Just got 10 Meg Half Duplex'd
The ultimate office network punishment
This episode we build a RAG system for Cisco Docs 🤖; learn about RoCE networks at scale 💥; get subnet peering working on ExpressRoute 💪; consider what we’d do different doing NSX today 🤨; are happy not SSHing into our boxes 🤪; use Diataxis to write network docs faster 📝 and use lasers to go faster than Starlink 🔴. Let’s dive in; ⬇️
Poll 🗳️
Are we covering the NetDevOps and Network Engineering content you want to see? Vote now to shape the Reload in 10 Newsletter to be more relevant to you:
VOXI Mobile 🤙
🚰 Shameless plug to pay the bills
In the UK, in a Vodafone Coverage area and fancy up to a £20 Gift Card for free?
Switch to VOXI SIM-only, and after 2 months it’s yours - choose from awesome plans:
60 GB 5G Data, Unlimited Calls, Texts and Picture Messages @ £10 / month
100 GB 5G Data, Unlimited Calls, Texts and Picture Messages @ £20 / month
Unlimited 5G Data, Unlimited Calls, Texts and Picture Messages @ £30 / month
Easily pay monthly with PayPal or Credit Card, cancel any time with just a 30 day term and enjoy 5G speeds which - weirdly - are often faster than going via Vodafone or Three direct 🚀.
NetEng 🔧
I Built a RAG System That Actually Understands Cisco Docs. Here’s What I Learned especially when it comes to knowing stuff like FHRP, VRRP and HSRP are all pretty much the same thing (don’t write to us, we’ll pre-empt it to the bin…) and understanding the many a.k.a’s of the Networking world 📕
RoCE networks for distributed AI training at scale expands on real-world deployments of AI Fabrics in Meta with useful details about the speeds, feeds and some characteristics of their setup 🚀
Building the Future of Network Automation: RALPH, GAIT, and pyATS in Harmony uses Ralph’s looping construct to great affect, with git for version control and “go back in time” capability, it’s an unbeatable way of adding AI magic to your NetOps 🤖
A Traffic Engineering Process Perspective looks at the process mechanics and levers behind TE and how to think about which types of traffic might, and might not, be good candidates to TE tunnel vs those that are better left alone 💡
Rethinking Infrastructure Operations in the Age of AI has some ideas about AIOps in NetOps you might want to consider 🦾
Subnet peering and ExpressRoute works a little differently than you might expect or be able to AI your way out of, dig in and learn more if you’re deep in the Azure network space ☁️
Things I Would Do Differently If I Designed an NSX Platform Today didn’t include our hot take of “don’t”, but that’s probably for the best ⛈️
From InfiniBand to Ultra Ethernet Why AI Networks Had to Rethink RDMA on Ethernet…. because Ethernet. Always. Wins. Always 🛜
Book Club 📚
AI Networking Cookbook by Eric Chou
Full Stack Network Automation by Shahzad Qadir
Training 🎓
🏦 Cisco U CE Credits
💡 Re-certify your CCNA (40 CE Credits) or CCNP (80 CE Credits) with these free Cisco U courses using Continuing Education (CE) credits:
Understanding Cisco Network Automation Essentials (DEVNAE)
(Course, 16 CE Credits, 29h)Advanced Automation with Cisco Modeling Labs (CMLAPI)
(Course, 8 CE Credits, 8h)Introduction to Network Simulations with Cisco Modeling Labs (CMLLAB)
(Course, 6 CE Credits, 8h 30m)Administering Cisco Modeling Labs (CMLADM)
(Course, 5 CE Credits, 4h 30m)
🪚 Tools
IPv6 Army IPv6 Connectivity Test
(IPv6, Client, Benchmarking)E3d.ai 3D Blockchain Visualiser
(Blockchain, Web 3.0, Cryptocurrency)Transitive Trust Checker
(DNS, ASNs, Web of Trust)difftastic Code Comparer
(Diff, Coding, Semantics)Seasonal IPv4 Subnet Calculator
(IPv4, CIDR, RFCs)
🎓 Learning
I Worked At A Google Data Center: What I Saw Will Shock You
(Video, 15 mins, Socioeconomics)RRM Unplugged
(Video, 15 mins, Wireless)Success Is Hard Until You Build Systems Like This
(Video, 25 Mins, Life Skills)
Hiring 💼
📢 The Reload in 10 Jobs Board is here 🥳, with a hand-picked selection of awesome Network Engineering, NetDevOps and Network Automation jobs.
