Why IT Automation is Becoming a Business Necessity

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Automation transformed factories. It gave manufacturing the ability to perform work faster, more efficiently, at higher quality. Processes became predictable. Productivity thrived. Factories that failed to automate fell behind. Automation became a business imperative.

IT departments are the modern factories powering today’s digital businesses. And just as today’s factories can’t compete without automation, automation will soon become imperative for IT organizations. Here’s why:

  1. Application delivery is fuel for growth. Today every business is a software business, regardless of whether you actually sell software. Every business depends on critical systems to engage with customers and gather data. For companies competing in the knowledge economy, IT operations is oxygen. The demands businesses place on DevOps teams will only continue to increase. We’re not going back—only forward, faster.

  2. Automation simplifies processes. Automation never sleeps. Throwing people at the problem helps companies grow, but the law of diminishing returns limits your ability to scale. Adding people adds complexity and costs.

  3. IT professionals don’t want to repeat the same tasks over and over. Just as manual work in factories is tiring, endless, and thankless—repetitive work squanders the creative energy of your best and often most highly paid people.

  4. Automation speeds the work so your people Continue reading

Updated Generic Icon Set

I’ve updated the generic icons linked from this page to include a virtual router/switch. I’ve also added two different spine and leaf topologies to the presentation. I may add other “generic” topologies over time, as I run across ones that seem worth including. These are completely public domain; I would encourage you to use them instead of the normal sets of vendor icons in drawing, books, blogs, etc.

Updated: Thanks to Greg Ferro, there is now a version of these in Omnigraffle! They’re linked on the same page.

The post Updated Generic Icon Set appeared first on 'net work.

Severe vulnerability in Cisco’s WebEx extension for Chrome leaves PCs open to easy attack

Anyone who uses the popular Cisco WebEx extension for Chrome should update to the latest version pronto. Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy recently discovered a serious vulnerability in the Chrome extension that leaves PCs wide open to attack.In older versions of the extension (before version 1.0.3) malicious actors could add a “magic string” to a web address or file hosted on a website. The magic string was designed to remotely activate the WebEx browser extension. Once the extension was activated the bad guys could execute malicious code on the target machine. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Severe vulnerability in Cisco’s WebEx extension for Chrome leaves PCs open to easy attack

Anyone who uses the popular Cisco WebEx extension for Chrome should update to the latest version pronto. Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy recently discovered a serious vulnerability in the Chrome extension that leaves PCs wide open to attack.In older versions of the extension (before version 1.0.3) malicious actors could add a “magic string” to a web address or file hosted on a website. The magic string was designed to remotely activate the WebEx browser extension. Once the extension was activated the bad guys could execute malicious code on the target machine. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

On the ‘net: The background of I2RS

Through this (probably far too long) series on SDNs, we have looked at BGP, Fibbing, and Openflow. BGP and Fibbing would be described as augmented control planes; the distributed control plane is not replaced, but rather augmented with a controller that modifies the best path decisions of the control plane by interacting with the control itself in a somewhat “native” way. Openflow, on the other hand, replaces the distributed control plane; it would actually be difficult to build a system that talks directly to the FIB that does not entirely replace the control plane. But in the original classification, there was a third type of SDN highlighted, a hybrid model. Are there any instances of this sort of model being developed? —ECI Blog

The post On the ‘net: The background of I2RS appeared first on 'net work.

Cisco’s all-in-one Spark Board puts the cloud on a wall

Cloud-based collaboration software has helped enterprises take meetings beyond the conference room. Now Cisco Systems is bringing its Spark cloud platform back inside.On Tuesday, Cisco introduced the Spark Board, an all-in-one collaboration device that can be a screen-sharing presentation tool, a digital whiteboard and a videoconferencing display. It’s designed to make it easier to set up and use connected conference rooms, taking the place of a hodgepodge of components that are managed and operated separately.After selling various voice and video tools for years, Cisco has made Spark the centerpiece of the company’s collaboration portfolio. It’s a text messaging, voice, videoconferencing and presentation platform that runs completely in the cloud, with encryption, so meeting participants on the road can use all those functions. Through the cloud, a Spark session can also incorporate older Cisco tools like WebEx and Telepresence.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Announcing Backpack running Cumulus Linux — completing our networking portfolio with a modular platform

We are thrilled to announce our integration with Backpack — the industry’s first commercially supported open chassis with Cumulus Linux. You can now have a consistent operating model across fixed and modular platforms.

With Backpack and Cumulus Linux, you can simplify hyperscaling your network infrastructure, especially as you migrate from 40G to 100G platforms.

When Facebook first approached us about the technology, we were thrilled to be a part of it. We’ve always believed the chassis is an important part of the ecosystem, but we also knew the technology needed to be improved.

In fact, when Cumulus Networks was first founded, we were working on developing a chassis that would work seamlessly with open networking ecosystems. No really, we did! Don’t believe us? Here’s the proof:

Chassis_Cumulus

Clearly, we never quite got it right. But luckily for us and open networking enthusiasts everywhere, Facebook did. Read more about Facebook and Cumulus Networks.

What is Backpack?

This is Facebook’s second generation modular switch platform based on web-scale principles. Cumulus Networks collaborated with Facebook to provide ONIE support for Backpack. Backpack is an 8RU chassis with 128x 100G ports built as a distributed model where each line card and fabric card have dedicated CPUs Continue reading

IBM Reorg Forges Cognitive Systems, Merges Cloud And Analytics

It is the first month of a new year, and this is the time that IBM traditionally does reorganizations of its business lines and plays musical chairs with its executives to reconfigure itself for the coming year. And just like clockwork, late last week the top brass at Big Blue did internal announcements explaining the changes it is making to transform its wares into a platform better suited to the times.

