Principles of Automation

Automation is an increasingly interesting topic in pretty much every technology discipline these days. There’s lots of talk about tooling, practices, skill set evolution, and more - but little conversation about fundamentals. What little is published by those actually practicing automation, usually takes the form of source code or technical whitepapers. While these are obviously valuable, they don’t usually cover some of the fundamental basics that could prove useful to the reader who wishes to perform similar things in their own organization, but may have different technical requirements.

I write this post to cover what I’m calling the “Principles of Automation”. I have pondered this topic for a while and I believe I have three principles that cover just about any form of automation you may consider. These principles have nothing to do with technology disciplines, tools, or programming languages - they are fundamental principles that you can adopt regardless of the implementation.

I hope you enjoy.

It’s a bit of a long post, so TL;DR - automation isn’t magic. It isn’t only for the “elite”. Follow these guidelines and you can realize the same value regardless of your scale.

Factorio

Lately I’ve been obsessed with a game called “Factorio”. Continue reading

Docker Community Spotlight: Nimret Sandhu

Nimret Sandhu.jpg

Nimret Sandhu has shown himself to be a key player in the success of the Docker Seattle Meetup group; and now with almost 2000 eager members,  organizing engaging events has become quite the responsibility! On top of his busy work schedule at Dev9, his extracurricular activities and a family life, Nimret took the time to tell us his Docker story, his favorite thing about the Docker Community and also departed with some words of wisdom for anyone just starting a meetup group.

 

Tell us about your first experience with Docker. What drew you to joining as an organizer for the Docker Seattle Meetup group?

My first experience with Docker was when our company, Dev9, looked into partnering with this up-and-coming startup named Docker a couple of years ago. Since I’m a long time *nix user who’s been exposed to solaris zones, bsd jails, etc. in the past, I looked into it, and immediately realized the potential. Once I downloaded and played around with it, I was so blown away by the technology that I started evangelizing it to our clients. I gave a talk on it and volunteered to help out with the Docker Seattle Meetup. I had already been running the Continue reading

Breaches, IT skills & innovation keeping CIOs up at night

To say that CIOs have full plates – from guarding against breaches to cloud migration to embracing innovation – is an understatement. But given the growing recognition of IT’s importance to organizations of all kinds, it’s also a tremendous time to be a CIO despite the complications and demands of the job.These are among the findings of the Society for Information Management’s (SIM) 37th Anniversary IT Trends Study, which is being released to SIM members this week as a lead-in to next week’s annual SIMposium conference that’s taking place in Connecticut. Non-members can get a peek at the study next week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Breaches, IT skills & innovation keeping CIOs up at night

To say that CIOs have full plates – from guarding against breaches to cloud migration to embracing innovation – is an understatement. But given the growing recognition of IT’s importance to organizations of all kinds, it’s also a tremendous time to be a CIO despite the complications and demands of the job.These are among the findings of the Society for Information Management’s (SIM) 37th Anniversary IT Trends Study, which is being released to SIM members this week as a lead-in to next week’s annual SIMposium conference that’s taking place in Connecticut. Non-members can get a peek at the study next week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

9% off Nest Cam Indoor Security Camera – Deal Alert

Look after your home 24/7 in crisp 1080p HD. With Nest Cam Indoor, you can check in, even when you’re out, and even at night with its built-in high-quality night vision. Nest Cam features a versatile magnetic stand that lets you put it anywhere. See who’s there, listen in and speak up to get their attention. With Nest Aware, you can get a special alert if Nest Cam sees a person, and save 10 or 30 days of continuous video history in the cloud. Then speed through it in seconds and quickly find the moment you’re looking for in Sightline. Nest's indoor camera is a best-seller on Amazon with 4 out of 5 stars from over 4,000 people (read reviews). Its typical list price of $199 has been reduced 9% to $182.00 on Amazon. Amazon also features a bundle of three cameras that will deepen the discount even further. Right now it's just $454.97 for the pack of three.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