It’s also free to list a job if you’re hiring and want to let us know 👂
🔥 (just some of) This week’s Hot Hirings
🇧🇷 NetDevOps Engineer @ Netcracker, Brazil, Sao Paulo
🇨🇦 Lead Network Engineer @ McKesson, Canada, Ontario
🇫🇷 Senior Network Automation Engineer @ QRT, France, Paris
🇩🇪 Cloud Network Engineer @ Hannover Re, Germany, Hanover
🇮🇳 NetDevOps Engineer @ Deutsche Bank, India, Bengaluru
🇮🇪 Senior Network Engineer @ Dublin City University, Ireland, Dublin
🇬🇧 Senior Network Engineer @ System C, UK, Liverpool
🇺🇸Network Engineer @ Nutanix, USA, San Jose, CA
🇺🇸 NetDevOps Engineer @ Vultr, USA, Remote
🇺🇸 Junior Network Operations Engineer @ Vultr, USA, Remote
NotEng 🤔
I Cannot SSH Into My Server Anymore (And That’s Fine) is a different way of getting “remote access” to your Container estate ⛽️
AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage goes into detail about what Cory Doctorow thinks will happen when - not if - the AI bubble bursts 🍾
Step-by-step guide to get Ralph working and shipping code is the guide you need to know if you want to combine the power of iteration with vibe coding for AI that codes while you sleep 😴
The Kimwolf Botnet is Stalking Your Local Network because it’s just so, so, so big; thanks a bunch, IoT 🔌
Diataxis is a a systematic approach to technical documentation authoring, and is easy to follow and memorise when writing new documentation for your next Networking adventure 📝
Power Network Tycoon is a power grid simulation and strategy game and is a great way to destress from the other kind of Networking you do in your day job 🔋
The CQS (Command Query Separation) Design Principle is quick but powerful when it comes to coding for Network Engineering purposes, put this in your mental shelf next to DRY 😎
Meet the ‘empowered non-complier’: A certain kind of valuable worker who flouts return to office whenever they feel like it, and when they do, they might be surprised to find themselves connected at 10 Mbps, Half Duplex all of a sudden… 😇
The Math of Why You Can’t Focus at Work is because of constant. Context. Switching. Back. And. Forth. And. Back. And. Wait, what were we doing again? 🤨
Events 📅
🤜 Meet-ups
NetLdn, London, Monthly, Every 2nd Thursday
NetMcr, Manchester, Every Monthly, 2nd Thursday
NetBCN, Barcelona, See schedule
NetBCN March 2026, Barcelona, 26 March 2026
London Network Automation Meetup, London, 29 January 2026
NL Network Automation Meetup, Amsterdam, 5 February 2026
NL Network Automation Meetup, Amsterdam, 20 May 2026
📢 Conferences
🎩 Hat-tip to the wonderful Pete Crocker @ OpsMill for the help
LeNetDevOps, Toulose, 27 January 2026
NANOG, San Francisco, 2 - 4 February 2026
APRICOT 2026, Jakarta, 4 - 12 February 2026
Cisco Live EMEA, Amsterdam, 9 - 13 February 2026
IETF 125, Shenzhen, 14 - 20 March 2026
Upperside World Congress, Paris, 24 - 26 March 2026
FutureNet World 2026, London, 21 - 22 April 2026
SwiNOG, Geneva, 28 April 2026
RIPE 92, Edinburgh, 18 - 22 May 2026
Cisco Live USA, Las Vegas, 31 May - 4 June 2026
AusNOG 2026, Brisbane, 3 - 4 September 2026
BalticNOG 2026, Riga, 23 - 24 September 2026
Cisco Live APJC, Melbourne, 9 - 12 November 2026
Industry 🏭
Musk’s Starlink offers cheaper broadband than BT after UK price cuts so much so we might have to get up on the roof and have a look to see if it’s cheaper, will miss than sub-10 ms latency though… 🛰️
4G mobile phone coverage on Tube reaches halfway stage - with roll-out to be completed by end of year and it’s mostly run by Boldyn Networks in case you were wondering why they’re hiring 🤙
Google to build subsea cables in Papua New Guinea under Australia defence treaty bringing more connectivity to the bottom-right side of the world map (unless they flip it down under too?) 🌏
Faster than Starlink and cheaper than fiber: the technology shaking up the web is frikkin lasers man, lasers all over everywhere, pew, pew 🔫
Iran Goes Dark as Government Cuts Itself Off from Internet is a sign of troubling times indeed when the ASNs go dark 😢
That’s all for this week, but if you have any tip-offs, blogs, events or job posts you’d like us to feature then please feel free to let us know at newsletter@reloadin.net 📮 and we’ll see if we can add them in 💬.