Cisco, SAP team up to ease cloud, container integration, management

Cisco today said it has teamed with SAP to make it easier for customers to manage high volumes of data from multi-cloud and distributed data center resources.The companies announced that Cisco’s Container Platform will work with SAP’s Data Hub to integrate large data sets that may be in public clouds, such as Amazon Web Services, Hadoop, Microsoft or Google, and integrate them with private cloud or enterprise apps such as SAP S/4 HANA.[ Check out our 12 most powerful hyperconverged infrasctructure vendors. | Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ] Cisco introduced its Kubernetes-based Container Platform in January and said it allows for self-service deployment and management of container clusters. SAP rolled out the Data Hub about a year ago, saying it provides visibility, orchestration and access to a broad range of data systems and assets while enabling the fast creation of powerful, organization-spanning data pipelines.To read this article in full, please click here

Short Take: BGP Peering Updates

Inferring The Future Of The FPGA, And Then Making It

Technologies often start out in one place and then find themselves in another. …

Inferring The Future Of The FPGA, And Then Making It was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at .

Cisco and SAP Team Up on Containers, Hybrid Cloud

The jointly-developed software integrates SAP’s Data Hub and Cisco’s Container Platform.

Sponsored Post: Twitch, InMemory.Net, Triplebyte, Etleap, Stream, Scalyr, MemSQL

Who's Hiring? 

• Twitch's commerce team in San Francisco is looking to hire senior developers to keep up with rapidly increasing demand for our Subscriptions and Payment platform. Engineers will be tasked with building new products and features to solve business and ecommerce challenges as we're dealing with engaging problems at a massive scale and will create solutions that impact millions of people around the world. Apply here. 


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Fun and Informative Events

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Cool Products and Services

• InMemory.Net provides a Dot Net native in memory database for analysing large amounts of data. It runs natively on .Net, and provides a native .Net, COM & ODBC apis for integration. It also has an easy to use language for importing data, and supports standard SQL for querying data. http://InMemory.Net

• For heads of IT/Engineering responsible for building an analytics infrastructure, Etleap is an ETL solution for creating perfect data pipelines from day one. Unlike Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: The WAF backed by artificial intelligence (AI)

The Web Application Firewall (WAF) issue didn't seem to me as a big deal until I actually started to dig deeper into the ongoing discussion in this field. It generally seems that vendors are trying to convince customers and themselves that everything is going smooth and that there is not a problem. In reality, however, customers don’t buy it anymore and the WAF industry is under a major pressure as constantly failing on the customer quality perspective.There have also been red flags raised from the use of the runtime application self-protection (RASP) technology. There is now a trend to enter the mitigation/defense side into the application and compile it within the code. It is considered that the runtime application self-protection is a shortcut to securing software that is also compounded by performance problems. It seems to be a desperate solution to replace the WAFs, as no one really likes to mix its “security appliance” inside the application code, which is exactly what the RASP vendors are currently offering to their customers. However, some vendors are adopting the RASP technology.To read this article in full, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: The WAF backed by artificial intelligence (AI)

The Web Application Firewall (WAF) issue didn't seem to me as a big deal until I actually started to dig deeper into the ongoing discussion in this field. It generally seems that vendors are trying to convince customers and themselves that everything is going smooth and that there is not a problem. In reality, however, customers don’t buy it anymore and the WAF industry is under a major pressure as constantly failing on the customer quality perspective.There have also been red flags raised from the use of the runtime application self-protection (RASP) technology. There is now a trend to enter the mitigation/defense side into the application and compile it within the code. It is considered that the runtime application self-protection is a shortcut to securing software that is also compounded by performance problems. It seems to be a desperate solution to replace the WAFs, as no one really likes to mix its “security appliance” inside the application code, which is exactly what the RASP vendors are currently offering to their customers. However, some vendors are adopting the RASP technology.To read this article in full, please click here

#BetterInternet: Join the Movement

When it comes to overall awareness of Cloudflare, it seems most folks fall into one of three camps: 1) those who don’t know much about Cloudflare at all, 2) those who are familiar with one or two of Cloudflare’s many solutions (i.e. DDoS protection, caching, DNS, etc.), and finally, 3) those who understand the full breadth and scope of Cloudflare’s global cloud network. This latter group of folks are especially excited about the broad scope of Cloudflare’s mission, which is: “to help build a better Internet.” Last week our co-founder Michelle Zatlyn explained in a blog post what this mission actually means:

