Network documentation that survives contact with reality
Perfect documentation is always out of date. Aim for the parts that stay true.
Writing
Networking
Switching, addressing, packets and the faults that live between the cable and the application: how to find them, and how to design so they are rarer.
When it works on the other vendor is not a bug report
Two devices can both follow the standard and still not interoperate.
Migrating a configuration between vendors
Translating line by line produces a configuration that works until it does not.
Interface naming across vendors
A small thing that causes real mistakes when you work across platforms.
Vendor defaults that will hurt you
Shipping defaults are chosen so the device works out of the box, not so it is safe.
Configuration backups that are actually restorable
A directory of config files is not a recovery plan. Here is the gap.
Junos commit and rollback: the feature worth envying
Configuration as a transaction changes how confidently you can work.
RouterOS for people who learned on IOS
The concepts transfer. The assumptions do not, and a few of them will bite.
Three vendors, one idea, three dialects
Once you see the shared model underneath, moving between vendors stops being retraining.
Interface counters and what they actually tell you
Every error counter has a specific meaning. Knowing which is which turns guessing into diagnosis.