talk about the program, how questions are selected for the CCNA question pool, the value the certification holds, and so much more!

You can find more of Geoff:
Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ganders2112
Check out his Blog: https://www.prodbistro.com

You can also find more information on Cisco official Certifications and Training Programs: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications.html https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/s/certifications

Ep 93 – Adam Hill

This week we chat with Adam Hill. Adam is consulting engineer for an ISP. He helps customers connect their networks to the cloud, and ensures quality and highly available connections. Adam is extremely hard working and great at focusing his energy. Check out Adam’s motivational story!

You can find more of Adam:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamehill87/

Ep 92 – AONE Live Asheville!

In this episode, we were recording live at our event in Asheville. Check out our first-ever live event!

AONE Announcement

You heard it here first! To get the pace of the show to a speed we can sustain, we’re going to start dropping episodes every other Wednesday. We appreciate all of our listeners!

Ep 91 – Our First Time Recording Together!

This episode is the first time in our history we recorded together in the same room! A.J., Andy, Dan, and Lexie discuss their time in Ashville, what it’s like meeting each other for the first time, and then they recount the history of the podcast, and we also discuss its future. Unfortunately, Tim’s travel was delayed and he wasn’t able to join us for this recording.

Smart Troubleshooting with PathSolutions

While troubleshooting issues is a fantastic skill to hone and practice, as network admins and engineers, it is not something we want to spend all of our time doing on a daily basis. Rather than constantly working through trouble tickets and “keeping the lights on”, we would like to use as much of our time and energy as possible on more strategic efforts to help the business succeed. One staple of network operations is having some sort of a network monitoring solution. In the most basic form of network monitoring, our requirement is that we need to know when a device or link is down, or if there is some blatantly large problem that we want to make sure we know about. It can be a very rough feeling to have a network device at a site go down over the weekend, and completely miss it because there was no monitoring/alerting, which makes it an instant emergency Monday morning when the first person gets there and has to call in and report the issue. That is a really important function of a network monitoring solution, but should we accept that as being enough? With just satisfying this basic requirement, it still leaves a lot of time and effort on the network admins and engineers to troubleshoot issues that are not as cut-and-dried as a device being in an up or down state. What if a network monitoring solution could be more than just firing on standard alerts which still force staff to spend time manually finding issues and correlating events? What if we could tap into all of the intelligence that is just sitting in our network devices? What if we could leverage our network devices as sensors to feed our monitoring solution with data, and in turn the monitoring solution is able to analyze and correlate all of this information to then not only alert on issues, but give suggested troubleshooting steps so we do not have to do all of that manually? All of these “what ifs” are addressed by PathSolutions in their TotalView product.

What is PathSolutions TotalView?

PathSolutions TotalView is a network monitoring solution, but not just any network monitoring solution. You can think of it as a combined monitoring solution and digital troubleshooting assistant. TotalView can provide not just alerts about problems, but actual recommendations on troubleshooting next steps. Rather than receiving an alert about packets loss, or potentially nothing at all if the issue is around slowness or poor performance, you could receive a message that looks like the following:

That message is very powerful for two reasons. First, a junior or senior engineer has some direction on next steps to resolve an issue before having to log into any device and start information gathering and manually troubleshooting. This is one of those “wins” that was brought up in the introduction. TotalView can assist with initial troubleshooting so you do not have to spend the time and effort manually. Secondly, the message above is powerful because the operations team can receive that alert and implement the recommended fix before an end user even reports the issue. Let’s face it, sometimes people will just deal with an issue and accept the poor performance rather than report it as a problem. Having this proactive visibility and assistance allows an IT operations team to provide real value to the organization they support.

How does TotalView work?

First off, a big claim to fame for TotalView is that it can be stood up and operational in less than twelve minutes. TotalView consists of a lightweight Windows installer, and thus is designed to be implemented quickly and easily on a Windows virtual machine. The solution is self-contained within that single VM installation. There is no need for separate front end or database servers. The PathSolutions stance on this is to provide a valuable network monitoring solution that does not take time and effort away from the IT operations teams to put a lot of care and feeding into the solution itself. Once the server is up and running, it is to be configured with SNMP and SSH credentials, as well as relevant subnets to scan so that it can learn about all of the network devices in your environment. TotalView can gain insights into Windows servers by leveraging WMI queries. A benefit to subnet scanning is that once it is set up, it can catch new devices as they are implemented so that staff does not have to remember to manually add in new devices to the network monitoring solution. Once TotalView has the subnet and credential information, it can continuously crawl the network to retrieve and correlate valuable operational information in your environment.

Troubleshooting Highlights from TotalView

Now, let’s take a look at the troubleshooting guidance from within the solution. First off, from the main screen, we get a nice default breakdown of items like overall network health and charts of device manufacturers and different interface speeds in the environment.

Next, on the Network > Devices screen, we can see the environment inventory and start to see which devices are tagged as having issues, and drill in to see what specifically is at fault. For example, in the demo environment, we can see that interface #4 on the Sauvignon switch has a peak daily transmit utilization of over 93 percent.

Further down on this screen, we see the TotalView Network Prescription that details the next steps to dig into this alert.

