Deploying Advanced AWS Networking Features

Miha Markočič created sample automation scripts (mostly Terraform configuration files + AWS CLI commands where needed) deploying these features described in AWS Networking webinar:

To recreate them, clone the GitHub repository and follow the instructions.

Deploying Advanced AWS Networking Features

Miha Markočič created sample automation scripts (mostly Terraform configuration files + AWS CLI commands where needed) deploying these features described in AWS Networking webinar:

To recreate them, clone the GitHub repository and follow the instructions.

AMD Rides The High Performance Computing Megacycle

Server buyers have longer memories and perhaps deeper disappointment of AMD’s exit from the X86 server processor business than consumers who buy PCs, and a manufacturing constrained Intel has clearly sacrificed some Core PC chip market share to maintain some Xeon SP server market share over the past two years.

AMD Rides The High Performance Computing Megacycle was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Palo Alto CLI Tips and Tricks

Handy tips and tricks for working with the Palo Alto network CLI. Config Output Format The configuration output format can be changed. This can be useful for backing up the config or capturing a structured format from the CLI. The following formats are available: default json ...

Cisco bolsters edge networking family with expanded SD-WAN, security options

Cisco this week expanded its Catalyst 8000 Edge Platform family to offer enterprise edge customers more secure SD-WAN and cloud resource access options.The Cisco Catalyst 8000 edge router collection currently includes three models: the high-end 8500 for data-center or colocation customers, the 8300 for branch users, and the software-based 8000 for virtual environments. Feature support includes advanced routing, SD-WAN, security and secure-access service edge (SASE), depending on customer requirements, and all models run Cisco's IOS XE operating system software.To read this article in full, please click here

One Year After the First COVID Lockdown, A Secure Internet Shouldn’t Just Be for the Privileged Few

This past weekend, we observed the one-year anniversary of the first of many COVID-19 lockdowns. Since then, schools, small businesses, healthcare providers, and financial institutions around the world have relied on the Internet to maintain operations and deliver critical services – bringing the need for broadband access into sharp focus. The overflow of demand for digital communication amid the ongoing pandemic has put the Internet’s structural integrity and capacity to the test. Overwhelmingly, it has delivered.

The Internet’s network of networks has enabled massive segments of the global workforce to shift to remote operations, allowed schools to provide online educations to students around the world, and offered a space for countless businesses and individuals to continue to serve their communities amid a global crisis. The Internet’s role in not just sustaining crucial aspects of day-to-day life, but enabling communities to thrive throughout the COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly crucial. It is clear – now more than ever – that the Internet is indeed a force for good. The success of the Internet is the result of its universally accessible, decentralized, and open architecture; this Internet Way of Networking must be protected to allow us all to use this critical resource to its Continue reading

Agglutinating Problems Considered Harmful (RFC2915, Rule 5)

In the networking world, many equate simplicity with the fewest number of moving parts. According to this line of thinking, if there are 100 routers, 10 firewalls, 3 control planes, and 4 management systems in a network, then reducing the number of routers to 95, the number of firewalls to 8, the number of control planes to 1, and the number of management systems to 3 would make the system “much simpler.” Disregarding the reduction in the number of management systems, scientifically proven to always increase in number, it does seem that reducing the number of physical devices, protocols in use, etc., would tend to decrease the complexity of the network.

The wise engineers of the IETF, however, has a word of warning in this area that all network engineers should heed. According to RFC1925, rule 5: “It is always possible to agglutinate multiple separate problems into a single complex interdependent solution. In most cases this is a bad idea.” When “conventional wisdom” and the wisdom of engineers with the kind of experience and background as those who write IETF documents contradict one another, it is worth taking a deeper look.

A good place to begin is Continue reading

New Docker and JFrog Partnership Designed to Improve the Speed and Quality of App Development Processes

Today, Docker and JFrog announced a new partnership to ensure developers can benefit from integrated innovation across both companies’ offerings. This partnership sets the foundation for ongoing integration and support to help organizations increase both the velocity and quality of modern app development. 

The objective of this partnership is simple: how can we ensure developers can get the images they want and trust, and make sure they can access them in whatever development process they are using from a centralized platform? To this end, the new agreement between Docker and JFrog ensures that developers can take advantage of their Docker Subscription and Docker Hub Official Images in their Artifactory SaaS and on-premise environments so they can build, share and run apps with confidence.

At a high level, a solution based on the Docker and JFrog partnership looks like this: 

In this sample architecture, developers can build apps with images, including Docker Official Images and images from popular OSS projects and software companies, from Docker Hub. As images are requested, they are cached into JFrog Artifactory, where images can be managed by corporate policies, cached for high performance, and mirrored across an organization’s infrastructure. Also, the images in Artifactory can take Continue reading

Using the vim editor in Linux to quickly encrypt and decrypt files

Any time you have a text file on a Linux system that you want to keep private regardless of the privileges that other users with accounts on the system may have, you can resort to encryption. One easy way to do this is to use a feature that is built into the vim editor. You will have to provide a password that will you then need to remember or store in a password safe, but the process is straightforward. The file name will not be changed in any way, and the content of the file can be recovered in much the same way that it was encrypted.To begin, let's say that we have a file that begins like this:$ head -3 mysecret I feel the need to put my deepest darkest secret into a text file on my Linux system. While this likely isn't common practice, I'm not sure that I can trust anyone with it. But a penguin? That's a different story! So here goes ... Now, not wanting to risk your deepest darkest secret to fellow users, you use vim with its -x (encryption) option.To read this article in full, please click here

Using the vim editor in Linux to quickly encrypt and decrypt files

Any time you have a text file on a Linux system that you want to keep private regardless of the privileges that other users with accounts on the system may have, you can resort to encryption. One easy way to do this is to use a feature that is built into the vim editor. You will have to provide a password that will you then need to remember or store in a password safe, but the process is straightforward. The file name will not be changed in any way, and the content of the file can be recovered in much the same way that it was encrypted.To begin, let's say that we have a file that begins like this:$ head -3 mysecret I feel the need to put my deepest darkest secret into a text file on my Linux system. While this likely isn't common practice, I'm not sure that I can trust anyone with it. But a penguin? That's a different story! So here goes ... Now, not wanting to risk your deepest darkest secret to fellow users, you use vim with its -x (encryption) option.To read this article in full, please click here

Using vim to quickly encrypt and decrypt files

Any time you have a text file on a Linux system that you want to keep private regardless of the privileges that other users with accounts on the system may have, you can resort to encryption. One easy way to do this is to use a feature that is built into the vim editor. You will have to provide a password that will you then need to remember or store in a password safe, but the process is straightforward. The file name will not be changed in any way, and the content of the file can be recovered in much the same way that it was encrypted.To begin, let's say that we have a file that begins like this:$ head -3 mysecret I feel the need to put my deepest darkest secret into a text file on my Linux system. While this likely isn't common practice, I'm not sure that I can trust anyone with it. But a penguin? That's a different story! So here goes ... Now, not wanting to risk your deepest darkest secret to fellow users, you use vim with its -x (encryption) option.To read this article in full, please click here

Fixing XML-to-JSON Conversion Challenges

In the last weeks I described the challenges you might face when converting XML documents that contain lists with a single element into JSON, be it on device (Nexus OS) or in an Ansible module. Now let’s see how we can fix that.

Blog posts in this series

Fixing XML-to-JSON Conversion Challenges

In the last weeks I described the challenges you might face when converting XML documents that contain lists with a single element into JSON, be it on device (Nexus OS) or in an Ansible module. Now let’s see how we can fix that.