tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70799675850212972852024-03-18T20:32:17.993-07:00CyberthoughtsCloud Computing & Gen TechnologyC2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11559480752718190106noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-11802239307480150462020-01-31T16:57:00.002-08:002022-11-27T15:50:57.587-08:00Welcome to Cyberthoughts (cloudrant.com)Cyberthoughts, also known as <b>cloudrant.com</b>, is a techblog focused on “<u>Cloud Computing</u>”. <br />
<br />
*<b> <a href="http://cyberthought.com/">Cyberthought.com</a> </b>*<b> <a href="https://twitter.com/cclaborne">Twitter Feed</a></b><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
----- A b o u t C l o u d C o m p u t i n g <span style="font-size: xx-small;">by Christian Claborne </span>-------<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">* <a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2010/04/primer-on-cloud-computing.html">What is it?</a> * <a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2010/05/benefits-of-cloud-computing.html">Advantages</a> * <a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2010/06/challenges-risks-of-implementing-cloud.html">Risks & Challenges</a> <a rel="me" href="https://mastodon.hams.social/@N1CLC">* Mastodon</a></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<hr />
C2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11559480752718190106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-32602924074840002922018-12-02T01:00:00.000-08:002018-12-02T01:00:03.507-08:002018 AWS re:Invent Keynotes Review<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTDZ6_0S572fJXwy9wba13yH5n1ZH_zS6Dg8jyiux82e6IxZ72aSypGO3petHbwV9OEeE5PQVZ_KEwUL0yA5Jh9o_-7cl0W_RF9kV8tVPlTgA_Mz8LpjF1rLSTMBZBhF4Z8dQty0N3jHbZ/s1600/1_HIQ05fpnuyE9fK70p_IiJA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTDZ6_0S572fJXwy9wba13yH5n1ZH_zS6Dg8jyiux82e6IxZ72aSypGO3petHbwV9OEeE5PQVZ_KEwUL0yA5Jh9o_-7cl0W_RF9kV8tVPlTgA_Mz8LpjF1rLSTMBZBhF4Z8dQty0N3jHbZ/s200/1_HIQ05fpnuyE9fK70p_IiJA.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What follows are my thoughts and takeaways
from the AWS re:Invent conference keynote presentations by Andy Jassy and
Werner Volgels in November 2018. I attended the keynote sessions virtually and
took notes as usual. I've included a lot more detail about the keynote
presentations at the end. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thoughts, Observations and Takeaways</span><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Jassy is probably the best
pitchman in the industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right out the
gate he's on fleek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AWS is still the
gold standard on how to market the cloud (Google, take notes, your marketing
stinks!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">With the announcement of the<a href="https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/new-ec2-instances-a1-powered-by-arm-based-aws-graviton-processors/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/new-ec2-instances-a1-powered-by-arm-based-aws-graviton-processors/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Graviton</span></a>, an ARM based CPU processor for lower
cost compute, and<a href="https://aws.amazon.com/machine-learning/inferentia/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://aws.amazon.com/machine-learning/inferentia/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Inferentia</span></a>, the machine learning ASIC to boost
machine learning, AWS is becoming a hardware company, primarily aimed at making
AWS stronger, not providing hardware to customers (but there was some of that
too with AWS Outpost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paulo Santos has
his take on the CPU on<a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4225042-amazon-coms-graviton-cpu-new-war-lost-battle"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4225042-amazon-coms-graviton-cpu-new-war-lost-battle"><span style="color: #1155cc;">his blog</span></a>, seekingalpha.com.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I agree with Paul but for different reasons.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">I'm sure AWS crunched the numbers
on this but I think they would be better off focusing on purpose built chips
like the new<a href="https://aws.amazon.com/machine-learning/inferentia/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://aws.amazon.com/machine-learning/inferentia/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Inferentia</span></a> machine learning chip rather than
ARM chips.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Inferentia, they are
following Google's lead from over two years ago on the "tensor processing
unit".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Designing, chips is hugely
expensive and I would leave the R&D for general purpose CPUs to AMD, Intel,
or Qualcomm and let them battle it out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If they want the latest in low power, go to someone like Qualcomm who
knows how to do it best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would
focus the energy on differentiating capabilities and game changer opportunities
in ASICS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inferentia is just the start
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm looking forward to seeing what
else they do in this space (even if all this AI tech is a bit scary).<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh13lPPA7pC7VvGcOZV60P3HdWcgPRBNSImDfKIQmPn1ARgzlfaO1wQqxBO1ArL5fgxgCB2OXVDwPIteyQ7veij_uHiIskA8jRU6vzHcCaUS5ZB5M_qIVEtqvQEUa3DMkwHQjaV3K6dpLTg/s1600/aws-outpost-intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="611" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh13lPPA7pC7VvGcOZV60P3HdWcgPRBNSImDfKIQmPn1ARgzlfaO1wQqxBO1ArL5fgxgCB2OXVDwPIteyQ7veij_uHiIskA8jRU6vzHcCaUS5ZB5M_qIVEtqvQEUa3DMkwHQjaV3K6dpLTg/s200/aws-outpost-intro.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN">There is one other announcement in
the hardware space that has me a bit perplexed It's AWS Outposts, a way to
order hardware to be plugged in at your data center, fully managed by AWS and
supporting all the AWS APIs for provisioning or VMware cloud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This sounds similar to Microsoft's Azure
on-prem approach but probably without all of the licensing fees :).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will be interesting to see how much
interest this generates in AWS customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Speaking of machine learning,
something that is a perfect use case for the cloud, Amazon continues to deepen
their capability in this area by making machine learning easier with the
announcement of Amazon SageMaker Ground Truth which enables designers to build
accurate ML training data sets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">SageMaker is turning into a brand
of a constellation of services that make machine learning easier. (attribution
Bill Houle)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">The announcement of Amazon
Timestream, a time-series database, continues their push into custom database
tooling that is more purpose built.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their pitch is, why use a sledgehammer to pound in a finish nail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Use a purpose built tool that fits into a
constellation of services like Kinesis and other tools to get the job done and
scale like a boss, because our data is growing like crazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The amount of data that is being handled
today exceeds the capability of generalized RDBMS solutions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hence the need for things like no-sql
databases, eg. DynamoDB<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Every conference I've attended (in
person or virtual) they are always pitching ways to save you money, like<a href="https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes/?hp=r#Unknown_or_changing_access"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes/?hp=r#Unknown_or_changing_access"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering</span></a> at this edition.
In past conferences there were a host of announcements about reducing costs for
various services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only one I heard
this year was the reduction for long term storage called <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2018/11/s3-glacier-deep-archive/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">S3 Glacier deep Archive</span></a>, which will lower my
Glacier costs by almost 80%.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4E9BPV9U3jFU5QLetjxCbv3JyS-ezNqn7Pinh9IZ4xltzuoxMqSPaiPnlc5gSkWogX7GbSV4LYKhKLKlheZm1Ljtg_T1e3p7xuORgTmWOlCt5nd8SW7gYqATtFrviB__5TEW8NvKtIUpg/s1600/1_UZ6ZZVvFnHE8tVSB0cqkfg.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1050" height="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4E9BPV9U3jFU5QLetjxCbv3JyS-ezNqn7Pinh9IZ4xltzuoxMqSPaiPnlc5gSkWogX7GbSV4LYKhKLKlheZm1Ljtg_T1e3p7xuORgTmWOlCt5nd8SW7gYqATtFrviB__5TEW8NvKtIUpg/s200/1_UZ6ZZVvFnHE8tVSB0cqkfg.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Jassy also announced <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/qldb/?hp=r"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Amazon
Quantum Ledger Database</span></a> (AQLD) and <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/managed-blockchain/?hp=r"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Amazon
Managed Blockchain</span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you
think of the blockchain ledger as just a database that's what QLDB is, a
database that provides transparency, immutability, and cryptographically
verifiable transaction logging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
for companies that need the features that the blockchain data store provides
but without all of the other unneeded complexity of trust networks, replication
etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Audit logs and transaction logs are
a good use case for AQLD. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">The second offering, Amazon
Managed Blockchain, is more of a traditional blockchain solution built on
either Hyperledger Fabric or Ethereum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I'm familiar with Ethereum which I think is one of the leading
candidates for use by business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Serverless services continues to
grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It means that you can provision
code and only be charged when it runs, true pay for use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even better, you can control the knobs of
bandwidth, scaling up without complex provisioning rules for a farm of
servers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the advantages of AWS
over on-prem is the ability to easily scale up and down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ROI is that you only need to provision
what you need at the time vs. buying compute for peak capacity on-prem (blowing
$$$ when it's not in use).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Auto-provisioning compute allows designers to automatically provision
more compute in whatever sized compute chunks they felt appropriate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is complex and based on a lot of
guessing and good algorithms that need to be built by the developer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Auto-demand provisioning basically gives you
more, in smaller chunks just when you need it and scales back. This means the
potential to be over provisioned is almost eliminated.<br />
<br />
Serverless started with Lambda and then moved onto Aurora and other services
after they were released.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today they
released DynamoDB Read/Write Capacity On Demand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It looks like the on-demand model is being
made part of all the new offerings, like their new Timestream database.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Amazon’s billing systems must require an
whole separate AWS building just to crunch the numbers for billing customers!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Some products focus on making AWS
easier to use and or scale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Making
things easier must resonate with their customers and it obviously helps attract
more customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of this is great
because as AWS grows (I'll say it again, 46% growth YOY).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They have a history of releasing
features that will cannibalize revenue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It seems to be working for them though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJOkGLfwVb70BA6x47JuikkBdIL-Tb7GLNVakC4v9DiymtFAbKB16Zd4LRHi5huSFFvGK5Hn9PW3TB0uHcpvGlGBQ5uO2r_mTnXYcqh46KpTo1y94l6wh5Zt0Sm4QObjGy9doo2sNEaRo/s1600/sageMaker.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="926" height="78" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJOkGLfwVb70BA6x47JuikkBdIL-Tb7GLNVakC4v9DiymtFAbKB16Zd4LRHi5huSFFvGK5Hn9PW3TB0uHcpvGlGBQ5uO2r_mTnXYcqh46KpTo1y94l6wh5Zt0Sm4QObjGy9doo2sNEaRo/s200/sageMaker.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">AWS is good at marketing AND
coming up with ways to drive more business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Examples are things like SageMaker, which will drive more use of
ML.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amazon Personalize and Amazon
Forecast<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are a good examples of AWS
leveraging the value that comes from the use of their systems and generate more
business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Making ML and AI easier to use
and driving more business is big business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It will drive storage revenue (their bread and butter), compute and
other services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, the must know that
the more data that a company puts in AWS, the bigger the "data
gravity" becomes, pulling in more uses of AWS services on that data or
additional services like reporting.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">VMware was featured as a big
partner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My sense is that this helps
them move more workloads from hesitant customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my opinion, customers have to break the
habit, and expense, of VMware and move to AWS control plane and infra as
code.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the ROI advantages are
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, in the end, AWS may not
care, as long as they get your workload.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They partnered with Dell it looks like for their AWS on-prem hardware
announcement of AWS Outposts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Dr. Werner Vogels, a bigtime
technologist and architect keynote was dedicated to lifting the covers on some
of the key technologies to gain more condense from customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also showed their drive toward efficiency
and better hardware utilization (lowering cost for AWS and allowing more
scale).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">As I listen to the keynote, and
look at all of the "#ANNOUNCE" tags in my notes below, it seems like
it will be a LOT harder for competitors to keep up, and even harder to catch
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, some of these are more
automation script platforms that help drive toward a common known design
pattern wrapped in a GUI than actual products.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Products Amazon's new graph database and Aurora are born in the cloud
and the cloud is all about scale in size, speed and reliability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the barrier to entry is more than cool
scalable products, it’s pure experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>AWS was in launched in 2002 and since then the company has been learning
how to scale, listening to customers, and once at scale, they’ve instrumented
their infrastructure so that they can learn how to optimize it and make it better.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Finally, it's really hard to walk
away from these two keynote presentations without thinking that AWS is the
cloud provider of choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Below
are my notes from the two keynotes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Andy
Jassy Keynote, 11/28/2018.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">You can find a replay<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOIkOnW640A"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOIkOnW640A"><span style="color: #1155cc;">HERE</span></a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYvZ0V-8G8WF_RJXMSO4muABgrhZuDkKM5KXHSRrHvUShm4o7SldCUgUdBZGL7SfFbJa5SzWW_Ud-JbwHb0y_tyMjDvtLbWALhMAbma4ZXDUnmeSvy8VXrA5VT_IBdUaTp-JAVYVA7hVfX/s1600/state+of+the+cloud.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="761" height="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYvZ0V-8G8WF_RJXMSO4muABgrhZuDkKM5KXHSRrHvUShm4o7SldCUgUdBZGL7SfFbJa5SzWW_Ud-JbwHb0y_tyMjDvtLbWALhMAbma4ZXDUnmeSvy8VXrA5VT_IBdUaTp-JAVYVA7hVfX/s200/state+of+the+cloud.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">46% growth on $27bln in Revenue<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">In Gartner's magic quadrant for
IaaS, AWS is #1, 4 times the size of the next 4 competitors <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>combined.</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">140 services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Windows business growing, AWS has
57% of workloads, Azure 30.9.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Competitor strategy is to show
products that are similar to AWS to "check it off".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But competitors lack the depth, a lot!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Andy touted encryption and KMS
(key management service).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They have 11 relational or
non-relational databases, and a database migration services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Multiple container services<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Lambda, their serverless compute
offering, is now integrated with 47 other services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Storage options and data transfer
options and ability to change the size without a infra rebuild.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">#Announced, new transfer services
- AWS data sync (faster than rsync), SFTP <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">S3 has 10,000 data lakes which has
the ability to be audited, applied encryption, and look for unusual access
patterns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Users can replica across multiple
availability zone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>S3 also supports
cross region data replication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Multiple storage options.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They’ve recently #announced
intelligent tiering on S3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
machine driven learning that will migrate data to a colder tier when not being
accessed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Data will be migrated back
when needed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJT7SVIyxvdC5ne0QTaS9SmQuMWDkChq4HugQVABx3dQY4EmNJRm-yCxYdeyKP4G4LXXm80_pZitB6nxwwM6ElOpi8dsOwNTh8pW4pe1NsYen9KMpxEA_8CP-Y4HiUu3qKiqKPX5jCiLr7/s1600/glacier-deep.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="1600" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJT7SVIyxvdC5ne0QTaS9SmQuMWDkChq4HugQVABx3dQY4EmNJRm-yCxYdeyKP4G4LXXm80_pZitB6nxwwM6ElOpi8dsOwNTh8pW4pe1NsYen9KMpxEA_8CP-Y4HiUu3qKiqKPX5jCiLr7/s200/glacier-deep.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo20; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, Glacier deep archive, lower cost
glacier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level2 lfo20; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">11 9s durability<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level2 lfo20; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Recovery sounds like current
Glacier storage, hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The target is
anyone storing data on tape.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level2 lfo20; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">$.00099/gig ($1 / terabyte / month).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>UNREAL!</span></b><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l15 level1 lfo16; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN"> - AWS Elastic File System (EFS),
just announced a lower cost version<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l15 level1 lfo16; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">AWS has 57.7% of cloud Windows workloads compared to Microsoft Azure
30.9% according to Gartner</span></b><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l15 level1 lfo16; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN"> Amazon FSx for Windows File
Server.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fully native, managed file
service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ready to go with PCI, HIPAA
compliance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l15 level1 lfo16; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Amazon FSx for Lustre for HPC
workloads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>High throughput, low latency,
millions of IOPS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>HIPAA and PCI
ready.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His pitch positioned it as a way
to support massive storage workloads and then move data to S3 and shutdown.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">CIO
Dean Del Vecchio of Guardian insurance takes the stage<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">He took over with a lot of tech
debt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Interesting that he mentions the
move to implement an innovation environment in the workplace with work-spaces,
etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">His company took a
"Production First" approach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They migrated 200 apps in 12
months and shutdown their owned data centers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Reduced data center by 80%.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They no longer focused on managing
data centers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They use a lot of SaaS, sole
source to AWS for PaaS, IaaS.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">All acquisitions are migrated to
AWS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They are still migrating apps to
AWS. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">AWS is also supporting their digital
transformation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Back
with Andy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN"> AWS Control Tower for setting up and
configuring multi-account environments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These are implementation patterns with best practices and
"Guardrails" that make it easy to setup various access and control schemes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dashboard shows all accounts, guardrails
applied, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because AWS implements
infrastructure as code, it's probably easy for them to implement this design
pattern framework.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Great for companies
that are just starting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l16 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN"> AWS Security Hub, ASH, one place to
go to get a summary of centrally managed security and compliance across an AWS
environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Initially it looks like
this may put a few security vendors out of business if they make it easy but
wait... there's more, they have multiple partners that are integrating their
services with ASH.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This should make for
an interesting 3rd party security product offering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l18 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN"> Lake Formation making it easier to
setup data lakes and solves the problems of creating a lake with metadata tags,
security (pre-built policies), encryption, access control policies, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Old guard database vendors (he's
talking about Oracle)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are constantly
auditing you and fining you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He's taking
shots at Microsoft and Oracle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Especially Oracle who charge customers double to run in AWS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amazon Aurora is Amazon's answer to
commercial DB with as good or better performance and better durability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There has been a massive adoption of
Aurora.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">There have been 35 new features on
Aurora.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Aurora serverless, Aurora
global database which is multi-region with sub-second sync.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">RDBMS was fine for gig or terabyte
sizes but users have much more data and demand better performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(He's building a story for non RDBMS.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Andy used examples like Lyft with millions of
GPS points stored, or gamer data in online games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their key-value DB is Dynamodb which has been
out for years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">AirBnB wants an in-memory DB, like
Memcached.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nike has athlete, followers,
customers, and the connections between using a graph DB like Amazon
Neptune.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN"> read/write capacity on demand so
that you no longer need to guess what the capacity you need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Demand will auto-scale and de-scale.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKwxtmKcBbPWB0W3VrEdy0mZASUO343iULddxm0pHevf-JI1lyXfiddqk8hzLdLXWBowZgxUbzr8eLMNTK9YpByK8rIZsa_VKcOrSUeADXDRAjqo41nNMVO6Z90QptsppRab53PRhl3hx/s1600/timestream.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="825" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKwxtmKcBbPWB0W3VrEdy0mZASUO343iULddxm0pHevf-JI1lyXfiddqk8hzLdLXWBowZgxUbzr8eLMNTK9YpByK8rIZsa_VKcOrSUeADXDRAjqo41nNMVO6Z90QptsppRab53PRhl3hx/s200/timestream.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN"> A new database, Amazon Timestream,
fast scalable managed time-series database.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Built from the ground up to serve this specific purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trillions of daily events, auto-scaling,
fully managed, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Blockchain<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Andy then delved into what AWS
thinks about "Blockchain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had
customers running on AWS for a while now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They didn't understand what customers needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Talked to 100s of customers and found there
are two jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some want a centralized
ledger that was immutable and cryptographically secure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DMV, manufactures, healthcare, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of this easy to do with RDBMS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consensus ledgers are not performant and
difficult to setup for this use case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Other customers have peers that want to work together but have
decentralized trust and approve the transaction via consensus (the more classic
blockchain we see today).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKanCsG-qMhQMPBVKxieOJ7BCayriuQo18Bp7NuD46rmTx6KdeW0K7yiUw7-nrnV208r2JlBYsg8dfMtpZl9hZHKcz1pHpbv2Y5r0etIKueoYoUqUPVtdxMIgF0Fb7jaQeez9rsqTZr0yE/s1600/qldb.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="781" height="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKanCsG-qMhQMPBVKxieOJ7BCayriuQo18Bp7NuD46rmTx6KdeW0K7yiUw7-nrnV208r2JlBYsg8dfMtpZl9hZHKcz1pHpbv2Y5r0etIKueoYoUqUPVtdxMIgF0Fb7jaQeez9rsqTZr0yE/s200/qldb.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN"> Amazon Quantum Ledger Database
(QLDB).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Supports first use case with
APIs and high performance with SQL like abilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN"> Amazon managed Blockchain fabric for
Etherium<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(good move) for the second use
case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I've written about Etherium
before and I think it still stands as the best platforms for business
blockchains.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieRQd6YMp-x4GgPUANfa_PF1zXEOsjPIVUoicDtdYB8Skc49huc6Ju6gDLi4ETNfLw3wnFPRpITBg_VRG-ZUYHpS8Xqz-lvyuA2Hfy3NJUW51rjH6ZNkQwENy-mBJSGJ1CLVU7gCT76M5j/s1600/sagemaker2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="799" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieRQd6YMp-x4GgPUANfa_PF1zXEOsjPIVUoicDtdYB8Skc49huc6Ju6gDLi4ETNfLw3wnFPRpITBg_VRG-ZUYHpS8Xqz-lvyuA2Hfy3NJUW51rjH6ZNkQwENy-mBJSGJ1CLVU7gCT76M5j/s320/sagemaker2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Moving
into Machine Learning<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">Machine learning is still hard, not only the
theory but also the laborious job of getting the data loaded in, preparing the
data etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So they have the following as
part of SageMaker, with the goal of making it easier. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Pre-built notebooks for common
problems for collect, prepare, and training<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Built-in, high performance
algorithms<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Auto-scale for training as well as
using AI to help you tune your training models.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Using AI to do AI, gotta love it)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">One click deployment to
multi-availability zones with auto-scaling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They claim that 85% of TensorFlow
workloads are running on AWS (probably a shot at Google, which is sad because
it was the Google Brain team that developed it).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvdaqB7TM7pMU08u3W0HhrSj-KB7ijsolojagf6-4fF6cHibwVj2K6D92L6Ja2nxwXD3jOiaX7xPkqCQ91TQzD6njie0edwRMvZo-T8zGrCMBPO_3Qicz7lmPmAOCWjDxrCP4o1ofAPSYP/s1600/machine-learning.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="1087" height="89" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvdaqB7TM7pMU08u3W0HhrSj-KB7ijsolojagf6-4fF6cHibwVj2K6D92L6Ja2nxwXD3jOiaX7xPkqCQ91TQzD6njie0edwRMvZo-T8zGrCMBPO_3Qicz7lmPmAOCWjDxrCP4o1ofAPSYP/s200/machine-learning.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">10,000+ customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>GE is all in, Intuit, etc...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They've worked to improve the
TensorFlow framework to improve scaling, moving from a 65% utilization to 90%
utilization on GPUs on the neural network.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is really good for customers who don't want to pay for one more
minute of training than absolutely needed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Showed a company that used a
proprietary tool to do training that took 30 minutes to complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On AWS neural nets with the latest
deployments, it completes in 14 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The message or pitch was that AWS makes this available to any customer,
not just the guys with cool on-prem secret toys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Pitched the fact that they support
all ML frameworks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, Amazon Elastic Inference, allowing
you to add GPU acceleration to any EC2 instance for faster inference at much
lower cost (up to 75% savings).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will
go from 1TFLOP to 32 TFLOPS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
supercomputing power for the masses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, Inferentia, a custom processing
unit to scale inference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is clearly
answering Googles advantage who using the "Tensor Processing Unit" on
their compute. <br />
(I need to look into this more to understand where the advantage is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly writing code to get better utilization
across the training neural net may ease some of the Google TPU advantage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We'll see.) Andy claim that Inferentia offers
another 10x savings in cost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's due
out next year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, AWS SageMaker Ground Truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Helps reduce the cost to build highly
accurate training databases and labeling that data by up to 70%.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, AWS Marketplace for machine
learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than 150 algorithms and
models that can be deployed directly to Amazon Sagemaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is making it much easier for anyone to
be a ML expert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, Amazon SageMaker RL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Capabilities in SageMaker to build, train,
and deploy with reinforcement learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fully managed, example notebooks and tutorials, 2D and 3D simulation
environments and simulate environments with Amazon Sumerian and AWS RoboMakek,
a robotics service. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, AWS DeepRacer, a 1/18th scale race
car with a host of sensors to experiment with reinforcement learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allows users to build a learning algorithm,
use a simulator in the cloud, use SageMaker to execute the training and then
download it to the car and race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Order
yours today!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, AWS DeepRacer league.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This came out of the fact that AWS employees
got so competitive in building reinforcement learning on their cars they
decided to deploy a racing league open to anyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pretty funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They will host races at AWS summits and have a championship cup in Vegas
next year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If nothing else, this will
drive new developers to use and learn about machine learning and the AWS
ecosystem. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">The announcements about DeepRacer
were followed by a presentation by Dr. Matt Wood, the GM of Deep Learning and
AI at AWS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He showed how you load your
car into a 3D model track simulating all of the sensors and then use
reinforcement learning against your algorithms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was worth watching.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, Amazon Textract.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OCR++ service to easily extract text and data
from any document.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No ML experience
required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather than getting a bag of
words out of an OCR, it identifies columns, tables, forms, and recognize what
certain chunks of data is (like SSN, name, date).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, Amazon Personalize.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Real-time personalization and recommendation
service based on same technology used at Amazon.com.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No ML experience required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a good example of AWS leveraging the
value that comes from the use of their systems on Amazon.com and generate more
business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, Amazon Forecast, time-series
forecasting service based on the same technology used at Amazon.com.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Uses machine learning models and algorithms
etc to generate time series forecasts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Benchmark shows 50% better forecasts at one tenth the cost of supply
chain software.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This also came from the
Amazon.com business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjqBbp3I98u4THTkqK73VqAjyQHUnVfp-4uf4WXWP6gcAGFnDVCwXlyE2uTqQedwIzHGsQF8cLdcxzfl4shs3Hn1Rxgf2RNy2fQPMw3cqWBOjL_d7GlcVuEPEDEKhEpGe86JqYIleSONe9/s1600/F1-racing-data.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="1010" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjqBbp3I98u4THTkqK73VqAjyQHUnVfp-4uf4WXWP6gcAGFnDVCwXlyE2uTqQedwIzHGsQF8cLdcxzfl4shs3Hn1Rxgf2RNy2fQPMw3cqWBOjL_d7GlcVuEPEDEKhEpGe86JqYIleSONe9/s320/F1-racing-data.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Presentation
from Ross Brawn Obe, Managing Director, Morot Sports, Formula 1<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Primarily discussed how they are
using the AWS machine learning platform to add additional content to telecasts
and display predictions based on track, driver, and telematics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remarkable presentation on how AI is being
used for sports in a way we wouldn't expect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>MLB presented last year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They also used AWS massive compute
to do aerodynamic analysis of their race cars to improve wheel-to-wheel racing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJL-WMcqXLpMuTOnXamMCCmFHiCOpc1e3Li_gn_qyuBSvOnglQS93j-cAtLeViBDPRKqDyB_dWujgQteg0tD-KK93nGQuZATxEtFrHwCLr3opViWqP8lUoQAA69GXS8uvD-ZLQDTltCa9P/s1600/f1-machine-learning.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="1048" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJL-WMcqXLpMuTOnXamMCCmFHiCOpc1e3Li_gn_qyuBSvOnglQS93j-cAtLeViBDPRKqDyB_dWujgQteg0tD-KK93nGQuZATxEtFrHwCLr3opViWqP8lUoQAA69GXS8uvD-ZLQDTltCa9P/s200/f1-machine-learning.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">The cars have (or will have, it
wasn't clear) 120 sensors and generate 1.1 million<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>telemetry data points per second.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Using machine learning to
understand if a tire overheating is a problem or not by integrating history
data from the car at that point in the race, tire type, track, track
conditions, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Crazy cool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Future uses of ML will influence
race formats, track design, addition of sprint races, and change of grid
formations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Moving
on to migrating to the cloud from your on-prem data center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l19 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">The pitch, the longer you wait,
the more opportunity loss and the overall cost of going to cloud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the world is virtualized using
VMware.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l19 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They have VMware Cloud on AWS and
VMware has a partnership with AWS.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l19 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMware
states that everywhere Amazon is, a VMware cloud instance will be there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l19 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, AWS Outposts, the ability to order
physical infrastructure, delivered to your on-premise datacenter for a
consistent hybrid experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allows
customer to order an AWS rack with compute and storage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You order with VMware cloud or as an AWS
Native" Outpost option that allows customers that are use to the AWS
control-plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AWS designed <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l19 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, VMware is announcing more services
to better integrate with the VMware cloud in AWS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will build on vmotion to make it easier to
migrate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>NSX (virtual networking) should
also wrap around all of this for customers that are experienced with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l19 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Discussed all of the other
solutions that support hybrid for customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l19 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, (a few days ago), Snowball Edge,
which a compute optimized storage option where you don't have network
connectivity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a 100TB data
transfer device with on-board storage and compute capabilities that can act as
a temporary storage tier for large local datasets or support local workloads in
remote or offline locations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Better
description and<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxSD1Nha2k8"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxSD1Nha2k8"><span style="color: #1155cc;">use
cases here</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Final
Pitch "It's for the builders"<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo19; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">AWS removes the barriers to
discovery and experimentation because builders don't have to compete for
on-prem resources.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo19; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Mentioned that this changes the
culture at companies when it comes to trying things out to get to an end
solution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This resonates with what I've
heard from other CIOs at cloud first companies that I spoke to last year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo19; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Talked about the services that
support builders<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlcZYDpNYJXej_tTwFiGNM6x5k9CwSu_e0dLf_XdHmITdKIaVz8jIdOQQ94X48k59ikQPgoEBee7cS6Pn7MEtg6eyOdQ3YLf_0CoxCe2FLaUxvICBBBGpNn4tpF-O1j3L21ravPhrS9oAh/s1600/werner-vogles.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="645" height="94" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlcZYDpNYJXej_tTwFiGNM6x5k9CwSu_e0dLf_XdHmITdKIaVz8jIdOQQ94X48k59ikQPgoEBee7cS6Pn7MEtg6eyOdQ3YLf_0CoxCe2FLaUxvICBBBGpNn4tpF-O1j3L21ravPhrS9oAh/s200/werner-vogles.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dr. Werner Vogels on Thursday,
11/29/2018<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">(Replay found<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=femopq3JWJg"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=femopq3JWJg"><span style="color: #1155cc;">HERE</span></a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">Starting last year, they changed the format a
