Anyone that has kept up with this column knows I tend to focus on one storage architecture more than any other – the hybrid-cloud storage architecture. That’s because I truly believe in its ability to meet the challenges of today’s IT storage – ever-expanding data, multiple sites, a need for flexibility and scale, while simultaneously meeting specific performance demands. For this month’s column, I thought we would take a look at how we got to this point and see if this evolution informs where we might go in the near future.Early days – pre-NAS The very earliest business storage systems were designed for a world long-gone. One in which a business would be expected to manage maybe thousands of files. Even the largest enterprise would have a storage system to support hundreds of concurrent users, no more. These legacy systems had regularly scheduled down time for maintenance, but it was not unusual to not have access for unscheduled reasons.To read this article in full, please click here
Anyone that has kept up with this column knows I tend to focus on one storage architecture more than any other – the hybrid-cloud storage architecture. That’s because I truly believe in its ability to meet the challenges of today’s IT storage – ever-expanding data, multiple sites, a need for flexibility and scale, while simultaneously meeting specific performance demands. For this month’s column, I thought we would take a look at how we got to this point and see if this evolution informs where we might go in the near future.Early days – pre-NAS The very earliest business storage systems were designed for a world long-gone. One in which a business would be expected to manage maybe thousands of files. Even the largest enterprise would have a storage system to support hundreds of concurrent users, no more. These legacy systems had regularly scheduled down time for maintenance, but it was not unusual to not have access for unscheduled reasons.To read this article in full, please click here
It's been almost a year since Cisco announced Kinetic, a cloud-managed IoT platform aimed at capturing a large and profitable share of the rapidly growing business and industrial IoT market. The executive in charge of Kinetic, Theresa Bui, spoke to us about the platform and how it's architected, in the wake of a flagship customer announcement - the Port of Rotterdam - and a limited partnership with IBM.What’s a customer getting for their money when they buy Cisco Kinetic?As a whole, the platform enables three core, functional capabilities. It allows you to easily and automatically extract data, and how we do that is we ship a library of automated connectors that help you extract data from various data pipes, put it into a model – whether it’s CoAP or MQTT or whatever the flavor that works for you.To read this article in full, please click here
Artificial intelligence is set to play a bigger role in data-center operations as enterprises begin to adopt machine-learning technologies that have been tried and tested by larger data-center operators and colocation providers.Today’s hybrid computing environments often span on-premise data centers, cloud and collocation sites, and edge computing deployments. And enterprises are finding that a traditional approach to managing data centers isn’t optimal. By using artificial intelligence, as played out through machine learning, there’s enormous potential to streamline the management of complex computing facilities.Check out our review of VMware’s vSAN 6.6 and see IDC’s top 10 data center predictions. Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. AI in the data center, for now, revolves around using machine learning to monitor and automate the management of facility components such as power and power-distribution elements, cooling infrastructure, rack systems and physical security.To read this article in full, please click here
Data-center downtime is crippling and costly for enterprises. It’s easy to see the appeal of tools that can provide visibility into data-center assets, interdependencies, performance and capacity – and turn that visibility into actionable knowledge that anticipates equipment failures or capacity shortfalls.Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) tools are designed to monitor the utilization and energy consumption of both IT and building components, from servers and storage to power distribution units and cooling gear.[ Learn how server disaggregation can boost data center efficiency and how Windows Server 2019 embraces hyperconverged data centers . | Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ] DCIM software tackles functions including remote equipment monitoring, power and environmental monitoring, IT asset management, data management and reporting. With DCIM software, enterprises can simplify capacity planning and resource allocation as well as ensure that power, equipment and floor space are used as efficiently as possible.To read this article in full, please click here
There are many aspects to security on Linux systems – from setting up accounts to ensuring that legitimate users have no more privilege than they need to do their jobs. This is look at some of the most essential security commands for day-to-day work on Linux systems.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
There are many aspects to security on Linux systems – from setting up accounts to ensuring that legitimate users have no more privilege than they need to do their jobs. This is look at some of the most essential security commands for day-to-day work on Linux systems.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
