Skip to main content
Modulate Demodulate - The ModemCast

Modulate Demodulate - The ModemCast

By Modem Podcast

Hello, world. What is this MODEM podcast all about? Well, we saw a gap emerging in the technical podcast space. That gap was a deeply technical podcast, focused on the protocols, the details, the how-to-demistify-complex things, the unbiased, un-cola of networking that needed to be filled. We’re not interested in the marketing, or the fluff - we want to deconstruct the new shiny things and break them down into comsumable parts. Maybe also some witty banter.
Available on
Amazon Music Logo
Apple Podcasts Logo
Castbox Logo
Google Podcasts Logo
iHeartRadio Logo
Overcast Logo
Pocket Casts Logo
RadioPublic Logo
Spotify Logo
Currently playing episode

Through the BGPStuff.net Looking Glass with Darren O'Connor

Modulate Demodulate - The ModemCastMar 21, 2021

00:00
01:00:41
Let's talk about Border0 with Andree Toonk
Feb 08, 202401:03:11
Networking Field Day 32 Recap

Networking Field Day 32 Recap

In this episode Chris and Jay give Nick a recap of Networking Field Day 32. Always a worth while endeavor, the Netwqorking Field Day events provide a unique view into the networking industry and allow for industry experts to tease apart the nerdy details of some of networkings most innovative technologies. In Networking Field Day 32 we had presentations and discussions with the likes of Broadcom, Anuta Networks, and Nile and as always, colorful commentary by the MODEM crew!

Sep 28, 202301:03:28
The roads not-so-less-traveled

The roads not-so-less-traveled

We shift gears a bit and take a step back from deep tech and attempt to provide some experienced based advice for those working on careers. Suggested by our own own Jay Stewart, we each give a bit of our origin story and attempt to provide some hard learned lessons about it being completely OK - and in fact healthier - to not have the always-labbing grindset, to take chances, and to embrace risk, and *gasp* pick a topic to specialize in.


Aug 25, 202357:10
What the heck is DHCP option 108 and how do I use it?
Jul 13, 202336:05
The current state of multihoming IPv6: all of the things your mother warned you about
Mar 23, 202359:07
More point to point addressing with Ed Horley

More point to point addressing with Ed Horley

Ed Horley (of IPv6 Buzz podcast fame) listened to the last show about point to point addressing and hit me up to say "Hey! You're doing it wrong!", and since there is never a bad opportunity to learn from the masters and improve, John and I said "great, let's do another show! And this time we'll bring along Jay and Chris! Listen in as we wander through a lot of interesting facts about TCAM, RFCs, and deployment models. 

Jan 23, 202301:02:15
The boring importance of point to point addressing

The boring importance of point to point addressing

Ahh, the perennially overlooked and ignored art of point to point addressing. You know, the IPv4 and IPv6 addressing that gets slapped onto a link between a core and distribution router, or the addressing placed on the link between your BGP speaker and the ISP. Those are kinda important, ya know? Do you know the best methods to use, what is common, what isn't? Well, John Osmon and Nick Buraglio talk it through. It's really not as boring as it seems. 

Nov 21, 202238:48
What in the heck is QoS?

What in the heck is QoS?

"Quality of Service". That nebulous term that is very capable of bringing out the frothing-at-the-mouth, highly opinionated engineers that either love it or hate it. As polarizing as it is, the real question is "what in the heck *is* it?!". For a topic that is so, so able to cause a cavernous divide between even the most sane, seasoned, and and stoic engineers, the definition is exceptionally hard to nail down. So, in keeping with the theme of "giving the people what they want", Nick, Chris Cummings, Chris Young, John Osmon, and special guest star Jay Stewart try to define it. Do we succeed? You'll have to listen to find out. 

Oct 16, 202201:03:38
Stop and Chat: Nick Campbell

Stop and Chat: Nick Campbell

Join us for a meandering walkabout with Network Engineer Nick Campbell. We walk trough optical power, wave division multiplexing, and SD-WAN in what we've been calling a "Stop and Chat" session. Join us!! 

