Low-Latency & Multicast Engineering

Study Notebook · HFT network engineering · Arista EOS labs

Hamilton Barnes · Networks & Security Engineering

From multicast fundamentals to a tuned, low-latency Arista fabric.

A working study notebook for network engineers targeting high-frequency trading and low-latency roles. Learn the theory, drill it with flashcards, watch the deep dives, then prove it in hands-on Arista EOS labs built for cEOS-lab and containerlab.

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6core domains

Learning path

01

Foundations

Multicast addressing, IGMP, and why fan-out matters for market data.

02

Trees & PIM

Shared vs source trees, RP, SSM — the mechanics that set your latency floor.

03

Low-latency & HFT

Cut-through, buffering, jitter, kernel bypass, FPGA, and time sync.

04

Arista EOS

Platforms, MLAG, LANZ/DANZ, and the CLI you will be tested on.

05

Hands-on labs

Ten labs from cEOS setup to PTP, QoS and BGP-unnumbered ECMP.

06

Prove it

Measure p99, capture microbursts, show before/after tuning.

How to use this notebook

◉ Drill

Use Flashcards deck-by-deck. Mark known cards; the counter tracks progress per deck in this browser.

▤ Build

Work Labs in order. Lab 0 stands up the environment; later labs reuse it. Every lab has verify steps and a challenge.

▶ Watch

The Videos tab links to curated YouTube searches per topic — no dead embeds, always current.

Interview angle: Hamilton Barnes' low-latency roles ask for CCIE-level architecture plus multicast depth — and often "doesn't have to be trading." Lead with deterministic design: tree choice, buffer behavior, and measured p99, not just feature names.

Flashcards

Click the card to flip. Keyboard: ← → navigate, Space flip.

Question

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Answer

Tip: “Mark known” hides the card from the current run. Reset a deck to bring them back.

Hands-on Arista EOS Labs

Built for cEOS-lab + containerlab. Each lab includes config, verification, and a challenge.

Video Lessons

Curated topics. Each opens a YouTube search — always live, never a dead embed.

Sources & References

Standards, vendor docs, and deeper reading behind the material.