Network Documentation Series: Preamble

This post is the first in a series of articles tackling the topic of creating and maintaining proper network documentation. Each article will include a file which can be downloaded and used as a template for creating the document covered. Below you will find a few generic documentation best practices which apply to all documents […]

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John W Kerns

John is a network and systems engineer based in the Los Angeles/San Diego area. His background is in two traditionally stovepiped skill sets; systems administration and switching/routing/security. Most of his time is spent as an implementation engineer for a medium sized SoCal VAR. You can visit his blog at blog.packetsar.com or follow him on Twitter @PackeTsar

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The post Network Documentation Series: Preamble appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by John W Kerns.

HP, Arista team to take on Cisco, IBM, EMC in converged infrastructure

HP has entered into an arrangement with Arista Networks to market Arista’s data center switches along with HP converged IT infrastructure products.In accounts where Arista is the preferred networking supplier, HP will offer the switches along with its Converged Architecture portfolio, which includes HP servers and storage, including HP 3PAR StoreServ flash storage and the HP OneView management system.Speculation has it that HP will also offer Arista’s EOS operating system on its merchant silicon-based switching hardware as part of a disaggregated offering similar to HP’s arrangement with Cumulus Networks. HP is offering Cumulus Linux as an operating system option on some new Accton-based branded white box switches, which through support of the Open Network Install Environment (ONIE) can run various third-party operating systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HP, Arista team to take on Cisco, IBM, EMC in converged infrastructure

HP has entered into an arrangement with Arista Networks to market Arista’s data center switches along with HP converged IT infrastructure products.In accounts where Arista is the preferred networking supplier, HP will offer the switches along with its Converged Architecture portfolio, which includes HP servers and storage, including HP 3PAR StoreServ flash storage and the HP OneView management system.Speculation has it that HP will also offer Arista’s EOS operating system on its merchant silicon-based switching hardware as part of a disaggregated offering similar to HP’s arrangement with Cumulus Networks. HP is offering Cumulus Linux as an operating system option on some new Accton-based branded white box switches, which through support of the Open Network Install Environment (ONIE) can run various third-party operating systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Fraud campaign installs rogue app on non-jailbroken iPhones

Cybercriminals in Japan are targeting iPhone users with an online scam that tricks them into installing a malicious application when they attempt to view porn videos.This type of attack, known as one-click fraud, is not new and has been used for years against Windows, Mac and Android users. However, what’s interesting in this particular case is that it works even against non-jailbroken iPhones.Apple tightly controls how iOS apps are distributed to users by forcing developers to publish them on the official App Store where they are subject to Apple’s review procedures. However, there are exceptions to this rule in the form of special development programs for which participants have to pay extra.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT/IT: Resume Building

It’s a discussion in meeting rooms, boardrooms, hotel conference rooms, and post-conference cocktail parties: Why isn’t IT working? Ask anyone in a corporate or government job and you’ll get an earful. As I was writing this book, I’d occasionally throw the question out to friends, clients, and beleaguered airplane seatmates. The responses come fast and furious. They don’t speak our language. They’re too focused on resume building and tinkering, not on driving business value.
The New IT

This single quote describes much of the circuit of the world for an engineer. If I spend my time on driving business value, then I’m appreciated by my current employer — at least until they change systems, anyway, and throw me out on my ear because my skills aren’t “current.” If I spend my time keeping my skills current, so I can add business value, well, I’m not driving current business value, and hence I’m “isolated,” a “tinker in the corner,” who doesn’t understand nor care about the “real problems facing the business.”

