Will software-defined networking kill network engineers' beloved CLI?

SDN (software-defined networking) promises some real benefits for people who use networks, but to the engineers who manage them, it may represent the end of an era.

Ever since Cisco made its first routers in the 1980s, most network engineers have relied on a CLI (command-line interface) to configure, manage and troubleshoot everything from small-office LANs to wide-area carrier networks. Cisco's isn't the only CLI, but on the strength of the company's domination of networking, it has become a de facto standard in the industry, closely emulated by other vendors.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Teach your router new tricks with DD-WRT. | Get expert networking how-to advice from InfoWorld's Networking Deep Dive PDF special report. | Subscribe to InfoWorld's Data Center newsletter to stay on top of the latest developments. ]

As such, it's been a ticket to career advancement for countless network experts, especially those certified as CCNAs (Cisco Certified Network Associates). Those network management experts, along with higher level CCIEs (Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts) and holders of other official Cisco credentials, make up a trained workforce of more than 2 million, according to the company.

A CLI is simply a way to interact with software by typing in lines of commands, as PC users did in the days of DOS. With the Cisco CLI and those that followed in its footsteps, engineers typically set up and manage networks by issuing commands to individual pieces of gear, such as routers and switches.

SDN, and the broader trend of network automation, uses a higher layer of software to control networks in a more abstract way. Whether through OpenFlow, Cisco's ONE (Open Network Environment) architecture, or other frameworks, the new systems separate the so-called control plane of the network from the forwarding plane, which is made up of the equipment that pushes packets. Engineers managing the network interact with applications, not ports.

"The network used to be programmed through what we call CLIs, or command-line interfaces. We're now changing that to create programmatic interfaces," Cisco Chief Strategy Officer Padmasree Warrior said at a press event earlier this year.

Will SDN spell doom for the tool that network engineers have used throughout their careers?

"If done properly, yes, it should kill the CLI. Which scares the living daylights out of the vast majority of CCIEs," Gartner analyst Joe Skorupa said. "Certainly all of those who define their worth in their job as around the fact that they understand the most obscure Cisco CLI commands for configuring some corner-case BGP4 (Border Gateway Protocol 4) parameter."

At some of the enterprises that Gartner talks to, the backlash from some network engineers has already begun, according to Skorupa.

"We're already seeing that group of CCIEs doing everything they can to try and prevent SDN from being deployed in their companies," Skorupa said. Some companies have deliberately left such employees out of their evaluations of SDN, he said.

Not everyone thinks the CLI's days are numbered. SDN doesn't go deep enough to analyze and fix every flaw in a network, said Alan Mimms, a senior architect at F5 Networks.

View the original article here

Will software-defined networking kill network engineers' beloved CLI?

IDG News Service - SDN (software-defined networking) promises some real benefits for people who use networks, but to the engineers who manage them, it may represent the end of an era.

Ever since Cisco made its first routers in the 1980s, most network engineers have relied on a CLI (command-line interface) to configure, manage and troubleshoot everything from small-office LANs to wide-area carrier networks. Cisco's isn't the only CLI, but on the strength of the company's domination of networking, it has become a de facto standard in the industry, closely emulated by other vendors.

As such, it's been a ticket to career advancement for countless network experts, especially those certified as CCNAs (Cisco Certified Network Associates). Those network management experts, along with higher level CCIEs (Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts) and holders of other official Cisco credentials, make up a trained workforce of more than 2 million, according to the company.

A CLI is simply a way to interact with software by typing in lines of commands, as PC users did in the days of DOS. With the Cisco CLI and those that followed in its footsteps, engineers typically set up and manage networks by issuing commands to individual pieces of gear, such as routers and switches.

SDN, and the broader trend of network automation, uses a higher layer of software to control networks in a more abstract way. Whether through OpenFlow, Cisco's ONE (Open Network Environment) architecture, or other frameworks, the new systems separate the so-called control plane of the network from the forwarding plane, which is made up of the equipment that pushes packets. Engineers managing the network interact with applications, not ports.

