After months of anticipation, World IPv6 Day is nearly upon us. Network equipment vendors, network service providers and networked enterprises have all diligently prepared and for twenty-four hours on June 8th we will all get to experience the fruits of that labor when more than three hundred websites offer their content using IPv6 in addition to IPv4. If everyone has done their job right, what do we expect to happen?
Nothing.
That’s right. The best outcome of World IPv6 Day would be a completely unchanged end-user experience, regardless of the fact that they now can use a new underlying network protocol.
Get Ready for Nothing
In order to best ensure that nothing happens, IT professionals should seek out latent IPv6 problems that may suddenly manifest themselves when so much IPv6 traffic appears. What steps should you take to ensure that you experience nothing?
Until June 9th, the Cisco Technical Support Website will display a banner which tests the most common failure mode expected on World IPv6 Day. Using some Javascript magic, the banner predicts the readiness of the host from which a visitor connects. Ideally, the visitor will see teal text and a check mark icon indicating success, but a visitor who sees red text and an X icon may have a potential connectivity problem.
Even if the visitor can achieve the coveted check mark on that banner, it would not hurt to conduct a few more tests.
Compared to the people who have been without a home over the past several months through floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and tornados, it sounds rather trivial. I was only dealing with some renovations which involved moving my home office and waiting for the cable guy.
Still, to my 7 and 9 year old, not being able to connect to Moshi Monsters and Club Penguin was a big deal. As for me, I managed to get by, tethering to my iPhone and physically going into the office more than usual.
But it got me thinking about our reliance on the physical and what that means in the context of the cloud.
Following the floods up in Queensland, Australia, I heard a story about a cloud-based managed service provider. As the floodwaters receded, they hired a bunch of sales folks who went around to every small office and retailer in the region and told them to call before they spent their insurance money buying new computers. Why buy a bunch of servers to run MYOB or Quicken and risk floods, fire and theft, when you can run everything including your POS out of the cloud?
But when you don’t have an Internet connection, the cloud is of little use.
Google is facing this exact dilemma with its upcoming Chromebook release, and is providing offline support for Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs—something they apparently have been running internally for the past several months. Interestingly though, based on both the Cr-48 pilot release and earlier internal conversations, it would seem that there is a view within Google that begins with the assumption of always-on connectivity to the cloud. “When people use our Google Docs, there are no more files. You just start editing in the cloud, and there’s never a file.” And so offline support becomes the exception, instead of the rule.
Of course, when you hit that exception, knowing exactly how your business will continue to run is crucial.
Clearly, there are trade-offs to be made. Without an Internet connection, I can’t access my cloud based applications and data, but neither can I send and receive email or verify credit card transactions. What do I need to be able to do even in an offline state, and what applications are useless to me unless I’m online?
What are the options for WAN redundancy? When I learned about the Japanese earthquakes and tsunamis, I knew my friend was safe was from his Facebook postings. While he didn’t have power, his phone still worked. For individuals, perhaps tethering is the right solution; for a small branch, 3G backhaul as a failover option in the router may be more cost effective.
Ultimately, the answer will be that there is no single answer. Not only is every business different, but each application and its use will be different. It’s only when you take stock of those applications that you understand where your own requirements lie.
I needed to stay connected to do my job while the renovation work was being done. But my kids… they read a book instead.
I recently staffed the Cisco booth at Interop, Las Vegas where we introduced Cisco Prime for Enterprise, a new network management strategy and product portfolio. I had buttons made that said “Ask Me About Cisco Prime for Enterprise” to help facilitate questions and because I’m a tech marketing geek who likes to wear buttons.
Interop was my first tradeshow since I transitioned to Cisco network management from the Cisco wireless/mobility team where I recently led WLAN management marketing. I’ve always believed in the value of network management – especially when it’s done right. As I talked with Interop attendees, two questions kept repeating:
What is Cisco Prime for Enterprise?
Are you sure Cisco has an innovative network management solution – Really? As of when?
In those dark days, some poor IT technician maintained a document mapping specific IP addresses to individual devices. People had to ensure that they connected a new device to the correct subnet cable and that they entered address parameters carefully since a simple typographical error could knock an important server offline. While protocols like BOOTP emerged to help provision devices, the manual tedium of mapping users to fixed IP addresses remained.