To highlight the power of the Network Prescription feature, here is another example. A port on a switch is showing an error due to a high peak daily error rate. Here are snippets of the Network Prescription section that can immediately point you in the right direction before even having to log into a device.

With this level of information and advice, we are empowered to resolve issues quickly and efficiently.

Unleash Your Full Potential

Are troubleshooting and fixing issues part of a network engineer’s life? Of course they are, but we also need to find the time and energy to innovate and provide value to the businesses and customers that we support. We cannot do that very well if we are constantly in break/fix mode, logging into device upon device gathering and correlating data manually to resolve each and every issue. If we can tap into everything that our network already knows and get assistance with correlation and automated troubleshooting, we all win. PathSolutions is here to help you unleash your full potential with TotalView. Learn more at https://www.pathsolutions.com/.

Ep 90 – Rocket Girl!

In this episode, we interview Lexie about her amazeballs new job as an Avionics Integration Engineer at Blue Origin and we count the times she says “I can’t really talk about that.” We think she’s seen the aliens, but we can neither confirm nor deny that claim.

More from Lexie:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TracketPacer
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/tracketpacer

Handling Toolbox Drama with NetAlly

As network/systems engineers and admins, the natural approach to something new is to start with training and understanding a new technology, job, project, or task. This is a valid approach, but many times is only half the battle. For practically any role, you not only need to understand the job and technology, but you also need to be able to leverage potentially many different tools to accomplish your mission on a daily basis. Sometimes you may not have all the right tools in the toolbox to assist you in what you need to accomplish, and need to justify the expense to the organization to add those tools. Other times, you may have so many different resources at your disposal that you need to determine what you really need at the ready to pack for the task at hand. Throughout the rest of this article, we’ll explore this toolbox drama, some best practices to troubleshooting, and how NetAlly can help.

Troubleshooting/Testing Best Practices

A core competency of NetAlly’s physical testing equipment and software platforms is to help engineers and admins effectively test wired/wireless implementations and troubleshoot issues, starting at “Layer 1”. This goes hand in hand with using the OSI Model as a way to approach troubleshooting and testing. Following the OSI model gives a starting point when troubleshooting an issue. It can help you efficiently apply a similar methodology framework consistently so that you can achieve similar results each time without falling into traps of glossing over a simple fix and making something more difficult than necessary. Here are the categories of the OSI model:

7 – Application
6 – Presentation
5 – Session
4 – Transport
3 – Network
2 – Data Link
1 – Physical

From a best practice standpoint, it makes sense to start troubleshooting and testing at the bottom of the OSI model, with the physical layer, and working your way upward. This gives you not only a good, repeatable starting point, but also keeps you from missing common physical layer issues, such as cabling and radio frequency problems (coverage and/or interference issues). NetAlly lives in the Physical Layer with their wired and wireless testing products, with an AutoTest and other diagnostics that aid your troubleshooting to Layer 7.

NetAlly’s Tools of the Trade

NetAlly offers a wealth of both hardware and software testing tools to help you implement and troubleshoot wired and wireless networks. From testing newly installed copper cabling, to troubleshooting a reported wireless coverage issue, NetAlly has you covered.

The wired test and analysis tools include:

LinkRunner® 10G – Advanced Ethernet Tester
- Testing of 1 Gbps, Multi-Gig, and 10 Gbps copper and fiber Ethernet implementations.
- Layer 1-7 AutoTest to easily find network issues within any part of the stack.
- Monitor for issues over time up to 24 hours to help catch those intermittent problems.
- Validate up to 90W PoE implementations.

LinkRunner® G2 – Smart Network Tester
- Enhanced AutoTest diagnostics for copper and fiber Ethernet networks.
- Validate up to 90W PoE implementations.
- Discover nearest switch information with CDP/LLDP/EDP.

LinkSprinter® Pocket Network Tester
- Fast and easy network connectivity tests for copper Ethernet links.
- Discover nearest switch information with CDP/LLDP/EDP.
- Validate 802.3af and 802.3at PoE implementations.

LinkRunner® AT – Network AutoTester
- Fast and easy network connectivity tests for copper and fiber Ethernet links.
- Discover nearest switch information with CDP/LLDP/EDP.
- Validate 802.3af and 802.3at PoE implementations.

The wireless test and analysis tools include:

AirCheck™ G2 – Wi-Fi Tester
- One-button AutoTest to quickly provide a pass/fail score of Wi-Fi quality.
- Visualize available Wi-Fi networks.
- View valuable information such as utilization, noise level, throughput, potential rogue devices, and interferes.
- Test the different Wi-Fi standards.

AirMapper™ Site Survey
- Create visual heat maps for Wi-Fi analysis.
- See SNR, noise, and interference measurements right on the handheld display of your NetAlly product.

For one tool to rule them all, NetAlly offers a wired and wireless testing option with the:

EtherScope® nXG – Portable Network Expert
- Testing options for Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth/BLE deployments.
- Ethernet testing available up to 10 Gbps.

On top of all of these solutions, NetAlly also provides the Link-Live™ Collaboration, Reporting, and Analysis Platform to pull in all of the results and data from your network testing gear for further analysis. Link-Live™ provides the following features and benefits:

Free cloud platform enabling collaboration on validation and testing projects.
Generate Wi-Fi heatmaps on the NetAlly physical testing equipment and upload them to Link-Live™.
Easy report generation.

