Why I Enthusiastically Switched from Cacti to Zabbix for System Monitoring

Cacti is a “complete network graphing solution” according to their website. It has also been a thorn in my side for a long time.

See what I did there? Thorn… because it's a cactus… never mind.

When Cacti is in a steady state-when I could get it to a steady state-it was good. Not great, because there was a lot of effort to get it into what I consider “steady state”, but good. The rest of the time… thorny.

There are five major things that have driven me up the wall. In no particular order:

Introduction to YANG Programming and RESTCONF on Cisco IOS XE

The sheer size of some of the YANG models can scare away even the bravest of network engineers. However, as it is with any programming language, the complexity is built out of a finite set of simple concepts. In this post we’ll learn some of these concepts by building our own YANG model to program static IP routes on Cisco IOS XE.

IBM’s hub for wearables could have you out of the hospital faster

Researchers at IBM have developed a hub for wearables that can gather information from multiple wearable devices and share it with a doctor, potentially cutting down on the time patients need to spend in a hospital.The gadget, which IBM has dubbed a 'cognitive hypervisor,' funnels data from devices such as smart watches and fitness bands into the IBM Cloud. There, it's analyzed and the results are shared with the user and their doctor.The idea is that patients can be monitored reliably through the device so they can be sent home to recover from illnesses a day or two earlier than they might otherwise have been allowed. It also means that should a problem develop, a doctor can be alerted immediately and an ambulance dispatched if it's serious enough.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SkyBell HD, the best video doorbell so far

Some time ago I wrote about the Ring doorbell and concluded, as I wrote in a subsequent review of the company’s Stick Up Cam, that “While I liked the product conceptually, the startup lag (the time between detecting movement and when recording begins, usually a delay of a few seconds) is long enough that fast moving people like the Fedex guy can come and go before the device starts recording” and I lamented the so-so video quality. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

BrandPost: 12 ideas for advanced DevOps practices

If your organization has adopted a DevOps initiative, you’re likely already seeing improvements in culture and processes. Maybe you’ve automated manual tasks, built a continuous delivery pipeline, and improved collaboration between Dev and Ops. Team morale has gone up, and the number of 3 AM calls has gone down. You’re doing really well compared to many other organizations.Of course, DevOps is not one-and-done; it’s an ongoing journey. There’s always a way to achieve greater control, predictability and flexibility.Continuous Improvement is a new ebook by Puppet for anyone who's already tackled the fundamental DevOps practices and wants to go further. You’ll learn tips on improving cross-departmental collaboration, holding internal events like workshops and hackathons, and building in metrics and transparency to hold everyone accountable.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft President Calls for a Digital Geneva Convention

As nation-states attack civilians, someone needs to draw the line, Brad Smith says.

Munich’s great Linux desktop initiative may end

A decade ago, there was much hoopla over the city of Munich discarding Windows desktops in favor of Linux, which were thought to be more secure and cheaper to deploy and maintain. Well, that experiment is coming to an end. TechRepublic reports the city is prepared to shift gears and allow users once again to choose Windows for their work PC instead of Linux after complaints of poorer productivity and compatibility issues. But it's not going to happen overnight; the Windows option won't come until 2021. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft shelves all February security updates

Microsoft today took the unprecedented step of postponing an entire month's slate of security updates for Windows and its other products just hours before the patches were to begin rolling out to customers."We discovered a last-minute issue that could impact some customers and was not resolved in time for our planned updates today," Microsoft said in a post to the MSRC (Microsoft Security Research Center) blog. "After considering all options, we made the decision to delay this month's updates."Today was set as Patch Tuesday, the monthly release of security fixes from Microsoft. Normally, Microsoft issues the updates around 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET). Although Microsoft did not time stamp its blog post, the SAN Institute's Internet Storm Center (ISC) pointed out the delay at 8:22 a.m. PT (11:22 ET).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft shelves all February security updates

Microsoft today took the unprecedented step of postponing an entire month's slate of security updates for Windows and its other products just hours before the patches were to begin rolling out to customers."We discovered a last-minute issue that could impact some customers and was not resolved in time for our planned updates today," Microsoft said in a post to the MSRC (Microsoft Security Research Center) blog. "After considering all options, we made the decision to delay this month's updates."Today was set as Patch Tuesday, the monthly release of security fixes from Microsoft. Normally, Microsoft issues the updates around 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET). Although Microsoft did not time stamp its blog post, the SAN Institute's Internet Storm Center (ISC) pointed out the delay at 8:22 a.m. PT (11:22 ET).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Secrets of successful CISOs [Infographic]

A new report from IANS Research shines a light on the current state of CISOs and their role in building in influence in leadership across an organization.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Response: Network Icons – ‘net work

These are great icons for network diagrams from Russ White. Much more useful for all diagrams purposes than most other icons.

