Enterprise versus Provider?
Two ideas that are widespread, and need to be addressed—
First, there is no enterprise, there are no service providers. There are problems, and there are solutions.
When I was young (and even more foolish than I am now) I worked for a big vendor. When this big vendor split the enterprise and service provider teams, I thought this kindof made sense. After all, providers have completely different requirements, and should therefore run with completely different technologies, equipment, and software. When I thought of providers in those days, I thought of big transit network operators, like AT&T, and Verizon, and Orange, and Level3, and Worldcom, and… The world has changed since then, but our desire to split the world into two neat halves has not.
If you want to split the world into two halves, split it this way: There are companies who consider the network an asset, and companies that consider the network a Continue reading
The Challenges of Securing the Multi-Cloud Network
The digital transformation driving the adoption of multi-cloud networks requires an equivalent security transformation.
Automation Isn’t About Building a Button to Press
This is a guest blog post by Carl Buchmann, Managing Solution Consultant at TeraMach. Carl attended the Building Network Automation Solutions online course in 2017.
There is one thing I regret not doing sooner during my automation journey, and that is adopting Git and a proper IDE/text editor that has built-in source control management. I personally use Microsoft Visual Studio Code, as it has Git built in and has many great extensions to validate code syntax.
Read more ...Plenty of MEC Chatter Expected at Mobile World Congress 2018
HPE, Ericsson, Nokia, and Huawei are expected to show MEC-supported use cases.
Security Experts Shine a Spotlight on Automation, Managed Services at Mobile World Congress
The rise of 5G and IoT devices means the threat landscape is larger than ever.
Understanding IPv6: Link-Local ‘Magic’ (Part 2 of 7)
For those of you new to IPv6, what I am about to show you is going to look a lot like a magic trick. I’m going to bring up an IPv6 IGP neighbor relationship (OSPFv3) between two routers. This doesn’t sound like a magic trick, I know. But what if I told you I am going to do this without putting any IPv6 addresses into the configurations of either routers?
Like any true magician, I must start my magic act with letting you know I have nothing up my sleeves. So let’s review the facts:
- IPv6 unicast routing is globally enabled on both routers
- IPv6 OSPFv3 is enabled via the one global command, “ipv6 router ospf 6”
- Each router has an interface in an out-of-band management network (OOB mgt.) in the subnet 14.14.14.0/24.
- RouterA is 14.14.14.101 and RouterB is 14.14.14.102 in this OOB management network
- The IPv4 addresses for the OOB management interfaces are the only IP addresses in the configurations
- Gig1/0/1 on both routers only has only two IPv6 commands on it, as shown below
- Router A is monitoring the gig1/0/1 interface and sending the traffic to a Spirent Continue reading
Understanding IPv6: Link-Local ‘Magic’ (Part 2 of 7)
For those of you new to IPv6, what I am about to show you is going to look a lot like a magic trick. I’m going to bring up an IPv6 IGP neighbor relationship (OSPFv3) between two routers. This doesn’t sound like a magic trick, I know. But what if I told you I am going to do this without putting any IPv6 addresses into the configurations of either routers?
Like any true magician, I must start my magic act with letting you know I have nothing up my sleeves. So let’s review the facts:
- IPv6 unicast routing is globally enabled on both routers
- IPv6 OSPFv3 is enabled via the one global command, “ipv6 router ospf 6”
- Each router has an interface in an out-of-band management network (OOB mgt.) in the subnet 14.14.14.0/24.
- RouterA is 14.14.14.101 and RouterB is 14.14.14.102 in this OOB management network
- The IPv4 addresses for the OOB management interfaces are the only IP addresses in the configurations
- Gig1/0/1 on both routers only has only two IPv6 commands on it, as shown below
- Router A is monitoring the gig1/0/1 interface and sending the traffic to a Spirent Continue reading
Understanding IPv6: The Journey Begins (Part 1 of 7)
IPv6 and I met back in the early 2000s. I really didn’t see the big deal or know what all the RFCs were about. This stuff was easy. Of course, at the time, my thoughts were barely even scratching at the surface, and I still believed IPv6 was just IPv4 with 128 bits. I was in what I now refer to as the “Checklist IPv6” phase.
“Checklist IPv6” was actually a great place for me to start. I had to remember only a few things while I was configuring the routers. Then I could kick back and let the magic of routing protocols work. Voila, IPv6 addresses would show up in the routing table of some other router in the lab. Ping to confirm, and I was done.
IPv6 “I know nothing” phase
The quote “The more you know, the more you realize how much you don’t know. The less you know, the more you think you know,” is attributed to David T. Freeman. I discovered the truth of this as I began digging deeper. The trigger to this phase was when I realized that IPv6 was clearly not IPv4 with 128 bits. When did that happen? When Continue reading
Understanding IPv6: The Journey Begins (Part 1 of 7)
IPv6 and I met back in the early 2000s. I really didn’t see the big deal or know what all the RFCs were about. This stuff was easy. Of course, at the time, my thoughts were barely even scratching at the surface, and I still believed IPv6 was just IPv4 with 128 bits. I was in what I now refer to as the “Checklist IPv6” phase.
“Checklist IPv6” was actually a great place for me to start. I had to remember only a few things while I was configuring the routers. Then I could kick back and let the magic of routing protocols work. Voila, IPv6 addresses would show up in the routing table of some other router in the lab. Ping to confirm, and I was done.
