System News for Sun Users

The risk problem: "If it ain't broke ... it will be"; Sept 29th Webinar

2011-09-09T16:00:00+01:00

The battle cry of IT brinksmanship, "If it ain't broke, don�'t fix it," means that risk has triumphed over cost. This fate is commonplace for legacy applications which can be found sitting on an outdated/unsupported box, running on ancient OS sporting a "Do Not Touch" sign.

Not important enough to fix; too important to fail. These applications are at risk of failure. And everyone knows it.

AppZero offers an alternative that changes the risk/cost math by eliminating the risk at a slashed cost/effort �- with no re-engineering or coding required.

Over the last few years, we have helped a number of significant IT operations use our application virtualization solution to migrate their legacy Solaris applications onto newer systems that are reliable and powerful systems. Prior to learning about AppZero, these organizations lived with risk hunting spare parts for their hardware systems from Ebay and Craigslist �- sites that, like the old buffalo grounds, are now hunted-out. At this point, risk becomes probability.

Effectively Manage Change in your Solaris Environment

2011-07-15T16:00:00+01:00

The tracking of approved and unapproved change on IT systems is critical for the early detection of configuration issues, and to help determine the root-cause of application failures. This is especially important in virtualized Oracle Solaris environments, where systems can easily be resized on-the-fly to alleviate problems on one virtual machine, which may inadvertently impact the performance of another.

Halcyon�'s Neuron Configuration Manager, as a core component of the Halcyon Neuron Management Suite, automates the collection of configuration metrics for a wide range of IT assets and quickly identifies the most important changes. Staff are notified using in-browser reports and by email of assets that have stopped tracking approved profiles, and configuration snapshots are available both interactively and from the CLI to simplify comparisons with known-good configurations. Neuron Configuration Manager also includes a highly configurable export and analysis engine, making it easy to integrate with other CMDB and archival tools.

How Many Admins Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb?

2011-05-13T16:00:00+01:00

Administrators spend an enormous amount of time �'keeping the lights on�': activities that consume up to 80% of IT budgets. Automated, repeatable processes are some of the greatest timesavers in the IT world, and yet most system maintenance and monitoring tasks are still performed manually in the datacenter. Halcyon helps double the time staff can spend on new initiatives, instead of simply maintaining the status quo.

Halcyon Neuron automates the monitoring of hardware, OS, and applications in Solaris environments. Pre-defined and configurable thresholds notify admins of failures and service degradation due to CPU/memory exhaustion, log or process errors, and virtual resource conflicts. Plugins are also available for a wide range of custom and commercial applications".

Amazon EC2, Solaris 2.6, and the San Andreas Fault

2011-05-06T16:00:00+01:00

As it turned out, the brilliance and competence of Amazon�'s technocracy were no match for simple human error. An incorrect manual update to the network set up a domino effect of Catch-22-esque compound failures to Amazon�'s EBS (Elastic Block Store) details of which can be found in a 6 page explanation the company offered last week.

Although cloud naysayers will no doubt try to make this event the poster child for Luddite agendas, it won�'t work. Data was lost. Business was lost. News was made. But overall, the fallout has not been too bad as users have quickly come forward to stand by Amazon and the choice to use its services.

And the risk was largely knowable. As Jason posted in an article "On Cascading Failures and Amazon�'s Elastic Block Store ", "This is not a "speed bump" or a "cloud failure" or "growing pains", this is a foreseeable consequence of fundamental architectural decisions made by Amazon.

Illumos in the Cloud: What is Joyent Up to?

2011-04-01T16:00:00+01:00

For years - decades, even - Sun Microsystems held some of the world�'s greatest engineering talent fast in its cozy embrace. Then, as so often happens, acquisition unleashed a storm of change. A year later, a good deal of Sun's top talent has moved on, including some well-known names from Solaris engineering. I�'m sure this tech diaspora will benefit the industry as a whole, as Sun talent spreads far and wide.

For three years at Sun, I worked closely with top Solaris engineers. Many became friends, so I have kept in touch with those who left, and kept an eye on where they went. A number of the best and brightest settled at a cloud computing company out of San Francisco, called Joyent.

