The Ultimate Guide to Networking & Security Sessions & Activities at VMworld Europe

At VMworld 2017, we took the NSX show on the road and demonstrated our expanded capabilities and support for new use cases, locations, and clouds.

But a lot has changed in a year.

Earlier in 2018, we announced the expansion of the NSX family of products to include NSX Data Center (formerly NSX), NSX Cloud, AppDefense, NSX SD-WAN by VeloCloud, and NSX Hybrid Connect. With the new portfolio, we’ve delivered on the Virtual Cloud Network vision of connecting and protecting applications and data, regardless of where they sit – from the data center, to the cloud, and the edge.

To help you learn about this vision, and the products that underpin it, we have a huge VMworld 2018 in store for you. There are over 50 dedicated networking and security sessions covering everything from the basics to super-technical deep dives.

Be sure to attend the showcase sessions:

• The NSX Keynote: Building the Network of the Future with the Virtual Cloud Network
• Transforming Security in a Cloud and Mobile World

As a bonus, you can hear from real customers about their experiences in the Customer Panel on NSX Data Center.

Below is a guide to all things Networking and Security at Continue reading

Open Switch Hardware’s Journey into the Linux and Kernel Community

You have read, heard and seen us talk about the benefits of Linux, open source and community. Here, here, and here… and I am pretty sure everywhere. This blog walks you through our journey of pushing Linux open switch ASICs into the Linux kernel and ecosystem. Before we begin, let me tell you that it has and continues to be a fun ride!

A quick historical recap on Linux networking

The Linux kernel has been doing network hardware offloads and acceleration for decades (Nics, smart-nics, wireless AP’s and many other places). Because of this, the kernel has had the infrastructure and the right abstractions to recognize and register a networking hardware device for decades. And this infrastructure has matured over time.

For hardware vendors, enabling their networking hardware for Linux just made it easier to take their hardware to new customers, objectives and industries. Today Linux enablement is the best way to get faster adoption of your hardware or faster marketing for your hardware. It has become a norm for hardware vendors to get their hardware ready for Linux first: getting their drivers in the upstream kernel and getting hardware tools ready for the Linux ecosystem.

Continue reading

WikiLeaks Publishes the Location of Amazon’s Data Centers

The news comes as major cloud providers including AWS, Microsoft, and IBM are competing for a $10 billion, 10-year cloud contract from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Short Take – The Diminishing Returns of Harder Passwords

Russ White

The post Short Take – The Diminishing Returns of Harder Passwords appeared first on Network Collective.

Weekly Wrap Podcast: Apple, Amazon Deny They Were Victims of China Security Hack

SDxCentral Weekly Wrap for October 12, 2018. Apple and Amazon deny they were the victims of an elaborate spying plan by the Chinese government.

Verizon Changes Its Tune on Severance Package for IT Team Members

The company will now give IT workers that are transferring to Infosys the option of receiving an exit package if they decline to move to the outsourcing firm.

Volta Charging Deploys Netsurion SD-WAN Across Its Electric Car Station Network

Netsurion, a newcomer to the SD-WAN market, has found its niche in the market as it builds its SD-WAN as integrated secure connectivity service.

Cisco CCNA Cyber Ops Certification – Achieve or Avoid?

TidalScale Raises $24M for Software-Defined Servers

The startup developed a type of composable infrastructure that focuses specifically on computing resources.

Columns and Pews

SDxCentral’s Weekly Roundup — October 12, 2018

CenturyLink becomes an expert Microsoft Azure MSP; Huawei debuts a series of AI chips; Google releases its alert center for security threats.

We need to talk… about the state of internet governance

In about a month, some of the key stakeholders in internet governance will come together in Paris and talk about the public policy challenges facing the internet in 2018 and beyond. They will do so at the Internet Governance Forum, a UN-supported platform that will meet for the thirteenth time this year.

The IGF traditionally brings different groups of stakeholders into a large conference centre, and provides for the opportunity for these different stakeholders to discuss: the idea being that understanding, consensus and collaboration will emerge between these different communities.

Multistakeholderism: a vivid term with many meanings

The IGF model of multistakeholderism is one of a plethora of different approaches to engaging with actors beyond states in questions of global governance. Some rely more on governments, other processes rely on technical expertise, others have come and gone. Others, like the Internet Society, tend to refer to multistakeholder approaches, rather than one model.

Many observers tend to think this concept was invented by the internet community, but shaping (global) policy through direct engagement with stakeholders has been an integral Continue reading

Indigenous Connectivity Summit 2018: Training Day

True to its location in Festival City – also known as Edmonton, Alberta – the 2018 Indigenous Connectivity Summit’s training day crackled with the energy of community networking advocates from around the world.

Held at the Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta, the event began with a smudging ceremony led by Dr. Lana Whiskeyjack from Saddle Lake Cree Nation. Lana spoke about the role of smudging to ground ourselves through ceremony. Herman Many Guns from Piikani First Nation then said a prayer and thanked our Treaty 6 hosts for allowing us to host the event on their territories.

Returning to the main venue, Jane Coffin from the Internet Society stressed that community networks are not “pirate” initiatives but rather efforts by communities to support community development through locally-owned and operated broadband. They aim at long-term sustainability and are driven by cooperation and innovation: “They inspire us to think differently and to solve problems together.” Jane also pointed to the barriers these initiatives face, including inappropriate licensing and permits, high taxes and fees on equipment, limited access to financing and funding, and restricted spectrum. Governments and regulatory agencies play an important part in addressing these issues.

