Heavy Networking 648: Using Zero Knowledge Middleboxes To Enforce Policy On Encrypted Traffic

Encrypted traffic poses a problem for enterprise policy enforcement. On today's Heavy Networking, we explore the notion of zero knowledge middleboxes, which use a variety of techniques to allow firewalls or other middleboxes to enforce policy without the need for decryption. Our guest is Dr. Paul Grubbs, whose research into zero knowledge middleboxes prompted this episode.

The post Heavy Networking 648: Using Zero Knowledge Middleboxes To Enforce Policy On Encrypted Traffic appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Single-core vs. multi-core CPUs

In reviewing CPU and server benchmarks, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that testing covers both single-core and multi-core performance. Here's the difference.In terms of raw performance, both are equally important, but single- and multi-core have areas of use where they shine. So when picking a CPU, it’s important to consider your particular workloads and evaluate whether single-core or multi-core best meets your needs.Single-core CPUs There are still a lot of applications out there that are single-core limited, such as many databases (although some, like MySQL, are multicore).Performance is measured in a couple of ways. Clock frequency is the big one; the higher the frequency the faster apps will run. Also important is the width of execution pipelines, and the wider the pipeline, the more work can get done per clock cycle. So even if an app is single threaded, a wider pipeline can improve its performance.To read this article in full, please click here

Single-core vs. multi-core CPUs

In reviewing CPU and server benchmarks, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that testing covers both single-core and multi-core performance. Here's the difference.In terms of raw performance, both are equally important, but single- and multi-core have areas of use where they shine. So when picking a CPU, it’s important to consider your particular workloads and evaluate whether single-core or multi-core best meets your needs.Single-core CPUs There are still a lot of applications out there that are single-core limited, such as many databases (although some, like MySQL, are multicore).Performance is measured in a couple of ways. Clock frequency is the big one; the higher the frequency the faster apps will run. Also important is the width of execution pipelines, and the wider the pipeline, the more work can get done per clock cycle. So even if an app is single threaded, a wider pipeline can improve its performance.To read this article in full, please click here

The difference between single-core and multi-core performance

In reviewing CPU and server benchmarks, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that testing covers both single-core and multi-core performance. Here's the difference.In terms of raw performance, both are equally important, but single- and multi-core have areas of use where they shine. So when picking a CPU, it’s important to consider your particular workloads and evaluate whether single-core or multi-core best meets your needs.Single-core CPUs There are still a lot of applications out there that are single-core limited, such as many databases (although some, like MySQL, are multicore).Performance is measured in a couple of ways. Clock frequency is the big one; the higher the frequency the faster apps will run. Also important is the width of execution pipelines, and the wider the pipeline, the more work can get done per clock cycle. So even if an app is single threaded, a wider pipeline can improve its performance.To read this article in full, please click here

Using ‘break’ and ‘continue’ to exit loops in bash

The commands for looping in bash are extremely useful. They allow you to run a series of commands as many times as needed to process a large collection of data. The break and continue commands provide another special option. They allow you to exit a loop early or skip the remaining commands in the loop and return to the beginning.Both the break and the continue commands are meant to be used only in for, while and until loops. In fact, if you try to invoke the break command on its own, bash will tell you just that.To read this article in full, please click here

Using ‘break’ and ‘continue’ to exit loops in bash

The commands for looping in bash are extremely useful. They allow you to run a series of commands as many times as needed to process a large collection of data. The break and continue commands provide another special option. They allow you to exit a loop early or skip the remaining commands in the loop and return to the beginning.Both the break and the continue commands are meant to be used only in for, while and until loops. In fact, if you try to invoke the break command on its own, bash will tell you just that.To read this article in full, please click here

Technology Short Take 160

Welcome to Technology Short Take #160! This time around, my list of links and articles is a tad skewed toward cloud computing/cloud management, but I’ve still managed to pull together some links on other topics that readers will hopefully find useful. For example, did you know about the secret macOS network quality tool? You didn’t? Lucky for you there’s a link to an article about it below. Read on to get all the details!