little and had Andy do all of the product announcements and Werner focusing on
a architecture and technology presentation, something that I think Werner
enjoys a lot more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year he did that
but was also responsible for announcing products as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He's a deep technical thinker and with his
experience in distributed reliable systems was most likely a key influence or
designer for Dynamodb and S3, two of the first solutions developed to support
Amazon.com.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He really speaks well to the
engineers and developers in the crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTziYBd1dmtQ2Df7c_6BWgDubEKfAl3OEA6dXJc41e-02av69JXrDJHdXxZ3l8lfRUg1IcgzYxVl65jcvWunOAAsGbHE_s8gFydDcFq_g_qMSWy-oiapcK2tWv_bmwjgG5BCC1AVXrNKOP/s1600/focus.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="691" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTziYBd1dmtQ2Df7c_6BWgDubEKfAl3OEA6dXJc41e-02av69JXrDJHdXxZ3l8lfRUg1IcgzYxVl65jcvWunOAAsGbHE_s8gFydDcFq_g_qMSWy-oiapcK2tWv_bmwjgG5BCC1AVXrNKOP/s320/focus.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Discussed
the architecture in Aurora, the AWS built database introduced a few years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo17; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Discussed scaling databases in the
old days, blast radius containment, cell based architectures, availability
zones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo17; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Aurora is born in the cloud and
discussed the high availability and performance designs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo17; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Discussed the quorum based scale
out for Aurora and the 6 replicas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Aurora uses 10 gig block to improve recovery time (replicate to new node
on full failure).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo17; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">In aurora they only move the log
over to a write queue that allows other nodes to ingest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The log is the database since the destination
is database aware.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo17; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">His pitch ... "Aurora is a
Cloud native database as a foundation for innovation. "<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo17; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Schema changes in Aurora are done
over time rather than a very large copy and build making it a lot faster to
change the schema.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Now
moving on to other topics.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBj4kYrEI8Y9A4PrX3FZ89RiXNYIO_jC_HyRSfThjwcoVel46i1YjqVqlXAymFZwlumfF6VvPWQly25tVoZPFiggX7L28wAmZ3JAxhb5x6ovG1Yxiq5Ueg2bilKp9VLwjLUyYluunKyJoc/s1600/database-freedom.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="736" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBj4kYrEI8Y9A4PrX3FZ89RiXNYIO_jC_HyRSfThjwcoVel46i1YjqVqlXAymFZwlumfF6VvPWQly25tVoZPFiggX7L28wAmZ3JAxhb5x6ovG1Yxiq5Ueg2bilKp9VLwjLUyYluunKyJoc/s200/database-freedom.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Customers started moving into
purpose based databases rather than a RDBMS for everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Key value pair... DynamoDB, starting in
2006.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Discussed performance at scale
which they have touted some huge numbers for users.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I've seen other presentations on DynamoDB
before and the performance is staggering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">There is a cell based architecture
applied to DynamoDB. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">A lot of companies used MySQL and
he discussed sharding, shards getting hot so they solvined with automatic
resharding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivTOLt7mF38q8Tj5WwxXH_SydMbyWC-45ekDj9ZxPsgL4GNzLFthCyGWWDZYXdAGWsaJ6UB3vtudXMBv15XIxJbXC91kPYB2KE43HtyOWW4rf5OeKb3_nVLS1jSPBkNm1vWob_45Zqybzk/s1600/DynamoDB+capacity+on+demand.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="993" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivTOLt7mF38q8Tj5WwxXH_SydMbyWC-45ekDj9ZxPsgL4GNzLFthCyGWWDZYXdAGWsaJ6UB3vtudXMBv15XIxJbXC91kPYB2KE43HtyOWW4rf5OeKb3_nVLS1jSPBkNm1vWob_45Zqybzk/s200/DynamoDB+capacity+on+demand.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">The pitch, you can move a RDBMS
style architecture to DynamoDB - Amazon did this for the five billion updates
for storefront with 30% + growth for items, offers, and variation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They moved the 600 billion records to
Dynamodb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They did it in near real
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moved over the item and offer
service to DynamoDB with no loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now
they have something that will scale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Amazon has been trying for years to get off of Oracle for the commercial
side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They must be very close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Discussed S3 storage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">They manage exabytes of
storage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a single region they will
managed 60TB of growth to S3 and Glacier per day (I think) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">There is incredible focus on data
durability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>235 distributed
microservices run S3 and Glacier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of
these does nothing but prepare and bring on-line new services<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">AWS has a culture of
durability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- Includes durability
reviews for any new feature like you would for a security review.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They do static analysis, checksums (looking
for uncommanded bit flips), proofs, durability checks, operational safeguards,
etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">S3 and Glacier built on fault
tolerance of hardware storage but the design accounts for a full loss of a
AZ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">The math that characterizes risk
of failure and loss of data comes out to 11 9s of durability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The calculation includes time to fail of
hosts and disk, and time to repair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
don't use mean time to failure but actual time to repair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They look at the worst case, not the mean or
best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They do check-summing of at rest
data and monitoring of data in flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">S3 durability resilient to a loss
of a datacenter / zone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">○<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">With millions of customers they
can observe and improve... (sub-pitch, because they are so big, they can learn
to improved faster than competitors and certainly on-prem implementations).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Werner's happiest day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Nov 01, 2018, they turned off their Oracle
data warehouse and changed over to Redshift.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(See my notes on the performance of Redshift given by Zenga).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">By looking at fleet telemetry of
others using Redshift, they have been able to improve performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have improved Redshift 17x for
repetitive queries, 10x for bulk-deletes, 3x for single-row inserts, 2x for
commits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">87% of AWS redshift databases
don't have sig wait times. (I don't know what the hell that means).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, Redshift concurrency scaling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they see performance dip, they scale it
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First hour is free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most customers never see a cost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Serverless
& Lambda<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo10; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Fender CEO gave a presentation on
how they use AWS at Fender to deliver and archive video, as well as their
subscription based services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He talked
about how they reduced their bill by 15% and delivering 21X the requests using
serverless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Using machine learning for
instruction improvement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo10; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">(one of my thoughts here is that
once your data is in the cloud, adding machine learning and AI is much easier).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Werner moves
onto serverless<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Advantages, no infra to deploy,
lower cost because it's truly pay for use, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Lambda processes trillians of
requests per month, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Discussed firecracker speed,
performance and security via isolation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Firecracker microVM allows them to
run more instances within EC2 for isolation for their serverless computing
infrastructure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">95% of AWS features and services
are built on based on direct customer feedback<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Werner moves into "Systems of
Systems" discussing how they stitch their services together along with
their partner offerings.... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">He moved onto agnostic approach to
development<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, AWS Toolkits for all the popular
IDE's.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you don't want to use Cloud9,
you can use just about anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
allows all the popular IDEs to do serverless development, in addition to AWS's
IDE, Cloud9.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Agnostic on Languages<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, adding Ruby support on Lambda<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE,</span></b><span lang="EN"> Custom Runtimes allowing you to
bring any Linux compatible language to Lambda.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE,</span></b><span lang="EN"> Lambda Layers extend the lambda
execution environment with any binaries dependencies, or run-times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Providing "partner layers"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE,</span></b><span lang="EN"> Nested applications using
serverless Application Repository allowing you to stitch apps together <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE,</span></b><span lang="EN"> Step Functions service integration
to support better orchestration via step functions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Connect and coordinate AWS services together
without writing code.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Manage APIs with API gateway. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE,</span></b><span lang="EN"> WebSocket support for API Gateway
allowing you to build stateful applications.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE,</span></b><span lang="EN"> ALB support for Lambda to integrate
Lambda functions into existing web architectures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Discussed how Fender does better
quality control using vision and machine learning<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Talking about streams
processing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>95% of auto problems can be solved
by placing a small mic in the engine compartment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Now that is a stream to be
analyzed".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also discussed how
Kinesis is being used to analyze video etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">"Video and audio are becoming
data streams to be analyzed".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Kafka
issues... most likely another blast of announcements<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo18; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, managed streaming for kafka.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fully managed and highly-available Apache
Kafka service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo18; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Well architected are a set of
principles that are used upfront, not after<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo18; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Queue Yuri Misnik GM of national
Australia bank spoke<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz3shf0ArKn7EIk1xZMMhfIghebjcL6pVh5qPFy7SZOdj9h3IPkTgSGpk8grkMrNk4u1b3Uz3shbVeWM7HL5QyeDI6n3JqURXkvA9tcDzr84INrdAPTra7-6js4eW-XYJ0K-_GNCsLsfy7/s1600/AWS-Well-Architected_featured.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="988" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz3shf0ArKn7EIk1xZMMhfIghebjcL6pVh5qPFy7SZOdj9h3IPkTgSGpk8grkMrNk4u1b3Uz3shbVeWM7HL5QyeDI6n3JqURXkvA9tcDzr84INrdAPTra7-6js4eW-XYJ0K-_GNCsLsfy7/s200/AWS-Well-Architected_featured.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Well
Architected Framework<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo15; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Talking about the<a href="https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/well-architected/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/well-architected/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">AWS well architected framework</span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have formed a set of partners to help do
the reviews.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo15; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">#ANNOUNCE</span></b><span lang="EN">, AWS Well-architected tool to find
best practices, so that reviews are self-service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Get deep insights into all workloads, for
example, finding issues with key rotation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo15; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">"Now Go Build" are a set
of videos that follow Werner around on speaking tours on architect in the
cloud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See YouTube.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo15; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">Werner loves music and always
announces the band that will play at tonight's party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Werner likes Skrillex... so they're back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
-- Christian Claborne, chrisChris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-54824483107570664872017-07-21T14:01:00.001-07:002017-07-24T20:06:25.769-07:00Using Blockchain to Vote On Blockchain Governance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40OnZdzHtrZeUdFEKdLmJRQBb4Gy3pCMwJRpBUZVI8pJgwGVyhMb46I7VvNbJswFu5ceqk9tB2fvXUvSgP1tFYsFYmNCFWR_6y2fptIPCMZMLGSX3a_Xb0daMzfdSKN_UXG2K-IbYXBOc/s1600/BIP91-voting.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="973" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40OnZdzHtrZeUdFEKdLmJRQBb4Gy3pCMwJRpBUZVI8pJgwGVyhMb46I7VvNbJswFu5ceqk9tB2fvXUvSgP1tFYsFYmNCFWR_6y2fptIPCMZMLGSX3a_Xb0daMzfdSKN_UXG2K-IbYXBOc/s200/BIP91-voting.png" width="200" /></a></div>
(<b>Updated </b>7/24) <a href="http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-scaling-watch-news-guides-navigate-coming-clash-code/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The recent SegWit2x drama in Bitcoin world has been an interesting study</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><a href="https://www.xbt.eu/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In addition, the voting has also been interesting to watch</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Currently at vote are two technical improvement to the bitcoin Blockchain. This decision needs to be agreed upon by more than 50% of the Blockchain miners but really you want 80%+ to agree to reduce the chance of a “hard fork” or split. This entire saga is a demonstration of how to galvanized a global group of governors to make a decision and how to use the blockchain to conduct voting in a trusted way that guarantees immutability and transparency. Any blockchain can be used but in this case, we are referring to the one used by bitcoin (and therefore, <a href="https://blog.blockchain.com/2014/12/29/drawing-the-distinction-between-the-uppercase-b-and-lowercase-b-in-bitcoin/">why it’s capitalized</a>).</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Miners (the governors) were facing two options. By choosing BIP91 (BIP = Bitcoin Improvement Protocol) miners avoid threat of BIP148 by default (increase the block size), which could have been very bad because it didn’t require full buy-in, and thus, could possibly cause a “fork” (two warring ledgers). </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-58cb7230-7792-9ccc-68aa-95196e745c12" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One way to think of a “hard fork” or split of a blockchain, is where you start with a single distributed ledger, where everyone plays nice. If a decision is made that not all of the operators agree with they may decide to break into two or more groups and run separate blockchains or ledgers. Because there is no central governance, no one is forced into one decision or the other and it can become confusing which one is the official ledger of record. In the Bitcoin world, the rules are that one with the longest chain and the most hashing power (kind of like computing power) is the official system of record. If you want to be part of the project and profit from it, this very basic rule is what keeps chaos at bay and people working together to solve problems. Bitcoin valuation is extremely high and if you can’t figure out how to play nice together, everyone loses. After a “hard fork” or split, if it’s peaceful, which chain will carry on to the official chain is clear. If the split is not peaceful, it will initially unclear who the winner, and go-forward change is but it will eventually sort itself out per the rules set forth above. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A split into two ledgers can create chaos if the decision isn’t close to unanimous. Confusion about which chain of transactions is the real chain and where your transactions will live causes uncertainty and uncertainty, as we all know, generally drives value down. A contentious split can cause the price of Bitcoin revenue and holdings to become worthless and the future success in question.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are two main groups affected by this decision, Bitcoin miners that run the network (and are they only ones that get to vote), and users of the bitcoin Blockchain that drive the price of bitcoin via standard economic forces. Both parties are global / multinational and therefore bring many points of view to the table. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My theory is that during the week of 7/10, threat of chaos due to a hard-fork on August 1</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 6.6pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">st</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> started rising, introducing a lot of uncertainty and valid fear of devaluation or worse. The value of bitcoin obviously affects anyone holding bitcoin, both parties, but lower prices also cause miners to lose out on possibly $28,000 every time they mine a bitcoin (at current prices). The price of bitcoin is one of the key drivers for miners since they have a heavy capital and OpX investment. If the price gets too low, it doesn’t make financial sense to run machinery that operates and protects the blockchain. Given the financial forces, miners are going to make decisions that drive positive value for themselves. I also posit that when miners realized the market (users of bitcoin) reacted positively to the news that there was early signaling, by bidding up BTC, they followed the money and essentially listened to users, which probably influenced the undecided miners. The price of bitcoin is the only way for users to send a message to miners.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this particular case, investors started liquidating when it was unclear if BIP91 would succeed and the risk of a bad hard-fork was possible. The value of BTC was quickly falling. As soon as investors saw the news that there was early signaling that miners would support BIP91, I, along with others, bought back in. This was evidenced by the price spike on the morning of July 17th. The market spoke.</span></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Voting Mechanism</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another interesting thing here is the voting mechanism. Dan Tapscott mentioned that blockchain is a perfect use-case for voting and referenced</span><a href="https://e-estonia.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">E-Estonia</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in his book “</span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blockchain-Revolution-Technology-Changing-Business-ebook/dp/B0141ZP32E/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=#nav-subnav" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blockchain Revolution</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” . In this case, the minders used the consensus engine (Blockchain), to handle the voting.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Each vote is from a valid member of the Blockchain.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Voting and decision rules are enforced by logic code running on distributed computers</span></div>
</li>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">80% of 336 bocks must contain a yes vote. That is, once blocks contain 80% yes, they start counting and if 336 blocks are added to the chain with 80% of a yes vote, then the decision is “locked in”. This ensures that you can’t cheat, and that you continue to receive votes over a set period of time to ensure that nobody cheated nor changed their mind.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Decisions / votes are written to a public ledger that is immutable and transparent, and therefore trusted. Miners used the Bitcoin Blockchain to record their votes.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The computer code that will be activated follows the rules by implementing small code change 336 blocks later. (approx. 2.3 days). Once the change goes into place, anyone not signaling agreement will be excluded (and thus looses the chance to mine coins and profit). Later, the full change it implemented after all of the participants have had a chance to upgrade their software with the new feature.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Making a decision at the end</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is interesting from a sociologist’s view of how a group of humans just “work it out” and make decisions as well as how they are influenced.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lastly, they way this has been handled may set precedence. It may demonstrate that even when there is disagreement (vigorous in this case), there is a way that the global governors can come to consensus and make a decision. It may also mean that improvements in this technology, which were taking years, may start to be made in less time as they may have found a path that allows breaking decision jams. Given the perceived preference for stability, volatility may go down. Users and miners prefer for continued improvement which I think results in higher value.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 20pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reference</span></h1>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2016/08/blockchain-next-internet.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My earlier article explaining what Blockchain is.</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-scaling-watch-news-guides-navigate-coming-clash-code/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Coindesk coverage of the scaling drama.</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.salon.com/2017/07/23/how-the-technology-behind-bitcoin-can-save-our-elections/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How the technology behind Bitcoin can save our elections.</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://www.xbt.eu/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Site used to track voting pictured in this article.</span></a></div>
</li>
<li><a href="https://blog.blockchain.com/2014/12/29/drawing-the-distinction-between-the-uppercase-b-and-lowercase-b-in-bitcoin/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Why when do you capitalize blockchiain and bitcoin? </a><br />(OK, I had to look it up and geek out)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- Chris Claborne</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(aka Christian Claborne)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-61440434291379354912017-05-14T16:08:00.003-07:002017-05-14T16:08:58.442-07:00Are you ready for multi-cloud?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvHl6XGLFj9smgt4yJNMB4cIDbvhmIqUzyXDoBjB2t6FFJ_eHnqa47rioRQBpGvLGKbLT4e0_fTaQZBEVfx-0tGFZcOx9LBddB83-PR78sVqEj1_rxFn3125P29IXsYCmmr1m_HicIOU5n/s1600/multi-cloud.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvHl6XGLFj9smgt4yJNMB4cIDbvhmIqUzyXDoBjB2t6FFJ_eHnqa47rioRQBpGvLGKbLT4e0_fTaQZBEVfx-0tGFZcOx9LBddB83-PR78sVqEj1_rxFn3125P29IXsYCmmr1m_HicIOU5n/s200/multi-cloud.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We knew multi-cloud was coming, and now that Microsoft and Google have a viable product in the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) space, multi-cloud may be in your future. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you consume software-as-a-service, you most likely are already “multi-cloud”. In this article, my focus will be on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and I’ll examine the value of multi-cloud, the considerations, and address what I think are myths.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-392e9a65-0936-a1b1-8090-51ca74586851" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b id="docs-internal-guid-392e9a65-0936-a1b1-8090-51ca74586851" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gkXK5TqBtR4681h_x_egWNiYCs_zszeWYe234JD2z7enXLsUJoQIqawQtTgQWhewFbZA3uTzGuf16gYqwUArQi6uUgwKyoFOO8M8EEZg8RHXIqi2JPiR40etNvfCIcjlBf8u9FP1FQ8I/s1600/value.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gkXK5TqBtR4681h_x_egWNiYCs_zszeWYe234JD2z7enXLsUJoQIqawQtTgQWhewFbZA3uTzGuf16gYqwUArQi6uUgwKyoFOO8M8EEZg8RHXIqi2JPiR40etNvfCIcjlBf8u9FP1FQ8I/s200/value.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Value</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is value in considering multi-cloud. Here are a few.</span></div>
<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are a big company, one of the things that being multi-cloud can bring is the “champion and challenger” model from a sourcing perspective. Sourcing managers hate soul source deals because they put the company at a disadvantage when it comes to negotiating better deals.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes you need access to features and technologies that you can’t get with your current provider. This is an obvious one but requires the technologists to really address the differentiation and question the ROI.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Multi-cloud can bring complete and total redundancy. For example, I’m told that Netflix is ready to deliver out of the Azure cloud if the binary-spew really hits the fan. Google definitely touted this after the AWS S3 outage on the east coast. </span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJpJHy2eUgoB8XRoOO34vJEKhUPsJ0KUFAzFLcACUM0-FW8CzMB_RHfFivR4-0EzwECNwFqkvTeUwiyvr2iD5v64mWUbXBahtYm3a2qmcf3zyTBo5QrJwITRdNYjA3dizob_oQvvX7pPd/s1600/dragon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJpJHy2eUgoB8XRoOO34vJEKhUPsJ0KUFAzFLcACUM0-FW8CzMB_RHfFivR4-0EzwECNwFqkvTeUwiyvr2iD5v64mWUbXBahtYm3a2qmcf3zyTBo5QrJwITRdNYjA3dizob_oQvvX7pPd/s200/dragon.png" width="195" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Myths</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vendors want you to believe that being multi-cloud is easy and everyone should be multi-cloud. I mentioned some of this in my coverage of </span><a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2017/04/google-next-2017-cloud-conference.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google’s cloud conference article</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Providers and pundits may have sold you on running everything in containers so you can burst your workloads or move them easily between clouds to get the lowest cost of the day. This sounds great but I don’t think it’s that easy. Here’s a few reasons why: </span></div>
<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Applications rarely live in isolation, they have data attached to them. At this point in time, no architect would recommend you move the application without the data. Moving an entire application takes planning and a lot of work.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dependency impacts will need to be evaluated. Many applications depend on other services. If you have micro-services within your dependency chain, you have a whole new set of things to think about.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your architects will need to consider how you integrate all of your solutions. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Applications will need to be tested in both environments from both behavior as well as performance and how various failure-modes are handled. In addition, security is handled different in each cloud as well as how you configure services like load balancing.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any cloud automation scripts you have most likely won’t be portable.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You need to consider all of the cloud provider setup & operational costs outlined below. </span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk6eDUiwEVZ5tHVrStZwyJ4hI9dzZidTZOUEXAqQeTl9KmFZkxkPLDwEd7rG0dQYxCbabyymdCUAN-wQrUScE0A0cqkEedhxdSzh056NY5MuVWsJhc8CEuJRWlFseLbzt82eysEbnrC_aw/s1600/cost.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk6eDUiwEVZ5tHVrStZwyJ4hI9dzZidTZOUEXAqQeTl9KmFZkxkPLDwEd7rG0dQYxCbabyymdCUAN-wQrUScE0A0cqkEedhxdSzh056NY5MuVWsJhc8CEuJRWlFseLbzt82eysEbnrC_aw/s200/cost.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The costs of multi-cloud</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just getting to the first IaaS cloud can be expensive. If you are part of large corporation, you’ve probably invested in network, training, tooling, and spent a lot of effort on all of the vendor management items to get you to your first cloud. Before you could start moving workloads, your security team needed to learn how to secure it, your identity and access management team may have had to setup beachhead services to support applications there, and your operations team needs to learn how to monitor and manage the governance of onboarding accounts as well as how you would handle billing.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Below is a list of example costs that you need to overcome with a strong ROI for each cloud you want to engage with. Take a look at each area and the staffing to support it. If you can do it with existing staff, that’s great, but don’t kid yourself, it’s more work to setup, manage, and operate each cloud.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vendor management. This obviously is the first step of engaging the vendor and starting the work on getting them on-boarded into your process. This is also one of those on-going operational tasks that you will need to own.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Contract management. Depending on your company, this can be a lot of work to initiate, negotiate and finalize and maintain if you have SLA provisions.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Security assessment and remediation plans. This is where the work begins with your security team.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Building a reference architecture to use to ensure security compliance.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Building re-usable templates for using new APIs and tools for infrastructure as code. If you are already in the cloud, you’ll need to retool for the next cloud and adopt different APIs, tools, and adapt to their approach to security and monitoring.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Development of tooling that allows automated testing and monitoring of security.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Establish secure redundant network connectivity.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possibly establish beachhead services like LDAP, and single sign-on services.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Account management needs to be setup. How are you going to manage and govern accounts in the new cloud. This will be one of those things you want to stay ahead of.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud operations, which at a minimum, can help manage your costs at an enterprise level and help find opportunities to continually lower costs. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consider the cost to integrate with the company’s CMDB solution. Remember, just because you have services in the cloud doesn’t mean you break with managing your portfolio of services and exactly how they are deployed. If you use AWS, this step can be fairly straightforward by integrating into the AWS billing DB, using AWS config, or purchasing a plug-in from your CMDB vendor to do this for you.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every new cloud means you fragment your talent development... Said another way, you can be an expert on one cloud but going multi-cloud fragments your time. Operation and dev teams can just deal with this fact or you deploy dedicated teams to be the experts on each platform. As the complexity goes up, the latter is your path to sanity.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you think multi-cloud is in your future, you’ll need to code that into your requirements and resulting architecture. For example, if you want to leverage AWS Lambda for serverless computing, remember that it works different at Google. Also, if you use Google Cloud Spanner, think about compatibility with database stacks from AWS. Take a second look at your integration strategy and ensure your tools will work in the future state architecture.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The right number of clouds really depends on how much leverage you need, what the variation in services are that drive your decision and the ROI that tells the story to the CFO. Being multi-cloud it’s more complicated than the pointy-haired boss thinks, and in some ways it can be as difficult as it was when you moved from your on-premise data center to the cloud. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reference & Other Relevant Info</span></h2>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/3194488/cloud-computing/how-to-keep-multicloud-complexity-under-control.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to keep multicloud complexity under control</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by David Linthicum</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- Chris Claborne </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(AKA Christian Claborne)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-77948984760468188102017-05-13T18:55:00.002-07:002017-05-15T10:36:11.117-07:00The benefits of cloud computing continue to grow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8h9rteh7UfSu0ZeT1-KaVaR_121cM3gl0PLPo6FxjmoJpkOvxzdgKDbJj-aaui1_sS-d34AcEg95JQ8_DsizEIFBXLrBFLswRIFoP4cxFjH8qmmktxtA9modM3iMDo_6NAVlp9LSVix83/s1600/benefit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8h9rteh7UfSu0ZeT1-KaVaR_121cM3gl0PLPo6FxjmoJpkOvxzdgKDbJj-aaui1_sS-d34AcEg95JQ8_DsizEIFBXLrBFLswRIFoP4cxFjH8qmmktxtA9modM3iMDo_6NAVlp9LSVix83/s200/benefit.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In May of 2010, I wrote my first article dedicated to explaining the </span><a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2010/05/benefits-of-cloud-computing.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">benefits of cloud computing</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (check out that dated graphic on that page). I updated that article in August of 2012. Now, it’s time for another update, or really, more of an addendum. The cloud industry has been unfolding for quite some time now and it’s clear that it’s not a “flash in the pan” or some trendy thing that will die. In fact, it’s more relevant today than ever before! In addition, there are more players and new technologies. And, more importantly, the value & benefits continue to grow.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-64497ecb-04a6-e455-e8da-cff46f6b2a8b" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b id="docs-internal-guid-64497ecb-04a6-e455-e8da-cff46f6b2a8b" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New businesses and complete industries have been born from the cloud (without which they may never have gotten off the ground). Service based businesses that are almost 100% dependant on web and mobile technologies to survive explode in size like the big bang. These companies don’t have time to hire an infrastructure staff or even wait for the concrete to dry on a data center (even if they did have the capitol). Companies like Uber, Airbnb and others may not have been able to fund or survived the proof of concept phase to get where they are today had they been required to build the infrastructure and operate all of the systems necessary to deliver their service.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud benefits more than just startups. To stay competitive, companies are moving to the cloud to lower costs and take advantage of all the soft value benefits to stay competitive and grow their businesses vertically and horizontally. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My original article viewed benefits of cloud mainly through the lense of software-as-a-service (SaaS) at the time. I later dove into platform as-a-service (PaaS) value, and also covered infrastructure as-a-service (IaaS). The benefits in my earlier article still apply so so there’s no reason to re-write it. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What follows should append what we already know at this point (assuming you have read that article). </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsWrg40Ew2Y_F0VGA3__mXBxZ9_l_f1gdHm9Aszfr4Chc9u-qnE0Ntd96gV_EayoZuRhE7SeqtvfSXGB4BimHZKq01HJjHlBthDhtEJxbkBwUXbN7O9Y_qkh4suFqdXQ7L_bVfrhHirYT/s1600/cutting-edge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsWrg40Ew2Y_F0VGA3__mXBxZ9_l_f1gdHm9Aszfr4Chc9u-qnE0Ntd96gV_EayoZuRhE7SeqtvfSXGB4BimHZKq01HJjHlBthDhtEJxbkBwUXbN7O9Y_qkh4suFqdXQ7L_bVfrhHirYT/s200/cutting-edge.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can only get it in the cloud</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wanted to start with the most shocking realization that I’ve had. I attended Google’s cloud conference and then </span><a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2017/04/google-next-2017-cloud-conference.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">published my observations on this BLOG</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, leading off with one of the strengths of Google’s cloud being their machine learning and big data capabilities. It wasn’t until Miha Kralj from Accenture mentioned that many of the newest technologies are being developed for the cloud first, and sometimes only for the cloud that it came together for me (I’m slow). You can’t go out and purchase Google’s epic replicated uber scalable database, Cloud Spanner (Beta as of this writing), nor will you be able to in the near future. You have to go to the cloud to get it. The same for Amazon’s Aurora DB (built on-top of Open Source MySQL and a version for PostgreSQL). Oh, and forget “serverless”, you have to build your own... but wait, then it’s not really serverless is it? :) </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sure, many of the services at AWS and Google are built on open source (and some not) but the secret sauce for scalability, redundancy and ease of management are not available for purchase on a DVD or any other way. In the area of big data and machine learning, I think the leading edge will always be in the cloud, which is OK. Really, if you think about it, big data is perfect for the cloud, where going really big is their business. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM7j7xXfQSF8L6e6eQQ9JDfDDCS_dPBE6jkEuB4efaWz_PH2GfTT7bojbEdO6lSGbS87Pt0wBSsWiBKkpTnpnyXhSOf1QnGdmHAYbH9nHbhpuUddMWFCrdvNx3VeiWFsbffPD5SRYPfwsw/s1600/lockin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM7j7xXfQSF8L6e6eQQ9JDfDDCS_dPBE6jkEuB4efaWz_PH2GfTT7bojbEdO6lSGbS87Pt0wBSsWiBKkpTnpnyXhSOf1QnGdmHAYbH9nHbhpuUddMWFCrdvNx3VeiWFsbffPD5SRYPfwsw/s200/lockin.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lock-in</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some will say that this just makes cloud sticky, and that is ‘lock-in”, and lock-in is really bad. In reality, this is no different to platforms and technologies in the past. You’ll have to get over it if you want to leverage the latest tech and stay competitive. And oh, by the way, there’s always lock-in. For example, owning data centers and compute equipment is lock-in. Don’t think so??? Go out and buy some new servers this month and then tell your finance department you want the latest technology next year and you are going to toss the current gear (that you just bought) in the dumpster and move to the new stuff. Unless you can show some big ROI and take a few lumps, you are locked into that stuff until it’s fully depreciated... and don’t get me started about all that software you bought with a super low 5 year maintenance agreement. Lock-in is everywhere but you can go about it smartly and choose the lock-in where it makes sense. Now that we have multiple clouds that are starting to compete, we can get smart about some of our choices that make it easier to move to another cloud if that time comes. I want to touch on that “multi-cloud” topic but I’ll save that for my next article.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stay on the best in class technology</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I just mentioned that owning your own data center and associated equipment is lock-in. This sort of lock-in holds you back. At AWS 2015, Dorion Carroll, Zynga’s CIO, discussed always running two or three technology classes behind when they moved off of AWS to their own data center. Dorion mentioned that by the time Zynga moved to their own data center, AWS had already revisioned their technology a few times and Zynga was locked-in to their choice. In addition, now that Dorion has moved back to AWS, he doesn’t have to own and manage an IT R&D department for all of his infrastructure. AWS does all of the infrastructure R&D and testing for what the next technology should be for compute, storage, network and more. Now that Zynga is back on AWS, when there is a technology rev in servers, they just move with almost no cost. And from what I’ve seen, if you don’t need to switch to the latest tech, you reap the benefit of a price reduction by running on the older models. Dorion still needs to have some R&D but it’s higher up in the value chain.