CCDE – CCDE Practical Studies – Practice Lab 1 by Martin Duggan

One of the most challenging aspects when studying for the CCDE practical is to find scenarios to practice with. It’s difficult to find a scenario that has enough background information, requirements and constraints to emulate the experience of the real practical. Writing a full scale scenario is very time consuming and challenging. You have to find a good story, make it believable and challenging enough. The scenario must also be somewhat realistic.

I’m happy to announce that my friend Martin Duggan has released a new scenario for the CCDE practical. Martin and I studied for the CCDE together and passed on the same day. Martin is well known in the industry and holds a CCIE in RS and works as a network architect at AT&T. He is a Cisco Press author and has authored the CCIE RS Practice Labs Bundle. I have been a technical reviewer for this scenario and based on my experience this is one of the best quality scenarios I’ve seen.

These are some of the things that I think Martin has done really well to make this scenario as realistic as possible.

Background information – The scenario contains more background information than some of the other Continue reading

Dell/EMC, SnapRoute reinforce OpenSwitch networking features

Looking to broaden the qualities of its open source stack, the OpenSwitch project said SnapRoute and Dell EMC will add new features to its network operating system.Specifically, the new contributions include: SnapRoute’s open source network stack and management services, which support a modular, hardware independent NOS, accessible through a complete set of APIs. Dell EMC’s OS10 Open Edition, which represents an open, disaggregated base subsystem incorporating hardware and platform abstraction layers for networking switching applications. On top of OS 10 base module run application modules which include traditional Layer 2/3 networking functions and other IP, fabric, security, and management and automation tools from Dell, Linux, third-parties and the open source community. “OpenSwitch is now one step closer to providing the data center community with an open source network operating system that enables organizations to focus on developing innovative networking solutions, which can exploit Cavium’s extensible switch architecture to address rapidly changing market needs," said Albert Fishman, Linux Foundation OpenSwitch project marketing chair and senior technical marketing manager of Cavium Switching Platform Group.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dell/EMC, SnapRoute reinforce OpenSwitch networking features

Looking to broaden the qualities of its open source stack, the OpenSwitch project said SnapRoute and Dell EMC will add new features to its network operating system.Specifically, the new contributions include: SnapRoute’s open source network stack and management services, which support a modular, hardware independent NOS, accessible through a complete set of APIs. Dell EMC’s OS10 Open Edition, which represents an open, disaggregated base subsystem incorporating hardware and platform abstraction layers for networking switching applications. On top of OS 10 base module run application modules which include traditional Layer 2/3 networking functions and other IP, fabric, security, and management and automation tools from Dell, Linux, third-parties and the open source community. “OpenSwitch is now one step closer to providing the data center community with an open source network operating system that enables organizations to focus on developing innovative networking solutions, which can exploit Cavium’s extensible switch architecture to address rapidly changing market needs," said Albert Fishman, Linux Foundation OpenSwitch project marketing chair and senior technical marketing manager of Cavium Switching Platform Group.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

43% off NETGEAR AC750 WiFi Range Extender – Deal Alert

Boost the range of your existing WiFi and create a stronger signal in hard-to-reach areas with a WiFi range extender like this one from Netgear, which is highly rated and currently discounted 43% on Amazon. . This compact AC750 wall-plug WiFi booster delivers AC dual band WiFi up to 750 Mbps, and is small and discreet, easily blending into your home decor. Well over 13,000 people have reviewed the AC750 on Amazon (read reviews) and have given it an average of 4 out of 5 stars. Right now its list price of $70 has been reduced to $40. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

43% off NETGEAR AC750 WiFi Range Extender – Deal Alert

Boost the range of your existing WiFi and create a stronger signal in hard-to-reach areas with a WiFi range extender like this one from Netgear, which is highly rated and currently discounted 43% on Amazon. . This compact AC750 wall-plug WiFi booster delivers AC dual band WiFi up to 750 Mbps, and is small and discreet, easily blending into your home decor. Well over 13,000 people have reviewed the AC750 on Amazon (read reviews) and have given it an average of 4 out of 5 stars. Right now its list price of $70 has been reduced to $40. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM, LEGO offer Macs as recruiting tool

In a job-seeker’s market, employers will do everything they can to attract and retain skilled talent. For some companies, that extends to the technology they offer to employees.At IBM, employees can now choose Apple devices, thanks to an initiative launched in June of 2015. In the first few months of the user-choice program, IBM deployed 30,000 Macs to its workforce. Today, IBM has 90,000 Macs deployed and is on pace to exceed 100,000 by year end.The Mac@IBM program is part of a larger effort to transform company culture, according to Fletcher Previn, vice president of Workplace as a Service at IBM.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

snaproute Go BGP Code Dive (13): Finding the tail of the update chain

Just in time for Hallo’ween, the lucky thirteenth post in the BGP code dive series. In this series, we’re working through the Snaproute Go implementation of BGP just to see how a production, open source BGP implementation really works. Along the way, we’re learning something about how larger, more complex projects are structured, and also something about the Go programming language. The entire series can be found on the series page.

In the last post in this series, we left off with our newly established peer just sitting there sending and receiving keepalives. But BGP peers are not designed just to exchange random traffic, they’re actually designed to exchange reachability and topology information about the network. BGP carries routing information in updated, which are actually complicated containers for a lot of different kinds of reachability information. In BGP, a reachable destination is called an NLRI, or Network Layer Reachability Information. Starting with this code dive, we’re going to look at how the snaproute BGP implementation processes updates, sorting out NLRIs, etc.

