Technology ‘net: End-to-end Disaggregation?

Quite a lot seems to be going on on the technology side of things—as the morning paper points out, everything seems to be changing at once right now. Ever feel like you’re sipping from a firehose? Maybe there’s a reason… Let’s discuss just a few of these in a little more detail.

First, there has been a lot of discussion around IPv6 in the last year or so. The folks within the IETF who designed IPv6 decided to do “more than just” adding more address space, instead deciding to change some fundamental things about the way IP works in the process of developing a new protocol. For instance, fragmentation by network devices is gone in IPv6, and the option headers are much richer. These kind of fundamental changes in protocol design invariably lead to the question—what impact do these things have on performance? A recent series of tests set out to answer this question. The results are pretty clear; over time, as IPv6 has been deployed natively, the protocol’s performance has moved closer to the performance of IPv4. There are still some gaps, but they are narrowing. Those gaps may never be gone, but IPv6 may come close enough, over Continue reading

Look out, Cisco: Major telcos join Facebook’s open hardware push

Big telcos including Verizon and AT&T have joined a Facebook-led project to build low-cost computing hardware, posing a fresh challenge for network vendors like Cisco and Juniper.The telcos have signed onto the Open Compute Project, a non-profit set up by Facebook in which end-user companies get together and design their own, no-frills hardware including servers, network and storage gear.The OCP members can include just the capabilities they need in a product, free of the "gratuitous differentiation" that bumps up prices in equipment from traditional vendors. They enlist low-cost manufacturers in Asia to produce the equipment.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Look out, Cisco: Major telcos join Facebook’s open hardware push

Big telcos including Verizon and AT&T have joined a Facebook-led project to build low-cost computing hardware, posing a fresh challenge for network vendors like Cisco and Juniper.The telcos have signed onto the Open Compute Project, a non-profit set up by Facebook in which end-user companies get together and design their own, no-frills hardware including servers, network and storage gear.The OCP members can include just the capabilities they need in a product, free of the "gratuitous differentiation" that bumps up prices in equipment from traditional vendors. They enlist low-cost manufacturers in Asia to produce the equipment.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ansible Galaxy 2.0 Launches

Ansible-Galaxy-2

The BETA sticker is off, and Galaxy 2.0 is live! This is our biggest release to date, and it’s packed with some great features you’re going to love.

Here’s a quick run-down:

Organizations

There really should be a drum roll playing as you read this, because this feature has been at the top of everyone’s wish list for as long as Galaxy has been around. But here it is… Organizations now have a home in Galaxy. Yes, you can import roles into an organization!

How, you ask? Just click the import button. Really. That’s it. The role will be imported exactly as the repository appears in GitHub. If the role belongs to ‘acmeco’ in GitHub, then it will appear under ‘acmeco’ in Galaxy.

You can import any repositories from GitHub where you are a collaborator or owner. Log in as yourself, and import your roles or your organization’s roles.

Existing roles prior to Galaxy 2.0 have not been changed. To move a role from your username to an organization, delete the role and import it again.

Semantic URLs

Sharing links to your content in Galaxy now makes sense with user-friendly URLs that include GitHub username or organization and Continue reading

Ansible Galaxy 2.0 Launches

Ansible-Galaxy-2

The BETA sticker is off, and Galaxy 2.0 is live! This is our biggest release to date, and it’s packed with some great features you’re going to love.

Here’s a quick run-down:

Organizations

There really should be a drum roll playing as you read this, because this feature has been at the top of everyone’s wish list for as long as Galaxy has been around. But here it is… Organizations now have a home in Galaxy. Yes, you can import roles into an organization!

How, you ask? Just click the import button. Really. That’s it. The role will be imported exactly as the repository appears in GitHub. If the role belongs to ‘acmeco’ in GitHub, then it will appear under ‘acmeco’ in Galaxy.

You can import any repositories from GitHub where you are a collaborator or owner. Log in as yourself, and import your roles or your organization’s roles.

Existing roles prior to Galaxy 2.0 have not been changed. To move a role from your username to an organization, delete the role and import it again.

Semantic URLs

Sharing links to your content in Galaxy now makes sense with user-friendly URLs that include GitHub username or organization and Continue reading

Docker Networking on Software Gone Wild

A year and a half ago, Docker networking couldn’t span multiple hosts and used NAT with port mapping to expose container-based services to the outside world.