9% off Nest Cam Indoor Security Camera – Deal Alert

Look after your home 24/7 in crisp 1080p HD. With Nest Cam Indoor, you can check in, even when you’re out, and even at night with its built-in high-quality night vision. Nest Cam features a versatile magnetic stand that lets you put it anywhere. See who’s there, listen in and speak up to get their attention. With Nest Aware, you can get a special alert if Nest Cam sees a person, and save 10 or 30 days of continuous video history in the cloud. Then speed through it in seconds and quickly find the moment you’re looking for in Sightline. Nest's indoor camera is a best-seller on Amazon with 4 out of 5 stars from over 4,000 people (read reviews). Its typical list price of $199 has been reduced 9% to $182.00 on Amazon. Amazon also features a bundle of three cameras that will deepen the discount even further. Right now it's just $454.97 for the pack of three.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Air Force gets space telescope that can see space objects like no ground-based system before it

The DARPA-developed Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) will this week get a new permanent home in Australia with the Air Force Space Command where it promises to rapidly bolster the nation’s ability to more quickly spot and track faint objects in space. The Air Force, says the SST features unique image-capturing technology known as a curved charge coupled device (CCD) system,  as well as very wide field-of-view, large-aperture optics, and doesn't require the long optics train of a more traditional telescopes. The design makes the SST less cumbersome on its moveable mount, letting it survey the sky rapidly, the Air Force says. The telescope's mount uses advanced servo-control technology, making the SST one of the most agile telescopes of its size ever built.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Air Force gets space telescope that can see space objects like no ground-based system before it

The DARPA-developed Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) will this week get a new permanent home in Australia with the Air Force Space Command where it promises to rapidly bolster the nation’s ability to more quickly spot and track faint objects in space. The Air Force, says the SST features unique image-capturing technology known as a curved charge coupled device (CCD) system,  as well as very wide field-of-view, large-aperture optics, and doesn't require the long optics train of a more traditional telescopes. The design makes the SST less cumbersome on its moveable mount, letting it survey the sky rapidly, the Air Force says. The telescope's mount uses advanced servo-control technology, making the SST one of the most agile telescopes of its size ever built.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

To unlock phones, feds demand all occupants surrender fingerprints

U.S. investigators are exercising a broad legal authority to force suspects to unlock their smartphones. In a recent case, they demanded that anyone found inside a California residence comply by surrendering their fingerprints.In May, the federal prosecutors made the request as part of a search warrant, according to a court filing uncovered by Forbes. Those fingerprints were crucial to unlocking the smartphones, the Department of Justice argued.However, the federal investigators went beyond asking for the fingerprints of one suspect. Instead, they the sought authority to "depress the fingerprints" of everyone located at the California property.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

To unlock phones, feds demand all occupants surrender fingerprints

U.S. investigators are exercising a broad legal authority to force suspects to unlock their smartphones. In a recent case, they demanded that anyone found inside a California residence comply by surrendering their fingerprints.In May, the federal prosecutors made the request as part of a search warrant, according to a court filing uncovered by Forbes. Those fingerprints were crucial to unlocking the smartphones, the Department of Justice argued.However, the federal investigators went beyond asking for the fingerprints of one suspect. Instead, they the sought authority to "depress the fingerprints" of everyone located at the California property.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AWS And VMware Acquaint As Strange Cloudfellows

What happens when the world’s largest public cloud and the biggest peddler of server virtualization in the enterprise team up to create a hybrid cloud?

