Be Careful with TCP Syslog and the ASA

I wanted to take just a moment to share a little gotcha that could take you by surprise. To demonstrate, I have a simple topology with an ASA in the middle. I am inspecting ICMP so ping traffic is stateful and flows properly.

TCP Syslog
To confirm connectivity,  I can ping from csr1000v-2 from csr1000v-1

csr1000v-1#ping 10.0.0.10 repeat 5
Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 10.0.0.10, timeout is 2 seconds:
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 2/6/16 ms

Now for the ASA change that can catch an administrator off guard

asav-1(config)#logging on
asav-1(config)#logging trap informational
asav-1(config)#logging host inside 1.1.1.1 tcp/1025

//clear the connection just to make sure the next connection will be new
asav-1(config)#clear conn

Now the connectivity from csr1000v-1 to csr1000v-2 is broken

csr1000v-1#ping 10.0.0.10 repeat 5
Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 10.0.0.10, timeout is 2 seconds:
.....
Success rate is 0 percent (0/5)

So what is wrong? Let’s take one quick look at the logging configuration.

asav-1(config)# show run logging
logging enable
logging trap informational
logging host inside 1.1.1.1 6/1025
asav-1(config)#

Continue reading

Traffic tickets got you down? This robo-lawyer has already saved users $4 million

Robots are no strangers to the legal profession thanks to tools like LawGeex, but one has emerged recently that appears to be a Robin Hood of the modern world.DoNotPay is the brainchild of 19-year-old Stanford University student Joshua Browder, and it has already successfully contested some 160,000 parking tickets across London and New York. It's free to use and has reportedly saved its users some $4 million in less than two years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

50% off Earth Pak Waterproof Dry Bag Compression Sack – Deal Alert

Whether you are Kayaking, Beaching, Rafting, Boating, Hiking, Camping or Fishing, Earth Pak believes they have created the best dry bag on the market for any adventure. Toss in your gear, roll it down, and don't be afraid to toss this bag around. It's designed to last for years and will keep your phone, gadgets and gear dry and protected. It comes in 10L, 20L and 30L size, and all models feature 24-42 inch adjustable shoulder straps. Included is Earth Pak's IPX8 certified waterproof phone case that can fit even the largest phones, with simple snap and lock access and clear windows that allow for picture taking without removing from the case. This bag is currently discounted 50% from $60 down to just $30, and averages 5 out of 5 stars from over 800 customers (read reviews). To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Reports of Google building a phone are preposterous

In January 2014, Google sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo. Imagine Google CEO Sundar Pichai now telling the Alphabet board that after buying and making Motorola into one of the best mobile device makers in the world, selling it was a mistake and the company should invest billions to recreate it. It would be like GE starting a TV network after it sold NBC to Comcast or HPE starting a PC division after it spun off its PC business.So, what is Google doing? The Motorola turnaround is a good place to start explaining what Google is doing.Google recruited Regina Dugan, former chief of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), into Motorola during the turnaround. The 50-year-old government agency is charged with preventing strategic surprises from—and creating strategic surprises for—America’s adversaries. DARPA earned a reputation for producing high-impact results quickly. A few of DARPA’s many innovations include the internet, global positioning satellites (GPS), drones and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows 10 reinstallation tip: How to reset your PC and keep your files

Sometimes Windows needs a fresh start—maybe a program’s gone awry or a file’s been corrupted. Luckily, Windows 10 lets you do this with a few clicks.Windows 10 has an option where you can reinstall Windows and wipe your programs, but it keeps your files intact. Note that this won’t get rid of any “bonus” bloatware programs your PC vendor put on your computer before you bought it—you’ll have to do that manually—but it will get rid of any software you or someone else installed afterward.Even though Windows says it’ll keep your files intact, it always pays to back up your PC or at least the important files before you do anything like this.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Top 10 emerging technologies from the World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum has put together a list of the top 10 emerging technologies that will change our lives. The list includes nanosensors that will circulate through the human body, a battery that will be able to power an entire town and socially aware artificial intelligence that will track our finances and health.These are not far-flung visions, according to the forum. They are technologies that are on the cusp of having a meaningful impact.“Horizon scanning for emerging technologies is crucial to staying abreast of developments that can radically transform our world, enabling timely expert analysis in preparation for these disruptors,” said Bernard Meyerson, chairman of the World Economic Forum council that compiled the list of the top 10 emerging technologies in 2016. “The global community needs to come together and agree on common principles if our society is to reap the benefits and hedge the risks of these technologies," he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft launches its cross-platform .Net Core

