IDG Contributor Network: Wi-Fi analytics SaaS can make retail cool

Retail hasn’t lost its “cool.” [aaaayyyyy]It’s just reinventing it. We know this but Amazon’s recent purchase of Whole Foods sure gave everyone a wake-up call to “innovate or get left-in-the-dust.”I know, you’re in charge of IT, not corporate strategy… but bear with me. This ends up being an IT thing.As Forbes recently detailed, while Amazon unveiled its plans for Whole Foods (which includes decreased prices and the addition of industry-disrupting in-store technology), the market reacted. That same afternoon, stocks of several major brick-and-mortar retailers and grocery stores experienced significant drops in stock price.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Every Connection Matters – Shape Tomorrow and Help Close Digital Divides

We are currently living a special moment in time, a sort of paradox.

Today, almost half of the world’s population already has Internet access. This figure is much higher than anything we could have anticipated 10 years ago, an achievement we should be happily celebrating.

But a recent report by the Internet Society, Paths To Our Digital Future, shows there are no guarantees when it comes to the Internet’s future.  To achieve a digital future where people come first will require new thinking, new approaches, and new tools for this rapidly changing world around us.

And with this we find ourselves facing an even greater challenge. This is no longer the Internet of 10% of the world’s population. It is the Internet of 50% of the people around the world; in some countries, Internet penetration is now close to 100%.

The Internet has become essential, and the opportunity gap between those who are connected and those who are not grows each day. We cannot afford to remain indifferent to this Internet revolution.

If we don’t connect the remaining 50%, this gap could have long-term consequences for the opportunities that present themselves later in life.

After the United Nations adopted Continue reading

Cumulus content roundup: October

Welcome back to the Cumulus content roundup! This month, we think it’s time to get our hands dirty and play around with the latest technology. From video tutorials to how-to blogs to thought-provoking articles, this issue brings together all the resources you need to start experimenting with new configurations, networking practices and more. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get off of the couch (or stay on the couch, if that’s where you work) and start upgrading that datacenter!

What’s new from Cumulus:

Web-scale networking how-to videos: This month, we launched a series of how-to videos to show you the ropes of web-scale networking. What’s the difference between configuring an IP address with Cisco or Cumulus Linux? How do I automate my datacenter? Watch our tutorials to answer these questions!

Cumulus Express — proof that our customers’ success is our success: Announcing Cumulus Express has done great things for Cumulus Networks, but the greatest asset we have is listening to our customers. Read on to see how paying attention to what people want returns the best rewards.

Contain yourself! Best practices for container networking: This webinar covers everything that you need to know about container architecture, the challenges they Continue reading

BrandPost: Your Network. Anytime. Anywhere.

The digital economy never sleeps and it never stops moving. The same can be said for many small business owners who work around the clock to keep up with rising customer demands and skyrocketing competition. The speed of business in the digital economy has required those business owners to step outside of their comfort zone and into the complex and confusing world of small business IT. Although this is a difficult step for many, they can’t deny how important it is to the survival of the company. It’s the only way they can ensure their business operates effectively. A thriving, always-available network is simply the lifeblood of any modern business.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microburst: A New Post Type on MovingPackets.Net

A problem I frequently face is that I want to share thoughts and comments on something, but I don’t have the time free to write up a full post. The solution, I hope, is a new post type which I’m calling a Microburst.

Moving Packets - Microburst

A Microburst could be anything from one line to a few paragraphs; basically enough for me to convey a thought without having to go into as much depth as I would usually like to do. For that reason in particular, I think it’s important that I can distinguish my regular, shallow posts from these special, short, shallow posts. Handy, right?

The first Microburst appeared a few days ago, and more will be coming soon. Gird your loins, etc.

If you liked this post, please do click through to the source at Microburst: A New Post Type on MovingPackets.Net and give me a share/like. Thank you!

SSH HashKnownHosts File Format

The HashKnownHosts option to the OpenSSH client causes it obfuscate the host field of the ~/.ssh/known_hosts file. Obfuscating this information makes it harder for threat actors (malware, border searches, etc...) to know which hosts you connect to via SSH.

