MUST READ: End-to-End Arguments in System Design

In case you ever wondered how old the “keep network simple and do complex stuff at the endpoints” approach is, read the End-to-End Arguments in System Design article from 1981.

For whatever reason (hint: profits), networking vendors keep ignoring those arguments, turning the network into a kitchen sink of complexity.

Fun tidbit: the article describes a variant of relying on layer-2 checksums will corrupt your data. Some things never change.

Add comment
Sidebar