Networks
This is why cloud-inspired networks win: virtual switches are all consistent
This is why cloud-inspired networks win: virtual switches are all consistentSince opening up our draft of the 7th edition of Computer Networks: A Systems Approach for comments, we have not yet been inundated with feedback, but we did get a very helpful comment about our perspective on network operations, a subject to which we have devoted an entire chapter.Both Larry and I have learned over the years that operations are important and yet the topic is frequently neglected when teaching about networks.
Yet the topic is important enough that we even wrote a book on Edge Cloud Operations: As you can tell from the title, that covers more than network operations, but networking is an important part of any cloud. And since we had that material already to hand, it naturally formed the basis of what we wrote in the new textbook edition.
BC can stand for "Before Cloud"And this is where our helpful commenter pointed out that we’d taken a very specific perspective: our model of operations is heavily influenced by the operational tools and practices of cloud operators, which differ quite substantially from those of more traditional network operators. So that is a gap that we have started to address as we revise the book on its path to publication.My own networking career can be roughly divided into the “pre-cloud” and “cloud-centric” eras, with the dividing line being my 2011 decision to leave Cisco (the very definition of a traditional networking vendor) for Nicira, an SDN startup. Nicira’s original value proposition was to offer an API to the network that could be plugged into a cloud management platform. More on that in a moment.I was involved in a few network management projects while I was at Cisco, and I would say that their lack of success told me a lot about why network management has been so hard to tackle in the traditional vendor world.
