Friday, Arista VLLs and Lasagna

content/blog/wk4day5.md

@@ -1,7 +1,123 @@
 ---
-title: "Week 4, Friday:"
+title: "Week 4, Friday: Arista MPLS, a Fly Swatter"
 date: 2024-08-23T21:55:00+02:00
-draft: true
 ---
 
 {{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/kushsessions-04.png" alt="Credit: Kushsessions, Youtube" >}}
+
+This morning we had a breakfast with leftover cheese and bread from yesterday. In the morning I went
+downstairs to rummage around a little bit, and play with the data I gathered yesterday from the
+`ixp-xping` install on the hypervisors. It's kind of nice to see high-res per-flow data between all
+locations on the network.
+
+Then I spent some time rummaging around IP-Max's routers in Interxion and NTT, to look for ports
+that I could offload to the newly installed 48-port switch. I decided to make a _canary_ with some
+low-risk ports, notably mine, and the IP-Max hypervisors. That would free up five 10Gig router ports
+at NTT, and three 10Gig ports at Interxion. Not a bad haul, because the last 10Gig blade in both
+locations is entirely full, and in need of some offloading.
+
+I was just about to bike to the Interxion and NTT datacenters, when Marina reminded me 'we need to
+have lunch'. Oh yes, that's right! I did not feel like eating even more cheese, even though my
+table-mates were happy to consume moar and moar of it. I made a miso soup with ramen noodles, with
+some leftover carrots and bellpeppers. It was great! Although (a) it's still summer so it made me
+sweat like a pig in summer, and (b) it was a little bit salty [but that is not a problem for my
+taste!].
+
+Off I went, on my Stromer, to Interxion. A few kilometers in, the torque sensor acted up again, and
+made the bike jam. It takes rebooting the bicycle (uhm, yes, sorry Grandpa, we reboot bikes
+nowadays), but then I was underway. The weather was nice, and I had planned to bike to Interxion
+first, and them from there, via the Zurich OpenAir festival grounds to the NTT datacenter. I'm
+installing two new 10G channels from IPng to IP-Max, which will terminate on the Aristas.
+
+At Interxion, I make quick work of it. The links come up within minutes, and I notice that I'm
+running out of 10G ports on my transport switch there. However, I do see three DACs, so I can always
+sacrifice one of the 40G ports to plug in a 40G-to-4x10G DAC, and reclaim those ports. 
+
+Then I bike to NTT via the little creek path I always take. Normally, there's nothing there but open
+fields, but this weekend is the first of two Zurich OpenAir, and the stage looks pretty decent.
+There will be three stages, and I've got a VIP pass for next week Saturday, because _Nora en Pure_
+will be on at 23:00. Yaay!! Later, I found out that another favorite of mine, _Miss Monique_ is on
+tomorrow at 23:00; I may take a quick bike ride to at least listen a little bit, because I don't
+think spending another CHF 139,- is worth it -- the line up isn't as good as on the 31st. But I
+digress ..
+
+At NTT, I have a little bit more work to do. I will move in total six ports: two of mine (to
+Frankfurt and Geneva), two of IP-Max's hypervisors that run the routeservers in Zurich, and the two
+links for [[Free IX](https://free-ix.ch/)], one to Lugano and one to Geneva. I have my work cut out
+for me.
+
+**The FlySwatter** makes me very happy. This, and many other full racks, are often very tricky to
+feed fibers from the front to the back of the rack. I've at times spent 30min yelling, screaming and
+pulling hairs, trying to get fibers from one side to another. But, Marina accidentally bought the
+most fantabulous tool: a purple flyswatter on a telescopic pole. Yes, you read it right! I noticed
+that I can attach precisely an LC/PC pair of connectors on the front, and then extend the swatter
+through the rack, and it'll gently push itself against the wall, allowing me to go to the other
+side of the rack, and retrieve the fiber. It's the best thing since sliced bread, I swear. I get
+my two new fibers through in a matter of minutes, not hours. Yaay me!!
+
+All links are up and I bike back home via Dietlikon, where I see a big fairground also! It turns
+out, the city of Dietlikon turns 900 years old this month, and they organized a weekend full of fun.
+There are towns in Switzerland that are casually three times as old as the United States (1776).
+It's one of the many, many things I truly admire about my country. The festivities are on a fancy
+[[website](https://www.900jahredietlikon.ch/de/home)], which I remind the family at home of later,
+and we decide to visit tomorrow.
+
+Back home, I complete the logical configuration for the IPng and FreeIX connections, and bring into
+existence the first Arista-based MPLS circuits, which is remarkably straight forward except I make a
+typo that makes me spend 45min figuring out why one of them doesn't work. Oh well :)
+
