Secure connectivity for the internet of things

Hyper-Converged Infrastructure

Article | October 3, 2023

Streamlining operations and maximizing efficiency: Choose the right tools for managing and orchestrating hyper-converged infrastructure to unlock its full potential with Hyperconverged solutions. Managing and orchestrating hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) is critical to modern IT operations. With the growing adoption of HCI solutions, choosing the right tools for management and orchestration is essential for organizations to optimize their infrastructure and ensure seamless operations. In this article, we will delve into the factors to consider when selecting Hyper-Converged tools for management and orchestration and explore some of the top options available in the market. 1. Symcloud Orchestrator The Symcloud platform is a webscale solution designed for metal-service automation and orchestration in telecommunications. It enables the automation and management of various network components, including RAN (Radio Access Network), packet core, and MEC (Multi-Access Edge Computing). With Symcloud, businesses can centrally manage large numbers of CNF (Cloud-Native Function) and VNF (Virtual Network function) capable Kubernetes clusters on a single Kubernetes platform. The platform allows for rapid deployment of the entire solution stack in minutes, supporting edge, far edge, and core data centers. Symcloud provides advanced monitoring, planning, and healing capabilities, enabling users to view hardware, software, services, and connectivity dependencies. The architecture of Symcloud Orchestrator combines app-aware storage, virtual networking, and application workflow automation on Kubernetes. Symcloud Storage provides advanced storage and data management capabilities for Kubernetes distributions, seamlessly integrating with native administrative tooling. Symcloud Platform is a Kubernetes infrastructure that supports containers and virtual machines, offering superior performance, features, and flexibility. 2. Morpheus Morpheus Data is a comprehensive hybrid cloud management platform that empowers enterprises to manage and modernize their applications while reducing costs and improving efficiency. With Morpheus, businesses can quickly enable on-premises private clouds, centralize access to public clouds, and orchestrate changes with advanced features like cost analytics, governance policies, and automation. It provides a unified view of virtual machines, clouds, containers, and applications in a single location, regardless of the private or public cloud environment. Morpheus offers responsive support from an expert team and features an extensible design. It helps centralize platforms, create private clouds, manage public clouds, and streamline Kubernetes deployments. This tool also enables compliance assurance through simplified authentication, access controls, policies, and security management. By automating application lifecycles, running workflows, and simplifying day-to-day operations, Morpheus helps modernize applications. The platform optimizes cloud costs by inventorying existing resources, right-sizing them, tracking cloud spending, and providing centralized visibility. 3. The Kubernetes Database-as-a-Service Platform Portworx Data Services is a Kubernetes Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) platform that offers a single solution for deploying, operating, and managing various data services without being locked into a specific vendor. It simplifies heterogeneous databases' deployment and day-to-day operations, eliminating the need for specialized expertise. With one click, organizations can deploy enterprise-grade data services with built-in capabilities like backup, restore, high availability, data recovery, security, capacity management, and migration. The platform supports a broad catalog of data services, including SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch, Cassandra, Couchbase, Kafka, Consul, RabbitMQ, and ZooKeeper. Portworx Data Services provides a consistent DBaaS experience on any infrastructure, whether on-premises or in the cloud, enabling seamless migration based on evolving business requirements. 