A New Home: Looking Back

I have moved to a new blogging platform! The timing was interesting, since the wordpress installation on which Keeping It Classless has operated for so long is about 5 years old (I operated on an older domain before Keeping It Classless was born). WOW. Five years is a long time in blog years. I could not have possibly predicted back then what this blog would do for me. In going over these old posts, I saw a very interesting progression of my own skillsets and mentality, and I figured I’d share.

A New Home: Looking Back

I have moved to a new blogging platform! The timing was interesting, since the wordpress installation on which Keeping It Classless has operated for so long is about 5 years old (I operated on an older domain before Keeping It Classless was born). WOW. Five years is a long time in blog years. I could not have possibly predicted back then what this blog would do for me. In going over these old posts, I saw a very interesting progression of my own skillsets and mentality, and I figured I’d share.

iPhone 7 rumor rollup: Camera magic via teeny pixels, plus an “airy” new design

Do you think of your iPhone more as a phone or a camera? The latter might wind up being more true for many if the latest rumors about what Apple will bring to iPhone 6S or iPhone 7 come to fruition. Two well-respected Apple watchers this past week indicated that the next iPhones will likely boast 12 megapixel cameras with smaller pixels designed for higher quality photos. The past few models of the iPhone, going back to the 4S introduced in 2011, have had 8 megapixel cameras. Pixel Party IHS China’s Kevin Wong, referring to the next Apple smartphone as the iPhone 6S, “confirmed” via his sources that a 12MP camera is on the way, according to the G for Games site.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

MPLS VPN’s over mGRE

This blog post outlines what “MPLS VPNs over mGRE” is all about as well as provide an example of such a configuration.

So what is “MPLS VPNs over mGRE”? – Well, basically its taking regular MPLS VPN’s and using it over an IP only core network. Since VPN’s over MPLS is one of the primary drivers for implementing an MPLS network in the first place, using the same functionality over an IP-only core might be very compelling for some not willing/able to run MPLS label switching in the core.

Instead of using labels to switch the traffic from one PE to another, mGRE (Multipoint GRE) is used as the encapsulation technology instead.

Be advised that 1 label is still being used however. This is the VPN label that’s used to identify which VRF interface to switch the traffic to when its received by a PE. This label is, just as in regular MPLS VPN’s, assigned by the PE through MP-BGP.

So how is this actually performed? – Well, lets take a look at an example.

The topology I will be using is as follows:

Topology for MPLS VPN's over mGRE

Topology for MPLS VPN’s over mGRE

** Note: I ran into an issue with VIRL, causing Continue reading

Our Lord of the Flies moment

In its war on researchers, the FBI doesn't have to imprison us. Merely opening an investigation into a researcher is enough to scare away investors and bankrupt their company, which is what happened last week with Chris Roberts. The scary thing about this process is that the FBI has all the credibility, and the researcher none -- even among other researchers. After hearing only one side of the story, the FBI's side, cybersecurity researchers quickly turned on their own, condemning Chris Roberts for endangering lives by taking control of an airplane.



As reported by Kim Zetter at Wired, though, Roberts denies the FBI's allegations. He claims his comments were taken out of context, and that on the subject of taking control a plane, it was in fact a simulator not a real airplane.

I don't know which side is telling the truth, of course. I'm not going to defend Chris Roberts in the face of strong evidence of his guilt. But at the same time, I demand real evidence of his guilt before I Continue reading

Moving Soon!

I would like to take the opportunity to let you all know that Keeping It Classless will be moving to a different blogging platform in the near future. For the vast majority of you, this will not be a problem. My intent is to keep as much as possible consistent between moves.

However, some of you subscribe to my blog using some WordPress-specific features such as email subscription, as well as following me through the WordPress service itself. After the move, these services will have no way of being updated. If this applies to you, please check out the following options:

  • I will continue to link to each new blog post to my social media accounts, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. Follow me at whichever you prefer, and you’ll get all new posts in the relevant news feed.
  • I will continue to provide an RSS feed at http://keepingitclassless.net/feed/. Currently this redirects to feedburner, which is likely what you have in your RSS reader, if you’ve already done this. The transition away from WordPress will break this automatic redirection, but don’t worry – feedburner will continue to deliver post updates to you, at least until I Continue reading

Introducing the Citizens of Tech Podcast

Citizens of Tech is not a show about gadgets and apps, at least not specifically. It's not a show about networking. It's not a constipated show about IT. Rather, it's a show for nerds who like science, gaming, books, contrarian thinking, entertainment, space exploration, transportation, energy, complex world problems, and anything else that's somehow technology-related. Sure, that might include gadgets, apps, IT, and so on, but we're trying to appeal to a certain kind of mind -- probably yours -- and not a certain kind of industry.

Citizens of Tech 003 – Racing Cricket Phone Turbines

Eric in a mitre. Cricket protein. Micro wind turbines. Stash your cash. Blue crude. RF into power. Wikimedia's money. Carly for POTUS. A racing simulator that can kill you. All this and more on this week's Citizens of Tech.

