Cisco ACI PowerTool

If you are frequent reader of this blog, it’s no surprise I’m focused on automation these days. It’s been primarily centered around using Python and Ansible with a little Puppet and Chef sprinkled in. I had the opportunity recently to change things up a bit using the Cisco ACI PowerTool and thought I’d share a few things about it.

First off, the ACI PowerTool is a PowerShell module that helps automate all aspects of a Cisco ACI fabric.

Second, it’s no a secret that the same rocket scientist created both the Cisco UCS and ACI object models. That said, the UCS PowerTool has been around for years and offers PowerShell modules that can be used to manage, operate, and automate Cisco UCS environments. As you may have guessed the Cisco ACI PowerTool is the same thing, but used to manage and automate Cisco ACI fabrics using PowerShell.

And as luck would have it, I’m still a Windows user, so I was able to get this up and running extremely fast. In full transparency, I haven’t spent much time with PowerShell at all before this, and it was super easy to get going, so no matter what your background, it’s worth Continue reading

Video: The real value of hybrid cloud

Public or private cloud - why choose one when you can have both?Hybrid cloud computing is the idea of connecting a private cloud that sits inside the corporate firewall to some public cloud hosted by a service provider.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Can VMware survive in a post-virtualization world? +Doing so gives organizations all the benefits of both worlds: Private clouds can handle security-sensitive workloads, while the public cloud is great for apps that have varying demand of resources.But saying is easier than doing. At VMworld in San Francisco, we chatted with Cliqr’s Kurt Milnes to discuss how to overcome some of the chief challenges related to hybrid cloud computing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Containers key as Cisco looks to “open” data center OS

A key but quiet component of Cisco’s “open” data center operating system is the ability to build applications and microservices via Linux containers.It’s not a new capability but an increasingly important one for making – and marketing – Cisco’s NX-OS as “open,” a campaign that began in June. Open NX-OS includes object store and model driven RESTful and XML/JSON API support in the NX-API; native third-party application integration of Puppet, Chef and Ganglia, among others; a software developer’s kit for application integration; and Linux utilities support for tool integration across compute and network.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft Edge browser gets its first critical patches

Released a little over a month ago, Microsoft's new Edge browser has gotten its first set of critical security patches.As part of its monthly round of security fixes, colloquially known as Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released a critical bulletin, MS15-05, with four patches covering vulnerabilities in the Windows 10-only Edge browser.Overall this month, Microsoft issued 12 bulletins covering 56 vulnerabilities. Five bulletins were deemed as critical, meaning they should be addressed as soon as possible.In addition to Edge, this month's patches cover issues in Internet Explorer, Windows, Office, Exchange, the .Net framework, the Hyper-V virtual machine, Active Directory, and Skype for Business.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft Edge browser gets critical patches

Released a little over a month ago, Microsoft's new Edge browser has gotten a set of critical security patches.As part of its monthly round of security fixes, colloquially known as Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released a critical bulletin, MS15-095, with four patches covering vulnerabilities in the Windows 10-only Edge browser.Overall this month, Microsoft issued 12 bulletins covering 56 vulnerabilities. Five bulletins were deemed as critical, meaning they should be addressed as soon as possible.In addition to Edge, this month's patches cover issues in Internet Explorer, Windows, Office, Exchange, the .Net framework, the Hyper-V virtual machine, Active Directory, and Skype for Business.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco adds sFlow support to Nexus 9K series

Cisco adds support for the sFlow standard in the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series 7.0(3)I2(1) NX-OS Release. Combined with the Nexus 3000/3100 series, which have included sFlow support since NX-OS 5.0(3)U4(1),  Cisco now offers cost effective, built-in, visibility across the full spectrum of data center switches.
Cisco network engineers might not be familiar with the multi-vendor sFlow technology since it is a relatively new addition to Cisco products. The article, Cisco adds sFlow support, describes some of the key features of sFlow and contrasts them to Cisco NetFlow.
Nexus 9000 switches can be operated in NX-OS mode or ACI mode:
  • NX-OS mode includes a number of open features such as sFlow, Python, NX-API, and Bash that integrate with an open ecosystem of orchestration tools such as Puppet, Chef, CFEngine, and Ansible. "By embracing the open culture of development and operations (DevOps) and creating a more Linux-like environment in the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series, Cisco enables IT departments with strong Linux skill sets to meet business needs efficiently," Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches: Integrate Programmability into Your Data Center. Open APIs are becoming increasingly popular, preventing vendor lock-in, and allowing organizations to benefit from the rapidly increasing range of open hardware Continue reading