IPv6 “I know nothing” phase
The quote “The more you know, the more you realize how much you don’t know. The less you know, the more you think you know,” is attributed to David T. Freeman. I discovered the truth of this as I began digging deeper. The trigger to this phase was when I realized that IPv6 was clearly not IPv4 with 128 bits. When did that happen? When Continue reading
Firepower FMC API – Initial Observations
As many of you know, I am not a developer but I do occasionally hack stuff together. This article is just some of the initial things I have learned working with the Firepower Management Console API.
A good place to start is the Firepower REST API Quick Start Guide. This can be found at the following URL.
Firepower REST API Quick Start Guide
One thing to note is that there is a recommendation to use a dedicated username for the API. I would go a step beyond that with a recommendation for testing and development. During development, I currently have a username for the FMC UI, a username for the API Explorer and a username for whatever tool I’m working with (Postman or a Python Scripts). The reason for the extra accounts is that logging in to any of the UI’s tends to generate a new token (and invalidate the old one). This causes a constant reauthentication to the Web Interfaces.
Here is a screenshot of Postman doing an initial authentication — Post to retrieve an access token.
Generate Token URL
https://<server-ip>/api/fmc_platform/v1/auth/generatetoken
Sending a post with basic authentication to the URL will produce an “x-auth-access-token”. This is good for 30 minutes Continue reading
Firepower FMC API – Initial Observations
As many of you know, I am not a developer but I do occasionally hack stuff together. This article is just some of the initial things I have learned working with the Firepower Management Console API.
A good place to start is the Firepower REST API Quick Start Guide. This can be found at the following URL.
Firepower REST API Quick Start Guide
One thing to note is that there is a recommendation to use a dedicated username for the API. I would go a step beyond that with a recommendation for testing and development. During development, I currently have a username for the FMC UI, a username for the API Explorer and a username for whatever tool I’m working with (Postman or a Python Scripts). The reason for the extra accounts is that logging in to any of the UI’s tends to generate a new token (and invalidate the old one). This causes a constant reauthentication to the Web Interfaces.
Here is a screenshot of Postman doing an initial authentication — Post to retrieve an access token.
Generate Token URL
https://<server-ip>/api/fmc_platform/v1/auth/generatetoken
Sending a post with basic authentication to the URL will produce an “x-auth-access-token”. This is good for 30 minutes Continue reading
Firepower FMC API – Initial Observations
As many of you know, I am not a developer but I do occasionally hack stuff together. This article is just some of the initial things I have learned working with the Firepower Management Console API.
A good place to start is the Firepower REST API Quick Start Guide. This can be found at the following URL.
Firepower REST API Quick Start Guide
One thing to note is that there is a recommendation to use a dedicated username for the API. I would go a step beyond that with a recommendation for testing and development. During development, I currently have a username for the FMC UI, a username for the API Explorer and a username for whatever tool I’m working with (Postman or a Python Scripts). The reason for the extra accounts is that logging in to any of the UI’s tends to generate a new token (and invalidate the old one). This causes a constant reauthentication to the Web Interfaces.
Here is a screenshot of Postman doing an initial authentication — Post to retrieve an access token.
Generate Token URL
https://<server-ip>/api/fmc_platform/v1/auth/generatetoken
Sending a post with basic authentication to the URL will produce an “x-auth-access-token”. This is good for 30 minutes Continue reading
Starting Today: NDSS Highlights the Best in Internet Security Research
You’ve undoubtedly heard about all sorts of Internet security vulnerabilities and incidents causing harm around the world, but the flip side of all that doom and gloom is all the promising efforts underway to create a more secure, private, and trusted Internet. Starting today and going through Wednesday (18-21 February), the Network and Distributed Systems Security (NDSS) Symposium takes place to present groundbreaking research in the world of Internet security.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of NDSS, and the Internet Society is proud to have been associated with it for over 20 years now. A key focus of the Internet Society has long been improving trust in the global open Internet. In order to promote this trust, we need new and innovative ideas and research on the security and privacy of our connected devices and the Internet that brings them together. NDSS is a top tier forum for highlighting this research.
NDSS 2018 is four full days featuring:
- Two exciting keynotes from Ari Juels and Parisa Tabriz
- Four workshops on Binary Analysis Research (BAR), Decentralized IoT Security and Standards (DISS), DNS Privacy (DNSPRIV), and Usable Security (USEC).
- A full program of 71 excellent peer-reviewed research papers organized into Continue reading
The Week in Internet News: Can Blockchain Improve IoT?
Blockchain merges with IoT? Could Blockchain technology help the Internet of Things become more resilient? IBM thinks so. The company is exploring ways to use Blockchain to build trust between devices and to accelerate transactions on the IoT. EETimes explores the issue.
Grand Theft IoT: Someone involved in the online community for the video game, “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” has spun up a new botnet made up of IoT devices, according to security firm Radware. For the price of $20, the botnet can supposedly launch a 300gbps Distributed Denial of Service attack, reports Motherboard.
AI on the rise: Nearly after of all CIOs have plans to implement artificial intelligence in the future, according to a recent Gartner survey. The IT research firm recommends that companies rolling out AI projects aim low to start, and focus augmenting workers instead of replacing them, according to a story on TechRepublic.
Where the jobs are: For a time, it appeared that actual deployments of Blockchain seemed to be lagging behind the buzz. But that appears to be changing, with Blockchain developers now in high demand, TechCrunch reports. Blockchain jobs are the second fastest growing category in the labor market, with 14 job openings Continue reading