Tool Proliferation and Efficiencies

As you can see, NetAlly provides many different tools for many different scenarios and use cases. Sometimes it can be difficult to determine which tools make it into the tool bag (and yes, NetAlly has their own tool bags as well) for a specific task, incident, or project. I feel like you need to strike a nice balance between “prepared for absolutely anything possible” and “I had to make seven trips back and forth because I never had the right gear for the job”. I will not say that this is an easy feat, especially if you are in a hurry because something important is broken. Again, you want to be reasonably prepared for what may come your way, but you also want to make sure you are comfortable as well. I used to struggle with this. There was one point that I was carrying around switch stack cables and a spare wireless access point in my bag wherever I went. With all the other gear I had in there, I’m not sure I want to know how much that bag weighed at its peak. Did I ever actually need either of those in a pinch? No, I don’t think so. This all being said, don’t fret. Knowing what you need and selecting the right gear for the specific situation will come with time and practice. You’ll start thinking about what-ifs and caveats while you’re getting ready for a task. Just remember to continue to learn from what goes well, and sometimes even more importantly, what doesn’t go well.

Tool-ing Up

It is definitely important to not only have the proper tools of the trade, but also know how to use them. For NetAlly’s suite of tools, they have your back with product videos and webinars right there on their website. Also, refer to this report understanding the tools and trends for smarter network management.

Ep 89 – SheNetworks

In this episode, we interview SheNetworks, aka Serena. Serena is most known for her work on TikTok as a content creator where she makes 60-second videos mostly focused on Network Engineering. Serena has spent years working as a Cisco TAC Engineer. During her time in TAC, she got some of the best experiences anyone can get. She learned to work in very high-pressure situations. As of this recording, she’s currently between jobs, and to find out where she landed you’ll just have to listen!

You can find more of Serena:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shenetworks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/notshenetworks
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/shenetworks

Ep 88 – John Capobianco Returns!

In this episode, John returns to give us an update on his new position at Cisco as a Developer Advocate! John has also been working on numerous automation projects for the community, and a whole lot more!

You can find more of John:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/John_Capobianco
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-capobianco-644a1515/
Blog: https://www.automateyournetwork.ca/

Ep 87 – There’s a Villa and It’s Real

This week we talk to Jordan Villareal. Jordan has a very interesting start to his career, but it’s an exciting journey nonetheless. Jordan also shares some exciting news about a new position he has recently started!

More from Jordan:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SystemMTUOne
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SystemMTUOne

Sponsors
PathSolutions – What if you knew as much as your network does? Check out TotalView today! PathSolutions.com
NetAlly – Simplicity. Visibility. Collaboration. Visit NetAlly.com today!

Ep 86 – Shouldn’t you know everything your Network knows?

This Episode is sponsored by PathSolutions

In this episode, we talk to Tim Titus, founder, and CTO of PathSolutions. Tim shares his network troubleshooting woes over the course of his 30-year technical career and then walks us through PathSolution’s automated troubleshooting platform. Tim is one of us; a cabling tech turned network engineer turned director turned entrepreneur.

Tim talks about how his solution can enable junior network engineers to quickly identify and fix problems, without escalation or the need for tribal knowledge. PathSolutions TotalView network monitoring software bridges the gap between NETWORK MONITORING and RESOLUTION telling you WHEN, WHERE, and WHY network errors occur. What if you knew everything your network equipment knows? Your network is trying to tell you something. Are you listening?

You can follow PathSolutions on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gopathsolutions
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pathsolutions/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PathSolutions Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goPathSolutions/
Homepage: https://www.pathsolutions.com/

NFD26 videos: https://techfieldday.com/appearance/pathsolutions-presents-at-networking-field-day-26/

Careers at a Crossroad: Staying Technical vs. Heading into Management

This article is sponsored by Auvik and first appeared on their blog

There’s a point in every IT professionals’ career where they inevitably ask themselves,“do I want to get into management?”

Sometimes this point occurs when they find themselves already are in management, either by design, or as I like to say, by accident. IT pros can find themselves thrust into a management position when the old IT manager leaves, or in a de facto leadership spot: the team suddenly grows, and the new techs have to report into someone.

As I say to my kids, “accidents do happen”. But, it’s far better to avoid them if we can. Going into management, like a lot of major life decisions, shouldn’t be accidental if you can avoid it. It should be intentional, actively considered and thoroughly thought through.

There’s a lot of components to IT leadership— people management, vendor management, budgeting, planning, performance and cost reporting, etc. To ensure you’ll be most successful (and happy) in a management position, or at the very least know what you’re getting into, spend some time investigating these areas of responsibility before taking the leap. Better yet, if you have the opportunity in your current role, ask your leader to take on some of these responsibilities in a mentored capacity, where they can help you grow and learn.

But does that mean that as an IT pro you have to get into management to advance? In my opinion, no. I’ve had people leadership roles, and I’ve had senior individual contributor roles, and to be honest, I love them both. But they’re entirely different skill sets, and knowing not only what you’re good at, but what you like to do can help you be successful in your career, and happy in your life.

