CCNA future and SDN

Is it still worth studying for Cisco CCNA to invest in future or will SDN make network professionals obsolete.

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In order for the world to globally evolve into that transition will take a long time. Think about it as everybody switching over to electrical cars. This will take a very long time. In my opinion, there will still be a need for network techs to troubleshoot.

dave330i

You still need to know networking to deploy SDN.

NetworkNewb

still need ppl to that know how to setup networks, maintain them, and troubleshoot them...

AwesomeGarrett

I have an issue of Packet, a Cisco magazine. Third Quarter 2005 Vol.17 No.3 talking about "The Application-Aware Network". It also has an article of how they deployed wireless VoIP solution on a Carnival cruise ship.

Are you picking up what I'm putting down?

NetworkNewb

AwesomeGarrett wrote: »

I have an issue of Packet, a Cisco magazine. Third Quarter 2005 Vol.17 No.3 talking about "The Application-Aware Network". It also has an article of how they deployed wireless VoIP solution on a Carnival cruise ship.

Are you picking up what I'm putting down?

I got ya, your saying its finally happening! just about to take my CCNA too, dammit

Dragon007

AwesomeGarrett wrote: »

I have an issue of Packet, a Cisco magazine. Third Quarter 2005 Vol.17 No.3 talking about "The Application-Aware Network". It also has an article of how they deployed wireless VoIP solution on a Carnival cruise ship.

Are you picking up what I'm putting down?

I don't get this.

NetworkNewb

Dragon007 wrote: »

I don't get this.

Yea, I think Garrett is trying to use his mind tricks on us.

AwesomeGarrett

I'll keep it simple.

New technology takes some time before it's accepted in the industry with cost being the biggest drawback. Not just the implementation cost but support cost.

J_86

Do some more research on. SDN is not going to happen over night. Many companies and business are slow to adopt new technology as it is now, they won't even look at SDN for years.

the_Grinch

SDN is definitely happening, but it is going to take awhile. Cisco has certifications for it so why not do it and be on the forefront?

fredrikjj

inevitable: SDN, NFV and Skill Development for Network Engineers

Dave Tucker suggested the transition from NetOps to DevOps, and he would predict that the Network DevOps engineer will need:

Strong Networking Skills
Knowledge of Linux System Administration
Experience with Puppet/Chef/Ansible/CFEngine/SaltStack would be desirable
Scripting skills in Bash, PHP, Ruby or Python
Ability to work under Source Control (git)
Experience in consuming (REST) APIs
Experience with OpenStack and OpenStack Networking
Appreciation of Software Defined Networking (SDN)
Knowledge of Agile Methodologies
Knowledge of Test-Driven Development
Ability to write Unit and Integration Tests

Five Next-Gen Networker Skills - Keeping It Classless

Summary: software skills, linux, deep protocol knowledge (vendor independent), hypervisor and containers, IPv6

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/vip-perspectives/2015/04/16/hold-the-line

Summary: TCP/IP in depth, IPv6, diversify and learn some virtualization and storage, scripting, BGP, get the big picture.

hurricane1091

I talked to my boss about this, and he suggested that SDN isn't well defined at the moment and the future of it is fuzzy (as in what is going to be possible and not possible is a bit of a mystery) He worked for Cisco, and is very smart. Suggested we have 5-10+ years before it's widely adopted. He said at the end of the day, it doesn't make the network faster or perform any better. So if that's the case, no one is going to be in a rush to deploy it. Said he could be totally wrong though too lol. We'll see what happens. Honestly, it'll probably happen. I was scared, but it would be easier for me to learn programming than a programmer to learn networking. Developers are clueless about anything outside of code I've found. If you want me to write a script so any new server defaults to X vlan and gets xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx IP address, I'm sure I can figure it out. I don't see how we get past understanding protocols like EIGRP, OSPF, BGP, etc and implementing these things. I can see some automation to be done but it's not going to be like you can buy equipment, plug it in, and run a script and have everything be peachy. I'm biased and hoping for the best though, so just take what I say with a grain of salt. I've tried to research SDN and see what people are doing, and there's just not many stories out there of people doing it it seems like.

J_86

Here is a good resource for learning and keeping up with SDN: Packet Pushers Podcast - Too Much Networking Would NEVER be Enough
SDN is a topic they talk about frequently.

AwesomeGarrett

Just stick with your CCNA studies. Yes, SDN is coming. However, do you think anyone from tiers I - III are going to get to touch it or really play with it? Probably not!

This will be something that most companies will only want their most senior experienced staff handling. Depending on the size of the network and staff, this will probably turn into something that only 2-3 people will manage and support.

Sina80

PLUMgrid | The Worldwide Leader of Secure Cloud Networks

this will be the next Cisco. Buy stocks!

ccie14023

Ah this old question. Every so often the "analysts", who have MBAs in finance or marketing, and who couldn't even put an IP address on a router, tell you that everything is going to change and that the "old" tech companies need to get on the bandwagon or else... Sure, there have been some major shifts in the industry with virtualization and mobile, etc. But is the *nix CLI dead? Has coding become obsolete? Just the opposite. My old analogy, used on these forums before, is this: Even if Tesla makes a slick new car which is heavily computerized, the mechanics who work on them still have to know how to change rotors and brake pads.
I work at Juniper and I have been working on one of our SDN products, Contrail, of late. Actually, I am working on the routers that "pop" traffic in and out of the Contrail overlay. What I am doing is a lot of hard core routing, with VRFs and dynamic GRE tunnels on top of it. Seems there is still a little use for an old network engineer who can work the CLI.