Archive

Category Archives for "Networking"

IETF 103, Day 1: IPv6, TLS, DNS Privacy & Other Crypto

The Working Group sessions start tomorrow at IETF 103 in Bangkok, Thailand, and we’re bringing you daily blog posts highlighting the topics of interest to us in the ISOC Internet Technology Team. Only four days have been scheduled for the working groups this time around, which means there’s a lot of pack into each day; with Monday being no exception.

V6OPS is a key group and will be meeting on Monday morning starting at 09.00 UTC+7. It’s published four RFCs since its last meeting, including Happy Eyeballs v2, and this time will kick-off with a presentation on the CERNET2 network which is an IPv6-only research and education in China.

There’s also four drafts to be discussed, including three new ones. IPv6-Ready DNS/DNSSSEC Infrastructure recommends how DNS64 should be deployed as it modifies DNS records which in some circumstances can break DNSSEC. IPv6 Address Assignment to End-Sites obsoletes RFC 6177 with best current operational practice from RIPE-690 that makes recommendations on IPv6 prefix assignments, and reiterates that assignment policy and guidelines belong to the RIR community. Pros and Cons of IPv6 Transition Technologies for IPv4aaS discusses different use case scenarios for the five most prominent IPv4-as-a-service (IPv4aaS) transitional technologies, Continue reading

Is Oracle’s silence on its on-premises servers cause for concern?

When Oracle consumed Sun Microsystems in January 2010, founder Larry Ellison promised new hiring and new investment in the hardware line, plus a plan to offer fully integrated, turnkey systems.By and large, he kept that promise. Oracle dispensed with the commodity server market in favor of high-end, decked-out servers such as Exadata and Exalogic fully loaded with Oracle software, which included Java.Earlier this year, word leaked that the company had gutted its Solaris Unix and Sparc processor development, but after eight years of spinning its wheels, no one could say Oracle had been impatient. It had invested rather heavily in Sparc for a long time, but the writing was on the wall.To read this article in full, please click here

Is Oracle’s silence on its on-premises servers cause for concern?

When Oracle consumed Sun Microsystems in January 2010, founder Larry Ellison promised new hiring and new investment in the hardware line, plus a plan to offer fully integrated, turnkey systems.By and large, he kept that promise. Oracle dispensed with the commodity server market in favor of high-end, decked-out servers such as Exadata and Exalogic fully loaded with Oracle software, which included Java.Earlier this year, word leaked that the company had gutted its Solaris Unix and Sparc processor development, but after eight years of spinning its wheels, no one could say Oracle had been impatient. It had invested rather heavily in Sparc for a long time, but the writing was on the wall.To read this article in full, please click here

BrandPost: What Will 802.11ax Bring To Your Airspace?

Aruba Tom Hollingsworth, Blog Contributor The industry is on the cusp of a new wireless protocol. It's been almost 10 years since 802.11ac was proposed, and five years since final ratification. 802.11ac has been built upon to deliver speeds past 1 Gpbs and has become the preferred method of wireless connectivity for computers and mobile devices alike.To read this article in full, please click here

pkSIG 2018: A Fellow’s Perspective

The Pakistan School on Internet Governance 2018 (pkSIG) took place at the Regent Plaza Hotel in Karachi from 3-6 September 2018. It offered a four day intensive learning course, covering the political, legal, economic, socio-cultural, and technological dimensions of Internet Governance within the context of the Pakistani national imperatives. The program included theoretical sessions, role play, and participant engagement activities.

One of the objectives of the seminar was to develop a shared understanding of youth participation in Internet Governance by building expertise through the alumni of the school. A fellowship opportunity was offered to young applicants from the Sindh and Baluchistan provinces who presented a strong motivation to continue to work locally on IG issues after the pkSIG.

The involvement of students and young professionals, like the ICT engineer Sohaib Bukhari, is a successful example of meaningful participation in the shaping of the Internet. They are the generation that has been using the Internet since they were children, they are the ones who will be using it for the next 50 years. Sohaib was thrilled to have an open dialogue with the key stakeholders, while gaining access to comprehensive and structured knowledge on various aspects of the Internet Governance.