So if you’re sitting there trying to decide between, “do I want to lead an IT team one day?”, or “do I want to be the most amazing network engineer out there?”, then this is for you!

Considerations

Speaking from personal and anecdotal experience, the decision on whether to stay technical or go into management is very much a personal one. While I don’t expect you to discover your true calling while reading this post, I’ve put together some considerations that you’ll hopefully find valuable when making your decision.

First, start by reflecting on what components of the jobs you’ve had you’ve enjoyed doing, versus the components of the job you’ve done simply because you had to. I don’t subscribe to the idea that you’ll love every minute of your job, but ideally you should be enjoying it most of the time. If you have a great day 9 out of every 10 days, that’s a win for me! Identify the things in your work that give you satisfaction and see that they are a part of whatever career path you go down.

Next, spend some time thinking about how you want your job to contribute to your overall life. For some people this may be financial resources to support their lifestyle (travel, grown-up toys like boats, ATVs, RV’s, or support for a large family)). For others, there may be value they place on the impact their work makes on their own wellbeing, the wellbeing of others, or the impact it has on society. Some derive their purpose or self-worth through their career accomplishments. Wow, getting deep in here!

How you define success in your life or your career is ultimately up to you. Different paths will provide for different outcomes. What’s important is that you consider them before you jump in.

Some other standard “job interview” considerations include::

Career progression opportunities. Are there advancement opportunities in only one path with your current employer?
Seniority. Do you need to, or want to, be at the top of the “corporate ladder”? Does your organization enable technical leaders to have a seat at the table on big decisions, or only people leaders?
Compensation: Does your employer have comparable high-level technical leadership roles that come with increased pay, or do you need to go into management to get that increase?
Job Availability. While many companies are embracing a work-from-anywhere model, if you prefer (or need) to be in an office, the availability of jobs along your preferred path can be affected by the local job market.
Mobility. If there’s low availability of job options in your ideal career where you are, are you able and willing to relocate?

While these are all important factors, the most important one for me was simply understanding the intersection of “what are things I like to do” and “what am I good at”.

If you want to move into management, what should you focus on?

First, get out of your cubicle. Whether it’s an actual stall in a cubicle farm (aka the corporate open-plan office), or a virtual cubicle in the new distributed work world many of us find ourselves in, you need to become visible and present to the rest of the business. While you may not be in a formal leadership role yet, providing indirect leadership with indirect power can be a very rewarding experience, and it is an in-demand skill for employers.

This means increased and improved communication. Work on your communication processes, as well as your personal communication skills, to help effectively talk with your colleagues, managers, and executives in a way that positions you as a subject-matter expert people can trust (creating comfort with the idea of you in a leadership position).

Next, network. No, I don’t mean work on IT networks. Get out and meet with your colleagues over a coffee or lunch. Talk with IT leaders at other companies. Ask them how they made the transition from a technical role into leadership, and what they learned along the way. You’ll get a tip or two from them, and some may be open to a more formal mentorship! Never undervalue the return on simply asking others for advice.

Finally, speak with your current manager about moving into a leadership role. A good leader will help set you up for success in a leadership role, even if that means preparing you for a new employer. There’s also value in the concept of being radically candid, ask your manager to be direct: do they see you in a leadership position? If not, is there something you can do to steer towards that goal? Nothing is ever a done deal, but don’t operate under the guise that you are already something you’re not. Getting an honest assessment of your skills and potential is just good career advice.

If you want to remain technical, what should you focus on?

There are many, many of us out there that will choose to stay in a technical role for our entire careers—and that is definitely not a bad thing!

Technical leaders are a commodity in short supply, and keep in mind if you’ve decided to stay technical, it shouldn’t mean that your career growth and development is done. IT is constantly evolving, and to stay on top of your game you need to be consistently working on your skills. Remember, you cannot be an expert in everything, so identify your passion, then grow and learn skills around that. For example:

Familiarize yourself with cloud architectures
Brush up on your developer and coding skills
Immerse yourself in growing technology trends such as network automation, SD-WAN, and SASE
Identify a certification that aligns with your interest

These are some trends today. Keep an eye out for new technologies that will lead the way in 2022 and beyond.

The right answer on whether to stay in a technical role or head into a management role is unique to every person. While I hope that this post gave you a bit to think about, I wish you luck on your journey of understanding what is the right path for you.

Every journey, even one toward network automation, starts with a single step. If you haven’t already, why not give Auvik a try? Get your free 14-day Auvik trial here. You’ll see the difference that automated documentation, config backup, and alerts will make to your network management.

Ep 85 – Bofhgirl

This week we interviewed Heather, aka BOFHgirl in our Discord. Heather has been working in Network Engineering/IT for over 20 years. She graduated from college with her degree, her CCNA, and her CCNP thanks to Cisco’s Networking Academy. She currently works as a Senior Network Engineer for Wayfair. She with us her enthusiasm for Network Engineer and shares her advice for a successful lifelong career in IT, as well as some advice for aspiring women in tech and network engineering.