Hashing defaults to off, but some platforms turn it on for you:

 chris:~$ grep Hash /etc/ssh/ssh_config   
   HashKnownHosts yes  
 chris:~$

Here's an entry from my known_hosts file:

 |1|NWpzcOMkWUFWapbQ2ubC4NTpC9w=|ixkHdS+8OWezxVQvPLOHGi2Oawo= ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2Vj<...>ZHNLpyJsv

There's one record per line, with the fields separated by spaces. The first field is the remote host (SSH server) identifier.

In this case, the leading characters |1| in the host identifier are the magic string (HASH_MAGIC). It tells us that the field is hashed, rather than a plaintext hostname (or address). The remaining characters in the field comprise two parts: a 160-bit salt (random string) and a 160-bit SHA1 hash result. Both values are base64 encoded.

The various OpenSSH binaries that use information in this file feed both the remote hosts name (or address) and the salt to the hashing function in order to produce the hash result:


So, lets validate a host entry against this record the hard way. The entry above is for an IP address: Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: Minimum viable operations: Failure IS an option in a networked world

In the world of ever-more complex systems, there is nothing more fragile than an attempt to make nothing fail. A system that assumes that everything must work is a system designed to fail. The reality of the world is that things will fail, and those cannot bring down the whole business. As British Airways has amply demonstrated, a fragile system where everything fails is not good for business.Many years ago I wrote some posts on the challenges of five nines in a distributed world, and as systems become ever more about delivering functionality through a combination of services, micro-services and networks so the importance of designing for failure becomes ever more important, and the foundation of designing for failure is assuming it will happen.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Minimum viable operations: Failure IS an option in a networked world

In the world of ever-more complex systems, there is nothing more fragile than an attempt to make nothing fail. A system that assumes that everything must work is a system designed to fail. The reality of the world is that things will fail, and those cannot bring down the whole business. As British Airways has amply demonstrated, a fragile system where everything fails is not good for business.Many years ago I wrote some posts on the challenges of five nines in a distributed world, and as systems become ever more about delivering functionality through a combination of services, micro-services and networks so the importance of designing for failure becomes ever more important, and the foundation of designing for failure is assuming it will happen.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Supporting Internet Development in The Gambia

Dawit Bekele, the Internet Society’s Regional Bureau Director for Africa, paid a visit to The Gambia from 17-18 September 2017. This was the first time a senior Internet Society staff visited The Gambia with the intention of meeting Internet Society Gambia chapter leadership, members, and local partners. The aim was to discuss our past and future plans for more engagement and future Internet development. It was also an opportunity to raise the profile of the Internet Society Gambia Chapter.

During his short visit, Dawit Bekele and the Internet Society Gambia chapter executives took the opportunity to meet with the Minister, Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure (MOICI), Honorable Demba Jawo.

The team also visited and met with the Management of The Gambia’s Public Utilities and Regulatory Agency (PURA) as well as the Chairperson of the Serrekunda Internet Exchange Point SIXP, Mrs. Isatou Jah. Among the topics discussed was the way forward in fostering partnership with local stakeholders in supporting Internet development, security, and capacity building.

The official visit was preceded by a visit to the Internet Society Gambia office where the team met with the Director General of The Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (TANGO), Mr. Ousman Yabo, and toured the Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: What you’ll need when the big Internet of Things breakout occurs

The Internet of Things (IoT) sometimes has the feel of a trend that’s forever going to be on the cusp of a huge breakout. Figures fly around about the projected size of the IoT and they’re always massive (such as the 50 billion devices Cisco predicted by 2020). But the number of things in the IoT is already counted in the 8 billion to 15 billion range. So, shouldn’t we be seeing more from the IoT by now? Based on what leaders are saying in a survey commissioned by Verizon, we soon will.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: What you’ll need when the big Internet of Things breakout occurs

The Internet of Things (IoT) sometimes has the feel of a trend that’s forever going to be on the cusp of a huge breakout. Figures fly around about the projected size of the IoT and they’re always massive (such as the 50 billion devices Cisco predicted by 2020). But the number of things in the IoT is already counted in the 8 billion to 15 billion range. So, shouldn’t we be seeing more from the IoT by now? Based on what leaders are saying in a survey commissioned by Verizon, we soon will.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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