Heavy Networking 644: Building And Running Temporary Event Networks

When most of us stand up a new network, it’s a big, time-consuming project that often takes many weeks or months. Now imagine you’re standing up a new network, but it’s not for a facility where it’s going to be installed for years. It’s for an event where it’s going to be installed for days. The network still has to be robust and high-capacity, because it’s going to be supporting hundreds or thousands of attendees who need to be in touch with their workplaces and social media constantly throughout the event. It’s a big task that requires careful planning and creative improvisation. Joining me to discuss building temporary networks for events are Jim Troutman, Jason Davis, and Alex Latzko. Among them they’ve designed and built networks for events including ShmooCon, BSidesDC, Interop, the World Science Fiction Convention, and various sports and music events. We discuss: * The importance of establishing requirements for the event * Planning and timelines * Building an event network team * Acquiring Internet connectivity * L2 and L3 design options * Performance and security monitoring * What to keep in your emergency kit * Teardown * More Sponsor: InterOptic Fortune 500 companies choose InterOptic optical transceivers to minimize the risk of network failures and maximize IT savings. InterOptic’s transceivers are 100% guaranteed compatible with Cisco, Juniper, Extreme, Arista and others, and available at a fraction of the cost. Work with the optics experts at InterOptic! Go to interoptic.com/packet-pushers/ to find out more. Show Links: @troutman – Jim Troutman on Twitter @SNMPguy – Jason Davis on Twitter Jason C. Davis on LinkedIn Alex Latzko on LinkedIn