Introducing Ansible 2.1: Networking, Windows, Azure, and Containers

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I am pleased to announce the availability of Ansible version 2.1. Ansible 2.1 is Red Hat’s next major release since we pushed  2.0 in January. This new version adds a number of new features and fixes, and we’re excited to get it out into your hands. We’ve added key functionality in networking, took the beta tag off of our Microsoft Windows support, expanded our support for Microsoft Azure, enhanced our Docker containers support, and added a number of key internal features for ziploader and elsewhere.

On the networking front, we’ve included managing networking infrastructure as first-order feature set in Ansible--no separate download required. We previously released the Networking tech preview in February at AnsibleFest in London, and now it is fully integrated into Ansible as part of 2.1 Ansible’s agentless model works particularly well in the network management space, and with a lot of help and support from the vendors, we are very pleased to have our first major release with support for these features. Networking now includes support for:

  • Cisco
  • HP Enterprise
  • Juniper
  • Arista Networks
  • Cumulus Networks

In the Microsoft world, we significantly upped our game for both Windows and Azure Cloud. We’re happy to Continue reading

DNS Privacy

The DNS is normally a relatively open protocol that smears its data far and wide. Little wonder that the DNS is used in many ways, not just as a mundane name resolution protocol, but as a data channel for surveillance and as a common means of implementing various forms of content access control. But all this is poised to change.

IDG Contributor Network: Most CMS-run websites have obsolete software and are vulnerable to attack

If you’ve been putting off software updates on websites that you’ve developed, been bamboozled into managing, or somehow become inexplicably responsible for, you’re not alone. All of the major content management systems (CMS) website brands are out of date much of the time.Magento-built websites are running on aging software 97 percent of the time, according to a security firm that handles clean-ups of attacked website. Magento was the worst of the bunch, but WordPress-, Joomla- and Drupal-driven websites also are not being updated, reveals Sucuri in its first Website Hacked Report (PDF), covering 2016 Q1.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Most CMS-run websites have obsolete software and are vulnerable to attack

If you’ve been putting off software updates on websites that you’ve developed, been bamboozled into managing, or somehow become inexplicably responsible for, you’re not alone. All of the major content management systems (CMS) website brands are out of date much of the time.Magento-built websites are running on aging software 97 percent of the time, according to a security firm that handles clean-ups of attacked website. Magento was the worst of the bunch, but WordPress-, Joomla- and Drupal-driven websites also are not being updated, reveals Sucuri in its first Website Hacked Report (PDF), covering 2016 Q1.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Open source is in our DNA

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This is what the iPhone 7 will probably look like

Now that Google I/O is behind us, the next two major tech events are set to be Apple-dominated affairs. Up first, of course, we have WWDC which is slated to take place in just about two weeks in San Francisco. And following that, Apple sometime in late August or early September will finally take the wraps off the highly anticipated iPhone 7.Over the past few months, we've slowly but surely been inundated with an avalanche of iPhone 7 rumors, some more credible than others. But with Apple reportedly already looking to kickstart production, it stands to reason that some of the more recent leaks represent close approximations to what Apple will ultimately unveil in just a few months.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IoT security is getting its own crash tests

The thousands of endpoints in IoT systems may have to protect themselves against thousands of dangers. A decades-old IT lab wants to tell you if they’re up to the task.On Wednesday, ICSA Labs announced a program to test the security features of IoT devices and sensors. If the products pass, ICSA will give them a seal of approval. It can also keep testing them periodically to make sure they’re still safe.Consumers and enterprises are wary about security in the Internet of Things, where hardware, software and even use cases are brand new in many cases. Tiny connected devices that run all the time in the background could be vulnerable to completely new kinds of attacks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IoT security is getting its own crash tests