So, Continue reading

Clear Skys for IBM and Red Hat

There was a lot of buzz this week when IBM announced they were acquiring Red Hat. A lot has been discussed about this in the past five days, including some coverage that I recorded with the Gestalt IT team on Monday. What I wanted to discuss quickly here is the aspirations that IBM now has for the cloud. Or, more appropriately, what they aren’t going to be doing.

Build You Own Cloud

It’s funny how many cloud providers started springing from the earth as soon as AWS started turning a profit. Microsoft and Google seem to be doing a good job of challenging for the crown. But the next tier down is littered with people trying to make a go of it. VMware with vCloud Air before they sold it. Oracle. Digital Ocean. IBM. And that doesn’t count the number of companies offering a specific function, like storage, and are calling themselves a cloud service provider.

IBM was well positioned to be a contender in the cloud service provider (CSP) market. Except they started the race with a huge disadvantage. IBM was a company that was focused on selling solutions to their customers. Just like Oracle, IBM’s primary customer was Continue reading

Rough Guide to IETF 103: DNSSEC, DNS Security and DNS Privacy

As happened earlier this year at IETF 102 in Montreal, DNS privacy will receive a large focus in the DNSOP, DPRIVE and DNSSD working groups. Given the critical role DNS plays as part of the “public core” of the Internet in linking names and identifiers to IP addresses, the DNS must have stronger security and privacy controls.  As part of our Rough Guide to IETF 103, here’s a quick view on what’s happening in the world of DNS.

Note – all times below are Indochina Time (ICT), which is UTC+7.

DNS Operations (DNSOP)

The DNS sessions at IETF 103 start on Monday afternoon from 13:50-15:50 with the DNS Operations (DNSOP) Working Group.  As per usual, DNSOP has a packed agenda. The major security/privacy-related drafts include:

  • DNS query minimisationdraft-ietf-dnsop-rfc7816bis – Back in 2016, RFC 7816 defined an experimental way to increase DNS privacy and limiting the exposure of DNS query information by simply not sending the entire query all the way up the DNS resolver chain.  This new work is to move that RFC 7816 document from being an experiment to being an actual Internet standard.
  • Running a DNS root server locallydraft-ietf-dnsop-7706bisContinue reading

What is WPA3? Wi-Fi security protocol strengthens connections

The Wi-Fi Alliance has introduced the first major security improvement to Wi-Fi in about 14 years: WPA3. The most significant additions to the new security protocol are greater protection for simple passwords, individualized encryption for personal and open networks, and even more secure encryption for enterprise networks.The original Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) standard was released back in 2003 to replace WEP, and the second edition of WPA came the year after. The third edition of WPA is a long-awaited and much-welcomed update that will benefit Wi-Fi industry, businesses, and the millions of average Wi-Fi users around the world—even though they might not know it.To read this article in full, please click here

What is WPA3? And some gotchas to watch out for in this Wi-Fi security upgrade

The Wi-Fi Alliance has introduced the first major security improvement to Wi-Fi in about 14 years: WPA3. The most significant additions to the new security protocol are greater protection for simple passwords, individualized encryption for personal and open networks, and even more secure encryption for enterprise networks.The original Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) standard was released back in 2003 to replace WEP, and the second edition of WPA came the year after. The third edition of WPA is a long-awaited and much-welcomed update that will benefit Wi-Fi industry, businesses, and the millions of average Wi-Fi users around the world—even though they might not know it.To read this article in full, please click here

What is WPA3? Wi-Fi security protocol strengthens connections

The Wi-Fi Alliance has introduced the first major security improvement to Wi-Fi in about 14 years: WPA3. The most significant additions to the new security protocol are greater protection for simple passwords, individualized encryption for personal and open networks, and even more secure encryption for enterprise networks.The original Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) standard was released back in 2003 to replace WEP, and the second edition of WPA came the year after. The third edition of WPA is a long-awaited and much-welcomed update that will benefit Wi-Fi industry, businesses, and the millions of average Wi-Fi users around the world—even though they might not know it.To read this article in full, please click here