Best of Fest 2022

At AnsibleFest 2022, the power of automation was on full display. Through sessions, workshops, labs and more, we explored how to transform enterprise and industry through automation. There were a lot of exciting announcements made on both days, and in case you missed it, we are going to dive into what is new!

 

Ansible + AWS 

We are thrilled to also announce a new AWS Marketplace offering, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. By offering Ansible Automation Platform as a pre-integrated service that can be quickly deployed from cloud marketplaces, we are meeting our customers where they are, while giving them the flexibility to deliver any application, anywhere, without additional overhead or complexity. Whether you are automating your hybrid cloud or multi-cloud environments, Ansible Automation Platform acts as a single platform. This platform provides consistency, visibility, and control to help  you manage these environments at scale. Ansible is the IT automation “glue” for bringing your cloud, network, bare-metal and cloud-native infrastructure together. This  provides the functionality to coordinate and manage across  hybrid cloud environments in a simple and efficient way. Interested in learning more? Check out the press release. 

 

Automation at the Edge

Ansible Automation Platform provides a Continue reading

And here’s another one: the Next.js Edge Runtime becomes the fourth full-stack framework supported by Cloudflare Pages

And here's another one: the Next.js Edge Runtime becomes the fourth full-stack framework supported by Cloudflare Pages
And here's another one: the Next.js Edge Runtime becomes the fourth full-stack framework supported by Cloudflare Pages

You can now deploy Next.js applications which opt in to the Edge Runtime on Cloudflare Pages. Next.js is the fourth full-stack web framework that the Pages platform officially supports, and it is one of the most popular in the 'Jamstack-y' space.

Cloudflare Pages started its journey as a platform for static websites, but with last year's addition of Pages Functions powered by Cloudflare Workers, the platform has progressed to support an even more diverse range of use cases. Pages Functions allows developers to sprinkle in small pieces of server-side code with its simple file-based routing, or, as we've seen with the adoption from other frameworks (namely SvelteKit, Remix and Qwik), Pages Functions can be used to power your entire full-stack app. The folks behind Remix previously talked about the advantages of adopting open standards, and we've seen this again with Next.js' Edge Runtime.

Next.js' Edge Runtime

Next.js' Edge Runtime is an experimental mode that developers can opt into which results in a different type of application being built. Previously, Next.js applications which relied on server-side rendering (SSR) functionality had to be deployed on a Node.js server. Running a Node.js Continue reading

The Cloud is Not a Railroad – An Argument Against the Vertical Separation of Cloud Providers

 

There's a move to regulate cloud providers by vertically separating the services they offer.

Like railroads of yore, who were not allowed to provide freight services on top of their base services, cloud providers would not be allowed to provide services on top of their base platform services.

Vertical separation would be new to the cloud industry. Is it a good idea? Would it actually solve any problems? My answers are no and no, but probably not for the reasons you think. Let's dive in.

Here are a few useful resources for exploring this argument:

  • Maintaining monopolies with the cloud by Cory Doctorow. https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/28/other-peoples-computers.
  • A group advocating for fair licensing. https://www.fairsoftwarelicensing.com/our-principles.
  • Cloud Infrastructure Services -- An analysis of potentially anti-competitive practices by Professor Frédéric Jenny. https://www.fairsoftwarestudy.com/.

Now Cory is about 100x times smarter than I am, but this analogy is wrong:

That's why the trustbusters were so big on "structural separation": the principle that a business can own a platform or use the platform, but not both.

So this remedy is also wrong:

Rather than trying to construct rules that kept the referee honest even when they played on one of the teams, they Continue reading

Use VRFs for VXLAN-Enabled VLANs

I started one of my VXLAN tests with a simple setup – two switches connecting two hosts over a VXLAN-enabled (gray tunnel) red VLAN. The switches are connected with a single blue link.

Test lab

Test lab

I configured VLANs and VXLANs, and started OSPF on S1 and S2 to get connectivity between their loopback interfaces. Here’s the configuration of one of the Arista cEOS switches:

Read more …

Use VRFs for VXLAN-Enabled VLANs

I started one of my VXLAN tests with a simple setup – two switches connecting two hosts over a VXLAN-enabled (gray tunnel) red VLAN. The switches are connected with a single blue link.

