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Category Archives for "Networking"

Keep IoT under your hat … your hardhat, that is

My wife is an architect, and she sometimes wears a hardhat to job sites. I’ve always thought her bright white hardhat was super cool, but it turns out her model is hopelessly behind the times.When is a hat more than just a hat? That’s because the latest hardhats are no longer just simple combinations of hard plastic and a shock-absorbing suspension so you don’t get knocked out if you walk into an exposed beam or something. The once-humble hardhat has now been upgraded to include Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities.Also on Network World: 5 things to think about for industrial IoT readiness Michigan-based startup GuardHat Inc. has created an IoT hardhat that includes a beacon designed to continuously transmit data to a safety control center. The idea is for the system to use Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity to track each worker’s location for safety and worker management issues. Most important, GuardHat is built to be able to send alerts to the control center with the hat’s (and hopefully the worker’s) precise location — within 1 meter —  after a fall or other safety incident. (A built-in accelerometer can detect falls, and there’s also an SOS button to summon Continue reading

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Cloud Native: Upgrading a Workflow Engine or Orchestrator

On a train this morning, I read Ivan Pepelnjak’s Twitter stream (because what else is there to do whilst relaxing with a coffee?), I came across this blog post on upgrading virtual-appliances.

Couldn’t agree more with the approach, but what about upgrading a workflow engine or orchestrator? I’ll call this entity a ‘wfeo’ just to make typing this article easier.

The perceived turmoil in undertaking this kind of an upgrade task is enough to make new born babies cry. Fear not. Any half decent wfeo contains it’s gubbins (workflows, drivers, logic, data) in a portable and logical data structure.

Taking StackStorm as an example, each integration (official parlance; ‘pack’), is arranged into a set of directories.
Within each directory are more directories with special names and a set of files like READMEs, configuration schemas and pack information. These top level directories that contain the pack, are portable between install bases of StackStorm giving us the power to easily clone installations, repair logic in case of a troubled upgrade and install logic freshly for new installations.

As with any platform, some syntax might change so always read the release notes for the platform and packs.

Ivan’s point is that you Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: 4 things reshaping IoT for the future

For many Internet of Things observers, the IoT’s dizzying embracing and subsequent reshaping of modern business and cultural standards seems like it happened only yesterday. Yet the IoT is moving ever faster, developing at an astonishing rate and continuously reinventing itself. So what’s the next step in the long-line of IoT innovation, and how can eager investors cash in on tomorrow’s IoT fad today?Those used to the ever-changing nature of the IoT will know by now that it’s constantly changing, but will also be aware that innovation in certain areas matters much more than gradual developments elsewhere. A quick review of the 4 things reshaping the IoT’s future the most shows which industries will be most vital towards its development and offers an alluring glance of what the IoT of tomorrow will look like:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IETF 100 Hackathon: Bringing Innovation and Running Code to the IETF

Interested in contributing running code to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)? Do you see a problem with DNS, DNSSEC, IPv6, TLS, or something else that you want to help fix?

The IETF is holding its next meeting in Singapore in November. Just before IETF 100, on 11-12 November, is a Hackathon to encourage developers to discuss, collaborate and develop utilities, ideas, sample code and solutions that show practical implementations of IETF standards.

Check out the Hackathon Wiki to learn more about how to register, get involved in a project, add your own topic of interest, or even participate remotely if you can’t make it to Singapore next month. You can also read more about a past Hackathon in this IETF Journal article.

As an added bonus, there are some prizes on the line! A panel of judges announces winners in several categories at the end of the event, with winners choosing from sponsor-donated prizes.

Remember, the IETF needs operational expertise to make sure its protocols and standards actually work in real life networks.

The post IETF 100 Hackathon: Bringing Innovation and Running Code to the IETF appeared first on Internet Society.

NSX Real World Use Cases for Pivotal Cloud Foundry

Pivotal cloud foundry is the leading PaaS solution for enterprise customers today, providing a fast way to convert their ideas from conception to production. This is achieved by providing a platform to run their code in any cloud and any language taking care of all the infrastructure stuff for them.

From building the container image, compiling it with the required runtime, deploying it in a highly available mode and connecting it to the required services, PCF allows dev shops to concentrate on developing their code.

