New technical explainers, certification perspectives and practical ideas.
MPLS Layer 3 VPN architecture solves a service-provider problem that ordinary enterprise routing does not: many customers need private, independently routed networks across…
Read articleSecure Access Service Edge is an architectural model for delivering networking and security controls closer to distributed users, branches, devices, and cloud applications.…
Read articleRemote access VPN design is not only about choosing an encryption protocol and defining an address pool. A production service has to authenticate…
Read articleNetwork segmentation supports zero-trust architecture by reducing the amount of access that follows automatically from being connected to a network. Traditional perimeter designs…
Read articleEmail and web traffic are two of the most common paths through which users encounter malicious content, credential theft, risky destinations, and data-loss…
Read articleCisco Secure Firewall architecture is easier to understand when it is treated as a system of enforcement, management, inspection, identity, and telemetry rather…
Read articleCisco Secure Endpoint protects hosts by combining preventive controls with endpoint telemetry that supports investigation and response. The connector can block known malicious…
Read articleCisco ISE policy is easiest to operate when engineers separate three questions: which traffic belongs to this policy set, how should the identity…
Read articleEnterprise access networks rarely contain one uniform endpoint population. Managed laptops can perform strong 802.1X authentication, while phones, printers, cameras, badge readers, and…
Read articleCisco ISE handles guest access and bring-your-own-device onboarding as two related but distinct identity problems. Guest access is designed to give temporary or…
Read articleRADIUS authentication problems in Cisco ISE are rarely solved by staring at a single “Access-Reject” message. A complete transaction crosses the endpoint, supplicant…
Read articleCisco TrustSec changes segmentation from an address-centric problem into an identity and group-policy problem. Cisco ISE can classify users, endpoints, and network devices…
Read articleCisco Identity Services Engine posture assessment adds endpoint compliance to network access control. Authentication can prove who a user or device is, but…
Read articleVXLAN EVPN separates a data-center network into an IP underlay and a virtual overlay. The underlay gives loopback and VTEP addresses reliable Layer…
Read articleVirtual Port Channel (vPC) lets a downstream device form one logical port channel to two separate Cisco Nexus switches. The downstream system sees…
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