4. DCImanager DCImanager- a platform for managing multivendor IT infrastructure is a comprehensive platform for providing a unified interface to oversee and control all equipment types, including racks, servers, network devices, PDUs, and virtual networks. It is suitable for servers and data centers of any size, including distributed environments. DCImanager eliminates the need for additional tools and associated maintenance costs, allowing users to work seamlessly with equipment from popular vendors. With DCImanager, users can efficiently manage servers remotely, automate maintenance tasks, monitor power consumption, configure network settings, track inventory, visualize racks, and receive timely notifications. With over 16 years of experience, DCImanager is a reliable solution trusted by thousands of companies worldwide, backed by professional support. 5. EasyDCIM EasyDCIM, a cloud-like bare metal server provisioning is a comprehensive and hassle-free data center administration solution that offers an all-in-one platform for managing daily tasks without requiring multiple software tools. It provides mobility, allowing remote management of data centers from any location and device. The system is highly expandable and customizable, allowing users to tailor the functionality to their needs. EasyDCIM excels in automated bare metal and dedicated server provisioning, streamlining the process from ordering to service delivery. It features a standalone system with a fully customizable admin control panel and user portal. The platform includes advanced data center asset lifecycle tracking, automated OS installation, network auto-discovering, and integration with billing solutions. EasyDCIM's modular architecture enables the easy extension and modification of system components. 6. Puppet Puppet-Infrastructure automation and compliance at enterprise scale offers an automation solution that allows businesses to manage and automate complex workflows using reusable blocks of self-healing infrastructure as code. With model-driven and task-based configuration management, organizations can quickly deploy infrastructure to meet their evolving needs at any scale. By automating the entire infrastructure lifecycle, Puppet increases operational efficiency, eliminates silos, reduces response time, and streamlines change management. Puppet's automated policy enforcement ensures continuous compliance and a secure posture, enabling the identification, reporting, and resolution of errors while enforcing the desired state across the infrastructure. Leveraging the vibrant Puppet community, users can benefit from pre-built content and workflows, accelerating their deployment. With deep DevOps and enterprise experience, Puppet is a trusted advisor, assisting the largest enterprise customers in rethinking and redefining their IT management practices. 7. Foreman Foreman is a robust lifecycle management tool designed for system administrators to manage physical and virtual servers efficiently. With Foreman, tasks can be automated, applications can be deployed quickly, and server management becomes proactive. It supports a wide range of providers, enabling hybrid cloud management. The tool includes features such as external node classification, Puppet and Salt configuration monitoring, and comprehensive host monitoring. Its CLI, Hammer, offers easy access to API calls for streamlined data center management. With RBAC and LDAP integration, audits, and a pluggable architecture, Foreman provides a powerful solution for server provisioning, configuration management, and monitoring. Conclusion HCI choosing the right tools for management and orchestration is paramount for organizations seeking to optimize their operations and achieve greater efficiency. Businesses can make informed decisions and select tools that align with their specific needs by considering factors such as scalability, automation capabilities, integration, and vendor support. Whether leveraging vendor-provided solutions or opting for third-party tools, the key is ensuring that the chosen tools enable effective management and orchestration of the HCI environment, allowing organizations to unlock the full potential of their infrastructure and drive business success. As HCI continues to gain prominence, selecting the appropriate Hyper-Converged tools for management and orchestration becomes crucial for organizations aiming to streamline operations and maximize the benefits of their infrastructure investment. By carefully evaluating the available options, considering key factors, and aligning with business requirements, organizations can make informed decisions that optimize their HCI environment and enable them to adapt to the evolving needs of their digital infrastructure.

