Software Defined WAN
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SD-WAN...is this a viable alternative to MPLS? Have you used it? Are you using it? What has been your experience?
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@Each1teach1x27 SD-WAN? Like a..... VPN? Sure, I've started using ZeroTier. Honestly tho, I like what @scottalanmiller has been preaching about the death of the LAN/WAN.
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That's yet another new marketing term for a VPN. First it was VPN, then SDN, now SDWan. All of them are exactly the same thing and haven't changed since the 1990s.
This is all just VPN and it actually mostly replaced MPLS going back to around 1999. It's VPN that has been long the standard, not MPLS. MPLS is still quite common, but it's by far the second tier player.
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NTG was doing a pretty elaborate SDWan by 2001 with dedicated hardware at every site and home.
These days, if you want this, often the best choices are things like ZeroTier and Pertino.
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I've heard that some major players in the SD-WAN arena are Cloudgenix, VeloCloud and Aryaka. I'm not to familiar with the technology but I have heard it is supposed to be the next best thing since sliced bread. We'll see...
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@Each1teach1x27 said:
I've heard that some major players in the SD-WAN arena are Cloudgenix...
They paid to be listed by Gartner, no way is that going to be a good product. That's their leading market angle. Run away. That's a scam.
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@Each1teach1x27 said:
I've heard that some major players in the SD-WAN arena are Cloudgenix, VeloCloud and Aryaka. I'm not to familiar with the technology but I have heard it is supposed to be the next best thing since sliced bread. We'll see...
http://www.networkcomputing.com/networking/software-defined-wan-primer/2018665838
Basically what it supposed to be neat about it is that it will automatically do stuff your network admin team is doing today. That's great, but it looks like it is only useful for shops doing BGP routing and have multiple links and they expect you to maintain BOTH MPLS and public Internet links to make this useful.
Basically, it is for massive companies doing extremely complex things and even there... it's mostly just marketing. A good idea, sure. But not applicable to anyone under 50,000 users.
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That makes sense @scottalanmiller. Thanks for the feedback
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@Each1teach1x27 said:
That makes sense @scottalanmiller. Thanks for the feedback
No problem.
The idea is sound (even if vendors paying for Gartner are not) but definitely a big business concept. In the SMB, we don't need those things. We have SD-WAN in far more convenient ways and have for decades. It's something that you can be leveraging today for free or cheap. I've been building those for a very long time. MPLS is rarely needed.
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ZeroTier and Pertino are both software packages that prefer to be installed on every device on your network. That obviously can't be the case for things like printers, etc.
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@scottalanmiller said:
NTG was doing a pretty elaborate SDWan by 2001 with dedicated hardware at every site and home.
These days, if you want this, often the best choices are things like ZeroTier and Pertino.
Do you need any hardware for ZeroTier? It's entirely done through software? I might use this for my single PC group homes. My company won't buy any new hardware for them unless things break.
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Is it possible to use this in conjunction with a File Server to provide an alternative means of accessing and also provide domain authentication or am I way off base here?
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@wirestyle22 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
NTG was doing a pretty elaborate SDWan by 2001 with dedicated hardware at every site and home.
These days, if you want this, often the best choices are things like ZeroTier and Pertino.
Do you need any hardware for ZeroTier? It's entirely done through software? I might use this for my single PC group homes. My company won't buy any new hardware for them unless things break.
ZeroTier is totally done in software. It does require a computing device (PC or Mac). It won't work on Switches and Printers.
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@dafyre said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
NTG was doing a pretty elaborate SDWan by 2001 with dedicated hardware at every site and home.
These days, if you want this, often the best choices are things like ZeroTier and Pertino.
Do you need any hardware for ZeroTier? It's entirely done through software? I might use this for my single PC group homes. My company won't buy any new hardware for them unless things break.
ZeroTier is totally done in software. It does require a computing device (PC or Mac). It won't work on Switches and Printers.
Even if you're printing using something like Tricerat Screwdrivers?
