FlashSTOCK converged infrastructure from Pure Storage and Cisco is launching a new era

The simplicity, scalability and security that these systems offer customers make them the offer to bet. In the first quarter of 2016, convergent infrastructure added $ 2.5 billion, and various consultants expect growth to continue next year.

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These figures pushed independent vendor of solid state storage equipment, Pure Storage, to expand its collaboration with Cisco in the area of ​​converged infrastructure solutions, FlashStack.

After two years of collaboration, Pure Storage was able to take the next step in its relationship with Cisco: "FlashStack is now a Cisco Validated Design (CVD) solution," said Douglas Wallace, general manager for Latin America and The Caribbean (except Brazil) of Pure Storage.

FlashStack is a converged solution comprised of Cisco Unified Compute System (UCS), Pure Storage Flash Array Storage and Nexus Line Switch, Wallace said.

FlashStack Mini is the smallest product in the line (25 terabytes of Flash storage capacity). However, the solution can grow up to 1.5 Petabytes of storage in a space of at least seven racks, the executive said.

With FlashStack, businesses can quickly deploy virtualization to their desktops without compromising the performance of their users and business applications. It allows to scale the data of its desks quickly and in a linear way without degradations of yield; The latency of the system remains low, thanks to the numbers of virtual desks scale from hundreds to thousands. VMware or Citrix virtualization software enables FlashStack to handle various Virtual Desktop Enterprise infrastructure (VDI) use cases with Pure Storage and Cisco reference architectures, he added.

For Alejandro Vidal, head of business development for Cisco, the benefits of converged infrastructure are delivering to customers "an agile, energy-saving, time-efficient, easy-to-install solution that can be managed from a single console. In addition, the support is with a single vendor, Cisco. "

IDC's latest report reported that so-called converged infrastructure is one of the markets with the highest adoption, year-on-year growth of 11%. In addition, in the report of the first quarter of the year the consultant mentioned that the systems certified - as is the case of the solution between Cisco and Pure Storage - are the ones that more grow, entered $ 567 million dollars

The Next Step.

Thanks to the alliance, both executives commented, customers will have a single point of contact for support: Cisco. Flash Stack has support for critical infrastructure solutions from Cisco. That is, users will have the option to buy a single service and get hardware and software support.

Cisco Switch and Router: Commands and Steps to Configure

Type Of Switch.

We will analyze a very important issue in our role of network administrators of any organization, regardless of the size of the organization, and is the way we have configured our switches and routers, in case our organization has these devices within their infrastructure . A correct configuration provides us with security, correct communication between the devices and without doubt a stable network.

A switch, also known as a switch, is responsible for deriving the data to each target device; Basically the switch is responsible for analyzing and evaluating the incoming frames on their input ports and filters them to work only on the correct ports.

There are several forms of design or structure in the switch , we will see a brief summary:

Fixed Configuration Switch

They are those that do not allow some type of update, we can only work with the factory default settings.

Modular Switch

They allow adding and configuring new features, such as adding ports etc.

Stack able Switch

Allows inter connectivity between one or more switches .

Switches need to have special features to make the most of our hierarchical structure such as VLAN, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, link assignment, among others, so for example port security lets you determine how many and which devices will be allowed to connect to the switch .

There are a lot of terms with which we must familiarize ourselves with working with our switches, we analyze some of these details to have a clear concept:

Uni cast

It is one where a device sends a frame to a specific destination.

Broadcast

It is one where a frame is sent from an emitter to several devices.

Multicast

It is one where a frame is sent to a specific group of clients or devices.

Note: We understand that frame is a data packet.

MAC Address

It is a binary value of 48 bytes and is composed of two parts, all the devices in our network that are connected have an interface with MAC addresses.

Half duplex

It is a data flow of a unidirectional character, that is to say, it is only allowed in one direction, for example, a radio, where only one person can speak at the time

Full Duplex

The data flow is bidirectional, or both ways, it improves the performance of our network.

Note: The ports of our switch must be set to Duplex mode depending on the media type to use.

Network latency

It is the total time it takes a frame or packet from the source to the destination host.

There are many other terms and concepts that should be treated or analyzed in a Networking tutorial as it covers quite a few terms.

General Recommendation About Switch.

We must take care when configuring our switches, these are:

• Check that all the network cables are connected.
• The host is connected to the console port.
• Verify that Hyper terminal is working properly.
• Verify that the switch start is correct (POST).

Remember that through a correct configuration of our devices we will have more valuable results.

Note

CISCO's Packet Tracer tool is perfect for performing our simulations and implementing each of the switches commands. 

Cisco at the forefront with new launch

Understanding the importance of having new tools that allow the easy handling of information and the development of a more friendly dynamic in the organizational and / or executive field, the American company Cisco, has created two alternatives that promise to be of great support in the popular Conference rooms.

The Cisco Spark Board and Cisco Spark Meetings, developed by the technology titan with more than 30 years in the industry, are new hardware designed with easy-to-use and affordable cloud software for all markets.

The traditional 'slate'

The Cisco Spark Board is an all-in-one meeting product, a wireless device that lets you share information with a click. The initial idea was based on the possibility of connecting physical spaces with virtual platforms.

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It has an approach recognition system; No Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or a special network is required and controlled from the PC, Mac, tablet or mobile device, all possible with integration with the Cisco Spark platform And wireless ultrasound matching technology.

