Building The Net

Setting up IPv6 connectivity.

Back in December `09, my company ACT USA, began testing IPv6. These tests quickly advanced to our production environment. Over the last six months, I have been in the process of setting up native IPv6 connectivity for all our data centers. This connectivity is based on the dual stack model. This article attempts to cover the technology available, and the choices I made based on that technology.

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Building Redundant Networks in Data Centers.

I recently was asked to put together a brief web presentation on the different methods of creating redundant networks. I couldn’t think of a better place to put it, then right here on my blog. After all, I was overdue for a post anyways…

What do I mean by redundant networks?

A redundant network is two or more distinct paths for data to travel to and from an upstream network. In it’s simplest form, it can be a piece of equipment that can be manually placed into service easily upon a failure. More often though it is set up so that any single device or connection can fail, and without user intervention, a backup system or connection will automatically step in and take over the job of the failed device, or connection. A redundant network does not mean that no mater what happens, your data will still be reachable. There are many factors that need to be considered, ranging anywhere from your providers, to your applications, that can cause a failure.

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Amazon Brute Force SIP Attacks – Dave Michels Interviews Me.

Shortly After my “SIP Brute Force Attack Originating From Amazon EC2 Hosts” post, Dave Michels interviewed me for an article Dark Side of the Cloud. This is that interview:

Dave:   What do you believe the intent was of the attacks? Free long distance?

Stu: Certainly free long distance would be one reason… But there are many other reasons to hijack a SIP account. I’m sure that organized crime would pay for a block of active SIP logins. They could use them to circumvent surveillance, or possibly use them for fraudulent boiler room calls about extended warranties and such.

Remember, most folks still believe that the Telephone System is secure… They tend to believe someone who is calling them.

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SIP Brute Force Attack Originating From Amazon EC2 Hosts.

I woke up Saturday morning to find strangely high network activity on some of our inbound connections. After a quick review, it turned out that most of the traffic was going into several of our hosted PBX systems. After a little more digging, I discovered that several systems on the Amazon EC2 network were preforming brute force attacks, against our VoIP servers. They were attempting to guess user names and passwords for our SIP clients. I immediately blocked all traffic from the attacking IPs and examined the logs. Thankfully, I found that non of the attacks had succeeded in guessing passwords.

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A Microsoft Free Workplace in Six Months. Part 3

Well, I’ve been putting off updates on this for a few months, hoping that this project would begin moving forward again. It hasn’t, and for the life of me, I can not figure out why. The client has postponed the project due to a sudden surge in business. Their reasoning is that it would require too much retraining at a time where they don’t have time to retrain.

The confusing thing to me is that when asked what their findings were up to this point, they listed the following:

• Ubuntu systems operate faster then Windows systems.
• Ubuntu systems have better stability then Windows systems.
• Ubuntu is able to do all tasks we currently require to perform company related computing tasks.
• Ubuntu desktop can be tailored to incorporate shortcuts that end users can easily use.

The only negatives were:

• Ubuntu requires a rethinking regarding finding and installing software.
• Most end users will not be able to modify their own desktop without training

The second thing I would think would be a plus, but that’s the system administrator in me coming out.

So, for now, the project is stalled. So for now, so is this series of articles…

– Stu

The Technology of SCALE8x – A Post Event Review. PART – 2

This is the second installment all about the technologies used for SCALE8x. The first installment dealt with the services that the technology group has setup and maintains for the event year round. This installment will cover the pre-show setup that went into the technologies that were used at the show.

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The Technology of SCALE8x – A Post Event Review. PART – 1

Every February in Los Angeles CA, a group of dedicated volunteers get together to put on what many believe to be the largest all volunteer organized open source technology conventions in the US. This three day event features talks and exhibits specifically targeted at Open Source users, programmers, and system administrators.

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S.C.A.L.E is coming! Feb. 19-21!

Sorry to take so long between posts… But I’ve been kinda busy getting ready for The So. Cal Linux Expo, coming up in Los Angeles February 19th through the 21st. This is the premier open source show on the west coast! I’ll be there as the network architect this year, with Mike Maki taking over my position as Tech Committee Chairperson.

This year, we are pushing the envelope by adding IPv6 connectivity network wide. As near as we all can gather, this makes us the first show of this type to provide a dual stack network show wide!

If you are in to opensource, or getting pressure to reduce your IT costs, come enjoy the show! A quick sumary:

• Over 80 exhibitor booths
• Over 100 talks and presentations
• B.O.F. events
• Gatherings and Fun & Games

See their web page for details http://www.socallinuxexpo.org.

Come be a part!

Hope to see you there.

– Stu

Adventures in IPv6… Or how I spent my Xmas Vacation!

Whether you are a network administrator, an end user, or someone that falls in between, you are going to be hearing a lot about IPv6 in the coming years. If you’re in the business of delivering network services, then you need to get up to speed on this… Because before you know it, you will have a client or end user come up to you with a problem that IPv6 is involved in.

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Change is hard.

After a few unexpected road blocks, we are moving forward. The client has been working with the Ubuntu install we provided, and has come back to us with a list of questions.

• How do I print to PDF?
• I need to use MSN Instant Messaging, how do I do that?
• I need a 3270 emulator, the windows one we bought won’t work.
• I need a password manager.
• I can’t seem to make Go To My PC work with Linux.
• I really need a quick tutorial on basic navigation, I’m finding things like creating shortcuts and attaching to network shares challenging.

So, after a quick install of CUPS PDF, Pidgin, x3270, KeePass, and VNC-Server, as well as a 30 minute tutorial on desktop operation, we were back on track.

The next step.

Once the client is comfortable with the desktop, we will be moving to the next stage of testing. This will be a full operational test of Linux on his desk full time. I had hoped to be at this point already, but many things go into testing, and we need to get this right the first time if we have any hope of total conversion.

Check back soon, I’ll have more in a few weeks.

– Stu