"The network used to be programmed through what we call CLIs, or command-line interfaces. We're now changing that to create programmatic interfaces," Cisco Chief Strategy Officer Padmasree Warrior said at a press event earlier this year.

Will SDN spell doom for the tool that network engineers have used throughout their careers?

"If done properly, yes, it should kill the CLI. Which scares the living daylights out of the vast majority of CCIEs," Gartner analyst Joe Skorupa said. "Certainly all of those who define their worth in their job as around the fact that they understand the most obscure Cisco CLI commands for configuring some corner-case BGP4 (Border Gateway Protocol 4) parameter."

At some of the enterprises that Gartner talks to, the backlash from some network engineers has already begun, according to Skorupa.

"We're already seeing that group of CCIEs doing everything they can to try and prevent SDN from being deployed in their companies," Skorupa said. Some companies have deliberately left such employees out of their evaluations of SDN, he said.

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

View the original article here

Will software-defined networking kill network engineers' beloved CLI?

SDN (software-defined networking) promises some real benefits for people who use networks, but to the engineers who manage them, it may represent the end of an era.

Ever since Cisco made its first routers in the 1980s, most network engineers have relied on a CLI (command-line interface) to configure, manage and troubleshoot everything from small-office LANs to wide-area carrier networks. Cisco's isn't the only CLI, but on the strength of the company's domination of networking, it has become a de facto standard in the industry, closely emulated by other vendors.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Teach your router new tricks with DD-WRT. | Get expert networking how-to advice from InfoWorld's Networking Deep Dive PDF special report. | Subscribe to InfoWorld's Data Center newsletter to stay on top of the latest developments. ]

As such, it's been a ticket to career advancement for countless network experts, especially those certified as CCNAs (Cisco Certified Network Associates). Those network management experts, along with higher level CCIEs (Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts) and holders of other official Cisco credentials, make up a trained workforce of more than 2 million, according to the company.

A CLI is simply a way to interact with software by typing in lines of commands, as PC users did in the days of DOS. With the Cisco CLI and those that followed in its footsteps, engineers typically set up and manage networks by issuing commands to individual pieces of gear, such as routers and switches.

SDN, and the broader trend of network automation, uses a higher layer of software to control networks in a more abstract way. Whether through OpenFlow, Cisco's ONE (Open Network Environment) architecture, or other frameworks, the new systems separate the so-called control plane of the network from the forwarding plane, which is made up of the equipment that pushes packets. Engineers managing the network interact with applications, not ports.

"The network used to be programmed through what we call CLIs, or command-line interfaces. We're now changing that to create programmatic interfaces," Cisco Chief Strategy Officer Padmasree Warrior said at a press event earlier this year.

Will SDN spell doom for the tool that network engineers have used throughout their careers?

"If done properly, yes, it should kill the CLI. Which scares the living daylights out of the vast majority of CCIEs," Gartner analyst Joe Skorupa said. "Certainly all of those who define their worth in their job as around the fact that they understand the most obscure Cisco CLI commands for configuring some corner-case BGP4 (Border Gateway Protocol 4) parameter."

At some of the enterprises that Gartner talks to, the backlash from some network engineers has already begun, according to Skorupa.

"We're already seeing that group of CCIEs doing everything they can to try and prevent SDN from being deployed in their companies," Skorupa said. Some companies have deliberately left such employees out of their evaluations of SDN, he said.

Not everyone thinks the CLI's days are numbered. SDN doesn't go deep enough to analyze and fix every flaw in a network, said Alan Mimms, a senior architect at F5 Networks.

View the original article here

D-Link Day/Night Network Cloud Camera 1150 (DCS-933L)

D-Link knows networking, so the company almost gets it right with the Day/Night Network Cloud Camera 1150. Setup is straightforward, and if your network is built with the latest D-Link products, no setup is required—just plug the camera into an AC outlet and your router and it's ready. Compared with the $200 Y-Cam HomeMonitor Indoor or even the $150 Dropcam HD the $99.99 (list) Cloud Camera 1150 is a good deal. It's a bit under-equipped with a standard-definition sensor, weak night vision mode, and a lack of online DVR service. While there is an online service for viewing the video feed, it doesn't include any cloud-based storage, putting it on par with the $120 Compro Cloud Network Camera (TN50W).