The first big change, and one that may have precipitated all of the others that have been set in place, is Robert LeBlanc, who is the senior vice president …

IBM Reorg Forges Cognitive Systems, Merges Cloud And Analytics was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Box launches standalone Notes app to help teams collaborate

Box Notes is getting its own standalone web app and a new desktop app for Windows and Mac. It's a new turn for the product, which allows users to collaboratively edit documents in real time.Notes gives users a workspace for jotting down ideas and sharing them with others. Those notes can include rich text elements like embedded images, tasks and tables, in addition to plain text. The service is designed to give users a shared workspace in the cloud for discussing ideas and working on them with other people. Making Notes a standalone app could help it appeal to a broader audience and increase its usage. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco adds some Spark to meetings

In the technology industry, we like to swing pendulums too far one way or the other and make general statements like “everything is moving to the cloud” or “everything is connecting over wireless,” and those statements are, of course, false. There are still more on-premises workloads than cloud ones, and there’s a huge world of devices that are connected with wires. The collaboration industry is no different, as there has bee a significant rise in the number of tools to improve virtual meetings. We have web conference platforms, audio bridges and advancements in video. And recently there has been an explosion in the number of team messaging products. All of these products help workers conduct virtual meetings.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HP recalls over 100,000 more laptop batteries for fire hazard

HP is expanding its recall of laptop batteries with overheating issues that can cause computer damage and even fire. The company is recalling an additional 101,000 batteries in some laptops sold between March 2013 through October 2016. This is an expansion of the recall initiated in June 2016, which involved HP recalling 41,000 batteries. The batteries are in laptop brands including HP, Compaq, ProBook, Envy, Compaq Presario, and Pavilion laptops. Battery packs sold separately are also affected. Batteries are being recalled in the U.S, Canada and Mexico. Most are in the U.S., while 3,000 are being recalled in Canada, and 4,000 in Mexico. The laptops were sold through big-box retailers and online.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Saudi Arabia again hit with disk-wiping malware Shamoon 2

The disk-wiping Shamoon malware, which was used in attacks that destroyed data on 35,000 computers at Saudi Aramco in 2012, is back; the Shamoon variant prompted Saudi Arabia to issue a warning on Monday.An alert from the telecoms authority, seen by Reuters, warned all organizations to be on the lookout for the variant Shamoon 2. CrowdStrike VP Adam Meyers told Reuters, “The Shamoon hackers were likely working on behalf of the Iranian government in the 2012 campaign and the more-recent attacks. It's likely they will continue.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Saudi Arabia again hit with disk-wiping malware Shamoon 2

The disk-wiping Shamoon malware, which was used in attacks that destroyed data on 35,000 computers at Saudi Aramco in 2012, is back; the Shamoon variant prompted Saudi Arabia to issue a warning on Monday.An alert from the telecoms authority, seen by Reuters, warned all organizations to be on the lookout for the variant Shamoon 2. CrowdStrike VP Adam Meyers told Reuters, “The Shamoon hackers were likely working on behalf of the Iranian government in the 2012 campaign and the more-recent attacks. It's likely they will continue.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Research: Wired Ethernet: Intel® Ethernet X520 to XL710 -… |Intel Communities

This balance is also important when looking at the interaction within a server between the network cards (which have some on-board buffering) and the DPDK managed buffer resources on the host. A better tuning of the buffer sizes can eliminate potential packet losses. This paper is summarizing what to do when going from one type of network card to another one that has different on-board buffer behavior. It also has the potential to explain and fix certain packet loss issues going from one generation of a NIC card to another (e.g. when moving from Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter X520 to Intel® Ethernet Controller XL710)

Basically it comes down to configuring the RX descriptors.

So, to avoid packet losses due to CPU core being interrupted when using Fortville (or when using Niantic and SRIOV), the number of RX descriptors should be configured high enough, for instance to 2048.

Wired Ethernet: Intel® Ethernet X520 to XL710 -… |Intel Communities : https://communities.intel.com/community/wired/blog/2017/01/09/intel-ethernet-x520-to-xl710-tuning-the-buffers-a-practical-guide-to-reduce-or-avoid-packet-loss-in-dpdk-applications

Link to local version PDF File for my future self (hi there!)

X520_to_XL710_Tuning_The_Buffers.pdf

The post Research: Wired Ethernet: Intel® Ethernet X520 to XL710 -… |Intel Communities appeared first on EtherealMind.

IDG Contributor Network: 5 deadly mistakes in agile IT operations

IT operations is under a set of conflicting mandates and pressures.The business wants IT operations to be more agile and to be a partner in the process of bringing more business functionality online (also knows as digitization).The executives in charge of IT (most often the CIO) want IT operations to be more cost effective, which means spending either needs to be reduced or not grow as quickly as it has in the past.Application owners want two inherent conflicting objectives. They want IT operations to guarantee that their infrastructure will provide excellent performance for their applications, and they simultaneously want IT operations to feel more like a cloud provider with a rich set of self-service options.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: 5 deadly mistakes in agile IT operations

IT operations is under a set of conflicting mandates and pressures.The business wants IT operations to be more agile and to be a partner in the process of bringing more business functionality online (also knows as digitization).The executives in charge of IT (most often the CIO) want IT operations to be more cost effective, which means spending either needs to be reduced or not grow as quickly as it has in the past.Application owners want two inherent conflicting objectives. They want IT operations to guarantee that their infrastructure will provide excellent performance for their applications, and they simultaneously want IT operations to feel more like a cloud provider with a rich set of self-service options.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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