99 Problems and Configuration and Telemetry Ain’t Two
Isn’t SNMP just great? I love monitoring my network using an unreliable transport mechanism and an impenetrable and inconsistent data structure. Configuring my devices using automation is equally fun, where NETCONF has been subverted into something so ridiculously vendor-specific (and again, inconsistent), that each new device type (even from a single vendor) can mean starting again from scratch. Is there any hope for change? OpenConfig says yes.
Monitoring The Network
Love it or hate it (hate it), SNMP remains the de facto standard for alerting and monitoring. I think we cling on to SNMP as an industry because we’re scared that any replacement will end up being just as clunky, and we’d simple be putting expensive lipstick on a particularly ugly pig. If we want to get rid of SNMP, whatever comes next will need to bring significant benefits.
Configuring the Network
If you’re dedicated to making changes manually, it’s likely you don’t care much about the mechanisms currently available to automate configuration changes. However, I can assure you that writing scripts to make changes to network device configurations is a frustrating activity, especially in a multi-vendor environment. I should add that I consider automating CLI commands and screen-scraping the Continue reading
Take them seriously — you could change the world
We often think that because we’re engineers, squirreled away in the basement suite (we used to have a fireproof suit hanging in the basement elevator as a little joke on the IT world at one job), we can’t have a huge impact on people. Or maybe it’s because you don’t think you’re famous enough — you don’t have a blog, several books published, multiple speaking engagements, and you don’t work for some big vendor. Whatever the reason for thinking you don’t — or shouldn’t — have an impact in someone’s life, let me say this.
You’re wrong.
The impact of one person can hardly be underestimated; from a book I read recently, for instance:
I turned and walked out of his office, closing the door with the characteristic rattle of the frosted glass pane. Though I could not have put it into words then, I was a different person from the one who had walked into that office ten minutes earlier. A person for whom I had the highest regard had taken me seriously. If he thought I was worthy of an hour of his time every week, then just maybe I was worth something. -Michael Card, The Walk
The Continue reading
OED tools: Chocolatey
The problem Install software on Windows and keep it updated is a boring and repetitive task. Linux and BSD/OSX users can install software from packages and keep it updated with a simple apt-get update;apt-get upgrade command. Wouldn’t it be great to have the same feature on Windows? The automation Chocolatey is a package manager for […]Moving Up The Stack
Today, IT is all about the applications. But for many administrators and engineers, moving up the stack comes with some anxiety.
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Lenovo Thinkpad T420: Another excellent, inexpensive Linux laptop
For the past three years, I have been using a Lenovo Thinkpad T400 as my main platform for researching open-source network simulators and emulators. The T400 is an excellent, inexpensive computer that, even today, offers excellent value.
But, I need a computer that supports high-resolution external monitors so it must have a DisplayPort output. I also want to expand the number of VMs I can run concurrently with adequate performance so I need a processor that supports HyperThreading. I want to switch to the Ubuntu Linux distribution and the Ubuntu Unity desktop environment needs just a bit more processing power to run smoothly.
I recently purchased a used Lenovo Thinkpad T420 laptop, which offers everything I want and more. It is a five-year old product but it offers all the ports and performance I need. Because it is well past its depreciation curve, anyone can purchase a used T420 for a very low price. Read on to learn more about the Lenovo Thinkpad T420, another excellent and inexpensive Linux platform.
The Lenovo Thinkpad T420
The Lenovo Thinkpad T420 is a business-class notebook produced in 2011 that was leased in large volumes by companies for use by their employees. Now, Continue reading
Channel Bonding In WiFi And Radio Frequency Physics
Using larger channels improves WLAN capacity, but the laws of RF physics can pose challenges when putting channel bonding into practice.
Cisco Leads, But HP Nipping At Its Heels
Cisco maintains its lead in several enterprise infrastructure markets, but Hewlett Packard Enterprise is challenging its dominance, according to new research.
Cisco Leads, But HP Nipping At Its Heels
Cisco maintains its lead in several enterprise infrastructure markets, but Hewlett Packard Enterprise is challenging its dominance, according to new research.Uncovering the Seven Pointed Dagger
The full report “Uncovering the Seven Pointed Dagger: Discovery of the Trochilus RAT and Other Targeted Threats” can be downloaded here.
Threat actors with strategic interest in the affairs of other governments and civil society organizations have been launching targeted exploitation campaigns for years. Typically, these campaigns leverage spear phishing as the delivery vector and often include malicious attachments designed to bypass typical detection controls. In other cases, spear phish directs users to websites that would otherwise be trusted but actually have been compromised by threat actors seeking greater access to fulfill their actions and objectives.
In late 2015, ASERT began investigations into a Strategic Web Compromise (aka “Watering Hole”) involving websites operated by the government of Myanmar and associated with recent elections. All indicators suggest that the compromises were performed by an actor group known to collaborators at Cisco’s Talos Group as “Group 27”. These initial findings – focused around the PlugX malware – were released by ASERT in a report called “Defending the White Elephant.” Analysis of PlugX malware configuration suggested that Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Myanmar were of interest.
Following the trail of emergent threat activity, ASERT has discovered a new Remote Access Trojan (RAT) in use Continue reading