Aug 26, 202237:56
So, you say you need 100G ethernet? A conversation about Mikrotik with Kevin Myers

So, you say you need 100G ethernet? A conversation about Mikrotik with Kevin Myers

So, you need a 100G router or switch, but are deeply concerned about: 

  • Cost
  • Power draw
  • Cooling issues
  • Price
  • Capabilities
  • Money
  • Availability
  • CapEX

Never fear, for we have news of the front, and that news is encouraging. Once again we have Kevin Myers from IPArchitechs (not anointed an official co-host, for whatever that means), who - even according to Mikrotik is "part of the family - to tell us all the pieces, parts, details, and hidden gems about their new 100G platform, and we can confidently say, it's a doozey. So much greatness in here. We talk Mikrotik ROS7, 100G performance, unboxing (kevin had the first ones live in the US), future features, chipset capabilities, and as always, charming banter. Tune in and join Chris Cummings and Nick Buraglio along with Kevin, you won't be disappointed. 


Marvell Prestera Switching Ship Family

IPArchitechs

CCR2216

CRS504


May 29, 202201:00:28
The Foibles and Frailties of IPv6 ULA
Apr 09, 202257:12
Unicast Use of the Formerly Reserved address blocks with Dave Taht and Seth Schoen

Unicast Use of the Formerly Reserved address blocks with Dave Taht and Seth Schoen

We’ve been busy! At least that’s our excuse. We recorded this episode with Dave Taht and Seth David Schoen about some new drafts they wrote for the Unicast Use of the Formerly Reserved address blocks such as 240.0.0.0, 127.0.0.0 and a few others, back in February. Needless to say, it was pretty interesting. Full of very polarizing topics (for oh-so-many reasons) this winding and wandering podcast lays out the history as well as the justifications for taking such address blocks - historically held as “untouchable” - and advocates for moving them into general use. Take a listen and decide for yourself!

Links Mentioned
Apr 09, 202201:07:58
Make Labbing Less Miserable With netsim-tools

Make Labbing Less Miserable With netsim-tools

Is this a crossover episode? Ivan Pepelnjak of ipSpace.net and the SGW Podcast joins Chris Cummings and Nick Buraglio to discuss his latest project, netsim-tools! Tune in to learn about how Ivan has gone all-in on using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) prinicipals for building network labs with his latest project netsim-tools. This project lets you not only define your lab topology using a declarative syntax, but also removes the minutia of building a lab by pre-configuring all of the basics for you. Listen to learn more about all the juicy details!

Links Mentioned
Feb 12, 202201:22:58
Underlays and Overlays - A Networking Field Day Service Provider Retrospective
Dec 21, 202153:50
More on RouterOS v7.1 with Kevin Myers
Nov 01, 202157:42
Learn from our experience; or hey, get off my lawn.
Sep 27, 202156:17
Containerlab: Declarative Network Labbing with Roman Dodin

Containerlab: Declarative Network Labbing with Roman Dodin

Building large-scale network labs can be tedious and error prone—More importantly, they can be notoriously hard to spin up automatically. Containerlab is a new tool that promises to "redefine the way you run networking labs" and I really think it hits that target. On this episode of the Modulate Demodulate podcast, Nick and Chris C. are joined by Roman Dodin, one of the brains behind Containerlab.

Find Containerlab Online Links Mentioned
Jun 06, 202101:00:27
Deep Dive into Thread with Jonathan Hui

Deep Dive into Thread with Jonathan Hui

Deep Dive into Thread with Jonathan Hui

Welcome back to the Modem podcast where we visit some of the dark and musty corners of the network and shine lights in pars of the network that many people haven’t touched before.

For many of us in main stream networking, we’re all about more. More bandwidth, more control. Bigger pipes. Faster switches etc… but there’s whole other spectrum that I’ve started to dive into over the last year that I wanted to bring to the table to discuss to prove that sometimes, more bandwidth isn’t the answer to everything, and that indeed, size matters, and sometimes, just sometimes, smaller is better.

