Best Common Practices

Software vendors, they all do it.

Large-scale applications can and often do become enormously complex to configure, maybe not for the end user but certainly for the administrator. And so, The software vendors develop a set of best common practices (BCPs). And most of the time these BCPs are very useful. So why the %#^*+ are they not the default settings?

The Boy That Cries Wolf -- Why Symantec Will Cause My PC To Become Infected

Fairly recently, in the last few months anyway, Symantec's Endpoint Protection (the enterprise desktop anti-virus software) began to tell me every time I opened an app that has changed. This seems like a good idea, right? In many cases it can be. The idea is that it warns you that something about the application has changed and it blocks that app from reaching the Internet until you say it's ok. This can be a good thing, it can warn you when something just isn't right and it can prevent a massive virus outbreak.

But the problem with this approach is that browsers, for example, update so often, most times without asking, that Symantec warns me about Chrome every other day, it seems. When this first started I tracked the version number of Chrome to make sure that it was a Chrome update and not something else, such as an add-on that maybe I hadn't added on. And, as it turned out, it was indeed Google doing some minor update to the browser.

And there's the problem. We become accustomed to the Symantec's pop up and we just accept it. Symantec has become the boy that cries wolf. Sooner or later there will be an exploit to Chrome and I will allow it to happen. I will blindly click OK to the pop because I've stopped looking out for the real wolf.

Google Glass is Loon-y

Google Glass
I was recently in San Jose and while in an Irish pub I met a woman who said she worked for Google (I had no reason to think otherwise). She was wearing Google Glass. Fascinated, I probably spent too long badgering her with questions and begging to try them. (She wouldn't let me. I don't blame her, I wouldn't have let me either.) Nevertheless, she was able to show me what she was seeing via a connection the glasses had to her Droid phone. Pretty cool stuff.

But it got me wondering if I would actually wear them if I could get them and if they resembled affordable. I don't think I would.

While we've become accustomed to having the world at our fingertips through mobile devices, we've also become, as a society, a little bit rude in that we will whip out our phones and live our social lives online while in the presence of real, live people! Crazy.

But more importantly, while Glass allows you to have constant access, I believe it to be a red herring. That is, while it appears that Google is offering the world to you, it is actually the opposite. You are offering yourself to the world. The world of Google, that is.

Think about it. While you are looking up, say, the menu of the restaurant you are standing outside of, Google will now know whether you like (or are in the mood for) that particular cuisine by using GPS to know whether you went inside, whether can afford the price, what items on the menu you spent the most time looking at, and ultimately, what you decided to eat. Google will be collecting your every move in exchange for instant information. Paranoid? Perhaps, but I think Google's real intent is to feed their core business of gathering marketable information.

Google Glass, Part 2, and the Loon Project
Google is currently doing a pilot test where they propose to give Internet access to the millions that do not have it, and they are doing it with solar-powered balloons. Certainly an interesting idea.

I really want to believe this is at least partly altruistic, where they really do want to share the wealth of information (and cute cat videos) on the Internet, knowing full well that, if successful, this will also be good for their bottom line. Hey, I'm ok with them making a buck, and I'm more than ok with the humanitarian desire to enlighten the world.

Obviously Loon is wrought with challenges, not the least of which is whether certain countries will shoot their balloons out of the sky. It will be interesting to see how this progresses. For more info on Loon, go to http://www.google.com/loon/

So, how does Loon have anything to do with Glass? Technically, it doesn't really, other than the fact that they offered photographer Trey Ratcliff a chance to chronicle the story in pictures. While shooting stills, he was also wearing Google Glass which captured surprisingly extraordinary video. And, as always, Mr. Ratcliff's photos are truly fantastic. To see the video and pictures, go to http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2013/06/14/google-internet-balloons/

Provisioning Servers in the Cloud... Literally

It usually takes a lot to impress a techie with technology. Today, it happened to me at work... with our own stuff!

