The management of updates has become an essential element in overseeing a computer network today. Take the network that I manage for the school district I work for. Being a Windows based network, our 90 servers and 5500 workstations rely on Microsoft update which are made available from Microsoft every second Tuesday of the month for the most part. Critical updates are made available on an as needed basis such as a hot fix or the plugging of a security hole that has been exposed.
When I first entered the networking field, these updates had to be managed on an individual computer basis much like your home computer. This of course was very labor intensive. It also ate up a lot of your Internet bandwidth as each and every machine had to communicate directly to the Microsoft website. Today, most windows based networks of any size utilize a Windows WSUS server, (Windows Software Update Services) which download s all available updates and then dispenses them throughout the network during off peak hours. See the link for more information: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/wsus/bb466193.aspx
The most common types of updates are for antivirus and anti spam applications. Ensuring that these types of updates are downloaded and installed throughout the network is of the utmost importance. Viruses can spread across the world in a matter of hours and can bring down critical servers or even an entire network unless AV applications are current.
Like most schools and many other types of organizations we have a web filter. Nearly every night, the filter downloads the latest site category updates. To explain, a filter company constantly discovers new sites across the Internet for categorization and will return to previously visited sites to discern if the site needs to be recategorized.
We have dozens of applications such as our backup software that regularly download updates as well. In addition, all of our servers are from Dell, which periodically (about once a quarter) sends out a CD with hardware and BIOS updates for its machines.
Thanks to David Cardoso for permission to use this Photo.
Ten years ago the big upgrade in network speed was from 10 MB to 100 MB. Organizations quickly began upgrading their LAN infrastructures to take advantage of this increase in performance. This meant of course that CAT 3 cable had to be replaced with CAT 5 cable and all the switches and routers that couldn’t handle 100 MB had to be replaced. Most organizations had to upgrade the NICs in all of their computers as well. Five years ago, organizations started upgrading their datacenter structure to 1 Gig for all of their servers in order to enlarge the pipeline of data moving into and out of the datacenter from users.
Although some organizations have provided 1 Gig throughput for their entire network, meaning that once again most switches, routers and NICs have to be replaced, many have not felt that the return on investment (ROI) is worth it. Despite this, vendors are now touting the new 10 Gig Ethernet standard. It will be interesting to see what type of demand for a speed that will most definitely require an organization to upgrade all involved switches and routers and NICS. The cabling for 10 Gig is different as well.
There are not many people who can seriously put into question the projected dominance of Google search technology in the future evolution of the Internet. Through his brilliantly engineered software architecture and conceptual maps of its' potential applications, supergenius Tim Berners-Lee, the acknowledged inventor of the World Wide Web, has for years been carrying his message of a "semantic web" that will make the current incarnation of the web seem look like your Dad's Rolodex by comparison.
In Berners-Lee vision, the next generation of web technology will be semantic, i.e. all data will be interconnected and capable of communicating with other "information" through a common language so speak. The following article discusses the development of the semantic web alongside the related, but not parallel development of Google’s search, mapping, and tracking applications. Berners-Lee is not anti-Google, but he is passionately against the centralization of web data and any form of proprietary control over Internet content.
I also encourage you to check out this very insightful video presentation in which Berners-Lee takes you on a virtual tour of the Web from its’ beginnings into tomorrow. This is fascinating stuff. Please share your thoughts with the Ashworth Blog community after brainstorming on your own.
Thanks to Dana Lee for permission to use this Photo.
Have you seen the recent commercials from Verizon Wireless touting their wireless service, contrasting their service with the seemingly restrictive confinement of WIFI. This is part of a battle for wireless dominance. WIFI is the current wireless standard leader. If you have a laptop, chances are you have some sort of WIFI router device in your home to provide WIFI access for it and other devices in your house such as the newest IPOD release. You have probably utilized the WIFI offerings of a local coffee shop or hotel (I couldn’t imagine staying in a hotel today that didn’t offer WIFI or at least Ethernet network access). If you download a free program called NetStumbler and install it on a computer that has a wireless card, you can discover wireless access points wherever you are. The program makes a sound every time a new WIFI point is discovered. Driving around with your laptop running NetStumbler can make your computer sound like a video game as it will sound off repeatedly like a machine gun as it find the plethora of WIFE points in the area.
The problem with WIFI is that it is spotty and not predictable. WIFI has a limited range and many WIFI hotspots are now guarded with security such as WPA, disallowing public access. This has created a demand for a more streamlined wireless standard that offers blanket coverage.
One option is the cell phone companies such as Verizon. These services can offer as much as much as 3.5 Gig of network throughput, putting WIFI to shame. WIMAX is another option in which metropolitan areas can offer blanket coverage throughout the area with speeds up to 4 Gig. Both of these offerings work on some sort of subscription plan which can cost as much as $60 a month. Unlike WIFI, each and every device must have a separate subscription, making these alternatives very expensive. Over a dozen metropolitan WIMAX projects have been dismantled over the past year due to higher than predicted costs and a shortage of willing subscribers. WIFI has also fired back with the new 802.11n WIFI standard this year which offers greater throughput and coverage than its WIFI predecessors. The battle has just begun for wireless dominance…
If you are purchasing a PC today over $700, chances are the specs include a dual core processor. Multi-core processors have been thetrend for several years. A dual core processor is a CPU with twoseparate cores on the same die, each with its own cache. It’s the equivalent of getting two microprocessors in one. A typical server today has at least two dual core processors. Quad cores are also very popular too. The organization that I work for typically uses dual quad core processors for any of the servers that will be carrying a processing load such as a database server, email server or a virtual host.
