Maria Korolov, Author at NetworkingNexus.net

Maria Korolov

Author Archives: Maria Korolov

Cisco CCNA certification explained

The CCNA, which stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate, is Cisco's foundational certification for networking professionals.The CCNA is a commonly required prerequisite for associate-level networking jobs such as network engineer, network administrator, network support technician or help desk technician. There used to be 10 CCNA concentrations, specific to cloud, collaboration, security, data centers, wireless, and other areas. Then, in February of 2020, Cisco combined all of its foundational networking certifications into one comprehensive CCNA certification.To read this article in full, please click here

Edge devices improve drilling efficiency for energy company

Moving compute and storage resources to edge locations can reduce latency and bandwidth needs, improve performance and save money. At the same time, widespread edge computing deployments can introduce significant management challenges. Servers can be hard enough to maintain when they’re in an on-prem data center. What if they’re deployed in the middle of nowhere?Energy companies know all too well the challenges of remote computing.“When we drill a well, it’s always in the middle of nowhere,” says Dingzhou Cao, senior advisor for data science at independent shale producer Devon Energy, a Fortune 500 company based in Oklahoma City, Okla.To read this article in full, please click here

Edge devices improve drilling efficiency for energy company

Avesha Deploys Machine Learning for More Efficient Load Balancing

When Avesha. To his surprise, the industry hadn’t changed much over the past twenty years. This week, Avesha is demonstrating its new AI-based load balancing technology at KubeCon+CloudNativeCon 2021. Load balancing still mostly happens at a local level, within a particular cloud or cluster, and uses the same formulas that he helped popularize more than two decades ago. For example, a load balancer can use a “round-robin” formula, where requests go to each server in turn, and then back to the first one. A “weighted round-robin” is similar except that some servers get more requests than others because they have more available capacity. A “sticky cookie load balancer” is one where all the requests from a particular session are sent to the same server so that, say, customers don’t get moved around in the middle of shopping sessions and lose their shopping carts. “There are a few other variations, but they’re all based on fixed settings,” said Nair. “The state of the art hasn’t moved much in this area.” A very simple change that would make load balancers immediately more effective is to automatically adjust the weights based on server performance. “It’s actually a very low-hanging fruit,” he said. “I don’t know why they aren’t all doing this.” That’s what Avesha started looking at. Then, in addition to server performance, the company also added in other factors, like travel path times. The resulting service, the Smart Application Cloud Framework, was launched Tuesday. Deployment Structure Avesha is deployed with an agent that sits in its owner container inside a cluster or private cloud. It talks to its fellow agents and to Avesha’s back end systems via secure virtual private networks. The backend system collects information about traffic paths and server performance then uses machine learning to determine optimal routing strategies. The specific AI technique used is reinforcement learning. The system makes a recommendation and looks at how the recommendation works in practice, then adjusts its model accordingly. “Is it continuously tuning your network,” said Nair. “The network is constantly undergoing lots of changes, with traffic and congestion.” It also looks at the performance of individual servers and if some are having problems handling requests it automatically routes them elsewhere. And it works across all types of deployments — multiple public clouds, private clouds, and edge computing installations. Sponsor Note LaunchDarkly is a feature management platform that empowers all teams to safely deliver and control software through feature flags. By separating code deployments from feature releases, LaunchDarkly enables you to deploy faster, reduce risk, and iterate continuously. “The methods currently in use in Kubernetes are static,” he said. “You set fixed thresholds with a lower bound and an upper bound. But nobody even knows how to set those thresholds.” People wind up guessing, he said, set some basic targets, and then leave them in place. “You end up wasting resources,” he said. The Avesha technology is more like a self-driving car, he said. There are still parameters and guard rails, but, within those constraints, the system continually optimizes for the desired outcome, whether it be the lowest latency, or maximum cost savings, or even compliance-related data movement restrictions. “You want your data traffic to be managed in accordance with your policies,” he said. “For example, there might be regulations about where your data is and isn’t allowed to go.” Performance Improvements In internal studies, Avesha has seen improvements of 20% to 30% in the number of requests that are handled within their performance targets compared to standard weighted round-robin— approaches. When some clusters have hundreds of thousands of nodes, 30% is a big number, he said. Companies will see improvements in customer experience, lower bandwidth costs, and less need for manual intervention when things go wrong in the middle of the night. And it’s not just about the business bottom line, he added. “If you translate that into wasted energy, wasted natural resources, there are lots of benefits,” he said. For some applications, like video streaming, better performance would translate to competitive advantage, he said. “It’s like the difference between getting high definition and standard definition video.” There’s no commercial product currently on the market that offers AI-powered load balancing, he said, though some companies probably have their own proprietary technology to do something similar. “Netflix is an example of a company that’s a leader in the cloud native world,” he said. “I would say there’s a fairly good chance that they’ve already incorporated AI into their load balancing.” Other large cloud native technology companies with AI expertise may have also built their own platforms, he said. “Nobody has said anything publicly,” he said. “But it’s such an obvious thing to do that I am willing to believe that they have something, but are just keeping it to themselves.” There are also some narrow use cases, like that of content delivery networks. CDNs typically deliver content, like web pages, to users. They work by distributing copies of the content across the internet and optimize for the shortest possible distance between the end user and the source of the content. Avesha’s approach is more general, supporting connections between individual microservices. “It’s a little bigger than what a CDN is trying to do,” he said. “We are literally at the cutting edge with this.” AI-Powered Load Balancing as a Feature At some point, cloud vendors and third-party service providers will begin offering intelligent load balancing to their enterprise customers, either by building their own technology or by buying or partnering with Avesha or any competitors who might appear on the scene. “One way or the other, you’re going to be able to take advantage of it,” said Nair. Avesha itself is currently working with partners, he said, including some major industry players, and he is expecting to be making announcements this summer. But enterprises can also work directly with Avesha and get a jump on the competition, he added. Enterprises who deploy workloads to multiple clouds would find the technology of most interest, he added. Avesha is currently working with several companies on proof of concept projects. These are companies that typically are at $50 million in revenues or above in verticals such as media, manufacturing, health care and telecom. “We have also engaged with some partners who are big cloud players,” he said. More information, as well as return on investment analyses, will be released in the next few months. Verizon and AWS Serve Doctors at the Edge One case study that has been made public was a