Test lab

Test lab

I configured VLANs and VXLANs, and started OSPF on S1 and S2 to get connectivity between their loopback interfaces. Here’s the configuration of one of the Arista cEOS switches:

Read more …

The RISC Deprogrammer

I should write up a larger technical document on this, but in the meanwhile is this short (-ish) blogpost. Everything you know about RISC is wrong. It's some weird nerd cult. Techies frequently mention RISC in conversation, with other techies nodding their head in agreement, but it's all wrong. Somehow everyone has been mind controlled to believe in wrong concepts.

An example is this recent blogpost which starts out saying that "RISC is a set of design principles". No, it wasn't. Let's start from this sort of viewpoint to discuss this odd cult.

What is RISC?

Because of the march of Moore's Law, every year, more and more parts of a computer could be included onto a single chip. When chip densities reached the point where we could almost fit an entire computer on a chip, designers made tradeoffs, discarding unimportant stuff to make the fit happen. They made tradeoffs, deciding what needed to be included, what needed to change, and what needed to be discarded.

RISC is a set of creative tradeoffs, meaningful at the time (early 1980s), but which were meaningless by the late 1990s.

The interesting parts of CPU evolution are the three decades from 1964 with Continue reading

Controversial Reads 102222


A Chinese law that went into effect six months ago required online service providers to file details of the algorithms they use with China’s centralized regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).


How is deep learning going to assist rather than replace the average creative worker? If replacement is the goal — valid, by the way, if a net positive for humanity — are we paying the people responsible for work the models have been trained on?


Since the WSJ and a viral TikTok video made quiet quitting a cultural phenomenon, it seems as though every news outlet, Fortune 500 CEO, lifestyle coach, or entry-level employee has something to say about quiet quitting.


After looking into the matter, I’m less confused but more distressed: Smart heating and cooling is even more knotted up than I thought. Ultimately, your smart thermostat isn’t made to help you. It’s there to help others—for reasons that might or might not benefit you directly, or ever.


This month, LinkedIn researchers revealed in Science that the company spent five years quietly researching more than 20 million users. By tweaking the professional networking platform’s algorithm, researchers were trying to determine through A/B testing whether users end up Continue reading

Weekend Reads 102122


New research has disclosed what’s being called a security vulnerability in Microsoft 365 that could be exploited to infer message contents due to the use of a broken cryptographic algorithm.


Telcos deal with a considerable amount of multivendor devices. Although many hope/expect that these are equipped with state-of-the-art telemetry technologies, most of the time they’re not


Concerns over a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in certain Fortinet appliances heightened this week with the release of proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code and a big uptick in vulnerability scans for the flaw.


Cracks and keygens have long been a problem for software vendors in that they allow users to install their products without needing to pay for a legitimate license. As the Internet and website development advanced and became more accessible, the number of sites offering software cracking tools grew.


The result is ChilliRack, a cooling system that Klein believes can address key challenges in the cost of cooling and the low utilization seen in many data centers.


With DevSecOps coming a long way as a discipline, there are now great frameworks and best practices for applying security gates in your CI, and later CD.


LitmusChaos is a dynamic open source chaos engineering platform Continue reading

Heavy Networking 652: Why Networkers Should Want Routing Protocols Written In Rustlang

On today’s Heavy Networking episode, I talk with Nick Carter about Flock Networks, his routing protocol stack startup, as well as Nick’s love of the Rust programming language. As a network engineer, maybe you don’t think you care about Rust. Nick’s here to explain why the discerning network engineer might prefer their routing daemons to have been written in Rust. We also talk about the pleasures and travails of startup life.

Heavy Networking 652: Why Networkers Should Want Routing Protocols Written In Rustlang

On today’s Heavy Networking episode, I talk with Nick Carter about Flock Networks, his routing protocol stack startup, as well as Nick’s love of the Rust programming language. As a network engineer, maybe you don’t think you care about Rust. Nick’s here to explain why the discerning network engineer might prefer their routing daemons to have been written in Rust. We also talk about the pleasures and travails of startup life.

