Cisco: How to shape traffic on Frame-Relay connection

In some previous article, I explained how to configure a Frame-Relay Hub and Spoke network environment. Based on that example, I will show you today how you can implement traffic shaping over the Frame-Relay Hub and Spoke.You can have a look at the topology that we will use here.

A note from the beginning. Since I do not have a traffic generator, I cannot really prove that the traffic is shaped, you’ll just have to believe me or to try on your own.

Let’s assume that we have an excessive amount of packet loss between R1 and R2 from the topology and the R1 is overwhelming the Frame-Relay connection to R2. R1 has a port speed of 512Kbps and we have to assure that R1 is sending traffic at 384Kbps. In case that the connection get congested R1 should throttle down the CIR to 256Kbps. R1 should be permitted to burst in case it accumulate credit and to minimize the delay due to serialization the interval (Tc) should be 10ms.

To summarize:
-we have a CIR of 384Kbps; CIR = 384Kbps
-when congested CIR throttle down to 256Kbps;  minCIR = 256 Kbps
-time interval is 10ms; Tc = 10ms
-burst size, based on the date above is 3840 bps;  Bc=CIR*Tc=384000*0.01=3840; (note that CIR has to be in bps and time in seconds)
-also R1 is allowed to send burst in excess in case of accumulated credit, so excess burst is 1280 bps;  Be=(AR-CIR)*Tc=(512000 – 384000) * 0.01=1280 (AR is the port speed 512Kbps)

After we have gathered all this data let’s proceed to the Cisco device configuration. Please see the presentation below:

Cisco FRTS

Cisco’s data-center push holds promise, perils

CiscoCisco’s move into the heart of data centers, expected to be laid out at an event next Monday, holds the promise of easing a big IT headache but may also escalate competition between the company and its partners.

The networking giant is widely expected to announce an entry into the blade server market, codenamed “California,” at the Monday event, though the company’s brief press invitation referred only to a concept Cisco calls “Unified Computing.” In a recent blog posting, Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior described Unified Computing as a move toward unifying computing and storage platforms with networks and virtualization platforms. She also acknowledged Cisco will compete with some of its partners.

What Cisco wants to do, according to industry analysts, is to make virtualization easier — and gain a lot more control over virtualization itself. That goal doesn’t necessarily require the company to make its own servers, but some signals point in that direction.

Read the full article on NetworkWorld.com…

Arbor Networks bolsters Internet monitoring system

Arbor NetworksNew ATLAS system promises real-time data on security, routing and traffic trends.

Network security vendor Arbor Networks is collaborating with more than 100 ISPs worldwide to create a more comprehensive Internet monitoring system.

The newly enhanced ‘Net monitoring system, dubbed ATLAS 2.0 by Arbor Networks, now monitors and collects real-time data for global Internet traffic, routing and application performance. Previously, Arbor says the ATLAS system had been used mostly to collect data on security-related traffic such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack traffic.

Arbor decided to expand its ATLAS system to more general Internet monitoring to help its client ISPs gather more business intelligence on the traffic and application trends that guide service providers’ business decisions.

Read the full article on NetworkWorld.com…

Juniper introduces Adaptive Threat Management

JuniperJuniper is this week introducing software that lets security platforms – even those made by other vendors – share and analyze log information in order to determine the root cause of network problems and fix them.

Called Adaptive Threat Management, the data-sharing software includes upgrades to its SSL VPN and Unified Access Control  devices that enable them to publish log information to a UAC server that shares the data with other platforms.

The interface between the SSL and UAC devices and the server is a standard known as IF-MAP, a communication interface for creating a two-way street between network devices and the server to which device data is published.

Read the full article on NetworkWorld.com…

CeBIT 2009: The event in images

Raw images from CeBIT 2009 in Hanover. Below you can find a series of photos from what I saw interesting at CeBIT. I spent 2 full days there and I tried to see everything but, even so, the time was quite limited. In my personal opinion the event was a success, with plenty of visitors and exhibitors (about 4300 companies from 69 countries), despite all the rumors about it being compromised by economical crisis (as this is my fist year when I was present to this event I cannot compare it with previous editions).

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