Archive for the ‘Network Administration’ Category
Monday, January 3rd, 2011
Just when you thought your network was totally secure …
No one working in network security can complain that the issue has been ignored by the press. Between Stuxnet, WikiLeaks server attacks and counterattacks, and the steady march of security updates from Microsoft and Adobe, the topic is being discussed everywhere. IT workers who have discovered that consolidation, off-shoring, and cloud computing have reduced job opportunities may be tempted to take heart in comments such as Tom Silver’s (Sr. VP for Dice.com) claim that “there is not a single job position within security that is not in demand today.”This and similar pronouncements by others paint a rosy picture of bottomless security staff funding, pleasant games of network attack chess, and a bevy of state-of-the-art security gadgets to address threats. Maybe.
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Tags: Data Loss Prevention, mobile devices, Network Administration, network security, risk management, tool bloat backlash, usb memory stick
Posted in Network Administration, network security | Comments Off
Monday, November 22nd, 2010
When choosing a console server management solution, it’s vital to ensure that your solution provides compatibility with third party software products such as Openview or Solaris. The reason for this is because these products provide network administrators with a centralized point of access from which they can manage many different network devices scattered across multiple network equipment sites, instead of addressing each network component individually. The best way to make certain that a console server management product is compatible with these third party products, is to choose a solution that offers full SNMP MIB support.
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Tags: console server, console server management, MIB file, remote network administration, SNMP, SNMP MIB compaitibility
Posted in Network Administration, console server | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
In the early 2000s, when Console Server products first started to gain popularity, most console servers were used only by Network Administrators, who needed out of band management capabilities for remote network equipment sites. But as the capabilities of console servers grew, the need arose to dedicate specific console server ports to specific types of functions. One way to control the functions of console sever ports, was to assign specific “modes” to each available serial port.
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Tags: any-to-any mode, buffer mode, console server, external modem, modem mode, passive mode, port modes
Posted in Network Administration, console server | Comments Off
Monday, November 15th, 2010
It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about a large, multinational corporation or a small “Mom and Pop” business; these days, most businesses depend on a secure, reliable network in order to track sales, process orders and interact with customers. This means that when your network is down, your business is also “down,” because communication and the free flow of information immediately grind to a halt.
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Tags: A/B fallback switch, A/B switching, automatic fallback, network redundancy
Posted in A/B Fallback Switching, Network Administration | Comments Off
Friday, November 12th, 2010
In addition to providing out of band access to network devices, a well designed serial switch should also be able to collect data from connected devices, and then later allow you to retrieve that data in order to check device status and operation. When a serial switch includes buffered ports, data such as error messages, status reports and error codes can be collected from connected devices and then reviewed later to help diagnose problems when devices crash or malfunction.
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Tags: buffered ports, crash diagnosis and recovery, error messages, serial switch, status messages
Posted in Network Administration, console server | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
Large, modern, corporate networks often include dozens of remote network equipment sites. Sometimes, these remote sites are located several states away; other times, they might be located on the other side of the Earth. With this in mind, it quickly becomes obvious that in order to maintain such a network, it’s vital for the network to include some sort of centralized management capability that allows network administrators to be kept informed of unit status at these remote sites. In many cases a console server that supports SNMP can provide an ideal solution for centralized management of remote network equipment sites in a large, far-flung corporate network.
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Tags: centralized network management, console server, console server management, environmental alarms, event alarms, reconfiguration, SNMP, terminal server
Posted in Network Administration, console server | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
Once a console server has been installed and configured, in most cases you won’t need to communicate with it very often at all. But when you do need to communicate with a console server, it’s nice to know that you have several different options for accessing command functions and aren’t limited to just one command interface.
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Tags: cli, command interface, console server, Kerberos, LDAP, PDA interface, RADIUS, TACACS+, WYSYWIG
Posted in Network Administration, console server | Comments Off
Monday, November 8th, 2010
Troubleshooting problems at remote network equipment sites can sometimes be frustrating, especially when the source of the problem is a malfunctioning firewall. When the firewall is down, that often means that you can’t contact any of the network devices behind the firewall in order to remedy the problem, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to travel to the remote site and fix the problem in person.
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Tags: console server, db9, outbound ssh, outbound telnet, rj45
Posted in Network Administration, console server | Comments Off
Friday, November 5th, 2010
So is 4G for real, or is it vaporware? I guess it depends on who you ask …
The tech world loves numbers, feature-driven marketing and pedantic arguments over … well, technicalities, which is why the wireless debate du jour is over 4G. As operators roll out faster networks that are built using acronym-heavy standards such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), 802.16 (WiMAX) or HSPA+, it’s hardly a surprise that every press release is touting 4G, which presumably stands for the fourth generation wireless network. Only, according to the International Telecommunications Union, they are all making stuff up, pretending it’s 4G when it’s not.
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Tags: 4G, HSPA+, LTE, wimax, WirelessMAN-Advanced
Posted in Network Administration, software evaluation | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
All remote network equipment applications can benefit from the secure console port access that’s provided by a console server. Unfortunately though, most console servers run on AC power, and if that network equipment is located at a remote site, or in other locations where only DC Power is available, then the only practical solution is a DC powered console server.
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Tags: console server, dc powered console server, remote console port access, remote network administration
Posted in Network Administration, console server | Comments Off