But the technology goes even further when Cisco, brings to the consumer's reach, a product that elevates the traditional concept of whiteboards to a piece that can be used remotely, in real time and from a mobile phone, taking into account that If all participants have the Cisco Spark application, they can use it concurrently.

The device saves work in a shared space with the equipment, allows video calls, has a high quality audio and video system, a 4K camera to get the best view of the meeting room, microphones with 'Voice track' technology 'And a very simple way to be installed.

Exchange of information

Cisco Spark Meetings, made with the integration of hardware, software, applications and the cloud, is provided by the Cisco Spark platform and basically represents the Cisco Spark Board in the customer's pocket (s).

It allows scheduling meetings, automatically obtaining all that is needed for them, creating team spaces for group development of the agendas, sharing content and talks, allowing simple storage of meeting ideas in Spark space and flow Work-based activities will be the same on all devices: desk, mobile phone, tablet, Cisco Spark Board.

These are two new tools that promise and come to streamline the processes of information exchange at a corporate level, in small or large organizations

Manage Cisco Spark Room Systems

On the Cisco Collaboration Administration Devices page, you will find an overview of all Cisco Spark room systems in your organization.

In this page you can do the following:

Create new activation codes.

Check the status of your devices.

Modify device information.

Disable existing devices.

Note: When you sign up for a Cisco Spark room system, your API interface is blocked and you can not access the web interface of the room system. All room system settings are set to their default values.

For information about products supported by Cisco Spark, see Supported Devices .

Add a room system and create an activation code

You need an activation code to set up a room system.

Log in to Cisco Cloud Collaboration Administration with your administrator username and password for your Cisco Spark organization.

Go to the Devices page.

Click New Device .

Select New Room System and click Next .

Complete the device name and click Next . To avoid problems with the directory, make sure that the device name does not match any personal user names.

You have now received an activation code to enroll a room system in Cisco Spark services. The activation code expires after seven days. Here you can read more about the initial configuration.

Search for room systems in your organization

You can see an overview of all the room systems present in your organization on the Devices page of the Cloud Collaboration Management portal.

You can filter the device list so that the following is displayed:

Everybody

Needs activation

He has problems

Without connection

Online

You can also search for a device by its name, by its custom tags, or by any other data available in the details panel of the device.

Rename a room system

In the list of devices, select the device that you want to rename.

Click the pen icon next to the device name in the panel that opens to the right.

Enter the new name in the data entry field and save the change.

Add labels to a room system

You can add custom tags to each device to find it more easily with the search function.

In the list of devices, select the device to which you want to add labels.

Click the Add button in the panel that opens to the right.

Enter the labels one by one in the Enter Labels field.

Press Enter to save the label.

Delete an inscribed room system

In the device list, select the device you want to delete.

Click the Delete button in the panel that opens to the right.

Confirm the action in the pop-up window.

Find information about a room system

You can find more information about a Cisco Spark enrollment system in your organization on the Devices page. Search or browse the browser to find the room system and select it. You can see the following information in the panel that opens to the right.

State

Software version

IP adress

Serial number:

MAC Address

Posible problems

Cyber security Annual Report Cisco 2017

Cisco has released the tenth edition of its Annual Cybersecurity Report , highlighting the increase in classic attack vectors and the need to reduce detection time. The document is divided into several sections: attacker behavior , Behavior of the defender, Cisco 2017 Security Capabilities Benchmark Study, industry and conclusions.

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Remarkable data

Among the main barriers cited by CSOs to improve their security processes are limited budgets, poor systems compatibility and the shortage of professionals. These officials also say that their security departments are increasingly complex environments. Sixty-five per cent of organizations surveyed use six to more than 50 security solutions, potentially reducing their effectiveness and increasing potential security problems.

It is curious to see the increase in spam as an attack model, with levels not seen since 2010. Spam accounts for about two thirds (65%) of all emails, being malicious between 8 and 10% of them. The volume of spam is increasing on a global scale, often propagated by large and growing botnets.

It also highlights the risk posed by third-party cloud applications introduced by employees, up to 27% were considered to be high risk and generated significant security concerns. The classic adware (software that downloads advertising without the permission of the user) has maintained its effectiveness, infecting 75 percent of the organizations investigated.

Concern about the investigated and remedied alerts is worrying, as it is revealed that only 56% of the received security alerts are investigated. Half of them (28 percent) are considered legitimate; But less than half (46 percent) of legitimate alerts are remedied. One fact that reveals the job security managers have is that 44 percent can get to see more than 5,000 security alerts daily.

The cost of an attack

An interesting section reveals the impact of attacks on businesses, from SMEs to large companies. For more than half of the organizations that suffered an attack the incident became public. The processes of operations (shutdown of critical productivity systems) and finance were the most affected, followed by brand reputation and customer retention.

For the organizations that suffered an attack, the consequences were substantial:

22% of the organizations attacked lost customers (40% lost more than 20% of their customer base).

29% lost income, and 38% of them had losses in excess of 20% of income.

23% of the organizations attacked lost business opportunities (42% lost more than 20%).

After the attacks, 90% of organizations improve their defense technologies and processes against threats by separating security and IT functions (38%), improving employee awareness through training (38%) and implementing mitigation techniques Of the risk (37%).

Staying Ahead of the Evolving Threat - Announcing the Cisco 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report