MacBook Battery Replacement Requires Admin Credentials?
Over the weekend, I investigated the possibility of Apple replacing the tired battery in my four year old rMBP13. Yes, they can do it. It’s $199 for that particular model. But they also require an admin-level username and password for the device. Here’s an excerpt from the chat session.
Apple support rep:
What is the Admin Name and password for your Mac?
Me:
Will not share. Definitely should not be required for a battery replacement.
Apple support rep:
It is required. When the Mac goes to the repair depot that is required. You can remove that information so there is just an automatic log in. And you can set it up again when you get it back. We do not ask for any information that is not required.
Me:
Okay, then we’re done here. Thanks very much for your help!
An automatic log in, while an improvement from a certain point of view, isn’t a fix. No, you don’t have to know the user/pass now to access the system now, but you’re still on the system with admin-level credentials. Anyone with admin equivalent credentials to the system can, with a minimum of effort, get into whatever part of the file system Continue reading
Connecting Python To Slack For Testing And Development
The scripting language Python can retrieve information from or publish information into the messaging app Slack. This means you can write a program that puts info into Slack for you, or accepts your queries using Slack as the interface. This is useful if you spend a lot of time in Slack, as I do.
The hard work of integrating Slack and Python has been done already. Slack offers an API, and there are at least two open source Python libraries that make leveraging these APIs in your Python code a simple task. I chose slacker after a bit of googling, but it’s not a preference borne of experience. The community seems to be behind slacker as opposed to Slack’s own python-slackclient, so I went that direction.
Steps
- I’ll assume you’ve got Python installed already. My environment is Ubuntu Server 16.04 with Python 2.7.12.
- Install the python package manger pip, if you don’t already have it.
sudo apt install python-pip - Install the slacker python library.
pip install slacker - Generate a testing and dev token at the Slack API web site.
https://api.slack.com/web
- The token will be everything required for authentication to your Slack group. Protect it Continue reading
Chicagoans: TECHunplugged Is Coming October 27, 2016
TECHunplugged is a one-day event where end users, influencers and vendors come together to talk shop. At the Chicago event on October 27, 2016, I’ll be speaking on the following big idea.
How The Network Automation War Might Soon Be Won
Here’s the abstract I proposed to the TECHunplugged team.
Automation in the virtualization world is a long-established feature. A plethora of excellent tools exist to help stand up server infrastructure, operating systems, and applications. This has helped bring much of the IT stack together in a way that makes system deployment a repeatable, predictable task. By contrast, network automation is a struggling, emergent technology. Why is it that the automation of network provisioning has proven so challenging?
Ethan Banks, 20 year IT veteran and co-host of the Packet Pushers podcasts, will explain the network automation challenge from a practitioner’s point of view. He’ll also discuss recent advances in network automation tooling from both the open source and commercial software worlds. Network automation might feel rather behind other IT silos, but there’s significant progress that will change network operations sooner rather than later.
To set context, I’ll explain why automating the network is so hard.
- No standard way to describe a desired Continue reading
For Your Ears: Citizens of Tech Podcast 40
In this show, we get into what expiration dates on packaged food and drugs really mean. How should you react when the date expires? If you assume, “Throw it out to be safe,” you’d be wrong.
We also chat about dealing with password expiration policies. They must be super complex and changed frequently, right? Maybe not. Super complex and frequently changed means hard to remember, which studies show can lead to less security, not more.
IBM has manufactured an artificial neuron, which isn’t so interesting by itself. We’ve been here before. The interesting bit is the material used to behave like a neuronal membrane. A genuine advance.
Microsoft has announced a smaller XBoxOne S, now with 4K capabilities. Just not gaming 4K capabilities.
Blackberry is on permanent deathwatch now, as they have begun the, “All else has failed, so let’s litigate,” phase of operations.
All that, plus our regular “Content I Like” and “Today I Learned” features.
I’ll See You At Cisco Live 2016 Las Vegas
I will be at Cisco Live 2016 in Las Vegas. So far, my calendar has me scheduled to attend some Tech Field Day presentations, visit with vendors, hang out in the Social Media Hub, and host a CloudGenix SD-WAN mixer event (free food and drink for all, plus fellow nerds to network with, just register). I hope to see you at CLUS. Come up and say "hi."Complexity – My Friend, My Enemy
Over my years of network engineering, I've learned that the fewer features you can implement while still achieving a business goal, the better. Why? Fewer features mean fewer things that can potentially go wrong. The less that goes wrong, the higher the network uptime.Webinar – Challenges Delivering Apps The Modern Way
I'm hosting a webinar with Citrix about application deployment in the context of a modern data center -- containers, NFV, etc. They are bringing nerds, and I am going to ask them questions. There's a live demo at the end, so they've promised me. You should register and attend via http://bit.ly/1XSHvgU. The event is soon - Wednesday, June 22, 2016.Should You Care About Cloud Native?
To hear vendors tell the story, every enterprise in the world will be running cloud native applications on hybrid cloud networks any second now. In fact, if you’re not already firing up those containers, your business is behind. I mean…gosh…you’re probably losing thousands of dollars each minute because you’re not agile enough. You’ll be doing massive layoffs before you’re done reading this article just to stay alive. Nonsense.Handling Criticism of Your Product
Members of the IT community at large sometimes find babies ugly, and express those opinions in public. That's how community works. We share knowledge, experience, and opinions. We agree. We disagree. We discuss. We speak through our microphones and keyboards, and it's all intended to be for the greater good. How should a vendor react?Packet Pushers Podcast Gets Techical About VMware NSX with Hutto Independent School District
Based in Texas, the Hutto Independent School District comprises more than 6,000 K-12 students on 8 campuses. When they decided to virtualize their network, they had a number of factors to keep in mind. Would the technology support VDI implementation? How would a virtual network affect business as usual? Could they deploy NSX themselves? Could they deploy NSX alongside Cisco ACI?
If you’re familiar with VMware NSX, you may have an inkling about the answers to these questions. But that’s no reason not to listen to this entertaining episode of the Packet Pushers Podcast, our favorite podcast geared toward IT practitioners and professionals.
In this episode, hosts Greg Ferro and Ethan Banks sit down with representatives from theHutto ISD—Director of Technology Travis Brown; Network Administrator Keith Reynolds; and Network Administrator Christopher Harding—to talk about why Hutto decided to virtualize the network, and why they chose to #RunNSX
Take a listen!
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