AnsibleFest Atlanta – Network Automation

Now that the agenda for AnsibleFest is live, we wanted to take a closer look at each of the tracks that we will offer. Soon you will be able to start building out your schedule for AnsibleFest, so we want to help you figure out what tracks and sessions will be best for you! We talked with Track Lead Andrius Benokraitis to learn more about the Network Automation track and the sessions within it. 

Who is this track best for? 

This track is best for Network Operators, Network Engineers, Cloud Operators, and DevOps Engineers. It is great for people who are looking to learn more about automating the configuration, management and operations of a computer network.

What topics will this track cover? 

This track will cover topics that include operational application of Red Hat Ansible Automation for network use cases, including devices such as: switches, routers, load balancers, firewalls. We will also be discussing different point of views: Developer of modules vs. User and implementer of modules and roles. There will also be a discussion around how enterprises are using Ansible Automation as a platform for large scale network deployments.

What should attendees expect Continue reading

Veritas Moves Into VMware-Based Clouds

Splunk Plunks Down $1.05B, Acquires SignalFx

Cisco: 6 critical security alarms for UCS software, small-biz routers

Cisco today warned its Unified Computing System (UCS) customers about four critical fixes they need to make to stop nefarious agents from taking over or attacking their systems.The problems all have a severity rating of 9.8 out of 10 on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).The critical bugs are found in the Cisco UCS Director and UCS Director Express for Big Data packages.To read this article in full, please click here

Cisco: 6 critical security alarms for UCS software, small-biz routers

Cisco today warned its Unified Computing System (UCS) customers about four critical fixes they need to make to stop nefarious agents from taking over or attacking their systems.The problems all have a severity rating of 9.8 out of 10 on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).The critical bugs are found in the Cisco UCS Director and UCS Director Express for Big Data packages.To read this article in full, please click here

Creating Tagged Subnets Across AWS AZs Using Pulumi

As I mentioned back in May in this post on creating a sandbox for learning Pulumi, I’ve started using Pulumi more and more of my infrastructure-as-code needs. I did switch from JavaScript to TypeScript (which I know compiles to JavaScript on the back-end, but the strong typing helps a new programmer like me). Recently I had a need to create some resources in AWS using Pulumi, and—for reasons I’ll explain shortly—many of the “canned” Pulumi examples didn’t cut it for my use case. In this post, I’ll share how I created tagged subnets across AWS availability zones (AZs) using Pulumi.

In this particular case, I was using Pulumi to create all the infrastructure necessary to spin up an AWS-integrated Kubernetes cluster. That included a new VPC, subnets in the different AZs for that region, an Internet gateway, route tables and route table associations, security groups, an ELB for the control plane, and EC2 instances. As I’ve outlined in my latest post on setting up an AWS-integrated Kubernetes 1.15 cluster using kubeadm, these resources on AWS require specific AWS tags to be assigned in order for the AWS cloud provider to work.

As I started working on this, Continue reading

Can a Composable Hypervisor Re-Imagine Virtualization?

Big Switch Cozies Up to AWS Outposts

CloudGenix Supercharges SD-WAN With Azure Integration

Big Switch targets shadow IT, hybrid cloud growth with fortified software family

Big Switch has rolled a variety of new software packages aimed at simplifying customer networks and helping them manage on-premises and hybrid-cloud data-center growth.The products include a version of its Big Cloud Fabric (BCF) for Amazon Web Services virtual private cloud  (VPC) management, adding support for Global VPCs (G-VPCs), and a cloud-based version of its Multi-Cloud Director (MCD).  VPCs provide the on-demand access to a pool of shared cloud-computing resources.[ Also see How to plan a software-defined data-center network and Efficient container use requires data-center software networking.] Big Switch’s flagship BCF software lets customers manage physical switches as a single fabric that includes security, automation, orchestration and analytics. BCF can run on a variety of certified switches from Dell EMC, HPE and others. In addition, BCF Controller natively supports integration with various Cloud Management Platforms such as VMware (vSphere, NSX Manager, vSAN) and OpenStack. BCF also supports container orchestrators such as Kubernetes, all via a single interface. To read this article in full, please click here