The thousands of endpoints in IoT systems may have to protect themselves against thousands of dangers. A decades-old IT lab wants to tell you if they’re up to the task.On Wednesday, ICSA Labs announced a program to test the security features of IoT devices and sensors. If the products pass, ICSA will give them a seal of approval. It can also keep testing them periodically to make sure they’re still safe.Consumers and enterprises are wary about security in the Internet of Things, where hardware, software and even use cases are brand new in many cases. Tiny connected devices that run all the time in the background could be vulnerable to completely new kinds of attacks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Salesforce picks AWS as preferred public cloud provider

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Top Raspberry Pi news of the week

We scratch and claw sometimes to find enterprise IT angles regarding the tiny and inexpensive Raspberry Pi computers, but this week, an item has fallen right into our lap.Citrix touts Raspberry Pi Citrix’s latest attempt to disrupt the business desktop PC market is via its $89 HDX Ready Pi box, which combines with Citrix XenDesktop virtual desktop technology and XenApp virtual apps. That could come in cheaper even than such client devices as Chromebooks.Citrix VP of Emerging Solutions Chris Fleck writes on a company blog this week that the combination of the low-cost Raspberry Pi 3 platform with its own system-on-chip architecture, plus a locked down Linux OS, could widely expand the market for Raspberry Pi.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Business users get live chat in Office Online

Microsoft's attempts to catch up with Google in the online collaboration space took a step forward Wednesday, when the company announced that it's giving business users live chat in Office Online. The new feature will allow users to discuss documents stored in SharePoint and OneDrive for Business using chat sessions powered by Skype for Business.When more than one person is working on a shared document inside Word, Excel, OneNote or PowerPoint Online, they'll see a chat button show up in the Web app's toolbar. When clicked, it'll open a chat sidebar so everyone with the document open can discuss it. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FCC formalizes massive fines for selling, using cell-phone jammers

Two years ago the FCC announced its intention to fine a Chinese electronics maker $34.9 million and a Florida man $48,000 for respectively selling and using illegal cell-phone jammers.Today the agency has issued press releases telling us that those fines have finally been made official, without either of the offending parties having bothered to mount a formal defense of their actions.[MORE: For sale: The nuclear bunker of your dreams]The wheels of justice, etc. And good luck collecting the $34.9 million.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco ACI and VMware NSX kumbaya?

Comments by Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins last week that the networking giant is open to collaborations with VMware in virtual networking raise the question: Just how would Cisco's ACI and VMware's NSX platforms could work together?In an interview with CRN last week, Robbins spoke vaguely about potentially exploring collaborations between Cisco’s ACI and VMware’s NSX, but did not commit to any specific integrations of the two products, which have typically been seen as competitors in the market.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: VMware narrowing SDN gap with Cisco | The future of auto safety is seatbelts, airbags and network technology +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco ACI and VMware NSX kumbaya?

Comments by Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins last week that the networking giant is open to collaborations with VMware in virtual networking raise the question: Just how would Cisco's ACI and VMware's NSX platforms could work together?In an interview with CRN last week, Robbins spoke vaguely about potentially exploring collaborations between Cisco’s ACI and VMware’s NSX, but did not commit to any specific integrations of the two products, which have typically been seen as competitors in the market.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: VMware narrowing SDN gap with Cisco | The future of auto safety is seatbelts, airbags and network technology +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google’s Trust API: Bye-bye passwords, hello biometrics?

Bye-bye passwords. We’ve heard that a lot over the years, but Google has a plan to kill off passwords by the end of this year by replacing passwords with biometrics.“We have a phone, and these phones have all these sensors in them,” Daniel Kaufman, said at Google I/O 2016 last week. “Why couldn’t it just know who I was, so I don’t need a password? It should just be able to work.” Kaufman heads up Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) research unit.You may recall Project Abacus (video) being mentioned at Google I/O last year. It was tested across 28 states in 33 universities, so now Google intends to “get rid of the awkwardness” of two-factor authentication, as well as passwords. Instead, you will be authenticated by how you use your Android.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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