Someone just pointed me at the Ethereal to Wireshark migration guide posted at http://www.wireshark.org/migration.html
This is a shameless copy of this excellent (and funny) guide:
Migrating
Migrating from Ethereal to Wireshark is a long and arduous process. A typical migration project requires the following resources:
* 1 (one) project manager (PMP certification preferred)
* 1 (one) assistant project manager
* 2 (two) pirate hats
* 2 (two) system administrators
* 1 (one) duck
* 2 (two) network administrators
* 4 (four) support staff
* 2 (three) bags of hammers
If you allocate full-time staff to the migration, it can take as little as six weeks for preparation and planning, and four weeks for the migration itself. Past migrations have resulted in some maiming and blood loss. A recent survey of human resources directors found that the amounts were within acceptable tolerances.
The complete migration procedure is detailed below:
1. Place the pirate hats near the project manager, assistant project manager, and system administrators. Allow time for them to start fighting over the hats (about 3.5 seconds).
2. Place the duck on top of a core switch and allow it to nest.
3. Casually mention to a support person that you heard a quacking noise near the data center. Allow time for word to get to the network administrators, and for the support staff to gather together to watch the spectacle.
4. To ensure that you're not disturbed, keep the bags of hammers nearby and maintain a stern expression.
5. Uninstall Ethereal.
6. Install Wireshark.
Note: Steps 5 and 6 should take about three minutes.
Funny story: OSPF
While working in a Support Organization of a networking company, I come across a lot of funny and interesting stories. Here is one of them.
One of our customers, who's name we of course will not mention, opened a Support case. He complained that his routers were suffering from a high CPU load and thus the routing table was not up-to-date. Very quickly we came to the thought that is had to be because of OSPF not updating the hardware table quickly. At some point I asked him how many OSPF routers he had in the Area. His answer was 1500!!!
One might say that 1500 routers in 1 OSPF area can occur in large networks. This sure can happen, but then it is time for a redesign of the network. Let me explain why this isn't a good idea.
OSPF calculates the shortest path for each route. This means that if 1 router goes down, it will need to re-calculate the shortest path. With 1500 routers in 1 Area it will result in a lot of OSPF changes and thus a lot of re-calculations. Add all packets sent to the OSPF All-Routers Multicast group and you will have a swamped CPU.
What would be a good number of routers in 1 Area then? There is no clear answer for that. When asking around a number between 200 and 250 seem to be common. Keep in mind that there are routers with a stronger CPU and routers with a smaller CPU (mostly elderly routers). Remember that even the smaller sized routers need to be able to update their tables, otherwise they can choke the rest of the network. If they can't keep up with the rest, place them in a Stub Area or replace them.
One of our customers, who's name we of course will not mention, opened a Support case. He complained that his routers were suffering from a high CPU load and thus the routing table was not up-to-date. Very quickly we came to the thought that is had to be because of OSPF not updating the hardware table quickly. At some point I asked him how many OSPF routers he had in the Area. His answer was 1500!!!
One might say that 1500 routers in 1 OSPF area can occur in large networks. This sure can happen, but then it is time for a redesign of the network. Let me explain why this isn't a good idea.
OSPF calculates the shortest path for each route. This means that if 1 router goes down, it will need to re-calculate the shortest path. With 1500 routers in 1 Area it will result in a lot of OSPF changes and thus a lot of re-calculations. Add all packets sent to the OSPF All-Routers Multicast group and you will have a swamped CPU.
What would be a good number of routers in 1 Area then? There is no clear answer for that. When asking around a number between 200 and 250 seem to be common. Keep in mind that there are routers with a stronger CPU and routers with a smaller CPU (mostly elderly routers). Remember that even the smaller sized routers need to be able to update their tables, otherwise they can choke the rest of the network. If they can't keep up with the rest, place them in a Stub Area or replace them.
Major networking equipment manufacturers sued
It seems that almost all major networking equipment manufacturers are sued by a company called Network-1. Named companies in the lawsuit are Cisco Systems, Cisco-Linksys, Enterasys Networks, 3Com Corporation, Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks, Netgear and Adtran.
What happened?
According to Network-1 they have been granted a patent for "Apparatus and Method for Remotely Powering Access Equipment Over a 10/100 Switched Ethernet Network”, also known as IEEE 802.3af PoE standard. Back in 2005 Network-1 has won a lawsuit from D-Link which resulted in a license agreement where D-Link will pay D-Link 3,25% of net sales to Network-1.
What will happen?
I cannot tell. Probably a long term litigation will start where each of the above companies fight their own war, or maybe a pack will arise where they all fight Network-1. My guess is that, because of the D-Link litigation, all companies will have to pay a certain amount of money as well. I will keep you all updated though.
What happened?
According to Network-1 they have been granted a patent for "Apparatus and Method for Remotely Powering Access Equipment Over a 10/100 Switched Ethernet Network”, also known as IEEE 802.3af PoE standard. Back in 2005 Network-1 has won a lawsuit from D-Link which resulted in a license agreement where D-Link will pay D-Link 3,25% of net sales to Network-1.
What will happen?
I cannot tell. Probably a long term litigation will start where each of the above companies fight their own war, or maybe a pack will arise where they all fight Network-1. My guess is that, because of the D-Link litigation, all companies will have to pay a certain amount of money as well. I will keep you all updated though.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)