Recently the smart home space has been abuzz when there suddenly appeared a new protocol on the scene that was all the new hotness called “Thread”.

Now like many protocols, it wasn’t really new at all, but was really just new to many of us who have never taken the time to dig into the interesting world of low-power low-data networking.

Luckily we have a special guest with us today to take by the hand and help us remember that everything in networking has it’s place. Even RIP.

In this episode, we welcome Jonathan Hui, CTO of the Thread Group to the show to take us down the rabbit whole into the history of this protocol, enlighten us to microverse of low-power/low-bandwidth networking, and help us remember that BGP isn’t the answer for everything.

Learn More about Thread

Thread Group Website

Thread Group Resources

Thread Networking Fundamentals

Connect on Social Media

Jonathan on Twitter

The Thread Group on Twitter

The Thread Group on LinkedIn

May 19, 202101:03:29
ARTEMIS: Making BGP Operations Suck Less

ARTEMIS: Making BGP Operations Suck Less

BGP is one of the most versatile routing protocols out there, but let's be honest—It kinda sucks when it comes to... Well, a lot of things. Specifically, there are a lot of issues with BGP's security (or lack thereof). BGP comes from a time when The Internet was much smaller and everyone knew everyone. Now that The Internet has exploded in growth, hijacks, both malicious and inadvertent, have required countless hours of pain-staking manual intervention and deep knowledge of BGP and the global routing table to diagnose—keeping your routes secure in this landscape almost seems like a sisyphean task.

Cue ARTEMIS. ARTEMIS (Automatic and Real-Time dEtection and MItigation System) does the hard work of detecting hijacks for you and it can even step in and attempt to mitigate them on your behalf. Okay, that sounds great, but how much does it cost? Nothing! ARTEMIS is free, open source, and even simple to install and use. Check out this episode of the Modulate Demodulate podcast as the lead developer for ARTEMIS and Co-founder/CTO of Code BGP, Vasileios Kotronis joins Chris C. and Nick to talk about the inner-workings of ARTEMIS.

Find ARTEMIS Online
May 02, 202149:27
Packet loss is good. Wait, what? Let's talk about Buffer Bloat with Dave Täht.

Packet loss is good. Wait, what? Let's talk about Buffer Bloat with Dave Täht.

Buffer Bloat. Most folks in the networking industry have at least heard this term, and may have a vague idea of what it means. It's certain that all of us have experienced it at one time or another - and likely thought it was a different problem. Over the last few years a couple of queuing disciplines have emerged that have allowed the users of the internet to experience fewer and fewer of those odd symptoms, and we wanted to know more about how those problems are getting solved. Fortunately, we managed to pin down Dave Täht and get him to talk to us about fq_codl and cake. Or so we thought. Turns out, that's a really, really big topic. Luckily, we had the expert to take time and really get down to the root of the problem, how it is solved, and give us a fantastic bit of history about how it came to be. This one has it all, folks. Boats, guitars, stickers, Dave even plays us a song at the end. It's a fun one, and the deep knowledge does not disappoint. Join me, Chris Cummings, Dan Siemon, and Dave Täht as we wander through the complex forest of buffer bloat, queuing codecs, and queue theory.

Bufferbloat and Beyond Book

Netstat command for looking at fq_codl:

Linux tc -s qdisc show dev eth0 netstat -c fq_codel -vvv

OSX 

netstat -c fq_codel -vvv

Benchmarking fq_codel

SFQ, DRR, SQM, other queuing disciplines

The Flow Queue CoDel Packet Scheduler and Active Queue Management Algorithm


Photo: 

Apr 12, 202101:05:46
Through the BGPStuff.net Looking Glass with Darren O'Connor

Through the BGPStuff.net Looking Glass with Darren O'Connor

Tune in to this installment of Modulate Demodulate as Darren O'Connor joins Chris C., Nick, and Dave to discuss his side project—BGPStuff.net. This tool is a modern BGP looking glass built in Golang that anyone can use to gather a wealth of information on the BGP Routing table. Some of the things you can see are AS_Path, Origin AS, ROA, ASName, RPKI Invalids, DFZ RIB size, and more. In addition to a nice web interface, the latest version of BGPStuff introduces an updated RESTful API. Come check out our discussion of the architecture and technology behind BGPStuff.net!