WAN challenges steer auto-rental firm to SASE

Latency and reliability concerns set car rental company Sixt on a path to rearchitect its WAN. That led the global company, which has locations in more than 100 countries, to become an early adopter of the network-security architecture dubbed secure access service edge (SASE) by research firm Gartner. Tech Spotlight: Security 4 ways to keep the cybersecurity conversation going after the crisis (CSO) Mitigating the hidden risks of digital transformation (CIO) WFH security lessons from the pandemic (Computerworld) WAN challenges steer Sixt to cloud-native SASE deployment (Network World) 6 security risks in software development — and how to address them (InfoWorld) SASE, pronounced "sassy," blends SD-WAN's network optimization features with security capabilities such as zero-trust authentication, data loss prevention, threat detection, and encryption. Driven by demand for a more efficient, scalable network-security architecture, SASE can enable greater network reliability, more flexible deployment options, and pervasive security. The technology is in its infancy but projected to grow quickly. Gartner estimates at least 40% of enterprises will have explicit strategies to adopt SASE by 2024, up from less than 1% at the end of 2018.To read this article in full, please click here

WAN challenges steer auto-rental firm to SASE

Network training 2021: Businesses grow their own IT expertise to meet new challenges

As the traditional approach to networking is replaced by hybrid cloud, SD-WAN and edge networks, in-house skill sets haven't kept up.Hiring new staff is one option to narrow the deficit, but there's a skills shortage in the industry right now, and hiring is expensive. According to McKinsey, it often costs around $30,000 to bring on a new employee, not counting the onboarding training. As a result, 82% of global executives surveyed by McKinsey say that reskilling and upskilling will be at least half the solution to their skills gaps.To read this article in full, please click here

Who’s selling SASE and what do you get?