When it comes to technology, nothing is static, everything is evolving. Either we keep inventing mechanisms that dig out new security holes, or we are forced to implement existing kludges to cover up the inadequacies in security on which our web applications depend.The assault on the changing digital landscape with all its new requirements has created a black hole that needs attention. The shift in technology, while creating opportunities, has a bias to create security threats. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, these trends will continue to escalate, putting web application security at center stage.Business relies on web applications. Loss of service to business-focused web applications not only affects the brand but also results in financial loss. The web application acts as the front door to valuable assets. If you don’t efficiently lock the door or at least know when it has been opened, valuable revenue-generating web applications are left compromised.To read this article in full, please click here
As enterprises consider outsourcing their IT infrastructure, they should consider moving their public authoritative DNS services to a cloud provider’s managed DNS service, but first they should understand the advantages and disadvantages.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
In my earlier blog post on SSD storage news from HPE, Hitachi and IBM, I touched on the significance of NVMe over Fabric (NoF). But not wanting to distract from the main storage, I didn’t go into detail. I will do so with this blog post.Hitachi Vantara goes all in on NVMe over Fabric First, though, an update on the news from Hitachi Vantara, which I initially said had not commented yet on NoF. It turns out they are all in.“Hitachi Vantara currently offers, and continues to expand support for, NVMe in our hyperconverged UCP HC line. As NVMe matures over the next year, we see opportunities to introduce NVMe into new software-defined and enterprise storage solutions. More will follow, but it confuses the conversation to pre-announce things that customers cannot implement today,” said Bob Madaio, vice president, Infrastructure Solutions Group at Hitachi Vantara, in an email to me.To read this article in full, please click here
You’re supposed to meet someone for coffee. If they’re three minutes late, no problem, but if they’re thirty minutes late, its rude. Was the change from “no problem” to “rude” a straight line, or were there steps of increasing rudeness? Do we care why? A good reason certainly increases our tolerance. Someone who is always late reduces it.Network performance follows many of the same dynamics. We used to talk about outages, but they have become less frequent. “Slow” is the new “out.” But how slow is slow? Do we try to understand the user experience and adjust our performance monitoring to reflect it? Or is the only practical answer to just wait until someone complains?To read this article in full, please click here
New solar installs are contributing the same amount of electricity as building one new coal-fueled power station annually in Australia, according to the head of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).“We are essentially seeing the [equivalent] of a new power plant being built every season,” AEMO chief Audrey Zibelman told the Sydney Morning Herald.One reason rooftop adoption in Australia is exploding, the paper wrote, is because of government subsidies. However, there’s another financial driver of alternative power globally, which is the full-lifecycle cost of building and operating — it’s now lower.To read this article in full, please click here
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of time” is the opening to the famous Charles Dickens book, A Tale of Two Cities. It's also described Extreme’s financial performance over the past year.Earlier this year the company stock was trading a hair over $15 per share. Today, after it came up light on its fiscal third-quarter financial results, the stock plunged over 25 percent in after-hours trading and now stands at $8.40, a little over half of its 52-week high. This could change when the market opens, depending on investor sentiment.[ Check out our hands-on reviews: 5 top hardware-based Wi-Fi test tools and Mojo wireless intrusion prevention system. ] Extreme is now the largest enterprise network pure play In actuality, saying it’s the worst of times is a bit overly dramatic, as a few years ago, most industry experts thought Extreme Networks was dying a slow death. In 2015, Ed Meyercord took over as CEO and he and the company's chief marketing, development and product operations officer, Norman Rice, embarked on a plan to acquire underappreciated assets from companies where networking wasn’t the primary business. Rolling up these assets would help Extreme get its Continue reading
Arista Networks has arguably been the most disruptive data center network vendor in the past 10 years. The company built a product specifically designed for the rise of software-defined networking (SDN) and made “spline” a household word, assuming you live in a house full of network engineers. If you don’t eat, live, and breathe networking and you’re not familiar with a spline, it’s a single-tier network optimized for the era of cloud computing.The rise of east-west traffic gave birth to the concept of a two-tier leaf-spine network, but Arista further simplified that down into a single tier. By collapsing the leaf and spine into a single tier, Arista is able to scale its network out rapidly simply by adding more switches to the spline — making it theoretically infinitely scalable. Arista took this model and applied it to data center interconnect, routing, and other use cases related to data centers.To read this article in full, please click here