Links Mentioned
Mar 21, 202101:00:41
[Non-Blocking] The DoD Brinks Truck of IPv4 Space

[Non-Blocking] The DoD Brinks Truck of IPv4 Space

On this first episode of the MODEM Non-Blocking series, Nick and Chris C. wax ineloquent about the latest networking gossip straight from the DFZ. Recently, the DoD started announcing a lot of IPv4 address space that had been previously unannounced. How much is a lot? We're talking 13 /8s of IPv4. Tune in to hear our un-scripted thoughts on what this might mean for your network, The Internet as a whole, and the deployment of IPv6.

Links Mentioned
Mar 17, 202128:35
The Latest in RouterOS v7 with Kevin Myers

The Latest in RouterOS v7 with Kevin Myers

On this episode of the MODEM Podcast, Nick and Chris C. bring on a special guest, Kevin Myers, to talk about the latest software updates from one of the underdogs of networking—MikroTik. MikroTik RouterOS v7 is the next version of MikroTik's routing software that promises to solve a lot of the longest-standing requests from users. Kevin and his consulting firm IP ArchiTechs have been hands-on users of MikroTik since the early days, so come and listen to us discuss multi-threaded BGP, IS-IS, RPKI, and maybe even a few war stories!

Links Mentioned
Mar 07, 202159:18
What the heck is a tunnel? OK, then, what is a VPN?

What the heck is a tunnel? OK, then, what is a VPN?

How hard is it to describe the difference between a tunnel and a VPN to a completely non-technical person? Come to find out, it is fairly difficult! Chris Young - one of our esteemed co-hosts - tweeted out a seemingly simple question: “Explain the difference between a tunnel and a VPN to a non/technical audience.”. Proposed answers were given, a variety of interpretations of "non-technical audience" were made. Hilarity ensued. which really begs the questions: what the heck ARE tunnels? What are VPNs? Think you know? So did we. Take a trip with us through our winding exploration as we dive into the abyss of the ocean of possibilities - all aboard the RV Calypso of encapsulation.

List of Tunneling mechanisms:

Encapsulation

Control Plane

Label Stacks

All in One

  • ZeroTier
  • Wireguard
Feb 22, 202146:03
Understanding the Internet Exchange with Mike Hammett
Jan 17, 202159:57
 FRR protocol updates with Donald Sharp

FRR protocol updates with Donald Sharp

FRR is a well traveled and well established routing suite. It has a comprehensive and very complete stable of protocol support, which is ever expanding. In this episode, Chris Y., David, and Nick chat with Donald Sharp about some of the finer details of the newer protocol support including IPv6 FlowSpec, BGP BMP, and IS-IS-SR. We delve into the finer points of component integration, discuss the nuance of how tunneling interfaces work, take a walk down the edge of why IS-IS is less traveled (including some of the fun protocol details therein). We even give a pretty fun little jaunt into the origin story of FRR. 



Jan 08, 202101:00:04
Behavior Tree Concepts in Network Management with Tomas Kirnak

Behavior Tree Concepts in Network Management with Tomas Kirnak

Behavior Tree concepts are something that most network engineers probably do not spend a lot of thinking about on a day-to-day basis, but their usefulness and relative ease of understanding will be made clear by the guest of our inaugural podcast, Tomas Kirnak. Tomas is the CEO of a company called Unimus that leverages behavior tree concepts to make configuration backup and automation of network hardware very straightforward. In this episode, John, Chris C. and Nick tease apart the details of what it takes to make that process as pain free as possible - and oh, boy, it is some cool stuff.

Jan 08, 202153:14