Networking

  • Ivan Pepelnjak tackles the “infrastructure-as-code is scary” mindset. (Related: see the first bullet in the “Career/Soft Skills” section below.)
  • Larry Peterson reflects on the evolution of TCP.
  • Vikas Choudhary discusses Istio’s Secure Naming; that is, the name given to services and the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) put on the X.509 certificates used in mTLS.

Servers/Hardware

Security

Cloud Computing/Cloud Management

GA Week 2022: what you may have missed

GA Week 2022: what you may have missed

Back in 2019, we worked on a chart for Cloudflare’s IPO S-1 document that showed major releases since Cloudflare was launched in 2010. Here’s that chart:

GA Week 2022: what you may have missed

Of course, that chart doesn’t show everything we’ve shipped, but the curve demonstrates a truth about a growing company: we keep shipping more and more products and services. Some of those things start with a beta, sometimes open and sometimes private. But all of them become generally available after the beta period.

Back in, say, 2014, we only had a few major releases per year. But as the years have progressed and the company has grown we have constant updates, releases and changes. This year a confluence of products becoming generally available in September meant it made sense to wrap them all up into GA Week.

GA Week has now finished, and the team is working to put the finishing touches on Birthday Week (coming this Sunday!), but here’s a recap of everything that we launched this week.

What launched Summary Available for?
Monday (September 19)
Cloudforce Continue reading

How to enable Private Access Tokens in iOS 16 and stop seeing CAPTCHAs

How to enable Private Access Tokens in iOS 16 and stop seeing CAPTCHAs
How to enable Private Access Tokens in iOS 16 and stop seeing CAPTCHAs

You go to a website or service, but before access is granted, there’s a visual challenge that forces you to select bikes, buses or traffic lights in a set of images. That can be an exasperating experience. Now, if you have iOS 16 on your iPhone, those days could be over and are just a one-time toggle enabled away.

CAPTCHA = "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart"

In 2021 and 2022, we took direct steps to end the madness that wastes humanity about 500 years per day called CAPTCHAs, that have been making sure you’re human and not a bot. In August 2022, we announced Private Access Tokens. With that, we’re able to eliminate CAPTCHAs on iPhones, iPads and Macs (and more to come) with open privacy-preserving standards.

On September 12, iOS 16 became generally available (iPadOS 16 and macOS 13 should arrive in October) and on the settings of your device there’s a toggle that can enable the Private Access Token (PAT) technology that will eliminate the need for those CAPTCHAs, and automatically validate that you are a real human visiting a site. If you already have iOS 16, here’s what you should Continue reading

Hedge 148: The SRE with Niall Murphy (part 2)

It seems like only yesterday we started talking about the Site Reliability Engineer, and their place in the IT ecosystem. Over the last several years, the role of the SRE has changed—and it’s bound to continue changing. On this episode of the Hedge, Niall Murphy joins Tom Ammon and Russ White to discuss the changing role of the SRE, and what the SRE could be.

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If you want to read more on this topic, check out Niall’s article over a USENIX.

IoT technology is hitting an inflection point for businesses

A new survey released by UK-based research firm Omdia bears out some of the industry’s rosier predictions for IoT uptake among businesses, finding that almost four out of five companies expect to be actively deploying IoT within the next two years.The survey, which was commissioned by IoT connectivity vendor MachineQ and collected responses from more than 200 enterprises in the manufacturing, retail, real estate and construction, healthcare and life sciences industries, also found that 70% of respondents said that they planned to have more than 50,000 IoT devices deployed within the next 24 months.To read this article in full, please click here

Nvidia strikes AI consulting deals with Deloitte, Booz Allen Hamilton

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be all the rage, but it's still slow to be deployed. The learning curve is steep, there are few people with adequate AI experience, and the rules of governance are unclear.That explains Gartner's 2020 statistic that only 53% of AI pilot programs actually make it to deployment. The tools and experience needed are just not there for the average IT shop, especially a smaller enterprise.Nvidia is looking to change that with a pair of AI-related alliances with consulting giants Deloitte and Booz Allen Hamilton. Both deals are designed to help companies plot AI strategies and gain access to Nvidia technology and expertise.To read this article in full, please click here