+I get home and look at my Stromer. It's gross, and in need of some love. I grab the brush and
+sponge, and wash it from top to bottom, clean the chain, the gears, the mechanics and what-not:
+Sergio would be proud! I signal great success, and go inside to find one Marina ready for the rose
+wine we bought yesterday. We bought it for the shape of the bottle - it's super fancy!
+
+We drink the bottle in one go - it's quite alright, and halfway through Marina yeets the Lasagna she
+made into the oven. We proceed to eat the Lasagna and it is top notch. She made plenty of extras,
+some of which Quinn will take to work, and some of which I'm sure will find its way into Marina's
+belly. Although I'm not a _huge_ fan of Lasagna, I am definitely pleased with the results here. Five
+stars on yelp.
+
+After dinner we have a _N&uuml;sslitorte_ which Quinn got a while ago. It's too sweet for my taste,
+but the curst is kind of nice. I can tell that Quinn likeS it because he taked two pieces. I decide
+to fire up the _candle_ we got from our neighbors: some tree trunk with a  big + sawed into it, and
+in the middle some firestarter which makes it burn hot, and all the way down the wood to the bottom.
+It's a mesmerizing fire, and both JP and I enjoy staring at it.
+
+After the fire dies down, I go downstairs to work on IPng a little bit. Since I rolled out the
+[[loopback-only OSPF](https://ipng.ch/s/articles/2024/06/22/vpp-with-loopback-only-ospfv3-part-2/)]
+last month, the interfaces no longer make much sense, they merely have a name like `xe1-0.304` but
+no IP addresses. It's becoming difficult for me figure out what goes where, so I've decided to
+rename them all with the name of the router they are pointed at. For example, `xe1-0.304` on router
+`defra0` will be named `chrma0` because it's the link to that router. Much easier to work like this!
+
+I spend an hour or so hacking away at all the routers, until I see that the one in Geneva (`chplo0`)
+isn't correctly wired, and it will need another connection to complete the ring. So I leave it be
+and make a mental note to visit Fred and the site at Stack GEN01 which I call `chplo0` for
+Plan-les-Ouates, where the datacenter is located.
+
+Finally, I grab that bottle of _Nardini_ which I've become good friends with. It's running
+critically low, but I think it'll last for one or two more days. I celebrate this wonderful summer
+day with a glass (or three) of _Grappa_.
+
+Tomorrow, we go see the _S&auml;ulirennen_, yes you heard right, the running of piglets. Because
+Switzerland is dope.
+
+## Pictures of the Day
+
+{{< gallery-category >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-08-23/IMG_0781.JPG" caption="Closeup of msw0.chgtg0.net.ipng.ch - IPng's transport switch at Interxion - it is running pretty full of 10G and 25G connections, the network is very well connected here." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-08-23/IMG_0782.JPG" caption="I bike from Interxion to NTT and find the Zurich OpenAir fairgrounds; the stages look great, but I'll have to wait one more week before I get to be on the inside, to listen to Nora en Pure <3" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-08-23/IMG_0783.JPG" caption="The purple fly swatter is my new favorite tool for datacenters. It sllows me to guide fibers in tight spaces." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-08-23/IMG_0786.JPG" caption="The rack at IP-Max with er01.zrh56 and the new Arista on top of it" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-08-23/IMG_0787.JPG" caption="THe first eight ports in bs01.zrh56 are light, and four of them are Ethernet over MPLS circuits, which is wonderful news for IP-Max." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-08-23/IMG_0788.JPG" caption="I bike back home and decide randomly to take a selfie. Look at how safe I am, with a little crash helmet and everything" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-08-23/IMG_0790.JPG" caption="I wash my bike and grease the chains and gears. I'll spare you the before-picture, but here, the Stromer is nice-n-clean again" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-08-23/IMG_0791.JPG" caption="We have a rose wine today with a really funky bottle shape. Marina and I decided to keep the bottle, probably to never use again!" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-08-23/IMG_0793.JPG" caption="A picture of Marina's lasagna after the family has attacked it and inflicted major damage. Yet: some of it is still ready to be consumed another day!" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-08-23/IMG_0794.JPG" caption="Quinn's N&uuml;sslitorte was our desert today" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-08-23/IMG_0797.JPG" caption="The candle was fun to watch - the flames were very mesmerizing, and it burned all the way down to the bottom of the log" >}}
+{{< /gallery-category >}}
+
+{{< gallery-modal >}}
+{{< gallery-script >}}
+