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IPsec code in OpenBSD is source of constant discussions. it seems there’s no reason to panic (and OpenBSD penetration is anyway minimal), but there’s a lot of interesting discussions and rumours around code itself and it’s origin. in particular i’d recommend to read this short piece (and this tweet) with code references. they demonstrate for the n-th time, that OpenBSD team, and in particular Theo is really building creative marketing and at the same time patch bugs silently without disclosing them. ...

for some time Jim Gettys on his blog is writing a lot about problems caused by buffers, queues and other congestion avoidance mechanisms. you should really read about them. especially, if you’re in this group that believes big buffers solve all of the problems, and dropping traffic is absolute evil. nowadays it should be treated as absolutely normal thing - in most of the real life cases. on the upcoming, sixth PLNOG we may be able to tackle this problem (if there will be space in agenda), and have a shot at myths and legends related to network QoS. and yes, agenda will be out there soon, we’re just closing down last preparations. ...

working remotely on Windows via Remote Desktop if you’re hanging off GRPS or 3G connectivity somewhere in the mountains (for example) isn’t optimal. as I had to access some such servers remotely. you can find cygwin useful (there’s also VanDyke V-Shell, a bit pricey and for non-commercial use). cygwin package installs UNIX environment, and that - yes - may include OpenSSH plus some tools (like scp for example) you just need to download, and then run installation, selecting cygrunsrv and openssh. if you’re done - you just need to bootstrap SSH server and then start service responsible for SSH. ...

traditionally for last couple of years engineering team at Cisco Poland is taking care of securing infrastructure for Wielkia Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy. this year i decided to launch experimental support for IPv6 - while we were not allowed to move all infrastructure to IPv6, it should be possible next year. everyone that has IPv6 access can point browser to ipv6.wosp.org.pl. everything works based on reverse-proxy provided by Apache, FreeBSD and Cisco MCS server :) ...

i was stubborn - and while from the very first moment we’ve had a lot of challenges with the hotel infrastructure, i was able to run xTR routers during last PLNOG for LISP. no, it’s not about programming Cisco routers with LISP, but about new concept of Location/ID Split, that is new concept enabling you to treat traffic engineering in internet differently. in short - we still serve traffic like we always did (backward compatibility), but by assigning users and companies IPv4 and IPv6 addressing from special pools, we can treat this traffic in a different manner. LISP is de facto overlay network concept. this itself is nothing revolutionary, but on the other hand - it’s first such network that got wide adoption in world-wide internet. why would you like to use LISP? apart from ability to conserve IP addresses, LISP gives you ability to do traffic engineering without use of BGP or involving third parties. and in effect, adopting it may mean less FIB space needed on core internet routers. ...

everybody talks about IPv6 and still too few of us take it seriously. on polish mailing list dedicated to implementing IPv6 we get steady series of IPv6 prefix announcements, but real services available over this protocol is low. as a proof of concept for upcoming PLNOG, I just launched full network stack (Cisco 7200VXR with NPE-G1, ASA 5500-X, Catalyst 3750) and service (FreeBSD) for dual stack operation. IPv6 should be preferred, and while there’s still some things to tune down (like for example, DNS resolver in Windows XP), it should work. ...

…doesn’t have to be totally banal. it’s much more performant (300kpps, around the NPE300 performance from 7200!), so i upgraded my home 1803w to 1941w. as there are no readily available examples for complete config of the router (wired + WLAN), I decided to take the case in my hands and produce some examples. you may find them here.

…tool for documenting and mapping networks. also, short piece on deconfliction. Google to enlist NSA to help in the cyberdefence, and short brief on efficient meetings from great blog (read it!) winter break… aaand it’s gone.

there’s really almost nothing much simpler than starting to use IPv6. first of all, all major OS support IPv6 today. most of them are running it out of the box. second of all, tunnel brokers are available everywhere, so while i haven’t had luck with sixxs (they didn’t respond after weeks of waiting), using Hurricane Electric was easy and took like seconds. friendly “wizard” will walk you through and then even show example of configuration for your device. you’ll get your own /64 (freebie under Christmas tree!), and option to request additional /48. should be enough even for bigger home labs :) ...

…as described by Claudio Jeker during last AsiaBSDCon can be found here and here for whitepaper. Henning Brauer, on the other hand, gave a very good packet filtering session and OpenBSD network stack in general during DC BSDCon 2009. video can be found here and slides here.