The Year Ahead

Welcome to another year of The Morning Paper! Over the holidays I spent
some time mapping out a partial conference calendar for the year, and thinking about the kinds of papers I want to be reading. In a typical year, I’ll cover somewhere north of 120 papers on this blog. That’s a tiny drop in the ocean compared to the amount of research published. And then as well as dipping my toes into the new, I also want to make more space for papers that have stood the test of time. Following the Lindy effect these are the ones most likely to continue giving ten years or more into the future. Where have we come from? Where are we now? And where are we heading? My only firm rule for paper selection is that I must find it interesting. As regular readers of The Morning Paper will know though, my interests are pretty broad and will no doubt take many twists and turns over the course of the year.

Through the course of a year I often have the pleasure of bumping into many readers of The Morning Paper. And very often they tell me apologetically that they don’t always Continue reading

What to know before upgrading to Windows Server 2019

IT generally requires a good reason to disrupt a smooth working environment, which is why some hardware sits deployed for decades. Even though Windows Server 2016 is relatively young, there’s a decent argument to be made for upgrading a Server 2016 environment to Server 2019, the most recent release.There’s a longer span between Windows Server releases than the desktop version of the software because of slower migration habits on the server side, and this means bigger changes between releases. Windows Server 2016 was the first server OS built on the Windows 10 kernel, and some of the changes were rather rough. Windows Server 2019 is markedly faster, and it has a number of changes under the hood, from security to hybrid cloud integration. Here’s a rundown of what’s new and what are the most compelling arguments for upgrade.To read this article in full, please click here

What to know before upgrading to Windows Server 2019

IT generally requires a good reason to disrupt a smooth working environment, which is why some hardware sits deployed for decades. Even though Windows Server 2016 is relatively young, there’s a decent argument to be made for upgrading a Server 2016 environment to Server 2019, the most recent release.There’s a longer span between Windows Server releases than the desktop version of the software because of slower migration habits on the server side, and this means bigger changes between releases. Windows Server 2016 was the first server OS built on the Windows 10 kernel, and some of the changes were rather rough. Windows Server 2019 is markedly faster, and it has a number of changes under the hood, from security to hybrid cloud integration. Here’s a rundown of what’s new and what are the most compelling arguments for upgrade.To read this article in full, please click here

Headcount: Firings, Hirings, and Retirings — December 2019

Cisco Champion 2020

Dear friend,

I hope you have a relaxing holiday period and now you are ready to kick off the new year. For us year has already started 2 days ago…

… With announcement that our blog is chosen to be Cisco Champion in 2020. We are very delightful to be a Cisco Champion two times in a row (2019 and 2020). Thank you very much for supporting us, for your interest and your questions.

The good news for you is that the application is yet opened for a couple of days, so you can try to apply yourself.

Discalimer

If you even more interested in your future, join our network automation training we start on 18^th and 22^nd of January, where we cover the details of the data modelling, NETCONF/YANG, REST API, Python and Ansible in the multivendor environment with Cisco, Nokia, Arista and Cumulus Linux as network functions.

Support us

Weekly Top Posts: 2020-01-05

1. Security is a Glaring, Moving Target for IoT
2. Top 5 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2020
3. France Finally Jumps on 5G Bandwagon
4. Amazon Claims FedRAMP Compliance for a Spate of Services
5. MNJ Demo Lab Gives Customers an SD-WAN Speed Dating Experience

Configuration Creation with Nornir

I tend to assess automation tools in four different contexts which is, in fact, a very general networking and automation workflow: Discovery How easy is it to find out about the network, document its configuration (the configuration of a device itself) and state (show commands "snapshotting" its state)? Configuration Creation How easy is it to READ MORE

The post Configuration Creation with Nornir appeared first on The Gratuitous Arp.

Nornir – A New Network Automation Framework

nornir (formerly brigade) - A new network automation framework Before getting started, let me say that I'm big fan of Ansible. It is one of my go-to automation frameworks. Having said that, there have been use cases where I've run into some of the limitations of Ansible and to be fair some of those limitations may READ MORE

The post Nornir – A New Network Automation Framework appeared first on The Gratuitous Arp.

Cloudflare Expanded to 200 Cities in 2019

We have exciting news: Cloudflare closed out the decade by reaching our 200th city* across 90+ countries. Each new location increases the security, performance, and reliability of the 20-million-plus Internet properties on our network. Over the last quarter, we turned up seven data centers spanning from Chattogram, Bangladesh all the way to the Hawaiian Islands:

• Chattogram & Dhaka, Bangladesh. These data centers are our first in Bangladesh, ensuring that its 161 million residents will have a better experience on our network.
• Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Honolulu is one of the most remote cities in the world; with our Honolulu data center up and running, Hawaiian visitors can be served 2,400 miles closer than ever before! Hawaii is a hub for many submarine cables in the Pacific, meaning that some Pacific Islands will also see significant improvements.
• Adelaide, Australia. Our 7th Australasian data center can be found “down under” in the capital of South Australia. Despite being Australia’s fifth-largest city, Adelaide is often overlooked for Australian interconnection. We, for one, are happy to establish a presence in it and its unique UTC+9:30 time zone!
• Thimphu, Bhutan. Bhutan is the seventh SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) country Continue reading

Worth Reading: Understanding Scale Computing HC3 Edge Fabric

A long while ago someone told me about a "great" idea of using multi-port server NICs to build ad-hoc (or hypercube or whatever) server-only networks. It's pretty easy to prove that the approach doesn't make sense if you try to build generic any-to-any-connectivity infrastructure... but it makes perfect sense in a small environment.

