Archive

Category Archives for "Networking"

Overclock puts your idle servers to work for other people

Putting unused CPUs to work is nothing new. In the modern era, it started in 1999 when the SETI Institute launched SETI@Home, a screensaver that also examined slices of radio signals gathered by a giant telescope for signs of intergalactic life. Nineteen years later, and ET still hasn’t phoned us.But the concept grew to dozens of science and math-related projects. I took part in the World Community Grid run by IBM for years, letting my idle PC look for potential cures for AIDS and Ebola.To read this article in full, please click here

Overclock puts your idle servers to work for other people

Putting unused CPUs to work is nothing new. In the modern era, it started in 1999 when the SETI Institute launched SETI@Home, a screensaver that also examined slices of radio signals gathered by a giant telescope for signs of intergalactic life. Nineteen years later, and ET still hasn’t phoned us.But the concept grew to dozens of science and math-related projects. I took part in the World Community Grid run by IBM for years, letting my idle PC look for potential cures for AIDS and Ebola.To read this article in full, please click here

Five servers that exist thanks to the Open Compute Project

Five servers that exist thanks to the Open Compute ProjectImage by IDG News ServiceThe Open Compute Project began life when Facebook asked the question, “What if we could design our own servers, rather than having to take what vendors offer?”The answer was a series of designs for servers that would be cheaper to build and operate. Facebook decided that it stood a better chance of finding a manufacturer for its designs if others wanted to buy them too, so with the support of Intel and Rackspace, it opened up its designs and invited others to build and build on them too.To read this article in full, please click here

Five servers that exist thanks to the Open Compute Project

Five servers that exist thanks to the Open Compute ProjectImage by IDG News ServiceThe Open Compute Project began life when Facebook asked the question, “What if we could design our own servers, rather than having to take what vendors offer?”The answer was a series of designs for servers that would be cheaper to build and operate. Facebook decided that it stood a better chance of finding a manufacturer for its designs if others wanted to buy them too, so with the support of Intel and Rackspace, it opened up its designs and invited others to build and build on them too.To read this article in full, please click here

Container Security through Segregation

One of my readers sent me a container security question after reading the Application Container Security Guide from NIST:

We are considering segregating dev/test/prod environments with bare-metal hardware. I did not find something in the standard concerning this. What should a financial institution do in your opinion?

I am no security expert and know just enough about containers to be dangerous, but there’s a rule that usually works well: use common sense and identify similar scenarios that have already been solved.

Read more ...

Most Important Skills in Networking

It’s easy to get blinded these days by all the talk about cloud, SDN and automation leading both new and existing people in networking to make decisions in their career which may not be the best ones long term. I’ve had the pleasure of interacting and working together with a lot of prominent people in the industry. Based on this I have identified some skills that all of these people have to some degree and that I believe to be crucial to succeeding in the IT industry.

Ability to write – Many of the successful people in the industry like Ivan Pepelnjak, Russ White, Nick Russo and so on have either authored books, write blogs or both. The ability to put your thoughts down into writing is critical. For someone like me that is working in network design, it is probably the most important skill, not only to write technical documents but to interact with customers, colleagues, managers and so on. It doesn’t matter if you are a technical savant if you can’t put a brief document together describing why and how a certain technology should be implemented.

Ability to speak – A lot of people in IT are a Continue reading

Poweron and Poweroff Esxi instance from CLI using a Python script

Hi,

I have to agree that to start a esxi node i was depending heavily on a windows VM and then was using a VSphere client to connect to a Esxi 5.5.

In a typical day all of my VM’s are hosted on Esxi and am not any advanced user of esxi by any stretch of Imagination.

It came down to a point where i had to manually click close to 8 VMS in order to boot up and all this was sort of irriatating for me, so i wrote a very basic script which can do this for me. Most of the experienced VM admins have been doing this for very long, for someone like me or anyone who is new to Esxi this is going to help.

Here is the code for the script, all you need to do is to copy to your lab esxi, obviously if any one using production esxi they already know how to manage this.

https://github.com/yukthr/auts/tree/master/vmware_scripts

Requirement – I have 5 Vm-machines and i would like  to start them via script and also power them off.

First things, list the Vm-instances

 

 

Now that we have it, let explore the Continue reading

Worth Reading: Automation: Easy Button vs Sentient Voodoo Magic Button

I’m always telling network engineers attending my network automation workshops and online courses that there’s no magic bullet or 3-steps-to- success.

You cannot automate a process until you can describe it with enough details so that someone who has absolutely no clue what should be done can execute it.

David Gee published a long (and somewhat ranty) version of that statement. Enjoy!

Link Propagation 113

Welcome to Link Propagation, a Packet Pushers newsletter. Link Propagation is included in your free membership. Each week we scour the InterWebs to find the most relevant practitioner blog posts, tech news, and product announcements. We drink from the fire hose so you can sip from a coffee cup. Blogs Getting started with Jenkins for […]

Show 384: The Packet Pushers Unleashed

On today’s show Greg and Ethan talk about a few things that have been on their minds, including updates on the forthcoming Packet Pushers subscription site and a post-mortem of the recent Virtual Design Clinic.

They also hash out some tech conversations, including Cloudflare’s new DNS resolver, peak open networking, a review of the Aruba Atmosphere wireless conference, and more nerdy topics.

Sponsor: ThousandEyes

ThousandEyes gives you visibility, insights, and actionable intelligence into user experience from every user to every application over any network, so you transform your WAN, troubleshoot faster and deliver exceptional user experiences in the cloud and on premises. Try ThousandEyes for free at thousandeyes.com/packetpushers and grab a fun t-shirt!

Sponsor: Cumulus Networks

The Cumulus Linux network OS is simple, open, untethered Linux that can run on more than 70 hardware platforms and help you transition from your legacy infrastructure. Cumulus Networks is Web-scale networking for the digital age. Go to cumulusnetworks.com to find out more.

Show Links:

Introducing DNS Resolver, 1.1.1.1 (not a joke) – Cloudflare

Announcing 1.1.1.1: the fastest, privacy-first consumer DNS service – Cloudflare

jedisct1/dnsblast: A simple and stupid load testing tool for DNS resolversContinue reading

Muhammad Shabbbir Awan: Reflections on the WTDC17

It’s been 5 months since WTDC17 concluded and I had time to reflect on the outcomes of the conference and the experience itself. WTDC sets the ITU’s development agenda and in Argentina last October over 1000 government delegates from close to 135 countries gathered during the two-week period. They were there to discuss a range of issues and shape the development sector’s priorities for the next four years. For me, it was a trip of many firsts: my first experience as an observer participating in a multilateral conference; my first trip to South America; and, as a visually impaired person, the eighteen hours flight duration was my first such experience.

To recall, I was a member of the Internet Society delegation as a Fellow. For me, the two motivators to apply for the fellowship opportunity were: first, the theme for WTDC17 (“ICTs for Sustainable Development Goals”) and possibility to make a difference. Second, my quest to learn even more about Internet Governance processes and to participate in the discussions.

WTDC17 had a packed agenda that included ceremonial events marking the 25th Anniversary of the Development Sector and side events on a range of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) topics.

My Continue reading