Application Storage, Data Storage

Article | July 12, 2023

Businesses are depending more and more on information technology to accomplish daily objectives. The viability and profitability of a firm are directly impacted by the necessity of putting the appropriate technological processes in place. The misunderstanding that "the Internet is down" is often associated with poor internet connectivity shows how crucial network maintenance is since troubleshooting should always begin and conclude with a network expert. In actuality, though, that employee will spend time out of their day to "repair the Internet," and the money spent on that time is the result of the company's failure to implement a dependable network monitoring system. The direct financial loss increases with network unreliability. Because expanding wide area network (WAN) infrastructure and cloud networking have now become a significant component of today's enterprise computing, networks have grown much more virtualized and are no longer restricted to either physical location or hardware. While networks themselves are evolving, there is a growing need for IT network management. As organizations modernize their IT infrastructure, they should think about purchasing a network management system for several reasons. Creating More Effective, Less Redundant Systems Every network has to deal with data transfer through significant hubs and the flow of information. In order to avoid slowing down data transfer, not using up more IP addresses in a network scheme than necessary, and avoiding dead loops, networking engineers have had to carefully route networking equipment to end devices over the years. An effective IT management solution can analyze how your network is operating and provide immediate insights into the types of changes you need to make to cut down on redundancy and improve workflow. More productivity and less time spent troubleshooting delayed data transfers result from increased efficiency. Increasing Firewall Defense Given that more apps are being utilized for internal and external massive data transfers, every network must have adequate firewalls and access control setup. In addition to screen sharing and remote desktop services, more companies require team meeting software with live video conferencing choices. Programs with these features can be highly vulnerable to hackers and other vulnerabilities; thus, it's crucial that firewalls stop attackers from utilizing the software to access restricted sections of corporate networks. Your network management tools can set up your firewalls and guarantee that only secure network connections and programs are used in critical parts of your system. The bottom line is that your company network will constantly require security and development, and your underlying network must be quick and dependable to satisfy demands for both workplace productivity and customer experience. Which IT network management system, nevertheless, is best for your company? Effectiveness doesn't require a lot of complexity, and if it works with well-known network providers, there's a good chance the cost will be justified. Rock-solid security will be the most crucial factor, but you should also search for a system that can operate on physical, cloud, and hybrid infrastructure.