Microsoft used a Linux conference of all places to announce the release of .NET Core 1.0 and ASP.NET Core 1.0, the open source, cross-platform version of its .NET Framework for building apps that can run on Mac and Linux. With the help of its recently acquired Xamarin, iOS and Android can also be supported.The announcement was made simultaneously at the Red Hat DevNation summit in San Francisco and on the MSDN blog. The release includes the .Net Core runtime, libraries and tools and the ASP.NET Core libraries. Microsoft also released Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code extensions to create .NET Core projects, as well as Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 today.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Resold hard drives on eBay, Craigslist are often still ripe with leftover data

Before you throw away that old hard drive, make sure you purge the memory clean.  A new study has found that most users are accidentally giving up photos, social security numbers and financial data, by failing to properly delete the files on their recycled hard drives. Blancco Technology Group, which specializes in data erasure, conducted the study by randomly buying 200 secondhand PC storage drives from eBay and Craigslist. Their goal was to see if the company could recover any of the old data saved inside. In most cases, it could. 78 percent of the drives contained residual data that could be recovered.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Resold hard drives on eBay, Craigslist are often still ripe with leftover data

Before you throw away that old hard drive, make sure you purge the memory clean.  A new study has found that most users are accidentally giving up photos, social security numbers and financial data, by failing to properly delete the files on their recycled hard drives. Blancco Technology Group, which specializes in data erasure, conducted the study by randomly buying 200 secondhand PC storage drives from eBay and Craigslist. Their goal was to see if the company could recover any of the old data saved inside. In most cases, it could. 78 percent of the drives contained residual data that could be recovered.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Lenovo HPC Bounces Back After IBM Spinoff

When IBM sold off its System x division to Lenovo Group in the fall of 2014, some big supercomputing centers in the United States and Europe that were long-time customers of Big Blue had to stop and think about what their future systems would look like and who would supply them. It was not a foregone conclusion that the Xeon-based portion of IBM’s HPC business would just move over to Lenovo as part of the sale.

Quite the opposite, in fact. Many believed that Lenovo could not hold onto its HPC business, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell were quick

Lenovo HPC Bounces Back After IBM Spinoff was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Too many IoT networks? Cisco just bet on this one

Cisco Systems just cast a vote of confidence in one of the many technologies that might get your next IoT device online.On Tuesday, the company announced gateways between LoRaWAN low-power wireless networks and fatter pipes like Ethernet cables. The gateways can take in data from sensors and other small Internet of Things devices and send it back to an enterprise or cloud.This is Cisco’s first commercial foray into LPWANs (low power, wide area networks), a new generation of infrastructure designed for devices that are too small and power-constrained to use cellular.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

‘How to get an A/C budget approved’

According to one IT professional posting on Reddit’s section for systems administrators, the best way to get an air-conditioning budget approved is to turn up the heat – literally -- on the right company executives. He writes:   After adding a second rack to our server room the portable A/C unit just couldn't hack it anymore. Ambient temperatures were regularly spiking above 30C (86F). I had to come in on weekends to open doors, move fans, etc.Since this is just the beginning of summer I know it's only going to get worse. We need a commercial A/C unit. The portable A/C we have exhausts above the drop ceiling, which just creates a blanket of hot air and compounds the issue.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

‘How to get an A/C budget approved’

According to one IT professional posting on Reddit’s section for systems administrators, the best way to get an air-conditioning budget approved is to turn up the heat – literally -- on the right company executives. He writes:   After adding a second rack to our server room the portable A/C unit just couldn't hack it anymore. Ambient temperatures were regularly spiking above 30C (86F). I had to come in on weekends to open doors, move fans, etc.Since this is just the beginning of summer I know it's only going to get worse. We need a commercial A/C unit. The portable A/C we have exhausts above the drop ceiling, which just creates a blanket of hot air and compounds the issue.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Senator stalls intelligence funding bill over surveillance concerns

A U.S. senator has stalled an intelligence budget bill over concerns that it would expand surveillance while limiting oversight of it.Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has placed a hold on the 2017 Intelligence Authorization Act, saying the bill would allow the FBI, without a court order, to demand U.S. residents' email and Internet records from ISPs and other communications providers.The bill would allow the FBI to obtain new records through the controversial National Security Letter program, which allows the FBI to collect phone and financial records through administrative subpoenas.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Senator stalls intelligence funding bill over surveillance concerns

A U.S. senator has stalled an intelligence budget bill over concerns that it would expand surveillance while limiting oversight of it.Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has placed a hold on the 2017 Intelligence Authorization Act, saying the bill would allow the FBI, without a court order, to demand U.S. residents' email and Internet records from ISPs and other communications providers.The bill would allow the FBI to obtain new records through the controversial National Security Letter program, which allows the FBI to collect phone and financial records through administrative subpoenas.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here