HPE partners with Portworx for easier Kubernetes deployment

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has partnered with Kubernetes container vendor Portworx to provide a reference configuration for enterprises to launch stateful container workloads on Kubernetes.Containers are a lightweight form of virtualization, where just what is needed is loaded rather than the full operating system like in a virtualized environment. Docker was the first with containers, but it has been steamrolled by Kubernetes, which was developed by Google. Google just had way more resources to bring to bear than Docker, a startup that has relied on venture funding.Also on Network World: Will containers kill the virtual machine? One of the big changes as containers have evolved is adopting the stateful condition. Initially they were stateless, meaning the data was erased from memory when the container was shut down at the completion of its workload. Stateful applications, on the other hand, are services that require retention of data, usually through a connection to a back-end database so they have persistent storage.To read this article in full, please click here

An Update on Using Docker Machine with Vagrant

As part of a project on which I’m working, I’ve been spending some time working with Docker Machine and Vagrant over the last few days. You may recall that I first wrote about using these two tools together back in August 2015. As a result of spending some additional time with these tools—which I chose because I felt like they streamlined some work around this project—I’ve uncovered some additional information that I wanted to share with readers.

As a brief recap to the original article, I showed how you could use Vagrant to quickly and easily spin up a VM, then use Docker Machine’s generic driver to add it to Docker Machine, like this:

docker-machine create -d generic \
--generic-ssh-user vagrant \
--generic-ssh-key ~/.vagrant.d/insecure_private_key \
--generic-ip-address <IP address of VM> \
<name of VM>

This approach works fine if the Vagrant-created VM is reachable without port forwarding. What do I mean? In the past, the VMware provider for Vagrant used functionality in VMware Fusion or VMware Workstation to provide an RFC 1918-addressed network that had external access via network address translation (NAT). In Fusion, for example, this was the default “Share with my Mac” network. Thus, when Continue reading

Role-based Access Control for Kubernetes with Docker EE

Last week we released the latest beta for Docker Enterprise Edition. Without a doubt one of the most significant features in this release is providing a single management control plane for both Swarm and Kubernetes-based clusters – including clusters made up of both Swarm and Kubernetes workers. This offers customers unparalleled choice in how they manage both their traditional and cloud native applications.

When we were looking at doing this release we knew we couldn’t just slap a GUI on top of Kubernetes and call it good. We wanted to find areas where we could simplify and secure the deployment of  applications onto Kubernetes nodes.

One such area is role-based access control (RBAC). Docker EE 17.06 introduced an enhanced RBAC solution that provided flexible and granular access controls across multiple teams and users. While Kubernetes first introduced a basic RBAC solution with the 1.6 release, in this upcoming release, we extend Docker EE’s existing RBAC support to support Kubernetes primitives.

(If you’re not familiar how RBAC works in Docker EE, please read my blog post from August 2017)

In addition to the five predefined authentication roles in Docker EE (view only, full control, none, etc) there are Continue reading

CI/CD For Networking Part 2

When using PKI certificates is critical that both DNS is working correctly and that hosts have their time synced via a reliable NTP server. In this part of the series I will build a utility server that will act as the DNS, NTP and root certificate authority. The utility server will use...

Gartner’s open model: How does Cumulus stack up?

As we’ve discussed in a previous blog post, it can be difficult to determine whether or not a vendor is truly as open as they claim to be. Sure, your network provider says they support open solutions, but the reality is they take advantage of open networking’s flexible definition to market not-so-flexible networks. How can you be certain that you’re investing in the open network your data center deserves?

Never fear, Gartner is here! Their report on gauging vendors’ openness provides you with five easy questions to help you take a machete to the forest of false advertisement. So, how does Cumulus Networks stack up to these requirements, and how have we maintained our dedication to open networking? Let’s take a look at Gartner’s criteria — we think you’ll find that this open model fits Cumulus like a glove.

1) How simple is the solution?

