IDG Contributor Network: Open source a driver for merchant chips

Incumbent networking gear makers have often designed their own chips. It's what has created differentiation between products.That custom networking chip design, in some cases, was also behind growth in the technology bubble of the '90s. Some companies were considered better than others because of their silicon design.However, a new breed of manufacturers aren't doing this custom work. Those suppliers, like up-and-coming player Arista, are simply using off-the-shelf silicon.Their ASIC, or Application-Specific Integrated Circuits, are still designed for networking, but they are generic. They're called "merchant" chips, or merchant silicon. They're in switches, along with the included software to run them.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Which is more secure, Android or iOS? The answer isn’t that simple

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.

We love to ask the question, “Which is more secure: iOS or Android?” But if you really want to drive secure mobile productivity you’re going to have to start looking at the bigger picture.

The longstanding Android vs. iOS debate is understandable because these mobile OSes power the majority of devices employees bring to work today. But two trends in the mobile world are uprooting the traditional arguing points -- and changing the mobile security landscape overall. They highlight our need for an actionable, multi-layer security approach, not just putting your hope in the OSes of two major mobile players.

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

Which is more secure, Android or iOS? The answer isn’t that simple

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.We love to ask the question, “Which is more secure: iOS or Android?” But if you really want to drive secure mobile productivity you’re going to have to start looking at the bigger picture.The longstanding Android vs. iOS debate is understandable because these mobile OSes power the majority of devices employees bring to work today. But two trends in the mobile world are uprooting the traditional arguing points -- and changing the mobile security landscape overall. They highlight our need for an actionable, multi-layer security approach, not just putting your hope in the OSes of two major mobile players.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Creating Uplink Port-Channels in UCS Manager

Recently, a customer asked me for a quick how-to for plumbing and configuring northbound port-channels on their UCS B-series setup. The basic install including management access had been completed some time ago, but as projects sometimes go, this one had been back-burnered for some time so we were just getting around to making it work.

I spun up my copy of the UCSPE (obtainable here) and grabbed a few screenshots to provide a quick walkthrough. The customer was able to follow my instructions quickly and with no further follow-up questions, so I figured I’d toss this into a quick blog post for anyone else looking to do the same.

Setup:

Each 6200-series UCS Fabric Interconnect will have a single 4-member port-channel that goes up to the pair of Nexus using a vPC.
UCS Design

Procedure:

1. Preconfigure the ports on the Nexus switches. Since this is a vPC arrangement, each Nexus will require identical configuration:
interface port-channel5
description To ucs6248-a
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1-50
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
vpc 5
!
interface Ethernet1/5
description To ucs6248-a
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1-50
channel-group 5 mode active
no shutdown
!
interface Ethernet1/6
description To ucs6248-a
switchport mode trunk
 Continue reading

Spaced out tech auction: 8 vintage space items go on the block

Saturn V Launch Vehicle Digital Computer (LVDC) Memory ModuleImage by RR Auction It’s not often that vintage space memorabilia becomes available, but if you have any money left after paying your taxes or that refund is burning a hole in your pocket, starting April 16th you might want to check out RR Auction’s Online Space Exploration Auction. They’ve got stuff that’s been in orbit and to the moon and back. What’s that piece of hardware? It’s the Saturn V Launch Vehicle Digital Computer (LVDC) Memory Module, which has a starting bid of just $500! So, here’s some insanely cool space stuff that you probably didn’t know existed and never thought would be available.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 things I learned living with just a smartphone for two weeks

I recently returned from a 12-day vacation in Peru and, because I was going to be moving around a lot, I decided to brave the trip with just my iPhone 6 Plus. No laptop. No tablet. And only the lowest-level AT&T Passport international roaming plan: $30 for 30 days of $1/min phone calls, unlimited texting, and a minuscule 120MB of data.As it turned out, I did pretty well. Since this was a vacation, I wasn't planning on doing any real work, just monitoring email to make sure nothing important was blowing up back home, and passing along urgent (and semi-urgent) emails that couldn't wait for my return.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

CloudFlare is now a Google Cloud Platform Technology Partner

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We’re excited to announce that CloudFlare has just been named a Google Cloud Platform Technology Partner. So what does this mean? Now, Google Cloud Platform customers can experience the best of both worlds—the power and protection of the CloudFlare community along with the flexibility and scalability of Google’s infrastructure.

We share many mutual customers with Google, and this collaboration makes it even easier for Google Cloud Platform customers to get started with CloudFlare.

How does it work?

When CloudFlare is enabled, Google Cloud Platform customers have their infrastructure extended directly to the network edge, giving them faster content delivery as well as heightened optimization and security.

Benefits Include:

  • 2x Web Performance Speed - CloudFlare uses advanced caching and the SPDY protocol to double web content transfer speeds, making web content transfer times significantly faster.

  • Datacenters at Your Customer’s Doorstep - CloudFlare’s global edge network caches static files close to their destination, meaning that content always loads fast no matter where customers are located. Also, CloudFlare peers with Google in strategic locations globally, improving response times for Google Cloud Platform services.