Next, I Continue reading

Infrastructure life cycle costs: How ITAD and TPM can save you money

I was recently reading some responses to a question posted on the Spiceworks community forum that asked, “How do you dispose of old hard drives?" While there were some typically humorous responses, such as use them as target practice, smash them with a hammer, or drill a hole through them, I assume those comments were in jest. If not, those respondents are missing out on a great opportunity to get money back for their used equipment.It also reminds me of the need for safe, secure IT asset disposition (ITAD) services. It’s imperative to find an ITAD provider that offers data sanitization and destruction services that protect your company’s data integrity and privacy, handles your gear in an environmentally responsible way, and can also save your company money.To read this article in full, please click here

ICANN’s internet DNS security upgrade apparently goes off without a glitch

So far, so good. That’s the report from Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as it rolled out the first-ever changing of the cryptographic key that helps protect the internet’s address book – the Domain Name System (DNS) on Oct. 11.The change is central to ICANN’s project to upgrade the top pair of cryptographic keys used in the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) protocol — commonly known as the root zone key signing key (KSK) — which secures the internet's foundational servers. This so-called root KSK rollover from the 2010 KSK to the 2017 KSK was supposed to take place almost a year ago but was delayed until Oct. 11 of this year because of concerns it might disrupt internet connectivity to significant numbers of web users.To read this article in full, please click here

ICANN’s internet DNS security upgrade apparently goes off without a glitch

So far, so good. That’s the report from Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as it rolled out the first-ever changing of the cryptographic key that helps protect the internet’s address book – the Domain Name System (DNS) on Oct. 11.The change is central to ICANN’s project to upgrade the top pair of cryptographic keys used in the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) protocol — commonly known as the root zone key signing key (KSK) — which secures the internet's foundational servers. This so-called root KSK rollover from the 2010 KSK to the 2017 KSK was supposed to take place almost a year ago but was delayed until Oct. 11 of this year because of concerns it might disrupt internet connectivity to significant numbers of web users.To read this article in full, please click here

Hello There! :) Update from the FishBowl

June 28th… wow…. lol… my last blog out here was June 28th!  Too funny!  So where have I been and what have I been doing?

Well June was CiscoLive in the beginning and then SharkFest at the end.  I think i hit some “being social” limit and became a hermit for most of July and August.  Then 2 weeks of vacation for the first 2 weeks of September.  Two full weeks.  It was AWESOME!  Then Florence came to visit…   She hung around for a little while.  Like one of those visitors who come stay with you at your house and just won’t leave.    Oh.. and then breaking a finger September 15th and struggling to type for the rest of the month.

Hello!  I’m BACK! 

And I have REALLY missed being here!  At the same time… that break was REALLY needed!     Awesome summer with the wife and family!  Woot woot!  Work hard… play hard!

So what am I up to?  Stealthwatch Baby!  Woot woot!  Been with Cisco for 22 years and I have NEVER loved a product and a GUI so Continue reading

Weekend Reads ‭18B62‬

Members of the EU Parliament voted to advance the new Copyright Directive, even though it contained two extreme and unworkable clauses: Article 13 (“Censorship Machines”) that would filter everything everyone posts to online platforms to see if matches a crowdsourced database of “copyrighted works” that anyone could add anything to; and Article 11 (“The Link Tax”), a ban on quote more than one word from an article when linking to them unless you are using a platform that has paid for a linking license. The link tax provision allows, but does not require, member states to create exceptions and limitations to protect online speech. —Cory Doctorow @EFF

So it is my belief that 5G will initially be used by industries in constrained, “safe” environments. In these environments, operators and the industries involved will learn what is possible and what the limitations are. Then, if necessary, new requirements can be generated that allow the mobile technology to meet all the needs of the mission critical businesses. If these new requirements are extensive, then it will herald the start of 6G. —David Stokes @LightTalk

The shortage of qualified security analysts is an issue that the IT security industry has been dealing with Continue reading

Weekly Show 411: Understanding Global DNS Architecture with ThousandEyes (Sponsored)

Today's Weekly Show delves into DNS performance and endpoint testing with sponsor ThousandEyes. We'll review key findings from a new report on the state of global DNS authored by ThousandEyes, and discuss how to analyze performance and improve troubleshooting with end point testing.

The post Weekly Show 411: Understanding Global DNS Architecture with ThousandEyes (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Security Is Bananas

I think we’ve reached peak bombshell report discussion at this point. It all started this time around with the big news from Bloomberg that China implanted spy chips into SuperMicro boards in the assembly phase. Then came the denials from Amazon and Apple and event SuperMicro. Then started the armchair quarterbacking from everyone, including TechCrunch. From bad sources to lack of technical details all the way up to the crazy conspiracy theories that someone at Bloomberg was trying to goose their quarterly bonus with a short sale or that the Chinese planted the story to cover up future hacking incidents, I think we’ve covered the entire gamut of everything that the SuperMicro story could and couldn’t be.

So what more could there be to say about this? Well, nothing about SuperMicro specifically. But there’s a lot to say about the fact that we were both oblivious and completely unsurprised about an attack on the supply chain of a manufacturer. While the story moved the stock markets pretty effectively for a few days, none of the security people I’ve talked to were shocked by the idea of someone with the power of a nation state inserting themselves into the supply chain Continue reading