Author information

Ethan Banks

Co-host at Packet Pushers

Ethan Banks, CCIE #20655, has been managing networks for higher ed, government, financials and high tech since 1995. Ethan co-hosts the Packet Pushers Podcast, which has seen over 3M downloads and reaches over 10K listeners. With whatever time is left, Ethan writes for fun & profit, studies for certifications, and enjoys science fiction. @ecbanks
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The post Citizens of Tech 003 – Racing Cricket Phone Turbines appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Ethan Banks.

Moving Soon!

I would like to take the opportunity to let you all know that Keeping It Classless will be moving to a different blogging platform in the near future. For the vast majority of you, this will not be a problem. My intent is to keep as much as possible consistent between moves.

However, some of you subscribe to my blog using some WordPress-specific features such as email subscription, as well as following me through the WordPress service itself. After the move, these services will have no way of being updated. If this applies to you, please check out the following options:

I will continue to link to each new blog post to my social media accounts, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. Follow me at whichever you prefer, and you’ll get all new posts in the relevant news feed. I will continue to provide an RSS feed at http://keepingitclassless.net/feed/. Currently this redirects to feedburner, which is likely what you have in your RSS reader, if you’ve already done this. The transition away from WordPress will break this automatic redirection, but don’t worry – feedburner will continue to deliver post updates to you, at least until I move off Continue reading

HP IMC Adapter Directory Naming

This week’s lesson: Be consistent with your vendor naming when working with HP IMC Custom Device Adapters. When you create the new adapter directory, use exactly the same vendor name as used within the UI. Otherwise IMC may not recognise your new adapter. Case matters too, even on Windows!

HP IMC ships with a set of “Device Adapters” that define functions such as backups, configuration deployment, firmware upgrades, etc. These adapters are sets of XML, TCL and Perl files. They define which devices are supported, for what functions, and how to execute those functions.

Obviously HP can’t support every device ever made. But they’re quite happy for you to write your own adapters, or extend the ones they have. So if you’ve got a few unsupported switches, and they have some sort of sensible interface, you can write your own adapters.

These are stored at /server/conf/adapters/ICC/. Under there, you have a set of folders for each vendor. Under each vendor folder is an adapter-index.xml file, which maps SNMP sysOIDs to adapters. You must have a mapping in the adapter-index.xml file for your sysOID. (nb you can use wildcards). If those XML files change, you need to restart IMC.

Continue reading

Those expressing moral outrage probably can’t do math

Many are discussing the FBI document where Chris Roberts ("the airplane hacker") claimed to an FBI agent that at one point, he hacked the plane's controls and caused the plane to climb sideways. The discussion hasn't elevated itself above the level of anti-vaxxers.

It's almost certain that the FBI's account of events is not accurate. The technical details are garbled in the affidavit. The FBI is notorious for hearing what they want to hear from a subject, which is why for years their policy has been to forbid recording devices during interrogations. If they need Roberts to have said "I hacked a plane" in order to get a search warrant, then that's what their notes will say. It's like cops who will yank the collar of a drug sniffing dog in order to "trigger" on drugs so that they have an excuse to search the car.

Also, security researchers are notorious for being misunderstood. Whenever we make innocent statements about what we "could" do, others often interpret this either as a threat or a statement of what we already have done.

Assuming this scenario is true, that Roberts did indeed control the plane briefly, many claim that this is especially Continue reading

Google looks set to join the ‘buy’ button trend

Google will include a “buy” button in its search results on mobile devices in the coming weeks, said a report on Friday in the Wall Street Journal, a move that could give online shoppers an easier way to buy products on small screens.The change might also give consumers an alternative to mobile apps from companies like Amazon and eBay, though it might jeopardize retailers’ ability to directly market to their customers.The buy button will appear on Google’s search results pages when people search for certain products on mobile devices, said the report, which cited unnamed sources. If users click on the buttons, they’ll be taken to another Google page where they can choose among sizes and colors, select shipping options and complete the purchase, the report said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google looks set to join the ‘buy’ button trend

Google will include a “buy” button in its search results on mobile devices in the coming weeks, said a report on Friday in the Wall Street Journal, a move that could give online shoppers an easier way to buy products on small screens.The change might also give consumers an alternative to mobile apps from companies like Amazon and eBay, though it might jeopardize retailers’ ability to directly market to their customers.The buy button will appear on Google’s search results pages when people search for certain products on mobile devices, said the report, which cited unnamed sources. If users click on the buttons, they’ll be taken to another Google page where they can choose among sizes and colors, select shipping options and complete the purchase, the report said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Moving Soon!

I would like to take the opportunity to let you all know that Keeping It Classless will be moving to a different blogging platform in the near future. For the vast majority of you, this will not be a problem. My intent is to keep as much as possible consistent between moves. However, some of you subscribe to my blog using some WordPress-specific features such as email subscription, as well as following me through the WordPress service itself.

Moving Soon!

I would like to take the opportunity to let you all know that Keeping It Classless will be moving to a different blogging platform in the near future. For the vast majority of you, this will not be a problem. My intent is to keep as much as possible consistent between moves. However, some of you subscribe to my blog using some WordPress-specific features such as email subscription, as well as following me through the WordPress service itself.
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