Read on for more from Deirdré and a special offer from Joyent.

Move your mess for less; Solaris Modernization

2011-04-01T16:00:00+01:00

Much has been written about applications that are stranded on Solaris 2.6/7 OS and rare-as-unicorn hardware. In fact, much of it has been written by me. My trusty biz dev leader suggested that I take an ROI run on the topic in my next blog .... which is this one. But I just can�'t bring myself to do it.

Why? Because I can�'t see building an elaborate spread sheet showing how AppZero is the best option, when the choice is a no brainer that my 7 year old son could make.

Let�'s play the model out and you tell me if a spreadsheet would help clarify the choices:

Magical thinking
Call in the cavalry
Binary compatibility
AppZero scoop and move

Read on for details and a link to a Webinar.

Define and compare: Virtualization technologies for Solaris

2011-03-11T17:00:00+01:00

"So, VMware ... separate hardware from OS = virtual server, right? Well, we�'re like that but completely different �- we separate application from OS = virtualized application." Because we�'re in the vast virtualization market space with a technology that is unique (patented), I am often asked to differentiate AppZero�'s server-side application virtualization from the rest of the pack. Especially in the Oracle/Sun/Solaris/SPARC context.

And especially since we�'ve been promoting a Webinar series drawing a straight line from ancient Solaris 2.6 and 7 applications to execution on OS and hardware from this millennium. (We broke the marketing bank naming the webinars: "Virtualize-2-Modernize; Solaris 2.6 + 7 applications run unchanged on 9 + 10" and the follow-on "How to run Solaris 2.6 and 2.7 applications unchanged on Solaris 9 and 10")

Grid Engine Migration Webinar - Wed 16th 11am EST

2011-03-09T17:00:00+01:00

Let�'s face it, Grid Engine users and administrators are facing some key issues and critical junctures. With the recent announcements by Oracle regarding the future of Grid Engine, they have to be asking a lot of questions. "How much is this going to cost?" "Will my current environment still be supported?" "Is Open Source ever really free?" "What are my options?" "How do I get started?"

We have brought together the experts to provide you with some guidance on how to navigate these recent changes, and provide information to help you make the decisions that are best for you and your business.

Join this webinar and hear from Industry Analyst and Platform Computing thought leaders about what Grid Engine users and administrators can do now to protect their HPC investments.

Why get just the (Grid) Engine, when you can get the full car?

2011-02-25T17:00:00+01:00

Join this webinar and hear from Industry Analyst and Platform Computing thought leaders about what Grid Engine users and administrators can do now to protect their HPC investments.

Solaris 2.6 and 7 Apps - Urban myth or IT nightmare?

2011-02-10T17:00:00+01:00

The jury�'s still out on the Loch Ness monster and alien abductions, but I can personally testify to the existence of Solaris 2.6 and 7 applications. They are very real -- the stuff of IT nightmares. Why? Because, undocumented by app dev owners long since departed, these applications are chugging away on antiquated hardware that can not be replaced at any cost - when they fail.

And that�'s the key point here: when they fail. In this case, "if" is an exercise in delusion and denial.

I have the answer for apps that go bump in the night. AppZero virtualizes legacy Solaris applications without re-compiling or change so that they can quickly and easily run in supported environments on current hardware. Fast. Painless. Inexpensive. Effective ...

Force10 Newsletter

2011-01-15T17:00:00+01:00

Force10 Networks is a global technology leader that data center, service provider and enterprise customers rely on when the network is their business.

Here are the articles in the January 2011 issue of the Force10 Networks newsletter:

New Archived Webinar: Turbulence At The Rack Edge
The 2010 Cloud Networking Report
Leading Hosting Service Provider ReadySpace Selects Force10 Networks To Give Customers "Bulletproof" Reliability and Low Latency Performance
New Customer Profiles
Virtualization Solution Leaders VMware, Citrix, TBD Networks and Infoblox Embrace Force10 Networks�' Open Automation Framework
Stay up to Date with Force10 Networks Community Sites
A Glimpse Inside a Facebook Server Farm
Timing is everything ...
Upcoming Events

Read on ...