But as you can surmise, it’s not stopping at quad core. Intel will be releasing a six core processor later this year. AMD will be releasing theirs early next year. These will be strictly targeted at the server market since desktop software can barely fully utilize dual core processing. And if 6 isn’t enough, both companies plan on releasing a 12 core processor sometime in 2010.
Johnny Lee is a brilliant technologist who’s become a YouTube star through his amazing demonstration of Wii remote hacks. After watching this video, you’ll never look at your Wii the same again. I love this video because Lee once again proves how integral human creativity and ingenuity are to the process of technological innovation. In this case, a relatively unknown guy like Lee on center stage at the famed TED conference, reinventing the very essence of what an already popular technology’s applications can ultimately be. These hacks are insane. Don’t miss this one…
Has anyone emailed you a Microsoft Word file or excel file made in Office XP that you weren’t able to open with your copy of Office 2003 or 2000? That’s because 2007 saves Word and Excel files in a custom file type by default. Word 2007 saves in the .docx format for instance.
Excel 2007 saves in the .xlsx format by default. If this has happened to you there are two options. One of course is to install Office 2007 on your computer. The far lesser expensive alternative is to download and install the Microsoft 2007 conversion tool which allows earlier versions of Office to open 2007 files. Note that this is a read only tool. You cannot create 2007 files with it. Office 2007 does allow you to save files in the format of earlier versions. If you anticipate emailing any files created with Office 2007, you should do this so that your recipients can open them guaranteed. You can download the conversion tool by clicking here.
There are other alternatives to Microsoft Office. I have written about OpenOffice before, the most popular open source office suite. It is totally free and many of its components, such as the word processing and spreadsheet components, have an identical look as Office 2003. It is ideal for students. You can research it further and download it here.
Another alternative is Google Apps. Google Apps, which was heralded early on has not caught on as was anticipated. It is a web based application which means that nothing is installed on your computer.
This means that you can work on your files from anywhere since you can also save your files on a personal storage space of your own on a Google server. You can also save your files to your local computer or media as well. You can access Google Apps here.
The 2008 Global Information Security Workforce Study was recently released. A total of 7,548 professionals in the field were surveyed. The complete study can be downloaded at https://www.isc2.org/cgi-bin/content.cgi?category=510
The most interesting headline from the study was the fact that 70 percent of all respondents reported that their own employees are the biggest threat to their organization’s security. This is contrary to the common belief that organizations must throw most of their resources at the outside perimeter of the organization’s network to prevent outsiders from accessing their network.
This premise is supported by a recent finding that email is now no longer the number one manner in which viruses access an organization’s network. With the ease at which employers now bring in thumb drives, personal laptops and PDA’s. Network security plans must focus on an umbrella approach that guards the entire network.
Thanks to David K for permission to use this Photo.
Back in 2000, we were constantly told that the world was running out of IP addresses. This was because IPV4, the IP standard we use for IP addresses only has so many mathematical combinations, thus there is a defined limit to the number of IP addresses that can be utilized. Due to the wide spread use of IP in the world, a usage rate far beyond what the creators of IP ever visualized; the IT world was stressing out as to how to address the problem. The solution was a new standard called IPV6 which introduced more bits into the addressing scheme. In turn, millions of additional mathematical combinations were created, resulting in an equal number of additional IP addresses.
Unfortunately, IPV6 is more complicated than its predecessor, requiring a degree of training for networking professionals. We were told back then that IPV6 would be implemented by the middle of the decade and alleviate the crisis.
Well guess what? It’s 2008 and the world hasn’t run out of IP addresses which is why IPV6 is barely used in the industry today. This is because of the wide popularity of NAT, Network Address Translation, which is used by most organizations that have a WAN presence.
For those unfamiliar with NAT, Network Address Translation allows a single device, such as a router to act as an agent between the Internet (or “public network”) and a local (or “private”) network. This means that only a single, unique IP address is required to represent an entire group of computers. This isn’t to say that IPV6 will wither on the vine. As of right now, government offices are required to transition to IPV6 within the next couple of years and other organizations are planning such an implementation in the future, but IPV4 is and will continue to be alive and well for some time to come.
One of the security weaknesses experienced with laptops and other portable computer devices for many years is the simplicity in which their drives could be compromised if the device is stolen. This was especially true before Windows XP and Windows 2000 when a thief could simply install a second operating system on the laptop, logon to the new operating system and gain admin rights to all the data on the drive.
Windows XP and Windows 2000 introduced EFS, Encryption File System, which allowed users to encrypt files of their choosing. Because the encryption was centered on an encryption key based upon the original operating system, an intruder couldn’t access that file simply by accessing it through another operating system. However, this required the user to individually encrypt every file or folder in order to protect all of their data. Needless to say, the majority of users failed to do this.
Microsoft has introduced a new technology called BitLocker with Windows2008 and premium flavors of Windows Vista. BitLocker encrypts the entire drive, including the Windows system files necessary for startup and logon, which could give an intruder the ability to discover passwords and logon information. What’s more, BitLocker utilizes a feature called Integrity checking which analyzes the early boot components and helps to ensure that data decryption is performed only if those components appear unmolested and that the encrypted drive is located in the original computer. This prevents thieves from stealing your hard drive and putting it into another computer to access the data.
It will also make it much easier for organizations to recycle old computers as they will not have to worry about erasing data on machines being decommissioned as the drives will be inaccessible. BitLocker is a great new addition to the Windows operating system and should be implemented by any organization or individual that works with sensitive data.
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