Keeping up with changes in information technology can be challenging for IT professionals working in the trenches. Here are some tips, advice and resources on how to continue learning to stay ahead of the IT technology curve.
IBM and Cisco are partnering to deliver a suite of cloud-based collaboration tools, which will integrate the Cisco Spark and WebEx tools with IBM Verse and Connections products while leveraging the cognitive computing features of IBM Watson.
During this year’s event, held in Las Vegas from July 10-14, expect Cisco to unveil their predictions for the coming year on what is going to be important in information and communication technology (ICT). Based on the current landscape, I predict we’ll see big announcements in the areas of:
As a four-time Cisco Live veteran, I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks for attending the event. This is how I get the most out of my experience:
Sessions of interest
I like to start by checking out the session catalog. There are over 1,000 sessions, so you should to do your homework before you go in order to maximize your time.
Sessions are available for a number of technology areas and within those areas there is a range of experience levels from introductory to advanced – make sure you pick the right session offerings for your interest and expertise.
As a technical advisor, I like to stay up to date with technology and trends. This year I will be attending the Cisco Technical Leadership Council on Monday and Tuesday and then will be attending technical sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. My tech sessions of choice are related to cybersecurity, ACI-Application Centric Infrastructure, Cisco Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI), Cisco Digital Network Architecture (DNA) and Cisco’s Virtual Internet Routing Lab (VIRL).
Technical sessions aren’t the only things to do at Cisco Live. You can practice skills, flex your networking muscles, socialize or give back to a nonprofit. Head over to The Hub and the DevNet Zone. This is where you come to learn, code and get hands-on experience with Cisco products and open source SDK’s and APIs. Have a look at VIRL, Cisco’s Virtual Internet Routing Lab.
Don’t forget to go see the band Maroon 5 at the customer appreciation event on Wednesday night.
Make a social impact and assemble meal kits with Stop Hunger Now or build hygiene kits with Clean the World. These are fantastic initiatives – some of my best memories are made here. A list of activities can be viewed at http://ift.tt/296K8GO.
Packing your suitcase
There are a few items you should make sure to bring with you to Cisco Live that will make your experience a lot easier or more comfortable.
Follow me @GK_bradhaynes and compare sessions, tips and other information. I hope my tips help you to enjoy and get the most out of your time at Cisco Live.
Can’t make it this year? Cisco Live webcasts and broadcasts are free to attend: http://ift.tt/1vn5zbs
Stay connected and follow the Social Media Central and Contests Social at: http://ift.tt/296JHN1
TrapX Labs discovered a new breed of medical hijack attacks that target hospital devices. The company's security report explains how attackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in legacy operating systems and why the healthcare industry is the prime target.
Today's customer relationship management (CRM) tools are all about engaging with customers, offering sales and marketing teams the data and analytics tools to improve their relationships with customers, driving new sales and boosting retention.
A. Firewalls cannot inspect traffic coming through port 443.
B. Firewalls can only inspect outbound traffic.
C. Firewalls cannot inspect traffic coming through port 80.
D. Firewalls cannot inspect traffic at all, they can only block or allow certain ports.
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Archive360 announced a new data migration product that is optimized for use with Microsoft Azure.
Storage professionals working with NetApp technologies should consideron of NetApp's Associate, Specialist or Professional certifications in storage implementation, administration, support, installation and converged infrastructure.
At a time when countless businesses are considering outsourcing all, or most, of their IT activities, ITIL can help IT departments around the world provide real business value. ITIL can help transform IT departments from a company cost center to a competitive service provider. With ITIL’s best practices, internal IT departments can compete with external IT providers by cost-effectively satisfying the needs of the business. ITIL provides the service management framework and project management provides the structure for how to do it.
When successfully implemented, a company that transitions to ITIL gets the best of both worlds: the highly responsive functionality of a superb service delivery organization, coupled with the agility, mobility and flexibility that is increasingly necessary in today’s competitive marketplace.
Since the dawn of computing, IT has often been disregarded by many within their organizations frequently including, and even led by, senior executives. Why? Because despite their best efforts, many IT departments have been severely challenged in delivering real business value on time and within budget, particularly in comparison to external providers.