The post Heavy Networking 652: Why Networkers Should Want Routing Protocols Written In Rustlang appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Page Shield can now watch for malicious outbound connections made by third-party JavaScript code

Page Shield can now watch for malicious outbound connections made by third-party JavaScript code
Page Shield can now watch for malicious outbound connections made by third-party JavaScript code

Page Shield can now watch for malicious outbound connections made by third-party JavaScript code

Many websites use third party JavaScript libraries to cut development time by using pre-built features. Common examples include checkout services, analytics tools, or live chat integrations. Any one of these JavaScript libraries may be sending site visitors’ data to unknown locations.

If you manage a website, and you have ever wondered where end user data might be going and who has access to it, starting today, you can find out using Page Shield’s Connection Monitor.

Page Shield is our client side security solution that aims to detect malicious behavior and compromises that affect the browser environment directly, such as those that exploit vulnerabilities in third party JavaScript libraries.

Connection Monitor, available from today, is the latest addition to Page Shield and allows you to see outbound connections being made by your users’ browsers initiated by third party JavaScript added to your site. You can then review this information to ensure only appropriate third parties are receiving sensitive data.

Customers on our business and enterprise plans receive visibility in outbound connections provided by Connection Monitor. If you are using our Page Shield enterprise add-on, you also Continue reading

IoT security strategy from those who use connected devices

Freeman Health System has around 8,000 connected medical devices in its 30 facilities in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Many of these devices have the potential to turn deadly at any moment. "That’s the doomsday scenario that everyone is afraid of," says Skip Rollins, the hospital chain's CIO and CISO.Rollins would love to be able to scan the devices for vulnerabilities and install security software on them to ensure that they aren't being hacked. But he can't."The vendors in this space are very uncooperative," he says. "They all have proprietary operating systems and proprietary tools. We can't scan these devices. We can't put security software on these devices. We can't see anything they're doing. And the vendors intentionally deliver them that way."To read this article in full, please click here

IoT security strategy from those who use connected devices

Freeman Health System has around 8,000 connected medical devices in its 30 facilities in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Many of these devices have the potential to turn deadly at any moment. "That’s the doomsday scenario that everyone is afraid of," says Skip Rollins, the hospital chain's CIO and CISO.Rollins would love to be able to scan the devices for vulnerabilities and install security software on them to ensure that they aren't being hacked. But he can't."The vendors in this space are very uncooperative," he says. "They all have proprietary operating systems and proprietary tools. We can't scan these devices. We can't put security software on these devices. We can't see anything they're doing. And the vendors intentionally deliver them that way."To read this article in full, please click here

Video: EVPN Multihoming Taxonomy and Overview

I promised you a blog post explaining the intricacies of implementing MLAG with EVPN, but (as is often the case) it’s taking longer than expected. In the meantime, enjoy the EVPN Multihoming Taxonomy and Overview video from Lukas Krattiger’s EVPN Multihoming versus MLAG presentation (part of EVPN Deep Dive webinar).

Watch the video
You need Free ipSpace.net Subscription to watch the video. To watch the whole webinar, buy Standard or Expert ipSpace.net Subscription.

EVPN Multihoming: Taxonomy and Overview

I promised you a blog post explaining the intricacies of implementing MLAG with EVPN, but (as is often the case) it’s taking longer than expected. In the meantime, enjoy the EVPN Multihoming Taxonomy and Overview video from Lukas Krattiger’s EVPN Multihoming versus MLAG presentation (part of EVPN Deep Dive webinar).

Watch the video
You need Free ipSpace.net Subscription to watch the video. To watch the whole webinar, buy Standard or Expert ipSpace.net Subscription.

SolarWinds’ Observability offers visibility into hybrid cloud infrastructure

SolarWinds, the maker of a well-known and widely used suite of IT management software products, announced this week that it’s expanding to the cloud, with the release of Observability, a cloud-native, SaaS-based IT management service that is also available for hybrid cloud environments.The basic idea of Observability is to provide a more holistic, integrated overview of an end-user company’s IT systems, using a single-pane-of-glass interface to track data from network, infrastructure, application and database sources. The system's  machine learning techniques are designed to bolster security via anomaly detection.To read this article in full, please click here

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