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Category Archives for "Networking"

Cisco aims to simplify multi-cloud deployments

One general rule of thumb I have with respect to technology deployments is that the solution to a problem should be simpler than the original problem itself. Unfortunately, we often forget that in IT and have significantly more problems after implementing a solution than we did before. Virtualization is a great example of this. Early in the rise of VMware, server admins would often tell me that the number of virtual machines and complexity was significantly higher than it was pre-server consolidation. Eventually, the good folks at VMware built vCenter, and it brought some manageability to large VMware shops.Also on Network World: 6 steps for a future-ready cloud storage strategy The same thing can be said for cloud computing. Many businesses adopt cloud so they can simplify and speed up development cycles. If all the company did was shift all of their on-premises data, compute cycles and development tools to a single cloud provider, it might indeed make things simpler.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT supplier learns new moves thanks to IoT

Tech Data may walk softly in terms of public perception – the Florida-based company isn’t exactly a household name – but it carries a big stick in the IT industry. It’s one of the biggest distributors and resellers out there, partnering with the majority of the biggest names in technology and boasting net sales of more than $26 billion in its last full financial year.Yet even major players like Tech Data have to bend to the new realities of the technology industry. We caught up with Michelle Curtis, director of IoT solutions at Tech Data, at a Microsoft IoT event in Boston on Monday.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: After virtualization and cloud, what’s left on premises? + Internet of things definitions: A handy guide to essential IoT termsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Checklists

Thirty-six seconds after launch, lightning struck the Apollo 12 and its six million pounds of high explosive fuel. The instruments blacked out. Twenty-two seconds later lightning struck again. What few instruments remained started flashing red failure lights. The “you’re about to die” alarm started blaring. Over the radio the crew heard the voice of John Aaron: “Flight, try SCE to Aux.” Astronaut Alan Bean flipped the tiny switch immediately. —Jonathan Solórzano-Hamilton @ Free Code Camp

IDG Contributor Network: Why you should consider open source IoT solutions

The society-wide adoption of the Internet of Things into our everyday business and cultural lives has left many company’s scrambling to find the best fit for the IoT in their businesses. Most of them have encountered serious trouble; choosing which IoT platform is right for you is no easy job, and the complexities of your decision can sometimes seem overwhelming.Considering an open source IoT solution to your company’s problems can help alleviate some of the burdens brought on by this decision. A quick review of how open source IoT solutions stand to benefit you without breaking the bank shows why this route may be the go-to option for IoT practitioners in the future.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Making sense of the SD-WAN business case

As enterprises finalize budgets for 2018, a common question in IT departments is how to budget for the implementation of SD-WAN technology. The fact that these conversations are even happening is noteworthy in itself; this is a technology that has gone from being a curiosity 18 months ago to a top-5 initiative for many IT teams in recent months.There are many variations between SD-WAN vendors and service providers on what the technology offers, how it’s paid for, and how the business case stacks up. Here are a few items to consider:For most enterprises, SD-WAN savings are based on transport savings One of the headline benefits of SD-WAN that attract most enterprises is the prospect of significant savings. This can mean many things, but the bulk of these savings typically comes from replacing private MPLS connectivity with Internet-based services, and using SD-WAN to glue these together. Internet “may” be poorer quality (more on that later), and may not have performance guarantees, but the path performance tracking and steering capabilities of SD-WAN can work around these limitations. This may be the case, but it isn’t universal:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Making sense of the SD-WAN business case

As enterprises finalize budgets for 2018, a common question in IT departments is how to budget for the implementation of SD-WAN technology. The fact that these conversations are even happening is noteworthy in itself; this is a technology that has gone from being a curiosity 18 months ago to a top-5 initiative for many IT teams in recent months.There are many variations between SD-WAN vendors and service providers on what the technology offers, how it’s paid for, and how the business case stacks up. Here are a few items to consider:For most enterprises, SD-WAN savings are based on transport savings One of the headline benefits of SD-WAN that attract most enterprises is the prospect of significant savings. This can mean many things, but the bulk of these savings typically comes from replacing private MPLS connectivity with Internet-based services, and using SD-WAN to glue these together. Internet “may” be poorer quality (more on that later), and may not have performance guarantees, but the path performance tracking and steering capabilities of SD-WAN can work around these limitations. This may be the case, but it isn’t universal:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How Cisco drives its industrial IoT business forward

Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) does not have the explosive growth of the consumer internet. It’s a nitty-gritty, complicated, and sometimes downright boring business. It is too complex and diverse for explosive growth like the narrowly defined, one-size-fits-all iPhone. That said, the promise of rich returns on investment from new business models that are possible with IoT is very compelling.The only way to cut through the venture-driven IoT hype cycle is with conversations with builders and implementers at companies investing in IoT, such as Cisco’s co-innovation center chief, Maciej Kranz.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: The multiple cloud mindset

Public cloud or private cloud? Amazon or Azure? There once was a time when you could go to any bar in Las Vegas after a day of trade shows and hear people debating such topics, sometimes with great passion. But what has emerged more recently is the stance that you don’t have to choose one or the other, painting yourself into a figurative box of vendor lock-in. Instead, what more and more organizations are choosing is to not choose at all.Our friends at IDC call this Hybrid Cloud, but that terminology implies a single application using multiple clouds. It’s more accurate to say that organizations increasingly have a multiple cloud mindset. What does that mean? Choose the right cloud for the right job on an application-by-application basis.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cohesity makes it easier to manage secondary storage

