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In a security notice posted on Cisco’s web site recently, the networking giant unveiled its new patch program that will see them regularly updating its IOS software for Cisco switches and routers on a timely basis, similar to Microsoft’s “patch Tuesday”.
From the note:
“This schedule change will not restrict us from promptly publishing an individual IOS Security Advisory for a serious vulnerability which is publicly disclosed or for which we are aware of active exploitation.
Cisco is adopting this approach in response to extensive feedback from customers, who seek further predictability for support planning and deployment cycles.
The current format of IOS Security Advisories will remain the same. The software table in the Advisory includes a list of recommended releases (where possible) for each software train that addresses all of the security vulnerabilities included in the bundle.”
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Lots of moving and shaking so far in 2008, and here’s yet another “love-in” announcement, this time from Fortinet (lesser known security vendor currently partnered with HP on the ProCurve line) and Riverbed, who we’re all getting to know as the darling of Wall Street, the WAN acceleration vendor that sells solutions that can even put Cisco to shame (my opinion, not my employer’s of course).
From the press release:
“San Francisco – February 19, 2008 – Riverbed Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: RVBD), the technology and market leader in wide-area data services (WDS), and Fortinet, a pioneer and leading provider of unified threat management (UTM) solutions, today announced an alliance that enables the two companies to deliver complementary best-of-breed security and application acceleration solutions to enterprise customers for managing their distributed workforces.
Through Fortinet’s Elite-level membership in the Riverbed Technology Alliance (RTA), Fortinet, Riverbed®, and their channel partners can immediately provide security and WDS solutions for remote offices, data centers, and mobile workers that are functionally superior to those of competing alternatives.
“Together, Riverbed and Fortinet address the need that enterprises have to secure their data; accelerate the performance of applications running on wide area networks (WANs); and reduce IT infrastructure complexity and costs,” said Mark Williams, principal architect for enterprise infrastructure at Mercury Insurance. “Implementation of two market-leading technologies such as WDS solutions from Riverbed and Fortinet’s ASIC-accelerated integrated security appliances should meet this need while instilling confidence in enterprise companies of all scales.”
This partnership takes advantage of the complementary capabilities of the companies’ two product lines and the ability to cross-sell to their broad global customer bases. Riverbed and Fortinet combined have nearly 30,000 customers, spanning enterprise vertical markets and service providers, and approximately 2,000 distributors and resellers who can benefit from the comprehensive solutions that this partnership will produce.
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Lately I’ve been scouring the web for used gear because there seems to be an influx of incredibly powerful stuff at amazing prices.
This all came about with me wanting to learn ESX 3.5, and needing the hardware as well as the network to run a feasible set up, with DRS, HA and Storage Vmotion. And I did it - on the cheap.
The first thing that you should know about ESX 3.5 is that it now works with many non/budget-RAID SATA chipsets, though not supported. Two that are readily available are Intel’s ICH5 and Silicone Image’s Sil SATA line. This typically depends on the BIOS you are using, but in regards to the ICH5, you’ll want to disable IDE compatibility mode, and as for Sil - you’ll sometimes want to turn on the RAID (though some Sil single channel cards also work, ie the Vantec SATA 1-port).
The second is that drive space is inexpensive. A 500GB SATAII Western Digital drive will only set you back about $100 CAD/USD. Two of these gives you redundancy! Combine the cheap drives with software like FreeNAS or OpenFiler, and you have yourself a 1TB iSCSI NAS for a fraction of the cost/MB of larger solutions. Just don’t pretend it’s foolproof… With any proper iSCSI, you’ll want some nice and spiffy ethernet cards, and in my case I used the tried-and-true Intel Pro 100 successor, the Pro 1000. You can find the Pro1000 GT for roughly $40, and a PCIe version of similar capabilities for about the same amount. The PCI version is compatible with VMware ESX 3.5, OpenFiler, FreeNAS, and Windows Server 2008. I hear the same goes for the PCIe version, and I will be able to let you know shortly.
Since we’re on the topic of networking, you’re going to either want two gigabit (gbit) switches, or a nice gbit switch with more ports and VLAN ability. I lucked out, and got a used 3Com SuperStack III (3C17706) for next to nothing. I’ve seen plenty of somewhat lesser-known (but just as nice) gigabit HP Procurve, Extreme Networks, and even Dell gear at plain stupid prices on ebay and Craigslist. Seriously. I’m talking 50$ for a 24 port 10/100/1000 switch! The trick on ebay is to not bid at all on stuff until it is about to end… then just pick it up. Well I guess everyone has figured that out by now, but it still works. Don’t draw attention to it by watching it like a hawk - just set up instant messaging reminders, and swoop in. As for Craigslist, I have RSS feeds for things I am interested in: 1U, 2U, 3U, 4U, 6U, rack, rackmount, etc. I check these on a regular basis, and make sure to email right away. Craigslist people are friendly, but will typically sell to the person who a) emails first, b) offers to pick it up the soonest, and c) doesn’t give them a hard time.
Now we’re into routing, mostly because I want to talk about it. This setup does not require any routing at all, but it’s a bit better to have a protected connection to the internet. My personal opinion here is to avoid Cisco at all costs, as recently the re-licensing has made buying one used a lot more expensive than in the past. That said, I do, in fact, own a Cisco router - what can I say! It’s like the gold standard. Of course my opinions are my own, and not that of my employer. For a cheaper routing solution, look to used Juniper, SonicWALL, and even open source stuff like Astaro (which also happens to run in VM…) Peronsally, I run a home licensed Astaro ten user virtual machine, a Juniper 5GT wireless, and barely use the Cisco 2611. That’s just me. If you’re having a hard time finding the Astaro licensing, just let me know, but rest assured it does exists, and is perhaps the EASIEST way to turn on VPN so you can have access to your virtual lab anywhere.