When you’re reading through code, whether looking for a better understanding of an implementation, a better understanding of a protocol, or even to figure out “what went wrong” on Continue reading

Messaging and collaboration tools are most valuable enterprise apps

Messaging and collaboration applications are the most mission-critical mobile apps in enterprise today, according to a new survey of executives commissioned by Adobe. More than half of the professionals surveyed (57 percent) said mobile apps for messaging and collaboration are critical to their organizations' success, and a similar number of respondents (59 percent) said such apps will continue to be critical in 2019. The survey, which was conducted by Edelman Intelligence, included responses from 1,500 executives in HR, sales and marketing from companies with more than 1,000 employees located in the United States, India, China, the United Kingdom and Germany. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Internet of Things poised to transform cities

The internet of things (IoT) is set to transform municipal life, according to government officials surveyed by the nonprofit trade association Computing Industry Trade Association (CompTIA)."Cities and city leaders are thinking more holistically about different uses of technology that are integrated and bringing different aspects of the city together into a unified whole," says Tim Herbert, senior vice president, research and market intelligence, CompTIA."Improved decision-making made possible through new or better streams of data ranks as the highest perceived benefit," he adds.How to build a smarter city In June and July of this year, CompTIA surveyed 172 government personnel with some degree of technology decision-making responsibility for its Building Smarter Cities report. It found that one-half of local, state and federal government personnel believe IoT and the smart cities enabled by IoT will definitely provide value. A further 39 percent felt IoT and smart cities would probably provide value.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to maximize the value of your software IP

Last month, BlackBerry announced that it was quitting the phone-making business, but the BlackBerry name will live on. That's because the company has entered into a licensing agreement with an Indonesian company that will manufacture, distribute and promote BlackBerry-branded devices running BlackBerry software.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Apple design chief Jony Ive rules out touchscreen Macs

PC makers have fully embraced touchscreen laptops and desktops, but don’t expect Apple to head down that road.Last week, the company introduced two MacBook Pros that feature slim OLED displays to replace the keyboard’s function keys. Apple launched its latest products just one day after Microsoft unveiled its massive Surface Studio desktop designed for creative professionals, a demographic once solidly in Apple territory. Why didn’t Apple go fully touchscreen with its new MacBooks? Is the Touch Bar an interim step, a sign that Apple is unsure of its footing?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft introduces mobile scheduling app for Outlook

Stating it wants Outlook for mobile to be more than just checking messages while waiting in line for coffee, Microsoft today announced a new scheduling experience for Outlook for iOS that's similar to the Outlook feature on the desktop. The scheduling assistant for Outlook for iOS is similar to the desktop version of the app, which lets you see your co-workers' schedules, so you can schedule an event at a time that works for everyone.First, you create an event in your calendar, then add co-workers to the “People” field. Times that work for everyone show in white, yellow indicates availability for one or more people in the group, and red indicates times with no availability. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 Tales from the Docker Crypt

(Cue the Halloween music)

Welcome to my crypt. This is the Docker crypt keeper speaking and I’ll be your spirit guide on your journey through the dangerous and frightening world of IT applications. Today you will learn about 5 spooky application stories covering everything from cobweb covered legacy processes to shattered CI/CD pipelines. As these stories unfold, you will hear  how Docker helped banish cost, complexity and chaos.

Tale 1 – “Demo Demons”

Splunk was on a mission to enable their employees and partners across the globe to deliver demos of their software regardless of where they’re located in the world, and have each demo function consistently. These business critical demos include everything from Splunk security, to web analytics and IT service intelligence. This vision proved to be quite complex to execute. At times their SEs would be in customer meetings, but their demos would sometimes fail. They needed to ensure that each of their 30 production demos within their Splunk Oxygen demo platform could live forever in eternal greatness.

To ensure their demos were working smoothly with their customers, Splunk uses Docker Datacenter, our on-premises solution that brings container management and deployment services to the enterprise via an integrated platform. Images are Continue reading

How AWS has turned into Amazon’s crutch

When Amazon announced its earnings last week, Wall Street was disappointed, with the company’s stock tumbling 5%. But if Amazon didn’t have its cloud business, Wall Street may have been even more bearish. By non-Wall Street standards, the online ecommerce giant had a nice quarter: Revenues of $32. 7 billion were up 29% from the same quarter last year and the company turned a $575 billion profit. The revenues and earnings were less than consensus estimates and Amazon gave vague guidance on future performance heading into the always-busy holiday shopping season. Amazon AWS continued its healthy growth across sales, operating income and Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) Net Sales  To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: The real unified communications

A few weeks back, I wrote a post contending that, as traditionally defined, the term unified communications has no meaning. Since then, I have had many interesting conversations with people who have varying opinions on the subject. This post is to pass along some of what I have learned.Un-unified In alignment with my contention, most of the conversations on the subject have confirmed that when someone in a work situation needs to communicate with someone who is not within earshot, they typically use tools that are very, well, un-unified. If we need to talk to someone, we call. We still email as much as any other modality. Second to that, we text and increasingly group message. If we need to share or collaborate on information that is in a document, we webchat. Begrudgingly, we occasionally video chat. A few people do use a single tool for these functions, but more often we choose between a set of tools—applications that are specialized to the task at hand.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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