TechRepublic contributor Shannon Kalvar recently pointed me

to RFC 1925, which many of you no doubt already know about. Nestled between RFC 1924

(A Compact Representation of IPv6 Addresses) and RFC 1926 (An Experimental

Encapsulation of IP Datagrams on Top of ATM) lies this list of “The 12

Networking Truths,” which seem to be right on the

money. It’s hard to pick a favorite, since so many resonate so strongly (ohmigod, I said “resonate”), but

consider, for instance, number 3:

  • “With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However,

    this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are going

    to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly

    overhead.”

Or number 6:

  • “It is easier to move a problem around (for example, by

    moving the problem to a different part of the overall network architecture)

    than it is to solve it.

But I guess if I had to embroider one of these precepts and
hang it in my cube, it would be number 11:

  • “Every old idea will be proposed again with a different
    name and a different presentation, regardless of whether it works.”

Yeah, buddy.

Shannon also provided his 10


New Year’s resolutions for IT managers, which has some

excellent reminders about what we should be focusing on as we head into 2006.