“Our mission at Cloudflare is to help build a better Internet. That is a big, broad mission that means many things. It means that we push to make Internet properties faster. It means respecting individual’s privacy. It means making it harder for malicious actors to do bad things. It means helping to make the Internet more reliable. It means supporting new Internet standards and protocols, and making sure they are accessible to everyone. It means democratizing technology and making sure the widest possible group has access to it. It means increasing value for our community, Continue reading

Worth Reading: Measuring the KSK Roll

When viewed as a network infrastructure, looks can be very deceiving when looking at the DNS. It appears to be a simple collection of resolvers and servers. Clients pass their DNS name resolution queries to resolvers, who then identify and ask an appropriate authoritative name server to resolve the DNS name, and the result is passed back to the client. —Goeff Huston @potaroo

What We Heard About Containers and Windows Server App Migration at Microsoft Ignite

Ever since Microsoft CVP Erin Chapelle spoke about the future of Windows Containers at DockerCon earlier this year, there has been excitement around the general availability of Windows Server 2019. That announcement came last week at the Microsoft Ignite Conference in Orlando.

Ignite was a tremendous opportunity for us to discuss the containerization journey with companies of all shapes and sizes. A central theme: what to do with large numbers of applications running today on Windows Server 2008, an operating system that will reach the end of its supported lifecycle in a mere 15 months.

Here are some common questions discussed last week at Ignite:

Q: What challenges do legacy Windows Server applications present?

A: Legacy applications have several challenges:

• Fragile dependencies between the OS, application and other components
• Lost knowledge when original development teams move on.
• The stickiness of legacy .NET applications, with 70 percent of .NET apps still running on Windows Server 2003 or 2008.

Q: Are Docker containers only a public cloud technology?

A: Containers are the fastest growing cloud enabling technology, and are often used to enable cloud migration initiatives. Jabil Circuit, GE Digital and Lindsay Corporation are among many customers that have used containers Continue reading

We’ve Added an AWS Course to Our Video Library!

Hello! My name is Miles Karabas. I would like to tell you about my new course, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator, that just got released. The primary objective of this course is to teach the core components and services, and the basic concepts of AWS platform, and prepare you for the Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate level exam.

Why Get AWS Certified?

Amazon is the world leader in web services, and it’s services are used by thousands of companies around the world. AWS certifications show a potential employer that you have the skills to design, deploy and manage secure, highly available, cost efficient, scalable and fault tolerant systems on the AWS Platform. An AWS certification also puts you in an elite group of cloud engineers. These certifications are highly valued by employers. Last, AWS Certified engineers are among the highest paid IT professionals.

About the Course

The Certified AWS SysOps Administrator Exam focuses on specific processes of implementation, monitoring and managing of AWS services.

The course will cover the following topics:

• Compute
• Load Balancing & Auto Scaling
• Storage
• Databases
• Security & Identity
• Management Tools
• Analytics
• Networking & Content Delivery
• Messaging
• Monitoring

AWS exams are experience based, this course includes several hours Continue reading

Radisys Will Use ETSI’s MEC Standards for its Edge Software Platform

Radisys says operators want a platform that supports specific applications. They don't want to uncertainty about which platform to use.

Indigenous Access: It Will Benefit All Generations

In November 2017, the Internet Society hosted the inaugural Indigenous Connectivity Summit in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The event brought together community network operators, Internet service providers, community members, researchers, policy makers, and Indigenous leadership to work together to bridge the connectivity gap in indigenous communities in North America. One of the participants shared his story.

“My background is in architecture. This is all brand new,” said Merrill Yazzie, tribal community planner and project coordinator for the Pueblo of Cochiti. The pueblo had just begun to lay fiber to improve tribal Internet access. “The community itself doesn’t have Internet. The one line just goes to the government, to the administrative building,” said Yazzie. “Everyone relies on their cellular phones or satellite services, which can be pretty expensive.”