ITIL addresses pretty much all of the identified limitations of IT. It provides a service-oriented framework that meets the customer’s business needs in the least expensive and highest-quality way possible, and it enables the IT organization to perform competitively with the very best service providers in the world. But, in order for ITIL to be implemented and in order for ITIL to provide adaptability and change capability, a rigorous project management methodology must be implemented as well.
Project management has been around for over a hundred years, but it wasn’t until Y2K that it both matured and became broadly recognized. Y2K forced IT organizations to adopt a much more disciplined approach because failure was literally not an option. The entire issue was the result of an obscure and universal oversight that left millions of systems potentially vulnerable to failure. Only through the diligent application of a very structured and disciplined methodology could disaster be avoided. The success of Y2K efforts proved the value of the project management concept.
ITIL requires project management in two specific areas. First, implementing ITIL is a project in and of itself. It entails changing not only the IT organization, but also the rest of the company, and sometimes profoundly. ITIL implementations require exemplary project management. Anything less and the implementation is at risk.
Change management is at the very heart of ITIL. Since the whole point is to ensure high-quality delivery of IT services at the lowest possible cost, change has to be managed very carefully to avoid risk to a stable and functional environment. You also need project management to contain unproductive expenditures, while at the same time remaining highly responsive to the changing business needs of the customer. This is where project management really shines.
The biggest challenge to an ITIL implementation is acquiring qualified project managers with sufficient business acumen, a true service mentality, and ITIL knowledge, training and experience.
Managing the constraints of time, price and scope of work, while meeting quality requirements is the foundation of project management. Meeting the customer-defined needs for capability, availability, reliability and cost-effectiveness, while allowing for agility and responsiveness in the face of changing business requirements is the foundation of ITIL. Together, these disciplines truly deliver a competitive advantage.
For individuals in the IT industry, particularly in management, there is not a set of skills more valuable than ITIL and project management. Few skills can better rejuvenate a career, and few initiatives can better rejuvenate an organization, than the combination of ITIL and project management.
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This is a new type of virtual desktop that is provisioned much faster than a traditional linked clone. An Instant Clone leverages VMFork to replicate a virtual desktop in memory from an existing running virtual desktop. Besides desktops being provisioned in a matter of seconds, rather than minutes, these new Instant Clone desktops don’t rely on any kind of additional component, like View Composer and its database.
A point to make here is that the instant clone desktops do not persist. After use, the desktop is destroyed and recreated. With this in mind, Instant Clones would be ideal for pools of non-persistent floating desktops. AppVolumes User-Writable Drives and UEM may be used for desktop personalization.
As this is the first release of this feature, it does have some limitations. As aforementioned, only floating desktops are supported, so no dedicated desktops. Also, no remote desktop session host (RDSH) support or NVIDIA GRID. Instant Clones can only be deployed within a single vCenter Server, using a single VLAN and on up to 2,000 desktops.
Smart Policies leverage User Environment Manager’s (UEM) power and give administrators more control over the desktop experience for users. Using variables such as user, client device, IP address, desktop pool, etc., many Horizon features can be disabled, enabled or controlled.
The big benefit here is that different policies, such as disabling copy and paste functions or different PCoIP profile settings, can be configured at a more granular level rather than provisioning a separate pool for each different policy.
There are a few limitations. User Environment Manager 9 must be used in conjunction with Horizon 7 and the latest agents and clients. Also, Smart Policies work with PCoIP and Blast Extreme but remote desktop protocol (RDP) is not supported.
VMware is continuing to improve its own remote display protocol, including Blast Extreme with the Horizon 7 release. It is an evolution from the HTML Access that was introduced with Horizon View 5.2. With Blast Extreme users are able to access their virtual desktops using a web browser but it is not strictly a web-only protocol as it can be used with the new Windows, Linux, MacOS and mobile device clients.