Africa’s effort to tackle cybercrime gains momentum

Africa’s efforts to tackle cybercrime are gaining momentum as Tanzania joins African countries including Zambia, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya in coming up with a law that includes penalties of up 10 years in prison.The law comes amid claims that Tanzania has one of the highest rates of cybercrime and social media abuse in Africa. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has already approved the Cyber Crimes Act of 2015, which becomes operational this week.The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) is already warning of tough actions against cybercriminals in the East African country as a result of the new law.Critics have said however, that the Tanzanian law targets social media with the aim of regulating its use in order to silence divergent views and critics of the government.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft released 12 patches, 5 rated critical, 1 being exploited in the wild

Microsoft released 12 security updates for September 2015 Patch Tuesday, five of which are rated critical and one is currently being exploited in the wild.Microsoft patches rated criticalMS15-097 contains a fix for a flaw currently being exploited in the wild, so it should be your top priority. It patches 11 vulnerabilities in Microsoft Graphics Component which could allow remote code execution.Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek wrote, “The bulletin is rated critical on Windows Vista and Server 2008, plus Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010, plus Lync 2007, 2010, 2013. In addition one of the vulnerabilities, rated as only as important in the bulletin is under attack in the wild: CVE-2015-2546 allows for an escalation of privilege once on the machines, allowing the attacker to become administrator of the targeted machine. CVE-2015-2546 affects all versions of Windows including Windows 10.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Blackmail rising from Ashley Madison breach

Cybercriminals are maddeningly adaptable.If a Dark Web illicit marketplace gets shut down, others spring up almost immediately to take its place. If credit cards get tougher to hack, there is always spear phishing, poorly protected electronic health records or the unending variety of devices that make up the Internet of Things (IoT), most of which have little to no security built in.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Blurred lines: Cyberespionage group caught borrowing banking malware code

A group of hackers that target military and government organizations has recently borrowed code from an old online banking Trojan called Carberp, further blurring the line between cybercrime and cyberespionage.The hacker group is known by various names in the security industry, including Pawn Storm and APT28. Its primary malware tool is a backdoor program called Sednit or Sofacy.The group has been active since at least 2007 and has targeted governmental, security and military organizations from NATO member countries, as well as defense contractors and media organizations, Ukrainian political activists and Kremlin critics.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Light-based networks could replace wires for hospital patients

Interference has been a major issue when hospitals have tried to replace the cluttered, bulky wiring used to monitor patients’ conditions—those are the wires protruding from a body, along with the associated beeps, as seen in the hospital TV drama procedurals we know and love.Hard-wiring, though, has never been an ideal solution for biomedical signals—it prevents patients from moving around, for one thing. That ties up expensive hospital beds.Interference RF interference can not only interfere with other signals, but it can apparently damage hospital equipment, say some researchers in South Korea.Those researchers, from Pukyong National University in Busan, reckon that they have a better solution. They want to use light instead.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Light-based networks could replace wires for hospital patients

Interference has been a major issue when hospitals have tried to replace the cluttered, bulky wiring used to monitor patients’ conditions—those are the wires protruding from a body, along with the associated beeps, as seen in the hospital TV drama procedurals we know and love.Hard-wiring, though, has never been an ideal solution for biomedical signals—it prevents patients from moving around, for one thing. That ties up expensive hospital beds.Interference RF interference can not only interfere with other signals, but it can apparently damage hospital equipment, say some researchers in South Korea.Those researchers, from Pukyong National University in Busan, reckon that they have a better solution. They want to use light instead.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Will the Ashley Madison hack really bring about any change in corporate IT security?

That sultry, sexy, "shh." We've all seen it over and over and over again during the past month. That "shh" promised sex and security. It looks like Ashley Madison didn't deliver much of either. Except for the sordid stories that keep Ashley Madison in the news, there is really nothing notable about the Ashley Madison breach. We are swimming in a sea of data breaches. They've become so routine it takes sex and scandal for anyone to notice. With so many data breaches over the past several years, you would expect companies (and governments) to do something about them.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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