BRKRST-3014 – Policy, Complexity, and Modern Control Planes


Presented by: Russ White, LinkedIn

Networks are complex. How do we measure complexity? How do we measure scale? What’s the unit of measure?

You can’t “solve” complexity.

Alderson D and J Dole “complexity in highly organized systems arises primarily from design strategies intended to create robustness to uncertainty.” There’s a point on the complexity scale where robustness actually drops. “Robust but fragile”.

Dunning Kruger effect?

What is complexity?

  • Anything you don’t understand?
  • Anything with many parts?
  • Anything with unintended consequences?
  • Something that can’t be solved; can’t be easily defined.
  • We need to develop a model to understand complex systems quickly

“If you haven’t found the trade off, you haven’t looked hard enough” — Russ

The model:

  • Ask, Why?
  • Ask ,What & How?
  • State
  • Optimization
  • [Interaction] Surface (where two components interact with each other [which could be, and often is, human on CLI])
  • Ask, This is like what? (what’s it similar to?)
  • Now matter how you’re analyzing a network (protocols, applications, whatever), you’ll find these 3 things.
  • Good examples of questions to ask for each point in different use cases

3-way trade off:

  • Quick/Cheap/Quality, or
  • State/Surface/Optimization

“Adding more state to the system should result in an increase in optimization” Continue reading

63% off Gadget Guard iPhone 6 Plus Screen Protector – Deal Alert

Protect your investment with this highly rated screen protector from Gadget Guard. This Gadget Guard screen protector is specifically designed for the iPhone 6 Plus. It's made of optical grade tempered glass, a material that is both incredibly strong and scratch resistant. And it's specially treated to repel smudges. Right now Amazon indicates that its list price of $39.99 has been reduced by a significant 63% to just $14.70. If you have an unprotected iPhone 6 Plus, or know someone who does, this deal may be one to consider.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

23% off Sony ICD-UX533BLK Digital Voice Recorder – Deal Alert

This portable digital audio recorder from Sony has 4GB of internal flash memory capable of recording up to 1,073 hours of voice notes, lectures, music, or any other important moment with a 2-element stereo mic array that records every nuance with great clarity. It can record and playback in MP3, AAC, WMA, and WAV formats, and features a bright backlit display, a built-in USB for direct connection to your computer, and a microSD card slot to add memory. It boasts up to 30 hours of recording time on a single charge. The unit averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 200 customers (read reviews). Amazon indicates that its typical list price of $99.99 has been reduced 23% to $76.95, saving you $23. See the discounted ICD-UX533BLK digital recorder on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AWS buys Cloud9 IDE in snub to Google

Amazon Web Services has bought Cloud9, a popular web-based developer environment that recently aligned itself with the Google Cloud Platform.Cloud9 is a browser-based IDE (integrated development environment) with a fairly rich feature set for building and deploying applications. Because it runs in a browser, developers can pick up their work from any machine, and Cloud9 has tools that let developers collaborate on projects.Along with Codenvy, it was one of the few remaining popular, independent cloud IDEs."While the cloud IDE space is hot, as a market, IDEs are not an easy way to make money," said IDC analyst Al Hilwa. "The technology is better used as a sweetener to make broader platforms more attractive to developers."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Salesforce1 update will leave many mobile devices out in the cold

An upcoming update to the Salesforce1 mobile app will dramatically reduce the number of supported devices and effectively leave users of all but the latest and most popular devices out in the cold.With its Winter '17 release, due to arrive this October, Salesforce is dropping support for all Android phones except the Samsung Galaxy S5, S6, and S7 along with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Google Nexus 5X and Google Nexus 6P.All Android tablets are being dropped as well, with the exception of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and the Samsung Tab A 9.7.Also being excluded are the iPhone 5 and 5C and the iPad Mini 2, Mini 3, and iPad 4, according to an end-of-support announcement uncovered Thursday by The Register.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Raspberry Pi 3 creator hopes for Windows 10 desktop OS support

Raspberry Pi was originally aimed at students and hobbyists, and it can now function as a Linux computer.And if support for Microsoft's Windows 10 desktop OS is added to the latest Raspberry Pi 3, it could become a viable computer for millions of PC users who are not technically savvy.Support for Windows 10 desktop is on founder Eben Upton's wishlist for Raspberry Pi 3, which shipped in February. The mini computer already supports Windows 10 IoT Core, a stripped-down version of the OS for Internet of Things devices.But that decision is not in Upton's hands. It's feasible, but not now contemplated as part of Raspberry Pi's relationship with Microsoft, Upton said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Mac shipments slump for third straight quarter

According to the two largest technology research firms, Apple sold between 4.4 million and 4.6 million Macs in the second quarter, a year-over-year decline of between 5% and 8%.IDC and Gartner both pegged Mac global shipments in the quarter that ended June 30 at lower numbers than during the same period in 2015, even as several Windows PC makers grew theirs. Historically, Apple has grown Mac sales while the broader personal computer market has experienced an unprecedented slump.IDC estimated Mac shipments for the June quarter at 4.4 million, an 8% reduction from 2015, dropping Apple from fourth to fifth place on the list of top OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). Meanwhile, Gartner put Mac shipments at 4.6 million, a decline of 5%, and like its rival, said Apple was No. 5, behind Taiwanese device maker Asus.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump would be a ‘disaster for innovation,’ say Silicon Valley execs