AppZero Prescribes "Virtual Viagra" for Solaris

2010-12-10T17:00:00+01:00

Imagine you are an IT professional or executive, and your teams are running a data center with 1,000s of machines and applications. You know that there is a set of 10-15 year old applications running business critical functions on Sun hardware and the Solaris operating systems.

These applications, their OS and the underlying infrastructure are old. In fact, measured in "IT-years," where the lifespan of an infrastructure is 3 - 5 years, they are ancient. By my calculations, an IT year is equivalent to 20 people-years, making these systems 200-300 years old ... and ....

... stranded on an island.

It is not a question of if one of these servers will break or die; it is a take-it-to-the-bank-matter that these mission critical application servers will die. The only question is when.

Read on to learn about a tool that can get you out of this predicament.

Default Passwords Can Create Vulnerabilities ... Trusted Computer Solutions Says Beware

2010-10-28T16:00:00+01:00

A recent Stuxnet worm made repeated attacks on the Pentagon, NATO and the United States electricity grid. The primary attack vector was identified as a default password on PLCs appliances.

The lesson learned in this case is that default passwords can create vulnerabilities.

There are many things that system administrators can and should do to regularly harden or lock down their Solaris operating systems. It�'s all part of good system hygiene which contributes to securing your mission critical systems. Read on for information on how you can automatically harden your enterprise-wide Solaris servers.

Force10 Networks Support for Oracle VM and Oracle Linux for its Virtualization Solutions

2010-10-27T16:00:00+01:00

Force10 Networks, Inc., a global technology leader that data center, service provider and enterprise customers rely on when the network is their business, today announced plans to build network automation solutions that support Oracle VM server for x86 virtualization software and Oracle Linux. Force10 will help ensure interoperability and complementary virtualization of network resources as they develop virtualization solutions based on their Open Automation Framework while utilizing the functionality of Oracle VM and Oracle Linux.

Force10 is developing a suite of network management and architectural tools designed to promote greater efficiency and flexibility within the data center by enabling network and infrastructure resources to be provisioned similarly to virtual machines (VM) as requirements dictate. With this type of functionality, network security and quality of service policies are automatically migrated with the VMs when logical server resources are provisioned.

Optimize Solaris Zone Performance and Increase Server Utilization

2010-10-09T16:00:00+01:00

Halcyon's Neuron Performance Manager aggregates Solaris zone performance data to proactively monitor overall server utilization and quickly identify bottlenecks and excess capacity. This solution enables organizations to optimize their virtual environment to improve service levels, reduce costs, and increase availability of critical business applications.

Unlike traditional reporting tools, Neuron Performance Manager automatically collects important Oracle Solaris performance data such as CPU and memory usage from Zones and Containers and aggregates them into a single graph. This allows administrators to view historical trends and predict future capacity needs on both physical and virtual hosts. For more information, screenshots, and to download this solution with free pre-sales technical support, click on Get More Information.

Securing Solaris 10 Using Industry Guidelines

2010-08-14T16:00:00+01:00

The most recently published CIS benchmark for Solaris 10 was released on July 9, 2010. It addresses the recommended security settings in Solaris 10 11/06 through Solaris 10 10/09. Security Blanket incorporates the CIS hardening guidelines for Solaris but also allows you to customize your security policy to suit your needs.

For example, you might start with the CIS hardening guidelines for Solaris but choose to alter some parameter values, such as required password length, or eliminate certain guidelines altogether. Once your security profile is defined, Security Blanket assesses any number of operating systems (Solaris as well as others), and reports the compliancy status against the profile.

Tolly Group Test Report On Core Switch/Routing Performance, Scalability and Resiliency Features of the Force10 ExaScale

2010-07-30T16:00:00+01:00

Force10 Networks announced that its ExaScale E-Series chassis-based virtualized core switch/router delivered superior Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and 10 GbE performance as well as scalability and resiliency features, according to independent testing results from The Tolly Group.The tests confirmed that the ExaScale delivers 100% line-rate, zero-loss Layer 2 and Layer 3 throughput when tested across the switch�'s 1,260 GbE ports and 140 10 GbE ports.

