Interesting data center links (2012-04-09)

It's been a while since I published the interesting links; there were so many of them in my Evernote notebook that I had to publish the data center ones separately.

Let's start with Network, Interrupted, which is a fantastic summary of where the network might be in a few years by Derick Winkworth. Then there's You Can’t Build A System In A Silo, a fantastic summary of what needs to be done to reorganize your IT by Ethan Banks. And here are all the other interesting links in somewhat random order:

Why do I need hardware offloads, I have CPUs to burn!: Of course it's a veiled advertisement for Emulex CNA, but it does get bonus points for mentioning Wirth's and Gate's law. The quoted test results are also interesting: FCoE and other hardware offload makes sense because the chipset in CNA uses less power.

Network Operating System?: Lalith Suresh raises a very important point: all current OpenFlow controllers are "embedded systems". Before we can start talking about real benefits of SDN, we need the whole application stack - from operating systems and (topology) databases to a stable set of APIs an application can use.

Virtualizing Network Services, Part 1: The Beginning: Derick explains the fundamentals of his "grand unified automated network" design. Must-read.

DT Unveils New Network Vision: Deutsche Telekom seems to have sensible SDN/OpenFlow plans: SDN in data centers and access networks, IP forwarding+BGP in the core.

The People of the Petabyte - Forbes: A description of the Big Data landscape full of dripping cynicism that would make @etherealmind or myself proud.

New FCoE TechBooks are available! - Brass Tacks: Interested in FCoE? These PDFs are a must-read.

people.netfilter.org/kadlec/nftest.pdf: Performance testing of Linux(iptables)-based router, firewall and NAT. Not bad ... if only it would work as fast in a VM.

Clash of the New Network Titans?: Will OpenFlow make data center fabrics obsolete or are they complementary technologies? Curt Beckmann has an interesting answer.

Choosing Your Core Switches: Is your data center not big enough for a Nexus 7000? Should you use Nexus 5500, Catalyst 6500 or somethine else? Markku's post will give you numerous guidelines.

And don't forget: interesting links are now available as a shared Evernote notebook. Enjoy!

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