According to Yazzie, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, there are many advantages to increased Internet access. “It will benefit all generations,” said Yazzie. “Economically it will be a benefit. You don’t have access to the universities because you don’t have a vehicle or public transportation is not available. One way to access education would be through online courses.” Further, he mentioned the benefit increased connectivity could bring to basic services: Continue reading

Augmented reality, fog, and vision: Duke professor outlines importance of smart architectures

An academic researcher’s talk on Monday at the Fog World Congress in San Francisco demonstrated both the limits of distributed computing structures and their critical importance to future IoT and augmented reality (AR) implementations.Dr. Maria Gorlatova’s recent work has centered on the study of fog and edge architecture – specifically, the way in which particular methods of architecting those systems can affect latency and response time. She's studying the differences in systems which are on- and off-campus, that have different points of execution, which seems like the academic way of saying “where the computational work is done.”To read this article in full, please click here

AWS ABCs – Can I Firewall My Compute Instances?

In a previous post, I reviewed what a public subnet and Internet Gateway (IGW) are and that they allowed outbound and inbound connectivity to instances (ie, virtual machines) running in the AWS cloud.

If you’re the least bit security conscious, your reaction might be, “No way! I can’t have my instances sitting right on the Internet without any protection”.

Fear not, reader. This post will explain the mechanisms that the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) affords you to protect your instances.

Security Groups

In a nutshell: security groups (SGs) define what traffic is allowed to reach an instance.

“Security group” is a bit of a weird name for what is essentially a firewall that sits in front of an instance, however if you think about it in terms of all servers at a particular tier in an N-tier application (eg, all the web servers) or all the servers that have a common function (eg, all PostgreSQL servers) and how each group would have its own security requirements when it comes to allowed ports, protocols, and IP addresses, then it makes a bit more sense: the security rules appropriate for a group of servers are all put together within Continue reading

A minimalist approach to network architecture

Minimalism, as a current concept, is not just about owning fewer things, or eliminating distractions, or consuming only specific coffees sold in unlabeled packaging at chairless coffee shops. Minimalism is a philosophical force and practical approach to life, that when applied correctly, can bring peace, happiness, and enrichment to your way of living. How do these core virtues of minimalism apply to network design? Read on. (And don’t worry, you can keep all of your stuff, your color TV and cell phones, and your roomy house, too – we’re just talking about networks here.)

Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, who founded theminimalists.com, sacrificed their former careers to share the concept of minimalism all over the globe, helping more than 20 million people live more meaningful lives. They’ve grounded the concepts of minimalism into a practical and elegant foundation that fits nicely in a modern society. They defined what many believe to be the core virtues of minimalism, ideas to internalize on your journey through life. When it comes to network design, here are five core virtues that prove to be incredibly valuable:

• Reclaim your time
• Create more, consume less
• Contribute beyond yourself
• Experience Continue reading

Getting Multi-cloud Right with Per-app Architectures

Network Troubleshooting Guidelines

It all started with an interesting weird MLAG bugs discussion during our last Building Next-Generation Data Center online course. The discussion almost devolved into “when in doubt reload” yammering when Mark Horsfield stepped in saying “while that may be true, make sure to check and collect these things before reloading”.

I loved what he wrote so much that I asked him to turn it into a blog post… and he made it even better by expanding it into generic network troubleshooting guidelines. Enjoy!

Virtual Cloud Network Deep Dive: Join us in New York and Toronto!

Attention New York and Toronto, the NSX team is heading your way to deliver Deep Dive Sessions to help you get a jump start on taking your company’s networking and security to the next level!

With fall in the air, many of us are in the planning stages for big improvements for the year ahead. If your IT team is feeling pressure to increase agility, stay productive and help your company innovate, then you won’t want to miss these sessions to get a head start on the latest approach to networking and security.

The Problem with the Old Approach to Networking and Security

Traditional, hardware-based approaches to networking and security are pedantic, inflexible, and notoriously slow-moving. At the same time, the complexity around applications, services and data is increasing, while new, more sophisticated and ever-evolving threats are also in the mix – making IT teams responsible for more environments than ever before (data, cloud, branches, and the edge, oh my!). That’s all to say, there’s a lot to solve for. Luckily the NSX team has your back.

Build Your Foundation for a Virtual Cloud Network

VMware NSX® is an innovative networking and security approach that changes the Continue reading

AWS ABCs — Can I Firewall My Compute Instances?

In a previous post, I reviewed what a public subnet and Internet Gateway (IGW) are and that they allowed outbound and _in_bound connectivity to instances (ie, virtual machines) running in the AWS cloud.

If you're the least bit security conscious, your reaction might be, “No way! I can't have my instances sitting right on the Internet without any protection”.

Fear not, reader. This post will explain the mechanisms that the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) affords you to protect your instances.