"Our engineers verified that the ExaScale delivers at least 100 Gbps of usable bandwidth per slot, which proves that the switch is 100 GbE-ready. Beyond closely examining the pure performance of the Force10 ExaScale, we also wanted to see how its features could handle scenarios frequently seen in large-scale hosting, portal or enterprise data centers," said Kevin Tolly, president of The Tolly Group.

Demystifying The Cloud -- Sponsored by Force10 Networks

2010-07-16T16:00:00+01:00

Modern IT is all about being able to spin up computing and storage on demand, and then tear it down once the need is gone. And for that, private, public and hosted cloud infrastructures are proving invaluable. But choosing the best cloud strategy means understanding the promises and pitfalls of each approach. In these articles, Network World and its sister publications CIO, Computerworld and InfoWorld explore cloud computing, explain the nuances between the different approaches and examine enterprise concerns in a 23-page eGuide.

IEEE Ratifies P802.3ba 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet Standard

2010-06-26T16:00:00+01:00

Force10 Networks, Inc. congratulated the IEEE and its Task Force for ratifying its P802.3ba standard for 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). Employees of Force10 Networks played an important role to help begin the standard ratification process by demonstrating how, through a wide variety of Ethernet use cases, their customers believed there was a clear need for higher Ethernet speeds.

To help its data center customers to consolidate and simplify network layers, Force10 is currently preparing to deliver end-to-end, edge-to-core 40 GbE switch/router solutions. Initially, Force10 plans to incorporate 40 GbE into a 10 GbE top-of-rack access switch for converging Fibre Channel and Ethernet fabrics. The Force10 E-Series core switch/router is 40/100 GbE-ready today, and its C-Series of resilient, chassis-based switches are 40 GbE-ready.

Minimizing Your Solaris Attack Surface

2010-06-12T16:00:00+01:00

If you are concerned with minimizing the attack surface of your Solaris servers, (and you should be concerned), then you may be using tools provided by Oracle/Sun. Today, there are new, more flexible and extensive options available. Assessing the security posture of your servers, automatically locking down to industry standards, and easily maintaining your security posture over time is easily performed with Security Blanket, by Trusted Computer Solutions.

'Single Pane of Glass' Monitoring Takes the Complexity Out of IT Systems Management

2010-06-02T16:00:00+01:00

up.time, by uptime software, is known by its more than 700 customers as a single tool with the ability to deeply monitor a myriad of applications and systems across physical, virtual, and cloud environments. up.time maximizes performance and availability of infrastructure and applications across UNIX (Solaris, AIX, HP/UX, Novell, etc.), Windows, Virtual (VMware)and Cloud (Amazon EC2) systems.

A 30-day free trial is available and live webinars are scheduled on a regular basis.

Best Practices on Securing Enterprise Operating Systems

2010-02-12T17:00:00+01:00

A review of best practices on securing companies' and government agencies' operating systems is presented in the six-page PDF "Securing the Foundation of IT Systems." The paper covers commonly used and oftentimes problematic practices adopted by system administrators, and offers some insights on ways to improve security, including a look at Trusted Computer Solutions' (TCS) Security Blanket - a tool that automatically locks down operating systems.

Sun and Force10 Collaborate to Bring Network Automation to the Masses

2010-02-06T17:00:00+01:00

Customers are looking to vendors for ways to address the pervasive data center virtualization and ever increasing demands for scale. Sun�'s Project Crossbow (Sun�'s Crossbow) and Force10 together are bringing a unique answer to the market in an open standards approach. Sun and Force10 are able to demonstrate to customers that VLAN Automation as a first step into complete Network Automation is within reach and does not require proprietary hardware or software stacks.

Ecoviv's Wand - Logical Domain Management for the Rest of Us

2009-07-10T16:00:00+01:00

A new web-based application, Wand, enables you to easily manage LDoms. With a three-tier architecture written entirely in Java and XML, a robust architecture that leverages Sun's Cacao agent framework, and a browser user interface, Wand is enterprise-ready, secure, and well-suited for distributed management.

With Wand, you'll be able to get productive in minutes rather than days or weeks. You'll be able to see exactly how your physical and virtual machines are organized, what resources they have, and create and manage new logical domains with a simple one-click interface.