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcs_akNP5Mgfc22oaFViFJ6nv5So-MD-ZsKQs8fhp3MOVwhQwzVHNYuAIlJ-mzh6_4LWSmaoq1lhTctq60mhQCKLZiU4iwrRwdHF3cYQU0pJ8bye2WaYdkkvVlc5aktIvC-QRiOSWMf03v/s1600/culture.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcs_akNP5Mgfc22oaFViFJ6nv5So-MD-ZsKQs8fhp3MOVwhQwzVHNYuAIlJ-mzh6_4LWSmaoq1lhTctq60mhQCKLZiU4iwrRwdHF3cYQU0pJ8bye2WaYdkkvVlc5aktIvC-QRiOSWMf03v/s200/culture.gif" width="180" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Living in the cloud changes your business culture</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Removing the constraints of time and quick scalability, the cost to experiment and take a chance on a new business idea gets cheaper. Many ideas are squashed at companies because of the cost to experiment because a failure meant they ended up with a pile of unused equipment. Also, before cloud, companies had to be selective on what equipment they chose because of the time involved. With the cloud, the time to deploy is in minutes, not months. Experimental failures result in lessons learned for the next experiment, not a bunch of useless hardware. CIOs tell me their companies think differently after moving to the cloud.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsWVWHIYrKNES8aZ1LbLC-BUP-T0wu87p8Rhmppvo3FQ6eJzmd8zf17iiYW6zLF5oiLi7jPOM6ZQx29_nNdSCfbxIUwYUrYhOD4_AzmH6BVcUa4AUwdwE7Wkg-6PAk-adBjCotXXwHt8gD/s1600/cost-transparency.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsWVWHIYrKNES8aZ1LbLC-BUP-T0wu87p8Rhmppvo3FQ6eJzmd8zf17iiYW6zLF5oiLi7jPOM6ZQx29_nNdSCfbxIUwYUrYhOD4_AzmH6BVcUa4AUwdwE7Wkg-6PAk-adBjCotXXwHt8gD/s200/cost-transparency.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cost Transparency</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">People make better decisions if they know what the costs are. For IT groups that that haven’t moved, their consumers usually have no idea what the total cost of ownership is. All of the companies I’ve spoken to, as well as companies I’ve worked at are are highly overprovisioned. If you roll your own data center, you have to be over provisioned to support peak & emergency demand, but there are other factors at play.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Application teams always demand hardware that will support peak demand and a lot more. This is because it’s painful to miss calculate the amount of compute or storage an app will need, and as Mark Morgan says “no one wants to be the guy that gets woken up at 2AM to fix a poorly performing app.”. It’s even more painful to go back to the boss or the CFO and ask for more $$$. I’ve never seen an environment that rewarded teams for optimized system utilization, only solution delivery and availability. Because of this, most data centers are way over provisioned. In the cloud, if you underprovision, infrastructure as code can take over and auto-scale your environment just when it’s needed. When demand tails off, the infrastructure will automatically shrink along with associated costs. App owners are willing to reduce compute sizes because they know they can get it again later when needed.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Teams will have multiple development environments, test environments, and performance environments, etc, and never really understand the cost of doing this. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nothing ever gets turned off. This is a big issue in some companies. I’ve seen instances where over 30% of running VMs could have been shut down and returned to the pool but weren’t. If the costs were shown back to the owners, they could more easily be incented to do the right thing and turn stuff off or deprovision when no longer needed. Well run organizations turn off environments or developer environments as soon as they are not being used but there’s a lot of overhead costs to get there and rarely are cost transparency tools helping drive that. Some companies make it so hard to get compute, developers don’t want to turn it back in to avoid the hassle and risk of getting it the next time. Going to the cloud can eliminate this behavior. In the cloud, provisioning is simpler and getting transparency to costs is easy, which should drive better behaviors.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Virtual machines (VM) running on a clusters are seen as “sunk cost” like the hardware they are running on. As you should know by now, there are real hidden and on-going costs to running a VM farm. On-prem solutions don’t make it easy to turn VMs off when they aren’t in use. Sure, your initial cost for an VM cluster has already been made but not every project needs all of its environments running all the time. Most companies can’t afford to have every last application under development all the time. These VMs could be shut down, possibly avoiding another cluster purchase later, but it’s normally not self-service, nor is it easy to govern & automate. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I refer to costs, it’s not just compute and storage and labor. Network load balancers, databases and other assets are all part of the total cost of ownership (TCO). Without cost transparency, these all go un-noticed and normally way overprovisioned. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having a good configuration management database (CMDB) is hard to keep accurate. Without governance, process, and technology, and on-prem cost transparency is very difficult if not impossible without a well managed CMDB. In addition, keeping the CMDB up to date is expensive, time consuming and the least glamors job in IT.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If done right, running in the cloud can deliver total cost transparency. The most obvious is SaaS since the bill is typically tied to implementations or consumption, By moving your infrastructure to the cloud, it’s much easier to tie service costs to applications. There are several third party apps for AWS that use the tags on your resources to help you keep track of your total costs. In addition, by using infrastructure as code, companies can automate the tagging of all the resources for all of the environments they spin up. Furthermore, bounding applications within a sub-account for billing will catch just about everything that is used by an application. The only thing you need to account for over the direct costs are centralized shared services like IAM (identity and access services), dedicated network links, security, and management labor. This is leaps and bounds easier than working to implement soul crushing process to maintain a CMDB and then go and implement a full TBM or IT financial suite to pull it all together.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Speaking of automation, I’ve seen teams automate the monitoring and shutting down of underutilized resources and kill the cost of a derelict fleet. Not only are teams rewarded for only provisioning just what they need, they see the direct result immediately on the bill. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not only does the cost transparency from the cloud drive better behavior, but the tooling in the cloud enables the automation of that transparency and cost savings.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zero downtime upgrades and patching</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the cloud, you can easily afford to spin up a completely new environment for your upgrade or patching. Although many companies can apply “rolling updates” to a redundant infrastructure, it’s hard, takes a lot of coordination, and is fraught with issues. These days, IT rarely has enough spare infrastructure laying around to spin up a redundant deployment to cut over to once all the final testing is complete. In the cloud it’s standard behavior and if you implement all of your infrastructure as code, it’s easier. The bump in cost is only during the time where both environment are running. Once you’ve cut over to the new environment, the old one is shutdown. I know what you’re thinking, “What about the database?”. You may need to limit writes to the DB, depending on your architecture, but the cloud allows you to replicate your data tier and continue replicating, the updates on your current system and then cut over to the new DB when ready. In this case you have downtime, it’s just a lot smaller.</span></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More consistent environments</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Infrastructure as code” is the new mantra in the cloud. Manually setup up infrastructure via a console and then going in to finish the install, configuring and tuning the system is so 1990s. Today, all of this is done in code and approached like any other software development project. Teams write, test, and check-in the code to do this like any other project. When the infrastructure code is ready, all of the various environments can be built. Teams constantly test their deployments like any other application until they get to production. Because all of this is done with code all of the environments should be completely in sync. If a team finds a problem, they just change the code and re-build all the environments. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOjiePEhWcNhFDOEvaKZ9-RAvapfHg2Ou4Kv-h76YLcKTjZzDznhYsZ_dCbElEq2ccaV1Bpg4eERrhjFlNF4poMGxCL-Z9c2lZzrvLYyO1sHG47NUTbitzV3LIxOBqJRRUGq-VX233WAdu/s1600/attract.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOjiePEhWcNhFDOEvaKZ9-RAvapfHg2Ou4Kv-h76YLcKTjZzDznhYsZ_dCbElEq2ccaV1Bpg4eERrhjFlNF4poMGxCL-Z9c2lZzrvLYyO1sHG47NUTbitzV3LIxOBqJRRUGq-VX233WAdu/s200/attract.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Attract and retain the best talent</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It engineers want to stay marketable. It’s hard to attract the best if your technology is still considered mainframeish. Technologist can see where things are going and know that if they want to stay marketable, they should develop their cloud skills. The bonus here is that a good portion of your staff won’t be resistant to the change, they will embrace it in order to build their skills for the future.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next up.... Multi-cloud, everyone's doing it but why, and what are the considerations.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- Chris Claborne</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(aka Christian Claborne)</span></div>
Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-56233891632528133072017-04-17T13:59:00.001-07:002017-04-19T09:11:00.145-07:00Google Next 2017 Cloud Conference thoughts<span id="docs-internal-guid-4c4f6e19-7db1-f4b1-9522-961402ea51c0"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-4c4f6e19-7db1-f4b1-9522-961402ea51c0"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXPYvuGhLwbdi_iRkf6bVZifQdqcDCs2Jr-tNss3Q5lK_v-8ZWv46bLOJyT0Sw6B_T8HES7dmceDIsfOH7l3kk9zi8zUijXFk0sQzmZP1NnSfZ5p0LDltD_zI4d2gwLi0sR9beaDgdd31m/s1600/gnext-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXPYvuGhLwbdi_iRkf6bVZifQdqcDCs2Jr-tNss3Q5lK_v-8ZWv46bLOJyT0Sw6B_T8HES7dmceDIsfOH7l3kk9zi8zUijXFk0sQzmZP1NnSfZ5p0LDltD_zI4d2gwLi0sR9beaDgdd31m/s200/gnext-logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-4c4f6e19-7db1-f4b1-9522-961402ea51c0">
</span>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I attended Google’s first broadly accessible cloud conference “</span><a href="https://cloudnext.withgoogle.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Cloud Next 2017</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” back in March. Google has been lurking in the background of the top three cloud players and I’ve been eager to learn more about their offering and potential.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-4c4f6e19-7db1-f4b1-9522-961402ea51c0">
</span>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><span id="docs-internal-guid-4c4f6e19-7db1-f4b1-9522-961402ea51c0"><br /></span>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-4c4f6e19-7db1-f4b1-9522-961402ea51c0">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Executive Summary</span></span></h2>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-4c4f6e19-7db1-f4b1-9522-961402ea51c0">
</span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-4c4f6e19-7db1-f4b1-9522-961402ea51c0"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJ9z497jU4YkX3CGbDQS4C8W1KDgdKtyRWZxU5n0TP9-wkrEdNWcyWFm0Cso5xiivXJMBOtnxS_JszPSKKZXgMfaq76qpuKRcZpFUdHGrTTQB6HWAnqtk7AgMRiV__JgRyRhzvrjeT1yb/s1600/Kubernetes-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJ9z497jU4YkX3CGbDQS4C8W1KDgdKtyRWZxU5n0TP9-wkrEdNWcyWFm0Cso5xiivXJMBOtnxS_JszPSKKZXgMfaq76qpuKRcZpFUdHGrTTQB6HWAnqtk7AgMRiV__JgRyRhzvrjeT1yb/s200/Kubernetes-logo.png" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-4c4f6e19-7db1-f4b1-9522-961402ea51c0">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My summary observation is that Google cloud is AWS circa 2014 but with a solid container story (kubernetes), strong machine learning and big data capabilities. Google customers I conversed with spoke highly of Google’s network and routing. BTW, I had a hard time finding attendees that were using Google’s cloud. Most attendees were AWS customers trying to understand if G is a viable option for a multi-cloud strategy. </span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google’s compute pricing is simpler than AWS. Rather than up-front fees to get better pricing, Google rewards customers with lower pricing for those who don’t shut down instances, this eliminates one of the biggest complaints by AWS customers in having to manage complex “reserved instance” strategies. It’s unknown what the impact is when doing blue/green deployments but I think they look at overall load. What’s interesting here is that a week later, AWS responded by changing their “reserved instance” solution to narrow the gap. Another thing Google does is that they allow more fine control over number of CPUs and memory vs. AWS pre-packaged machine types. This model lends itself well to large number of various batch jobs, each with different resource needs, and therefore could potentially save a lot of $$$ over AWS if we can parcel out to the machine level. Google claims companies that use good habits for CPU and memory configs can save 30%+.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall the conference failed to generate any real excitement for customers, most of them telling me that they are AWS customers considering Google except for one startup that decided to be all-in with Google. G’s customers tell me that they think there is less noisy neighbor issues and love Google’s networks. Google’s overriding marketing message was “Be multi-cloud.” and “Love our open standards.”, both of which clearly aimed at trying to chip away at AWS’s stronghold.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point in time, I don’t recommend investment in Google Cloud unless you can find an ROI that will warrants fragmenting your focus on standing up mature AWS and AZURE operations and the business case can pay for all of the setup and beachhead services necessary to get going. For cloud based office productivity, I definitely recommend Google’s productivity suite, G Suite. It’s exceptionally faster than O365 and I think has more features which isn’t surprising given they’ve been doing this longer than any of their competitors. </span></div>
<br /><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Impressions</span></h2>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google needs a better conference partner</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My first impression was a bit rough. We were greeted with a massive line to get in, wrapping around Moscone center and this was about an hour after the keynote was supposed to start. They were expecting three thousand people (AWS re:Invent is 30,000) but failed to find a vendor that could figure out how to on-board people quickly enough to get them into the first keynote. The line was still blocks long an hour after the keynote started. Any excitement people had about Google Cloud was quickly evaporating outside. Had it been raining, as it can in San Francisco, this would have been an epic disaster. I listened to the keynote while standing in line and finished watching inside. </span></div>
<br /><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google needs to rethink their marketing</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Speakers and format lacked any ability to generate excitement. Later keynotes weren’t much better, but they did start doing more product introductions.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google is seen as a company of highly skilled geeks with no marketing and this is attractive to many small startups and others that are after the bleeding edge. The issue I see is lack of maturity that would address the enterprise. They are seen as technology leading rather than general compute. For some, the number of services that AWS has is a bit daunting and AWS may be starting to collect some cruft in the form of things that need to be brought along. </span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many customers that I spoke to see using Google for specific use cases like machine learning or big-data or, would use them as part of a multi-cloud strategy for heightened availability. As for the latter, AWS helped Google out by accidentally causing an S3 storage outage on the east coast a couple of weeks before the conference. [As a side note: One thing I will say about the outage, customers who are multi-region at AWS weren’t affected unless they were trying to get into the console, and AWS quickly published a full transparent review of what happened and what they are doing to prevent it in the future. Google public cloud hasn’t been around long enough to generate an outage story. A true test of any cloud company is how they handle it, how transparent they are with customers, and how they learn from it.]</span></div>
<br /><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Very light on details and lots of BETA</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most of the sessions I attended were extremely light on details which was strange. For example, we sat in a couple of presentations about their cloud storage as well as one focused on using it for off-prem backups but there were few details other than pricing and what the product offering looked like. There were no real details about the products, how they worked, nor any solid story about how customers are supposed to get their data into it. Google is known for their networks but not one mention of using that to move data into storage or out, which was strange. They have no story at all for AWS devices like snowball or snowmobile to get your data into the Google cloud. Unless I misunderstood, most of the tools in Google functions (their serverless product), and others, were BETA </span></div>
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvaNxLrY-kgqSu6JlnyFlRUTNh9DWAECPu5psnUIX3OSjmEyYeCAva1ZK5mIGXLJMki4Tq99WQJH8gsa6U-BGDo0BxCfVdGa5wzvZdd3DVclWpepmM9ifAXMHNIERc07Di_P_ThFTE_J0s/s1600/DR_Icons_Multi_Cloud_Recovery.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvaNxLrY-kgqSu6JlnyFlRUTNh9DWAECPu5psnUIX3OSjmEyYeCAva1ZK5mIGXLJMki4Tq99WQJH8gsa6U-BGDo0BxCfVdGa5wzvZdd3DVclWpepmM9ifAXMHNIERc07Di_P_ThFTE_J0s/s200/DR_Icons_Multi_Cloud_Recovery.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google is trying to use “multi-cloud” as a way to your heart</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One message that came through loud and clear is that Google wants to be part of your multi-cloud strategy (did you know you need to be multi-cloud?) For web service based companies this may make sense when you absolutely must be up no matter what. Waze, a cool traffic mapping and routing service purchased by Google presented how they moved much of their services from AWS to Google but plan on leaving a portion of it at AWS for availability (I think there may be more to it though). </span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another message that was beat into customers during the final keynote was “We are going to be the open cloud”, with subtle demand that all cloud providers should be using “open standards” like Google. This is clearly a shot at AWS, where tools like Dynamo DB are proprietary. Being a little late to the game works well for Google here as open source products are catching up with ones developed by AWS and Google and thus enabling them to possibly leap-frog AWS in some areas but their highly scalable multi-region DB called “Cloud Spanner” (BETA) is every bit as proprietary as some of AWS tools. If everyone used “standards” then they feel its just a matter of price. I disagree however as you will see below.</span></div>
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_7mNaXCbNGEbPinc7YI_q1xVuUHGAs6Uc3LlqY-KGtOd3RW33XB32c5GzgOJd49Iz5iZofAaJsVY4go4OzxF-GX1gzYJNwPYBHiIWwWOZJUztZL148j6QwzIGYb2CI0QiznvxcB_ZNKq/s1600/docker-logo_0.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_7mNaXCbNGEbPinc7YI_q1xVuUHGAs6Uc3LlqY-KGtOd3RW33XB32c5GzgOJd49Iz5iZofAaJsVY4go4OzxF-GX1gzYJNwPYBHiIWwWOZJUztZL148j6QwzIGYb2CI0QiznvxcB_ZNKq/s200/docker-logo_0.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<h4 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud as a commodity?</span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was marketing about easily shifting workloads between vendors. For example, companies that use a standard container deployment could easily move them to Google. The idea of just moving your workloads around to different providers based on best pricing sounds really cool. Technically it holds water but there’s more to it. Here’s the thing, it's harder and more complex than just using similar tooling so you can move a container deployment from one cloud to another. Most enterprise applications have data right. “Data ohana means no data left behind. Until competitors are sitting right next door to each other, the data needs to stay with the core processing. In the enterprise, moving an application from one regional data center to another or one cloud to another means moving its data, and possibly core dependencies. No matter what, cloud fungibility means having to test in each cloud for compatibility, network latency, etc. And if your design is to use micro-services, it also means moving or possibly duplicating all of these micro-services as well. In addition, in order to treat cloud as a commodity at this level, you’ll need to have tooling for all of your security practices, monitoring, deployment automation, backup and DR plans, and a host of other items that go with cloud operations. Unless you design specifically for this use-case, I think it’s going to be hard and in my opinion, most companies aren’t going to do this. As an example, it’s taken Waze over a year of planning and execution to move from AWS to Google so jumping clouds isn’t as easy as the marketing brochure says. Maybe the fungible cloud service is in our future but I just don’t see this as a viable solution today. Google should focus on winning customers with better products. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYjgDAN-j3kJ2FI3e_qbpLNVV9qlBEWW_vsijBd1kUqG6i3DXW7ZxJebqItfu420La3YmUBVAl6dwiErrOLPEIhSZReZRjCDTRhMwCYYW9GO7yCBMBDtfV4wJXEHoZwLl7yk5KhTWh46yS/s1600/GoogleOpenFlowWAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYjgDAN-j3kJ2FI3e_qbpLNVV9qlBEWW_vsijBd1kUqG6i3DXW7ZxJebqItfu420La3YmUBVAl6dwiErrOLPEIhSZReZRjCDTRhMwCYYW9GO7yCBMBDtfV4wJXEHoZwLl7yk5KhTWh46yS/s200/GoogleOpenFlowWAN.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google’s Network</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I spoke to several Google customers that raved about the network performance and capabilities. The main comments I heard were regarding routing and load balancing. A few AWS customers complained that AWS ELB throughput wasn’t big enough and Google blows them away. Also, because of the configurability and performance of Google’s network, routing and load balancing products, they use Google to tie together their AWS regions. I thought this was inventive.</span></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pricing strategy</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It looks like Google will try to use price to penetrate further into the public cloud market. They are pushing hard for people to use open source tools, therefore, if everyone used exactly the same tools, it would work in Google’s favor. I prefer their approach to pricing, rather than “reserved” pricing, they use volume discounts instead. Also, they touted the ability to select exactly how much CPU and memory you need (rather than set instance sizing from AWS) potentially saving their customers 30%+. I’ll leave it up to others to do the analysis but on the surface it looked promising. If it’s tied to overall consumption, it works, if it’s tied to the compute instance, the benefit breaks down if you do a lot of blue / green deployments.</span></div>
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSqNcBe7_aU0qsB-_RKPAUOsBmhQKmwx_FBXK7JHbj6CM9o98ctt-l4klHGlW2w3QYqxC-DO5H0SuVT4cqAoaQ-NB5VFAIhC_OrpqDIWsT_w5E9ZGhah0PAQJhRylvageBn5C0V84VHJLs/s1600/G-suite-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSqNcBe7_aU0qsB-_RKPAUOsBmhQKmwx_FBXK7JHbj6CM9o98ctt-l4klHGlW2w3QYqxC-DO5H0SuVT4cqAoaQ-NB5VFAIhC_OrpqDIWsT_w5E9ZGhah0PAQJhRylvageBn5C0V84VHJLs/s200/G-suite-logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">G Suite</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A final piece worth mentioning is that G Suite (formerly Google Apps) was on full display. I’ve been a huge promoter of Google Apps for years and it just gets better with age. I’ve written articles years ago on it, and it’s fulfilled its promise of high availability, performance and capability that kicks O-365’s butt, and they’ve continuously improved features over the years. (I’m currently using it to write this) The G Suite customers gush about the product (with an almost a cult following) and the O-365 users at the conference only use it because they have to (Outlook is a hard habit to break). My experience with trying to collaborate on a 2000+ row O365 spreadsheet was met with complete failure due to performance which caused it to be unusable. When I moved the spreadsheet to Google, it handled it with ease and performance nearly matching a local client application. Google, known for good internet collaboration features within its apps, introduced “Jamboard”, a digital whiteboard to improve virtual meeting experience as well as persist your ideas in Google Drive. The demo was impressive and geeky. I’d love to have something like that to enable real-time collaboration, as well as well as being able to persist ideas and share with teams later. </span></div>
<br /><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Key takeaways from Sessions</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Below are some quick notes pulled from my session notes</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Data backed up to Google's “cold storage” backup service is available in seconds, whereas AWS glacier has a 4 hour request window. Pricing is similar to AWS</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">15 minutes after Pokemon Go was launched, they were at 50X their worst case traffic estimate. Google allowed them to scale quickly.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Home Depot’s most discussed ROI was decreased release cycles, from 3 months+ time for release cycles to 1 day. No discussion of any financial business case or other factors were presented. [To me, this is the benefit of dev-ops and cloud].</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Home depot core tenets are security, multi-region high availability, infrastructure as code.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was a bit surprised that </span><a href="https://cloud.google.com/storage/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google cloud storage designed for 99.95 availability</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> whereas </span><a href="https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/details/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS is 99.999</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spanner is Google’s RDBMS that is horizontally scalable for massive transaction scale and can be load-balanced regionally, but not compatible with any other open tools. If the marketing is true, Spanner’s scalability and reliability are amazing and it will be interesting to see what the response will be from other cloud vendors. It’s currently in BETA.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spanner has a SLA of 99.99% up-time for single region, and 99.999% up-time for multi-region.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google load balancer is a global service supporting regional load balancing.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google also has a serverless product like AWS to support microservices architecture called “</span><a href="https://cloud.google.com/functions" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Functions</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”. The solution built around kubernetes and is is currently in BETA.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">800 million users a day on google drive.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">State government of Wyoming saves over $1M/year on video by going to Google hangouts.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The ex-CIO of Wyoming state government realized that to get exponential improvement, you have to change your perception. He had some very compelling stories and now works at Google.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Waze uses 100+ microservices spread across regions and also uses AWS. They have been migrating services to Google for over a year. The team uses spinnaker. Spinnaker is an open source, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">multi-cloud</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> continuous delivery platform for releasing software changes with high velocity and confidence.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was a very cool demo in the java workloads session. Google debugger has the ability to add logging to production code without touching the code. They can do this logging at scale with minimal performance impact. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">IntelliJ has a Google plug-in for deployment.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">App engine basically containerized java apps for deployment. Google does this in a lot of areas and depends heavily on their kubernetes container management service.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Google’s DNS SLA is 100%. Every G customer I spoke with was very happy with the Google network services. </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br /><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Attendee takeaways</span></h3>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Several attendees talked about how much they liked Google’s networking. One attendee uses Google’s network backbone to tie his AWS regions together. Another specific was that Google's virtual nets can handle a lot more traffic than the AWS equivalent (limited to 2GB). The attendee also mentioned that they were never able to saturate Google network load balancers.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Attendee complaining that Google doesn’t have a spot market for compute. I thought they did.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One attendee mentioned that he thinks AWS will come out with region peering. We’ll see in November :)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ebay is starting to use Google</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Disney engineer mentioned that his team likes Google because you don’t have to understand infrastructure like you do in AWS. (other Disney teams use AWS).</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Turner Broadcasting is looking at Google for their analytics capabilities.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</span>Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-29202527190145717712016-08-28T21:39:00.003-07:002017-07-21T14:04:13.989-07:00Blockchain -- The Next Internet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5hEbhUFA5atOr-dQsyQ-zMFacT5_DaX9qSPs7EpaOzQbkJrWnftvjPb0-wHRM7XV1WHO4pQoMttE9YfSpXZbPPhM6-Wf0siISVEjsog1cE6ffuru7kxVVVVYOrHp7mFg6tfYqcogXpnBU/s1600/blockchain-central.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5hEbhUFA5atOr-dQsyQ-zMFacT5_DaX9qSPs7EpaOzQbkJrWnftvjPb0-wHRM7XV1WHO4pQoMttE9YfSpXZbPPhM6-Wf0siISVEjsog1cE6ffuru7kxVVVVYOrHp7mFg6tfYqcogXpnBU/s200/blockchain-central.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When bitcoin gained some notoriety in 2013, I did a little research and then put it away to work on it later. This summer I decided to dedicate part of my vacation to bringing myself back up to speed on “Blockchain” and “Bitcoin” by reading the book by Don and Alex Tapscott titled “</span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blockchain Revolution</span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- How the technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and The World</span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m now leaning toward the thought that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the blockchain has the potential to impact society in a way that might surpass the birth of the internet.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Core to this impact is the “disintermediation” that it will bring. The millions of people that intermediate transactions and profit off of the exchange of wealth will largely be removed. Entire industries may be shoved into upheaval. What Apple did to the phone industry, music industry, application industry, gaming industry, etc... blockchain has the potential to transform financial industry, real estate industry, securities and stock markets, music industry (again), government voting, corporate governance, and more.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ll use a slightly modified quote from BusinessWeek to summarize what “blockchain” is. </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Blockchain is a cryptographically secure, distributed database of linked, time-stamped blocks of data such as transactions... Each block in a blockchain contains a cryptographic hash (think fingerprint) of the previous block, which secures the integrity of the transaction data.”</span></blockquote>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ll go into the detail a bit more below, but the real power of the blockchain design is the way it stores transactions in blocks on a chain where one link (block) holds a cryptographic fingerprint to the previous block. Combine this linking with the distributed servers of the “global ledger” and the result is a list of timestamped transactions on a public ledger that is infeasible to change. Once a transaction is entered on the blockchain it can’t be altered without breaking the chain.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After reading the Tapscott's book I was more than intrigued and decided that I needed to take another look at Bitcoin to better grok their thesis that blockchain, the foundation of bitcoin, is going to revolutionize civilization as we know it. As I continue my research, 2016 seems to be a tipping point for buzz on blockchain and bitcoin, but not adoption. Said another way, it’s moved solidly from novel idea that drives bitcoin, to a focus of research for most governments and every major financial institution. For example, financial-services conferences are now including keynote speakers on blockchain technology for the first time. Although it may just be the result of my increased attention, I’m seeing a lot more buzz from multiple sources on blockchain, and not just tech journals or industry specific resources like </span><a href="http://coindesk.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">coindesk.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Examples include Forbes, Bloomberg, CNBC, and CNN. You’ll find links to many </span><a href="https://flipboard.com/@claborne/blockchain-tnc7an0ey" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">blockchain oriented articles that I’ve curated</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://flipboard.com/@claborne/blockchain-tnc7an0ey" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HERE</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blockchain was created to support bitcoin. Initially, people were mostly focused on bitcoin. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that can be exchanged between two entities with no intermediation other than the servers functioning as the “world-wide ledger”. Bitcoin gained notoriety when it started to be used by criminals for payment of illegal goods, most famously on “silkroad”. Bitcoin also receives a lot of press when on-line crypto-currency tradings firms, like “Mt Gox”, are hacked, and users lose hundreds of millions of dollars. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But the real story here is not about bitcoin, it’s really about blockchain, the key foundational technology that enables bitcoin and other uses. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blockchain can be used for more than just digital currency</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you think of blockchain as the “world-wide ledger”, the technology could be used to record all kinds of transactions, from voting, to exchanging </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">anything of value</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. In fact, today, it’s being used by </span><a href="http://artlery.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Artlery.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to sell shares in art, </span><a href="http://ascribe.io/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ascribe.io</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is using it to prove copyright ownership, </span><a href="http://goabra.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">goabra.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> allows users to send money to relatives anywhere in the world with nothing other than a cell phone, threatening Western Union’s core business. Banks, and all of the large financial services companies are conducting research on how they can leverage blockchain technology to lower their costs. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I watch the buzz build, it looks like blockchain technologies will initially be used by banks and other financial institutions to settle inter-bank transfers. It’s not a giant leap to predict that the first industry to be disrupted is the financial services industry as various parties are disintermediated from all kinds of transactions. A visible disruption indicator will be when companies like Western Union file for bankruptcy. </span><a href="http://www.coindesk.com/icap-leads-the-way-for-central-bank-adoption-of-a-new-digital-currency/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This article</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> describes some testing that is already happening on the interbank transfer front.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the first section of the book “Blockchain Revolution”, the authors describe how migrant workers transfer wealth from the countries they work in, to their families all over the world. What was interesting was the number of people that profit from being a trusted intermediary. Prior to the invention of blockchain, workers without bank accounts would need to go to a local Western Union agent with cash, submit a transaction to transfer the wealth to the other party, say located in the Philippines. The cost of this transaction can exceed 10% of the value of the transfer and take a day to more than a week. Now, with digital currencies, users can convert local currency to cryptocurrency at a ATM and send the value to anyone using a simple app on their phone within minutes with fees that are less than 1% of the value. Users that receive the digital currency can spend with vendors that accepts it, or convert it into the local fiat currency at an ATM or mini-exchanges. Another example in the book is of the movement of financial currencies is are institutional cross-border payments which can take weeks to settle and require multiple banks and other intermediaries, all taking a small cut of the action. With a world-wide financial blockchain, the costs would drop to almost zero and the time to settle the transaction would be minutes. E-currencies have the potential to be extremely disrupting to a financial services industry that hasn’t changed the basics in over a hundred years. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDGw-qC-5RpDzEWOG19HyOThOOdVowmpwRCMiVH44WNwzowuqg7X6CZyQOTjtdKSqLyMFhI8ycTqprYjO49Zt1fgEGWpGeZUX3T8yFUNyaAu81k1FLl8GS5VOH5LoWRFhoQAGdlFBP5QZC/s1600/blockchain-technology-1000x520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="103" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDGw-qC-5RpDzEWOG19HyOThOOdVowmpwRCMiVH44WNwzowuqg7X6CZyQOTjtdKSqLyMFhI8ycTqprYjO49Zt1fgEGWpGeZUX3T8yFUNyaAu81k1FLl8GS5VOH5LoWRFhoQAGdlFBP5QZC/s200/blockchain-technology-1000x520.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blockchain</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blockchain was originally designed by a person going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in a paper published in 2008 as a foundational component to support bitcoin transactions. The source code for his idea was published “open source” in 2009. Think of blockchain as a database that is located on servers all over the world where records are stored in a long chain. This is how it works in simple terms.</span></div>
