tag:blogs.techworld.com,2009-06-25:/on-the-frontline//29 2011-09-13T14:40:31Z The diary of a Cisco engineer as she deals with the best - and worst - that life and users throw at her Movable Type Enterprise 4.38 tag:blogs.techworld.com,2011:/on-the-frontline//29.13390 2011-05-24T09:26:37Z 2011-09-13T14:40:31Z

I am having a bit of a nightmare with a Service Provider, which, for its own protection, shall remain nameless, over a so-called QoS-enabled MPLS WAN. A fairly sizeable UK public sector organisation has been having problems with an IPT...

Louise Simmons I am having a bit of a nightmare with a Service Provider, which, for its own protection, shall remain nameless, over a so-called QoS-enabled MPLS... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2011:/on-the-frontline//29.13156 2011-03-21T12:48:14Z 2011-03-21T12:50:55Z

Do you ever feel that, despite your best efforts, things just conspire against you? You really make the effort to design and build your network for resilience, you dual-home all your switches, provide two WAN links into all your remote...

Louise Simmons Do you ever feel that, despite your best efforts, things just conspire against you? You really make the effort to design and build your network... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2011:/on-the-frontline//29.13031 2011-02-21T02:54:54Z 2011-02-15T12:59:19Z

I used to be not that fond of BGP as a routing protocol—it just struck me as too complicated and scary. Then I had to spend a lot of time with it and it became a firm favourite. In fact...

Louise Simmons I used to be not that fond of BGP as a routing protocol—it just struck me as too complicated and scary. Then I had to... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2011:/on-the-frontline//29.13030 2011-02-15T13:46:41Z 2011-02-15T12:52:12Z

I have been doing some work on a WAN design for a large private sector communications organisation. As usual, the difficult bit has been pinning them down as to what they really need (not want - need) to support their...

Louise Simmons I have been doing some work on a WAN design for a large private sector communications organisation. As usual, the difficult bit has been pinning... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2011:/on-the-frontline//29.12965 2011-01-29T00:40:54Z 2011-01-28T16:45:54Z

Something I’ve often had to remind people—especially when they’re starting out in networking—is that it’s very much a two-way street. Traffic has to get from one end of your network to the other—but it has to be able to get...

Louise Simmons Something I’ve often had to remind people—especially when they’re starting out in networking—is that it’s very much a two-way street. Traffic has to get from... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2011:/on-the-frontline//29.12946 2011-01-25T00:31:47Z 2011-01-24T17:36:06Z

I own a chainsaw—well, I live in the country, and for a bit of light relief from networking, I chop logs and cut (small) trees down for our stove. I have never yet cut a branch off a tree while...

Louise Simmons I own a chainsaw—well, I live in the country, and for a bit of light relief from networking, I chop logs and cut (small) trees... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2011:/on-the-frontline//29.12930 2011-01-19T15:18:25Z 2011-01-19T16:19:50Z

With a lot of the projects I work on, I have to do the overall design, detailed configs and the bill of materials. It’s always a fine line between trying to spec out the best network I can, and not...

Louise Simmons With a lot of the projects I work on, I have to do the overall design, detailed configs and the bill of materials. It’s always... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2011:/on-the-frontline//29.12724 2011-01-03T08:25:38Z 2011-01-03T08:34:15Z

Sometimes it’s the most basic things that catch you out. We were recently doing some Proof of Concept testing for a large (non-UK) bank that wanted to model part of its international MPLS WAN with a view to providing Layer...

Louise Simmons Sometimes it’s the most basic things that catch you out. We were recently doing some Proof of Concept testing for a large (non-UK) bank that... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2010:/on-the-frontline//29.12722 2010-12-13T01:25:06Z 2010-11-29T15:08:24Z

In the olden days of serial and coax connections, it was dead simple for network kit to figure out if a connection went down. Everything was direct point to point, and if a cable broke or an interface failed, you...

Louise Simmons In the olden days of serial and coax connections, it was dead simple for network kit to figure out if a connection went down. Everything... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2010:/on-the-frontline//29.12723 2010-12-06T01:25:22Z 2010-11-29T15:07:58Z

I’m doing some work for a customer who is moving people from one building to another, and using the opportunity to move them to some newer technology. Virtual desktops, a new printing methodology, and more emphasis on collaboration tools. The...

Louise Simmons I’m doing some work for a customer who is moving people from one building to another, and using the opportunity to move them to some... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2010:/on-the-frontline//29.12725 2010-11-29T11:25:57Z 2010-11-29T11:31:38Z

I sometimes wonder if we couldn’t sue Service Providers under the Trades Description Act. I really don’t think they have the same idea of ‘Service’ as I do. One of my customers has been having intermittent problemsfor months with multicast...

Louise Simmons I sometimes wonder if we couldn’t sue Service Providers under the Trades Description Act. I really don’t think they have the same idea of ‘Service’... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2010:/on-the-frontline//29.12628 2010-11-19T10:45:23Z 2010-11-15T16:48:13Z

This is just the best story. I just have to share it. A colleague has just come back from doing some network testing with a potential customer down in Cisco’s offices by Heathrow. Cisco has a set of Customer Proof-of-Concept...

Louise Simmons This is just the best story. I just have to share it. A colleague has just come back from doing some network testing with a... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2010:/on-the-frontline//29.12627 2010-11-15T15:45:03Z 2010-11-15T14:34:23Z

Are we all under too much pressure to get projects in and working as quickly as possible, or can we just not be bothered doing a really careful, precise job any more? Or is there some fundamental lack of understanding...

Louise Simmons Are we all under too much pressure to get projects in and working as quickly as possible, or can we just not be bothered doing... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2010:/on-the-frontline//29.12626 2010-11-10T15:35:51Z 2010-11-05T15:40:39Z

Good design practice, quite rightly, dictates that network design should be driven by business needs, not technology. Unfortunately there’s a more prevalent form of (bad) network design we have to contend with. I’ve helped out with a WAN design...

Louise Simmons Good design practice, quite rightly, dictates that network design should be driven by business needs, not technology. Unfortunately there’s a more prevalent form of... tag:blogs.techworld.com,2010:/on-the-frontline//29.12625 2010-11-05T15:24:07Z 2010-11-05T15:37:16Z

Recently I was helping out a big UK finance house with some Data Centre network upgrades and just generally having a look at how they’d set things up and if it could be improved. On paper it looked not too...

Louise Simmons Recently I was helping out a big UK finance house with some Data Centre network upgrades and just generally having a look at how they’d...