A 30-day free trail is available.

Ecoviv's Wand - Logical Domain Management for the Rest of Us

2009-06-05T16:00:00+01:00

Vendor Voice Articles

2009-06-04T16:00:00+01:00

The articles in this "Vendor Voice" section are authored by sponsors. Learn more about how you may be able to have your company's products and service offerings included here.

In the past 12 months the web site associated with this newsletter had 630k unique visitors and 1.55 million page views.

Promote Your Solution to 8,000+ Organizations WIth an Article in 'System News for Sun Users'

2009-05-02T16:00:00+01:00

The articles in this "Vendor Voice" section are authored by sponsors. Learn more about how you may be able to have your company's products and service offerings included here.

In the past 12 months the web site associated with this newsletter had 630k unique visitors and 1.55 million page views.

Promote Your Solution to 8,000+ Organizations WIth an Article in 'System News for Sun Users'

2009-04-25T16:00:00+01:00

The articles in this "Vendor Voice" section are authored by sponsors. Learn more about how you may be able to have your company's products and service offerings included here.

In the past 12 months the web site associated with this newsletter had 630k unique visitors and 1.55 million page views.

Altair Ports its Next-generation CAE Solver Technology on Suns Solaris Platform

2009-04-03T16:00:00+01:00

Innovation drives success. To stay ahead of the competition, you need to optimize your designs, manage performance data, and automate processes as much as possible to help you rapidly explore designs and make the right decisions. Altair�'s HyperWorks offers comprehensive, open architecture computer aided engineering (CAE) solutions that do just that �' on Sun, the best designed and innovative platforms in the industry.

High Performance Data Warehouse Solutions

2009-03-18T16:00:00+01:00

Today�'s data centers are constrained by smaller budgets and IT executives continue to look for ways to drive down costs as the load on data warehouses continues to grow. Designed for high performance and large scale data warehousing, the combined solution enables customers to integrate Sun Fire X4500 server and storage components, Greenplum database software, and Force10 reliable Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch/routers into a complete super-capacity data warehouse solution.

System News for Sun Users

The risk problem: "If it ain't broke ... it will be"; Sept 29th Webinar

Effectively Manage Change in your Solaris Environment

How Many Admins Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb?

Amazon EC2, Solaris 2.6, and the San Andreas Fault

Illumos in the Cloud: What is Joyent Up to?

Move your mess for less; Solaris Modernization

Define and compare: Virtualization technologies for Solaris

Grid Engine Migration Webinar - Wed 16th 11am EST

Why get just the (Grid) Engine, when you can get the full car?

Solaris 2.6 and 7 Apps - Urban myth or IT nightmare?

Force10 Newsletter

AppZero Prescribes "Virtual Viagra" for Solaris

Default Passwords Can Create Vulnerabilities ... Trusted Computer Solutions Says Beware

Force10 Networks Support for Oracle VM and Oracle Linux for its Virtualization Solutions

Optimize Solaris Zone Performance and Increase Server Utilization

Securing Solaris 10 Using Industry Guidelines

Tolly Group Test Report On Core Switch/Routing Performance, Scalability and Resiliency Features of the Force10 ExaScale

Demystifying The Cloud -- Sponsored by Force10 Networks

IEEE Ratifies P802.3ba 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet Standard

Minimizing Your Solaris Attack Surface

'Single Pane of Glass' Monitoring Takes the Complexity Out of IT Systems Management

Best Practices on Securing Enterprise Operating Systems

Sun and Force10 Collaborate to Bring Network Automation to the Masses

Ecoviv's Wand - Logical Domain Management for the Rest of Us

Ecoviv's Wand - Logical Domain Management for the Rest of Us

Vendor Voice Articles

Promote Your Solution to 8,000+ Organizations WIth an Article in 'System News for Sun Users'

Promote Your Solution to 8,000+ Organizations WIth an Article in 'System News for Sun Users'

Altair Ports its Next-generation CAE Solver Technology on Suns Solaris Platform

High Performance Data Warehouse Solutions

Move your mess for less; Solaris Modernization

Altair Ports its Next-generation CAE Solver Technology on Suns Solaris Platform