Your design should be usable !

Whatever you design , it should be usable first. Computer network design is not an exception.You are not designing a network to support one service only such as VPN or Internet.It should provide enough functionality for today and future needs. Your design should be usable today and the future ! It was so common to use… Read More »

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CloudGenix SD-WAN Whitepaper by Packet Pushers

Packet Pushers took on an SD-WAN whitepaper sponsored by CloudGenix. There were two main ideas behind this whitepaper. (1) Describe a typical SD-WAN solution. (2) Discuss CloudGenix specifics. When done reading, you should know both what SD-WAN will do for you, as well as how to integrate CloudGenix into your existing WAN with a minimum of disruption. Download with no regwall from here: http://bit.ly/PPCGWP.

The post CloudGenix SD-WAN Whitepaper by Packet Pushers appeared first on Packet Pushers.

CCNA Security 210-260 IINS

As some of you probably already know, the CCNA Security IINS exam topics have been refreshed from version 2.0 to version 3.0. The new exam is now called CCNA 210-260 “Implementing Cisco Network Security”. We will now take a look at the differences between the two exams and highlight the most important topic changes.

First thing, IINS 3.0 topics combine and adjust the current domains. Instead of covering nine domains (IINS 2.0), only seven domains are now included. This change was made to better reflect current job roles and job tasks typically performed by CCNA Security individuals. Note that although there are fewer domains, the exam remains the same length – it lasts for 90 minutes and contains 60-70 questions. This is because some new technologies were added and certain topic areas are now covered in more depth. The exam prerequisites did not change – you will not be able to obtain a valid CCNA Security Certificate until you already possess a valid CCENT or CCNA R&S, or any CCIE certificate.

In general, the new CCNA Security exam tests the candidate’s knowledge of secure network infrastructure, understanding core security concepts, managing secure access, VPN encryption, firewalls, Continue reading

What ideas in IT must die?

Are there ideas in IT that must die for progress to be made?

Max Planck wryly observed that scientific progress is often less meritocracy and more Lord of the Flies:

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Playing off this insight is a thought provoking book collection of responses to a question posed on the Edge: This Idea Must Die: Scientific Theories That Are Blocking Progress. From the book blurb some of the ideas that should transition into the postmortem are: Jared Diamond explores the diverse ways that new ideas emerge; Nassim Nicholas Taleb takes down the standard deviation; Richard Thaler and novelist Ian McEwan reveal the usefulness of "bad" ideas; Steven Pinker dismantles the working theory of human behavior.

Let’s get edgy: Are there ideas that should die in IT?

What ideas do you think should pass into the great version control system called history? What ideas if garbage collected would allow us to transmigrate into a bright shiny new future? Be as deep and bizarre as you want. This is Continue reading

OpenStack Summit Tokyo: Learn Open Networking with OpenStack

Meet us at OpenStack Summit Tokyo and learn how to build fast, scalable, secure OpenStack networking.

Mark McClain (CTO, Akanda Inc) and I will be presenting at the OpenStack Summit in Tokyo about the next-generation physical and virtual network that DreamHost is deploying for their DreamCompute cloud.

Screen Shot 2015-10-23 at 10.11.24 AM

The design marries Cumulus Networks Dynamic LNV (Lightweight Network Virtualization) with Akanda’s Astara L3-7 services, all being orchestrated by the OpenStack Neutron.

We’ll be expanding on the talk we gave at the last OpenStack summit in Vancouver.  That talk was about the design and why we should deploy it. In this one, we will be discussing in depth about our experiences deploying it in production.

If you can’t make it to Tokyo, don’t worry, the talk will be recorded.

Watch out for this space for updates on the talk!

The post OpenStack Summit Tokyo: Learn Open Networking with OpenStack appeared first on Cumulus Networks Blog.

OpenStack Summit Tokyo: Learn Open Networking with OpenStack

Meet us at OpenStack Summit Tokyo and learn how to build fast, scalable, secure OpenStack networking.

Mark McClain (CTO, Akanda Inc) and I will be presenting at the OpenStack Summit in Tokyo about the next-generation physical and virtual network that DreamHost is deploying for their DreamCompute cloud.

Screen Shot 2015-10-23 at 10.11.24 AM

The design marries Cumulus Networks Dynamic LNV (Lightweight Network Virtualization) with Akanda’s Astara L3-7 services, all being orchestrated by the OpenStack Neutron.