<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Each transaction to move some amount of bitcoin from one wallet to another is combined with other transactions to make a block</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A block is digitally signed and timestamped</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Each block is digitally linked to the previous block using a hash (or fingerprint) and added to the chain. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Different blockchains use different approaches to decide who has the next block in the chain. The bitcoin blockchain uses a process that is computationally difficult, and once a solution is found all of the servers in the blockchain network trust and accept the new block into the chain.</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDVj5h5Aa5Igp9TiHI9aC0p2X6JRYJD3NCUCW8zUM0ZKopHsXW24poTsSVdYF_18zZ5M87Hf1MNFQ6Tb7cyq1R-3ruCNyN6O8d__0DKpy5-rpXNw_Nery7DDl5UdRZ6A3udfIgI_XbUbBb/s1600/blockchain-technology-580x358.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDVj5h5Aa5Igp9TiHI9aC0p2X6JRYJD3NCUCW8zUM0ZKopHsXW24poTsSVdYF_18zZ5M87Hf1MNFQ6Tb7cyq1R-3ruCNyN6O8d__0DKpy5-rpXNw_Nery7DDl5UdRZ6A3udfIgI_XbUbBb/s200/blockchain-technology-580x358.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The power of this “ledger” is that transactions are visible to all and impossible to modify without it being noticed. In order to alter any transaction in the chain, a malicious actor would need to modify all of the blocks in the chain and to do this, this actor would need to; a) have massive compute power to break the cryptography, and b) have control of 51% of the blockchain servers, both of which is impractical in the bitcoin network. In the case of the bitcoin blockchain, servers are decentralized with 1000s of them located all over the world controlled by various non-government entities, thus making it impossible to gain control of the blockchain network. In addition, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">there is no central authority that can be hacked. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because blockchains are typically public, verifying that a transaction did take place is a trivial affair since each transaction is available to all to see.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One thing to mention is that just because a transaction is recorded on the blockchain, doesn’t mean it’s correct, it just means that the time it was added is accurate and it hasn’t been tampered with. To ensure non repudiation of a record, there will need to be a trust model established. Today, this is accomplished for bitcoin via digital signatures using public key cryptography system. Although the cryptographically secure bitcoin trust model has been established, other assets, like property documents will need their own approach. For example, documents could be cryptographically signed by one or more trusted entities.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzsitSfjfiUY4ZHcEUVyn9xIoO3GwCn1p3EoA3hJBLnJf-lhUUsNfIWRK86Sc5-Xr7yIr-ffGWN_bEU5oKyHPUAKFznJg1QzA_MsL4XEddQj84foOH2wYipRy-KPLxwegOkQZagnTxXvvi/s1600/bitcoin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzsitSfjfiUY4ZHcEUVyn9xIoO3GwCn1p3EoA3hJBLnJf-lhUUsNfIWRK86Sc5-Xr7yIr-ffGWN_bEU5oKyHPUAKFznJg1QzA_MsL4XEddQj84foOH2wYipRy-KPLxwegOkQZagnTxXvvi/s200/bitcoin.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bitcoin</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bitcoin is the first application of blockchain. Bitcoin is considered a “cryptocurrency” and it uses the blockchain to solve the “double spend” problem of using digital cash. Said another way, by using the blockchain to record transactions, it prevents malicious actors from spending bitcoins twice. By design, the bitcoin blockchain agrees to a new link in the chain (hopefully with your transaction) within 10 minutes to reach a final settlement although you don’t have to wait that long to see the transaction in-progress. Once the transaction is recorded, the distributed public ledger verifies what “wallet” a coin belongs to. For example, if I transfer some portion of bitcoin to you, your wallet will look on the blockchain for the transaction address, and once recorded, all users on the network agree that you are now the holder of those coins until you transfer them to another user. To speed things up a bit, if a receiver trusts the sender they’ll let approve the transaction as soon as they see the transaction is in progress. Bitcoin is no small banana. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The current market cap for all bitcoin ranges from 9 to 12 billion USD, with over 8.5 million wallet users.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">According to Wikipedia, in February of 2015 the number of merchants accepting bitcoin for products and services passed 100,000. And for retailers, instead of paying 2-3% typically imposed by credit card processors, merchants accepting bitcoins often pay fees in the range of 0-2%. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What’s interesting about bitcoin is that it’s a world-wide currency. That is, it’s nationless and therefore, it can’t be tampered with, or controlled by any government. The money supply is controlled by an algorithm that will stop producing bitcoins by the year 2020 unless the consortium of bitcoin developers and community agrees to a change. Today, the bitcoin value is more stable than many country fiat currencies. In 2015 Greece economic troubles, there was a sizable bump in people trying to move Greece’s fiat currency to bitcoin. Just after the brexit vote, there was another surge to convert local currency to bitcoin as it was seen as a bit of a safe haven or hedge against chaos and was referred to as “digital gold”. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although I started my research on Bitcoin back in 2013, I didn’t get far. First, getting actual bitcoin into a digital wallet was difficult. I setup an account on a popular trading platform but never completed a money transfer. I wish I had purchased some bitcoin, since the value has grown by 4400% since then. To date, I’ve used a popular trading platform to move money from my bank accounts via credit card, electronic fund transfers, and ATMs to an online wallet as well as to a digital wallet on my phone. Moving bitcoin between wallets, or at the retailers that accept bitcoin that I’ve tried is easy.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There have been a few high-profile break-ins and theft of bitcoin at </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">online</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> wallet services like Mt. Gox and a few others. The problem with online accounts, is that you have to trust them to hold your “digital keys” to your bitcoin wallets (rather than holding them yourself on your computer or phone). Because these services hold a large concentration of bitcoin, they provide a lucrative target for thieves. The industry has worked to mitigate attacks in a couple of ways. The first is to store a large portion of the bitcoin offline, not accessible to the rest of the system, insulating a large portion of the currency from a breakin. The second is to use a multi-signature (multi-sig) method of confirming a transaction. A multi-sig transaction requires two or more keys from one or more people to release funds. This means that an attacker would need to compromise multiple systems in a very complex way. Most in the industry think multi-sig may be the “final solution” but are scratching their heads as to how a recent theft of an online bitcoin wallet company that uses the technology was compromised (look for updates later).</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj78sIPlqvg-69n05mmECcLEfdPRtt0lfWgIg1gKw2WJgBEK6kBH6P7Y6xytpaVsaLVZQ2sEz8DG8Iu9RdSVwdbFheKhuLlmOxj-m9E4zVxFMhkkTkkRX1VewHIoOv1N8QIuBusakLlwJuc/s1600/ebitz.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj78sIPlqvg-69n05mmECcLEfdPRtt0lfWgIg1gKw2WJgBEK6kBH6P7Y6xytpaVsaLVZQ2sEz8DG8Iu9RdSVwdbFheKhuLlmOxj-m9E4zVxFMhkkTkkRX1VewHIoOv1N8QIuBusakLlwJuc/s200/ebitz.png" width="125" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some users opt to hold most of their bitcoin on a wallet that they have full control over. But this method brings with it the full responsibility of protecting your wallet and ensuring that it is somehow backed up. The two wallet apps that I’ve tried out have ingenious ways of helping you “backup” your wallet in case of disaster. </span><a href="https://breadwallet.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bread</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, uses a set of words that you write down that allows you to re-constitute your wallet. </span><a href="http://airbitz.co/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Airbitz</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> creates an encrypted wallet using a combination of a username and password. They backup your encrypted wallet but never store your password. If you lose your phone with AirBitz, you can recreate your wallet with the info and then download your backup. If the AirBitz servers are ever hacked, the attacker only sees encrypted junk. Users that want to hold coins on a PC can use one of many applications. The most recommended free app is </span><a href="http://www.bitcoinarmory.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Armory</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> but I don’t recommend using a PC based solution unless you’ve really done your homework.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Current thought leaders in the industry feel the best security for large amount of cryptocurrency is to hold it in a off-the-grid computer or storage device. The main component that is protected is the private keys to a wallet. For most people securing their bitcoin is a bit confusing. For now, storing a small working amount of currency on a personal wallet lowers exposure of theft, and reduces your target size, sending thieves elsewhere.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-CAz8R89zLQDobUis7eLHs-QYHZ58TliHB8M_H7pZkN4FLg3IzXuKKr4TU_kFAN3dQRqUgulxavg5Swp_wYXeb64Ffd6E_7aLFAMnNmdWRl7ATHrGwl5-JcQpgiF_-uIlYGG8Mg-dt79/s1600/screen696x696.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-CAz8R89zLQDobUis7eLHs-QYHZ58TliHB8M_H7pZkN4FLg3IzXuKKr4TU_kFAN3dQRqUgulxavg5Swp_wYXeb64Ffd6E_7aLFAMnNmdWRl7ATHrGwl5-JcQpgiF_-uIlYGG8Mg-dt79/s200/screen696x696.jpeg" width="112" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The other barrier to using bitcoin more broadly is having and using a digital wallet. This barrier is slowly coming down via smartphone wallets and easy to use online wallets. Smartphone wallets are getting easier to use and provide multiple ingenious way to “backup” your wallet. Two of the most highly rated iPhone wallets today are from </span><a href="http://airbitz.co/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Airbitz</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="https://breadwallet.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bread</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The bitcoin blockchain can be used for other purposes as well and there is no reason that other public and private blockchains can be created. The bitcoin blockchain has withstood the test of time, and I’m sure multiple attacks. The bitcoin blockchain is highly distributed and is designed to reward the owners of the machines that make it all possible. The initial reward for authenticating and creating new blocks for the blockchain is that on occasion, a server owner, commonly referred to as a “miner”, would be rewarded with a bitcoin (currently worth ~$580.00). In addition, the protocol also supports the idea of “fees”, micro-payments that are included with transactions to reward the server owner (known as a miner) that is able to complete a difficult encryption problem the fastest and add the transaction to the blockchain. This ensures that the distributed network of machines is self sustaining.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In addition to currency, the authors of Blockchain Revolution discuss multiple uses of financial services for people in countries that either don’t have a bank near them or are not of enough value to a bank to get an account. The uses of blockchain aren’t constrained to just money or security transfers.</span></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other Uses Of The Blockchain</span></h1>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Asset transfers & Property Ownership</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Tapscotts pointed out that property ownership in many third world countries is extremely difficult to determine and ownership can change when there is a local governing regime change. Using the blockchain, property ownership could be recorded in the public ledger, making it clear who owns the property and therefore impossible for corrupt governments to change that record. So can corrupt government officials outlaw a previous blockchain record? Sure, corrupt governments do this all the time (</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/world/africa/zimbabwe-farms-zanu-pf-defectors.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">like in Zimbabwe as I write this</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). What the blockchain provides is a record that lives on in perpetuity and hopefully, once the corrupt government is ousted from power, proper ownership can be restored.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stocks and other securities are another good fit for the blockchain. Imagine an issuance of stock via digital assets, similar to bitcoin. Now imagine creating a pure digital stock exchange where any individual trades that security asset for bitcoin. Instead of taking three days or more to settle a sale, it can be completed and settled in seconds (although it may take a few minutes to see the final settlement on the blockchain). </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXP2loqXBeW2mSKc6wOFFjFisnMQxaEumWCYOvrlNj8RALyXNR-VWGHkbDsPEbxHRhNbc9dyhs8agcwFCFsmXK9pb28arflsdO3k0czD8ivlAIKT7lpIbla-y_vFG8-czJorP1zNqZb5Je/s1600/ascribe.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXP2loqXBeW2mSKc6wOFFjFisnMQxaEumWCYOvrlNj8RALyXNR-VWGHkbDsPEbxHRhNbc9dyhs8agcwFCFsmXK9pb28arflsdO3k0czD8ivlAIKT7lpIbla-y_vFG8-czJorP1zNqZb5Je/s200/ascribe.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Registering creative works.</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a real need on the internet today to be able to prove that you are the original author. </span><a href="https://www.ascribe.io/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ascribe</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a service that allows you to upload a digital A creative work, like a picture, painting, document, book or any other artifact that can be digitized and uploaded. They then create a digital fingerprint and register that along with attribution details on the blockchain. Doing this doesn’t guarantee an artist will prevail in a copyright, case but it will help support their assertion of when they had control over the artifact. As an example, I uploaded this article as it existed in draft and it registered it to me with the following fingerprint (</span><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #333333; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">14om1hiDUKAv1U4PwzvwSHfkVVRJCxfD8E</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). In addition, I can create editions of my works and then assign them to new owners. As the work changes hands, the new owner can verify providence. </span></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Government</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There were several uses of blockchain that governments could use, from voting to issuing licenses for trade, or granting special writes. To add transparency, the government blockchain would be visible by anyone allowing the citizens to hold their government accountable.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJAveIXMqmdaAToII9NuYmwnsGdA2J0d8znCjIaPCmVFq7r3sRMKvgc3K_myftMfxVhob-M2wr_JViVSppEtzyLQ259zAH6zZAqJoCz6kekc-l-lH8U28iBxcMI-rNMzbTIrFBX3sB0VP/s1600/140828_e_estonia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="70" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJAveIXMqmdaAToII9NuYmwnsGdA2J0d8znCjIaPCmVFq7r3sRMKvgc3K_myftMfxVhob-M2wr_JViVSppEtzyLQ259zAH6zZAqJoCz6kekc-l-lH8U28iBxcMI-rNMzbTIrFBX3sB0VP/s200/140828_e_estonia.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://e-estonia.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">E-Estonia</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is an interesting project by the country of Estonia that uses the blockchain to vote, conduct business, banking, and file taxes. From their website:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">e-Estonia means </span><a href="https://e-estonia.com/components/i-voting" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #43c7ed; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">voting in elections</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from the comfort of your own living room. </span><a href="https://e-estonia.com/components/e-tax" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #43c7ed; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Filing your income tax</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">return in just five minutes. </span><a href="https://e-estonia.com/components/digital-signature" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #43c7ed; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Signing a legally-binding contract</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> over the Internet, from anywhere in the world, via your mobile phone. These are just a few of the services that Estonians take advantage of on a regular basis.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”</span></blockquote>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are untold number of uses for a public ledger that allows us to record transactions, votes, and persist the current state of being on a public ledger that is immutable. Like the internet evolved to realize things that it’s creators never imagined at the time, so too will the blockchain technology.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQPxv9FMqPOt0pxYPBvuhmwgPcPP9-nHW1sM2n6xfTNLyZRdWS-rFfIFQXg2RzPpuIwiKECDAM0h1gswMXc0FJ4vy7zvw14-NJzyBzS4u8RTBO4Bz5ll4LXAv-CMhxuuNAOwOIFjUanzKA/s1600/ethereum-wallpaper-homestead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQPxv9FMqPOt0pxYPBvuhmwgPcPP9-nHW1sM2n6xfTNLyZRdWS-rFfIFQXg2RzPpuIwiKECDAM0h1gswMXc0FJ4vy7zvw14-NJzyBzS4u8RTBO4Bz5ll4LXAv-CMhxuuNAOwOIFjUanzKA/s200/ethereum-wallpaper-homestead.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other Blockchains</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like there is no one network, there is no reason there needs to be a single blockchain ledger. I expect that there will be additional blockchain implementations, both public and private, that may be designed to solve various problem domains. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The largest and most prevalent blockchain is the bitcoin blockchain. In 2014, the </span><a href="https://ethereum.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ethereum foundation</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> launched another global distributed blockchain that has been designed to support a javascript like programming language to support things like “smart contracts”. The Ethereum blockchain is seen as a good alternative to the bitcoin network because of its flexibility. In addition they use a different method to decide who places the next block in the chain that reduces the settlement time to a minute or two. In the papers I’ve read the bitcoin blockchain is the most secure but takes the longest and uses the most energy.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As stated earlier, financial institutions, and governments are experimenting with the technology to lower costs and increase the speed at which they can operate. For example, </span><a href="http://www.coindesk.com/ubs-clearmatics-bny-icap-deutsche-liberalize-central-banks-settlement-coin/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Swiss bank UBS is working to building a blockchain network</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and issuing tokens to speed up interbank transfers. </span><a href="http://www.coindesk.com/japan-banks-blockchain-currency-exchange-ripple/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A group of Japanese financial institutions are also looking to create a blockchain-based platform</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for many of the same reasons.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEint9acnK2Eezm90R4dE2s_7eBp9Fx-KEwMgpOE-qPpZExPsUTATrb3tWSjs3zF0ugKZ9F9fKdPKptbf_ff-ZlODEqEIjf3mAFqE4EdKeNuKJvAwYnRPhQjkn0Ftr1Znp3rmzIANa-budEK/s1600/transactions-per-day.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEint9acnK2Eezm90R4dE2s_7eBp9Fx-KEwMgpOE-qPpZExPsUTATrb3tWSjs3zF0ugKZ9F9fKdPKptbf_ff-ZlODEqEIjf3mAFqE4EdKeNuKJvAwYnRPhQjkn0Ftr1Znp3rmzIANa-budEK/s200/transactions-per-day.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Barriers & Issues</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Government laws are one issue. Government not only moves at a slow grinding rate, but at times law are completely disconnected from reality. It will take time, trial, and error for governments to catch up with the times and introduce laws and governance that enables broader adoption and use of blockchain and digital currencies. There is promise however. I’m detecting that many governments are closely watching the technology, trying not to impinge on the innovation that it brings while they figure out where they need to step in. Right now, it looks like the technology will lead and government will step in post-disaster in some cases, and make adjustments as outdated laws confuse and slow progress.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimykht9zFHMleVLpVWUGLSY6MFgwQgyOCEvVr-ljvtuSHdO1RrI9GlrPpUn5ulEDE0is5KXlXjBCWOVNN25wf0YG-8wc5GJdqQC6D961nU28mJ_PV-JSbfxP-IpY2JedEGnw_NJhgR8DmM/s1600/bitcoinatm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimykht9zFHMleVLpVWUGLSY6MFgwQgyOCEvVr-ljvtuSHdO1RrI9GlrPpUn5ulEDE0is5KXlXjBCWOVNN25wf0YG-8wc5GJdqQC6D961nU28mJ_PV-JSbfxP-IpY2JedEGnw_NJhgR8DmM/s200/bitcoinatm.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Massive scale is another barrier. Blockchain technologies are fairly new. The bitcoin development community is working to improve the </span><a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Scalability" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bitcoin blockchain in order to scale it up</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Although it’s working today, the March 2016 peak of 276,448 transactions per day isn’t enough when you contrast it with PayPal’s 10 million transactions per day in 2014, or Visa’s potential to support 24,000 transactions per second (</span><a href="https://usa.visa.com/run-your-business/small-business-tools/retail.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Source for Visa test: based on testing conducted in 2010 by IBM</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). According to the Tapscotts, the system showed it’s lacked the transactional capacity that would be needed to on-board ten million people in Greece, representing a tenfold increase in user base.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Below is a quick summary of some of the other barriers for bitcoin and its blockchain referenced in the Tapscott’s book:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is inaccessibility to the average person (lack of digital wallet for all cell phones and ATMs)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It needs a better scheme to tie a bitcoin addresses to an individual (today, the typical method is for the person receiving bitcoins to transmit to the sender an address that is made up of 34 random characters. The address can be re-used or the receiver can generate a new address. Future wallets may need to support an address book of sorts to resolve this or a global directory may need to be created.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some worry about illiquidity because bitcoin is finite. The argument against this is that the current protocol supports breaking up the bitcoin to a “satoshi”, which is a hundred millionth of a bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC). There is no reason that this needs to be a hard limit either.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bitcoin blockchain is considered “high latency” because it takes up to 10 minutes for transactions to completely settle. Developers have already come up with was to improve this but some say it’s still too slow for what the internet of things will need in the future.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Behavioral change, getting people off of credit cards and banking will be difficult but thinking about how you backup the keys to your e-wallet is another issue that is even more difficult. Currently, all risk is owned by the bitcoin holder, not something that much of society is use to.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a lack of laws and legal recourse when things go wrong.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Creating and maintaining bitcoins and the network is too energy intensive. There are several reasons for this but what’s interesting, there is no data to do a comparison on what it costs, energy wise, in our current system. </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are a few more issues outlined in the book but I’ll stop there and add a couple of my own.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What happens if you can’t connect to the block chain for a bit? The bitcoin blockchain is highly redundant so if one servers is down, there are 1000s of others you can hit, but if you are depending on always connected devices to hold your wallet and route your currency, we need to come up with ways to conduct some amount of business if that device can’t connect. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We do need better security. There have been several high profile break-ins to online wallets but security will never be foolproof. As we improve security, we need to also come up ways to limit exposure when systems are hacked. </span></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Summary</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hope this article helped you better understand this new technology, blockchain, and the promise that it holds and the potential for it to be a major disruptor. What other uses can you think of? How might your organization be able to leverage the technology? I highly recommend the book “</span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blockchain-Revolution-Technology-Changing-Business-ebook/dp/B0141ZP32E/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=#nav-subnav" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blockchain Revolution</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” by Don and Alex Tapscott if you’d like to learn more and stir up your creative juices. In addition, because this technology is born from the internet the list of resources that go into any level of detail on any of the topics discussed is endless.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmqeifptAMilMDXt8pT1YXyp_X2yvEVPyN3rCUoQ7C1y2fb1UniP5IIW1ZboLtvO8BxIz4m-WFb4mG0QO2RGizjDvG5KzFAh18Ws6vCALjSA_6VhXyTe0G3BBsoLxU76HD8GGqKNkxa-5/s1600/shutterstock_175867676.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmqeifptAMilMDXt8pT1YXyp_X2yvEVPyN3rCUoQ7C1y2fb1UniP5IIW1ZboLtvO8BxIz4m-WFb4mG0QO2RGizjDvG5KzFAh18Ws6vCALjSA_6VhXyTe0G3BBsoLxU76HD8GGqKNkxa-5/s200/shutterstock_175867676.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reference</span></h1>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blockchain-Revolution-Technology-Changing-Business-ebook/dp/B0141ZP32E/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=#nav-subnav" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blockchain Revolution</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Don and Alex Tapscott</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2017/07/using-blockchain-to-vote-on-blockchain.html">Using Blockchain to vote on Blockchain governance</a></span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.thebostoncompany.com/documents/10676/10762/June16_Blockchain_Part3.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Capitalizing on the Wide-Ranging Impact of Blockchain Technology</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - The Boston Company</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/03/bitcoin-exchange/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Inside Story of Mt. Gox, Bitcoin’s $460 Million Disaster</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Wired</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wikipedia</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://blockchain.info/charts/market-cap" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bitcoin market cap from blockchain.info.</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://airbitz.co/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Airbitz</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> iPhone bitcoin wallet software</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://breadwallet.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bread </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">iPhone bitcoin wallet software (not recommended by the author)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://etherum.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Etherum.org</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://mashable.com/2016/08/12/bitcoin-blockchain-world-economic-forum/#GSMbtQTbuEq3" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The technology behind bitcoin could change global finance</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Mashable</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.coindesk.com/ubs-clearmatics-bny-icap-deutsche-liberalize-central-banks-settlement-coin/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Settlement Coin Creators Seek to 'Liberalize' Central Banks With Blockchain</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - </span><a href="http://coindesk.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CoinDesk</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.cio.com.au/article/598068/7-myths-about-bitcoin-blockchain/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7 myths about the Bitcoin Blockchain </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- CIO Magazine</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://fortune.com/2015/07/10/greece-bitcoin-bitchain/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bitcoin: Greece's new euro workaround?</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Fortune </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://blockchain.info/charts" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blockchain Charts </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- blockchain.info</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://e-estonia.com/" style="text-decoration: none;">E-Estonia</a></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/blockchain-explanation-your-mum-could-understand-jamie-skella">An explanation that you mom would understand</a></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/blockchain-absolute-beginners-mohit-mamoria?trk=eml-email_feed_ecosystem_digest_01-hero-0-null&midToken=AQECb--as9vBkQ&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=1P9qpuO3WEi7Q1">This is probably the most simple explanation that I've found</a></li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- Christian Claborne</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (aka chris claborne)</span></div>
<br />Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-57102424218205259682016-06-05T22:02:00.000-07:002016-06-06T10:55:58.694-07:00Getting Organized with Trello<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxL62bBI9T9D1G__LtlTgXBpxtkx_orAdBUDsIMC-fN6_KLdZtnd8sXZ-eNVaWU0sXOGoTaB0OfrveGuxSM6q7gRssvlewr-wUDnTLhcF8vV521JCyj8DZMfVUCq0qS_-wDfhlHWdSVKP4/s1600/trello1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxL62bBI9T9D1G__LtlTgXBpxtkx_orAdBUDsIMC-fN6_KLdZtnd8sXZ-eNVaWU0sXOGoTaB0OfrveGuxSM6q7gRssvlewr-wUDnTLhcF8vV521JCyj8DZMfVUCq0qS_-wDfhlHWdSVKP4/s200/trello1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I’ve been looking for a way to do personal task management for years.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> I tried a paper in many forms multiple times (I don’t have it with me when I need it, its not searchable, etc). </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I’ve tried all kinds of todo list apps on iOS.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> I’ve tried Outlook multiple times with complete failure.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> I even tried a mind-mapping app. Oh yes, and there was that time I used a white board which was really hard to carry around.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I like the "agile / scrum" approach that uses a "backlog" of things to do. You drag things from the backlog list to some level of To Do this week or in-progress, work on it, then drag it to QA or Done. When I think of my own approach to managing my task list it really works well. I can toss a whole bunch of things on the backlog and then by dragging them into a "start working on this list" to work on for the week (my sprint), it helps me focus on the stuff I really want to get done. It also helps me stop procrastinating. My rule is that I need to start the first step for everything in the "ToDo this week" list.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I setup a Jira project for personal task management, complete with a scrum board and it was Kanban style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> I didn’t like Jira for personal because there is way too much overhead and no connection to my personal phone (and it was slow).</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 16px;">I had a quasi requirements list but finding the right package really helped me better understand my needs as well. Here's my simple requirements:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px;">Fast and easy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px;">Web & iOS</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px;">Offer something like the Jira Scrum plugin with the visual kanban style of tracking stuff.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px;">Ability to get a little more fancy (dates, attachments and more), but only if I need it.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pdxYTrPaMCxVS9FVfpiyYCNozZzj_gWXzbcNGQQSkyFbFyyHenynicGBQGmRJ59-CK8OpEXpV5-re9RWOCm-2jel-bIvF65l40OcKvk-tUvoFM2ychG7erAMKHyBaal5CZRWNw0WaZkd/s1600/clctrello.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pdxYTrPaMCxVS9FVfpiyYCNozZzj_gWXzbcNGQQSkyFbFyyHenynicGBQGmRJ59-CK8OpEXpV5-re9RWOCm-2jel-bIvF65l40OcKvk-tUvoFM2ychG7erAMKHyBaal5CZRWNw0WaZkd/s320/clctrello.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>I think I found what I’ve been looking for in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://trello.com/">Trello.com</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b> A co-worker used it for a mini-project and I started using it to manage the rest of my work. What I like:</span></div>
<ol>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s super-fast!!!</span></b> Setup is intuitive and <span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I can just slam cards onto a list with nothing more than a title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> For some things that’s good enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Drag and drop is like using iOS and is used when moving my tasks to different phases.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It works on my iOS devices as well (complete with "force touch").</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Trello is extensible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> If I need, I can add customized priority or color markers to cards, or dates, notes, comments, and attachments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> For date driven things, I can show them n a calendar.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I can collaborate by creating team boards (I learned about Trello because it’s being used by a team).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I can create multiple "boards" for projects that need a corpus of content all their own. I like keeping C2 all in one place but I also participate on projects with others and can assign tasks to other members.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px;">Trello's calendar view is powerful for tasks that have a date.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px;">Trello is free</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px;">It is in the cloud (after all, I am the cloud BLOG guy).</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Trello is not a replacement for Jira, but it has it’s place for light, fast moving, personal or light teamwork items.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
Trello has the ability to comment on tasks, which is like embedding a conversation for the task. I don't use the date field much yet but it is cool to be able to use it when you want and then view all of the tasks on a calendar. Cards can contain attachments, embedded checklists, and notes so you can go big or go fast.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Trello is missing is a export feature but does integrate via iCal if its something you have to have. For now, I'm good. It would be nice if they had the flag done in order to enable views that show overdue items. My preferred approach would be to designate a list that flips the flag when you drag it into that list (like Jira SCRUM).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you use a "Done" column, dragging the card into that list or column causes Trello to log the activity in the card, helping keep track of exactly when you moved it to done, but there's no real "Done" checkbox (which is fine with me). The down side is that there's no reminder of stuff you still need to do like there is in Todoist. I'm actually OK with this as I really don't need one more system nagging me. For tracking, I'll probably move the Done list to a different board and give it a month so that I can always track what I did in chunks. If I could get an upgrade, my preferred approach would be to designate a list that flips the flag when you drag it into that list (like Jira SCRUM).<br />
<div>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 16px;">Trello had some very interesting use cases for using it to work as a team for parties as well as creating a group for book clubs. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwADzc38i6pMY5CJFq6Zb5_PRK-DqbEcrOqPuRvlCaTqPR5EcItfSkxah7pZ2oUjkXbL8xxB7WJ5sLXur4GT6oejbMZ3mmqDWrhIZJGX5VcjmYFiPvZRY9Ebrushkra_49J6tIPpXHk5w/s1600/Todoist-karma-520x535.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwADzc38i6pMY5CJFq6Zb5_PRK-DqbEcrOqPuRvlCaTqPR5EcItfSkxah7pZ2oUjkXbL8xxB7WJ5sLXur4GT6oejbMZ3mmqDWrhIZJGX5VcjmYFiPvZRY9Ebrushkra_49J6tIPpXHk5w/s320/Todoist-karma-520x535.png" width="310" /></a></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: medium;">Todoist</span></h2>
<div>
A friend of mine referred me to his preferred todo manager, <a href="http://todoist.com/">todoist.com</a>. It's in the same category as Trello but approaches the problem differently. After doing a little research, I find that Todoist has a large following. I found a few posts from people that use both Trello and Todoist, which I think that approach is a little manic. <br />
<br />
Todoist has a real state of "done" and not done. This allows them to implement automated nagging via e-mail or bubble things up when they are not done and past their due date. Todoist has a thing called "karma points" that sort of game-afy productivity, encouraging you to get more stuff done. It's a novel approach.<br />
<br />
I like Todoists UI because they keep it clean.</div>
<div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: 16px;">Summary</span></h2>
I spent short time using todoist and still prefer my SCRUM board in Trello. Karma points and the ability to bug me via email for things that are not done/complete is nice but I don't need any more stress from various automated systems bugging me. If I was more date centric, rather than SCRUM/sprint focused, I'd probably prefer Todoist.<br />
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 16px;">I suggest you try both, since they are both free. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div>
<img src="file:///C:/Users/claborne/AppData/Local/Temp/enhtmlclip/clctrello.png" style="height: auto;" /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Note: The picture in the background on my Trello board is one that I uploaded, not from Trello. Its from my vacation spot :)</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
Reference</h2>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://trello.com/">Trello.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://todoist.com/">Todoist.com</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-17917952351078415632016-02-01T23:09:00.001-08:002016-02-03T12:00:03.990-08:00Improving your Security Posture<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIum9vyo0IX_2huBLIFFOmUK1o5bMW4iH01Gc8rTKGMDH4HWRbOrYvJwwCaSWBVPno-pD5ToV67Jy18vIpHL8PLb6VcHRa6KrwBCJHiaOXXPXW8WfCb-ryzqr_klpja4TcnATFxrS076d/s1600/ApplicationSecurityTesting.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIum9vyo0IX_2huBLIFFOmUK1o5bMW4iH01Gc8rTKGMDH4HWRbOrYvJwwCaSWBVPno-pD5ToV67Jy18vIpHL8PLb6VcHRa6KrwBCJHiaOXXPXW8WfCb-ryzqr_klpja4TcnATFxrS076d/s200/ApplicationSecurityTesting.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everyone, including the author, has plenty of room for improvement in regards to computer, network and operational security. As people become more computer savvy (or your adversaries know someone that is) users are more exposed to computer security related threats. There are many tools that make hacking your systems easier for the less skilled, and with very little skill, thieves can access stolen hard drives in minutes. We rely on computers for everything from banking, commerce and running entire businesses. Laptops contain enough processing and storage to hold years of client and other confidential data. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the biggest problems comes from malware, and the fact that virtually any website or email attachment can silently put your computer under the control of criminal gangs, usually in other countries. Often these gangs are from Russian speaking countries with sketchy cybercrime enforcement. These gangs make billions each year compromising the computers and bank accounts of unsuspecting users all over the world. Most business owners are unaware of a compromised system. If that system is used for online banking, hackers drain the business account which has fewer of the protections afforded to consumer accounts. This can kill a business and cause personal financial ruin overnight. Dave <last name redacted>, a security expert in San Diego, has a small document on how to prevent this scenario provided below in the “operational security” section of this.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This article is applicable to everyone but if you are a small business owner, it’s wise to take a look at this article and get your security house in order. According to a 2012 report from Symantec, the largest growth area for targeted attacks were businesses with fewer than 250 employees, acounting for 31 percent of all attacks targeted. In some cases, it may become a legal issue if a business isn’t conducting some basic due diligence in regards to security. If a business isn’t taking what may be considered basic precautions to protect client information, that attorney, accountant, or social worker may have significant legal exposure. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unlike other articles on the net that offer 15 different software choices, I will provide you just a couple that I can stand behind. If I’m recommending a software product or approach, I’ve tried it and in many cases, I’m using it.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I feel I need to apologise up-front for such a long article. This really is a multi-topic post but I felt it was better to approach it as a single subject. The main topic is huge. Some large companies have hundreds of employees dedicated to computer security. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My focus here it to keep it simple and help you get started doing the basics. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use the executive summary below to get a brief overview. After the summary, drill into the areas of interest below to get more detail. I’ve also created a “do’s” and “don’ts” summary under each section to help summarize key recommendations. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3Tg20gDML7t0gscRJu27xOmMmds0ee6lECcdpmelO2-nvEpwI8uR367ozu0QIlEDQUqFBP3EJiBZVEsi0XLjmyPXHnsAgbi65cTkdExJ6jAf0lPqUovt68q5rYxUqX9w4RfxJpd14RS2/s1600/safe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3Tg20gDML7t0gscRJu27xOmMmds0ee6lECcdpmelO2-nvEpwI8uR367ozu0QIlEDQUqFBP3EJiBZVEsi0XLjmyPXHnsAgbi65cTkdExJ6jAf0lPqUovt68q5rYxUqX9w4RfxJpd14RS2/s200/safe.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Executive"></a>Executive Summary</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The following is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ordered from highest priority to lower. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use strong passwords or “passphrases”.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This applies to all of the computing devices in your office and especially to admin passwords on PCs, servers, and network equipment. This should be the easiest to implement.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A weak password is like having no password at all. (see the section below on how to create strong passwords) In addition, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">install a password manager </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that will keep track of all of your passwords in a database. This gives you the confidence to create strong & difficult to remember passwords knowing you never write them down on paper. Just don’t forget the password to your password manager. See notes on setting up and using </span><a href="http://keepass.info/download.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">keepass</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or </span><a href="https://lastpass.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lastpass</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (described below).
