Cloning Remote Linux Machines

Recently, I have been asked to find a way how to clone Linux machines running in a remote virtual lab. The machines have single disks, they all are accessible over SSH and configured with the same login credentials. The goal is to make identical copies of their disks, download the disks and rebuild machines locally in the virtual lab.

On Linux based systems, utility 'dd' is very often used to make identical copy of a disk. I have used this command together with 'ssh' and 'gzip' commands to copy and compress remote disks and send them on the fly to a local disk over SSH connection. For instance, the command below issued on a local machine copies a disk /dev/sda of a remote Linux machine with IP address 10.10.10.11 to a local disk:

$ ssh [email protected] "/bin/dd if=/dev/sda | gzip -c" | dd of=disk.raw.gz

Explanation:
/dev/sda - disk located on remote machine
disk.raw.gz - gzip compressed copy of disk /dev/sda on local machine
gzip -c - send compressed file to stdout

I wrote a BASH script backup-images-1.0.sh that automates process of cloning disks of remote Linux machines. The script reads IP addresses from Continue reading

No Hands on Keyboards

Untitled_design-1Be honest. How many of you are still logging directly into the systems that you administer, via SSH, and changing things? I am. It’s a hard habit to break, but it’s one worth breaking. Luckily I don’t have very many servers of my own to manage, but changing things manually, instead of modeling those things in a language of automation is a sure way to build up technical debt and regret it later.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done any sort of system administration as my day job. But I talk to Ansible customers on a daily basis, and I have seen all sorts of environments: simple, complicated, small, large, well-managed, and poorly-managed. But one constant that I see throughout is increasing complexity and scale. Even for small shops with a few users, today’s platforms for data management, cloud hosting, and containers require a lot more distinct machines under management for their operation than the good old days when a couple of bare-metal LAMP servers could run a full web application.

Many people have written about the exponential growth in computing: from the early days of mainframes hosting hundreds of users and applications, to a single server rack Continue reading

A framework to help make sense of cybersecurity tools

marcelo manjon

Marcelo Manjon

The spate of high profile cyberattacks have raised the awareness of cybersecurity to the board level and encouraged venture capitalists to pour money into this sector. In 2013 the industry received $1.7 billion of VC money across 240 deals, hitting a five-year high in both funding and number of deals, according to CB Insights. Today the cybersecurity landscape is comprised of nearly 500 companies, CB Insights says.

But many of these security tools are fragmented, and as a result it is often difficult to describe, categorize and compare various security tools given the numerous subcategories and new startups tackling one small part of the problem. In order to better understand this complex market and put into perspective the various solutions constantly coming to market, I would like to propose a framework we use at XSeed Capital to parse the market.

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

MPLS Quiz

There are 20 relatively easy MPLS questions in the below MPLS QUIZ. It should take around 30 to 45 minutes and above 50 is nice score in my opinion. Although this post is related with MPLS, you can click here for the other tests. Please specify your name and email address to receive an email for… Read More »

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NetBeez – Private Distributed Monitoring

NetBeezI have a T-shirt from the nice folks at NetBeez, and on the back it says “Ask me about my Beez!” Naturally people can’t resist asking and I’ll happily explain, but on the off chance that you’re not lucky enough to be standing behind me I’m going to share my thoughts on NetBeez and the product sample they were kind enough to let me play with.

NetBeez at NFD9

I met NetBeez at Networking Field Day 9 where they presented their distributed monitoring solution. I’m not going to repeat what they said for the most part, so if you have time, it’s worth watching their full presentations from the NetBeez page at Tech Field Day.

The high level overview of the NetBeez solution is that they offer small, cheap, plug-and-play network agents that you can put on your network, from where they will perform connectivity and performance tests and report back to a central dashboard which can generate reports, statistics and alerts. The agents are designed to be cheap enough that you could put one on every remote site and monitor, say, access to a critical corporate server and find out quickly which remote sites are seeing Continue reading

Welcome to the smart home … of horror!

Home automation horror stories!Image by ThinkstockBreathless is the prose that's usually deployed to describe our Jetsons-like future of automated homes, smart appliances, and the IoT (Internet of things). When all of our gadgets and doohickeys are networked, online, and talking with one another, we'll enter a new golden age of efficiency and comfort ... or so we're told, principally by those selling said gadgets and doohickeys.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Review: Mio Alpha 2 heart rate watch

The scoop: Mio Alpha 2 heart rate training watch, by MIO, about $200 What is it? It’s not a smartwatch! It doesn’t measure your sleep! You can't draw doodles on its display! But if you want a better way to track your heart rate while working out, this watch will do this and more. A sensor on the back of the watch that touches your skin measures your continuous heart rate on your arm, giving you the information via its display or via a Bluetooth-connected device (works with iOS and Android devices) through its Mio Go app. Why it’s cool: The killer function of this is the continuous heart-rate measurement while the Alpha 2 is on your wrist, as opposed to having to wear an uncomfortable chest strap or, if you’re on a treadmill, using the handgrips. When working with the app, the watch becomes valuable in terms of letting you know whether you are working too hard or not working hard enough in order for you to get into the proper maximum training zone (for your age/gender, which is calculated through the app). To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT pros say Google slowly infiltrating enterprise, education