Alright, now we’re at the meat and potatoes - CPU and memory, the power behind all of this. Now, if power isn’t really a big deal, but you want to learn the cool features like the afore-mentioned DRS, HA and Storage Vmotion, the main thing you will want is memory. I’ve found that buying enthusiast RAM on Craigslist is VERY easy. Pick a brand like Crucial, OCZ or Kingston HyperX, and you’re bound to have masses of kids who all read the same articles, and are all selling the same RAM used, pretty much at the same time. Watch the trends, and you can easily build 4 boxes running over 3GB or RAM each, for cheap. Dirt cheap.
If you’re going the consolidation route, your best bet (used) is an Opteron solution. While you can find Opteron 185 and 175 chips on ebay, I find that they are asking a fortune for them because they are socket 939, and are considered top of the line for the specific platform. If you opt for the 165 dual core version, you can use cheap enthusiast RAM with great timings, and get a pretty good processor at the same time. It also means that you can get a motherboard to support both pretty much anywhere at bargain basement cost, and one that will typically have a Sil SATA chipset, or you can add one later.
In the case of the multi-box scenario - I’m using 4 Intel P4 3.0GHz HyperThreading processors. Not powerhouses by any means, but when it comes to storage, you can get Intel P4 motherboards that have ICH5 chipsets very easily because they well so prolific at the time - just make sure to watch those temps.
I think that kinda sums it up, as far as a used, cheap, VMware ESX 3.5 lab goes.
If you have any questions, feel free to shout them out.
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Oh boy, big news!
A new beta of Parallels has been released today, and is a free download for Parallels users. Coherence and BootCamp compatibility have been improved, along with a slew of other features.
Here’s the release notes for the Parallels Desktop for Mac (Beta2) page:
- NEW! USB 2.0 support - “Plug and play” popular USB devices like external hard drives, printers, and scanners, and use them at full native speed.
- NOTE! Current Build 3094 doesn’t support isochronous devices such as web cameras, microphones, etc.
- NEW! Full-feature virtual CD/DVD drive - Burn CDs and DVDs directly in virtual machines, and play any copy-protected CD or DVD just like you would on a real PC
- NEW! Improved Coherence mode - The groundbreaking feature that lets you run Windows applications without seeing Windows just got better! Now you can:
- Place Windows applications on your Mac desktop or in your application dock. Just click to launch them directly from OS X!
- Use Command+tab to cycle through Windows and Mac applications simultaneously, and “hide and show” Windows applications just like you would with Mac applications
- View the Windows Command Console in Coherence mode
- Use Coherence in Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP and Windows Vista!
- NEW! Better Boot Camp support - Using your Boot Camp partition in Parallels Desktop is now easier than ever. Beta2’s Boot Camp support includes:
- Full support for FAT32 and NTFS partitions
- Easy offline configuration. Simply tell Parallels Desktop that you want to create a virtual machine from a Boot Camp Partition and click start. No complicated set up required!
- No need to re-activate Windows each time you switch between Boot Camp and Parallels. Activate Windows only once inside Parallels and work in both environments
- IMPORTANT! It is not possible to suspend a Virtual Machine that is connected to Boot Camp as it could result in an unstable system.
- VERY IMPORTANT! Beta1 (build 3036) users must boot natively into Boot Camp and uninstall Parallels Tools for Boot Camp prior to running it in Beta2 (build 3094).
- NEW! Parallels Transporter Beta2 bundled - migrate your real Windows PC, or existing VMware or Virtual PC VMs to Parallels virtual machines! Learn more about Parallels Transporter Beta2 >>
- IMPORTANT! Beta1 users MUST upgrade their Transporter package on their Windows source machine before using Parallels Transporter in Beta2. Failing to do so may result in a system crash and loss of data
- New Look and Feel - completely redesigned windows and easier to follow dialogues to make Desktop for Mac more user-friendly than ever
- True “Drag and Drop” functionality - a long awaited feature that lets you seamlessly drag and drop files and folders from Windows to Mac OS X and vice versa
- Read/Write Boot Camp partition - use your Apple Boot Camp Partition as a virtual HDD for Parallels Desktop for Mac
- Virtual Machine Catalogue - now all of your virtual machines are available through a centralized VM catalogue which appears on each Parallels Desktop for Mac instance
- One-click Virtual Machine Aliases - automatically create a desktop shortcut for your virtual machine with the OS Installation Assistant, by dragging-and-dropping from title bar, or by pressing Command-Option keys combination. Clicking on Alias automatically starts the Virtual Machine
- Resizable Main Window - resize the Parallels Desktop for Mac main window as you do with any other Mac application
- Auto-Adjusting Screen Resolution - Windows auto-adjusts its screen resolution to the actual main window size
- Improved graphic performance - up to 50% faster!
- Connect/disconnect USB devices schema improved - no more annoying “wait 5-10 seconds” message on USB device connecting to Parallels Desktop for Mac!
- Up to 5 Virtual NICs - now each Virtual Machine can have up to five virtual network interfaces
- Enhanced Shared Networking Mode - run Cisco VPN and many other complex networking applications in conjunction with Connection Sharing Mode
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