Hyper-Converged Infrastructure

Article | July 13, 2023

Containers have emerged as a choice for deploying and scaling applications, owing to their lightweight, isolated, and portable nature. However, the absence of robust security measures may expose containers to diverse threats, thereby compromising the confidentiality and integrity of data and apps. Contents 1 Introduction 2 IaaS Container Security Techniques 2.1 Container Image Security 2.2 Host Security 2.3 Network Security 2.4 Data Security 2.5 Identity and Access Management (IAM) 2.6 Runtime Container Security 2.7 Compliance and Auditing 3 Conclusion 1. Introduction Infrastructure as a Service has become an increasingly popular way of deploying and managing applications, and containerization has emerged as a leading technology for packaging and deploying these applications. Containers are software packages that include all the necessary components to operate in any environment. While containers offer numerous benefits, such as portability, scalability, and speed, they also introduce new security challenges that must be addressed. Implementing adequate IaaS container security requires a comprehensive approach encompassing multiple layers and techniques. This blog explores the critical components of IaaS container security. It provides an overview of the techniques and best practices for implementing security measures that ensure the confidentiality and integrity of containerized applications. By following these, organizations can leverage the benefits of IaaS and containerization while mitigating the security risks that come along. 2. IaaS Container Security Techniques The increasing IAAS security risks and security issues associated with IAAS these days are leading to a massive data breach. Thus, IAAS security concerns are taken into consideration, and seven best techniques are drafted below. 2.1. Container Image Security: Container images are the building blocks of containerized applications. Ensuring the security of these images is essential to prevent security threats. The following measures are used for container image security: Using secure registries: The registry is the location where container images are stored and distributed. Usage of centrally managed registries on campus, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) can scan them for security issues and system managers may simply assess package gaps, etc. Signing images: Container images can be signed using digital signatures to ensure their authenticity. Signed images can be verified before being deployed to ensure they have not been tampered with. Scanning images: Although standard AppSec tools such as Software Composition Analysis (SCA) can check container images for vulnerabilities in software packages and dependencies, extra dependencies can be introduced during the development process or even at runtime. 2.2. Host Security: Host security is a collection of capabilities that provide a framework for implementing a variety of security solutions on hosts to prevent attacks. The underlying host infrastructure where containers are deployed must be secured. The following measures are used for host security: Using secure operating systems: The host operating system must be safe and up-to-date with the latest high severity security patches within 7 days of release, and others, within 30 days to prevent vulnerabilities and security issues. Applying security patches: Security patches must be applied to the host operating system and other software packages to fix vulnerabilities and prevent security threats. Hardening the host environment: The host environment must be hardened by disabling unnecessary services, limiting access to the host, and applying security policies to prevent unauthorized access. 2.3. Network Security: Network security involves securing the network traffic between containers and the outside world. The following measures are used for network security: Using Microsegmentation and firewalls: Microsegmentation tools with next-gen firewalls provide container network security. Microsegmentation software leverages network virtualization to build extremely granular security zones in data centers and cloud applications to isolate and safeguard each workload. Encryption: Encryption can protect network traffic and prevent eavesdropping and interception of data. Access control measures: Access control measures can restrict access to containerized applications based on user roles and responsibilities. 2.4. Data Security: Data stored in containers must be secured to ensure its confidentiality and integrity. The following measures are used for data security: Using encryption: Data stored in containers can be encrypted, using Transport Layer Security protocol version 1.1. (TLS 1.1) or higher, to protect it from unauthorized access and prevent data leaks. All outbound traffic from private cloud should be encrypted at the transport layer. Access control measures: Access control measures can restrict access to sensitive data in containers based on user roles and responsibilities. Not storing sensitive data in clear text: Sensitive data must not be stored in clear text within containers to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches. Backup app data, atleast weekly. 2.5. Identity and Access Management (IAM): IAM involves managing access to the container infrastructure and resources based on the roles and responsibilities of the users. The following measures are used for IAM: Implementing identity and access management solutions: IAM solutions can manage user identities, assign user roles and responsibilities, authenticate and provide access control policies. Multi-factor authentication: Multi-factor authentication can add an extra layer of security to the login process. Auditing capabilities: Auditing capabilities can monitor user activity and detect potential security threats. 2.6. Runtime Container Security: To keep its containers safe, businesses should employ a defense-in-depth strategy, as part of runtime protection. Malicious processes, files, and network activity that deviates from a baseline can be detected and blocked via runtime container security. Container runtime protection can give an extra layer of defense against malicious code on top of the network security provided by containerized next-generation firewalls. In addition, HTTP layer 7 based threats like the OWASP Top 10, denial of service (DoS), and bots can be prevented with embedded web application and API security. 2.7. Compliance and Auditing: Compliance and auditing ensure that the container infrastructure complies with relevant regulatory and industry standards. The following measures are used for compliance and auditing: Monitoring and auditing capabilities: Monitoring and auditing capabilities can detect and report cloud security incidents and violations. Compliance frameworks: Compliance frameworks can be used to ensure that the container infrastructure complies with relevant regulatory and industry standards, such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR. Enabling data access logs on AWS S3 buckets containing high-risk Confidential Data is one such example. 3. Conclusion IaaS container security is critical for organizations that rely on containerization technology for deploying and managing their applications. There is likely to be an increased focus on the increased use of AI and ML to detect and respond to security incidents in real-time, the adoption of more advanced encryption techniques to protect data, and the integration of security measures into the entire application development lifecycle. In order to stay ahead of the challenges and ensure the continued security of containerized applications, the ongoing process of IaaS container security requires continuous attention and improvement. By prioritizing security and implementing effective measures, organizations can confidently leverage the benefits of containerization while maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of their applications and data.

Article | April 13, 2020

One of the most exciting areas of Vubiq Network’s innovative millimeter wave technology is in the application of ultra high-speed, short-range communications as applied to solving the scaling constraints and costs for internal data center connectivity and switching. Today’s limits of cabled and centralized switching architectures are eliminated by leveraging the wide bandwidths of the millimeter wave spectrum for the high-density communications requirements inside the modern data center. Our patented technology has the ability to provide more than one terabit per second of wireless uplink capacity from a single server rack through an innovative approach to create a millimeter wave massive mesh network. The elimination of all inter-rack cabling – as well as the elimination of all aggregation and core switches – is combined with higher throughput, lower latency, lower power, higher reliability, and lower cost by using millimeter wave wireless connectivity.