Check it out at http://blog.evolveip.net/index.php/2013/05/03/provisioning-servers-in-the-cloud-literally/

Ever have one of those "WOW" moments? If so, please share in the comments.

Are Outages The New Normal?

Spoiler alert: I don't think so.

Read my guest blog on TMC here: http://blog.tmcnet.com/on-rads-radar/2013/04/are-outages-the-new-normal.html

Evolve IP Releases OSSmosis Enterprise Cloud Manager Based on Red Hat’s ManageIQ Technologies

Groundbreaking infrastructure automation tool allows customers to monitor, manage, and access virtual resources in the cloud

WAYNE, Pa.—February 14, 2013 – Evolve IP, The Cloud Services Company™, today announced it has released the OSSmosis enterprise cloud manager (ECM) to help customers take better advantage of its award-winning cloud services platform. Evolve IP’s cloud manager was developed with ManageIQ software, which was acquired by Red Hat, Inc. in December 2012, as its foundation. It provides real-time information on a customer’s virtual resources along with the ability to easily modify and control them.


An Inc. 500 company, Evolve IP provides organizations with a unified option for cloud services. Today, tens of thousands of users across the globe depend daily on Evolve IP for cloud services like virtual servers, virtual desktops, disaster recovery, unified communications, contact centers, and more.


Evolve IP’s OSSmosis ECM provides a number of intelligent services and a platform for new features to be rolled out quickly. Initially, customers can control the power states of their virtual servers and manage them with resource allocation and direct console access from anywhere. Customers also can self-serve existing production computing environments or procure reserved pools of infrastructure by the unit and build on-demand.


“While every IT professional understands the cost savings associated with moving their servers to the cloud, they may not realize they have the same ability to control and manage them,” said Scott Kinka, Chief Technology Officer at Evolve IP. “Evolve IP’s proprietary OSSmosis enterprise cloud manager takes it a step farther and provides an intuitive, high visibility tool that enables IT pros to manage servers just like they were in their own data center.”


“We’re excited to collaborate with Evolve IP on its compelling enterprise cloud manager,” said Bryan Che, general manager, Cloud Business Unit at Red Hat. “Having ManageIQ software deployed on Evolve IP’s award-winning private cloud platform demonstrates the flexibility and power of the ManageIQ technologies. We look forward to continuing our work with Evolve IP and other industry leaders.”


“These new capabilities further Evolve IP’s position as a market leader in consumable and predictable private cloud infrastructure,” said Joe Corvaia, Evolve IP’s Vice President of Cloud Computing. “The portal allows businesses to meet changing requirements rapidly and economically in a pay-as-you-go environment. It also helps leaders enforce business and IT policies through secure, role-driven access and simplifies the self-service life cycle.”
For more information about Evolve IP’s suite of cloud services, visit www.EvolveIP.net. For more discussion about how cloud services can improve business, visit Cloud IQ at blog.EvolveIP.net.


ABOUT EVOLVE IP
Evolve IP is The Cloud Services Company™. Designed from the beginning to provide organizations with a unified option for cloud services, Evolve IP enables decision-makers to migrate all or select IT technologies to its award-winning cloud platform. Evolve IP's combination of security, stability, scalability and lower total cost of ownership makes its services fundamentally superior to outdated legacy systems and other cloud offerings. Today, tens of thousands of users around the world rely daily on Evolve IP for cloud services, including virtual servers, virtual desktops, disaster recovery, unified communications, contact centers, and more. Visit www.EvolveIP.net or http://blog.EvolveIP.net.

Social Media's Accidental Feminism

It used to be that when a married woman kept her maiden name, in whole or hyphenated, it carried with it a  flair of feminism. When my wife and I married, we had a very short conversation on the topic. I would've been equally happy and supported whatever choice she made. And she didn't feel a strong need to hold on to the maiden name (it would've made one heck of a hyphenated name: 19 letters plus the dash).