More from Heather:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bofhgirl
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bofhgirl/

Ep 84 – TAC – Technical Attorney Center

In this episode, Lex and Tim talk to Christopher Hart, from Cisco. Christopher was formerly a Cisco TAC Engineer focusing on the Cisco Nexus Data Center Platform, specifically Nexus running NX-OS (as opposed to ACI). Recently, Christopher has shifted to a new role in Solution Validation Services, where he gets to help Cisco’s customers validate their networks!

More from Christopher:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_ChrisJHart
Blog: https://chrisjhart.com/

Ep 83 – Salary Negotiation

We are going LIVE! Join us on April 9th in Asheville, NC for the FIRST EVER Art of Network Engineering Live Show! Click here for details.

In this week’s episode, we bring back two previous guests – Tim McC and Brittany Mussett. The group discusses the art of Salary Negotiation, what has worked for us when previous job offers have come in, and what we recommend you do the next time you’re negotiating your salary!

Anonymously share salary information with others: https://artofneteng.com/NetEngSalary

More from Brittany:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NetEngRecruiter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-mussett-6836a2146/

More from Tim McC:
Blog: https://carpe-dmvpn.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CarpeDMVPN
Twitter: https://twitter.com/juangolbez

Sponsors
NetAlly – Simplicity. Visibility. Collaboration. Visit NetAlly.com today!

Enterprise Network Automation with Itential

In this day and age, saying that enterprise networks are critical would be an understatement. Networks have essentially become a utility similar to electricity, gas, and water. When you turn that proverbial knob, those packets had better flow; and quickly! Except, the knob is stuck in the on position and never gets turned off. If it does get turned off, somebody is in trouble. As businesses grow, so does their digital footprint, which means the network must grow as well. Not alongside the business, but faster than the business. The network has to be ‘one step ahead’, always ready for what the business has next to throw at it next. Oftentimes, as the network grows, the complexity of the network grows as well. With this growth and complexity come challenges. The network must be built onto, changed, and maintained. These challenges include:

Manual, static configurations across many devices.
Configuration drift and compliance issues.
Multi-vendor environments.
Change management processes that are multi-step, manual, and disaggregated.

The challenges listed above can cause the management of enterprise networks to quickly and easily get out of control. Modern networks require a management strategy that provides value. They need a strategy that can provide the solutions of centralized configuration management, backup, and compliance that can scale with the organization.

Itential

Itential is a company that addresses the challenges mentioned above by providing network automation, configuration, and compliance solutions for enterprise networks. Itential believes that modern networks need to “support and enable digital transformation”. Itential was founded in 2014 and since then, through their products they have supported the automation of over one billion processes. The automation platform supports both on-premises network and cloud environments. The platform itself can be delivered either as an on-prem solution or as a cloud native software as a service (SaaS) solution. The main features that will be covered throughout the rest of this article include Configuration Manager, Automation Studio, and Automation Gateway.

Configuration Manager

A major challenge in medium to large sized modern networks is managing consistent configurations across devices without making the process entirely too complicated. You want to maintain consistency to reduce the risk of ‘one-off’ issues, but you may also have compliance and regulatory requirements that you have to follow. Configurations not only need to remain consistent, but it may also need to be proven that they stay consistent throughout the phases of a device’s life cycle. The configuration phases can be described as such:

Day 0 – On-boarding. This phase entails getting enough configuration to the device so that it can be reachable and managed on the network
Day 1 – Initial configuration. This phase includes deploying a common baseline configuration to get the device itself actually operational in the network infrastructure. This type of configuration can include but is not limited to:
- NTP servers
- Syslog
- SNMP
Day 2 to Day N – Production ready. This is the ‘up and running’ phase and includes applying the proper configuration to the network devices so that they are operational for production traffic.

Itential believes that a configuration management solution should include:

Having a full view of the device inventory and the ability to categorize that inventory into groups.
A method to easily define, update and view golden configurations.
The ability to remediate, with automation whenever possible, when config drift happens.
- Having documentation of the configuration drift and remediation.
Support for non-CLI accessible devices/cloud (API integration).

Itential’s Configuration Manager provides customers with the ability to set configuration standards and detects non-compliant assets that need remediation. The Golden Configuration Editor is utilized to create standardized configurations. Those golden configurations are then applied against a customizable tree structure of inventoried devices. On the proactive side within Configuration Manager, compliance checks can be run against proposed changes to see if they will cause a device to be out of compliance. Configuration Manager can manage infrastructure via CLI and API integration. While managing configurations, the platform also supports pulling real-time backups of network devices as changes are made in the environment.

To better simplify cloud network deployments, the Itential Configuration Manager platform can treat cloud infrastructure as if it were traditional network infrastructure and translate complex configurations into more simple, JSON objects. Finally, Itential understands there is oftentimes no single source of truth in an organization. Many systems have their own source of truth and we often need information out of multiple sources of truth to make a single change. That is why Itential, through APIs, can aggregate necessary information from separate, disjointed sources of truth so all of that information is available when it comes time to make configuration changes.

Automation Studio

Although it can be easily overlooked, even the smallest configuration changes that need to be made to the network can quickly and easily become complicated. Many times, the change itself is quick and simple, but the additional pre and post work can be cumbersome and lengthy.