Blast Extreme can now be chosen as the default protocol for a desktop pool. It uses the standard HTTPS port (443) and is dual stack, meaning it works over TCP and UDP (UDP is preferred but will use TCP if UDP is unavailable). An important note is that Blast Extreme’s feature support is on par with PCoIP. It now supports unified communications, USB, client drive redirection and local printing. Blast Extreme is optimized for mobile devices, providing better battery life compared to the other Horizon protocols.
True SSO provides a way for seamlessly signing into a virtual desktop or using an application, including not just Active Directory (AD) but also using smart cards, RSA SecureID or RADIUS tokens. This technology integrates Horizon 7 with VMware Identify Manager 2.7, which is included in Advanced and Enterprise license editions.
True SSO uses Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) to send a User Principle Name (UPN) such as example@domain.com to the identity provider’s authentication system so it may access Active Directory (AD) credentials. From there, Horizon 7 generates a short-lived, unique certificate used for Windows login. Once authenticated, a user may launch any application or desktop that is entitled without being prompted for their password again.
This is great enhancement that separates authentication from user entitlement. Not only that, but because no passwords are transferred, the user credentials are secured with a digital certificate.
Identity Manager with True SSO supports the following authentication methods:
Username password and smart cards credentials are also supported, but True SSO is not really needed for those.
Cloud Pod Architecture allows for multiple Horizon instances, or pods, to be interconnected, creating a global level of entitlements. Awareness of sessions in each instance helps to ensure that users are directed to their appropriate home site or a backup site. With this release, alternative home sites may be assigned, along with nested Active Directory groups. The sizing maximums of Cloud Pod Architecture have increased between Horizon 6 and Horizon 7. The following chart outlines the key improvements.
| Horizon 6 | Horizon 7 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total number of sessions | 20,000 | 50,000 |
| Total number of sites | 2 | 5 |
| Total number of pods | 4 | 25 |
Virtual GPUs were introduced with Horizon 6.1, improving support for workloads requiring 3D acceleration. However, this was limited only to NVIDIA GRID GPUs. The release of Horizon 7 includes increased support for 3D graphics acceleration, no longer limiting us to NVIDIA. Support has expanded to Intel and AMD GPUs. Make sure to check the VMware Compatibility Guide to see the full list of supported GPUs.
VMware mentioned two items that are included with Horizon 7 as a tech preview: Windows Server 2016 support and flash redirection.
Windows Server 2016 may be used as an RDS host, providing remote desktops and hosted applications. However with this release, Windows Universal apps are not supported as hosted remote applications.
Flash redirection is the ability for flash content to be redirected from the virtual desktop to the client so that it may be decoded and rendered locally. The idea is that by using client resources, flash-streaming content will play more smoothly, thus reducing virtual desktop CPU and bandwidth utilization.
Horizon 7 is a pivotal end user computing release for VMware. It offers a more streamlined approach for authentication and access with True SSO and Blast Extreme. Provisioning time is drastically reduced with the use of Instant Clones, manageability is increased with Smart Policies, and Horizon View’s scale is increased with Cloud Pod Architecture.
What are you waiting for? Upgrade today!
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PowerShell version 5 offers IT admins a ton of Hyper-V-related cmdlets. Learn how to install Hyper-V, create new virtual machines and VM resources, set up a Virtual Switch for networking and more, all through PowerShell.A user wants their name to show on their phone instead of their number. Which configuration item allows this?
A. Alerting Name
B. Line Text Label
C. External Phone Number Mask
D. Caller Name
E. Description
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GigaSpaces and Cloudify have released free TOSCA training that includes hands-on experimentation and a live cloud-based runtime environment, offering an outstanding opportunity for learning and skills development in cloud architecture and orchestration.
If you're ready to advance your IT career to the next level, here are some tips on transitioning from a technical role to the management side of IT.
Voxbone has announced the availability of The Workshop, a cloud service that allows developers to test the company's VoIP services instantly at no cost.
Today's enterprise mobility management tools comprise mobile device management (MDM), mobile application management (MAM) and mobile content management (MCM). Here's how to identify risks and decision drivers and how to build your case for EMM.
