Network Appliances and Applications

A modern enterprise network operates precisely like the infrastructure of a dense metropolis. Data, like vehicular traffic, flows ceaselessly, requiring managed intersections, security checkpoints, specialized distribution hubs, and express lanes. For decades, constructing this infrastructure meant racking and cabling heavy, power-hungry, purpose-built machines. Today, the very same functions are just as likely to exist as pure code, executing silently in a virtualized data center. To master network operations, you must understand both the physical appliances you will hold in your hands and the virtual applications you will deploy from a command line.

A modern data center relies on dense physical infrastructure, servers, and cabling to host and execute virtualized network functions.
A modern data center relies on dense physical infrastructure, servers, and cabling to host and execute virtualized network functions.