We’ll be expanding on the talk we gave at the last OpenStack summit in Vancouver.  That talk was about the design and why we should deploy it. In this one, we will be discussing in depth about our experiences deploying it in production.

If you can’t make it to Tokyo, don’t worry, the talk will be recorded.

Watch out for this space for updates on the talk!

The post OpenStack Summit Tokyo: Learn Open Networking with OpenStack appeared first on Cumulus Networks Blog.

Germany probes Regin-powered cyberespionage

It looks like Chancellor Angela Merkel is not the only German official who might have been spied on by the nation's allies. The head of a German Federal Chancellery unit reportedly had his laptop infected with Regin, a cyberespionage program believed to be used by the U.S. National Security Agency and its closest intelligence partners. The German federal prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the breach, which came to light in 2014, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported Friday. The Chancellery is the federal agency that serves Merkel's office.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

TalkTalk had ‘no legal obligation’ to encrypt customers’ sensitive data

Potentially as many as 4 million customers were affected by the cyberattack on UK telecoms provider TalkTalk, yet the company's CEO Dido Harding admitted that TalkTalk was "not legally required" to encrypt customer data. Harding told the Sunday Times "[Our data] wasn't encrypted, nor are you legally required to encrypt it. We have complied with all of our legal obligations in terms of storing of financial information."While that may be true, such a statement provides little comfort to TalkTalk customers who are targets of high-level social engineering attacks meant to empty their bank accounts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Odd Hours Solution

For many years, when I worked out in the center of the triangle of runways and taxiways, I would get up at around 4, swim a mile in the indoor poor (36 laps), shower, grab breakfast, run by base weather just to check the bigger pieces of equipment out (mostly the RADAR system), and then I’d head out to the shop. We could mostly only get downtime on the airfield equipment (particularly the VOR, TACAN, and glideslopes) in the early morning hours — unless, of course, there was a war on. Then we couldn’t get downtime at all. By 2:30 I was done with my work day, and I headed home to get whatever else done.

When I left the USAF, after being trapped in some 9–5 jobs, I joined the cisco TAC. Our shift started at 8 or 8:30, when we took over the 1–800 number from Brussels, and our shift lasted until around 2 in the afternoon (it varied over time, as the caseloads and TACs were moved around). Freed from 9–5, I started getting to work at around 5:30 again. I could spend the first two or three hours following up on cases (did you know that Continue reading

Ben Fathi: Why I Joined CloudFlare

I’m sure some of you are scratching your head right about now wondering why I would join an Internet security and optimization company. But, Ben, this is not even close to your passion: operating systems.

I had the same reaction when I first saw the CloudFlare website. I wasn’t even sure it made sense for me to go interview here. After taking a closer look, however, I realized that it would be the perfect new home for me. Take a look at this page for a brief introduction to what CloudFlare does and how we do it.

Interviewing at CloudFlare

If you know me, you know that I'm a sucker for distributed systems. I fall for a hard computer science problem every time. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise to you that CloudFlare’s John Graham-Cumming, had me at “hello” when he nonchalantly described one of the company's projects: a globally distributed key value store with sub-second consistency guarantees! Ho hum! No big deal.

As the interview process progressed, the team graciously spent several hours walking me through the architecture as well as future plans and product roadmaps. These discussions and email exchanges were frequently interrupted by my cries of protest: Continue reading

New products of the week 10.26.2015

New products of the weekOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.DeceptionGrid version 5Key features: DeceptionGrid version 5 brings expanded forensic and analytics capabilities to reduce the time-to-breach detection of attackers that have penetrated a network. New real-time automation provides a broad view of an attacker’s activities with detailed event forensics, allowing the entire attacker Kill Chain to be analyzed and presented in a timeline that provides a visual overlay of the attack. More info.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New products of the week 10.26.2015

New products of the weekOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.DeceptionGrid version 5Key features: DeceptionGrid version 5 brings expanded forensic and analytics capabilities to reduce the time-to-breach detection of attackers that have penetrated a network. New real-time automation provides a broad view of an attacker’s activities with detailed event forensics, allowing the entire attacker Kill Chain to be analyzed and presented in a timeline that provides a visual overlay of the attack. More info.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here