In this Linux tip, learn how to use the head and tail commands. They're basic commands that every Linux user should know. The head command is generally used to display the top lines in a text file, and the tail command shows the last lines in a file.
Data-center networking was already changing prior to the technology challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and few areas of the enterprise will continue to be affected more than data centers by those modifications in the future.That’s because myriad technologies are driving changes in the data center—everything from heavy demand for higher-speed networking, support for a remote workforce, increased security, tighter management and perhaps the biggest alteration—the prolific growth of cloud services.To read this article in full, please click here
Creating a script on a Unix or Linux system can be dead easy or surprisingly complex; it all depends on how much you’re trying to get the script to do. In this post, we look at scripting basics—at how to get started if you have never built a script before.Identifying the shell
Unix and Linux systems today have a number of shells that you can use. Each shell is a command interpreter. It reads commands and sends them to the kernel for processing.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
Bash is one of the most popular, but there’s also zsh, csh, tcsh and korn. There’s even one called fish that can be especially nice for Linux beginners because of its helpful command auto-completion options. To determine which shell you are using, use this command:To read this article in full, please click here
Rivals Intel and Nvidia are on the same side when it comes to the funding of a startup that promises to make flash storage orders of magnitude faster.The two are among numerous investors in Pliops, which is developing a specialized storage processor that it says allows applications to access data kept in flash storage up to 100 times faster than with traditional approaches while using a fraction of the electricity required by traditional hardware.
Read more: NVMe over Fabrics creates data-center storage disruptionTo read this article in full, please click here
More and more networking pros need to familiarize themselves with Linux because the operating system underpins so many enterprise tools and platforms including software-defined networking and SD-WANs, cloud networking, network automation, and configuration management.And in the decades since it was first introduced, the number of distributions of Linux has blossomed as developers create versions that meet the needs of specific interest groups. While all the versions share a common core, they each have distinguishing characteristic suited to designated purposes.[ Also see Invaluable tips and tricks for troubleshooting Linux. ]
This article takes a look at five of them – Debian, Fedora, CentOS, RHEL, and Ubuntu - how to acquire and install them, and an assessment of what they might best be suited for.To read this article in full, please click here
Flash-array vendor Pure Storage and data-center provider Equinix have teamed to deliver Pure Storage on Equinix Metal, a joint offering the companies claim can deliver physical infrastructure at software speed.The platform provides enterprises with embedded storage and on-demand availability of network and compute services, typical of the cloud. The solution is designed to support a range of storage use cases and is provided by both vendors under a single contract.To read this article in full, please click here
HP Enterprise has announced what it calls the Software Defined Opportunity Engine (SDOE), a cloud-based machine-learning platform that enables partners that sell HPE gear to cut the time to create custom sales proposals from weeks to just 45 seconds.In a blog post announcing the service, HPE Storage senior vice president and general manager Tom Black said SDOE does away with an outdated IT infrastructure-buying process at a time when digital transformation has never been more critical.To read this article in full, please click here
After some legal wrangling earlier this year, Cisco has closed the $4.5 billion deal for optical maker Acacia Communications, Inc. Cisco coveted Acacia for its high-speed, optical interconnect technologies that let data center operators, webscale companies and service providers offer ever-faster service access to widely distributed resources. It also reinforces Cisco’s commitment to optics as a critical building block for networks of the future. “Acacia offers a complete portfolio of long-distance data-transmission solutions that address the full range of applications in the data-center-interconnect and wide-area network segments for metro, regional, long haul, and subsea links,” wrote Bill Gartner, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco’s Optical Systems and Optics Group in a blog about the acquisition.To read this article in full, please click here
There are a number of ways that you can create PDFs on a Linux system. You can use an application like LibreOffice or OpenOffice, or you can take advantage of any of a number of commands that can generate PDFs from text files or from a group of other file formats. There are also a number of ways that you can merge a group of PDFs into a single PDF file.Why PDFs?
PDF is often the preferred format for files that you need to share with others or archive. This is because PDF is an open file format, which makes sharing these files between diverse systems and devices possible.Using LibreOffice or OpenOffice
Both LibreOffice and OpenOffice can export files as PDFs. You can open an existing document or create a new document and export it as a PDF. OpenOffice's Export as PDF… and LibreOffice's Export As => Export as PDF… will do what is required to convert your file.To read this article in full, please click here
In this Linux tutorial, learn how to use the pi command. You probably won't need it very often, but, if you need to calculate pi to some arbitrary number of digits, you'll probably be surprised at how easy this can be.