One can only hope Scale Computing keeps their marketing closer to reality than some major vendors (that I will not name because I'm sick-and-tired of emails from their employees telling me how I'm unjustly picking on the stupidities their marketing is evangelizing) and will not start selling this approach as save-the-world panacea... but we can be pretty sure there will be people out there using it in way-too-large environments, and then blame everything else but their own ignorance or stubbornness when the whole thing explodes into their faces.

Industrial Internet Consortium teams up with blockchain-focused security group

The Industrial Internet Consortium and the Trusted IoT Alliance announced today that they would merge memberships, in an effort to drive more collaborative approaches to industrial IoT and help create more market-ready products.The Trusted IoT Alliance will now operate under the aegis of the IIC, a long-standing umbrella group for vendors operating in the IIoT market. The idea is to help create more standardized approaches to common use cases in IIoT, enabling companies to get solutions to market more quickly.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] “This consolidation will strengthen the ability of the IIC to provide guidance and advance best practices on the uses of distributed-ledger technology across industries, and boost the commercialization of these products and services,” said 451 Research senior blockchain and DLT analyst Csilla Zsigri in a statement.To read this article in full, please click here

Fourth Annual inSIG Boosts India’s Capacity to Shape the Internet’s Future

Earlier this month, the fourth India School on Internet Governance (inSIG2019) was held in Kolkata on 15-17 November, expanding its network of leaders and professionals active in shaping the Internet’s future.

With support from sponsors, 50 fellows from various academic, cultural, and regional backgrounds participated in inSIG2019. Through panel discussions, workshops, role plays, and group activities the three-day school covered a myriad of topics related to the Internet, boosting participants’ understanding of the complexity of Internet Governance and its importance in the future of the Internet.

The sessions covered fundamental topics like the history, principles, and status of the Internet. The hurdles around online safety, human rights, online radicalization, and cybersecurity were extensively examined and many perspectives were brought out which were thought-provoking and ingenious. Status and challenges of emerging technologies, content regulation, and the multilingual Internet were also discussed widely, and valuable feedback and inputs were provided by the participants.

The importance of the multistakeholder model of Internet Governance was stressed upon, and the Dutch approach to Internet Governance was presented in which Arnold van Rhijn spoke about how a collaborative consultation with multiple stakeholders reduces future friction in policymaking.

The event had global experts from Internet-related Continue reading

Inspur’s Edge Servers Boast Nvidia EGX, NGC-Ready Certification

AT&T Misses Network Virtualization Goal

BrandPost: Rethink Data Centers with Data @ the Center

Mention the data center and, to most, images of machine rooms filled to the brim with equipment and the sounds of IT whirring away are what come to mind. For decades, businesses have equipped data centers with silo upon silo of servers, applications, networking, and storage in their insatiable quest to deliver business insight to line-of-business (LOB) leaders, their management, and the C-suite. Even the name data center was given based on the theory that most business-critical data would be found there, centralized, and ready for the business to derive competitive insights to bolster its marketplace advantage.However, the data center, as we have traditionally known it, often falls short in its mission to deliver business advantage. The premise is sound, but the execution has been limited by the technology at hand. For many, the problem is the data center is not a centralized repository of data; rather it is a centralized collection of applications, each with its dedicated compute and storage resources (physical or virtual, it doesn’t matter), surrounded by edge computing facilities driven by LOB concerns.To read this article in full, please click here

Cisco issues critical security warnings its Data Center Network Manager

Cisco this week issued software to address multiple critical authentication exposures in its Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) software for its Nexus data center switches.DCNM is a central management dashboard for data-center fabrics based on Cisco Nexus switches and handles a number of core duties such as automation, configuration control, flow policy management and real-time health details for fabric, devices, and network topology.To read this article in full, please click here

Cisco issues critical security warnings its Data Center Network Manager

Cisco this week issued software to address multiple critical authentication exposures in its Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) software for its Nexus data center switches.DCNM is a central management dashboard for data-center fabrics based on Cisco Nexus switches and handles a number of core duties such as automation, configuration control, flow policy management and real-time health details for fabric, devices, and network topology.To read this article in full, please click here

Cisco issues critical security warnings its Data Center Network Manager

Cisco this week issued software to address multiple critical authentication exposures in its Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) software for its Nexus data center switches.DCNM is a central management dashboard for data-center fabrics based on Cisco Nexus switches and handles a number of core duties such as automation, configuration control, flow policy management and real-time health details for fabric, devices, and network topology.To read this article in full, please click here

Worth Reading: Why Doctors Think They’re the Best

Another great article by Scott Alexander, this time explaining the consequences of selection bias. The applicability to network engineering (and continuous use of shaky solutions) is left as an exercise for the reader.

Do containers need backup?

Containers are breaking backups around the world, but there are steps you can take to make sure that the most critical parts of your container infrastructure are protected against the worst things that can happen to your data center.At first glance it may seem that containers don’t need to be backed up, but on closer inspection, it does make sense in order to protect against catastrophic events and for other, less disastrous eventualities.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] Container basics Containers are another type of virtualization, and Docker is the most popular container platform. Containers are a specialized environment in which you can run a particular application. One way to think of them is like lightweight virtual machines. Where each VM in a hypervisor server contains an entire copy of an operating system, containers share the underlying operating system, and each of them contains only the required libraries needed by the application that will run in that container. As a result, many containers on a single node (a physical or virtual machine running an OS and the container runtime environment) take up far fewer resources than the same number of VMs.To Continue reading