Itential’s goal is to greatly lessen this burden on practitioners with their Automation Studio platform. This platform provides low code, drag and drop automation workflows that can include third party solutions. Automation Studio provides end-to-end change automation. This means that it is able to automate pre and post change tasks as well, such as:

The change request process.
Performing prerequisite validation.
Pulling pre-change backups.
Temporarily suspending monitoring.
Post change validation.
Reactivation of monitoring.
The updating of documentation.
The closing of change requests.

Automation Studio allows practitioners to create centralized workflows of all change related tasks so they can focus on the change itself rather than making sure they remember all of the additional before and after steps that have to take place as well.

Automation Gateway

Before adopting an automation suite like Itential’s platform, many individuals and organizations may have already built their scripts and workflows to efficiently complete tasks using tools like Python, Ansible, Terraform, NetMiko, and Nornir. Itential’s Automation Gateway gives you the ability to onboard your different scripts and modules, or connect to existing tools via API, so that they can be orchestrated centrally by the entire team from the Itential platform. This provides customers the ability to continue to use the results of the tools and work they have already invested in, while adding in the value of bringing those different tools together with Itential.

Bringing it all Together

To support digital transformation, IT Infrastructure teams need to be able to keep up with the business in order to provide value. To ‘keep up’ means to have the ability to grow and modify the network quickly and efficiently. With the size, complexity, and sophistication of modern networks, it just isn’t possible to do so manually. Infrastructure teams need a network management solution that can provide end-to-end change and compliance automation. Itential can provide this value to network infrastructure teams with their automation platforms. To learn more, visit itential.com or check out their YouTube channel. Itential also recently presented at Networking Field Day 27, and the full list of videos can be found here.

Ep 82 – Automate your Network with Itential!

This episode is sponsored by Itential.

In this episode, we talk to Peter Sprygada. Peter is the VP of Product Management at Itential. Peter shares his career and experience and then, we dive into the Itential Automation Platform! Peter then introduces us to the Itential Network Automation platform. Itential can build in intelligent pre and post-checks into the workflows. If pre-checks fail the workflow can be configured to safely stop before the network is negatively impacted. On the other end, Itential can help verify the work completed successfully with post-checks. Listen now to learn more about Itential!

You can follow Peter on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/privateip
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sprygada/

Ep 81 – Real World Design Discussion

We are going LIVE! Join us on April 9th in Asheville, NC for the FIRST EVER Art of Network Engineering Live Show! Click here for details.

In this episode, A.J. shares some of his experience overhauling IT for a small manufacturing company. Lexie and Andy ask questions and dig deeper into the process of revamping the entire IT infrastructure. We started this episode as a Data Center Design discussion, but we took a slight detour. We think you’ll enjoy it just the same!

Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to complete our 2022 Listener Survey!
https://artofneteng.com/2022survey

Vote for your favorite content creators in the Cisco IT Blog Awards!
cs.co/6010JhKDM

Sponsors
NetAlly – Simplicity. Visibility. Collaboration. Visit NetAlly.com today!
NordVPN – 70% off the 2-year plan + 1 Month Free – visit nordvpn.com/taone or use promo code TAONE at checkout

Ep 80 – Nick Russo

In this episode, we interview Nick Russo! Nick is a Technical Leader at Cisco, a 2x CCIE in Routing and Switching and Service Provider Networks, as well as his CCDE. Nick is often called upon to help solve complex networking issues with Cisco’s customers. Nick talks about his career in the military and how he got started in networking.

You can find more of Nick:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickrusso42518
Blog: http://njrusmc.net/

Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to complete our 2022 Listener Survey!
https://artofneteng.com/2022survey

Vote for your favorite content creators in the Cisco IT Blog Awards!
cs.co/6010JhKDM

Ep 79 – LabEveryDay

In this episode, we speak to Du’An Lightfoot! Du’An has recently moved into a new role as Sr. Developer Advocate for Amazon Web Services. Du’An talks about his time in the military and the experience he gained from it. He also shares with us how he started creating content and his brand – LabEveryDay!

Netmiko training – https://www.youtube.com/c/Grelleum

You can find more of Du’An:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/labeveryday
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LabEveryday
Website: https://www.labeveryday.com/

Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to complete our 2022 Listener Survey!
https://artofneteng.com/2022survey

Vote for your favorite content creators in the Cisco IT Blog Awards!
cs.co/6010JhKDM

Sponsors
NetAlly – Simplicity. Visibility. Collaboration. Visit NetAlly.com today!
NordVPN – 70% off the 2 year plan + 1 Month Free – visit nordvpn.com/taone or use promo code TAONE at checkout

How to do a Basic Linux Server Installation using Ubuntu

In this article, we will show you how to do a basic Linux Server OS install using Ubuntu Server. Linux is an extremely popular operating system in our field. Many system builders will build their platform on Linux. As a result, having the skills and experience with any version of Linux can help you navigate those platforms. Ubuntu Server is Open Source, and available for free, and can be installed on nearly any platform, physical or virtual. This makes it a platform for lab use, as well as production.

The Install Procress

Download the media

Go to https://ubuntu.com/download/server and click on Option 2 -Manual server installation

Prepare the media

Preparing the media will depend on what you’re installing on to. If it’s a physical machine you’ll likely be going to create a bootable USB drive or if you’re going to run a virtual machine you can just mount the ISO file directly. Rufus is a great tool for creating bootable USB drives for any bootable image.