Demand for secure access service edge (SASE) has grown tremendously during the pandemic. As adoption picks up, vendors are promising feature-rich and integrated SASE solutions. Customers have different needs when it comes to SASE, however, and it’s not always easy to understand what a SASE provider is offering.As an approach, SASE combines networking and security into a scalable cloud service that fits with the remote and hybrid work models companies use today. Potential benefits include easier network and security management, flexibility to scale up or down as business needs require, and lower costs.To read this article in full, please click here

Who’s selling SASE and what do you get?

What is SASE? A cloud service that marries SD-WAN with security

Secure access service edge (SASE) is a network architecture that rolls software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and security into a cloud service that promises simplified WAN deployment, improved efficiency and security, and to provide appropriate bandwidth per application.Because it’s a cloud service, SASE (pronounced “sassy”) can be readily scaled up and scaled down and billed based on usage. As a result, it can be an attractive option in a time of rapid change.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] While some vendors in this space offer hardware devices to connect at-home employees and corporate data centers to their SASE networks, most vendors handle the connections through software clients or virtual appliances.To read this article in full, please click here

What is SASE? A cloud service that marries SD-WAN with security

Healthcare company pivots quickly to support remote workers

Security and performance concerns made it challenging for TrialCard to enable its employees to work from home when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.Customer service agents use a voice-over-IP phone and thin-client computer, both of which were designed to work in an on-premises office environment. "They need those systems to do their day-to-day job," says Ryan Van Dynhoven, director of infrastructure at TrialCard, a Morrisville, N.C.-based company that helps pharmaceutical manufacturers connect with patients, including providing patient support and clinical trial services. READ MORE: Enterprises look to SASE to bolster security for remote workersTo read this article in full, please click here

SASE helps healthcare company pivot to support remote workers

Enterprises look to SASE to bolster security for remote workers

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated some companies' plans to adopt secure access service edge (SASE).Last summer, Gartner estimated SASE adoption at less than 1% of enterprises and said it would take five to 10 years before the technology reaches mainstream. But today, SASE is one of the main topics of client interest, according to Gartner analyst John Wheeler. READ MORE: How SD-WAN is evolving into Secure Access Service EdgeTo read this article in full, please click here

SASE could bolster security for remote workers

5G is poised to transform manufacturing

5G promises not just super-fast connections and more bandwidth than Wi-Fi and 4G LTE but also better connectivity, low latency, and support for thousands of devices in one location, all of which are attractive manufacturing facilities, but it will be a while before it becomes the norm there, experts say.According to Gartner, smart factories are major opportunities for 5G. While some use cases can be achieved with existing 4G LTE, most require the low latency and high reliability offered by 5G.To read this article in full, please click here

Private 5G keeps Whirlpool driverless vehicles rolling

5G promises super-fast connections, low latency and better coverage. In the manufacturing realm, early adopter Whirlpool is deploying a private 5G network in one its Ohio factories to solve a major problem: Driverless vehicles inside the plant rely on Wi-Fi to navigate, and they stop dead when the factory environment causes the signal to degrade. The sidelined vehicles create traffic jams, slow down production, and require hands-on attention before they can resume delivering parts.To read this article in full, please click here

Cybercrooks fight over DDoS attack resources

As more groups get into the denial-of-service attack business they're starting to get in each other's way, according to a report released this morning.That translates into a smaller average attack size, said Martin McKeay, senior security advocate at Cambridge, Mass.-based Akamai Technologies Inc.There are only so many devices around that have the kind of vulnerabilities that make them potential targets for a botnet."And other people can come in and take over the device, and take those resources to feed their own botnet," he said. "I'm seeing that over and over."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cybercrooks fight over DDoS attack resources

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