AboutNetworks.net • Let's talk About Networks, by Jerome Tissieres

Shutdown thousands access ports with Python and Netmiko

May 23, 2019 Jerome Tissieres

Shutdown thousands of network access ports with Python and Netmiko

When people ask me “what a network engineer should do to start in network automation?”, my first answer is: start with small things. Try to automate basic and repetitive tasks you do every day. Go after the low-hanging fruits first. Then, step by step, you can do more and more complex things. This is how I learn the best. In the same vein, I want to share with you my recent experience of automating a very basic and repetitive task: shutdown thousands of unused network access ports. The environment…

100Gb Ethernet transceivers, modules and form factors on Cisco products

March 9, 2019March 9, 2019 Jerome Tissieres

At the time of the 400Gb Ethernet interfaces introduction, here is a summary of the different form-factors, transceivers and modules available for 100Gb Ethernet on Cisco devices. As you will see below, there are many different types of 100Gb Ethernet transceivers. And each type have its own functional mode. In a next article, I will try to explain the differences between them and will give more details about the most common: the QSFP-28.

Multicast lab 5: Source-Specific Multicast (SSM)

January 15, 2019January 15, 2019 Jerome Tissieres

After giving a two-days training to a customer on multicast technology, I take the opportunity to have my lab and the configurations ready to share with you a suite of five different multicast configurations examples. And, how to make some tests and troubleshooting. These examples are based on the labs I used to practice the CCIE R&S practical exam.

Multicast lab 4: Any-Source Multicast with Bootstrap Router (BSR)

January 15, 2019January 16, 2019 Jerome Tissieres

After giving a two-days training to a customer on multicast technology, I take the opportunity to have my lab and the configurations ready to share with you a suite of five different multicast configurations examples. And, how to make some tests and troubleshooting. These examples are based on the labs I used to practice the CCIE R&S practical exam.

Multicast lab 3: Any-Source Multicast with anycast RP

January 15, 2019January 15, 2019 Jerome Tissieres

After giving a two-days training to a customer on multicast technology, I take the opportunity to have my lab and the configurations ready to share with you a suite of five different multicast configurations examples. And, how to make some tests and troubleshooting. These examples are based on the labs I used to practice the CCIE R&S practical exam.

Multicast lab 2: Any-Source Multicast with auto RP

January 15, 2019January 15, 2019 Jerome Tissieres

After giving a two-days training to a customer on multicast technology, I take the opportunity to have my lab and the configurations ready to share with you a suite of five different multicast configurations examples. And, how to make some tests and troubleshooting. These examples are based on the labs I used to practice the CCIE R&S practical exam.

Multicast lab 1: Any-Source Multicast with static RP

January 15, 2019January 15, 2019 Jerome Tissieres

After giving a two-days training to a customer on multicast technology, I take the opportunity to have my lab and the configurations ready to share with you a suite of five different multicast configurations examples. And, how to make some tests and troubleshooting. These examples are based on the labs I used to practice the CCIE R&S practical exam.

IT Blog Awards Finalist!

December 11, 2018January 11, 2019 Jerome Tissieres

I have the honor to have my blog selected as a finalist in the Best Cert Study Journey category of the IT Blog Awards, hosted by Cisco. Voting is now open to everyone until January 4th, here! Here, in my opinion, are my two best articles related to the category “Best Cert Study Journey”: My journey to network programmability and automation 6 CCIE strategy mistakes Thank you in advance for your support!

How to install EVE-NG on Microsoft Hyper-V

November 15, 2018January 11, 2019 Jerome Tissieres

Recently, my license for Cisco VIRL expired and I wanted to test alternatives to have a lab on my laptop. I got used to install the client and the server parts of VIRL on my laptop, to not have to worry about connectivity when I want to do a lab or a demo to a colleague or a customer. With the exceptional opportunities of the different cloud solutions actually, this is probably not the best solution, but it suits me well for a small lab and I’d like to continue…

Python script and multiple API calls practice with Google and Twitter

October 2, 2018October 3, 2018 Jerome Tissieres

After doing a lot of Python tutorials and spending time “playing” with Postman and API calls during my journey to network programmability and automation, I wanted to make a concrete example, from zero to a visible result. Since I love photography and my country is full of beautiful but not well-known places, I chose to do the following: Take the complete list of municipalities, towns and villages in my country. Choose one location per day, randomly, in this list. Search and download a photo of this place on Google map, including…

Site-to-site VPN tunnels between Meraki MX and Cisco ASA

September 10, 2018September 10, 2018 Jerome Tissieres

As I wrote on my recent post here, I was involved into a project to implement a Meraki MX into the Azure Cloud. This project also includes a migration phase with site-to-site VPN tunnels between Meraki MX and Cisco ASA. Even if the “Non-Meraki VPN peers” are supported on the Meraki MX, you may have some surprises with the Cisco ASA. Here are some tips to avoid problems and save you time. The tests below have been made with MX version 14.31 (in beta at the time I write this…

How to deploy a Cisco Meraki vMX100 into Microsoft Azure

July 25, 2018August 21, 2018 Jerome Tissieres

Recently, I was involved into a project where we had to deploy a Cisco Meraki vMX100 into Microsoft Azure cloud and build site-to-site and clients VPNs. The setup process on Azure is relatively simple, however, I lost quite a lot of time on basic issues because the documentation provided by Cisco is not 100% accurate. Here are some tips and tricks to save you time.

BGP full-routes vs partial-routes vs default-route

July 18, 2018 Jerome Tissieres

Image from https://www.cidr-report.org/

The IPv4 full BGP table size is at around 725000 prefix now. This may cause problems for companies who do not have the resources to update or upgrade their edge routers. But, except for Internet transit providers, who does really need to get the full IPv4 BGP table today? And what are the alternatives? Let’s see that in details with some use-cases.

My journey to network programmability and automation

May 1, 2018August 21, 2018 Jerome Tissieres

Here is my journey to start learning network programmability and automation, and how I get the Cisco network programmability specialist certification (300-550 exam). In this post, I give you the links towards all the resources which I used to study. Back in 2015: SDN, new fancy buzzword or a paradigm shift? I started this journey in 2015, when at the Cisco Network Innovation Summit in Prague, I saw a presentation of Tim Szigeti about dynamic QoS with Cisco APIC-EM. That was the trigger for me, after a few years reading…

Cisco Live US 2018 – CAE and keynote speakers [updated]

March 6, 2018August 21, 2018 Jerome Tissieres

After being six times at Cisco Live Europe between 2009 and 2016, this year my management allowed me to go to Cisco Live US. I registered last week and now I am starting to see some rumors about the customer appreciation event (CAE) and the keynote speakers. Customer Appreciation Event First rumor read here and there, the CAE of Wednesday June 13th, will be at Universal Studios Orlando. From 7:30 PM to 11:30 PM, CAE participants will have exclusive access to the theme park, including the rides and attractions. The event will…

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