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@wirestyle22 said:
Is it possible to use this in conjunction with a File Server to provide an alternative means of accessing and also provide domain authentication or am I way off base here?
That is pretty much what ZeroTier is for. The easiest way to use it though, is an all-or-nothing approach. Every computer runs it (AD Domain Controller, DNS servers, Workstations, Laptops). Otherwise, you get fun issues with DNS returning wrong IP addresses.
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@dafyre said:
@wirestyle22 said:
Is it possible to use this in conjunction with a File Server to provide an alternative means of accessing and also provide domain authentication or am I way off base here?
That is pretty much what ZeroTier is for. The easiest way to use it though, is an all-or-nothing approach. Every computer runs it (AD Domain Controller, DNS servers, Workstations, Laptops). Otherwise, you get fun issues with DNS returning wrong IP addresses.
You mean even domain connected workstations? Is this just for mapping purposes?
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@wirestyle22 said:
@dafyre said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
NTG was doing a pretty elaborate SDWan by 2001 with dedicated hardware at every site and home.
These days, if you want this, often the best choices are things like ZeroTier and Pertino.
Do you need any hardware for ZeroTier? It's entirely done through software? I might use this for my single PC group homes. My company won't buy any new hardware for them unless things break.
ZeroTier is totally done in software. It does require a computing device (PC or Mac). It won't work on Switches and Printers.
Even if you're printing using something like Tricerat Screwdrivers?
I actually don't know what Tricerat Screwdrivers are. But chances are, your printer will actually not be on the ZeroTier network, so you still won't be able to print unless you are on the same network as the printer. [This is true of all printers]
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@wirestyle22 said:
@dafyre said:
@wirestyle22 said:
Is it possible to use this in conjunction with a File Server to provide an alternative means of accessing and also provide domain authentication or am I way off base here?
That is pretty much what ZeroTier is for. The easiest way to use it though, is an all-or-nothing approach. Every computer runs it (AD Domain Controller, DNS servers, Workstations, Laptops). Otherwise, you get fun issues with DNS returning wrong IP addresses.
You mean even domain connected workstations? Is this just for mapping purposes?
Pretty much, yes. There are other ways you can do it and not have to install ZT on everybody's computer... but it can muddy the waters a bit.
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@dafyre said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@dafyre said:
@wirestyle22 said:
Is it possible to use this in conjunction with a File Server to provide an alternative means of accessing and also provide domain authentication or am I way off base here?
That is pretty much what ZeroTier is for. The easiest way to use it though, is an all-or-nothing approach. Every computer runs it (AD Domain Controller, DNS servers, Workstations, Laptops). Otherwise, you get fun issues with DNS returning wrong IP addresses.
You mean even domain connected workstations? Is this just for mapping purposes?
Pretty much, yes. There are other ways you can do it and not have to install ZT on everybody's computer... but it can muddy the waters a bit.
If ZeroTier is linux compatible I wonder if you could turn a Raspberry Pi into an external NIC kind of like external hp jet direct cards. What do you think @scottalanmiller
Update: Oh my god they even have it for Rasbian.
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@wirestyle22 said:
@dafyre said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@dafyre said:
@wirestyle22 said:
Is it possible to use this in conjunction with a File Server to provide an alternative means of accessing and also provide domain authentication or am I way off base here?
That is pretty much what ZeroTier is for. The easiest way to use it though, is an all-or-nothing approach. Every computer runs it (AD Domain Controller, DNS servers, Workstations, Laptops). Otherwise, you get fun issues with DNS returning wrong IP addresses.
You mean even domain connected workstations? Is this just for mapping purposes?
Pretty much, yes. There are other ways you can do it and not have to install ZT on everybody's computer... but it can muddy the waters a bit.
If ZeroTier is linux compatible I wonder if you could turn a Raspberry Pi into an external NIC kind of like external hp jet direct cards.
Update: Oh my god they even have it for Rasbian.
They do? Nice!
I know they have binaries for Windows, Linux, Mac, and Android. You can build it yourself on other platforms (*BSD, and a few others).
Building from source isn't too bad on Linux.
