Why does Unikernel Systems Joining Docker Make A Lot of Sense?

Unikernel Systems Joins Docker. Now this is an interesting match. The themes are security and low overhead, though they do seem to solve the same sort of problem.

So, what's going on?

In FLOSS WEEKLY 302 Open Mirage, starting at about 10 minutes in, there are a series of possible clues. Dr. Anil Madhavapeddy, former CTO of Unikernel Systems, explains their motivation behind the creation of unikernels. And it's a huge and exciting vision...

Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect SD WAN – Is It Any Good?

Silver Peak

Ok, so Silver Peak offers yet another SD-WAN solution, you say? Well yes, but is it really possible to have too many options when it comes to broadband and hybrid WANs? I say no; the more choice we have, the more likely we can find the right solution for each situation and the more each vendor is encouraged to feature match with the others. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what Silver Peak offers and perhaps see how it is differentiated from the other solutions on the market.

What Is SD WAN?

Last year I wrote a brief definition of SD WAN as I see it, and for convenience I will reproduce that here as a reference point:

SD WAN is a solution that uses real time WAN link performance monitoring and data packet inspection to autonomously manage the distribution of network traffic across multiple, likely heterogenous, WAN links with the aim of improving and optimizing WAN performance in alignment with the business requirements.

My definition is intentionally vague about how such lofty goals should be accomplished, and that’s inevitably where the special sauce of each solution comes in.

Silver Peak WAN Optimization

Silver Peak sees two Continue reading

Google blocked more bad ads than ever in 2015, but they still keep coming

When Google tells us it blocked 780 million bad ads last year, is that a sign that things are getting better?In one way it is, as the 49 percent increase in bad ads blocked outpaced Google's overall advertising growth, indicating that the company has been blocking a greater number of bad ads as a percentage of the whole. Clicks on its ads grew at a slightly more leisurely pace, rising 23 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter last year, the most recent for which figures are available.But we don't know how many bad ads slipped past the 1,000+ Google employees charged with detecting them, nor how many bad advertisers simply moved to other advertising networks with less sophisticated detection systems or fewer qualms.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco fixes critical flaws in digital encoder, unified computing manager and security appliance

Cisco Systems has released software updates to fix critical issues that could allow attackers to compromise digital encoders, unified computing system management servers and Firepower 9000 series security appliances.The Cisco Modular Encoding Platform D9036, a hardware appliance that provides multi-resolution, multi-format encoding for applications that require high video quality, has a hard-coded static password for the root account.This is the highest privileged account on the operating system and is created at installation time. The account and password cannot be changed or deleted without impacting the functionality of the system, Cisco said in an advisory.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco fixes critical flaws in digital encoder, unified computing manager and security appliance

Cisco Systems has released software updates to fix critical issues that could allow attackers to compromise digital encoders, unified computing system management servers and Firepower 9000 series security appliances.The Cisco Modular Encoding Platform D9036, a hardware appliance that provides multi-resolution, multi-format encoding for applications that require high video quality, has a hard-coded static password for the root account.This is the highest privileged account on the operating system and is created at installation time. The account and password cannot be changed or deleted without impacting the functionality of the system, Cisco said in an advisory.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Podcast with Nick Buraglio and Brent Salisbury

"Have you seen sFlow options in your router configuration or flow collector? Are you looking for alternatives to SNMP or NetFlow? Have you been curious about the instrumentation of your new white box or virtual switch? Yes? Then you will probably enjoy learning more about sFlow!"

Non-Blocking #1: SFlow With Peter Phaal Of InMon And SFlow.Org is a discussion between Brent Salisbury (networkstatic.net), Nick Buraglio (forwardingplane.net), and Peter Phaal (blog.sflow.com).

Web sites and tools mentioned in the podcast:
  1. sFlow.org
  2. Devices that support sFlow
  3. Software to analyze sFlow
  4. sFlow.org mailing list
  5. sFlow structures
  6. blog.sflow.com (incorrectly referenced as blog.sflow.org in the podcast)
  7. Host sFlow
  8. sflowtool

The podcast touches on a number of topics that have been explored in greater detail on this blog. The topics are listed in roughly the order they are mentioned in the podcast:
  1. Widespread support for sFlow among switch vendors
  2. Disaggregated flow cache
  3. ULOG
  4. Push vs Pull
  5. sFlow vs SNMP for interface counters
  6. Broadcom ASIC table utilization metrics, DevOps, and SDN
  7. Broadcom BroadView Instrumentation
  8. Rapidly detecting large flows, sFlow vs. NetFlow/IPFIX
  9. SDN and large flows
  10. Probes
  11. Packet headers
  12. Network virtualization Continue reading

Put 500,000+ BGP routes in your lab network!!! Download this VM and become your own upstream BGP ISP for testing.