Linux certification is increasingly significant for tech workers as the public cloud and software-defined networking become ever more important. A Linux cert can set IT professionals apart from the herd and potentially put a lot more money in their bank accounts.Once these certifications were a gauge of reliability, according to CompTIA chief tech evangelist James Stanger. “Twenty years ago, Linux tended to attract people who were a little edgier,” he said. “So certification was traditionally used in the Linux side just to find people you can work with—will they show up on time?”Now, these certifications are a demonstration not only of proficiency but also dedication to self-improvement. “You can’t go wrong with a certification,” said Joe Faletra, director of infrastructure services at Modis, a technology staffing and consulting firm. “I’ll lean towards certs over experience [in hiring], because this person has put the effort into learning and passing the exam.”To read this article in full, please click here
The Linux command line allows your system to remember commands that you use—up to a limit set by your HISTSIZE variable. Since each user’s HISTSIZE is generally set to 1000, that means Linux can remember the last 1000 commands you entered and make it easy to reuse them without retyping them.Unless you configure your history settings differently, all of your commands will be remembered. You can put some restrictions on that behavior if you like. For example, you might not want to save every command you use to read a man page or every time you type pwd to ask where you’re currently sitting in the file system. How to restrict the commands that are remembered and which are not is covered here.To read this article in full, please click here
Pure Storage, the all-flash storage-array vendor, has expanded its Purity software base and is also expanding its line of storage products.Pure has three storage lines, the FlashArray//X, the FlashBlade, and the FlashArray//C lines, all managed by its Purity software line. The updated Purity software adds Windows-application acceleration for the FlashBlade and FlashArray lines and delivers ransomware protection across file, block and native cloud-based apps, among other features.
Read about backup and recovery:
Backup vs. archive: Why it’s important to know the difference
How to pick an off-site data-backup method
Tape vs. disk storage: Why isn’t tape dead yet?
The correct levels of backup save time, bandwidth, space
The new version of Purity also adds granular monitoring so administrators get real-time visibility into the most active users on a network and see who is stressing the storage system.To read this article in full, please click here
Bill Holmes, facilities manager at the Corona, Calif., plant that produces the iconic Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars, remembers all too well walking the factory floor with a crude handheld vibration analyzer and then plugging the device into a computer to get readings on the condition of his equipment.While all of the woodworking was done by hand when Leo Fender founded Fender Musical Instruments Corp. 75 years ago, today the guitar necks and bodies are produced with computer-controller woodworking routers, then handed off to the craftsmen who build the final product. Holmes says he is always looking for the latest technological advances to solve problems (he uses robotics to help paint the guitars), and there's no problem more vexing than equipment breakdowns.To read this article in full, please click here
A few months back, Samsung and Xilinx co-introduced an SSD with a Xilinx FPGA processor on-board, making computational storage very real. The SSD meant data could be processed where it resided rather than moving it to and from memory.Now they’ve introduced High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) integrated with an artificial intelligence (AI) processor, called the HBM-PIM. The new processing-in-memory (PIM) architecture brings AI processing capabilities inside the memory rather than moving contents in and out to the processor, to accelerate large-scale processing in data centers, high-performance computing (HPC) systems and AI-enabled mobile applications.To read this article in full, please click here
In this Linux tip, learn how to use the rig command. It randomly generates name, address and phone number listings. It's useful when you're testing an application and need hundreds or thousands of addresses to make sure that it works correctly.
Cisco continues to expand customer cloud-neutral connectivity options, this time tying its Edge Intelligence software with Amazon Web Services' IoT cloud service.Specifically, Cisco’s Edge Intelligence software now works with AWS’s IOT Core service to let customers process data from, communicate with and manage thousands of IoT devices and applications linked via industrial operations networks.Cisco Edge Intelligence runs on Cisco’s IoT and industrial networking family and gathers data from connected devices to create logical flows from the edge into private, public or third-party clouds. For example, if a robotic arm in a remote system needs replacement, it can send telemetry about the problem. Edge Intelligence extracts that data and gives the operational-technology team information it can use to fix the problem.To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco continues to expand customer cloud-neutral connectivity options, this time tying its Edge Intelligence software with Amazon Web Services' IoT cloud service.Specifically, Cisco’s Edge Intelligence software now works with AWS’s IOT Core service to let customers process data from, communicate with and manage thousands of IoT devices and applications linked via industrial operations networks.Cisco Edge Intelligence runs on Cisco's IoT and industrial networking family and gathers data from connected devices to create logical flows from the edge into private, public or third-party clouds. For example, if a robotic arm in a remote system needs replacement, it can send telemetry about the problem. Edge Intelligence extracts that data and gives the operational-technology team information it can use to fix the problem.To read this article in full, please click here
As demand for data-center capacity has surged, owners and operators are struggling to keep pace on the employee side. Improved outreach, more creative approaches to recruitment, and better training and education opportunities are needed to ensure the data-centers can meet the "astronomical anticipated demand" for skilled people, said Rhonda Ascierto, vice president of research at Uptime Institute.The research firm's newly released Global Data Center Staffing Forecast reveals concern about the volume of open jobs and hard-to-find skills. In 2020, 50% of data-center owners and operators reported having difficulty finding qualified candidates for open jobs, compared to 38% in 2018. Meanwhile, demand for data-center staff is forecast to grow globally from about 2 million full-time employees in 2019 to nearly 2.3 million by 2025, Uptime Institute reports.To read this article in full, please click here
As demand for data-center capacity has surged, owners and operators are struggling to keep pace on the employee side. Improved outreach, more creative approaches to recruitment, and better training and education opportunities are needed to ensure the data-centers can meet the "astronomical anticipated demand" for skilled people, said Rhonda Ascierto, vice president of research at Uptime Institute.The research firm's newly released Global Data Center Staffing Forecast reveals concern about the volume of open jobs and hard-to-find skills. In 2020, 50% of data-center owners and operators reported having difficulty finding qualified candidates for open jobs, compared to 38% in 2018. Meanwhile, demand for data-center staff is forecast to grow globally from about 2 million full-time employees in 2019 to nearly 2.3 million by 2025, Uptime Institute reports.To read this article in full, please click here