Big Switch Networks announced new updates to its Big Monitoring Fabric and Big Cloud Fabric.
A. Data Link Layer
B. Transport Layer
C. Network Layer
D. Physical Layer
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If cutting-edge data center and cloud optimization technology is your thing, take a look at what F5 Networks has to offer. Here's a list of the available F5 Networks certifications, job opportunities and career paths.
Many organizations have already begun implementing container services to enable a consistent application deployment, and many more are beginning to evaluate if and how containers can play a role within their environments.
On the heals of its acquisition of HP's Engage assets, OpenText has announced a $315 million acquisition of HP's business applications, including HP Exstream, HP Output Management, HP TeleForm and HP LiquidOffice.
StorageOS is launching new container storage software that runs on bare metal, virtual machines, or container environments in the cloud and delivers ubiquitous storage to containers, plus operational processes such as snapshots and deduplication.
With Managed Kubernetes, Platform9 offers an easy way to manage both virtual machines and containers from the same dashboard, offering enterprises a single pane of glass experience for managing private clouds.
Docker Engine 1.12 features Swarm mode, which enables orchestration and allows developers to build applications that span multiple services.
A. Bulk Administration Tool
B. Product Upgrade Tool
C. Command Lookup Tool
D. Cisco Unified Communications Manager User Options Page
E. Cisco Upload Tool
F. Can’t add multiple users at the same time
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Acitve Directory and PowerShell together offer a powerful set of cmdlets to manage and automate standard domain related tasks. Here are the most useful cmdlets for AD in PowerShell v5.
access-list 100 permit ip any any log
After applying the access list on a Cisco router, the network engineer notices that the router CPU has spiked to 99 percent. Why?
A. A packet that matches access-list with the “log” keyword is Cisco Express Forwarding switched.
B. A packet that matches access-list with the “log” keyword is fast switched.
C. A packet that matches access-list with the “log” keyword is process switched.
D. A large amount of IP traffic is being permitted on the router.
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If you're looking for new tech skills to add to your resume, consider one of these seven areas as a guiding point to what's hot and in demand for 2016.
IBM Customer Analytics gives organizations an analytics tool to gain insights from a very large, curated pool of consumer data that includes behaviors and buying habits.
In the past, spending a week away from the office for training may have been the most viable and possibly the only option. Now times are changing and we’re heading more towards self-directed learning options that include things like online videos, e-learning classes and other digital based features.
Not only are remote workers transforming the way training is delivered, but even non-remote workers are changing how they learn. According to our 2016 IT Skills Salary Report when IT respondents were asked to identify their preferred learning method, they selected classroom training sessions delivered out of the office and self-paced e-learning methods almost equally. Those two choices combined accounted for over 60 percent of responses.
Perhaps, the rise in online training is because managers expect their employees to fit professional development in and around their busy schedules. Or, maybe it’s because students enjoy having more control over when and where they want to learn. Whatever the reason, the shift towards self-directed learning appears to be on the rise.
The remote worker is embraced in many organizations, but with that comes more responsibility.
Work doesn’t really end for many now. Vacations get interrupted by cell phones. Most people check their emails and social media on their mobile devices before they go to sleep and as soon as they wake up. And, now that a lot of self-paced training is available on mobile devices, it’s becoming easier and easier to absorb the information whenever and whenever it can be fit in.
So for those with skill gaps or just busy schedules, working around the clock is becoming a norm. One-third of IT respondents to our salary survey indicated they can train only on an ad hoc basis or if a project requires specific skills.
Take our Microsoft On-Demand digital learning offerings for example. Students can choose between individual courses for three months or an entire collection of courses for 12 months. With the latter choice, project-based training becomes easier. It’s available exactly when you are. When you experience a question or problem – instead of spending time scouring the internet, a student can watch a module on the topic of their choice or experiment in a lab environment or just ask a mentor.
With more and more companies out there promising they can integrate all of your systems together, you can almost guarantee that your competition isn’t using the exact same solutions you are. Which means that training can get pretty specific and specialized. If you are looking to take JBoss training for example, finding a course in your area when you want it, can often prove difficult. But with the Red Hat Learning Subscription, all JBoss courses are at your fingertips.