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Happy New Year and welcome to the VM you can punish your routers with ?

Hello from stubarea51.net and Happy New Year! We are back from the holidays and recharged with lots of new stuff in the world of network engineering. If you ever thought it would be cool to put a full BGP table into a lab router, GNS3 or other virtualized router, you’re not alone.

A while back, I tackled this post and got everything up and running:

http://evilrouters.net/2009/08/21/getting-bgp-routes-into-dynamips-with-video/

First of all, thanks to evilrouters.net for figuring out the hard parts so we could build this into a VM. After basking for a while in the high geek factor of this project, it gave me an idea to build a VM that could be distributed among network engineers and IT professionals. The idea is to easily spin up one or more full BGP tables to test a particular network design or convergence speed, playing with BGP attributes, etc. After a few months of tweaking it and getting the VM ready for distribution, we finally are ready to put it out for everyone to use.

Network Diagram

Here is an overview of the topology we Continue reading

Put 500,000+ BGP routes in your lab network!!! Download this VM and become your own upstream BGP ISP for testing.

[adrotate banner=”5″]

 

Happy New Year and welcome to the VM you can punish your routers with ?

Hello from stubarea51.net and Happy New Year! We are back from the holidays and recharged with lots of new stuff in the world of network engineering. If you ever thought it would be cool to put a full BGP table into a lab router, GNS3 or other virtualized router, you’re not alone.

A while back, I tackled this post and got everything up and running:

http://evilrouters.net/2009/08/21/getting-bgp-routes-into-dynamips-with-video/

First of all, thanks to evilrouters.net for figuring out the hard parts so we could build this into a VM. After basking for a while in the high geek factor of this project, it gave me an idea to build a VM that could be distributed among network engineers and IT professionals. The idea is to easily spin up one or more full BGP tables to test a particular network design or convergence speed, playing with BGP attributes, etc. After a few months of tweaking it and getting the VM ready for distribution, we finally are ready to put it out for everyone to use.

Network Diagram

Here is an overview of the topology we Continue reading

TSA: Gun discoveries in baggage up 20% in 2015 over 2014

I am sure it’s not a statistic that makes anyone feel ecstatic about flying: There was a 20% increase in firearm discoveries at TSA airport checkins from 2014’s total of 2,212. +More on Network World: 26 of the craziest and scariest things the TSA has found on travelers+ It’s an astounding number really, but the details get worse. The TSA goes onto say 2,653 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints across the country, averaging more than seven firearms per day. Of those, 2,198 (83%) were loaded. Firearms were intercepted at a total of 236 airports; 12 more airports than last year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How much at risk is the U.S.’s critical infrastructure?

There is universal agreement that modern warfare or crime fighting is not just about bullets, bombs and missiles in physical space. It’s also about hacking in cyber space.But over the past decade there has been much less agreement over how much of a threat hackers are.On one side are those – some of them top government officials – who have warned that a cyber attack on the nation’s critical infrastructure could be catastrophic, amounting to a “cyber Pearl Harbor.”Those warnings prompted the recent book by retired ABC TV “Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel titled, “Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Data breach numbers still high in 2015

New year, new leakImage by Eli ChristmanThe number of U.S. data breaches tracked in 2014 hit a record high of 783 in 2014, according to a recent report released by the Identity Theft Resource Center. 2015 fell just two breaches short of tying that record. Here is a list of those breaches that compromised more than 1 million records (see the full report).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cybersecurity much more than a compliance exercise

Even as an overwhelming majority of large global enterprises feel vulnerable to data breaches and other security threats, too many organizations continue to approach cybersecurity as a compliance exercise, according to a new survey from the security vendor Vormetric.In a poll of more than 1,100 security executives around the world, 91 percent of respondents consider their organization to be vulnerable to internal or external data threats.And yet, 64 percent of respondents express the view that compliance is a "very" or "extremely" effective strategy in staving off data breaches, up six percentage points from last year's survey.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

PQ Show 71: Kentik & Real-Time Network Visibility (Sponsored)

Startup Kentik offers real-time network visibility for service providers, Web companies, and enterprises. CEO and co-founder Avi Freedman joins the Packet Pushers to talk about how Kentik works, how it extracts and presents valuable information from flow data, customer use cases, and more.

The post PQ Show 71: Kentik & Real-Time Network Visibility (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.