The rise of hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) has been well documented over the past few years. The technology greatly reduces the operational overhead required to run workloads such as VDI and remote office/branch office workloads. The turnkey nature of HCI makes it easy to deploy and simple to operate while guaranteeing great performance. Recently, I ran across a company called Cohesity that brings the benefits of HCI to an area I had never considered it for — secondary storage. I understand that the topic of secondary storage may be boring, but it’s one of the biggest pain points for companies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to be an infosec thought leader – YouTube

Funny because its true. Security professionals are a weird bunch of people. Becoming a thought leader is the epitome of professional success. But a thought leader isn’t a title that one attains by going to Harvard, or Cambridge. No, it’s a title bestowed by your peers. How to be an infosec thought leader – YouTube […]

Worth Reading: Low Earth Satellite Internet Access

Satellites are now cheaper, smaller and lighter. OneWeb and their manufacturing partner Airbus say automation and re-design will enable them to manufacture three satellites per day at a cost of less than $1 million each and launch cost per satellite will be low since they are small and light. In a talk at the opening of the SpaceX satellite engineering office in 2015, CEO and Lead Designer Elon Musk expressed confidence that they would be able to mass produce satellites and also pointed out that the failure of one or a few satellites in a constellation of thousands was relatively unimportant. If a satellite fails, the remaining satellites will route around it, and increased tolerance of failure reduces manufacturing cost. —Larry Pess @ CircleID

Episode 15 – Characteristics of a Well Run Network

In episode 15, Pete Welcher and Chris Kane join us to talk about what exactly characterizes a well run network. Is it great documentation? Is it consistent application of best practices? Maybe it’s process and procedure? Join our guests, and the decades of experience they bring, as they sit around the virtual roundtable to share their thoughts on the topic.

 

Show Notes

Design

  • Keep it simple. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
  • Complexity is not just a networking attribute, it’s an overall system attribute
  • Proper design leads to simplicity (most of the time)
  • What technologies are simple? How do you recognize complexity? Is vendor lock-in one indicator? Network management software / API lock-in another growing one?
  • There are some pretty simple campus/user, datacenter, Internet Edge, and WAN approaches Big organizations can handle and may need a bit more complexity — or not
  • Modularity- too many moving parts that have to work together = complex

Operations

  • Transparent Network. It just works
  • Able to easily implement changes
  • Agnostic to both today’s needs and flexible to absorb tomorrow’s needs
  • Up-to-date diagrams and documentation matter
    • Organized around OSI layers
    • Documented naming conventions with fixed fields
    • MTTR e.g. from NetMRI and Continue reading

Episode 15 – Characteristics of a Well Run Network

In episode 15, Pete Welcher and Chris Kane join us to talk about what exactly characterizes a well run network. Is it great documentation? Is it consistent application of best practices? Maybe it’s process and procedure? Join our guests, and the decades of experience they bring, as they sit around the virtual roundtable to share their thoughts on the topic.

 

Show Notes

Design

  • Keep it simple. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
  • Complexity is not just a networking attribute, it’s an overall system attribute
  • Proper design leads to simplicity (most of the time)
  • What technologies are simple? How do you recognize complexity? Is vendor lock-in one indicator? Network management software / API lock-in another growing one?
  • There are some pretty simple campus/user, datacenter, Internet Edge, and WAN approaches Big organizations can handle and may need a bit more complexity — or not
  • Modularity- too many moving parts that have to work together = complex

Operations

  • Transparent Network. It just works
  • Able to easily implement changes
  • Agnostic to both today’s needs and flexible to absorb tomorrow’s needs
  • Up-to-date diagrams and documentation matter
    • Organized around OSI layers
    • Documented naming conventions with fixed fields
    • MTTR e.g. from NetMRI and Continue reading

Linux command line tools for working with non-Linux users

I spend most of my computing life in the Shell (command line, terminal or whatever you want to call it on your platform of choice). This can be a bit challenging, though, when I need to work with large groups of other people, especially in big enterprise companies that — well — use anything but the Shell.The problems that crop up are made worse when other people within your company use a different platform than you. I tend to use Linux. If I’m doing a lot of my daily work from a Linux terminal and the bulk of my co-workers use Windows 10 (entirely from the GUI side), things can get … problematic.Also on Network World: 11 pointless but awesome Linux terminal tricks Luckily, over the past few years, I’ve figured out how to deal with these problems. I’ve found ways to make using a Linux (or other Unix-like systems) Shell much more doable within a non-Unix, corporate environment. These tools/tips apply equally well for SysAdmins working on a company’s servers as they do for developers or marketing people.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Giving thanks to your data center manager

What do the peaking colors of fall foliage, the nighttime appearance of the hunter’s moon, and escalating college football and NFL rivalries indicate? That autumn has officially arrived, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner.Thanksgiving is primarily associated with family and friends gathering together, enjoying an uncomfortable amount of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, and then lapsing into a tryptophan and sugar-induced state of semi-consciousness. While Americans may also associate Thanksgiving with the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians, the holiday actually spans cultures, continents and millennia. In ancient times, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all feasted and paid tribute to their deities as an annual celebration of the harvest and its bounty.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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