Whether you are a remote worker or busy employee trying to squeeze in training, it’s likely, regardless of your learning preferences, that at some point you are going to come into contact with self-directed learning.
The new era of self-directed learning combines the power of choice and technology. It will allow you to control the rate at which you learn and define your professional learning experience. You ultimately get to determine your future successes and how to get the best return on the investment of your time and money.
Relevant Courses
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Red Hat Learning Subscription
Cisco Total Access Collection
VMware Learning Zone
Security is always at the top of everyone's list, and with mobile devices in the enterprise you don't have to relinquish security to deliver great service. Here's how organizations can find ways to balance security with productivity.
At this week's Forge DevCon, cloud developers and Forge users are finding their suite of services is getting a big boost and some great new features.
The Mellanox ConnectX-5 functions at speeds of 10, 25, 40, 50, 56 and 100 Gb/s and includes additional functionality that further optimizes and maximizes network throughput and helps future-proof the data center.
Cisco is updating and expanding its security-related certifications and offering $10 million over two years in scholarships for security certifications to qualified individuals to help grow the global talent pool in this talent-strapped area.
A. ARP spoof the default gateway
B. Conduct MiTM against the switch
C. Launch smurf attack against the switch
D. Flood the switch with ICMP packets
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MongoDB is one of the most popular options for document stores available today. As it continues to grow, more organizations are looking for database administrators and developers with MongoDB skills and certifications.
In its latest Threats Report, McAfee Labs identifies three security vulnerabilities that organizations should keep a close eye on: mobile app collusion, cryptographic hashing functions and the reappearance of the Pinkslipbot Trojan.
For organizations that are implementing, or considering using container technologies such as Docker as part of their application infrastructure strategy, having a storage platform that better supports containers can pay big dividends.PowerShell v5 offers some new features for managing storage, building on the capabilities that were available in PowerShell 4. Here are some of the most useful cmdlets for auditing and maintaining storage.
Some of the key features in the latest release of VMware's Workspace ONE include adaptive management, an identity as a service capability and options to streamline the deployment.
VMware TrustPoint, powered by Tanium, offers security, discovery, and management of endpoints as well as continuous monitoring, detection and remediation of advanced threats.
VMware Mobile Security Alliance hopes to improve endpoint security across a larger scope by providing tools and management to disparate security solutions.Which three network variables that are crucial when deploying VoIP? (Choose three.)
A. Round-trip latency
B. QoS values
C. Bandwidth
D. Ethernet
E. FDDI
F. Token ring
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IT pros working towards an MCSA on Windows Server 2012 or SQL Server 2012/2014 can qualify for a free upgrade exam for the latest versions (Server 2016 and SQL Server 2016), but you must act fast!When troubleshooting an EIGRP problem, you notice that two directly connected EIGRP routers are not forming an EIGRP relationship. A ping shows that the two routers can talk to each other. What is the next item that you should check?
A. Verify that the EIGRP hello and hold timers match.
B. Verify that EIGRP broadcast packets are not being.
C. Verify that EIGRP stub is configured on both routers.
D. Verify that EIGRP is enabled for the appropriate networks.
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BlackBerry's WatchDox is adding new capabilities, including integration with Salesforce and a new digital rights management tool, WatchDox by BlackBerry Email Protector.
Here are four tips to help IT managers get the most out of training their IT staff.
Here's what to look for in 802.11ac enterprise gear and the currently available access points from Cisco, Aruba Networks/HPE and Ruckus Wireless.
Salesforce's goal to expand its developer ecosystem continues with a slew of announcements, including new developer features, free online training and incentives, as well as a $50 million investment in support of startups building Lightning apps.Which of the following is a countermeasure against XSS scripting?
A. Create an IP access list and restrict connections based on port number
B. Replace “<” and “>” characters with “<” and “>” using server scripts
C. Disable Javascript in IE and Firefox browsers
D. Connect to the server using HTTPS protocol instead of HTTP
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