Design and Setup
The plain, white Cloud Camera 1150 has a soap-bar size and shape at 3.6 by 2.3 by 1.2 inches (HWD) without the stand. That stand is one of the few I've seen that's entirely plastic, but it's still wall- or ceiling-mountable with the included screws. It doesn't feel as sturdy as the metal stands that come with the Zmodo 720P HD Wireless Network IP Camera or Dropcam, though.

The camera has far fewer infrared LEDs than other models we've tested, with just four, instead of a nice ring array to nearly invisibly illuminate the area for the camera's IR-sensitive mode when it's dark. D-Link only guarantees night vision to about 15 feet while Y-Cam promises 50 feet. On the other hand, the Compro TN50W we tested has no LEDs at all, so D-Link is ahead of that one.

According to the company, setup is "zero configuration" if you already have a relatively recent D-Link Cloud Router and a mydlink account. My D-Link router is officially ancient at four years old, so I went through the full setup. This involves installing software on a Mac or Windows PC, rather than just a quick scan of a QR code with a mobile app (like that found on the Zmodo) or going to a website to enter a code from the camera (like with the Y-Cam HomeMonitor).

The setup leads you through connecting the camera, via Ethernet, to a router (D-Link includes a ribbon-thin 10baseT cable for this purpose), plugging in the power, then waiting for an LED on the back to turn solid green. The wizard auto-detects the camera's MAC and IP addresses. You can assign a password to the camera at this point, which is highly recommended. Switch the camera to wireless mode using either the simple Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), or by finding an available Wi-Fi network SSID to connect to.

Finally, you have to sign up for the mydlink cloud service, if you don't have an account already. Download the mydlink Lite apps for your phone or tablet, and get ready for some surveiling.

Features and Performance
The D-Link Cloud Camera 1150 appears no-frills on the surface, but there's some power underneath if you bother to access it (more on that in a minute). Many won't, and will feel they've got their money's worth since that surface works just fine for the most part. I ran into some glitches, however.

To view the camera in a browser on mydlink.com, you need to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). I was also told by the wizard to perform a firmware upgrade. It's not exactly a fast setup, but it worked despite the constant Java errors I had with my Chrome browser. Thankfully, Java worked in IE 10.

Once in the mydlink.com interface, you can activate and adjust the motion detection and audio detection under the settings tab. Motion detection has a nice screen that lets you define an area of the image for detection (so the ceiling fan or dogs don't set it off, for example). A slider bar lets you increase or decrease the motion sensitivity. You can also schedule motion detection for individual days of the week. No matter how I set the sensitivity, I got far too many email alerts and false positives.

The audio detection settings are unique among the surveillance cameras I've tested. Mydlink displays a decibel level graph of what the camera currently hears up to 90db, so you can make an educated guess on what setting to use. This model supports listening to live audio with the video, but there's no two-way audio—you can't talk to the camera's subjects from a mobile app or remote computer, for instance.

Whenever a motion or audio event is detected, you get a time-stamped email with a still 640-by-480-pixel (VGA) image attached. The camera doesn't just support SMTP email; you can easily input settings for Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail, as well. It automatically sends the alerts to the email address you signed up with, so using a different address here can mean double the alerts.

Utterly unique to the Cloud Camera 1150 is a wireless extender mode. This lets you extend the range of your home wireless network, and could come in especially handy if you get multiple D-Link Cloud Cameras. Don't set it too far away, though; that could actually hurt wireless network performance.

Many of the above settings can also be modified from the mydlink Lite app on a phone or tablet. Generally, however, the apps are just for accessing the live camera feed, and perhaps taking a still image here or there.

Where's all this under-the-hood power I mentioned? In the mydlink settings, click the "Advanced Settings" button. You'll need the special password you assigned the camera (it may not be the same as your mydlink account password). This gives you access, via your browser, to the internal settings of the camera itself, everything from changing the password, to changing video quality, setting up dynamic DNS, creating mail accounts for alerts, or altering the extender mode to have its own SSID.