While the platform is providing developers with the most simplified experience conceivable, under the hood there are many moving parts that make that happen and plumbing all these parts can be complex. That’s where customers are really enjoying the power of VMware’s SDDC, and the glue between the PaaS and SDDC layers is NSX, it is the enabler that makes it all work.

In this blog post, I detail some of the main uses cases customers has already deployed NSX for PCF on top of vSphere and how PCF and NSX are much better together in the real world.

The use cases customers are deploying with NSX for PCF are varied and ill divide them Continue reading

KRACK proves we need more encryption on the Internet

A serious weakness in Wi-Fi security was made public earlier today. The Key Reinstallation Attack (KRACK) can break Wi-Fi encryption, opening your data up to eavesdropping. This, combined with issues in Linux and Android, make it possible for attackers to change websites you view. This is a serious problem for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2), a protocol used in millions of networks worldwide.

Luckily, the use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) is on the rise. Mozilla’s data shows that over 60% of pages loaded in Firefox use TLS. More and more companies are using encryption for all traffic and removing the ability to connect to unencrypted versions of their sites. When connecting to these sites, KRACK isn’t as big of a deal, because the data is encrypted before it’s sent across Wi-Fi. Even if WPA2 is broken, the data is still secure.

Unfortunately there are still millions of sites that don’t provide this security. Their users are vulnerable to eavesdropping, fake content, malware injection, and more. We need more companies and operators to use TLS and HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to mitigate the potential impact of KRACK.

Internet traffic exists in layers, which makes it possible to use more Continue reading

KRACK proves we need more encryption on the Internet

A serious weakness in Wi-Fi security was made public earlier today. The Key Reinstallation Attack (KRACK) can break Wi-Fi encryption, opening your data up to eavesdropping. This, combined with issues in Linux and Android, make it possible for attackers to change websites you view. This is a serious problem for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2), a protocol used in millions of networks worldwide.

Luckily, the use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) is on the rise. Mozilla’s data shows that over 60% of pages loaded in Firefox use TLS. More and more companies are using encryption for all traffic and removing the ability to connect to unencrypted versions of their sites. When connecting to these sites, KRACK isn’t as big of a deal, because the data is encrypted before it’s sent across Wi-Fi. Even if WPA2 is broken, the data is still secure.

Unfortunately there are still millions of sites that don’t provide this security. Their users are vulnerable to eavesdropping, fake content, malware injection, and more. We need more companies and operators to use TLS and HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to mitigate the potential impact of KRACK.
Internet traffic exists in layers, which makes it possible to use more Continue reading

IS-IS Multi Instance: RFC8202

Multi-Instance IS-IS
One of the nice things about IS-IS is the ability to run IPv6 and IPv4 in the same protocol, over a single instance. So long as the two topologies are congruent, deploying v6 as dual stack is very simply. But what if your topologies are not congruent? The figure below illustrates the difference.

In this network, there are two topologies, and each topology has two different set of level 1/level 2 flooding domain boundaries. If topology 1 is running IPv4, and topology 2 is running IPv4, it is difficult to describe such a pair of topologies with “standard” IS-IS. The actual flooding process assumes the flooding domain boundaries are on the same intermediate systems, or that the two topologies are congruent.

One way to solve this problem today is to use IS-IS multi-topology, which allows the IPv6 and IPv4 routing information to be carried in separate TLVs so two different Link State Databases (LSDBs), so each IS can compute a different Shortest Path Tree (SPT), one for IPv4, and another for IPv6. Some engineers might find the concept of multi-topology confusing, and it seems like it might be overkill for other use cases. For instance, perhaps you do Continue reading

Why leave a vendor job….twice?

Over the past few months I’ve been working hard on my new start-up company PeakFactory, it’s going really well, but for this post I want to focus on the reason why I chose to leave the companies I used to work for. I thought this was relevant, as many people have asked me why, but also in general there is a lot of discussion how to advance your career in different directions.

Why leave a comfortable and good job at all?

Back in 2013 I was working in a very good position, where I had a lot of freedom in choosing the customers I’d like to work on and was involved in all technical aspects of a project (pre-sales, proof of concepts, implementation and support). Still I had this feeling that I wanted to explore more an different areas for a wider audience. Which is why I decided to start working for a networking vendor. My main reason for choosing a vendor is that I could leverage my experience in the technology and apply it for a wider audience (maybe even worldwide)

Why work for Cisco and Juniper?

In early 2014 I got in touch with Cisco and I left Continue reading

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