A few things. First, the many VMware partners who have built clouds based on the ESXi hypervisor get nervous. And second, VMware very delicately and carefully prices its software low enough that it can have a scalable public cloud play but not so low that Amazon Web Services doesn’t end up having the pricing leverage that its parent company had with the book business a decade ago. And third, AWS uses the might of a …

AWS And VMware Acquaint As Strange Cloudfellows was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Worth Reading: MANRs gains steam

The Internet Society’s Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS), which launched nearly two years ago as a plan for advancing the security and resilience of the Net’s routing infrastructure, has signed up network operators in Asia, North and South America, Africa, and Europe, including six network providers from Russia, five in the Netherlands, five in the US, and four in Germany. AT&T, Comcast, and Level 3, are among the largest US ISPs that have joined the effort. —Dark Reading

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The post Worth Reading: MANRs gains steam appeared first on 'net work.

The fix for Windows 10 needs a fix

A fix issued this past Tuesday to address problems in the Anniversary Update to Windows 10 hasn't fixed the problem and is causing just as many issues with users, according to online reports.Cumulative update KB3194798, issued on Oct. 11, is failing to install on a number of computers for no particular reason. This update was supposed to repair systems running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (version 1607) and offer performance improvements and optimizations, as well as bug fixes to the OS. It's not doing any of those things for some people.What users see This update is suffering from the same issues that affected previous cumulative updates. After attempting to install the update, a message pops up that the install failed and the operating system is undoing changes. The system reboots and users are brought back to the desktop where they are asked to install the update again.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: DarkLight removes Li-Fi restriction, allows visible light to transmit data in the dark

Visible Light Communications (VLC), or Li-Fi, is a new optical wireless communications technology that promises spectacular amounts of new bandwidth for data transmissions. It uses visible light spectrum. Common lights could, indeed, be used to create the networked communications.However, there’s a drawback to this optimistically regarded tech, say scientists. The receivers need to see the light bulbs. That means the space in which this technology is used can’t be dark, and that's a problem if someone wants to sleep in the room. A solution is to dim LEDs or switch them on and off at high speeds, so the eye can’t see it.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: DarkLight removes Li-Fi restriction, allows visible light to transmit data in the dark

Visible Light Communications (VLC), or Li-Fi, is a new optical wireless communications technology that promises spectacular amounts of new bandwidth for data transmissions. It uses visible light spectrum. Common lights could, indeed, be used to create the networked communications.However, there’s a drawback to this optimistically regarded tech, say scientists. The receivers need to see the light bulbs. That means the space in which this technology is used can’t be dark, and that's a problem if someone wants to sleep in the room. A solution is to dim LEDs or switch them on and off at high speeds, so the eye can’t see it.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Assange’s internet allegedly cut by ‘state party;’ Guccifer 2.0 springs back to life

WikiLeaks has continued to dump Clinton-related emails, such as three Goldman Sachs speeches that Clinton was paid about $225,000 to give, but a series of unusual tweets sent parts of the internet into a tizzy, claiming Assange had been killed and the tweets were triggered by a dead man’s switch.Yesterday, WikiLeaks’ regular tweets were interrupted by three tweets that contained hashes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Assange’s internet allegedly cut by ‘state party;’ Guccifer 2.0 springs back to life

WikiLeaks has continued to dump Clinton-related emails, such as three Goldman Sachs speeches that Clinton was paid about $225,000 to give, but a series of unusual tweets sent parts of the internet into a tizzy, claiming Assange had been killed and the tweets were triggered by a dead man’s switch.Yesterday, WikiLeaks’ regular tweets were interrupted by three tweets that contained hashes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

40% off ZIPP Mini WiFi + Bluetooth Multi-Room Wireless Speaker – Deal Alert

The ZIPP MINI delivers 360° sound no matter where in your home you take it. Enjoy your music and audio content streamed to your ZIPP MINI wireless speaker using your home WiFi network, or directly from your device using Bluetooth. Pair up to 6 of them together in one room for an immersive listening experience. The intuitive touch controls let you control everything directly from the ZIPP MINI speaker, or you can easily control and configure it all from the Libratone mobile App. ZIPP MINI supports Spotify Connect, as well as AirPlay and DLNA so you can output audio from apps like Netflix. It averages 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon and its list price of $250 has been reduced 40% to $150. See it on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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