A group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, company founders, engineers, and investors have signed an open letter regarding Donald Trump. The gist: They don't like him and think his presidency would be a disaster for the business of innovation. The letter, published Thursday on Medium, accuses Trump of running a campaign based on fear of new ideas and new people, as well as anger, bigotry, and "a fundamental belief that America is weak and in decline." "We have listened to Donald Trump over the past year and we have concluded: Trump would be a disaster for innovation," the letter said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump would be a ‘disaster for innovation,’ say Silicon Valley execs

A group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, company founders, engineers, and investors have signed an open letter regarding Donald Trump. The gist: They don't like him and think his presidency would be a disaster for the business of innovation. The letter, published Thursday on Medium, accuses Trump of running a campaign based on fear of new ideas and new people, as well as anger, bigotry, and "a fundamental belief that America is weak and in decline." "We have listened to Donald Trump over the past year and we have concluded: Trump would be a disaster for innovation," the letter said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Mt. Gox CEO Karpeles out on bail in Japan

Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of the collapsed Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange, was released on bail on Thursday, just under a year since he was arrested by Japanese police.Japanese broadcaster Nippon TV showed video of Karpeles, 31, walking out of the Tokyo Detention House and getting into a waiting taxi. The broadcaster said he was freed on bail of ¥10 million ($95,000) and is prohibited from leaving Japan under the bail terms.In the pictures, Karpeles looked noticeably thinner than on Aug. 1 last year when he was arrested at his Tokyo apartment.His arrest came more than a year after Mt Gox collapsed in early 2014. At the time it was riding high on a Bitcoin bubble that had made it the world's largest Bitcoin exchange. Its failure hit many who had bought Bitcoin during a surge of interest in the cyber money system at the end of 2013.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

$29.99 for the IT Security & Ethical Hacking Certification Training ($1,895 value) – Deal Alert

If you’re looking to enter a rapidly growing field, snag this course bundle in IT Security & Ethical Hacking. Instructors walk you through training for three industry-recognized certification exams: CompTIA Security+ Cisco’s CCNA Security Certified Ethical Hacker For a limited time, the bundle of courses is only $29.99--a steal considering it’s jam-packed with over 48 hours of courses and 50 hours of advanced training. If you wanted, you could finish all the material in only 4 to 6 weeks, and pass all your exams in record time.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

$29.99 for the IT Security & Ethical Hacking Certification Training ($1,895 value) – Deal Alert

If you’re looking to enter a rapidly growing field, snag this course bundle in IT Security & Ethical Hacking. Instructors walk you through training for three industry-recognized certification exams: CompTIA Security+ Cisco’s CCNA Security Certified Ethical Hacker For a limited time, the bundle of courses is only $29.99--a steal considering it’s jam-packed with over 48 hours of courses and 50 hours of advanced training. If you wanted, you could finish all the material in only 4 to 6 weeks, and pass all your exams in record time.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Weaving Accelerators Into The Memory Complex

In the first part of this series on the proposed Cache Coherence Interconnect for Accelerators (CCIX) standard, we talked about the issues of cache coherence and the need to share memory across various kinds of compute elements in a system. In this second part, we will go deeper into the approach of providing memory coherence across CPUs and various kinds of accelerators that have their own local memory.

A local accelerator could potentially be anything. You want something to execute faster than what is possible in today’s generic processors, and so you throw specialized hardware at the problem. Still,

Weaving Accelerators Into The Memory Complex was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Campaigns use Big Data for political gain

With the presidential nominating conventions looming, the candidates are getting ready to add to the hundreds of millions they’ve already spent to tell you about themselves – but only what they want you to know about themselves.Meanwhile, they have also been spending millions of dollars collecting information about you – and you have no say in what is collected.Which means that, in the era of Big Data, if you’re a potential voter, they know a lot more about you than you know about them.[ ALSO ON CSO: When tech trips up presidential candidates ]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Campaigns use Big Data for political gain

With the presidential nominating conventions looming, the candidates are getting ready to add to the hundreds of millions they’ve already spent to tell you about themselves – but only what they want you to know about themselves.Meanwhile, they have also been spending millions of dollars collecting information about you – and you have no say in what is collected.Which means that, in the era of Big Data, if you’re a potential voter, they know a lot more about you than you know about them.[ ALSO ON CSO: When tech trips up presidential candidates ]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Defective products could result from cyberattacks on industrial 3D printers

Many 3D printers lack cybersecurity features, which presents opportunities to introduce defects as components are being built, a new study shows.The study, performed by a team of cybersecurity and materials engineers at New York University, concluded that with the growth of cloud-based and decentralized 3D printer production supply chains, there can be "significant risk to the reliability of the product."Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is creating a globally distributed manufacturing process and supply chain spanning multiple services, and therefore raises concerns about the reliability of the manufactured product, the study stated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here