In Advanced Settings, you can set up alerts to email a video clip rather than a still image, and there are also options for sending video or stills to an FTP site. That's as close as the Cloud Camera comes to an online "DVR" service for surveillance footage, though the company claims it will work seamlessly with D-Link network-attached storage devices to store video.

The camera uses the H.264 codec, so the video looks good, but it only records up to 640 by 480 resolution, which just doesn't cut it compared with the 720p images on cameras from Zmodo and Dropcam.

Conclusion
We've yet to see a Wi-Fi surveillance camera that has just the right mix of performance, setup, and features to match the Logitech Alert 750n Indoor Master System. The 750n remains our Editors' Choice even though it's more expensive and isn't wireless (using HomePlug instead). D-Link's home surveillance solution needs to improve quality, remove the Java requirement for browser access, and consider some functional online storage (and not just a live feed or email/FTP uploads) to measure up.

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VMware sets its sights on network virtualization

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger used his opening keynote speech at the company's annual VMworld conference to emphasize plans to virtualize networks with the aim of achieving the success in virtualizing servers.

Networking "is the most important topic we will discuss today," Gelsinger said to the audience of VMware administrators at the Moscone Center in San Francisco in a speech that was webcast. "We're moving to a world where the network is just like the compute, where we will be able to spin up network services just like we can spin up [virtual machine] services."

[ Doing server virtualization right is not so simple. InfoWorld's expert contributors show you how to get it right in this 24-page "Server Virtualization Deep Dive" PDF guide. | Track the latest trends in virtualization in InfoWorld's Virtualization Report newsletter. ]

At the conference, the company launched NSX, its new hypervisor for network virtualization.

VMware was founded in 1998 to re-introduce the concept of software virtualization to the world of commodity x86 servers (IBM, among other companies, had long offered software virtualization for time-sharing mainframes).

By placing software, such as a server OS, on top of a hypervisor, which sits between the hardware and the hardware's OS, IT shops could move these virtual machines more easily from physical server to physical server, which entailed costs savings by consolidating servers and increased agility of operations.

VMware in fiscal year 2012 generated around $4.6 billion in revenue, and the industry has become saturated with virtual machines, both from VMware and competitors such as Microsoft. By 2010, the number of virtual machines had outnumbered the number of physical ones, Gelsinger said.

Now, the company is looking to solve the next bottleneck in IT operations, which it identifies as network provisioning.

"Increasingly, the barrier to flexibility is becoming the network. While we can spin up a VM in seconds, [network] configurations can take weeks or months in response," Gelsinger said. NSX, which acts as a unifying layer to controlling network resources such as routers and switches, aims to solve this problem. "What ESX was to server virtualization, NSX is to network virtualization," Gelsinger said.

To help explain NSX, Gelsinger brought on stage VMware chief architect for networking Martin Casado, who was one of the creators of OpenFlow, the protocol that spawned the idea of SDN (software defined networking), which is, in part, another name for network virtualization. Casado was also the CTO of OpenFlow software provider Nicira, which VMware purchased in 2012, and which provides the basis for much of NSX.

Casado said, that when first thinking about OpenFlow, he wanted to "change the network architecture in a way so that you can have the properties in networks that you have in compute, when it comes to thing like operational simplicity, software evolve-ability, programmability."

"Virtual networks look like physical networks, but they have the operational model of a VM -- you can create them dynamically, configure them programmatically, snapshot them, and move them around," Casado said. "This is really taking the virtualization operations model and bringing it to networking."

NSX is part of a larger architecture that VMware has been developing over the past few years, one that it calls the SDDC (software defined data center). With SDDC, all of an organization's infrastructure is virtualized, allowing data center administrators to easily automate operations.

During his keynote, Gelsinger also introduced a number of other technologies, in addition to NSX, that would provide additional elements to SDDC. The company has begun work on its own products to virtualize storage, for instance, with the beta introduction of the Virtual Storage Area Network, which allows an administrator create a virtual SAN out of server hard drives.

Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Joab on Twitter at @Joab_Jackson. Joab's e-mail address is Joab_Jackson@idg.com

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Amazon reportedly tested Wi-Fi network in new spectrum

Network World - A report that Amazon has tested a wireless network actually sheds new light on plans by satellite communications company Globalstar to extend the Wi-Fi spectrum.

The extension, if approved by the FCC, would create a new, uncluttered, high performance Wi-Fi channel in upper reaches of the 2.4-GHz band, a channel Globalstar apparently intends as the basis of a managed service with cellular-like quality and roaming.

Q&A:What the FCC's Wi-Fi expansion means for you

Amazon's wireless testing was revealed today in a Bloomberg news story, "Amazon Is Said to Have Tested a Wireless Network," by Olga Kharif and Danielle Kucera. The tests were run near Amazon's Lab126 research facilities in Cupertino, according to Bloomberg's sources. The lab designs Amazon's Kindle devices.

"The trial underlines how Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce company, is moving beyond being a Web destination and hardware maker and digging deeper into the underlying technology for how people connect to the Internet," according to the Bloomberg story. "That would let Amazon create a more comprehensive user experience, encompassing how consumers get online, what device they use to connect to the Web and what they do on the Internet."

But the tests suggest that Amazon doesn't intend or even want to be a traditional wireless network provider. Instead, the online retail giant seems to be exploring the potential of a branded, managed Wi-Fi service that mirrors the features of cellular service: seamless roaming, minimal interference, improved security, and consistent high performance.

The Bloomberg story notes that the test network used spectrum controlled by satellite communications company Globalstar, based in Milpitas, Calif. In November 2012, the company petitioned the FCC to allow it to use part of its satellite spectrum to offer terrestrial data services, an offering it dubbed Terrestrial Low Power Service.

TLPS adds a big chunk of new capacity: 22 MHz to the currently available 72 MHz of 2.4 GHz spectrum, according to Jarvinian Wireless Innovation Fund, a Cambridge, Mass., research and investment firm focused on spectrum issues. Jarvinian claims credit for the TLPS idea and the engineering work behind it, and has been working closely with Globalstar.TLPS would essentially add a fourth non-overlapping channel, dubbed Channel 14, to the upper reaches of the 2.4 GHz band used for unlicensed Wi-Fi transmissions. The channel actually would combine Globalstar's adjacent licensed spectrum with a small amount of unlicensed spectrum.

But because this fourth channel is actually licensed to Globalstar, the company plans to use it in something like a wholesale, managed wireless service that would offer greater range and performance than conventional public Wi-Fi hotspots, and be available to end users through carriers or through brands, such as Amazon, operating as virtual network operators.

Reprinted with permission from NetworkWorld.com. Story copyright 2012 Network World, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Zmodo 720P HD Wireless Network IP Camera (ZH-IXA15-WC)

Pros Easy QR code setup on smartphones. Excellent video quality. Inexpensive. Software supports multiple cameras.

Cons Clunky Windows desktop software required to record video. No MacOS support. No Web-based interface. No audio. No online "DVR" video storage. Bottom Line The Zmodo 720P HD Wi-Fi surveillance camera with night vision and motion detection has a great price, but that doesn't quite make up for what it lacks compared with the competition.

By Eric Griffith

Zmodo's 720P HD Wireless Network IP Camera (model ZH-IXA15-WC) is a decidedly mixed bag of a home surveillance camera. It sports great video—full 720p support at 1,280 by 720 pixels, which we haven't seen since the Dropcam HD) and fast setup on smartphones using QR codes (like the Compro Cloud Network Camera). But it is hampered by what it lacks: no support for Macs, mediocre Windows desktop software, no access to the camera via a Web site, no audio, and no online video storage like the majority of the competition. Still, you might overlook all of that considering the price: The Zmodo 720P HD now has an MSRP of only $79.99, making it the least expensive home video surveillance cam we've seen.

