Getting Structured Data Back from CLI Devices

About 6 months ago, I wrote a post titled Programmatic Access to CLI Devices with TextFSM that talked about what was possible with TextFSM and even some things that could be possible with Ansible.

The overall feedback about the Ansible module (aka netget) shown in that post was great — it was ultimately taking input parameters such as the template file along with the CLI command to execute on the devices in order to return structured JSON data back using Ansible. In other words, the module used Ansible and TextFSM to create a pseudo-API for accessing data in traditional (no API support) devices.

Since then, we have been using TextFSM for a few customer projects and found out there was another capability within TextFSM to create what’s called an “index” or a mapping between CLI commands, vendors, and TextFSM templates. By integrating this functionality, instead of users needing to know what template to call, they can simply just send in the show command, while the index maps the command to the proper template! Pretty sweet!

Needless to say, the Ansible module is officially online and is now called ntc_show_command.

With the right amount of community support, it shouldn’t be Continue reading

VMworld 2015 Prayer Time

Last year, a group of believers gathered for a brief time of prayer while at VMworld 2014. This year, I’d like to again offer believers attending VMworld 2015 the same opportunity to gather together for a time of prayer before starting the day. If you’re interested in attending, here are the details.

What: A brief time of prayer

Where: Yerba Buena Gardens, behind Moscone North (by the waterfall)

When: Monday 8/31 through Wednesday 9/2 at 7:45am (this should give everyone enough time to grab breakfast before the keynotes start at 9am)

Who: All courteous attendees are welcome, but please note that this will be a distinctly Christian-focused and Christ-centric activity. (I encourage believers of other faiths/religions to organize equivalent activities.)

Why: To spend a few minutes in prayer over the day, the conference, and the attendees

Like last year, there’s no need to RSVP or let me know that you’ll be there, although you’re welcome to do so if you’d like. There’s also no need to bring anything except an open heart and a willingness to display your faith in front of others. This is a very casual gathering of believers—we’ll gather together, share some prayer requests and needs, Continue reading

The 2020 WAN takes shape – SDN, virtualization, and hybrid WANs

The gold standard for corporate networks today is MPLS, but carrier pricing issues and MPLS’s failure to play well with new, cost-efficient forms of network access are causing problems for the legion of enterprise customers that rely on it.

Consider:

  • TDM dedicated access (T-1 and DS3) is expensive; Ethernet access isn’t universally available and, though economical on an ongoing basis, can cost a bundle (and take months) to install because only about half of the major commercial buildings in the US are served by fiber.
  • It takes a lot of CPE and management to integrate MPLS with broadband public Internet access, which is widely available and fast, but doesn’t come with robust SLAs (other than site availability).
  • MPLS itself may not require a lot of management, but the CPE that accompanies it does.
  • The explosion of collaboration tools like Skype for Business and cloud based apps are straining capacity and management. The desire to leverage today’s robust software/cloud applications is driving a need for more sophisticated routing schemes and greater control over how WAN traffic is handled.

It’s not clear how fast MPLS will go the way of Frame Relay and ATM, but changing apps and bandwidth needs, coupled with Continue reading

The 2020 WAN takes whape – SDN, virtualization, and hybrid WANS

The gold standard for corporate networks today is MPLS, but carrier pricing issues and MPLS’s failure to play well with new, cost-efficient forms of network access are causing problems for the legion of enterprise customers that rely on it.

Consider:

  • TDM dedicated access (T-1 and DS3) is expensive; Ethernet access isn’t universally available and, though economical on an ongoing basis, can cost a bundle (and take months) to install because only about half of the major commercial buildings in the US are served by fiber.
  • It takes a lot of CPE and management to integrate MPLS with broadband public Internet access, which is widely available and fast, but doesn’t come with robust SLAs (other than site availability).
  • MPLS itself may not require a lot of management, but the CPE that accompanies it does.
  • The explosion of collaboration tools like Skype for Business and cloud based apps are straining capacity and management. The desire to leverage today’s robust software/cloud applications is driving a need for more sophisticated routing schemes and greater control over how WAN traffic is handled.

It’s not clear how fast MPLS will go the way of Frame Relay and ATM, but changing apps and bandwidth needs, coupled with Continue reading

Network infrastructure cost optimization services can save millions

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.

If network infrastructure is not your organization’s core competency or you have outsourced the environment, you lack control of equipment and transport services and probably struggle with complex pricing and non-standard billing. Worse yet, if your service provider owns either all or components of the processes, procedures, staffing and tools, it limits the changes you can make.