What’s the solution? A little “bump in the training budget” isn’t going to fix this. Rather, this is going to take restructuring the way IT thinks about business, Continue reading

WWDC 2015 preview: 5 huge announcements we expect from Apple on June 8

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is always chock full of announcements. We’re guaranteed to see previews of the next versions of iOS and OS X—after all, that’s why developers flock to San Francisco for the event. But this year, substantiated rumors are swirling around a new streaming music service, a refreshed Apple TV, and truly game-changing new iOS features.And now that Apple Watch is finally here, we might even catch a glimpse of the future of Apple’s most personal device.MORE: 10 mobile startups to watch Here are the five big reveals we expect at WWDC, which kicks off June 8 at 10 a.m. Pacific.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How CIOs can reduce shadow IT in government

If government CIOs want to bring IT out of the shadows, they need to start by understanding what kind of tools agency personnel need to do their jobs.That's one of the chief takeaways from a new study looking at shadow IT in the government -- those unauthorized applications and services that employees use without the permission of the CIO and the tech team.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 26 crazy and scary things the TSA has found on travelers The new analysis, conducted by cloud security vendor Skyhigh Networks, identifies a startling amount of applications in use in public-sector organizations. According to an analysis of log data tracking the activities of some 200,000 government workers in the United States and Canada, the average agency uses 742 cloud services, on the order of 10 to 20 times more than the IT department manages.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel Security Controller Taps VMware NSX as First Partner

Intel taps NSX over ACI for security controller integration.

Asus mini-PCs pack Skylake chips, 4K video capabilities

There is a lot to look forward to in Skylake PCs, if mini-PCs from Asus showed on the Computex show floor are an indicator.Lying in one corner of the Asus booth were two mini-desktops based on Intel’s upcoming sixth-generation Core processor. With the powerful processors, a host of port options and support for 4K video, the tiny computing powerhouses could be full-fledged desktop replacements.Skylake has been described by Intel as its most significant chip release in a decade. It will succeed a family of chips code-named Broadwell, which is in PCs now. Tablets, laptops and desktops based on the new chip architecture are expected in the second half of this year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Wednesday, June 3

Senate finally reforms NSA surveillanceNearly two years after former NSA contracter Edward Snowden went public with revelations that the agency was collecting Americans’ phone records in bulk so that it could trawl through them at leisure, the U.S. Senate has finally acted to rein in what at least one court ruled was illegal surveillance. The Senate’s 67-32 vote Tuesday on the USA Freedom Act will allow a limited telephone records program at the NSA, and give it six months to transition its phone records database to U.S. telecom carriers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft isn’t giving up on basic phones, upgrades the Nokia 105

Microsoft has launched an upgraded version of the Nokia 105 phone, but a growing interest in smartphones will make it difficult for the company to repeat the success of the original version.The US$20 Nokia 105 is aimed at first-time mobile phone buyers and people looking for a long-lasting backup device for their smartphone, according to Microsoft, which decided to keep the Nokia brand for its most basic phones.The new model has a bigger phonebook, better voice quality and longer talk time. Users can choose between models that have one or two SIM slots. It still has a 1.45-inch screen and an FM radio.The original model was introduced in 2013, and has sold more than 80 million units to date. Repeating that will be hard for Microsoft, since consumers all over the world are increasingly choosing smartphones. Microsoft’s overall phone sales dropped by about 30 percent during the first quarter year-on-year, even though Windows smartphone sales increased slightly, according to Gartner. At the same time smartphones represented 73 percent of total phone sales, up from about 63 percent.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Meg Whitman Tees up HP Enterprise and the Hybrid Cloud

It's a cloudy future for HP.

This startup promises a better way to buy or sell a used car

Who wants to buy a used car through eBay or Craigslist, when you need a mechanic to inspect it? Buying through a dealer can also be intimidating and expensive, with sales reps often having unclear agendas.Shift, an online startup, thinks it can solve those problems, and provide an easier way for people to sell their cars.The company provides a listing service for used car shoppers to browse other people’s cars, and let owners list their cars for sale. But more than a listing service, the company employs mechanics to perform inspections on cars for sale, and hires workers to gather sellers’ service records and vehicle history reports. Shift’s workers will also deliver used cars to prospective buyers for test rides, within an hour.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Video: Implementing VLAN-aware Bridge with OpenFlow

Reinventing the wheels makes little sense. Implementing old solutions with new tools might be in the same category, but at least it shows you the power and shortcomings of the new tools.

Building a VLAN-aware bridge in OpenFlow is thus a mandatory case study, and as you’ll see in the video from the OpenFlow Deep Dive webinar, it’s not as easy as it looks. For more details, watch the whole OpenFlow webinar (6 hours of in-depth videos), which you also get by buying Advanced SDN Training or ipSpace.net subscription.