It was this environment that inspired the IPv6 Stateless Address AutoConfiguration (SLAAC) protocol. The size of the IPv6 address space made it possible for a device to autonomously create a unique address once it learned the local router’s IPv6 prefix. No requests, no central server, and no manual management. Any IPv6 device dropped on an active IPv6 network could start communicating right away.
IPv4 users took a different path to “plug and play” networking. BOOTP evolved into DHCP, where one-to-one mapping gave way to a system in which a server could dynamically hand out time-limited IPv4 address “leases” to devices on a subnet without any user intervention. In addition, DHCP could administrative parameters (options) to these devices. Finally, the server provided centralized tracking and administrative control over IP address assignment. Read More »
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” -- Peter Drucker
In 1989, a couple of amazing changes occurred that are still affecting our world today. The Berlin Wall fell, and a little company called Cisco developed the Border Gateway Protocol so routers could eventually connect the entire world. These developments still reverberate through our lives as outdated social, political, and economic borders continue to break down, and we enjoy more freedom than ever to connect and interact with virtually anyone.
While the public debate on the abstract value of these freedoms continues, most private organizations see very concrete value in giving their employees, partners, and customers the ability to connect globally using any type of device or media. And they’re investing accordingly.
For example, more than half of all companies surveyed* have already spent some of their precious I.T. budgets deploying video or collaborative applications, allowing personal devices for work use, or adopting software as a service models. Of course, these new innovations also require more bandwidth and more security; but leading organizations are minimizing additional costs and earning ROI sooner by integrating these new technologies directly into their routing infrastructure, which in turn can actually reduce overall traffic loads and complexity.
Ran into Dave Mattlin here at Interop, and he was really enthusiastic about how the EX90s I had mentioned in my previous post are being used here. Here’s what Dave had to say:
Cisco EX90 at the InteropNet Help Desk
“Cisco EX90 is more than just a sexy desktop. When you are setting up a network, everyone wants to speak with an expert. But that is usually someone far away. This is the case at Interop 2011 in Las Vegas. Setting up Interop is a long process with many hurdles, one of them being access to IT/Technical support quickly. At shows like this one a show management company has a few people they can reach out to in order to get network links up and working. At Interop the Network is HUGE, technical and very complex so specialized support has to be in place. So how does someone setting up for the show get the expertise they need, when they need it? Easy, by using an EX90 which provides real time face to face communications for quick resolutions.
Cisco has placed several EX90’s around the show floor which provide real time access to a qualified help desk to assist companies with their technical questions and needs. This has proven to be very successful and relieved exhibitor services from the daunting task of understanding the very complex show network.
I had an opportunity speak with the show management. They are very impressed with the technology and say that having the EX90’s actually improved their customer service. They did not have to send their customers away to get technical help. Instead, they could just call up the help desk and get their questions answered immediately. Many of the show vendors who used these systems reported that the enjoyed the video clarity and easy to use interface.”
Thanks Dave, for that story. And I would be remiss if I did not mention that the video clarity is aided by the Cisco Medianet technology we have deployed on the Cisco Catalyst switches we have deployed on the show floor and in the core.
So, World IPv6 Day is just under a month away. You already have IPv6 connectivity, right? How do you know that everything will work correctly when the big day arrives? You will need to do some testing.
A number of enthusiastic engineers across the world have set up public IPv6 sites that you can use to perform all manner of tests. I would like to tell you about some of my personal favorites, and invite you to tell me about your own. Please note that Cisco manages none of the tools mentioned here, and as such cannot offer any assurances about their suitability for use on your network, so insert your own dire sounding legal disclaimers here before continuing.
Can You Connect?