Design and Setup
The Zmodo 720P HD doesn't veer far from the typical home camera look: It's white and about the size of a bar of soap, measuring 4.0 by 2.6 by 1.3 (HWD). The metal stand adds to the height and depth, attaching to the back with ball into a socket and requiring use of a small Philips head screwdriver. I tested two of these cameras (more on that in a moment) and found the stand attachment worked great on one and terribly on the other; the latter camera would not stop drooping, no matter how much I tightened the screw.

The camera itself has a green LED in front to indicate that it's working, 10 infrared LEDs that come on in low light to provide night vision illumination, and a constantly flashing blue light, probably to indicate network activity, that's visible through the vent grids. The camera isn't in-the-dark stealthy, even if you cover the green LED.

You have three options for watching video on the Zmodo 720P HD: using the Zviewer Windows software, or either of the free Zsight mobile apps for Android or iOS. The mobile apps are a breeze to setup, because Zmodo puts a QR code on the back of the camera. Scan the code with Zsight and the camera's unique ID number is instantly registered to the app. Once the Ethernet-attached cam is visible on your Wi-Fi-connected phone, you can configure the camera's own Wi-Fi settings instantly, and then unplug it and go wireless (except for the always-necessary power, of course).

The Wi-Fi didn't work at all on the first camera I tested. Talking with Zmodo tech support finally led us all to the conclusion that it was defective and I returned the camera for a new one. The second unit worked right out of the box as advertised. It also came with a 16GB microSD card included, part of a current promotion—there's no guarantee you'll also get one. The card goes into a slot on the side that can accept up to a 64GB card.

Setup on the Windows side using Zviewer is more involved. You need to let the Zviewer search for the camera, and if it doesn't find it you have to manually type in the camera ID. The software is, frankly, about as unintuitive as it gets. Zmodo gets no points for catering to consumers with this interface. It may not hamper gearheads much, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone less than a networking expert. Zviewer can handle video feeds from up to nine Zmodo cameras at a time. 

Performance
There's no denying that the video feed from the Zmodo 720P HD camera, whether viewed on phone or PC, is pretty great. You can set the camera quality to 30 frames per second at 720P if you have the bandwidth. Naturally, when viewing remotely with a mobile phone, frame rate suffers but the picture is still pretty good.

The camera time stamp is displayed by default on the stream, but you can turn it off or add a name for the camera (which is handy if you have multiple Zmodo cams). The time-stamp out of the box was off by a full day and 10 minutes, but syncing it to my PC's clock corrected this.

The lack of audio means you probably won't be using Zmodo 720P HD as a baby monitor (Zmodo PR says a new version with audio is imminent). The night vision works as well as any, and maybe a little too well; the camera likes to default to using the infrared LEDs when it doesn't seem very dark in the room.

Capturing video or stills is another area where the Zmodo falls short. You can capture video locally to your Windows PC hard drive while running Zviewer. There's no online storage. You can supposedly capture video to the microSD card, but the only setting I could find was for stills, by clicking the camera icon on a video feed. The mobile Zsight apps cannot help you capture any images or video, period; they're just for viewing the live stream.

Video capture is best done by setting alerts using motion controls, which can be scheduled to activate at specific times. Again, Zviewer falls short here with a bad interface for setting the schedule—you have to single click in a grid on each quarter of an hour you'd want—and a worse interface for setting the motion detection areas, with even more single right-clicking. You can have alerts sent via email if you know all your SMTP settings; forget about notification via SMS text. None of the capture works without Zviewer running; the camera has no smarts of its own, so it's reliant on a Windows system on the network taking care of business.

Conclusion
The price on the Zmodo is fantastic, without any extras like a DVR service there are no hidden monthly fees, and the direct video streaming quality is great. But Zmodo is marketing the camera for consumers without giving the software the polish it needs. It's nowhere close to unseating our Editors' Choice, the Logitech Alert 750n, and can't hold a candle to other four-star wireless options like Dropcam HD or Y-Cam HomeMonitor. Both shine because of the extras they include. Consider Zmodo 720P HD only if you have the tech and networking expertise to overlook its shortcomings.

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