We’ve broken down the qualifications for a simple solution into three parts. First of all, managing your network should be easy from the moment it comes online. Cumulus Linux is an operating system that ensures a simple start. A few features that guarantee a confusion-free beginning include:

Worth Reading: Spotlight on Tetration

My first impression: Tetration is clearly evolving and improving. It may be just me, but I think I heard more emphasis on agents and third-party sources, and less on Nexus 9K hardware. That makes sense in terms of not holding up purchase until hardware refresh time — something that previously may have deferred some/many ACI and Tetration buying decisions. Admittedly, hardware-based approaches have fewer touch points. —Pete Welcher @Netcraftsmen

What is disaster recovery? How to ensure business continuity

Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. It’s not just catastrophic events such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes, but also incidents such as cyber-attacks, equipment failures and even terrorism that can be classified as disasters.Companies and organizations prepare by creating disaster recovery plans that detail actions to take and processes to follow to resume mission-critical functions quickly and without major losses in revenues or business. BE SURE NOT TO MISS: REVIEW: 4 top disaster-recovery platforms compared Go-to storage and disaster recovery products Video: Questions to ask your recovery vendor before you buy What is disaster recovery? In the IT space, disaster recovery focuses on the IT systems that help support critical business functions. The term “business continuity” is often associated with disaster recovery, but the two terms aren’t completely interchangeable. Disaster recovery is a part of business continuity, which focuses more on keeping all aspects of a business running despite the disaster. Because IT systems these days are so critical to the success of the business, disaster recovery is a main pillar in the business continuity process.To read this article in full, please click here

What is disaster recovery?

Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. It’s not just catastrophic events such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes, but also incidents such as cyber-attacks, equipment failures and even terrorism that can be classified as disasters.Companies and organizations prepare by creating disaster recovery plans that detail actions to take and processes to follow to resume mission-critical functions quickly and without major losses in revenues or business. BE SURE NOT TO MISS: REVIEW: 4 top disaster-recovery platforms compared Go-to storage and disaster recovery products Video: Questions to ask your recovery vendor before you buy What is disaster recovery? In the IT space, disaster recovery focuses on the IT systems that help support critical business functions. The term “business continuity” is often associated with disaster recovery, but the two terms aren’t completely interchangeable. Disaster recovery is a part of business continuity, which focuses more on keeping all aspects of a business running despite the disaster. Because IT systems these days are so critical to the success of the business, disaster recovery is a main pillar in the business continuity process.To read this article in full, please click here

What is disaster recovery?

Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. It’s not just catastrophic events such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes, but also incidents such as cyber-attacks, equipment failures and even terrorism that can be classified as disasters.Companies and organizations prepare by creating disaster recovery plans that detail actions to take and processes to follow to resume mission-critical functions quickly and without major losses in revenues or business. BE SURE NOT TO MISS: REVIEW: 4 top disaster-recovery platforms compared Go-to storage and disaster recovery products Video: Questions to ask your recovery vendor before you buy What is disaster recovery? In the IT space, disaster recovery focuses on the IT systems that help support critical business functions. The term “business continuity” is often associated with disaster recovery, but the two terms aren’t completely interchangeable. Disaster recovery is a part of business continuity, which focuses more on keeping all aspects of a business running despite the disaster. Because IT systems these days are so critical to the success of the business, disaster recovery is a main pillar in the business continuity process.To read this article in full, please click here

Get ready to use Linux containers

One of the most exciting things to happen in the Linux world in the past few years is the emergence of containers — self-contained Linux environments that live inside another OS and provide a way to package and isolate applications.They're not quite virtual systems, since they rely on the host OS to operate, nor are they simply applications. Dan Walsh from Red Hat has said that on Linux, "everything is a container," reminding me of the days when people claimed that everything on Unix was a file. But the vision has less to do with the guts of the OS and more to do with explaining how containers work and how they are different than virtual systems in some very interesting and important ways.To read this article in full, please click here

Responding to Readers: Automated Design?

Deepak responded to my video on network commodization with a question:

What’s your thoughts on how Network Design itself can be Automated and validated. Also from Intent based Networking at some stage Network should re-look into itself and adjust to meet design goals or best practices or alternatively suggest the design itself in green field situation for example. APSTRA seems to be moving into this direction.

The answer to this question, as always, is—how many balloons fit in a bag? ? I think it depends on what you mean when you use the term design. If we are talking about the overlay, or traffic engineering, or even quality of service, I think we will see a rising trend towards using machine learning in network environments to help solve those problems. I am not convinced machine learning can solve these problems, in the sense of leaving humans out of the loop, but humans could set the parameters up, let the neural network learn the flows, and then let the machine adjust things over time. I tend to think this kind of work will be pretty narrow for a long time to come.

There will be stumbling blocks here that need to be Continue reading

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