For a quick “Am I Ready?” test, http:/omgipv6day.com/ provides a simple Yes-or-No assessment of your web browser’s ability to access IPv6 enabled sites on World IPv6 Day. Here is my attempt to connect with an impaired IPv6 tunnel:
If you are attending Interop Las Vegas this week, come visit the Cisco Medianet booth (1127-C2) to learn how you can scale and deploy video with Medianet to reduce complexity and costs. Webex introduces the new medianet-enabled client to enhance cloud collaboration experience. This new “smart” client includes embedded intelligence, works in conjunction with the “smart” network for improved network visibility, quality assurance & quick problem isolation. We will be showing a demo of this new exciting solution. We will also show Cisco Prime Collaboration Manager and the new Cisco ISR-G2 ad hoc conferencing solution.
For those looking for a real video deployment scenario, we have a session on how to make your network ready for video without straining resources. The session will take place on May 10 at 2:15 pm, location Mandalay Bay L.
I’m excited to be attending Interop Las Vegas this week. This year marks the 25th Anniversary of Interop and we are celebrating by hosting our major launch event in Las Vegas. Rebecca Jacoby and Brett Galloway will be unveiling new Borderless Networks innovations during the Cisco keynote on Tuesday, May 10 at 9:30am Pacific Time. During this keynote, you will learn about breakthrough innovations in Borderless Networks that will help you deliver centralized policy, unified wired and wireless management, and a better quality video and voice experience to your workforce and customers.
If you can’t attend Interop in person, we will be broadcasting this event online on May 10 at 9:30am Pacific Time. Please register here to view the live keynote. You will also receive access to a special series of TechWiseTV episodes that will air on May 12.
Now, I’d like to share some of the other unique activities that I think you will enjoy.
Hear from Cisco experts at the following Interop Las Vegas activities:
Conference sessions: Our marketing and technical experts will speak in panel sessions ranging on topics such as breakthrough LAN technologies, WLAN, video and virtualization. Please check the latest schedule at this website.
Cisco Educational Sessions: We are sponsoring three sessions on IPv6, video and preparing your network for mobile devices and other tablets. These sessions are open to everyone, and attendees will receive a free Cisco Press Book.
InteropNet: Cisco is sponsoring InteropNet and will further demonstrate IPv6 leadership across the entire network. Customers will be able to take daily, engineer-led tours of InteropNet.
Customer Appreciation Reception: Join us for an opportunity to relax and socialize with Cisco executives and your industry peers, while enjoying drinks, food, and fun on Wednesday, May 11 from 5 to 7pm at the Border Grill, Mandalay Bay. Customers -- please register here.
Participate in a number of fun Booth Activities and win a prize!
Cisco 3D Borderless Challenge -- Test your networking IQ for your chance to be one of eight who will to win a Linksys® E4200 Maximum Performance Dual-Band N Router. The Cisco 3D Borderless Challenge is a competition that tests your knowledge of Cisco Borderless Networks innovations, especially in video and security solutions. The Cisco 3D Borderless Challenge features IT “superhero” Ike Willis and will take place at the theater in the Cisco booth 1127 on May 10 and May 11.
Cisco Interop Las Vegas Mobile Game -Attendees can check into various Borderless Networks activities using their smartphones, such as conference sessions and booth demonstrations, to win points. Read the rules and guidelines here.
Borderless Networks Demonstrations – We will showcase the latest innovations in eleven BN pods including: Borderless Mobility, EnergyWise, IPv6, Medianet, Security, WAN optimization for cloud based solutions, Cisco Prime and Borderless Branch Office. For more information about the demos, please see detailed descriptions on the following website.
I’m here in Las Vegas helping to construct InteropNet – the network that runs Interop 2011. Cisco is a primary infrastructure vendor for Interop this year. An interesting story just happened that I thought I would tell you about.
Imagine this. You’ve been planning for months to participate in Interop. You’ve helped design and build the network. Now it comes time for your chance to show off your work, and –disaster! – something comes up that won’t let you attend. Your teammates can help, but –darn it – you would just love to be there.
This was the case for Rob Sherwood, a researcher associated with Stanford University. His team is running the InteropNet Demo Labs in Las Vegas. But a last minute medical emergency meant Rob could not be here in person.
Enter Cisco. We were here in Las Vegas already, and we had a number of Cisco Telepresence EX90 units connected to the network. We had some units at the Network Help Desk, and the Sales suites, but we were looking for additional use-cases to demonstrate the solution. This opportunity was too good to pass up -- a great use case, and a chance to help out our fellow InteropNet teammates.
