Rick Donato

DR/BDR Roles Within OSPF, the role of the Designated Router (DR) and a Backup Designated Router (BDR) is to act as a central point for exchanging of OSPF information between multiple routers on the same, multiaccess broadcast network segment. Each non-DR and non-BDR router only exchanges routing information with

The Full Mesh Problem Due to the BGP split-horizon rule (within iBGP), all iBGP peers within an AS must be fully meshed. Why may you ask? Whereas eBGP uses the AS-PATH for loop avoidance, iBGP neighbours do not add their ASN to the AS_PATH when sending updates. So what

VScode is an extremely popular free open-source IDE. Which is great for Network Automation. Here are 3 VSCode shortcuts that can save you a TON of time! Multi-Line Selection * Windows: CTRL+ALT+⬇/⬆ * Mac: CMD+OPTION+SHIFT+⬇/⬆ Search Across All Files * Highlight the text you want to search for. * Execute search:

Previously we looked at how to -- Style your Python Code like a Pro -- using the tool, Black. However, what about if there is a typo in your code? For example, a missing colon or closing bracket. This is where linting comes into play. Linting is the process of

For those of you who are automating your networks with Python, here's a little tool that will save you a ton of time and also make your code look like it's been written by a pro! Its called Black. Black is an awesome code formatter that

A Hands-on Guide to Multi-Tiered Firewall Changes with Ansible and Batfish (Part 1)IntroductionNow I can say, from experience, that in my opinion one of the most frustratingadmin tasks can be ACL updates on multi-tier firewall environments. Validationof the change and any troubleshooting if an ACL is still missed can

Computer systems typically consist of one or more networking devices, i.e eth0, eth1 etc. These network devices are associated with a physical network adapter, which is responsible for placing the packets onto the wire. However, in the world of virtual networking, a degree of internal plumbing is required to

Eliminate boiler-plate code with Python data classes.

When it comes to network automation Docker is a must have tool. Not only does it provide an easy way to deploy and run your applications (such as Nornir, Ansible, or Netbox) but it also allows you to create isolated environments for development. To enrich your Docker journey even further