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Backup your systems.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> There are multiple reasons why, but from a security perspective, if your system is hacked and destroyed you’ll have a way back. There is a lot of ransomware going around that locks users out of their system until the extortionist is paid. Backups thwart this extortion. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consider using a cloud based backup solution that is secure and automatic (iDrive).
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Install virus protection.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This protects your system from the number one threat, computer virus, worms and other nasties. Don’t use a new PC until you complete this step.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Install personal firewall.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This protects your system from attempts to access your system via the network. This is your first wall of protection when connecting to a public network. This should be installed on all PCs, especially laptops that leave the office. Personal firewall software is normally bundled with virus protection.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">E</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">nsure that you are purchasing and installing updates on all of your software</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, especially virus, personal firewall, and operating system. Also check your WiFi / internet router to ensure that it has the latest update installed. Ensure your router password is strong while you’re at it. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most system penetrations into systems are via vulnerabilities that have been found and fixed a long time ago but the owner never installed the updates to close the vulnerability.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use whole disk encryption.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If your laptop, server or other computer is stolen, thieves can pull off all of your data in minutes unless you use encryption. Use Microsoft Bitlocker described below to make your hard drive useless to thieves. If you lose a PC or server, you have potentially released all of the data on those systems to the public.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enable 2-factor authentication on any cloud service that you use</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (eg. gmail, Evernote, etc). Google calls this </span><a href="https://www.google.com/landing/2step/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2-step verification</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If your password is stolen, the thief still can’t gain access to your account without your mobile phone. People stealing your e-mail, contact list, etc is now a thing of the past.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you have a office file server or network attached storage, ensure that you have set permissions appropriately on all of the files.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use cloud applications</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> like gmail, Evernote, ZoHo, and others in place of local software.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud applications are more secure because they are always kept current with security fixes. As a bonus, you can use most cloud apps from any device as well as collaborate with others in the office or around the world.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use VPN software when accessing the internet from public networks like Starbucks. I recommend a service called </span><a href="https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PIA</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> If you have a mobile phone, turn off WiFi while at a public WiFi hotspot to force the phone to use the carrier network avoiding the public hotspot networks.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">VPN software protects your computer from people on those free public hotspots that can see some or all of your internet traffic or conduct serious hacks. You don’t know what lurks on public WiFi hotspots (bad actors or infected laptops). Use “virtual private network” service that, when started, encrypts ALL of your network traffic and feeds it to a trusted router. Try out </span><a href="https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">privateinternetaccess.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (PIA). You can also install PIA on your mobile.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use a strong password on your office WiFi and admin account on your router and don’t allow guests to use your office WiFi or wired network.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keep your local network clean and free of unknown devices. Devices on your network should adhere to your policy of using virus protection (with updates) by people that you trust. Many WiFi routers offer the ability to setup a second WiFi network that firewalls traffic on that network from your secure office network for guests. See the networking section for a list of other suggestions.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you have clients, partners or other contacts that you need to have secure communications with as well as verify authenticity, use </span><a href="https://www.gnupg.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">GPG</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> encryption software. Consider installing </span><a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/03/02/signal-iphones-encrypted-messaging-app-now-supports-text/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Signal </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on your phone for secure instant message communication.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have a plan for when you think you think you have a security breach. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t wait for things to go wrong and then start hunting around for a computer security expert. Do some light research and and get a few names and a plan.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple mobile devices tend to be more secure than Android. According to research, 97% of all malware is directed at Android. Regardless, make sure you have installed all the latest OS and application updates from your vendor. If you have an Android phone, only get your apps from Google Play to improve security.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be aware that copiers, FAX and other office equipment contain storage devices in them. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Remove the storage device from your copier, FAX, printer or other office equipment before it is sent in for maintenance or returned as part of a lease.
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use a clean computer for business banking.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> See Dave’s recommendations below for establishing a secure computer for banking transactions to keep thieves out.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Table_of_Contents"></a>Table of Contents</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http:#Executive" style="text-decoration: none;">Executive Summary</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Introduction" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Introduction</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Computer_Security" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Computer Security</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http:#PC_client">PC client security</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Server_Security" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Server Security</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Backups" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Backups</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Mobile_phone" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mobile phone</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Network_Security" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Network Security</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Firewall" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Firewall</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Network_Access" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Network Access & Protection</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Traveling" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Traveling? Use your phone network or VPN</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Communication_Security" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Communication Security</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http:#Public_Key" style="text-decoration: none;">Public Key Cryptography</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http:#Cloud_Computing" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;">Cloud Computing</a></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http:#Operational_Security" style="text-decoration: none;">Operational Security</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Passwords" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Passwords</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 54pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Choosing_good" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Choosing good passwords / keys</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 54pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Two-Factor" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two-Factor Authentication</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 54pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Managing_your" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Managing your passwords</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Establishing" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Establishing a secure computer(s) for banking transactions</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#General_Sanitation" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">General Sanitation</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http:#Physical_Security" style="text-decoration: none;">Physical Security</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http:#Miscellaneous" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Miscellaneous</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 18pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http:#A_Final" style="text-decoration: none;">A Final Word</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http:#A_Final" style="text-decoration: none;">Reference</a></span></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Introduction"></a>Introduction</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this article I’ll cover some very basic security practices that readers should implement. The intended audience for this article are small business owners or home users, not geeks (who may already know this stuff). I’ll try to keep the techno babble to a minimum. The protections and recommendations below are some of the basic approaches to resist security attacks that come from the millions of amature to medium skilled hackers. If you become the focus of persistent attacks by pro-grade hackers, or hackers working for nation-states, you’ll need to apply a lot more effort in addition to what is outlined below and use a security expert. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m going to cover some easy to implement basics that I expect all of my clients to implement.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I’ll cover workstation security, server security, network & communications security, and operational security. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you have a small business or just want to improve security a little, read on. If you want to dodge the NSA, do a Google search on Snowden and security and spend a few years studying... (Don’t bother with protection from the NSA by the way, unless you are ready to disconnect from everything and everyone). </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ll focus mainly on the PC computer but everything below applies to any device you use to conduct business. Smartphones (really a small PC) should not escape any of the recommendations below. If you adopt a particular security posture on your PC, then the same should apply to all of your devices.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVnz536hY83WuubZBGY-PwtmECQYWFNZAkqw1pmIHynjmoJhYO8vnTgbk2L7Guv_CokdO_byFlGoIQZbgT103fgn_X2_ceyut6fKQa-yvzGj1ySUKLrF98zM8-0LK81OuSgtzPaO3hSDVQ/s1600/What_is_encryption.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVnz536hY83WuubZBGY-PwtmECQYWFNZAkqw1pmIHynjmoJhYO8vnTgbk2L7Guv_CokdO_byFlGoIQZbgT103fgn_X2_ceyut6fKQa-yvzGj1ySUKLrF98zM8-0LK81OuSgtzPaO3hSDVQ/s200/What_is_encryption.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="A_word"></a>A word about Encryption</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You will see “encryption” mentioned a few times below. Don’t let this scare you. When you hear the word encryption, the first thing that might come to mind is that it’s something only techies or geeks would understand, or use. In reality, the idea of encryption isn't that complicated. Encryption is a system of mathematical algorithms that encodes user data so that only the intended recipient can read it. You use encryption every day, you may just not realize it. Every time you have “https” in the browser URL, you are using public key encryption to verify the site is who it claims to be, and scrambling the main chunks of data being sent and received to/from that web site. I will talk about encrypting “data at rest” and “data in motion”. All of this will be done in a way that is easy to understand and implement with what you have today at a very low cost. </span></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Computer_Security"></a>Computer Security</span></h1>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDU0yTlTXfR2JVmWESg8FDnuQpUyd9_MDsH5COXKEgOqUfzDVnixmTLeUye5lDanqAZyJNUJIPtsLfRVocbcHpMsbIMlHYx7UrHWII4LKyjjrRhGXo_j3W8JEEXRc83M1ssJGzUcH5Y4sJ/s1600/enterprise-virus-protection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDU0yTlTXfR2JVmWESg8FDnuQpUyd9_MDsH5COXKEgOqUfzDVnixmTLeUye5lDanqAZyJNUJIPtsLfRVocbcHpMsbIMlHYx7UrHWII4LKyjjrRhGXo_j3W8JEEXRc83M1ssJGzUcH5Y4sJ/s200/enterprise-virus-protection.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="PC_client"></a>PC client security</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PC client security is all about protecting your personal computing device. </span></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Virus_protection"></a>Virus protection</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For starters, at a minimum, personal computer protection starts with virus protection. Computers are vulnerable from the time you pull them out of the shipping box. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Install some sort of virus protection software as the first act of using your new computer. Nothing is foolproof, but you have to have something. I recommend </span><a href="http://www.eset.com/us/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ESET</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://www.avast.com/en-us/lp-ppc-win-02c" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AVAST</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Many of these come with “personal firewalls” or “PC firewalls” (discussed below) as part of a bundle. Install the software and immediately and run a virus scan. There are hundreds of articles that review anti-virus apps and provide advice on what to look for. Stick with the ones above you’ll be OK.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTsyA8_odV_oV9vMwEGJn3K-Jaxtglrl8Pr6TlPuui7CNF8vKREKDu3QehNqxZ9lxzKKOGubbKB0PN6PVaNGlmlIoiYG8fY9bBz7jDngy9pElEbReb-RK2bi97OCFnufkCNaDytcyzQKnQ/s1600/firewall.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTsyA8_odV_oV9vMwEGJn3K-Jaxtglrl8Pr6TlPuui7CNF8vKREKDu3QehNqxZ9lxzKKOGubbKB0PN6PVaNGlmlIoiYG8fY9bBz7jDngy9pElEbReb-RK2bi97OCFnufkCNaDytcyzQKnQ/s200/firewall.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="PC_Firewall"></a>PC Firewall</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The term “firewall” in computer terms comes originally from devices that companies install at the edge of their network to control what can come into the company and what can exit. Personal PC firewalls do the same thing but at the network port of the PC. This is needed because our computers aren’t always behind a professionally operated enterprise class firewall. If you are at Starbucks using their WiFi, then you need this. This sounds complicated but it’s as easy to install as virus protection and is normally part of an all -in-one deal with many vendor’s virus protection package. Vendors use use terms like “personal firewall” or “internet security” when referring to this software. At the core of this software is locking all of the doors for traffic coming into your PC. There are 1000s of doors that most users don’t use, so these are locked by the software, closing possible vulnerabilities. Some of these packages also inspect the traffic coming in to detect if it is malicious as well as notify you about applications that are trying to connect to the internet. In addition, some packages notify the user you if the browser is about to connect to a web page belonging to a site known to distribute malware. Try not to become overwhelmed by the marketing of some of the big brands. They may want to sell you “identity protection” other software that “protects your children”. That’s not what I’m talking about here.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglhbx7avpy7lmr-1RswORtlikpqBzZJcDN5fCnx7vSjSXkHyWiF8RkedhkvqYnV7ir6hAmJ_EayJtZR1zExtgTcKi8RFfFI4d1pPf7-E9zEnWcMYEbAjol3rpOXaeXg_VqdYbVn26Tr32-/s1600/whole-disk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglhbx7avpy7lmr-1RswORtlikpqBzZJcDN5fCnx7vSjSXkHyWiF8RkedhkvqYnV7ir6hAmJ_EayJtZR1zExtgTcKi8RFfFI4d1pPf7-E9zEnWcMYEbAjol3rpOXaeXg_VqdYbVn26Tr32-/s1600/whole-disk.jpg" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Whole_Disk"></a>Whole Disk Encryption</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Disk encryption is referred to “encryption of data at rest”. By using whole disk encryption, you are protecting yourself from having your business & personal data escape into the wild if someone get’s physical access to your PC. This happens by accident when you leave your laptop at the restaurant, or when it is stolen. Most thieves really just want the hardware and will resell it for money, but you don’t know who it will end up with. Without encryption, ALL of your data, internet browser history and possibly stored passwords with access to banking are vulnerable. If you are running a business, do you really want to take this chance? If you lose your laptop and it doesn’t have good encryption, you might want to shop for a good lawyer before looking for a new laptop.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The most popular and easy to use whole disk encryption is from Microsoft (enterprise editions), BitLocker. Once installed, as long as you’ve chosen a strong password, loosing control of your PC won’t be a major disaster. Go </span><a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/04/27/encrypting-laptop-like-mean/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HERE</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to learn how to install it. There are other options from Norton and other vendors if you need an alternative. Use FileVault on the mac to encrypt your boot volume. It comes with OS X Lion or later,. A free option, TrueCrypt, was recently taken off the market but recent analysis shows no vulnerabilities. It’s still floating around out there if you want to pull it down but its not as simple as integrated solutions from Microsoft. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 81pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NOTE regarding whole disk encryption</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 81pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whole disk encryption for PC or server provides protection when when users need to return a disk or need to send the PC to the shop for repair (like a screen replacement) or if the computer is stolen. It’s all about physical access. It does NOT protect you from unauthorized access via software or malware. Think of whole disk encryption like you would locking the main door to the office building. Once the office is open for business and the main door opened, people come in and work normally. Inner locks are needed to keep people out of individual offices. Similarly, with whole disk encryption, users unlock their disk on boot-up but good passwords and file permissions are still required to provide security while the PC is running. If it’s a server, you still need to implement good permission systems to keep people out of the files they shouldn’t get into. Also, if you are infected with a bad virus, whole disk protection doesn’t protect the server. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 81pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One other issue with whole disk encryption is that it can make data recovery more difficult should a PC become unable to boot. When drives start to fail, a lot of times they just won’t allow the PC to boot. If the disk is encrypted, recovery may become impossible depending on the level of damage. All of this is mitigated by backups (You backup right?). Read the backup section! Lastly, losing your encryption password or key means bye bye data. If you have a propensity to forget things like this, tell your spouse the password but don’t write it down (more on passwords later). Enterprise IT shops have a centralized key recovery mechanism and I’m not sure what the options are for small business or home users.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Purchase_software"></a>Purchase software maintenance</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Buy software license updates or subscription for your software. This is especially important for the virus and firewall protection update service when it comes due (preferably purchase before expiration so that you don’t miss an update). Without the updates, your PC really isn’t protected all that well. New exploits are found daily and vendors distribute updates all the time. Without updates, virus protection software becomes less valuable over time. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Updating software goes for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all of your software AND operating systems</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. All software normally receives patches to security vulnerabilities in every update. If you use cloud services for email, documents and other services, this work is done for you by the cloud vendor and updates are normally applied more often. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A lot of people get the updates but don’t install them because it’s inconvenient or just a pain in the ass. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not installing an update is one of the leading causes to a data breach.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Very few attackers use a brand new attack vector, rather 99.999% break into systems using well documented, previously discovered, and unpatched software vulnerabilities. Keeping your software up to date improves reduces your exposure to a data breach. Not installing updates is like like pissing off the Klingons and not raising your shields. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another piece of software that you have that you didn’t even know about is the router software at your home or business. A WiFi/router is nothing more than a dedicated computer with router software on it. Because it’s your first line of protection from the internet, make sure you keep the software up to date. That means you have to check it once in awhile. Updates for home routers are normally free. If you purchased something a little more robust, like a Sonicwall, buy the updates.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Use_a_decent"></a>Use a decent internet browser</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use </span><a href="https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/desktop/index.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Chrome</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> browser instead of Internet Explorer. There have been too many severe security vulnerabilities found in IE for me to recommend it, and it takes Microsoft too long to get a patch out to customers. There are many sites that only work with IE so it will need to stay in your toolbox for now. </span></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do</span></h3>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Install virus protection on your PC.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Install a personal firewall on your PC.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use whole disk encryption.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Never give out the password to your PC (more on passwords below).</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keep all of your software and operating system software up to date.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Update your router software.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use chrome as your browser instead of IE</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t</span></h3>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t use a new PC without first installing virus protection.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t use a new PC without first installing a “personal firewall”.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t Connect your PC to the internet directly. The cable coming into your house from the cable or DSL modem is designed to let everything in. Install a WiFi/router and plug into that. Most home routers (or WiFi / routers) block a good amount of inbound traffic, stopping a lot of attacks and scans at the door. See the network section below for more details</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">OK, take a break right now and check to ensure that you have updates on your security software and routers. You can look at the other software that you have later.</span></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Server_Security"></a>Server Security</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkzfmCVTJ4vg9vC6eUhEweVxByc1Y1YDxXHvVxRu9VFFVhwCINfHAxELjpvzDDKNqL7kHEsOCpL4qIFKpEoY_MPXty9plbEL7jX0RdFPC1ve9g9j3qL2KMVBE83CK1v4ZyUV8uEF352fLI/s1600/server-security.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkzfmCVTJ4vg9vC6eUhEweVxByc1Y1YDxXHvVxRu9VFFVhwCINfHAxELjpvzDDKNqL7kHEsOCpL4qIFKpEoY_MPXty9plbEL7jX0RdFPC1ve9g9j3qL2KMVBE83CK1v4ZyUV8uEF352fLI/s200/server-security.png" width="153" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If your office uses a file server, treat it like your PC. If you can, install virus protection, on the server or network attached storage device (NAS). Although your PC virus protection can detect viruses that you try to access on the file server, having an extra layer of protection won’t hurt.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Access_Security"></a>Access Security</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because file servers are used by a group of people, you will have the added burden to ensure that access is setup correctly. For a small office this won’t be difficult and many offices make the files open to anyone that works there. Some network attached storage (NAS) devices don’t have a lot of options for virus protection but you can always control file permissions. Remember to think this through and consider your legal and contractual obligations to clients in regards to confidentiality. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Server_Encryption"></a>Server Encryption</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Implement whole disk encryption for servers. Whole disk encryption for servers may be more important because of the amount of data servers contain. If the entire server walked out the door of your office, how much confidential data would you loose? How much damage would there be if that confidential information were posted to Facebook?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve just built a custom NAS server and installed FreeNAS (free being the operative word). Not only does it have enterprise features, it supports encryption out of the box. Servers that have an encrypted storage device ask for the key or passphrase every time they boot up. Rebooting restarts this process. This is the same protection you get for an encrypted PC that is stolen. It doesn’t guard against malicious software but whole disk encryption is protecting data that is on a stolen hard drive.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Remember, every time the server reboots, you will need to supply some sort of credentials so that the server can finish booting and mount the storage. Normally this isn’t a problem for PCs but for servers that may be a bit painful if you experience power outages or you need to be able to supply credentials remotely. Areas that are prone to power outages should have their server plugged into an uninterruptible power supply for multiple reasons. Some NAS units (like FreeNAS) make reboots a bit easier if you have remote access since the server comes up to a point that is accessible remotely (see VPN access below on how to securely remote into your office).</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do</span></h3>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Install virus protection on the server.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Encrypt the data on the server using whole disk encryption.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have very explicit controls on who has access to the data and administrative access.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Physically secure your server.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have your server plugged into a power conditioning UPS to avoid unnecessary failure due to brownouts or spikes, which may ruin hardware and possibly destroy data.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ensure ex-employees have privileges removed from your storage device on the day of termination.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t</span></h3>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t expose your server to the internet. It’s possible to do this for file sharing but don’t. There are much better solutions for sharing files available via cloud services that won’t expose your entire company. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t blow off access permissions. </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Backups"></a>Backups</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO-UUwyd7mX6UGcUkpQ3mMwsEabEWCkXy1t0q6-quOWCJ6R7byZA5hjC8zWW7JvHyvuhUOOBiR_H7m7jVDou2TTKtdgMD4OACqIVzOptSTo2zWhIsfyOcx_WsPgsvdM2HNLqrKgZ3an30o/s1600/399674-idrive-for-iphone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO-UUwyd7mX6UGcUkpQ3mMwsEabEWCkXy1t0q6-quOWCJ6R7byZA5hjC8zWW7JvHyvuhUOOBiR_H7m7jVDou2TTKtdgMD4OACqIVzOptSTo2zWhIsfyOcx_WsPgsvdM2HNLqrKgZ3an30o/s200/399674-idrive-for-iphone.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Backing up is another area where most people fall down on the job. I consider backups part of a security plan because if I am hacked a lot of malicious actors will nuke the data. It also nullifies “ransomware” that locks you out of your data until you pay the extortionist. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because this is another place where data is at rest, backups should be encrypted or the media stored in a safe. You can purchase software that encrypts the backups. Encrypting the server disks and leaving backup tapes laying around unencrypted is a real waste. Also, rotate back media off-site. For off-site storage, larger companies use a service for this (think of it as diaper service for backup media). You can achieve the same thing by taking the media home with you. Off-site storage also protects your data from fire and theft. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I strongly recommend looking at cloud based backup service</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This is because most people are terrible about remembering to backup, and at times, they don’t because it’s just too painful a process. For PCs I strongly recommend iDrive or Crashplan cloud backup service. Both companies support encryption before it leaves the computer so that even if the off-site location is hacked, the data is still secure. Using a cloud based service ensures that backups happen daily (as long as the PC is turned on). Both companies mentioned support continuous backup as well (files are backed up within 15 minutes as long as you have an internet connection. Another nice feature provided by cloud backup services is “versioning”. Versioning means that you can go back one or more versions of a file if you need to. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For small businesses with a NAS, I recommend iDrive on the PC, because it supports the ability to backup remote storage servers. (Crashplan doesn’t support this). </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are tons of options when it comes to backups and I’ve written multiple articles just on backups. You will find them </span><a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/search/label/backup" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HERE</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do</span></h3>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have a minimum daily backup of your PC and server.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use encryption on backups for the same reason you encrypt your server.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Store your backups off-site to protect against fire & theft.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Try using cloud backup solutions that support encryption (iDrive & Crashplan), especially on PCs and laptops.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Mobile_phone"></a>Mobile phone</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I’ve said before, all of the recommendations for PC security apply to mobile smartphone where possible. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From a security perspective, iPhones have been shown to be less of a security concern that Android. The fears of a “closed system” from Apple have not come to fruition but it has delivered better security. </span><a href="http://www.scmagazineuk.com/updated-97-of-malicious-mobile-malware-targets-android/article/422783/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Research has shown</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that 97% of all mobile malware is directed at Android. While Android suffered an onslaught from hackers, iOS users came off relatively unscathed. However, the report's authors warned that iOS threats were growing, despite only four attacks targeting jailbroken version of Apple's mobile operating system. A quick search of anti-virus for Android turned up an article on </span><a href="http://www.androidauthority.com/best-antivirus-android-apps-269696/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the 15 top ones from androidauthority.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). I found a couple for iPhone that really do purport to protect you from malware but it took some searching.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was reported last year that a over half of Android flashlight apps were malware. Although not foolproof, Apple and Google Play inspects apps before they are posted to the app store for malware. The problem is that not all Android apps have to be deployed on Google Play. According to </span><a href="https://www4.symantec.com/mktginfo/whitepaper/ISTR/21347932_GA-internet-security-threat-report-volume-20-2015-social_v2.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Symantec’s latest Internet Security Threat Report</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, “17 percent of all Android apps (nearly one million total) were actually malware in disguise.” The recommendation is to obtain your apps from a trusted source, like the Google Play Store. </span><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/tech/report-one-in-five-android-apps-is-malware-117202610899.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">According to Yahoo Tech</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Google does a good job of keeping malware laden apps out of the store.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple and Android vendor Google have found security vulnerabilities in their operating systems. The difference is that as soon as Apple releases a fix, users can install it immediately. Android users may not have access to the fix for months and possibly never. This is because Apple doesn’t have to contend with 1000s of variations of hardware AND different implementations of the software. Android users sometimes have to wait months to get a fix for their specific version of Android from the manufacturer or carrier.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zach Epstein from BGR </span><a href="http://bgr.com/2016/01/28/iphone-vs-android-apple-google-comparison/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">explains it best:</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “When Apple releases an update for iOS, the overwhelming majority of iPhone and iPad users have access to it instantly. When Google releases an update for Android, years go by before that new software version makes its way to the majority of smartphones and tablets.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stop for a moment to consider how crazy this is: Apple released iOS 9 in September 2015 and by January it’s already on 75% of iOS devices. Meanwhile, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the most widely used version of Android at this very moment was released more than two years ago in 2013.”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using an Android for anything important is like raising your kids in a war zone, when you have the option to live in a safe neighborhood. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy9cgfZEqZL5aTKNLgZn_CxpR967BCWIf7kgd6FE8OeAbgWElC9LVLpLS0_TRhF50v8O7OeS6JKdNMuhAlAKow4Eeu_7t501BRj0WNPcQIyokqtFCmJk5dXNvfwyx8SGeyzJDecPdRyh3k/s1600/network-security-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy9cgfZEqZL5aTKNLgZn_CxpR967BCWIf7kgd6FE8OeAbgWElC9LVLpLS0_TRhF50v8O7OeS6JKdNMuhAlAKow4Eeu_7t501BRj0WNPcQIyokqtFCmJk5dXNvfwyx8SGeyzJDecPdRyh3k/s200/network-security-image.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Network_Security"></a>Network Security</span></h1>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Firewall"></a>Firewall</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Network security starts at the edge and then works in. Most homes have internet access via DSL or cable modem also have a router with built in firewall. Routers are just PCs running software that does network routing. Most home and small business WiFi/routers also provides some firewall capabilities. The firewall’s job is to look at all of the traffic that is trying to come into your network and deciding if it can or if it should be blocked. If the traffic is allowed, the router routes it to the correct destination. Most routers block a large portion of “ports” (think of these as doors to your PC) and provide a great deal of protection. In addition, many companies only allow certain kinds of traffic outbound to protect against malware trying to contact the mother ship.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plugging your PC directly into a DSL or cable modem that has direct inbound routes from the internet is a very bad idea. A study published about 15 years ago showed that with no firewall between the internet and a PC, the PC comes under attack within about five minutes. I conducted a test with software to monitor this years ago and my PC was being scanned in under a minute.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you have a router from the network service provider, consider putting in a router that you have full control of so that you can lock it down the way you want and can apply the latest updates to the router software. Paul Wagenseil wrote </span><a href="http://www.tomsguide.com/us/home-router-security,news-19245.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">an article for tom’s guide</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> suggesting you throughout your consumer class router and get something like a </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Peplink-Pepwave-Router-Wi-Fi-SUS-SOHO-T/dp/B013SK2RP4/ref=sr_1_3?" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peplink Pepwave Surf </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">small business class router. The reasoning is that it allows users more control over security features and won’t come with some of the classic security holes found in many consumer grade routers. This is a bit drastic in my opinion but depending how serious you want to get, installing a better router will improve your security posture. I’m told </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sonicwall-01-SSC-6942-TZ105-Secure-Firewall/dp/B009Z7US24/ref=sr_1_1" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sonicwall routers</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are also a good option for small businesses.</span></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Network_Access"></a>Network Access & Protection</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most people don’t think about access to their network but it’s just as important as who can access your computers. As I’ve mentioned above, your firewall / router is just another computer with specialized OS and software (and a bunch of ports). The router / firewall is your first line of defense which means that it’s on the “front lines”. The router is connected directly to the internet which means it can come under attack from millions of sources. If your router is compromised, you are open to multiple attacks. For example, if your router is “owned”, the attacker can redirect you to what looks like your banking site but isn’t, allowing them to learn your username and password. There are several other nasty things that can be done but here’s the rub, the password for the router should be extremely strong (more on passwords later). </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Change the admin password from the default username and password.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Check for router updates on a regular basis!</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Change the network name or SSID from the default from “Netgear” or Linksys” to something else.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enable WPA2 wireless encryption</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Disable Wi-Fi Protected setup</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you have a WiFi access point (most people do), always put a password on it at a minimum. Also enable the encryption setting for WiFi communications. Setup a separate an access point for guests and clients. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many WiFi access points now support having two wireless networks using one device. The guest access point (that you still should password protect) normally has very limited access to your office network with the main objective of allowing guests access to the internet If your router supports it, setup a separate wireless.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Disable remote admin access and disable administrative access over Wi-Fi</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Disable PING, Telnet, SSH, UPNP and HNAP if possible.