Episode 21 – Tools For Network Engineers

In this episode of Network Collective, Hank Yeomans and Jonathan Davis join us to take a look at some of our favorite tools as network engineers. Whether it’s hardware or software, tools are the things that help us do our jobs well, and if used correctly, can help set you apart.

We would like to thank Cumulus Networks for sponsoring this episode of Network Collective. Cumulus invites you to find out more about how Linux is changing the data center networking space by downloading their free ebook “Linux Networking 101” here: http://cumulusnetworks.com/NetworkCollectiveLinux

Show Notes:

• Text Editer
  • It sounds simple, but a good text editor saves a lot of time
  • Regex search and replace is incredibly powerful once you know how to use it well
  • Standard features as well, like tabbed interfaces
  • Good options – Sublime Text, Notepad++
• Terminal Software
  • Options
    • Secure CRT
      • Term colorization
        • Hank’s colorization file:  https://thenetworkcollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/CiscoWords.zip
      • Saved session management
      • Secure credential management w/ auto login
      • Dynamic logging
    • iTerm2
      • Similar feature set as Secure CRT
      • Replacement shell on mac
    • Putty
      • Very good go-to on jump boxes and other systems
      • Session managers make putty better for long term use
  • Good monowidth fonts make a big difference
    • Source Code Pro is Jordan’s choice
• Wireshark/Packet Capture
  • A tool all network engineers need to have and know how to use
  • The packets are the source of truth
  • Understand how to do protocol analysis yourself, in addition to sending off captures
  • Perspective can matter, so think about positioning of hardware/capture devices
• Network Emulation
  • Popular options are GNS3, V