It occurred to me that social media - Facebook in particular - is perpetuating this trend. Think about it, most of the married women you know on Facebook show both their maiden name and their married name. Not necessarily because they are feminists, but because it is easier for people to find them. The friends of their youth knew them by one name and their post-nuptial friends by another. Simple as that.

I don't think Facebook, or any other media for that matter, is taking an activist's stance, nor do I think women are necessarily becoming more feminist. But I do think this will cause a cultural shift that in, say, 20 years, will just seem natural and not feel like activism. Call it "accidental feminism."

What do you think?

The Bastardization of 503

I've been noticing a trend with some SIP carriers and it troubles me. They've begun to configure their gateways/SBC's to use the "503 Service Unavailable" response code at their discretion. As a whim, if you will. The RFC states that, "The server is temporarily unable to process the request due to a  temporary overloading or maintenance of the server." And, in my mind, we should accept that as the literal meaning, that there is an actual network problem. We measure the volume of such response codes so that we can get fair warning when something is acting up. And it is through those measurements that we've come to know that the 503 has been bastardized.

After pursuing with at least a couple different carriers on the topic we've found that they return the 503 when their routes (presumably their cheapest routes) are full and they send the 503 because, also according to the RFC, "a client (proxy or UAC) receiving a 503 (Service Unavailable) SHOULD attempt to forward the request to an alternate server." And it does. So, the offending carrier believes, no harm done. And technically they're right. The call attempts the next route and completes. No biggie, right?

Not so much.

In this scenario, [1] we've overflowed to a less preferred route (if the second route were preferred it would've been the first choice) and [2] it completely bastardizes the meaning of the 503 because it now means "Service Unavailable" but it also means "Go Away We Don't Want That Particular Call At Least Not Now." In my mind, this is the bigger of the two problems.

So what should these carriers do? It would seem there is a shortcoming in the SIP protocol. If they were to return a "480 Temporarily Unavailable" or a "486 Busy Here" then the client would likely return a treatment to the caller, which is not what we want. To reliably bounce the call to another route we typically would want a 5xx response, but none seem to fit the bill. What we need is a "5xx Temporarily Busy" or a "5xx Not Now I Have A Headache" sort of response code.

Truth

I read a really salient quote yesterday, one which exemplifies the benefits of the cloud: "Work is an activity not a location."" Author unknown.

How the Election Could Affect Cloud Services

With yesterday's election behind us, I started wondering how the different presidential candidates might influence the adoption of cloud services. Not directly, mind you. And obviously this is pure speculation; no crystal balls here. But here goes.

The Case for Mitt Romney
Romney's economic policy, based on traditional republican views of tax cuts, with a slant toward larger cuts for the wealthy, believes that the trickle-down effect creates jobs. Additionally, tax incentives for businesses may have sparked economic growth, or so the theory goes. In short, more small businesses, more people employed, more wealth. And these things might spur capital spending. That said, there is a chance that such an influx in capital might actually slow the growth of cloud services. Besides the obvious advantages of uptime, scalability and elasticity, one of the financial benefits of the cloud is that you can reduce your capital expenditures in exchange for a predictable monthly operational spend. If there is more capital available then there is a chance that businesses would reverse course and start buying hardware again. On the other hand, there might be more businesses to adopt the cloud.

The Case for Barack Obama
One of cornerstones of Obama's 2008 campaign was to invest in renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions. While his achievements in this area have been arguably weak, and he has been widely criticized for the country's investments in failed green energy companies such as Solyndra. However, focus on new technologies and green energy might mean tax incentives to businesses that reduce their energy consumption and to those, such as cloud services providers, that invent and foster such energy reductions. That could be very positive for the adoption of cloud services. But, one could argue, that the growth of the businesses that demand those very services might be slower under the president's watch.

Would the selection of a president make a difference in the cloud? It's hard to say. In either case, cloud services are here to stay and their growth, I believe, will continue to be strong over the next four years.