Big Switch targets shadow IT, hybrid cloud growth with fortified software family

Big Switch has rolled a variety of new software packages aimed at simplifying customer networks and helping them manage on-premises and hybrid-cloud data-center growth.The products include a version of its Big Cloud Fabric (BCF) for Amazon Web Services virtual private cloud  (VPC) management, adding support for Global VPCs (G-VPCs), and a cloud-based version of its Multi-Cloud Director (MCD).  VPCs provide the on-demand access to a pool of shared cloud-computing resources.[ Also see How to plan a software-defined data-center network and Efficient container use requires data-center software networking.] Big Switch’s flagship BCF software lets customers manage physical switches as a single fabric that includes security, automation, orchestration and analytics. BCF can run on a variety of certified switches from Dell EMC, HPE and others. In addition, BCF Controller natively supports integration with various Cloud Management Platforms such as VMware (vSphere, NSX Manager, vSAN) and OpenStack. BCF also supports container orchestrators such as Kubernetes, all via a single interface. To read this article in full, please click here

Best practices: MLAG backup IP

Recently there was a conversation in the Cumulus community (details in the debriefing below) about the best way to build a redundant backup IP link for multi-chassis link aggregation (MLAG). Like all good consulting-led blogs, we have a healthy dose of pragmatism that goes with our recommendations and this technology is no different. But if you’re looking for the short answer, let’s just say: it depends.

The MLAG backup IP feature goes by many names in the industry. In Cisco-land you might call this the “peer keepalive link,” in Arista-ville you might call this the “peer-address heartbeat” and in Dell VLTs it is known as the “backup destination.” No matter what you call it, the functionality offered is nearly the same.

What does it do?

Before we get into the meat of the recommendation, let’s talk about what the backup IP is designed to do. The backup IP link provides an additional value for MLAG to monitor, so a switch knows if its peer is reachable. Most implementations use this backup IP link solely as a heartbeat, meaning that it is not used to synchronize MAC addresses between the two MLAG peers. This is also the case with Cumulus Continue reading

The Sky is Not Falling For Ekahau

Ekahau Hat (photo courtesy of Sam Clements)

You may have noticed quite a few high profile departures from Ekahau recently. A lot of very visible community members, concluding Joel Crane (@PotatoFi), Jerry Olla (@JOlla), and Jussi Kiviniemi (@JussiKiviniemi) have all decided to move on. This has generated quite a bit of discussion among the members of the wireless community as to what this really means for the company and the product that is so beloved by so many wireless engineers and architects.

Putting the people aside for a moment, I want to talk about the Ekahau product line specifically. There was an undercurrent of worry in the community about what would happen to Ekahau Site Survey (ESS) and other tools in the absence of the people we’ve seen working on them for so long. I think this tweet from Drew Lentz (@WirelessNerd) best exemplifies that perspective:

Intel Reveals AI Accelerator Chips for Deep Learning in Data Centers

VMware Buying Spree Continues With Intrinsic

Microsoft, Intel, and Red Hat Back Confidential Computing

Closing the Shutters on EtherealMind 

I've been publishing on Etherealmind for more than ten years and its been quite a journey. I've changed and its time move on.

The post Closing the Shutters on EtherealMind  appeared first on EtherealMind.

Machine Learning Chip Breaks New Ground With Waferscale Integration

Startup Cerebras Systems has unveiled the world’s largest microprocessor, a waferscale chip custom-built for machine learning. …

Machine Learning Chip Breaks New Ground With Waferscale Integration was written by Michael Feldman at .

MEF Unveils Long-Awaited SD-WAN Standard

How to avoid using RDP in Windows

Several new vulnerability disclosures in Windows Remote Desktop Protocol suggest it’s time to stop using it. Here’s how.