I’ve developed this set of vendor neutral network icons for drawing diagrams in presentations, books, and the like. I’m placing them here in the public domain in four different formats

Network Icons – ‘net work : http://rule11.us/net-icons/

Personally, I use simple shapes and colours for my diagrams for simplicity but I suspect these will appeal to people who are Visio-centric in their workflow.

The post Response: Network Icons – ‘net work appeared first on EtherealMind.

Neela Jacques Departs OpenDaylight for Bain Capital

His gig at Bain Capital is only short-term.

Juniper facing fatal clock flaw that impacts Cisco routers, switches

The fatal clock timing flaw that causes a variety switches, routers and security appliances to crash and die after about 18 months of service is apparently part of some Juniper products.Cisco was the first vendor to post a notice about mortal clock fail earlier this month saying the notice includes some of the company’s most widely deployed products, such as certain models of its Series 4000 Integrated Services Routers, Nexus 9000 Series switches, ASA security devices and Meraki Cloud Managed Switches. Clock components are critical to the synchronization of multiple levels of a given device.+More on Network World: Cisco: Faulty clock part could cause failure in some Nexus switches, ISR routers, ASA security appliances+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Juniper facing fatal clock flaw that impacts Cisco routers, switches

The fatal clock timing flaw that causes a variety switches, routers and security appliances to crash and die after about 18 months of service is apparently part of some Juniper products.Cisco was the first vendor to post a notice about mortal clock fail earlier this month saying the notice includes some of the company’s most widely deployed products, such as certain models of its Series 4000 Integrated Services Routers, Nexus 9000 Series switches, ASA security devices and Meraki Cloud Managed Switches. Clock components are critical to the synchronization of multiple levels of a given device.+More on Network World: Cisco: Faulty clock part could cause failure in some Nexus switches, ISR routers, ASA security appliances+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: IBM should buy…

We spend a lot of time contemplating what technologies will be deployed at the heart of servers, storage, and networks and thereby form the foundation of the next successive generations of platforms in the datacenter for running applications old and new. While technology is inherently interesting, we are cognizant of the fact that the companies producing technology need global reach and a certain critical mass. —The Next Platform

The post Worth Reading: IBM should buy… appeared first on 'net work.

ADVA Hypervisor Brings SDN to Legacy Optical Networks

The hypervisor works with open source and commercial SDN controllers

IDG Contributor Network: Gigabit LTE, a 5G stopgap, is now live

Groundbreaking peak download speeds of 930 Mbps were obtained last week at the operational launch of Telstra’s Gigabit LTE network. Peak upload speeds of 127 Mbps were obtained at the same event.The ultra-fast service has now rolled out in major Australian Central Business Districts (CBDs), Qualcomm says in a blog post. That includes the CBDs of Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, according to Android Central.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Gigabit LTE, a 5G stopgap, is now live

Groundbreaking peak download speeds of 930 Mbps were obtained last week at the operational launch of Telstra’s Gigabit LTE network. Peak upload speeds of 127 Mbps were obtained at the same event.The ultra-fast service has now rolled out in major Australian Central Business Districts (CBDs), Qualcomm says in a blog post. That includes the CBDs of Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, according to Android Central.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Amazon releases Chime, a new cloud-based UCaaS

Amazon today announced Chime, a unified communications as a service (UCaaS) offering hosted in Amazon Web Service’s cloud.Amazon is entering a crowded market of UC solutions, some of which are already cloud-based and others that run on customer premises. Nevertheless, analysts who track Amazon say the company has an opportunity here.Chime uses a mobile or desktop application that is available across iOS, Android and Windows environments. It uses noise-cancelling wideband audio, which Amazon says allows it to deliver high quality audio and video experiences. When a meeting starts, Chime calls all the participants, who can join by clicking a button; there is no PIN required. Chime shows a visual roster of all attendees, which Amazon says eliminates the “who just joined” questions that can occur on conference calls. Any user has the ability to mute a noisy participant. Advanced editions of Chime allow IT to centrally manage users and settings, including integrating it with existing corporate directories.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Christian Slater wants you to check your printer security

In IT circles, actor Christian Slater is known for the very popular USA Network show "Mr. Robot", so fans of that show might like watching him in this short film, sponsored/created by HP. The film, titled "The Wolf", showcases the security vulnerabilities found at companies through the connected office printer.It’s certainly a clever way to get people to think about printer security, especially as more of them become connected not only to the office network, but the Internet. Plus, Slater is really good here.Enjoy! To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here