Lifting the Hood on Cisco Software Defined Access

If you’re an IT professional and you have at least a minimal awareness of what Cisco is doing in the market and you don’t live under a rock, you would’ve heard about the major launch that took place in June: “The network. Intuitive.” The anchor solution to this launch is Cisco’s Software Defined Access (SDA) in which the campus network becomes automated, highly secure, and highly scalable.

The launch of SDA is what’s called a “Tier 1” launch where Cisco’s corporate marketing muscle is fully exercised in order to generate as much attention and interest as possible. As a result, there’s a lot of good high-level material floating around right now around SDA. What I’m going to do in this post is lift the hood on the solution and explain what makes the SDA network fabric actually work.

SDA’s (Technical) Benefits

Let’s examine the benefits of SDA through a technical lens (putting aside the business benefits we’ve been hearing about since the launch).

  • Eliminates STP (!!). How many years have we been hearing about this in the data center?? Now the same is true in the campus network as well. STP can finally be left in the Continue reading

Linux commands for managing, partitioning, troubleshooting

How much do you need to know about disks to successfully manage a Linux system? What commands do what? How do you make good decisions about partitioning? What kind of troubleshooting tools are available? What kind of problems might you run into? This article covers a lot of territory – from looking into the basics of a Linux file systems to sampling some very useful commands.Disk technology In the beginning days of Unix and later Linux, disks were physically large, but very small in terms of storage capacity. A 300 megabyte disk in the mid-90’s was the size of a shoebox. Today, you can get multi-terrabyte disks that are the size of a slice of toast.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What you need to know to manage Linux disks

How much do you need to know about disks to successfully manage a Linux system? What commands do what? How do you make good decisions about partitioning? What kind of troubleshooting tools are available? What kind of problems might you run into? This article covers a lot of territory – from looking into the basics of a Linux file systems to sampling some very useful commands.Disk technology background In the beginning days of Unix and later Linux, disks were physically large, but very small in terms of storage capacity. A 300 megabyte disk in the mid-90’s was the size of a shoebox. Today, you can get multi-terrabyte disks that are the size of a slice of toast.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Featured webinar: Ansible for Networking Engineers

The featured webinar in September 2017 is the Ansible for Networking Engineers webinar, and in the featured videos you'll learn what Jinja2 is and how you can use it to generate network device configurations with Ansible.

If you already have an trial subscription, log into my.ipspace.net, select the Ansible webinar from the first page, and watch the videos marked with star. To start your trial subscription, register here.

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Lifting the Hood on Cisco Software Defined Access

If you're an IT professional and you have at least a minimal awareness of what Cisco is doing in the market and you don't live under a rock, you would've heard about the major launch that took place in June: “The network. Intuitive.” The anchor solution to this launch is Cisco's Software Defined Access (SDA) in which the campus network becomes automated, highly secure, and highly scalable.

The launch of SDA is what's called a “Tier 1” launch where Cisco's corporate marketing muscle is fully exercised in order to generate as much attention and interest as possible. As a result, there's a lot of good high-level material floating around right now around SDA. What I'm going to do in this post is lift the hood on the solution and explain what makes the SDA network fabric actually work.

New, Integrated Dell EMC and VMware NFV Solution Accelerates Production Deployment for Service Providers

Integrated Dell EMC and VMware offering designed to simplify and accelerate NFV deployments Pre-validated solution minimizes adoption time and significantly reduces time and cost to turn up new services First delivery for Dell EMC’s new Ready Solutions for Service Providers portfolio comprising Dell EMC infrastructure and ecosystem partners Includes support for more than 40 pre-certified... Read more →

The next big thing in hard disks may be glass

Hard disk makers are in a big of a struggle for survival. As SSDs grow in capacity and shrink in price, hard disk makers are losing business on the low end. Only the cheapest of laptops don’t have a SSD standard any more. And with affordable 1TB SSDs on the market, it’s a good choice for most desktops, as well. Their solution has been to increase capacity tremendously, since people are generating so much content these days. Forget 3TB or 6TB hard disks, we now have 12TB and 14TB drives coming to market. These are done by cramming a lot of disk platters in the drive case and using helium inside the drive to reduce friction.Even there, drive makers are reaching the limits of physics. But a Japanese firm, Hoya Corp., thinks it has the solution. The company told Nikkei Technology it believes glass substrates, already used in 2.5-inch notebook drives, can be designed for 3.5-inch desktop and server disks. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: In defense of NATs

Network Address Translation (NAT) has often been described as an unfortunate aberration in the evolution of the Internet, and one that will be expunged with the completion of the transition to IPv6. I think that this view, which appears to form part of today’s conventional wisdom about the Internet, unnecessarily vilifies NATs. In my opinion, NATs are far from being an aberration, and instead, I see them as an informative step in the evolution of the Internet, particularly as they relate to possibilities in the evolution of name-based networking. Here’s why. —Geoff Huston @ APNIC

The post Worth Reading: In defense of NATs appeared first on rule 11 reader.

5 reasons why device makers cannot secure the IoT platform

If Akamai, Cisco and Google’s post-platform security and privacy machine learning security systems protecting the web and mobile platforms are indicative of the future, IoT device makers will only be part of a larger security ecosystem. That’s because they will not have the data to train the AI machine learning models.  As a result, IoT post-platform security and privacy will become a layer on top of IoT device security. These five factors are why that will happen.1. Product developers underestimated IoT security In their race to market, product developers building for new platforms will underestimate the security and privacy features that should be built into their products. In some cases, this will be an act of commission, but most will be an act of omission because it is difficult to anticipate the vulnerabilities until the products reach the market at scale. Windows and mobile devices experienced something similar. They have been hardened, but earlier in their evolution they were an easy target for cyber criminals.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Measuring how warming oceans fuel stronger hurricanes

Tracking storms and weather patterns accurately has become even more critical as weather records fall like bowling pins.What causes hurricanes? How are ocean temperatures monitored across thousands of square miles? What kinds of sensors are used? How is this data converted into actionable intelligence to save lives and protect property? What role does global warming have to play?We should all know this given the devastation from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.What causes hurricanes? Hurricanes are severe storms with winds that rotate at 74 miles per hour or more around a central, low-pressure core. They result from weather disturbances that pull in warm surface air to interact with warm seawater. Hurricanes occur close to the equator where the seawater is hot enough to power the storms and the rotation of the Earth makes them spin.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 reasons why device makers cannot secure the IoT platform

If Akamai, Cisco and Google’s post-platform security and privacy machine learning security systems protecting the web and mobile platforms are indicative of the future, IoT device makers will only be part of a larger security ecosystem. That’s because they will not have the data to train the AI machine learning models.  As a result, IoT post-platform security and privacy will become a layer on top of IoT device security. These five factors are why that will happen.1. Product developers underestimated IoT security In their race to market, product developers building for new platforms will underestimate the security and privacy features that should be built into their products. In some cases, this will be an act of commission, but most will be an act of omission because it is difficult to anticipate the vulnerabilities until the products reach the market at scale. Windows and mobile devices experienced something similar. They have been hardened, but earlier in their evolution they were an easy target for cyber criminals.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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