Boot from the Install Media

The first thing you’ll do is select your language. Use the arrow keys to navigate the list and then press enter to select.

Next, select your keyboard layout.

Then, select a Network Interface. In our case we only have a single network interface, named ens33, and it is connected to the network and getting a DHCP address.

A Proxy is sometimes used to connect to the Internet. All traffic is sent to a proxy address so it can be scrubbed to ensure security. If this is a home or lab network you likely do not have a proxy. Leave the line blank and press enter.

Ubuntu Archive Mirror Address is the location on the internet where Ubuntu will download updates from. Leave the default here and press enter.

Next, configure your local storage. By default (recommended) you can just use the entire disk. However, in a production environment, you may want to be more specific about partitioning the storage.

Review the Storage Configuration Summary and then use the arrow keys to navigate to Done and then press enter.

You’ll be warned that the disk will be formated and all data will be lost. Use the arrow keys to highlight and select continue by pressing Enter.

Profile Setup – Here you enter in your name, the server’s hostname, your username, and then your password. This is the first user and will also be an administrative level user with Root privileges.

Press the Space Bar to select Open SSH Server and then use the arrow keys to navigate down to, and select, Done by pressing enter. Open SSH Server will allow you to remotely access the server via SSH.

Ubuntu is now being installed. Monitor the progress here. It will take several minutes to complete.

Once the installation is complete you’ll see the Reboot Now option at the bottom of the screen. Use the arrow keys to highlight it and then press Enter.

You will be prompted to remove the installation media so that upon reboot the installation process doesn’t start all over again.

Post Installations Tasks

After the installation completes there are a few things you may want to do, such as applying updates, setting a statically assigned IP address, or adding additional users.

After rebooting you’ll be at a login prompt. Enter in the username and password that you created earlier to get going.

Download and Apply Available Updates

First, let’s download and apply package updates that may have come out since the build was created. To do that we’ll use a couple of commands. First, is ‘sudo apt update’ for you first-time Linux users let’s break that down. Sudo is short for Super User Do – basically the “run as administrator” of the Linux world. Apt is short for Apt-get or Aptitude, and is a package handler for Debian flavors of Linux. On Red Hat flavors of Linux, such as REHL – Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and Fedora, you would use Yum as the package Handler.

This refreshes the package database and can tell you how many packages that have updates available. In the above screenshot we see 87 packages can be upgraded. To get a detailed list of available updates we can run “apt list –upgradeable.”

Here we have a list of all of the packages, in green, listed with a / and then the latest version of that package, followed by a set of square brackets with the currently installed version within.

To execute the upgrade we can run sudo apt upgrade. This will list all of the packages that have updates available, and the size on disk these updates will take to install. In this example, we see the updates will take up 399 MB of disk space.

At the prompt press Y and then enter to continue.

The package manager will go through and apply all of the available updates.

Setting a Static IP

A statically assigned IP address makes management of a remote host a little bit easier in that you’ll always know what the IP address is for that host. First let’s view the IP Address information for our host. Use the command ‘ip address’

In this example we can see this device has two network interfaces, the Loopback which is lo here, and the Ethernet Adapter, ens33. To view the IP info for a specific adapter you can use the command IP address show dev [device name]:

Newer versions of Ubuntu use netplan to manage Network Adapters. There’s a folder under /etc/ called netplan that holds YAML configuration files for each network adapter. We can modify these files and set the desired configuration.

First let’s look at the files in the /etc/netplan folder. To do this, run the command ‘ls /etc/netplan’

On this host, we only have the one file 00-installer-config.yaml. Your system may show more files depending on how many adapters are installed. Let’s open that file and change the settings. Use the command sudo nano /etc/netplan/FILE-NAME.

First, let’s start by changing the dhcpv4 key value from true to false. Use your arrow keys to navigate to that line. Then we’ll add the following, addresses, gateway4, and nameservers. Pay particular attention to spacing. YAML files will not process correctly if the spacing and indentation is not correct. Your file should look something like this:

Press control X to exit, and then press Y and Enter to confirm and save the changes you’ve made. Now let’s go refresh Net Plan to pick up the changes. We do this by running the command ‘sudo netplan apply.’ You may be prompted to enter in your password again.

There isn’t much for feedback here so let’s go ensure the changes took affect with IP address show dev [DEVICE NAME]

And now, we can see that it is, in fact, using the IP we configured in the netplan YAML file. We can further verify things are working by using the PING command to ping our local gateway, a DNS server out on the public internet, and we can verify DNS is working using the nslookup command.

Add Users

Lastly, let’s add some users. Perhaps we want to add users to our lab machines so we have extra accounts we can do testing with. In an Enterprise environment it’s just a generally accepted best practice to give each user their own account. This is part of Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting. We need to know who the user is, give them the bare minimum privileges they need to do their work, and then log and verify their access to that system. If everyone shares the same user account we can’t tell the difference between when one person or another uses it.

To add a user account we’ll use the command adduser. Let’s add the rest of the AONE Co-Hosts to the server. The syntax is ‘sudo adduser username‘ Be prepared to enter in a password for the new user accounts.

