Preparing for your Windows Server upgrade
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.
f you’ve been clinging to Windows Server 2003 trying to ignore the fact that Microsoft will officially end support July 14, 2015, you’re playing with fire. One the updates stop, you’ll be exposed to troubling security and compliance risks. Take note that in 2013 alone, 37 updates were issued by Microsoft for Windows Server 2003/R2.
Yet upgrading servers is a resource challenge as well as a mindset issue. The top barrier for migration, according to a survey, is the belief that existing systems are working just fine, and many users worry about software incompatibility.
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IF { you like this blog } THEN { donate to my annual charitable campaign }
I am raising money for the Mt. Washington Observatory (MWO), a non-profit organization engaged in weather research in New Hampshire. I am joining the 15th annual Seek The Peak fundraiser for the MWO. The idea is simple: hike to the summit, with pledgers backing the adventure. If you've gotten value from the Packet Pushers podcast or this blog, I'd appreciate it if you'd donate to my Seek the Peak campaign. For the first three networking vendors that donate $1,000 or more, I'll have my picture taken at the Mt. Washington summit sign with your wearable and thank you in a blog post here.Breach detection: Five fatal flaws and how to avoid them
IT Security today is not about defending a (non-existent) perimeter, but about protecting the organization’s attack surface, which has changed dramatically due to the cloud, mobility, BYOD, and other advances in corporate computing that have caused fundamental shifts in network architecture and operations.
Practically speaking, it means you need to monitor what is occurring inside the firewall just as much (if not more) than what is outside trying to make its way in. Think of it as a post breach mindset based on a “1,000 points of light” model as opposed to a “moat and castle” model of defense.
In theory its evolutionary, but given the accelerated pace in which security organizations have matured, it is not necessarily an easy transition to make. Not only has the threat landscape changed, but there has been constant flux in the leadership, skills, tools and budget required.
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Symantec Does Security Orchestration for NSX, With CIO ‘Pushing’ for ACI
The future of security lies in orchestration, Symantec believes
Cisco Live the final countdown, Last minute tips!
With Cisco Live 2015 literally right around the corner, now is the perfect time to grab a few last minute items! Portable chargers – The days a long, much longer than you expect and let’s face it smartphone batteries don’t last as long as we would like. While there are charging stations at CLUS it’s […]
AnsibleFest Presentations
First, we'd like to thank EVERYONE who attended, was a sponsor, or just followed along online via the AnsibleFest hashtag. While we will have a more in-depth recap, which will include video, we wanted to make sure the speaker's slides were easily available to everyone.
From Ansible:
Bill Nottingham - Ansible Tower 2.2
James Cammarata - Ansible V2 and beyond
Brian Coca - Ansible Tips & Tricks
Alan Norton - Betterment - Cyansible
Walter Bentley - Rackspace - Operating Your Openstack Cloud Using Ansible
Irakli Nadareishvili - API Academy- Building a Docker-ized Microservice In Node, Using Ansible
Worth Reading 06:04
It’s been a bit of a crazy week — out to SFO, where I saw a lot of old friends, for NANOG. I picked up the top shirt on my pile this morning, and discovered it’s an old NANOG shirt, SFO in 2004 (!). The good news is the NANOG folks get their videos on line really fast — and all of them are worth watching. The channel is here, but I’d like to especially point out the talks on active monitoring, QUIC, and OpenConnect. Yes, my presentation is there, too.
One point to remember is that as the “network guy,” you stand between people and their funny cat videos. While people get mad about plumbing, they seem to get irate about their network access — because it’s all virtual it all seems so easy, I guess. It doesn’t help that the modern face of IT tends to be large companies that have a virtual monopoly and totally horrible customer service. But whatever the reason, it means you have to be extra careful not to step on people’s toes when you’re doing network engineering — the perception doesn’t have to be reality to impact your life.
Notes from NANOG 64
Some notes from NANOG 64, held in San Francisco in early June.Video: Scale-Out NAT
Network Address Translation (NAT) is one of those stateful services that’s almost impossible to scale out, because you have to distribute the state of the service (NAT mappings) across all potential ingress and egress points.
Midokura implemented distributed stateful services architecture in their Midonet product, but faced severe scalability challenges, which they claim to have solved with more intelligent state distribution.
Read more ...What outsourcing engagement model is right for you?
Outsourcing should be a strategic partnership, not a simple hand-off of duties to a third-party. Getting that right requires smart preparation.
Implemented correctly, strategic partnerships are a happy collaboration where expectations of delivery and results are clear from the start. By bringing in outside minds, it’s possible to innovate and drive your product to levels beyond what your internal team might have accomplished. New ideas can come from anywhere.
+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD IT outsourcing deal values hit 10-year low +
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Week in Review
This week was a busy one. I had the opportunity to speak at a local NYC Ansible meetup, to a group of high school computer science students, and then on a panel at AnsibleFest yesterday in New York. Here is a short recap.
NYC Ansible Meetup - Tuesday June 2
Clearly the presentation was about network automation with Ansible. That probably goes without saying since it was an Ansible meetup! I’ve used these slides in other presentations throughout the year, so some are repetitive, but they usually hit some key points on the topic of network automation. Unfortunately, I did not know this was being streamed lived when it took place, but luckily the organizers recorded it too. Link is below.
Note: the presentation doesn’t start until about the 30:30 mark. From there on out, it’s about half presentation and then half live demo of using Ansible for Network Automation.
Here is the link to the video: Network Automation with Ansible
High School Talk - Wednesday June 3
A local high school about 20 mins from where I grew up asked me to come in to talk about a career in IT. The school is the Pascack Valley Regional Continue reading