Docker is the hottest Linux container solution these days. Want to know more about it? Matt Oswalt is running Introduction to Docker webinar in a few days.

In August 2014 a small startup decided to change all that. Docker bought them before they managed to get public, and the rest is history.

Read more ...

Online advertising company fixes severe XSS flaw

An online advertising company has fixed a vulnerability in its platform that could have allowed hackers to steal information from a large number of users.The cross-site scripting (XSS) flaw in the platform of PublicityClerks was found by a U.K. security researcher who goes by the handle CEHSecurity on Twitter.Cross-site scripting flaws are one of the most common faults in websites. They allow an attacker to inject malicious code into a website, which then can be used to steal data and for other attacks."As soon as we were aware of the issue, we fixed it ASAP and ensured our advertisers and publishers were not affected," said James Hakim, PublicityClerks' founder and CEO.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Online advertising company fixes severe XSS flaw

An online advertising company has fixed a vulnerability in its platform that could have allowed hackers to steal information from a large number of users.The cross-site scripting (XSS) flaw in the platform of PublicityClerks was found by a U.K. security researcher who goes by the handle CEHSecurity on Twitter.Cross-site scripting flaws are one of the most common faults in websites. They allow an attacker to inject malicious code into a website, which then can be used to steal data and for other attacks.INSIDER: Traditional anti-virus is dead: Long live the new and improved AV "As soon as we were aware of the issue, we fixed it ASAP and ensured our advertisers and publishers were not affected," said James Hakim, PublicityClerks' founder and CEO.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Lenovo fixes hard-coded password in file-sharing utility

Lenovo has patched several software flaws in a file-sharing utility, which could allow attackers to browse and make copies of files.The flaws were found by Core Security, which described in an advisory a lengthy back and forth dialog with Lenovo starting in late October over the problems.The affected application is SHAREit, which is designed to let people share files from Windows computers or Android devices over a local LAN or through a Wi-Fi hotspot that's created.SHAREit is preloaded on Lenovo devices, including its ThinkPad and IdeaPad notebooks and other mobile devices. The vulnerable SHAREit versions are the Android 3.0.18_ww and Windows 2.5.1.1 packages, Core Security said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Lenovo fixes hard-coded password in file-sharing utility

Lenovo has patched several software flaws in a file-sharing utility, which could allow attackers to browse and make copies of files.The flaws were found by Core Security, which described in an advisory a lengthy back and forth dialog with Lenovo starting in late October over the problems.The affected application is SHAREit, which is designed to let people share files from Windows computers or Android devices over a local LAN or through a Wi-Fi hotspot that's created.INSIDER: Traditional anti-virus is dead: Long live the new and improved AV SHAREit is preloaded on Lenovo devices, including its ThinkPad and IdeaPad notebooks and other mobile devices. The vulnerable SHAREit versions are the Android 3.0.18_ww and Windows 2.5.1.1 packages, Core Security said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SDN and Network Automation: Splitting Hairs?

At the recent Network Field Day 11, there were several discussions at the Cisco offices after the Cisco folks left the room. One of these discussions, led by Terry Slattery, was centered around SDN, and I think it’s worth a listen/watch (only about 20 minutes): In this video, I made the argument that SDN should be limited to a very specific definition, which eliminates the management plane from the conversation entirely (around 5:40).

The Unspoken Benefits of Open Networking

I have noticed a lot of very premature dismissal of a growing trend in the networking industry, which is the rise of open network operating systems. Nearly every post-announcement discussion that I hear among peers tends to sound something like this: I am not Facebook or Google. I don’t want to install third-party software on my switches, so this “open networking” movement is not relevant to me or my organization.

The Unspoken Benefits of Open Networking

I have noticed a lot of very premature dismissal of a growing trend in the networking industry, which is the rise of open network operating systems. Nearly every post-announcement discussion that I hear among peers tends to sound something like this: I am not Facebook or Google. I don’t want to install third-party software on my switches, so this “open networking” movement is not relevant to me or my organization.

SDN and Network Automation: Splitting Hairs?

At the recent Network Field Day 11, there were several discussions at the Cisco offices after the Cisco folks left the room. One of these discussions, led by Terry Slattery, was centered around SDN, and I think it’s worth a listen/watch (only about 20 minutes): In this video, I made the argument that SDN should be limited to a very specific definition, which eliminates the management plane from the conversation entirely (around 5:40).