NetApp is expanding its cloud data services range through a new partnership with Google that integrates NetApp’s flash-powered data services with Google’s cloud platform.Announced today, NetApp Cloud Volumes for Google Cloud Platform is a fully-managed storage service that's designed to make it easier for the companies' joint customers to run new and existing workloads in the cloud. The cloud-native file storage service links NetApp’s data services with Google Cloud’s application development, analytics and machine learning functions with a goal of speeding access to resources and simplifying management.[ Check out What is hybrid cloud computing and learn what you need to know about multi-cloud. | Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ] At the same time, NetApp rolled out a new high-end enterprise all-flash storage array and updated its ONTAP enterprise data management software. Software advances target increased data retention compliance, and new machine learning-driven analytics are aimed at reducing capacity costs. To read this article in full, please click here
It’s been a few months since VMware closed its acquisition of VeloCloud, a prominent SD-WAN provider. In that time, the two companies have worked to integrate their products, and recently they announced a unified strategy called the Virtual Cloud Network.The strategy fully supports the migration of applications and data out of the enterprise data center to the cloud and to branches — and with IoT, pretty much anything can be considered a branch today, as VeloCloud claims to have a customer with ocean-going ships as branches. The result is that many enterprises are in a position where their applications are everywhere, and their data is everywhere. This has profound implications on the network that needs to support all of this.To read this article in full, please click here
Wi-Fi use has dropped in the United States. The reason: Consumers are shifting to cellular mobile networks that are providing new, unlimited data bundles. That’s according to mobile network performance analyst OpenSignal.The testing-firm, which publishes an annual Wi-Fi-versus-mobile crowdsourced study, says consumers are taking advantage of unlimited data plans being offered by the major mobile network operators (MNOs) in the U.S. No longer are folks worrying about generating large bills using mobile data for media or having to work around limited, included-data buckets.“Users are likely becoming more confident about consuming data over cellular networks,” writes Peter Boyland in a blog post on OpenSignal’s website.To read this article in full, please click here
Google I/O, the company's annual developer conference, grabs fewer headlines than it used to in ages past – the reveal of Google Glass was one for the record books, even the biggest Google detractor would have to admit. But Google's still planning to make some waves this year, particularly with what seems likely to be a full roll-out of Android Things 1.0, the variant Android OS designed for IoT.The idea behind Things is to provide a unified, one-size-fits-all software option for the developers of constrained devices like smart displays, kiosks and digital signage, among others. Device makers won’t be allowed to modify parts of Android Things’ code, specifically the parts that ensure Google can flash updates to all devices running the software at any time.To read this article in full, please click here
Today’s businesses thrive on Big Data insights — from sales reports and customer demographics, to business expenses and trend analysis. This explosion of data is multiplied by escalating social media, rich multimedia files and the Internet of Things (IoT). It’s no wonder that the growth of network data traffic continues to defy expectations, and IT support teams are struggling to keep up.But beyond simply being awash in the sheer volume of data traffic, a more complex challenge for enterprise IT is how to make the best use of network performance metadata to streamline workflows, enhance productivity and meet service level expectations, while optimizing the user experience. All too often, IT support teams are drowning in a sea of data, treading water without direction while the end user waits for resolution of their issue.To read this article in full, please click here
While the eyes of the tech world are on the usual suspects like Google and IBM, as well as high-profile operational tech firms like GE and Siemens, an almost 40-year-old company called OSISoft has quietly leveraged its expertise in process monitoring and management into an impressive list of prominent clients. These include Aramco, the national oil and gas company of Saudi Arabia, which is arguably the single most valuable and profitable company in the world, Chevron, Pacific Gas and Electric, Heineken, Tyson Foods, and Lawrence Livermore National Labs, among many others.OSISoft has a lot more in common with the GEs of the world than with some of the IT-based powerhouses that are making a lot of noise about IoT these days. It’s a company with a long history of experience in real-time data collection, making the transition into an IoT-enabled world a smooth one.To read this article in full, please click here