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Change the router’s Domain Name System (DNS) server from the ISP's own server to one maintained by OpenDNS (208.67.220.220, 208.67.220.222, 208.67.222.220, 208.67.222.222) or Google Public DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, use Gibson Research Corp.'s Shields Up port-scanning service at </span><a href="https://www.grc.com/shieldsup" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.grc.com/shieldsup</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It will test your router for hundreds of common vulnerabilities, most of which can be mitigated by the router's administrator.</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many offices have open network plugs on the walls in conference rooms and other offices. Unless you have set these ports up so that they have no access to the rest of your network, never allow guests or clients access to these. Even though you may trust your guests (even your kids), you don’t know if they have installed virus protection. Allowing guests direct access to your network opens computers on your network to multiple unknown attacks. I strongly recommend disconnecting any unused ports in waiting rooms or unmonitored spaces. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another approach for network access is to configure your office router to only allow computers that have been registered. This would allow you to leave sockets around the office open with less risk.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Traveling"></a>Traveling? Use your phone network or VPN</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJhVdgtkjRzs14MZp27fSmpIJ_Uq3wKLAwtRCKw7jrbJ2pmhmhOdltNrqXXqDJ0-1R2oXV6ocpFwTpCWTSHA-RSfKg-Mno6hjMCG68DYmJn14jCfgcy51lzHED4xa29Go9Lch9OHPxwsqf/s1600/IC196810.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJhVdgtkjRzs14MZp27fSmpIJ_Uq3wKLAwtRCKw7jrbJ2pmhmhOdltNrqXXqDJ0-1R2oXV6ocpFwTpCWTSHA-RSfKg-Mno6hjMCG68DYmJn14jCfgcy51lzHED4xa29Go9Lch9OHPxwsqf/s200/IC196810.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What do we do when outside the office, and we need to use the internet. Most people say “use my mobile phone” or “Go to Starbucks for free WiFi”. Connecting to a public WiFi or “hotspot” exposes us to spying and hacking attempts or worse. You have no idea who is on that public network or who controls and manages the router. Therefore, we have no idea how secure the network is and we are taking the chance that your network traffic can be completely hijacked. In addition, you are possibly vulnerable to attacks and spying by other computers on that network (intended or not by the owner of the PC at the next table) or hackers that have taken over the router. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Turn off WiFi on your phone when in a business that has a public hotspot. This will force the phone to use the carrier’s network, closing off an avenue of spying and hacking.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you have wireless via a hotspot on your phone or dongle on your PC, I recommend using that instead of a public network. You may already have it through Verizon or AT&T. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you need to use a public WiFi or hotspot, the first level of protection in this case is the personal firewall that you installed right after you opened your laptop (You did that right?). This will give you some protection against direct attack but it doesn’t protect data from leaking out to spies watching the network. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All of your network activity is still be visible to others. If you are using a commerce site or something like gmail (which defaults to https), others won’t be able to see the data that you are pushing and receiving (unless the router has been hacked) but they will see the URLs. This bit of data along with other non-secure web traffic is a leak that you may prefer that others can’t see. For example, try going to Amazon.com. Unless you are paying or loggin in, a good amount of the traffic is not secured at all. Even if it is secured, the URL in your browser is visible to others. For example, a search on amazon.com is right in the browser URL for all to see (Example: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=you+can+see+what+I%27m+searching+for" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=you+can+see+what+I%27m+searching+for</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). Looking at the URL above you can tell exactly what I entered into the search box.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you want to seal off all of the network traffic and stop the leaking, use a VPN (virtual private network). VPN software connects your PC to a remote router that you trust and encrypts 100% of the traffic between your laptop and the VPN gateway router, hiding </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">everything</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that you do. Think of it as Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility. Many home routers and almost all business routers come with VPN capability but it’s difficult to setup. In addition, to use your personal router, it must have a publically accessible IP address. In some cases, you have to pay extra for this. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I recommend using a VPN provider.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> There are public VPN providers that offer this service, delivering a more secure environment. Implementations range from adding a app on your pc to just logging into the provider’s web page to activate the encrypted tunnel. Examples are </span><a href="http://privateinternetaccess.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">privateinternetaccess.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (PIA), and spotflux.com. PIA was voted #1 starting back in 2011 and is still on top. I used PIA. It’s cheap and simple to use. PIA also works on mobile phones as well, just install the app. PIA is also one of the few top provider that allows you to bridge into your office network. Last I checked, PIA costs $30/year if you buy a 2 year subscription.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you can, the bonus of using your the VPN solution on your office router (or via PIA) is that once activated, it looks to your PC like you are sitting in your office. You can have direct access to all of your office storage, print and other capabilities while on the road, all wrapped inside of an encrypted tunnel. This is what most large companies setup for workers that are at home or on the road.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do</span></h3>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Install firewall software on your PC (as mentioned in the first section)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Set strong passwords and encryption on your WiFi access points</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Setup a separate guest WiFi network</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use VPN software to securely connect when using public internet access points.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Disconnect unused network ports in public or unmonitored areas</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use internet e-mail that enforces https, like gmail.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Check for updates on your firewall</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t</span></h3>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t allow guests to use your office WiFi network</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don't’ allow guests to us your office wired network unless it is separated</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t use a cheap firewall to save a few bucks. Routers from a well known company have a much higher chance of staying current.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Communication_Security"></a>Communication Security</span></h1>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_CikGTy7QnYUDrZKaUzwsIdb7BD1vEnsftbeDRcq6glBZerVjywKwH0USw4eDz_aWzkYp5Bdh6zgSK9Rn9AwYuLMvFygjr1mgf4FVto_G5ZBi9ilLgNp2uTYEc7lX8NgJ_k2DjtSDb71/s1600/uncrackable-secure-your-secrets-with-4096-bit-encryption.w654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_CikGTy7QnYUDrZKaUzwsIdb7BD1vEnsftbeDRcq6glBZerVjywKwH0USw4eDz_aWzkYp5Bdh6zgSK9Rn9AwYuLMvFygjr1mgf4FVto_G5ZBi9ilLgNp2uTYEc7lX8NgJ_k2DjtSDb71/s200/uncrackable-secure-your-secrets-with-4096-bit-encryption.w654.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For most people, communication security mainly revolves around e-mail. It use to be that a business needed to setup it’s own email server for email. Thankfully this is no longer the case, nor is it really needed. I recommend using a cloud service, like gmail instead of trying to manage your own mail server. I’ve covered this in other cloud articles but let me do a quick recap. </span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gmail means no server to setup, secure, update, backup, or manage</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud providers are better at weeding out the junk and phishing e-mail.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s available from anywhere and any device.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It may be more reliable than any solution that you could afford to build.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It supports custom business domain routing so it still looks like your company email, not Google. (for a small fee). </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although I’ll cover this later, </span><a href="https://www.google.com/landing/2step/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">enable “two step verification” on gmail</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> if you use it.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> If you don’t know what this is, look at the two-factor authentication section below. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next obvious step in secure communications is encryption. Unfortunately after all these years, using it is still difficult. PGP, and now </span><a href="https://www.gnupg.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">GPG </span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are the best and most trusted in the market. The bonus is that GPG is free. The downside is that it’s not easy to use. There are tools however that improve the usability but you still need to have some basic understanding of how to implement, and securely use.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Public_Key"></a>Public Key Cryptography</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKvmSg5bMKNPYxO-dUQr3JQsOv1GCmkLCrbAsiF38ZVGeu11PbvcYQhkz5Mu_DLR058DmUU080EXnNxJ10fhRgvfDUdPHtJh-R2m8BRHz7iIsbXmIXVpb7YQF_upQpLtOm89TXm3i6DEQu/s1600/key.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKvmSg5bMKNPYxO-dUQr3JQsOv1GCmkLCrbAsiF38ZVGeu11PbvcYQhkz5Mu_DLR058DmUU080EXnNxJ10fhRgvfDUdPHtJh-R2m8BRHz7iIsbXmIXVpb7YQF_upQpLtOm89TXm3i6DEQu/s200/key.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Implementing GPG for secure email is outside the scope of this article but let me cover the basics. Unlike the “symmetric encryption” that was used when you were a kid (where you feed in a secret key and it scrambles the message until someone entered the same key on the other end, we now have “public key” encryption. Public key encryption (crypto) is now the standard of the Internet. It’s actually what is used in SSL (secure http on your browser). The breakthrough of public key crypto is that you don’t need to exchange keys via a secure way in order to communicate with another person or computer.. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you generate keys with public key crypto systems like GPG for the first time, it creates a secret key and public key that are mathematically linked. The secret key is kept close to you, and secured with a difficult password of your choosing. You never give anyone your secret key and maintain full control over it. The public key is provided to anyone who wants it. The key is normally placed in a public directory or you could send it to someone.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How public key crypto works</span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaY722nvgvqURHGyk5o3UnW1OOQIBz92kPL7EWblBBggHcI2SG9UV-gV1dBP3WMAsQX1bWx-Je4qh67jPpNX-S9p36l6jcVPGKHpqCqnR2ymowc3PKwoPYhZeVCshRRBLuXY1LFithApJc/s1600/000_keys.jpg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaY722nvgvqURHGyk5o3UnW1OOQIBz92kPL7EWblBBggHcI2SG9UV-gV1dBP3WMAsQX1bWx-Je4qh67jPpNX-S9p36l6jcVPGKHpqCqnR2ymowc3PKwoPYhZeVCshRRBLuXY1LFithApJc/s200/000_keys.jpg.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When someone wants to send you an encrypted message, they use your public key. Once encrypted, the only key in the world that will decrypt the message is the matching secret key. This allows someone whom you’ve never met to encrypt a message to you that only you can open. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The reverse is also true. By encrypting something with the secret key, only the public key can open it. Digital signatures are created by using this reverse scheme. To sign a document, I calculate a mathematical hash of a message or document and then encrypt that hash with the my secret key. If the receiving party can decrypt the hash number using my public key it means that the only person that could have encrypted the data is the person that owned the mathematically link secret key, mine in this case. In addition, if the hash value matches the value that you calculated for the message or document, it means that the message wasn't tampered with. This simple concept is how most of the world's communications are secured when encrypted. The details are a bit deep but in general, it depends on extremely large prime numbers that are fantastically difficult to figure out if you don’t have both keys.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The software isn’t hard to use, it’s just currently inconvenient so it’s not used. Until it is built into email systems by default, it won’t thrive. Also, for the most part, both parties need to be using the same crypto software. Edward Snowden used GPG to communicate with the people that published his findings regarding the NSA. Again, it would take a full article to go into a little more depth on GPG to ensure that you know how to verify that you have the right public key for someone as well as other security measures. If you need help, research it or reach out for help.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Things to remember about email</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few other things to remember about Email</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Emails that you receive may not be from the person you think it is. Its easy to forge the from address.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Always look at the actual URL in an embedded link on emails to see where they actually go. (take this one step further and just don’t click on them ever).</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t open attachments from people you don’t know</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you receive an </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">unexpected </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">email from someone you do know with a link or attachment, don’t click, think first. This scheme has been used zillions of times to gain people’s trust, just enough, to launch malware onto their system.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Banks will rarely send you an email or call asking for your password. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t click on a link when reading emails from your bank or other service provider. Enter it manually in a browser and login. Many times the message looks legit, complete with logos and other artwork (and possibly it is legit). Be careful, users can be tricked and sent to a different web-site that looks like your bank, but isn’t.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Think about what goes into e-mail</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once data is sent to another person, it is no longer secure. Assume this and then rethink what you are going to say. The other person could have implemented 10x better security than you but you no longer have 100% control over what happens to that data or what the person says or what that person’s employees might do. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do</span></h3>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use email systems (servers) that are secured (local or gmail)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ensure your connection to the email server is secure (https in the browser) Gmail does this by default now.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use encryption for highly confidential e-mail</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Remember that once an e-mail is sent, you lose control. All the litigation in the world doesn’t help you once information is released into the wild.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you read incoming email, always be on the lookout for links that could send you to the wrong place or attachments that you are not expecting.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Cloud_Computing"></a>Cloud Computing</span></h1>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfuLnc-3VdprfgjT5Eig28s2TyN4jv0Yz8R9AGNiEqZYmXX712dU375xeUUevByGnpQ1cw8K0VQzPmQUIzaXLZDxbTYt6J3_eKZEyD6VeioSKvYz05_kD3FnVb79OpNH5CqlNjPQT5dLR5/s1600/cloud-computing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfuLnc-3VdprfgjT5Eig28s2TyN4jv0Yz8R9AGNiEqZYmXX712dU375xeUUevByGnpQ1cw8K0VQzPmQUIzaXLZDxbTYt6J3_eKZEyD6VeioSKvYz05_kD3FnVb79OpNH5CqlNjPQT5dLR5/s200/cloud-computing.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve written multiple articles explaining the </span><a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2010/05/benefits-of-cloud-computing.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">benefits of cloud computing</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and why cloud computing is MORE secure than what you can afford to do locally. Here is a quick recap from a security perspective.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most cloud computing service providers have a lot at stake so they are willing to spend millions on staffing, tools and custom tools to secure and monitor their service.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because of scale and the broad view of the computer security landscape, they can address security issues much faster than even large companies. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They can afford the compute cycles that do nothing but look for issues</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because of their scale, they can provide security services (like phishing protection) for free.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud software always the latest security patches because this is part of the service of cloud computing. Vulnerabilities are fixed much faster than on-prem software solutions.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do</span></h2>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Select companies that have two-factor authentication</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Understand the security and privacy rating of a cloud vendor before you sign up.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Review cloud vendor security policies, and history in regards to security.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Operational_Security"></a>Operational Security</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Operational security (or OPSEC) are things that you do to improve security. OPSEC is the process of protecting little pieces of data that could be grouped together to give the bigger picture. In the context here, I will focus on your behavior, treatment of keys, people, and what you say. The focus is on changing behavior just a tad to improve security. Change how software is evaluated for business. For example, if you need a file server, buy one that supports encryption. If you are considering a web based accounting system, require that candidates support two-factor authentication.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Passwords"></a>Passwords </span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG4GZ_bJp_0uDzq8V0snRl7h-3C_yF7oBb2Z7V3bXmOpZgFmkLGyTNJ4PzxFVDyVaShyNbeRwPdS5Yvc__sWivuVvUzkuJi-Qhk4oZTnaDkLJb6W2rEiHNNbUuFprQY8nJjlXEGFoN-9xj/s1600/Maxx-Studio-623x410.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG4GZ_bJp_0uDzq8V0snRl7h-3C_yF7oBb2Z7V3bXmOpZgFmkLGyTNJ4PzxFVDyVaShyNbeRwPdS5Yvc__sWivuVvUzkuJi-Qhk4oZTnaDkLJb6W2rEiHNNbUuFprQY8nJjlXEGFoN-9xj/s200/Maxx-Studio-623x410.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Choosing_good"></a>Choosing good passwords</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Password cracking programs have been around for years and are used by attackers but also system administrators looking for weakness in their systems. These programs first try a huge dictionary of words (including names and common lexicon like “foobar”), ordered by the most common and then move onto more difficult twists that people might use.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The most secure passwords are long strings of random data but these are the most difficult to remember. Said another way, the most secure passwords are the ones you can’t remember.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The more mixed-case, numbers and punctuation the more difficult the password will be to crack. Use the following guidelines to create difficult to crack passwords. Better yet, use a password manager (described in the next section) to generate and save strong passwords. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t use a single word as your password that is in a dictionary. Use a “passphrase”, not a single word. It should be a minimum of 12 characters if you want it to be strong. The longer the better. (example: “thecharGersSuck@golfff”).</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use mixed case and punctuation. (some punctuation may be reserved or not allowed like the semicolon) </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use a different password on each site/system. Remember, if one site is hacked and you use that password on other sites, all of those sites are at risk. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mispell passwords to make them more difficult to crack (this comes naturally for me).</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be careful when using the trick of substituting numbers for letter and then using a common word (like “1” for “i” or “l”, “3” for “e” or “b”. Password cracking programs test all of these.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t use anything that can be tied to you (eg: Name of wife, kids, university, sports team name or dates like anniversary). Oh, and don’t use names as a password</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Read </span><a href="http://lifehacker.com/four-methods-to-create-a-secure-password-youll-actually-1601854240" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Four Methods to create a secure password you’ll actually remember.</span></a></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Two-Factor"></a>Two-Factor Authentication</span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqSNqToXTLMT59BZdpDguK9aPvBh8qQbH4W8p0bfsOnBN8Mz86BmYtxy3FHQvhhkVJ6dW_v5FmjRfIkYmj3BvMhIeaLBGxwXafXhybERxGnfU9jgrvgPdD0o5kQiT9QR8V4ICRemVUg7j/s1600/Two-Factor-Authentication.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqSNqToXTLMT59BZdpDguK9aPvBh8qQbH4W8p0bfsOnBN8Mz86BmYtxy3FHQvhhkVJ6dW_v5FmjRfIkYmj3BvMhIeaLBGxwXafXhybERxGnfU9jgrvgPdD0o5kQiT9QR8V4ICRemVUg7j/s200/Two-Factor-Authentication.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two-factor authentication is a simple mechanism, when enabled, help ensure online accounts are never broken into by stealing or guessing your password. This is a key feature that I look for when choosing a cloud service provider. Gmail, PayPal, Evernote, </span><a href="http://zoho.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ZoHo</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and many others have added this feature mainly because of user demand. (Read </span><a href="https://www.google.com/landing/2step/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">enabling “two step verification” on gmail</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In order to log-on using two-factor authentication schemes, you need to know a password and have some device (normally a cell phone or a mini one time password device). When using two-factor authentication to enter gmail and other services, users are prompted to enter their username, password, and then the one time code sent to them via SMS, or displayed on a special app on their phone or other device. Entering this one-time code is the second factor. Actually the second “factor” is the phone or device that tells you the one time code. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If your password is ever stolen, an attacker still can’t get in because they don’t have the second factor, your phone. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In summary, two-factor authentication is a combination of what you know (your password), and what you have (your cell phone typically). </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ALWAYS ENABLE two-factor FEATURE IF IT IS AVAILABLE!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-3dbc51d2-a09e-e44e-b5a0-41c615ed0727"></span><br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-3dbc51d2-a09e-e44e-b5a0-41c615ed0727">
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.6667px; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Managing_your"></a>Managing your passwords</span></span></h3>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-3dbc51d2-a09e-e44e-b5a0-41c615ed0727">
</span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGh838lbaxWRmBRGBvPEZq_oVeOoCgkwsEzEsENr7xat3VTNaL-r1hmu3V5umTfeVAxY3kLFq4WaIMYfHh5JPjolXutilvAsODWaHLv1-elJL3VtpV40lgrlKiOPmyVoX8rOrSGwYsLD5K/s1600/PasswordKeeper.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGh838lbaxWRmBRGBvPEZq_oVeOoCgkwsEzEsENr7xat3VTNaL-r1hmu3V5umTfeVAxY3kLFq4WaIMYfHh5JPjolXutilvAsODWaHLv1-elJL3VtpV40lgrlKiOPmyVoX8rOrSGwYsLD5K/s200/PasswordKeeper.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now that you’ve started creating different passwords on different systems and making them very complex, you need to remember all of them. As users jump from one web service to another for work, play and ecommerce, this becomes an almost impossible task. As a small business owner you are also the IT person, and therefore have to remember all of the critical administrative passwords as well. This is where the password manager tools come in. I’ve been using these for years to keep my sanity and preserve some memory so that I can find my car keys in the morning. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Password managers are small databases that you use to store your username and password for each system. All of the data is stored in an encrypted file where you use a “master key” to unlock it. If the password manager is a good one, it allows you to setup two-factor authentication as described above to get to your keys. In addition to keeping your passwords safe, some of them install a small shim that fills in the username and password for you out of your database when you visit a web page that is asking you to authenticate. For new sites, you can ask it to generate a random password for you with the desired length.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I currently recommend two options:</span></div>
<h4 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keepass</span></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5dSJ5CHsrq-MZ9Os4nSpQXED2ga1I-gzSg49vW1X08828rHeNmgRyzPQcO_MhqhesboabhREMzZWRcF4IpbAFx2bbY878GAti_7ZEEsMeNOY3NHShgP-HtR2G30y6-Sw-_0ZShZHXMZO/s1600/Install-KeePass-in-Linux-Mint-Ubuntu.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5dSJ5CHsrq-MZ9Os4nSpQXED2ga1I-gzSg49vW1X08828rHeNmgRyzPQcO_MhqhesboabhREMzZWRcF4IpbAFx2bbY878GAti_7ZEEsMeNOY3NHShgP-HtR2G30y6-Sw-_0ZShZHXMZO/s200/Install-KeePass-in-Linux-Mint-Ubuntu.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://keepass.info/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keepass </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a free application that is installed on your PC, Mac, Linux system or phone to manage (remember) your passwords. It secures all of your data in an encrypted file, keeping one of the most important files you have secured.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is a free application </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Runs on Mac, PC, Linux, and mobile devices. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It can generate random passwords for you.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It has plug-ins for the popular browsers that automates the work of pulling up the right password as well as saving new passwords from the web.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Support for two-factor authentication by using a master passphrase and a key file. Many users put the file on dropbox and then put the second factor (a special data file) on all of the devices they want to access the password database from (or store it on a USB stick).</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The application is “open source” so it allows multiple experts to look for security flaws. It has been on the market and supported and improved since November 2003. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keepass is considered the most secure solution since you have total control over the database.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h4 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lastpass</span></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLx7l9B7swISrLQ1AztenZFKg8AhnLnhvQ_SV3uTpBQt543eSbOmuCVnH3NzTDDdzgAay_5MG3oQNDXgtLsJcmm9wMjhLRiuY8kTaG0t1nBlCqMSObDNqOW2YX_N70PxmKgu6S6S7SrOif/s1600/computer.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLx7l9B7swISrLQ1AztenZFKg8AhnLnhvQ_SV3uTpBQt543eSbOmuCVnH3NzTDDdzgAay_5MG3oQNDXgtLsJcmm9wMjhLRiuY8kTaG0t1nBlCqMSObDNqOW2YX_N70PxmKgu6S6S7SrOif/s200/computer.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://lastpass.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lastpass </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a web service that allows you to run the application on all of your devices and keep your store of passwords synchronized. You have to pay $12/year, but it has some very nice features.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Passwords are stored in a “secure vault” that is searchable.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Local-only encryption means that all data is encrypted and decrypted at your device (PC or mobile). This means that if Lastpass service is ever hacked, the hackers still can’t get to your data.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lastpass supports two-factor (or multifactor) authentication. Users enter a password and then are prompted to enter a one time password from a SMS message, Google Authenticator app on the phone as well as support for other methods. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PLEASE USE 2-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION FEATURE!</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Access via the web, phone and support for local file.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plug-in for the most popular browsers that fills in authentication dialogs, make using difficult passwords super-easy.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Easily generate random passwords for new accounts.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Auto change passwords.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Support for “secure notes”.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allows offline access. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It will perform a security audit to not only tell you how good your master password is but all of the passwords in your database.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Continued improvements since it’s introduction in 2008.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allows you to run a scan against all of the web sites that you use. If one of them has been hacked, you’ll be notified.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On install, it pulls all of the user/passwords stored in your browser (that are stored insecurely) and stores them in Lastpass. This is a huge time saver for new users.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Establishing"></a>Establishing a secure computer(s) for banking transactions</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHcYlSLgE8_j26RZZu0NeqaQ5E7PmL73XxcSC7OubRHPJDyVIQf0HbbD40KWWkvsBzv9ujcd6fIkHdYtrujf3oSCmVkDrCV4XmiLyemOkqewz1R0GSSg7_03qN3-tUpR-gNpvjHPhhkUhp/s1600/non-secure-banking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHcYlSLgE8_j26RZZu0NeqaQ5E7PmL73XxcSC7OubRHPJDyVIQf0HbbD40KWWkvsBzv9ujcd6fIkHdYtrujf3oSCmVkDrCV4XmiLyemOkqewz1R0GSSg7_03qN3-tUpR-gNpvjHPhhkUhp/s200/non-secure-banking.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most business owners are unaware that if their PC gets compromised, and it is ever used for online business banking, hackers from another country can drain their business bank accounts — with none of the protections consumers enjoy. This can kill a business, and cause personal financial ruin, overnight. Running a separate computer for a really small business might be pricy — in that, case, use an iPad. They are 99.99% impervious to the current threat landscape of mostly Russian speaking criminal gangs using PC malware. While Macs and PCs are theoretically just as insecure, in practice, the actual incidence of malware each year on macs can be counted with the fingers of one hand. Anti-virus software easily keeps up with this rate. On the Windows platform, over a million malware variants are automatically generated each day. There is no way antivirus software can keep track of the vast numbers.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s Dave’s recommendation for setting up a clean computer for business banking. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This computer should be a Mac, not a Windows PC. While Macs are not hack-proof, as of 2012 (Still true in 2016), the overwhelming majority of malicious software targets the PC platform, and will not run correctly on a Mac. This is especially true for criminals targeting bank account fraud.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Mac should be running the latest OS. The later OSs incorporates the latest anti-exploitation features, such as ASLR, DEP, and whitelisting. These features make infection more difficult.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The banking computer should be dedicated to online banking only, and [ideally] should be put on a special network segment with a small firewall configured to only allows this computer to access to banking sites, and updates to the operating system and browser, and also to protect the computer from direct network attack. This is to prevent infection by malware via compromised web sites. [Personal firewall is OK too. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The important thing is no email, and no other web use beyond the bank sites.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The banking computer should not have email software installed. This is to prevent infection of malware via email.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Banking transactions should use 2 factor authentication (e.g. involving one time passwords), [see explanation of 2 factor authentication above] preferably using external tokens if the bank offers them. This is to prevent exploitation of static passwords. Two factor has been defeated by hijacking legitimate sessions, so this control, while important, is not sufficient by itself.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Banking transactions should have a call back verification feature, and this should reference the receiving account for major transfers, not just the amount. Some recent fraudsters have taken advantage of call back schemes that only reference the amount by changing only the recipient, not the amount.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any insurance the banking institution offers to cover electronic banking fraud should be utilized if feasible. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Mac should have the latest recommended antivirus. While antivirus is only marginally effective on the PC with millions of unique viruses each year, the Mac platform only has a handful of viruses, so it is a "defensible" platform.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If an out-of-band (non internet based) communications option is available, that is worth considering. Even with all the controls above, there are still "theoretical" risks. Today's theoretical risks are often tomorrow's actual cyber crimes. For instance, even the Mac described above can be hacked, and malware could be installed from the bank's own web site (by DNS spoofing combined with web site injection).</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These controls should be reviewed and updating regularly.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I recommend talking to your banker on how to “firewall your money” to help prevent or limit your exposure to online criminal activity.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sharing what you do</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Operational security includes what you tell or expose to others. Don’t blab how you secure your office, just like you don’t blab in a crowded restaurant where you hid the key to your front door. Even small bits of information helps attackers narrow the scope of their attack.</span></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who can see your screen</span></h2>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be careful with what you do if you are in a public space, especially an airplane.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be aware if there security cameras in the Starbucks you are using (where are there not security cameras). Some cameras are good enough to read your screen and or see what you are typing when prompted for a password.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be careful what you share on social networks</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook, linkedin, twitter. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Backups</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Own your backups! Ensure some media is off-site and secure. Regularly test your backups by doing a restore. There is an operational aspect to this as well. As much of a pain as it is, you need to check the logs once in a while to ensure that your backup plan is healthy. Business owners need to think about the entire office.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="General_Sanitation"></a>General Sanitation</span></h2>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Change the password you gave to the maintenance guy</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Revoke privileges from old employees</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Check system logs for security violations. A sudden spike in failed login attempts at night might indicate you have a hacker infestation.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Know who is working on your equipment and what they can access.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you need to replace a disk, make sure it is properly destroyed.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If someone is working on your computer, have someone stay with the tech or remove the storage device. </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Physical_Security"></a>Physical Security</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlLmS6b0WSsZH7c6HuVi0lmpfdK0RcljOCcjhcp1iE__WhPZrXfETPYPbmCuNAgsh6EZttLQ-VG9xFcz57Cre-gwL8iaWKjBQUulXugMxN2L8Mc-_twyb24P8H539VrkKeBN8hkjLVmnLN/s1600/4661682290_e2e0b59c1d_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlLmS6b0WSsZH7c6HuVi0lmpfdK0RcljOCcjhcp1iE__WhPZrXfETPYPbmCuNAgsh6EZttLQ-VG9xFcz57Cre-gwL8iaWKjBQUulXugMxN2L8Mc-_twyb24P8H539VrkKeBN8hkjLVmnLN/s200/4661682290_e2e0b59c1d_m.jpg" width="169" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t make things easy for attackers. Lock the room your server is in. If your server needs a USB key to boot up, don’t leave it in the server</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Look around the office and think like an attacker. </span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Can people see the administrative assistant’s keyboard in the reception area?</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is the receptionist or anyone else sitting under a security camera? </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When non-employees come in, do they have access to the whole building or just parts of it?</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Set up surveillance</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Set auto-lock timeout on all office PCs</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lock laptops to the desk</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Escore non-employees</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While physical security normally refers to securing your building, also think about network. Think about network access. Do you let clients or guests use your WiFi or network? Rethink this if you have not setup a specific “guest network”. (see network above) Keep an eye out for strange looking boxes plugged into network jacks.</span></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Employees"></a>Employees</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Employees are one of the biggests security threats that you have. There is tons of data on this as well as articles on the net about what the individual threats are. I’ll touch on just a few key ones.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What level of access to your company does an employee have. If you need to grant this user broad access to highly confidential company and client info, it may be worth a quick background check. Re-think your access strategy.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t allow employees to plug into your network without the basics (virus protection).</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Find a quick computer security training program for your employees and require them to take it. These tutorials cover things like “phishing”, virus protection, social engineering, and other threats that your office might come into contact with.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have a security plan</span></h2>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have a set of tasks that are performed by someone on a regular basis</span></div>