We hooked Rob up with the Cisco Movi client, and placed one of the EX90s on a desk in the demo area. The network is running Cisco Medianet so video is already optimized. Turned it on – little fiddling on Rob’s home network, and Rob popped up on the screen.
Now Rob is there as a resource for his team, and can (virtually) answer questions on technology during the show. What does Cisco mean when we say “Borderless”? There is your answer.
LiveAction 2.2 support for medianet has been covered in our previous blogs: performancemonitor as well asIPSLAVideoOperations. However; with the the CDN program, the LiveAction 2.2 software has formally worked through an intensive test review against a purpose built medianet-enabled network.
Performancemonitor collects performance statistics including loss, delay and jitter at the network elements. This approach provides the most extensive visibility because all the flows between video source and sink must go through the network infrastructure. It also eliminates the need for expensive probes, which could lead to increased costs for data collection and operational expense.
In a previous blog, we discussed medianet performance monitor and how it can provide greater confidence within the network with its ability to analyze voice, video and data traffic and report on loss, latency and jitter.
Plixer International delivers a complementary solution that supports the medianet performance monitor feature through the medianet Cisco Developer Network (CDN) program. CDN for medianet systems management offers application programming interfaces (APIs) and documentation to enable network and application management vendors to support enterprise medianet features that offer customers a range of management and operation solutions.
On March 29, Plixer’s Scrutinizer NetFlow Analyzer version 8.5 successfully completed interoperability testing with Medianet 2.2 (press announcement). Scrutinizer provides detailed reports including the medianet performance monitoring statistics (round trip time, jitter, packet loss, bit/byte and packets, MAC Addresses, IP Addresses, VLANs, Domains, application recognition) to help you monitor and troubleshoot video, voice and data applications. These reports can help the network operator perform fault isolation of network issues affecting rich media applications, as well as track historical performance of various parts of the network.
What would you say if I told you that one of the most visited websites on the Internet enabled IPv6 connectivity to their site in the course of an afternoon for zero dollars using existing Cisco hardware? How about if I told you that the site was Facebook? Most people would assume I was joking or exaggerating. However, by using LISP, Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert Donn Lee pulled off this seemingly impossible feat and then presented a paper at the North American Network Operators Group (NANOG) about the experience. You can even watch the video here.
What is LISP?
Let’s start by understanding the problem that LISP solves. An IP address serves two distinct functions: It identifies the endpoint host, but also suggests the location because the high order bits identify the network on which the device is located. If you move a device from one subnet to another, the address has to change since the device location changes. The endpoint identification from the previous location gets lost when the device moves, unless some form of tunneling or mobility protocol is employed.
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Finally it’s here. Cisco has been working on integrating the Media Services Interface (MSI) into the WebEx Meeting Client.
For those unfamiliar with the MSI, it’s an SDK developed to enable applications to interact with a Cisco Medianet. One of the long standing challenges IT organizations have faced has been to harmonize the needs of applications and endpoints with the network services required to meet those needs. It’s been a case of ships in the night as network administrators have done their best to deliver services while having limited interaction with the endpoints and applications that leverage those services. Asking endpoints and applications to consistently implement all the networking protocols to enable them to leverage the network has often led to mixed results; inconsistent or incomplete protocol stack implementations led to interoperability issues with the burden usually falling on the end customer.
“Wait a minute,” I hear you say, “Didn’t we already run out of IPv4 addresses?”
Yes, you have a good memory: The IPv4 address pool was exhausted in February 2011. The doomsayers and pundits all bemoaned the gloom and doom of the day, and experts gravely predicted the horrors of things to come. IT publications were filled with articles, Twitter exploded with witty remarks about the coming “ARPAgeddon,” and even the mainstream media ran semi-accurate sensationalist articles on the topic.
But then something funny happened. Nothing. The Internet kept working. IPv4 blocks continued to be handed out. The dust settled and most folks went happily about their business. How could this be so? Was it all a bunch of media hype and false alarms? No. February was really the early warning of the problems to come.