Google's impact on the enterprise market may not have been obvious at its annual I/O developers conference in San Francisco last week, but the implications of the company's growing involvement and interest in business applications are strong. Google's suite of apps for work and education continue to help organizations cut costs while improving communication, productivity and collaboration across teams. + ALSO: 9 most important announcements at Google I/O 2015 +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Thursday, June 4

Prototype of HP’s Machine due next yearHewlett-Packard will have a prototype of its futuristic Machine computer ready for partners to develop software on by next year, though the finished product is still half a decade away. The single-rack prototype will have 2,500 CPU cores and an impressive 320TB of main memory. It will use current DRAM memory chips, not the advanced memristor technology that HP is still developing—one of the big reasons The Machine remains several years away.Samsung Pay coming to U.S., South Korea, then China and EuropeTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco ACI in the CNPES Cert (Engineering Specialist)

Cisco’s current network programmability certs uses two exams per cert, with the second exam focusing on ACI. That represents the first ACI-focused specialist exams from Cisco, and a great reason to learn about ACI and validate that knowledge. Today’s post looks at the ACI-focused exam for the Cisco CNPES Cert exam: the 600-512 NPENGACI exam. We’ll look at both the exam and a related video course.

Other posts in this series:

Overview

First, to set the stage, Cisco rolled out their network programmability (read: SDN) certifications over a period of months, mostly in 2014. Figure 1 shows these four certs, with the engineering specialist cert focusing on engineering and implementation.

Figure 1: Overview of Cisco SDN Certifications

 

Today’s post focuses on the second exam: the 600-512 NPENGACI exam. The name itself is a bit of a mouthful:

Network Programmability ENGineering with ACI

Basically, the NPENG 600-504 exam covers SDN implementation excluding ACI, NPENGACI 600-512 exam includes ACI.

This list provides the links for more details – for the certification, each of the two exams, and each of Cisco’s two Continue reading

iPhone laser dongle makes measuring a snap

iPhone dongles can do everything from high-speed data transfers to testing for HIV.At Computex 2015 in Taipei this week, a local manufacturer is showing off a laser pointer for the Apple phone that can precisely measure short distances.The iPin Laser Ruler is a thumbnail-sized dongle that fits in the iPhone’s audio jack. It houses a class 2 laser pointer that shines a dot of a light on a nearby object, such as a wall or piece of furniture. An app on the phone uses the camera to focus on the dot to determine the distance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Jesse Jackson wants Google to invest in startups led by Blacks, Latinos

Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson asked Google to make an amendment to its governance byelaws to make a search for women and people of color a must before filling board positions, as part of his push to get higher representation for women and certain ethnic groups in tech companies.Addressing a Google shareholder meeting Wednesday, Jackson also asked the Internet giant if it would invest in early-stage Black and Latino-led tech startups.“Google reportedly has over $35 billion parked overseas,” Jackson said. “Would you consider repatriating some of this offshore money back to America to fund an Innovation Investment Development Bank? And in return, receive tax credits or a reduced tax rate on foreign profits?”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dish Network, T-Mobile US reportedly in merger talks

Satellite TV service provider Dish Network and wireless carrier T-Mobile US are reportedly in talks for a merger, which could be the latest in a wave of consolidation in the media and communications industry.The two sides are said to have agreed that Dish CEO Charlie Ergen, will become the chairman of the merged entity, while T-Mobile CEO John Legere will be appointed as the CEO of the combined companies, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.The talks were described to the newspaper as in “the formative stage,” with no guarantee that a deal will be finally done. Key issues such as the purchase price and the mix of cash and stock that would be used to pay for the deal are still unresolved, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dish Network, T-Mobile US reportedly in merger talks

Satellite TV service provider Dish Network and wireless carrier T-Mobile US are reportedly in talks for a merger, which could be the latest in a wave of consolidation in the media and communications industry.The two sides are said to have agreed that Dish CEO Charlie Ergen, will become the chairman of the merged entity, while T-Mobile CEO John Legere will be appointed as the CEO of the combined companies, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.The talks were described to the newspaper as in “the formative stage,” with no guarantee that a deal will be finally done. Key issues such as the purchase price and the mix of cash and stock that would be used to pay for the deal are still unresolved, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Uber CEO admits company is not perfect

Uber has made enemies in the five years its cars have been on the road. Safety concerns have sparked lawsuits from regulators, its data collection practices have landed it in hot water, and CEO Travis Kalanick cant seem to shake his spoiled brat image.Hes aware of that. I can come off as a fierce advocate for Uber. I also realize that some have used a different A-word to describe me, he said on Wednesday.Im not perfect, and neither is this company, he said during an event at Ubers headquarters in San Francisco to commemorate the fifth anniversary of its launch in that city.During a talk attended by employees of the company and Uber investors, Kalanick painted an idealized picture of the company not so much as a mobile app service, but as a benevolent force for society.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Uber CEO admits company is not perfect

Uber has made enemies in the five years its cars have been on the road. Safety concerns have sparked lawsuits from regulators, its data collection practices have landed it in hot water, and CEO Travis Kalanick can't seem to shake his spoiled brat image.He's aware of that. "I can come off as a fierce advocate for Uber. I also realize that some have used a different A-word to describe me," he said on Wednesday."I'm not perfect, and neither is this company," he said during an event at Uber's headquarters in San Francisco to commemorate the fifth anniversary of its launch in that city.During a talk attended by employees of the company and Uber investors, Kalanick painted an idealized picture of the company not so much as a mobile app service, but as a benevolent force for society.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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