CCDE Practical Training Demo Video

I have been delivering CCDE practical training for quite some time. Couple months ago I have started a survey for my CCDE training. 134 people voted and here is the results. From the votes as I understand, many people have been looking for a demo, sample videos from my CCDE practical training class. Below is the half an hour CCDE Practical demo video from my CCDE training.… Read More »

The post CCDE Practical Training Demo Video appeared first on Network Design and Architecture.

AMD to launch next-generation Fiji GPUs on June 16

Gamers, buckle up—AMD will launch its highly-anticipated graphics processing unit, code-named Fiji, on June 16 at the E3 conference.Many were expecting Fiji to launch at a press event at Computex on Wednesday, but that didn’t happen. Instead, AMD did show off key technology, which will first appear in Fiji and could give significant speed and power saving gains to future graphics chips.On stage, AMD CEO Lisa Su showed a chip for technology called HBM (high-bandwidth memory), which could make graphics chips faster and more power-efficient.HBM offers 3.5 times the bandwidth per watt of GDDR5, which is currently used in memory chips. Instead of being placed next to each other, HBM stacks memory chips, which are connected through a high-speed thread. HBM is also faster due a wider bus and its closer location to graphics processors.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Comcast and TWC are (still) among the most hated companies in America

The annual American Customer Satisfaction Index for 2015 placed Comcast and Time-Warner Cable near the very bottom of all telecom and technology companies in the rankings, the researchers involved announced Tuesday.The ACSI’s ratings – on a 100-point scale – gave Comcast a score of 54 as a TV service provider and 56 as an ISP, well below the industry average of 63 in both categories. TWC received a 51 in the former category and a 58 in the latter. The ratings were based on the ACSI’s in-house analysis of survey responses from 14,000 Americans, which were collected during the first quarter of 2015.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Ransomware creator apologizes for 'sleeper' attack, releases decryption keys + Intel to buy Altera for $16.7B, eyes IoT market +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Comcast and TWC are (still) among the most hated companies in America

The annual American Customer Satisfaction Index for 2015 placed Comcast and Time-Warner Cable near the very bottom of all telecom and technology companies in the rankings, the researchers involved announced Tuesday.The ACSI’s ratings – on a 100-point scale – gave Comcast a score of 54 as a TV service provider and 56 as an ISP, well below the industry average of 63 in both categories. TWC received a 51 in the former category and a 58 in the latter. The ratings were based on the ACSI’s in-house analysis of survey responses from 14,000 Americans, which were collected during the first quarter of 2015.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Ransomware creator apologizes for 'sleeper' attack, releases decryption keys + Intel to buy Altera for $16.7B, eyes IoT market +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AMD skips Chromebooks, bets on Windows 10 with new Carrizo chips

Chromebooks may be hot-ticket items, but with its sixth-generation A-series chips for mainstream laptops, AMD is placing its bets on Microsoft’s Windows 10.The new chips, code-named Carrizo, will appear in laptops priced between US$400 and $800 from Asus, Acer, Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba. The first wave of laptops will become available starting in July, initially with Windows 8, and later in the year with Windows 10.The new chips include quad-core A8 and A10 processors, which have up to six GPU cores, and the faster FX chips, which have up to eight GPU cores. Some new laptops based on the chips were shown at the Computex trade show in Taipei this week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Facebook mandates stronger digital verification of apps

Facebook will require application developers to move later this year to a more secure type of digital signature for their apps, which is used to verify a program’s legitimacy.As of Oct. 1, apps will have to use SHA-2 certificate signatures rather than ones signed with SHA-1. Both are cryptographic algorithms that are used to create a hash of a digital certificate that can be mathematically verified.Apps that use SHA-1 after October won’t work on Facebook anymore, wrote Adam Gross, a production engineer at the company, in a blog post.“We recommend that developers check their applications, SDKs, or devices that connect to Facebook to ensure they support the SHA-2 standard,” Gross wrote.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here