We've discussed the ways in which the WAN is moving away from private networks and MPLS in favor of reliance on the public internet. Not to mention the costs and benefits of that evolution.
Although it's certainly always been the case that WAN managers must stay on top of internet performance and outages, this is increasingly crucial in the internet-first WAN era in which we find ourselves.
To get into the ways in which global events, natural or human, impact the internet—and how to stay on top of those headlines—we welcome a leading expert on this topic to the WAN Manager Podcast.
Doug Madory, Director of Internet Analysis at Kentik, sits with Greg to get into recent world events that have had real, consequential impacts on the internet.
From the volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami that knocked out internet access in Tonga, to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the corresponding information war, the pair had much to talk about. Listen to their chat below.
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Key Takeaways
Understanding how global events impact internet performance and availability is crucial for WAN managers.
This goes double for WAN managers who are relying less on private networks like MPLS and more on the public internet.
Comprehensive internet analysis involves collecting and processing large volumes of network data like BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) updates, traceroutes, and netflow data.
Companies use this data to map internet topology, identify transit relationships, and detect changes or disruptions caused by various events. This analysis allows experts to provide insights into specific incidents, such as the Egypt internet shutdown during the Arab Spring, the activation of the Cuba submarine cable, or the resilience of the Ukrainian internet amidst conflict.
While some data might be opaque (like Starlink traffic geolocation) or only show the effects of events without revealing underlying causes (like cyberattacks), the collected data provides crucial visibility into global internet health.
Implementing Resource Public Key Infrastructure is critical for companies to protect themselves against routing mishaps.
Doug emphasizes that companies should invest in understanding and participating in the RPKI system. This involves two main steps: signing your company's routes by creating ROAs (Route Origin Authorizations) to attest to the rightful origin of your IP address space, and dropping invalid routes received from others that do not match signed routes.
While dropping invalid routes requires more technical effort, signing routes is generally more straightforward and enables the global system to help protect your traffic. The adoption of RPKI by major content providers (like Amazon, Google, Cloudflare) and major eyeball networks (like Comcast and Spectrum in the US) means that the majority of internet traffic is now going to destinations protected by RPKI, creating a network effect where new participants also benefit.
Greg Bryan
Greg is Senior Manager, Enterprise Research at TeleGeography. He's spent the last decade and a half at TeleGeography developing many of our pricing products and reports about enterprise networks. He is a frequent speaker at conferences about corporate wide area networks and enterprise telecom services. He also hosts our podcast, TeleGeography Explains the Internet.