If that describes your environment, a network infrastructure cost optimization consultation can help you drive infrastructure costs down, capture the network environment processes, identify systemic issues and leverage best practices.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to embrace open source tools in the enterprise

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.

The model of the future is based on social, mobile, cloud and big data, and IT is realizing that to succeed it must have the right processes, tools and culture. This is where open source is a major benefit.

Once you’ve decided to make open source a key feature of your enterprise IT infrastructure, here are steps you should take:

* Identify critical dependencies: It’s important to determine which components of an open source deployment represent critical dependencies. These are the ones you need to be fully certain about in terms of community size, robustness, feature suggestions and more. When it comes to components that represent dependencies, it’s important to ensure you don’t get locked into something that isn’t the perfect fit.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

OpenStack is redefining the business model for data solutions

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.

IT is headed toward being something more akin to a utility service, transformed by OpenStack’s open standardized cloud architecture, which will improve interoperability and render vendor lock-in a thing of the past.

Initially a solution adopted by smaller ISVs lacking the capital to build private clouds, OpenStack-based cloud solutions are shaping up to be the logical choice for large enterprise as industry leaders, including IBM, Cisco, EMC, HP and Oracle, bet on its value for defining the next-generation model for business computing.

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US Navy drone can fly, land on the water and swim

The US Naval Research Lab is developing an unmanned aircraft that can fly, land in the water and swim like a fish.The Navy calls its flying/swimmer FLIMMER and says it is a combination airplane/submarine that at first flies to a location, then lands on the water and submerges. After that it can swim like a fish. +More on Network World: Hot stuff: The coolest drones+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

US Navy drone can fly, land on the water and swim

The US Naval Research Lab is developing an unmanned aircraft that can fly, land in the water and swim like a fish.The Navy calls its flying/swimmer FLIMMER and says it is a combination airplane/submarine that at first flies to a location, then lands on the water and submerges. After that it can swim like a fish. +More on Network World: Hot stuff: The coolest drones+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Alibaba’s cloud and mobile businesses soar, but total revenue disappoints

Alibaba Group’s cloud computing and mobile businesses are surging, but its reported revenue in the second quarter missed analysts’ estimates, amid a slowing Chinese economy.In the quarter ended June 30, Alibaba generated over $3.2 billion in revenue, up 28 percent year over year, but short of the $3.39 billion consensus expectation from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.The e-commerce giant raked in a net profit of US$4.9 billion, for a 150 percent increase, but the huge profit increase largely came from its film production arm, Alibaba Pictures. In June, the company reduced its stake in Alibaba Pictures, and “deconsolidated” it from the financial results. This resulted in a major gain for Alibaba’s investment income.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Three critical considerations when optimizing infrastructure for application performance

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.

Overprovisioning has been the go-to approach for ensuring infrastructure and application performance. But when performance degradations and unplanned outages occur, even the most experienced teams move into “react-and-guess” mode.

Where to start? Every level of the infrastructure stack comes with its own possible issues, and tracking the culprit down takes time. And with IT infrastructures growing at an exponential pace and workloads to the cloud, the typical approach of overprovisioning and reacting-and-guessing is no longer a viable option.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Facebook axes a future intern for exposing a privacy flaw

After being accepted for an internship at Facebook, Harvard University student Aran Khanna continued to embrace the same entrepreneurial spirit that helped launch the site on the very same campus over a decade ago. Ironically, his efforts cost him his chance at working at the company.Khanna discovered a privacy flaw in the default settings of Facebook's Messenger app for Android that automatically shared users' detailed location data. To draw attention to the flaw, Khanna launched an Android app called Marauder's Map that mapped Facebook users' locations based on their activity on Messenger in May, according to Boston.com. The app showed that the location sharing was accurate to within a three-foot distance and shared users' location data even with Facebook users they were not Friends with.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

My CCIE Journey – Act II

In fact the title should be “My CCIE Journey – Act III” but I don’t want to use that one because I had a bad experience with the CCIE Voice lab exam There are many (very good) links about that specific subject but I wanted to give my own opinion as well :). Here is […]

HTC to cut work force by 15 percent, amid struggling smartphone sales

Struggling HTC is cutting 15 percent of its work force in an attempt to cut costs and revive its ailing smartphone business.The Taiwanese company announced the lay offs on Thursday, after its second quarter earnings took a dive, for a NT$8 billion (US$257 million) loss.HTC declined to mention the exact number of layoffs. But as of March 31, the company had 15,685 employees, according to its most recent annual report. This means a 15 percent reduction could end up cutting 2,300 jobs.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: HTC is dead in the water +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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