The system also prompts you for some additional, but optional information. We can verify the user accounts have been added by listing all of the folders in the /home/directory, by typing ls /home/:

Here we can see I’ve created a new user account for each AONE Podcast Co-Host. Now, let’s add one of them to Super Users, or the sudo group, so they have administrator rights on the system. We do that using the usermod command with the -aG switch.

Summary

In this article we showed you how to:
1. Install Ubuntu Server
2. Complete common post-installation tasks: Applying Updates, set a Static IP, and add additional user accounts.

Ubuntu is an extremely popular platform as it is Open Source and easy to learn Linux on. There are many other flavors of Linux out there, so do some research and find one that fits you the most!

We hope you enjoyed this article. If you had any trouble or would like to add to it you can contact us, or connect with us on Twitter!

Ep 78 – Time to Move On

In this episode, we talk to Andy about his recent job change, from working as a Network Engineer in FinTech to a Product Manager at Juniper. Andy discusses imposter syndrome and how one interview changed his view on it, and possibly broke him of it, forever! We’ve also got some exciting news to share, but you have to listen to find out!

Andy’s Book Recommendation
Now, Discover Your Strengths – https://amzn.to/3FQ3OMn

Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to complete our 2022 Listener Survey!
https://artofneteng.com/2022survey

Vote for your favorite content creators in the Cisco IT Blog Awards!
cs.co/6010JhKDM

Top 10 Book Recommendations by Network Engineers, For Network Engineers

In our Discord Server – It’s All About the Journey – we’ve got a book club where all of our server members share books that have helped them throughout their journey. We’ve compiled a list of the Top 10 books recommended by Network Engineers, for Network Engineers. It’s composed of tech and non-tech books alike. As a bonus, we’ve had the pleasure of interviewing some of these authors on our podcast! Here’s the list:

Make it Stick: The Science of Succesful Learning – Brown, Roediger, McDaniel
This book discusses the science of how we, humans, learn! It discusses several strategies and tools people of any age and profession can use. The book does not read as a scholastic paper, but a really good book. It starts each section by engaging the reader with a powerful story about learning and then highlights a particular strategy or tool learners can use.
Bonus – We interviewed one of the co-authors on Ep 32 of The Art of Network Engineering Podcast, you can check out the YouTube video of the interview here: https://youtu.be/yXk_3TEspfA

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck – Mark Manson
There are so many things in life we can put effort into and so many more we are told we should put our energy and effort into (RIGHT NOW!). This book will help you decide which ones are actually worth putting your effort into and the rest you can just let go over.

Network Warrior – Gary A. Donahue
As the subtitle of the book suggests this book contains “Everything You Need to Know That Wasn’t on the CCNA Exam.” While some of the switches referenced in the book are End of Life the knowledge that this book provides is certainly not! Network Engineers from the most Jr. to the most Sr. will all get something from this fantastic book!

Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals
by Heidi Grant Halvorson
In this book author, Heidi Grant Halvorson offers some very insightful bits that will help you set goals, build willpower, and avoid failure. “Succeed unlocks the secrets of achievement, and shows you how to create new possibilities in every area of your life!”

A Mind for Numbers – by Barbara Oakley
Revealed that the way most of us are taught in school is not really a good way to learn, and then it reveals much better ways of learning based on science-based research. There is also a related course on Coursera.

The Practice of System and Network Administration – Limoncelli, Hogan, Chalup
The book was suggested because it is a non-technical book written specifically for network and Sys Admins to guide them on how to behave in different situations like how to hire and fire people and how to deal with misconducts by co-workers and managers.

Automate the Boring Stuff with Python – by Al Sweigart
This book is aimed at beginners trying to learn Python and apply it to everyday tasks. There’s also a completely free companion website https://automatetheboringstuff.com/

Mastering Python Networking – by Eric Chou
This book can take your Python and Network Automation Journey to the next level! We also had the opportunity to sit down and interview Eric in Episode 75 – The Automation Chou’sen One.

The War of Art – by Steven Pressfield
“The War of Art emphasizes the resolve needed to recognize and overcome the obstacles of ambition and then effectively shows how to reach the highest level of creative discipline.” One Discord book club member said the book helped them to realize that failure is part of the process and that everyone faces resistance when trying to accomplish something hard.

Outliers – by Malcolm Gladwell
In this book, Malcolm Gladwell asks “What makes high achievers different?” His answer is that too much attention gets paid to what the people are like, and not enough attention to their background and upbringing. One Discord member said this book helped them to deal with imposter syndrome because it highlighted the fact that some people have access to resources that others of us may not, and that adds to their success.

Did we miss one? Make a suggestion in the comments below or let us know on Twitter, we are @artofneteng

Ep 77 – New Year, New Goals!

In this episode, A.J. and Tim are joined by Lexie (@TracketPacer) and they discuss their goals for the upcoming year! Hear how each of them goes about goal planning and the goals they’ve set for themselves for the coming year.

Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to complete our 2022 Listener Survey!
https://artofneteng.com/2022survey

Links:
Space Weather Prediction Center – https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
Space Weather General – https://www.spaceweather.com/
Cisco Continuing Education Program – https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/training/continuing-education-program.html
Lexie on Twitch – https://www.twitch.tv/tracketpacer