Common operational misconceptions
Paul Graydon
paul at paulgraydon.co.uk
Fri Feb 17 06:50:11 UTC 2012
On 2/16/2012 8:30 PM, Carsten Bormann wrote:
> On Feb 16, 2012, at 18:08, Jack Bates wrote:
>
>> It at first started with trying to explain that vlan based switching is not Layer-3. :(
> Ah, one of the greatest misconceptions still around in 2012:
>
> -- OSI Layer numbers mean something.
> or
> -- Somewhere in the sky, there is an exact definition of what is layer 2, layer 3, layer 4, layer 5 (!), layer 7
> or
> -- my definition is righter than yours
>
At the same time, it's shocking how many network people I come across
with no real grasp of even what OSI means by each layer, even if it's
only in theory. Just having a grasp of that makes all the world of
difference when it comes to troubleshooting. Start at layer 1 and work
upwards (unless you're able to make appropriate intuitive leaps.) Is it
physically connected? Are the link lights flashing? Can traffic route to
it, etc. etc.
Paul
More information about the NANOG
mailing list