  • Protection Against DDoS and SQL Injection Attacks - Because CloudFlare sits on the edge, customers are protected from malicious traffic Continue reading

Files encrypted by CoinVault ransomware? New free tool may decrypt them

Victims of the CoinVault ransomware might be able to decrypt their files with a free tool released by Kaspersky Lab together with the Dutch police.The tool can be found at https://noransom.kaspersky.com. The application uses decryption keys found by the Dutch police as part of an investigation.Ransomware like CoinVault encrypts data on a disk or blocks access to a computer system. It is usually installed by exploiting a vulnerability on victims’ computers via phishing emails or links to malicious websites.Unlike other ransomware, CoinVault lets victims see a list of the files it encrypted and decrypt one for free to try to get people to pay up.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Five Functional Facts about EIGRP

Normally for these FFF articles I’ve taken to writing about new protocols as a way of introducing others to it and also edumacating myself about it. For this post I get all nostalgic and look at good old Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP).

1 – The EIGRP Metric is Calculated From a Formula

Unlike RIP with its simple hop count or OSPF with its simple bandwidth metric, the EIGRP metric is actually derived by plugging a number of values into a formula and solving the formula. The formula looks like this:

EIGRP_Classic_Formula

EIGRP Classic Mode Formula

Let’s talk about the k values first. The k values are constants that are configured in IOS and fed into the formula. They have the affect of basically turning on and off the variables that are used in the calculation: bandwidth, delay, load, reliability. They also have the affect of giving more or less emphasis to a variable. For example, setting k3 to 50 would give the “delay” variable more emphasis than if k3 is set to 1. The default settings for the k values are:

  • k1 and k3 = 1
  • k2, k4, k5 = 0

This has the net result of simplifying the Continue reading

After U.S. chip block, China’s plan for 100 petaflop supercomputer may get delayed

The U.S.’s recent denial of Intel chips for China’s fastest supercomputer could derail an upgrade to double the machine’s processing power.China’s Tianhe-2 is the world’s fastest supercomputer with a theoretical peak speed of 54.9 petaflops. It was scheduled to be expanded, and reach a new peak speed of 100 petaflops this year.Now those plans may be in jeopardy. The U.S. government claims the Tianhe-2 has been used in “nuclear explosive activities”, and has forbidden Intel from shipping its Xeon chips to four related Chinese supercomputing centers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Location-based apps’ next frontier: Indoors

It's a recent Saturday and I'm searching for Spider-Man -- the comics version -- at the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Mass. Entering the busy shop across the street from the famous university, one must shuffle carefully through the entrance to avoid bumping into other shoppers.Navigating in Seattle: New uses for collected dataTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Freedom to

Pardon me if I go a little bit on the philosophical side of life as a network engineer this week, but we need to have a little talk about freedom. This last week, Ethan wrote a post on his new criteria for network design and architecture. While I agree with the points Ethan makes in his post, there was one thing that put me sideways. In fact, this one thing has always put me sideways to our modern world.

Freedom.

Ethan gives what is a pretty standard (Lockian) definition of the idea when he says, “Freedom is the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.”

But, harking back to the story of Ishmael and Isaac, we need to remember there is a real difference between freedom from and freedom to. Freedom from constraint might feel like real freedom, but it’s the freedom of the wilderness. Freedom to create might feel like slavery with its self-discipline and bounds, but it’s the freedom to build — to create.

Let’s turn to one of Ethan’s examples here — open standards, and vendors sticking to them, to bring the point to the world of network Continue reading

Schneier on ‘really bad’ IoT security: ‘It’s going to come crashing down’

Bruce Schneier Security expert Bruce Schneier has looked at and written about difficulties the Internet of Things presents - such as the fact that the “things” are by and large insecure and enable unwanted surveillance– and concludes that it’s a problem that’s going to get worse before it gets better.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The shocking truth (and lies) about ESD

A participant in Reddit’s forum devoted to networking asks: “Has anyone here ever destroyed anything via ESD (electronic static discharge)?”Oh, yes, indeed they have, as a sampling of the anecdotes will reveal, though there were also skeptics and one fellow who told me via email “that most failures claimed to be ESD-related are probably covers for something else.”First time for everything I recently had a user plug an HDMI cable into a Dell E7440. He was touching the shielding and a nice big blue spark jumped from the cable to the laptop and cooked the motherboard. It was the first time in 12 years doing IT that I've ever seen something die from ESD.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New products of the week 04.13.2015

New products of the weekOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow. Aerohive AP130Key features: Aerohive’s AP130 is an enterprise-grade 2x2, 2-stream, 802.11ac access point. With the AP130, organizations can now upgrade their wireless networks to 802.11ac without having to upgrade existing Power over Ethernet (PoE) infrastructure. More info.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Monday, April 13

Transforming robot gets stuck in nuclear reactorThe ability to change shape hasn’t saved a robot probe from getting stuck inside a crippled Japanese nuclear reactor. On Friday, the utility sent in the pipe-crawling, snake-like robot, which can transform itself into several configurations depending on the terrain, to determine the state and location of melted-down fuel in the reactor.Microsoft, robot firm demo industrial IoT based on WindowsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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