</li>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Check security logs</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Validate that patches are current for all software, servers, and routers</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did someone bring a new laptop into the office.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What will you do if you think you are hacked</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What to do if a co-worker or partner is hacked</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Miscellaneous"></a>Miscellaneous</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the section dedicated to a few little things to keep in mind if you are really interested in your security.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t use a wireless keyboard. I have no idea how well the communication between a wireless keyboard and your pc is protected but I’m guessing it’s not great.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> If you think you might have a problem, call a security expert</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consider running a penetration test.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Surprise! </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your copier may have a hard disk in it. Today’s office equipment is wired for the web, allowing employees to quickly scan and send documents via FAX or e-mail. Remove the storage device from your copier, FAX, printer or other office equipment before it is sent in for maintenance or returned as part of a lease. </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do</span></h2>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Create strong passwords.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Always use two-factor or multifactor authentication if an service supports it.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use a password manager, it will give you the confidence to create better passwords</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be disciplined about what you share.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Protect your backups</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be aware of people and cameras around.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pull storage devices out of office equipment before it is sent in for repair or lease return.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="A_Final"></a>A Final Word</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Computer security is one of the fastest growing areas of the IT business. I’ve tried to cover the basics but know that even the experts with years of experience are willing to toss in the towel at times. Nothing is foolproof. It it was, there wouldn’t be 1000s of people working on it. My hope is that by implementing the basics, you are now 100 times more secure than you were before. I don’t consider security one of my expert areas. I’m happy to help you for some things, but if you think you may be under a persistent attack or even compromised, stop using your computing device and get a security professional to help out immediately.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a lot here. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t become overwhelmed.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Make a list </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of the things you want to do, and start ticking them off the list. Once you are done, give your security posture a little love on occasion.</span></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="Reference"></a>Reference</span></h1>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/04/27/encrypting-laptop-like-mean/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Encrypting Your Laptop Like You Mean It</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/11/12/edward-snowden-explains-how-to-reclaim-your-privacy/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to reclaim your privacy</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/search/label/backup" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other articles about backup that I’ve written.</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2010/05/benefits-of-cloud-computing.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefits of Cloud computing</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://keepass.info/download.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keepass password manager</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://bgr.com/2016/01/28/iphone-vs-android-apple-google-comparison/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">BGR iPhone vs. Android </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">article referenced above</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.tomsguide.com/us/home-router-security,news-19245.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to fix your router’s security</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://www4.symantec.com/mktginfo/whitepaper/ISTR/21347932_GA-internet-security-threat-report-volume-20-2015-social_v2.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Symantec 2015 security report.</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">VPN Service Reviews</span></div>
</li>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414799,00.asp" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PC Mag review of VPN solutions</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (2015)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://lifehacker.com/5935863/five-best-vpn-service-providers" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lifehacker top 5 VPN</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (2011)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-vpn-services,4130.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tom’s Hardware VPN review</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (2016)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Private Internet Access</span></a></div>
</li>
</ul>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Backup</span></div>
</li>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://online-backup-services-review.toptenreviews.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Top Cloud Backup Review</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/search/label/backup" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cyberthoughts on Backup</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://www.idrive.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">iDrive</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://crashplan.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CrashPlan</span></a></div>
</li>
</ul>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://lifehacker.com/four-methods-to-create-a-secure-password-youll-actually-1601854240" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lifehacker’s four methods to create a secure password you can remember</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.howtogeek.com/195430/how-to-create-a-strong-password-and-remember-it/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to create a strong password (and Remember it)</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368484,00.asp" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Creating strong passwords from PC Mag</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://lifehacker.com/5529133/five-best-password-managers" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2015 Edition of lifehacker’s most secure password manager</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Older </span><a href="http://lifehacker.com/5944969/which-password-manager-is-the-most-secure" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2012 Edition of Lifehacker’s most secure password manager.</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.cio.com/article/2927598/security0/how-your-employees-put-your-organization-at-risk.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How your employees put your organization at risk</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (CIO Magazine)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-physical-security-measures-every-organization-should-take/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10 physical security measures every organization should take</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.scmagazineuk.com/updated-97-of-malicious-mobile-malware-targets-android/article/422783/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Updated: 97% of malicious mobile malware targets Android</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (SC Magazine)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.androidauthority.com/best-antivirus-android-apps-269696/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">15 anti-virus apps for Android from androidauthority.com</span></a></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- Chris Claborne</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(aka Christian for you googlers)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2
iQEcBAEBCAAGBQJWsF8+AAoJECV88MvUE0/X4GIH/3Cfyrn60xghlyhHkX6m8/EI
LMpGhw2M9YK05CWgpk3vPmuZ5u0cLkytbcq0DtPFtsry9LU3BZaEtRK3WZLb9G99
Mv4vu+uENPKiwGezdGEirbi5Z0bHu4et/UjI7D4iqA5IanMeWhyAL5GLRw6lebAK
X/OEcWXDIxxuVR1mRM2tzamzEcclu3E7ZLwrNCgxbojPLT20K9ECYXcG44F8VhGw
JMYIeSaq6jxzK9fWb+3Up6eYa/nq3zqjubdHSvYn3dOvTuUi2vSZzg+UjDUVj0jN
6xQCQ1wCi+qqeXl20giUtoxo30QAVrtlwanDmOVud6jyCF3rD3X9BxdDejgpLto=
=TtEr
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-64611815642457073742016-01-18T18:20:00.001-08:002016-01-18T18:20:16.891-08:00Zynga Returning to AWS Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXLZ3gpE8sZ9dwg5Mqsl5vc8D-KRk25ye28AK1jyUEKvNY9OdJWmUTfg7QHZkkrXdgk6sXQDPi2YFXCM5inudvUFz5zZ14H0tL3lsAxD0bKqL7sNgW_JsQGBMUmu1puaCKhTLOiC5H-Cj/s1600/New_Zynga_Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXLZ3gpE8sZ9dwg5Mqsl5vc8D-KRk25ye28AK1jyUEKvNY9OdJWmUTfg7QHZkkrXdgk6sXQDPi2YFXCM5inudvUFz5zZ14H0tL3lsAxD0bKqL7sNgW_JsQGBMUmu1puaCKhTLOiC5H-Cj/s200/New_Zynga_Logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my last cloud article, “</span><a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2015/05/aws-to-data-center-worshippers-youll-be.html" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zynga and the cost of agility</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”, I referenced an article about Zynga’s return to AWS While at at AWS re:Invent 2015, I had a chance to hear first hand from Zynga’s CIO, Dorion Carroll, why Zynga left AWS in the early days and why they’re back. It was an excellent presentation and the story is a real lesson as to why a CIO should think real hard before they start buying infrastructure (even if you are going to deploy in a co-location facility).</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a quick recap, Zynga sort of rocked the burgeoning cloud business landscape when they announced they were pulling out of AWS and build their own private cloud starting 2009. They started with Equinix and completed their first massive dedicated large data center in 2011. Carroll gave some compelling reasons (at the time) why they left. </span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the time AWS couldn’t keep up with the growth Zynga was going through.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Games launched from 2009 to 2001 were rocketing from 0 to 10 million users in weeks.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">EC2 performance / technology couldn’t match running on bare metal servers (at the time)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">EC2 consumption was at 10s of thousands of instances and they needed more</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zynga needed to scale an analytics infrastructure not possible on Amazon at the time.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before Zynga was finished racking and stacking the infrastructure, bolting together all of the storage, and turning it over to the deployment team, AWS had revised their technology 3+ times. Zynga teams spent a lot of time in design and technology choice and then started executing on that plan. In the meantime AWS continued to invest more in R&D and evolve what they delivered. They can do this faster than a company build their own. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the RW article indicates, Zynga’s business changed quickly and so did their infrastructure needs. With multiple datacenters and acres of equipment depreciating, you can’t afford to just change it all out when better technology comes out next year. The previous article touched on the value of AWS’s “return on agility” but there’s more to it. Carroll wanted to get out of the business (read cost) of technology R&D and maintaining massive old datacenters and spend that on developing games. With every technology refresh there is a cost of learning what the state of the art is. This cost isn’t just design, it’s also the time to work with vendors, learn how to install new technology and operate and configure that technology. If the technology is bleeding edge, you have to invest more to stay current with patches and nuances of the limitations.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Carroll mentioned that there was a real stress around purchasing hardware fast enough and managing the process to delivery. In regards to operations, at one point, his team was replacing 80 to 100 drives per month due to failure. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">According to Carroll, AWS advanced their storage and compute three times in in his first year of equipment depreciation and AWS was advancing much faster than Zynga could. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Zynga’s advantage of running their own cloud eroded. The bottom line is that a three-year CapEx commitment means you are committed to what you buy now versus what is state of the art in one, two and three years. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Zynga started moving back it was clear it was the right thing to do. Here are some of the key points Carroll made:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They were able to go from 100 database servers to 3 in AWS</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They were able to drop 300 linux servers</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They replaced a large mysql farm with dynamodb managed service</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They saw a 30 to 40X improvement in query performance (even under full write load)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Modernizing storage tech was expected to yield > 75% reduction of instances</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s liberating to be able to spin up a massive infrastructure and test a proposed configuration and then shut it down and stop paying for it.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS feeds a culture of experimentation to drive innovation.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They analyze petabytes of data in AWS today, something their aging private cloud equipment can no longer keep up with.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not only did Amazon release new generations of technology during the migration, they had the flexibility to try various configurations in instance classes and persistence technologies.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last part of the presentation covered how Zynga’s move back to AWS may be one of the biggest moves at scale in the history of AWS. Zynga’s approach to the move mirror’s 99% of all the other migration stories told at re:Invent, which is “lift and shift”, then optimize. For example, after migrating Words with Friends, they were able to reduce overall size by over 30%. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now that Zynga’s move is nearly complete, they are more stable in the cloud. They no longer have to deal with hardware failures and instead spend time improving in other areas to improve their up-time even further.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zynga didn’t just one day decide to start moving to AWS. They spent 15 months in planning and 5 months to move it. The lesson here is that you have to plan, design, test and validate your assumptions to pull off a move of this scale.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like other CIOs I heard at re:Invent 2015, Carroll doesn’t think they could do what they do today on AWS using a private cloud. Although he didn’t explicitly talk about financial ROI, there were references that finance was heavily involved in the decision making and I’m guessing they liked the fact that the scale that drives cost could closely match demand rather than the huge step function in cost it takes to operate your own cloud. Zynga continues to optimize using new managed services and architectures in AWS. Zynga experiments to drive innovation and are currently trying micro-services, AWS Lambda, Redshift and Glacier.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Carroll’s final two statements sum it up.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“AWS is investing more in computing infrastructure and innovation and moving faster than we ever could.”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Using AWS allows Zynga to focus on developing great games, investing in product innovation, and improving player expectations”.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reference</span></h2>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2015/05/aws-to-data-center-worshippers-youll-be.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zynga and the cost of agility</span></a></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chris Claborne</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(aka Christian Claborne for you googlers :)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-15246263865696795102016-01-17T16:28:00.003-08:002017-08-17T14:03:48.958-07:00DIY NAS + Plex Server Build<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSYUE1fw0pXkzQEpiHwG3UY683e83WYavIZrby0UPyUIVUh1gAMBLTkfjGaz237r02LvfXOmioJv8D3tAJfDHXqJ7rO32zPaXNlLxkMv66NYnP1D29i-SVDqsDtaGOXBdZdy3xjhXIqDn/s1600/freeplex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="77" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSYUE1fw0pXkzQEpiHwG3UY683e83WYavIZrby0UPyUIVUh1gAMBLTkfjGaz237r02LvfXOmioJv8D3tAJfDHXqJ7rO32zPaXNlLxkMv66NYnP1D29i-SVDqsDtaGOXBdZdy3xjhXIqDn/s200/freeplex.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve been running a network attached storage (NAS) device for many years. I’ve really enjoyed the Netgear ReadyNAS product as an easy to use reliable appliance. I started out with a ReadyNAS NV+ and upgraded about 5 years later to a ReadyNAS Ultra. I’m still happy with the unit but I need to add more storage and I want to use my NAS box to also serve movies and other media. To do that I need a lot more storage and I need more processing power. The Plex media server that I’m going to use transcodes the movies to the target viewing platform on the fly so it’s fairly CPU intensive, a lot more than the ReadyNAS is designed for. It’s time to build a custom NAS and media server.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NOTE: If you’d like to skip all of the detail, I put a bill-of-materials at the bottom so you can see what I used in my build.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My requirements were as follows:</span></h2>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Low power consumption (it’s going to be on all the time) like any NAS</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just enough processing power to serve as a NAS and deliver two 1080P movies at the same time.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12 or more TB of space</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Support for some sort of RAID-5 or 6</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Easy to maintain but provide ability to get directly to the OS and implement enhancements and perform simple maintenance in the future.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Small form factor. I don’t want a giant box in the office and I’m use to my little ReadyNAS.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.3333px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Design:</span></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Summary</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I settled on </span><a href="http://www.freenas.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FreeNAS </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as the software that I would install on some custom hardware. </span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FreeBSD Unix -- robust mature, and reliable.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FreeNAS file server -- enterprise features, reliable, strong community support</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://plex.tv/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plex </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">media server -- feature, feature rich, nailed what I wanted in a media server</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A small Asrock 8 core cpu motherboard with built in networking, USB, and 12 SATA ports for disk drives. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">32GB of ECC memory</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SilverStone Mini-ITX case with 8 hot-swappable drive bays which is perfect for NAS.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Western Digital Red SATA3 drives for main storage with a cheap SSD for boot</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihXwbx5V8AfF-4zAGE_tXt0IdSRQnrZfH9NaH70rVnOT1t9_IY6QInAUEWaAG2NO2PkcGq_fLIitrG4P4ymhnUjZZ_hZFSy9s3uY4TQ7I7uVa3EYFaWF2KULyMOao4Wml5j7EpBvO-yUNr/s1600/freenas-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihXwbx5V8AfF-4zAGE_tXt0IdSRQnrZfH9NaH70rVnOT1t9_IY6QInAUEWaAG2NO2PkcGq_fLIitrG4P4ymhnUjZZ_hZFSy9s3uY4TQ7I7uVa3EYFaWF2KULyMOao4Wml5j7EpBvO-yUNr/s200/freenas-logo.jpg" width="141" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Operating system, NAS, and Media Server software</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The FreeNAS installer installs Free BSD Unix and tightly integrates the FreeNAS file server software all in one go. That means that it’s simple to install.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FreeNAS runs on FreeBSD, a very solid release of Unix. I’m somewhat fluent in Unix so I’ll be able to ssh into the box directly and tweak, monitor, and move data around directly on the server saving me a lot of time and headache.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The FreeNAS distribution supports Plex as a Plugin. One of the things that sets FreeNAS apart from other distributions (like </span><a href="http://www.nas4free.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NAS4Free</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) is the the plugin architecture. It not only makes installing other software onto the server easy (via web interface) but safe. FreeNAS implements “jails”, a lightweight VM architecture that looks like a separate machine to whatever is running within the jail. This means that if that “jail” machine crashes, it won’t bring down the core system running the server and file services. More importantly, should someone break into the machine because of a hole in the Plex server software, the user can’t see anything that’s not exposed to the Plex machine. All that the Plex server can see is the media directory in my case. In essence, an attacker only breaks into a jail.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The primary job of the NAS system is to be... well a NAS (file server). FreeNAS uses a modern file system, ZFS, developed by Sun Microsystems to be enterprise grade. It supports multiple raid types, from mirroring to RAID-5, RAID-6. One of the really powerful features of ZFS is the avoidance of “write holes” upon failure. This is because file changes or newly created files are written as a complete transaction to a separate area. If the transaction fails in the middle for any reason, the whole transaction is aborted and the original file is left untouched. In addition, if ZFS detects that a file chunk might be corrupt on a disk, it repairs it on the fly. Also, the system will run a regularly scheduled “scrub” looking for rotting data and repair it.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because I’m leaving the fold of a fully integrated solution by Netgear, support all aspects of the new solution fall upon me. One of the failure modes I was worried about was what happens when a motherboard fails or other event that will result in disks ending up on different channels as part of the repair. Normally when that happens, the OS can be brought back up on a new system but it has no idea what is going on and therefore can’t re-mount the file system (assuming you are running RAID and files are written across multiple drives). When this does happen, you lose everything. FreeNAS ZFS has the ability to “import” a storage pool. FreeNAS stores the config on all of the drives and knows how each serial number is configured in the array. A simple import tells FreeNAS to look at the drives installed, read the configuration and reassemble the array back to the way it was. Once complete, you are back in business. FreeNAS is well documented (so far) and the support community is above average, so I’ll have lots of help. I am a little worried since my time with freenas is only a month. I’ve lost several drives on ReadyNAS systems and have never lost a bit of data because of it.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FreeNAS comes with some other advanced storage features like “snapshots”. A snapshot causes a line to be drawn in time and enables you to go back to that exact point in time on the storage system to recover an earlier version of a file. A lot of admins use snapshots as a quick backup during the day. If a file is corrupt, users can go back to what the file looked like at the point the snapshot was taken. Automatic snapshots can be taken hourly, daily or whenever. Automated snapshots allows users to roll back to an earlier file directly from the windows file manager.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvQ8Fhl92nl61mgfxvpnMT9qCLEiZos5hPSuidani618wbx2G3nq6NDqrnG4eOxfg5V9T2zR-xw-34f7E31bwAzgGz6nshXa3essjalhXLFW9dmbnCEe9aG-Fhy5I9cPKh_k9MUtMO88XJ/s1600/freenas-reporting.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvQ8Fhl92nl61mgfxvpnMT9qCLEiZos5hPSuidani618wbx2G3nq6NDqrnG4eOxfg5V9T2zR-xw-34f7E31bwAzgGz6nshXa3essjalhXLFW9dmbnCEe9aG-Fhy5I9cPKh_k9MUtMO88XJ/s200/freenas-reporting.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FreeNAS comes with a graphical reporting tool that covers various CPU metrics, disk, IO, and more.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All of the configuration that I’ve done so far on the new system has been done from a WEB UI although a lot of the admin could be done at a command prompt on the server, I’m a relative newbie to FreeNAS + FreeBSD flavor and I don’t do this kind of work daily so having all of it automated and bundled in a nice WEB user interface rocks. I’ve used a terminal via SSH to quickly get in and move files around and do some monitoring during the test phase.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmKdkgqgAHHpd8fcQ-bRKQfd6nM6EUCtF2i9YTk33r8VMPY-YfuY0e0tXPjaxcMbp94ZJh2fBTZhyphenhyphenG0_PLTUmUkow1YrtMzBUjhKvwzfytKbCxeWsDm4Xrya5NhPM2MGT1CRyrT1Jf5YEl/s1600/plex-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmKdkgqgAHHpd8fcQ-bRKQfd6nM6EUCtF2i9YTk33r8VMPY-YfuY0e0tXPjaxcMbp94ZJh2fBTZhyphenhyphenG0_PLTUmUkow1YrtMzBUjhKvwzfytKbCxeWsDm4Xrya5NhPM2MGT1CRyrT1Jf5YEl/s200/plex-logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plex Media Server software</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve already mentioned that I chose Plex to be my media server software. My friend John Doxey turned me on to Plex, and my quick research showed its been around for a long time. I liked the architecture, and it nailed what I wanted to do so the decision to use Plex was easy.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Simple to use</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You don’t have to pre-transcode files to run on different devices (TV, TiVo, Apple TV, iPhone, IPad, PC...). This is because Plex figures out what’s needed for the target device and transcodes the file on the fly. This is one of the reasons I never bothered goofing around with ripping my DVDs.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can share your library with friends.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Works with all my devices including TiVo, Apple TV, Apple mobile devices, and even my TV. I have a Samsung smart TV and I installed the Plex client on it. The Samsung setup took just a minute but the best user interface is the new gen Apple TV. The menu on all of the devices, including the TiVo are almost exactly the same but the one for Apple TV works the best for me. My son used his iPhone and sent the movie to his chromecast device on the TV in his room.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plex allows you to sync a movie to your mobile device as well. </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hardware </span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once I chose what software I was going to run and some of the design guidelines mentioned above, I needed to choose the hardware for my build that was compatible with design objectives and software I wanted to run. I started with with a blog by </span><a href="http://blog.brianmoses.net/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brian Moses called “Brian’s BLOG”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I was sucked in quickly because past builds required that I research every possible component type, brand, and configuration. Brian had built a few FreeNAS systems and had many of the same requirements that I have in his latest build. This allowed me to take a different approach, compare what Brian did with other options and go. Brian’s build pretty much rocked and many of the components he used were well reviewed by others. For example, I would have liked to have had a smaller case, but I just couldn’t find one that had any better reviews.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7OFCi6CL_rCHIekefnEz0uk0HNCYYjMp1CxJ2omUHVx1eknnf_qYYzWN-LLe7JfACCtZY-xSxvGVVs33o8hNZG4k5u3MneMbWrEiCLxt-fE4dB7dr2ND8JhYlj0zJlIVDtpjmmGV3ZQA/s1600/asrock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7OFCi6CL_rCHIekefnEz0uk0HNCYYjMp1CxJ2omUHVx1eknnf_qYYzWN-LLe7JfACCtZY-xSxvGVVs33o8hNZG4k5u3MneMbWrEiCLxt-fE4dB7dr2ND8JhYlj0zJlIVDtpjmmGV3ZQA/s200/asrock.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Motherboard</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brian reviewed a couple of motherboards from Asrock. Both of these boards received very high reviews by others for NAS implementations, especially because they had 12 SATA connectors for disks, 8 of them are the high speed SATA3 types. In addition, a very active user community recommends the use of error correcting memory (ECC) when running a FreeNAS server and Asrock supports ECC memory. Although a low power 4 core machine would be fine for most home NAS servers, I chose the </span><a href="http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C2750D4I#Specifications" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ASROCK C2750D4I</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with 8 cores. It had to provide the processing power needed to run the media server when someone watched a movie in addition to its NAS responsibilities. To provide a comparison, this processor isn’t as powerful as one in most laptops (maybe more power than a chromebook) but it fits the bill for its purpose. Here are the core features:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mini-ITX form factor, meaning it’s small and therefore will allow me to get a smaller case.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It comes with an Intel Avaton* processor on it, saving me the hassle of trying to figure out what processor is compatible, as well as trying to choose the right heatsink. The case (mentioned below) is small, so something requiring a large heatsink was out ofthe question.. (* Avaton is part of the Intel Atom processor line).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Intel processor is 8 cores without hyperthreading or turbo mode, but they won’t slow down when all cores are busy (that I know of anyway).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It doesn’t eat up so much power that it needs a giant CPU cooler or CPU fan, just a passive heat sink. (*I did end up putting a small cpu fan that would provide enough airflow over the processor so that when it’s running at 100% it wouldn’t cook the motherboard.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It has dual high-speed ethernet ports but I only need one.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No fancy graphics card (means lower power consumption).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">USB ports for my mini-keyboard and a simple VGA port for the console output which is very rarely used on a server. (All management is mostly done via a WEB browser and once it’s running I remote into it with SSH)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It supports up to 64GB memory on the board which will be more than enough. I loaded it with 32, and that should be sufficient, even with some additional load in the future. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The 8 high speed disk SATA3 ports will allow me to scale up past my 12 terabyte requirement running RAID5+ easily. I’ll use the other SATA2 connectors for the boot device and possibly an external bus for removable backups.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I supports error correcting memory (ECC), which is highly recommended for FreeNAS systems.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Has Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) on it. This is a more enterprise feature but very cool. IPMI allows the owner to talk directly to the motherboard as long as it’s plugged in and on the network. It doesn’t need to be turned on. This enables admins to diagnose the motherboard and power it up remotely. When it is running I can use the IPMI to see the temperatures, status on all of the fans (three on the case and one blowing on the processor), and other metrics. Asrock went the extra mile and made all of this accessible with a browser so there’s nothing special to install on your workstation in order to talk to it. Lastly, the IPMI allows you to go to the console on the machine right from the IPMI screens, a huge bonus. The IPMI implementation was an unexpected surprise.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The motherboard has 3 USB ports but they are only USB2. I would have much preferred USB3 so that I could use an external USB3 drive directly attached to it for backing up.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Memory</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is normally a simple choice but as it turns out, it wasn’t.. The motherboard is super super picky about exactly the type and make of memory. Brian suggested one type but I tried two others that had the correct spec but didn’t work. I put in 4 8GB sticks of ECC memory as I was guessing that it would all be used when I fired up the transcoder on top of the NAS responsibilities. It may be a bit overkill but system stats indicate that most of it is used. FreeNAS will suck up a lot of memory if you have it in order to improve memory and as a result, I see no performance sapping “swapping” due to insufficient amount of RAM. I did see that all of it was used just for NAS when I had 16GB installed but I didn’t notice any swap stats before I upgraded to 32GB.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYEiWSDPNWxwjKNLZA-6Sw17ZeD-5gigoJpMZDFJkCCX9bbsv6lO4XfexPxYREyRzWw9Of8ANsg3aQ0LM-OhVap8D6lbWbP6IBHOujCHnBMNz2T8KRTaHYjX2BOQQ1bLEXrE6kWlCsyW52/s1600/case.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYEiWSDPNWxwjKNLZA-6Sw17ZeD-5gigoJpMZDFJkCCX9bbsv6lO4XfexPxYREyRzWw9Of8ANsg3aQ0LM-OhVap8D6lbWbP6IBHOujCHnBMNz2T8KRTaHYjX2BOQQ1bLEXrE6kWlCsyW52/s200/case.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Case & Power</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brian’s Blog recommended the SilverStone Mini-ITX NAS case that I ended up with. It had really good reviews by others and it’s perfect for a multi-disk NAS box. Looking a YouTube review showed the value of the SATA backplane for the drive bay which meant that I would have fewer cuts on my hands when the build was complete. </span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8 slots for quick changing drives (possibly hot pluggable)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Room for more internal storage</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Designed for the small motherboard (mini-ITX)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Comes with very large fans that move a lot of air quietly.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It has USB connectors on the front, but they were worthless because the cable that is supplied wouldn’t work with the motherboard. No big one.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I put a 450W power supply that is possibly little over built. No need to cut it close. The one thing that I didn’t like about the power supply was the 20pin main cable was a pain to install because it was split for other types of boards.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Storage</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I use a low cost SSD drive for the boot device. It’s cheap and reliable. A lot of other FreeNAS builders use a mini-USB stick in the USB slot as the boot device. This is definitely doable and the install even lets you mirror the boot storage on two of them. Traffic to the boot device is minimal once the system boots. Because I may want to install other packages, I wanted a little more room and I needed the USB slots that are on the system for keyboard and ability to attach external drives if needed (definitely needed during install :) dropping in a SSD is a good solution.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I ended up buying 8 WD 3TB drives for the NAS as part of this project. I thought I could get away with fewer drives (total storage), but when I started loading my video files (my entire DVD collection) plus all of the data from the old NAS which includes 1+ TB of photos), it was clear that I would be at capacity day 1. You can extend a NAS system like this without a complete rebuild but when you run Z2, but you have to add a minimum of 4 drives. Suffice it to say, setting it up correctly at the beginning was going to be a lot easier for me while I still have my original NAS on-line. I ended up pulling everything off and adding a few more drives in the middle of my setup so that I would have some growing room. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m running the system with RAIDZ2, which means I can lose two drives and the storage pool will still hum along (in degraded mode). This translates to really having 6 drives. Z2 means that instead of having parity spread over the disks, dual parity was written. This config was recommended on various community sites when you get into the high terabyte range. The thinking is that while rebuilding the parity on the replacement drive (when you get around to installing it) leaves a lot of data vulnerable to a second drive failure. With Z2, you can lose a second drive while the first one is rebuilding (or before you even get the replacement drives installed) and not loose all your data.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO86xCFUbfdiZu7KEVz4K1qhEAlPnSg6KRsfDxeaF2AghqpC2RK0hFEnTjnAwGT0gh38cUKLUSI-oWbRisZmTtB5luarlhEFAkgDsvF58zrf9HAeNSjwZ_Jr5WZJJX_I6vkVtNnBvuQCsA/s1600/C2F04605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO86xCFUbfdiZu7KEVz4K1qhEAlPnSg6KRsfDxeaF2AghqpC2RK0hFEnTjnAwGT0gh38cUKLUSI-oWbRisZmTtB5luarlhEFAkgDsvF58zrf9HAeNSjwZ_Jr5WZJJX_I6vkVtNnBvuQCsA/s200/C2F04605.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Setup and Configuration</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Assembling all the parts is straightforward, only requiring good glasses (and a couple of screwdrivers) in order to attach some of the small leads to the pins on the motherboard and reading the fine print in the manual. I wanted a small case but knew that with that comes the penalty of very cramped living space. I only spilled a little blood during the project which proves most of the sharp edges were removed inside the case. I added a small CPU like fan mounted in front of the heatsink after testing for a few weeks. Watching a 1080P movie definitely pushed the CPU to 100% utilization on all cores driving the heat up past 50 C. I figured that when summer rolled in and started cooking my office, I’d need all the cooling I could get to keep from frying the motherboard. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The drive bay has a hot-pluggable backplane. By attaching all of the drive cables to the drive backplane, I could (and did) easily add drives later by simply sliding them in. I wasn’t sure that the motherboard would support hot plugging drives so I powered down when I snapped them in.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tip:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Put the serial numbers on the faceplate of the drive holders. If a drive fails, FreeNAS tells you the serial number to replace, not the slot of the failed drive. Because FreeNAS doesn’t know what hardware it will be using (unlike my NetGear and other vertically integrated appliances) or where the drives are physically located it needs a generic way to indicate which drive should be replaced. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The most frustrating part of this build was getting the right memory. If you didn’t have the right memory installed it wouldn’t do anything and wouldn’t tell you why. If you have the wrong memory installed you get nothing but blank screen. WTF! Most people think the motherboard is busted when it won’t even come up to an error or “POST” screen. It would be nice to get some sort of error code that would have lead me in the right direction during debugging. Use the link to memory that I have in the BOM below and you’ll be fine.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last thing you do before installing software are final changes to the hardware settings via the CMOS screen. Working through the SATA configuration was a bit confusing, especially since there were two controllers on it with different features for each. I disabled the on-board hardware RAID to improve boot speed as I didn’t need HW RAID because I’d be running software raid via FreeNAS. The Intel controller SATA menu blended in with the Marvell config so it took me a few minutes to figure out why it wouldn’t see the SSD boot drive that I installed. (Yes, like an excited kid at christmas, I missed the nuance of the menu)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9NkxErOPtEStqeOWQO26U5m4-Frys3DlpSgSSkm9GPpgu7ri0rWuuueileUej2ftlMtnzO8RrrLqh39eG223_YUAp2BFsPx4j0tw5lNApy5N08kNuuVBtPTk2Qd4sLFGl5yFKRSqD8RxO/s1600/C2F04612.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9NkxErOPtEStqeOWQO26U5m4-Frys3DlpSgSSkm9GPpgu7ri0rWuuueileUej2ftlMtnzO8RrrLqh39eG223_YUAp2BFsPx4j0tw5lNApy5N08kNuuVBtPTk2Qd4sLFGl5yFKRSqD8RxO/s200/C2F04612.jpg" width="163" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The real fun begins on install of FreeNAS. Installing was easier and faster than I thought. After downloading and using a simple piece of free software to put the bootable image on a tiny USB stick it was a simple matter of booting off the USB stick and answering a couple of questions after it booted the installer. This is one of the reasons I love Unix/Linux. It’s a very focused operating system that doesn’t pack gigs of crap that need to be loaded in order to work.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once up, the console tells you the IP address that the server is running on. You then turn off the console on the server and put away the keyboard because pretty much everything else is done via the WEB. By the way, I also have a mini 7 inch screen with a wireless mini keyboard that I can hide or fit into a small closet if I ever move the server. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the first time config, FreeNAS immediately starts a wizard which steps you through naming the server, creating a storage pool and setting up sharing for windows, mac or unix (or all). It also steps you through setting up the server so that it can send you email when there is a problem (like when a drive fails). Not having a simple email notification feature led to doom when my neighbor lost her entire NAS drive after both drives failed. Had she been notified and known about the drive failure sooner, disaster might have been avoided. (the full story later)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The final steps to to add user names for the family and a group for the group share and I was done with the NAS configuration part. Final steps included some tweeks to turn off automatic console access (a security problem) and a few other minor tweaks just because I can. A reboot ensured that it would come up properly and register its name on my network. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next step was to install Plex. A very quick read on how to do this using the menus and I was off and running. Click on plugins, choose Plex, click install. Once installed I opened a storage window to my media directory to the Plex “jail” using the instructions from the web. Once that was done and I started the Plex service, it could see the media directory but it had no other access to the rest of the system. If there is a security bug in Plex, only the media files are at risk (very cool design). From that point on, the Plex server was configured like any other on a Windows or mac system.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The real work is moving all the data onto the new NAS from the old NAS server and from other various sources. I tried using a Unix utility called rsync, but I gave up. The idea was to have the two servers connect directly rather than having my PC pull from one and shove data back down the network to the other server. Server to server would be faster and would free my PC to do more real work. I was able to get a rsync client working on the ReadyNAS and copy to the new NAS but it seemed slow, and it would fail after several hours. Attempts to run the client from the new NAS never worked. I have a feeling I am missing a config option in the system somewhere. I gave up after a day or two of fighting it and used my laptop to move all of the data. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLAhzfY57t_kR3b39akXEsHPe6brgpLS1ewgNqz-NkI0ZuHMUIXCVyUCsJPBgw2qbbxINvyDlG5cSXdZCb030N9wu4RBNeyHlYBZ6WmU7KP46FfBqLL2xNxi6oCIm_CpNsELrJ4_5g2ax/s1600/jpsoftlogo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="65" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLAhzfY57t_kR3b39akXEsHPe6brgpLS1ewgNqz-NkI0ZuHMUIXCVyUCsJPBgw2qbbxINvyDlG5cSXdZCb030N9wu4RBNeyHlYBZ6WmU7KP46FfBqLL2xNxi6oCIm_CpNsELrJ4_5g2ax/s200/jpsoftlogo2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tip: </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use “tcc” from </span><a href="https://jpsoft.com/tccle-cmd-replacement.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">JPSoft</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or Syncback from </span><a href="http://www.2brightsparks.com/products.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2brightsparks </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to do your file moves. Using file manager in Windows to move large amounts of files can be problematic and at times frustrating and it doesn’t log what it did or allow you to easily skip files that don’t need to be copied because they already exist. There are times when file manager will just freeze but the biggest issues is that if it encounters any sort of error it stops. This means that you could start a copy just before you go to bed and get up in the morning to find the 12+ hour job had stopped with a question 5 minutes after you started it (ask me how I know). TCC lite is free from JPSoft. It is a command/console replacement for Windows cmd.exe (cmd.exe isn’t removed). It has tons more functionality built into all of the file management commands (like copy, move, delete to name a few). I have SyncbackPro but I mainly used copy in a tcc console window. The other bonus is both of these tools log everything that happens. I’ve been using tcc for over 15 years (the previous name was 4NT). Most of my copy commands look like the following:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">copy /su w:\group z:\group >copy-log.txt 2>&1</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This above command simply says to copy, including subdirectories, and “update” stuff from my old-nas share to the new system and send the logs for standard-out and errors to copy-log.txt. The “u” in the above command is for update, which means that if the file with the same name and date/time are on the target system, don’t bother doing another copy. This is really handy if your PC blows up in the middle of a large copy job or you need to kill it and pick it up later for any reason. You can’t do a “update” with file manager or the Windows copy command. You can run this tcc copy command as many times as you want and it will only copy new or updated files on the source to the destination saving you days. I always send long running jobs to a log file so that I can look at it later and verify what it did or debug any issues. It’s a habit I built from my days as a Unix & Linux admin.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jq7QkT7RttisIaAtLOJa6uAdkYqSvwnt8BrdOnaWN9g_HxiwH38VkPbj1pdiPxvPJGYuCKwd2KqlD4eBXNAG4-Q_0V86BUVVMbeTDU3N2Ic8oZZgmklc-jc2W4Tcd9njt6kVmm9dYpw4/s1600/darkpoolmb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jq7QkT7RttisIaAtLOJa6uAdkYqSvwnt8BrdOnaWN9g_HxiwH38VkPbj1pdiPxvPJGYuCKwd2KqlD4eBXNAG4-Q_0V86BUVVMbeTDU3N2Ic8oZZgmklc-jc2W4Tcd9njt6kVmm9dYpw4/s200/darkpoolmb.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Setting up this system sounds complicated but its not really and I saved money. If I had purchased another beefy hardware appliance that would do the job of NAS and media server, it would have cost me a lot more and wouldn’t have had the enterprise features and flexibility that I have now. Yes, buying off the shelf would have saved me construction, but that was the fun part. Have fun, save money. I looked for a small over the counter NAS that I could buy that would have had more CPU power for transcoding and maybe 6 slots for drives but they were a lot more money. Nowadays, its normally cheaper to buy a server or PC for home from places like HP but in this case I got a better solution for less. In addition, I like the enterprise grade features in FreeNAS and their architectural approach to things like using jails for the plugin architecture. ZFS came from Sun Microsystems years ago and was open sourced. It’s given very high marks by a legion of knowledgeable geeks in small companies or labs.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have enough storage to grow into and the processor was a perfect fit. Because the transcoder will take advantage of as many CPUs as are available, it wasn’t overkill. When I see the processor running at 100% and I’m getting the performance from the video I want, it means that I purchased exactly the right amount. I’ll get around to attaching a watt meter and update this with the power utilization. Since I have solar, I’m not too worried about cost but saving power means others use my excess green energy.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lessons Learned</span></h2>
<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is difficult to expand volumes by just adding disks when using RAIDZ. If it's a raidz2, then you need to add a minimum of 4 disks. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's easier to build out to the max storage at the beginning. Do it if you can.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Put in 32GB. Plex will run with zero swapping (but in fairness, I forgot to look at swap stats when it only had 16). I know I probably have some headroom for additional use.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This case seems to work fine without a CPU cooler. It moves air in with 2 fans and out with one large one. (Update: I added a small cpu fan to blow onto the heatsink). It never gets over 50c.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use a minimal number of ZFS "</span><a href="http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas_storage.html#create-dataset" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Datasets</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" on your storage pool. Each dataset acts as if it were a separate file system. Therefore, you can't "move" directories between datasets (you can, but it just does a copy which is very very low comparatively). Example. You have a dataset called ./group/foo and one called ./group/bar. Moving a directory or file from anywhere under ../foo to ../bar initiates a copy, not a move. Just use minimal datasets and create directories under them unless you need to use other "Dataset" features, like the ability to set encryption, compression, quotas differently for different areas. There are other reasons to chop your storage pool up (ability to control what is auto-compressed, snapshot scope, etc. I have two so far, “home” and “group”.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Research what others are doing and recommend. One example is to turn off the auto-login for the console. This is a pretty big security hole. 99% of your access will be via ssh anyway.</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZv8m1lddu5QSvnAWzCpCjAKfcD1DmsNa5qMthujdV5R8btDkUcXdKnQsT1XoRPd0bjAXs3BmBm3sIKNYijb5c9RmBAXvaExyShrHsCEUdZsPPGYG_kdHwIe7r0aFDUNh6LTLlhKQI5wHB/s1600/gettonas-573x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZv8m1lddu5QSvnAWzCpCjAKfcD1DmsNa5qMthujdV5R8btDkUcXdKnQsT1XoRPd0bjAXs3BmBm3sIKNYijb5c9RmBAXvaExyShrHsCEUdZsPPGYG_kdHwIe7r0aFDUNh6LTLlhKQI5wHB/s200/gettonas-573x640.jpg" width="178" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are other ways to do this and if you need just a home NAS, you can save in several ways. Another approach that a coworker took was to just build a mini system to act as the media server that attaches to a low-cost NAS. If you want to save even more, I like they way this guy set his up. Who needs a case :) Feel free to drop me a line if you have questions.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a final note... The highly reliable fault-tolerant system I built to be my file server doesn’t mean I don’t have to back up anymore. You still need to backup anything you don’t want to lose. I’ve written </span><a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/search/label/backup" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">several articles on backup</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and I’ll continue to use external drives and cloud backup for the most important files. As a lesson for others, I have a neighbor that had a redundant storage server in her home used for a small business. One of the drives failed but it had no email notification feature so she didn’t know. When I arrived to work on some other issues for her I went into the admin page for the unit and discovered one of the drives on the mirror had failed. We immediately started a backup to an external USB drive so her data would be safe before we touched anything. The copy failed part way into the backup and the file system is no longer available. She’s going to contact tech support before we try anything else but I’m afraid the drive is done and anything not on the USB drive is gone. Even though RAID provides a lot of robust protection for your data there are a lot of failure modes that can lead to you losing everything. Remember the old failure mode called fire? I’ll stop there and let you read </span><a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/search/label/backup" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">some of the other articles that I’ve authored on this topic</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All in all I’m happy with the new NAS after a month of running and am almost ready to sell my trusted NAS to another happy home.</span></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bill of Material (BOM)</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What follows is a shopping cart of sorts. Enjoy.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Motherboard:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ASRock Intel Avoton C2750</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C2750D4I#Specifications" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C2750D4I#Specifications</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ASRock Intel Avoton C2750 2.4GHz/DDR3/SATA3/V&2GbE/Mini-ITX Motherboard and CPU Combo C2750D4I COLOR BOX</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NOTE: For plex, you might be able to get buy with the quad core AsRock</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CPU (Included): Intel Avoton C2750 Processor (2.4GHz, Octa-Core)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8 cores, 8 threads</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Memory: 4x 240pin DDR3-1600/1333 DIMM Slots, Dual Channel, ECC, Unbuffered, Max Capacity Of 64GB</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Slots: 1x PCI-Express 3.0 x8 Slot</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SATA: 8x SATA3 Ports, 4x SATA2 Ports</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ports: 3x USB 2.0 Ports (2 rear, 2 via header controlled by USB_SEL1 and USB_SEL2 jumper), 1x VGA Port, 1x Serial Port, 2x RJ45 LAN Ports, 1x RJ45 Dedicated IPMI LAN Port</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Memory: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008EMA5VU" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3/DDR3L-1600MT/s (PC3-12800) DR x8 ECC UDIMM</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3/DDR3L-1600MT/s (PC3-12800) DR x8 ECC UDIMM Server Memory CT2KIT102472BD160B/CT2CP102472BD160B</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NOTE: This motherboard is super picky regarding memory. The net is filled with frustration of guys with motherboards that won't even get to POST. In fact, I had the same issue. Changing to the supported memory resolved my issue. </span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Increases system performance</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Easy to install</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Premium quality memory from a trusted brand</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Limited Lifetime Warranty</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Identical To: CT2CP102472BD160B</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The following 32gb unit </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DOES NOT WORK</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Crucial 32GB Kit (16GBx2) DDR3/DDR3L-1600 MT/s (PC3-12800)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Case:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IAELTAI" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SilverStone Technology Premium Mini-ITX / DTX Small Form Factor NAS Computer Case, Black (DS380B)</span></a></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Support 12 total drives with 8 hot-swappable 3.5" or 2.5" SAS/SATA and 4 fixed 2.5" drives</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Premium brushed aluminum front door</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Support graphics card up to 11" with supporter design from TJ08-E</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lockable power button design and adjustable LED from GD07</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Includes three 120mm fans with filtered intake vents</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Uses front-panel USB 3.0 funky giant cable that won't work with the Asrock</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Power Supply:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VQ2Y4K" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SilverStone Technology 450W SFX Form Factor 80 PLUS GOLD</span></a></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SilverStone Technology 450W SFX Form Factor 80 PLUS GOLD Full Modular Power Supply with +12V single rail, Active PFC (ST45SF-G)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Probably overkill. Purchased with incomplete info</span></div>
</li>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Support standard SFX form factor and ATX via included bracket</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">80 PLUS Gold level efficiency (87%~90% efficiency at 20%~100% loading)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">100% modular cables</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">450W continuous power output at 40-degree C operating temperature rated for 24/7 operation</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Class-leading single Plus 12V rail with 37A</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Strict Plus or Minus 3% voltage regulation and low ripple and noise</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Silent running 80mm fan with 18dBA minimum</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Single PCI-E 8pin and dual PCI-E 6-Pin connectors support</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Storage:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008JJLW4M" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WD Red 3TB NAS Desktop Hard Disk Drive</span></a></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WD Red 3TB NAS Desktop Hard Disk Drive - Intellipower SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD30EFRX</span></div>
</li>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Capacity: 3 TB</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interface: SATA3</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Data Transfer Rate: 6 Gb/s Buffer to Host (max); 145 MB/s Host to/from drive (typical)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Form Factor: 3.5 inch</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Read/Write: 4.4 Watts</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Standby: 0.6 Watt</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Boot Storage:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U/ref=sr_1_1" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-75E250B/AM)</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NOTE:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> You need to install FreeNAS on a drive that won't be used for a storage pool. A lot of guys install to a USB stick</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can find less expensive SSD drives. I installed on the Intel SATA-2 port to leave the SATA-3 ports open. Therefore, you should be able to get this cost down by another $0 - $40. I wanted something that I could re-use if needed and there is only a $20 diff for the next smaller drive.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NOTE2:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> FreeNAS supports simple updates that instantiate a new boot instance for each one. This allows you to roll back to an earlier version if needed (I've done this). Allow for min 8GB per rollback. Also, if you are using jails or plug-ins, you should allow more space. It looks like most of the Plex plug-in runs on the NAS pool that I setup.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Capacity: 250GB</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Form Factor: 2.5 inch</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interface: SATA 6Gb/s (Compatible with SATA 3Gb/s and SATA 1.5Gb/s)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NAND Flash: 32 Layer 3D V-NAND</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thickness: 7.0 mm</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Optimized performance for everyday computing needs</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sequential read speed 540 MB/s; Sequential write speed 520 MB/s; Random read speed 100K; Random write speed 90K</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aux Fan:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006GD30UC" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Noctua NF-R8 PWM 4 pin Cooling Fan</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Auxiliary fan installed inside case and powered from the [CPU Fan] on the mb. Blows air on CPU heat sink (so far, very effective)</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">80mm quiet cooling.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Supporting fully automatic PWM speed control, the NF-R8 PWM uses Noctua's novel, custom designed NE-FD1 PWM IC that integrates Smooth Commutation Drive (SCD) technology.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The NF-R8 PWM is supplied with a Low-Noise Adaptor (L.N.A.) that reduces the maximum fan speed from 1800 to 1300 rpm. The L.N.A can be used either to run the fan at a fixed speed of 1300 rpm or to cap the maximum speed when using automatic PWM control.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #949494; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hydrodynamic bearing w/ an add'l magnet that supports the self-stabilisation of the rotor axis, </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Software</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">OS: BSD Unix 9.2</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NAS: FreeNAS</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Media Server: Plex</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reference:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://blog.brianmoses.net/2015/01/diy-nas-2015-edition.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DIY NAS: 2015 Edition - Brian's Blog</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/826-silverstone-ds380-nas/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Case Review</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://plex.tv/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plext.TV</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://constantin.glez.de/blog/2010/06/closer-look-zfs-vdevs-and-performance" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ZFS and ZFS performance writeup from a Sun Engineer</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (very good)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/06/the-ars-nas-distribution-shootout-freenas-vs-nas4free/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ars shootout of FreeNAS vs. NAS4Free</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (June 2014)</span></div>
</li>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Note: Claborne's experience with FreeNAS has had minor to zero issue with the UI. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plugin for Plex was a priority and the implementation of Jails for this is gold. </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.freenas.org/freenas-vs-nas4free/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another comparison of FreeNAS and NAS4Free</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (warning: from FreeNAS Vendor)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://forums.nas4free.org/viewtopic.php?t=5702" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you ask NAS4Free users</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (the response is interesting)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2009/10/backup-to-your-usb-drive-with-syncback.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Backup your system with Syncback</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/search/label/backup" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Backup tools, tips, and suggestions</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://johnnydox.blogspot.com/2015/09/setting-up-media-system.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">John's Media System Post</span></a></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br />
Chris Claborne<br />
aka Christian Claborne for you googlers :)</div>
Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-45402796157850150862015-05-13T10:18:00.002-07:002015-05-13T10:19:47.819-07:00Zynga and the cost of agility<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.755; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9oBkaMTb7O7832fb8dFni2pAaxQCgG9dsYPI0qdWqwB7wd4A89l3wHsBF-UP1erWn6EmYqvD4Q9YfvkZ8-o-LecQZurtkJEL6-9ZBLsJN6WJw5jUFzuBXEqCiEJRm2fBM8g5VhJYNYPgB/s1600/New_Zynga_Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9oBkaMTb7O7832fb8dFni2pAaxQCgG9dsYPI0qdWqwB7wd4A89l3wHsBF-UP1erWn6EmYqvD4Q9YfvkZ8-o-LecQZurtkJEL6-9ZBLsJN6WJw5jUFzuBXEqCiEJRm2fBM8g5VhJYNYPgB/s200/New_Zynga_Logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://readwrite.com/2015/05/12/zynga-data-center-amazon-aws-public-cloud" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0a9aa7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This article from RW was interesting</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #3d3d3d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I remember I did a double-take when hearing that Zynga was leaving AWS but there was general agreement at the time that you could save money by hosting it yourself (as well as some flexibility) if your environment aligned to that model, but it wasn't clear what the formula was. To me it's clear that AWS has an advantage when the use case is not static environments. When your needs change, you aren't dragging the ball and chain of past decision around. This is especially true for big-data efforts and emerging businesses.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.755; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #3d3d3d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.755; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #3d3d3d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But what is static these days? Businesses come and go. Product lines change. Customers needs change. State of the art in compute and architecture changes. Its' difficult to find the use case where change isn't a persistent march. Where change is slower, SaaS product prevail by taking a mature service and cost-optimizing it for their customers (ala CRM, email, etc.). Here is a small quote from the article.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.755; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #3d3d3d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<ul><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the company tried to make the shift to mobile, however, its infrastructure did it no favors. As Amazon Web Services data science chief Matt Wood told me in an interview:</span>
</ul>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<ul>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Those that go out and buy expensive infrastructure find that the problem scope and domain shift really quickly. By the time they get around to answering the original question, the business has moved on.</span></ul>
</div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-672409d5-4e44-3eea-5085-20a73cc7e924"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br />
<ul><span id="docs-internal-guid-672409d5-4e44-3eea-5085-20a73cc7e924"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While Wood was speaking of solving tough data science problems, the same principles apply to IT infrastructure, generally. When you build out a data center to solve particular problems, you're stuck with infrastructure that may not suit itself to new business challenges that arise.</span></span></ul>
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-672409d5-4e47-8f42-7aa1-e6c5102862b6"><span style="color: #3d3d3d; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are a lot of advantages of cloud computing, but this is might be a really good example of the agility advantage.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #3d3d3d; font-family: Arial;">-- Chris Claborne</span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-10709045810081355832015-01-26T17:30:00.001-08:002015-01-26T17:32:33.433-08:00Why The Snake Oil IBM?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-aRYRSQTwt8fjY9P5ZJbo7qG95PX-fwnqH_DqZjRw0EagxTSqXo4yH4khoVAW-Z-nS_a6t_8RDWIiXNEJrmRAvonrRPjE6DL0QjjsJ0pGZqL8brQOqdtZgLth0A3N8SCjf_uw-xV5Zx2/s1600/ibm-cloud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-aRYRSQTwt8fjY9P5ZJbo7qG95PX-fwnqH_DqZjRw0EagxTSqXo4yH4khoVAW-Z-nS_a6t_8RDWIiXNEJrmRAvonrRPjE6DL0QjjsJ0pGZqL8brQOqdtZgLth0A3N8SCjf_uw-xV5Zx2/s1600/ibm-cloud.jpg" height="170" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was at the 2014 AWS re:Invent, IBM plastered busses with advertisements that their cloud business had surpassed Amazon’s. People laughed but in my opinion, IBM has tarnished their esteemed position in industry and eroded trust. I didn’t buy the IBM cloud biz was bigger but I didn’t have the data. According to ReadWrite, they do.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-aedd8641-28fe-a622-4b28-7af89174ec3c" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">IBM The World's Largest Cloud? Not Even Close</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://readwrite.com/2015/01/21/ibm-worlds-largest-cloud-fact-check" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://readwrite.com/2015/01/21/ibm-worlds-largest-cloud-fact-check</span></a></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What’s wrong with IBM? Why have they become a “snake oil salesman”? IBM’s history is viewed by me as a trusted advisor to business. They were professional and welcomed to the bidding when it came to tech and services. By doing this, they close doors and raise the big question mark. Why?</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- Chris Claborne</span></div>
Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-55145624686021116312015-01-25T20:52:00.002-08:002015-01-25T20:54:16.885-08:00AWS re:Invent 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikHNsyDR8snKaaPbXVu96elBiKVPMAHgO3BHmO3lZkTjW6cK_bfGTnN2pNV8K2SUu0U41FAhQd91U9f2YX2F3BJPXT-jNfCnAixjsiPghhGqP8v04Nl9xRAt6vlTgVD2CTo0ImwqSiO58C/s1600/reinvent-logo-600-toppadding.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikHNsyDR8snKaaPbXVu96elBiKVPMAHgO3BHmO3lZkTjW6cK_bfGTnN2pNV8K2SUu0U41FAhQd91U9f2YX2F3BJPXT-jNfCnAixjsiPghhGqP8v04Nl9xRAt6vlTgVD2CTo0ImwqSiO58C/s1600/reinvent-logo-600-toppadding.png" height="51" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although I'm getting this out a bit late, here is my annual review of the AWS re:Invent love-in cloud. I was excited to see what this year’s annual conference in Las Vegas would bring. I attend the conference for several reasons. I wanted to see what’s announced at the show, but more importantly, I wanted to find out what the theme and core messaging and trends are. By attending, you pick up on the theme and cantor of AWS by listening to all of the presenters. This applies not only the AWS employees at the show, but their customer presenters. AWS curates their presenters and topics to align to their marketing vector. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-fbdc757a-248b-ff73-a8f8-fb759fe97117" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS continues to be the leader of the pack by a wide margin, taking their planetary scale to the next level year after year. What follows are some of my thoughts about AWS as influenced by re:Invent.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Themes </span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1A5JHjvzLXunEHhd0FXzzp1eujcRGyI1r3qCRpp4IHiKruHDgtFxEGg_jeT1V_MJeqX8XsgFlWybcFNXqfOlk8Yo1n1qrYQ6PvvQomd_Z_mv5X4JPCBD67jWuOT-S2okh9deT3p7eDVlW/s1600/datacenter-source.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1A5JHjvzLXunEHhd0FXzzp1eujcRGyI1r3qCRpp4IHiKruHDgtFxEGg_jeT1V_MJeqX8XsgFlWybcFNXqfOlk8Yo1n1qrYQ6PvvQomd_Z_mv5X4JPCBD67jWuOT-S2okh9deT3p7eDVlW/s1600/datacenter-source.png" height="149" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Infrastructure as code </span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To me, this may be the biggest shift in computing since the client-server was announced in the late 80s.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Today’s tools make AWS admin just a few years ago look barbaric, but it’s more than that. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Think of the statement “My data center is in this JSON file. It’s checked-in right next to our application source code.” </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Infrastructure as code enables developers to think different about their application development and deployment. With this approach, the idea of blades, disk, networking and physical sizing of the deployment infrastructure is just another section of code for their application. Furthermore, a simple change in the code enables an infrastructure to quickly adapt to the needs of the designer. It strips away the idea of a physical data center with equipment that has to be ordered, shipped, racked, and configured, a process that takes many companies months to complete. Today’s designers, and developers approach the compute side completely different than yesterday’s programmers. Compute and software are now just code. </span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Infrastructure creation and changes are all in code, checked in with the rest of the project.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Continuous infrastructure releases is a code change, updating n servers, DB, networking, etc.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bug fixes to the infrastructure code will be more about optimizing cost to performance ratios as well as tweaking auto-scale decisions.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Designers are no longer tied to hardware decisions made years ago, or 5 minutes ago.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If my son enters this business like I think he may, how he gets work done will be entirely different than most of my career. This has an impact on staffing the new IT & development crew. Developers have to think more about the infrastructure side of their solution, and dev-ops need to be programmers.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Cloud is the new Normal”</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You gotta love the marketing crew at AWS, and the above tag-line is snappy. What I saw behind this was that AWS cloud is moving out of the “Come to the cloud side, your problems are all solved over here.” to “You know about the cloud, you use it, it’s just they way you now do business.”. Many of the presenters have been using AWS for a while and presented their implementation history and how some of the tools that are now available make their life easier and less prone to disaster.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m all in” & “The Hybrid Cloud”</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although these are opposing views, the point is that AWS realizes that their customers will be “hybrid” for some time, maybe forever. It’s easy for companies that grew up in the cloud but established companies like the ones I’ve worked for, will always have on-prem compute for a myriad of reasons. There were multiple presentations on hybrid cloud, thus enlarging the tent for AWS users who aren’t “all-in”.</span></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Announcements - Here are a few:</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKJexNk4p6FXODPBpPaDjBLQ2k7tE33dSrzb6_EDmEbojJQuAuc0s_Fxs3CTv-Qmc81FvdVNmrqszUBCtC7U4UQbugLsFn_GL_zziQ7WVpZYOyx5-ZzZEx_L2O7MqZsfCrnU8V0gYvJzgv/s1600/aws-aurora-Picture1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKJexNk4p6FXODPBpPaDjBLQ2k7tE33dSrzb6_EDmEbojJQuAuc0s_Fxs3CTv-Qmc81FvdVNmrqszUBCtC7U4UQbugLsFn_GL_zziQ7WVpZYOyx5-ZzZEx_L2O7MqZsfCrnU8V0gYvJzgv/s1600/aws-aurora-Picture1.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aurora</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my opinion, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><a href="http://aws.amazon.com/rds/aurora/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aurora</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the single biggest announcement at re:Invent 2014. This is Amazon’s shot across the bow of Oracle. AWS customers have been struggling for years to achieve web-scale with MySQL on AWS. Many customers opted for Oracle’s trademark database for scale and performance. Aurora aims to erase the advantage that Oracle may have here and make life easy for MySQL users. The secret sauce is in the storage layer, where they provide high durability and continuous scans for corrupt data, repairing it on the fly.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aurora improves performance 5X over MySQL via parallel scatter writes, with up to 15 read replicas achieving 6 million inserts per minute and up to 30 million selects per minute. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scaling to a larger machine is fairly straightforward. Establish a larger replica (up to 32 vCPUs, and 244 GB of RAM) and then initiate a failover when you can take a minute of down-time. (Nope, the “minute” was not a mistake. The down-time is as long as it takes for DNS cache to be cleared.)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aurora is designed for the AWS cloud by providing auto-redundancy by default (minimum of two copies in each AZ in a region = 6 copies) with 99.99% availability and autorecover should the worst happen. 4 copies need to be on-line to write and customers can lose up to 3 copies and still keep reading. It’s also doesn’t require the “replay of redo logs” during recovery, alleviating huge headaches. Although data is redundant, to have failover, you still need to establish a second replica in a second availability zone to get auto-failover.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is support for 16 read-replicas. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Backups are 11 9’s durability which is most likely glacier. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s no more space planning (guessing). Aurora auto-expands in 10GB increments up to 64TB database. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To ensure compatibility, Aurora is engine compatible with MySQL. If you have an application that’s using MySQL, you should be able to easily switch to Aurora without any porting. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A check box is all you need to enable encryption and SSL communication. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aurora supports point-in-time restores. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although failures at the engine can happen, AWS has isolated the page cache so that if the engine goes down, it’s restarted right away and the cache is already “warmed up”. This alleviates performance brownouts and reduces recovery times to seconds. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aurora is free, you pay nothing for the software</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. All you </span><a href="http://aws.amazon.com/rds/aurora/pricing/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">pay for is the instance size</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> like you would for MySQL. There’s no additional licensing like you would if you were to use Oracle or MS SQLserver. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If it’s not yet, expect Aurora to be well integrated with their newly announced key management service</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Key Management Service (KMS)</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The main purpose of </span><a href="http://aws.amazon.com/kms/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KMS</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is to make it easier to manage the keys used to protect data. AWS uses hardware security modules to protect the keys and it’s integrated with other AWS services like EBS, S3, Redshift. The foundational component removes one of the biggest barriers to implementing “encryption at rest” while using the cloud. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheBVRuPklKlXVNTszG2fumaKWmY32wRfxZkr3Ov0YCb_VfTA9Mp6lICOhsJF0Fgy5pLgzHHeOeQhSxrE8o-CWWqZBYdzbSFfWLuYZlRb4m-3iQsMXi8-5NLbqjsglDUqWCXg7_LrfwR5Mj/s1600/Lambda_VideoThumb.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheBVRuPklKlXVNTszG2fumaKWmY32wRfxZkr3Ov0YCb_VfTA9Mp6lICOhsJF0Fgy5pLgzHHeOeQhSxrE8o-CWWqZBYdzbSFfWLuYZlRb4m-3iQsMXi8-5NLbqjsglDUqWCXg7_LrfwR5Mj/s1600/Lambda_VideoThumb.png" height="125" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lambda</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://aws.amazon.com/lambda/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lambda </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is Amazon’s event driven code engine in the cloud. Let’s say you have an application that allows users to upload any size image but you have to create a resized thumbnail as part of your process flow. All you need to do is deploy the event driven code to Lambda and then have S3 fire an event every time it receives a new file. Lambda’ pricing model is interesting. Code is deployed to Lambda and Lambda auto-scales to meet demand. Customers pay by CPU time, that’s it. This is the first platform-as-a-service that AWS has built this way. It will be interesting to see if this is the start of a trend. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMXaCWV-f19JGRbLTeEfHJhyEUpPNXI03ya47x0_HNX1RyNdZY_SFYkVHXU2P9RjuWCZDkBdPKX_rvDAdd7Y62QI5Jk13DPgVkI9nqj8BmmGFstPpW9fqegFpzfqHBOt18edC-ZPX5X71I/s1600/ec2container.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMXaCWV-f19JGRbLTeEfHJhyEUpPNXI03ya47x0_HNX1RyNdZY_SFYkVHXU2P9RjuWCZDkBdPKX_rvDAdd7Y62QI5Jk13DPgVkI9nqj8BmmGFstPpW9fqegFpzfqHBOt18edC-ZPX5X71I/s1600/ec2container.png" height="130" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS Container Service</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://aws.amazon.com/ecs/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amazon EC2 Container Service</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a highly scalable, high performance container management service that supports Docker containers and allows you to easily run distributed applications on a managed cluster of Amazon EC2 instances. What’s interesting is AWS quick response to this fairly new technology. Containers may be the wave of the future for a lot of deployments and having a service that supports Docker initially and integrates it with the rest of their services is really smart. I think this is one of the products that was driven directly from customer requests. AWS has done some interesting things with ECS regarding scaling up and down containers where you need them.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Big EC2 + Intel Partnership</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amazon going bigger normally isn’t news but the Intel partnership to have Intel build a custom CPU for the cloud is. Amazon talks a lot about how things change “at scale”. The new Hazwel processor is in the new EC2 instances, allowing customers to choose a 36vCPU system with 60GB RAM. Speaking of going big, EBS volumes now support up to 16TB each, handling 20K IOPPS.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There were a lot of other announcements but for me, these were the biggies.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My favorite quotes</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Below are a few of my favorite quotes from the vendor show, backs of t-shirts, or statements made by presenters and attendees.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My data center is a JSON file.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Data is the new bacon.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A typical data center is less than 50% utilized.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anytime someone tells me something that rhymes, I become suspicious.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Coco-Cola (marketing) realized 40% operational savings in the cloud.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Automating my deployments in AWS allows me to go from weeks to minutes.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[This kills me since saying “weeks” last year was the big deal.]</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Iterative infrastructure development.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwqF8f6XfbxoPK87ikjSmcvH7Tu6Hzd2vP6zH00VH1W_H85gQ8H6bklMAe2i4XzqtpDclM8P9hthQxtoRZCWKrjDkdfwTcuGnP4Y3HD2SzaH6pY9GAJ1B2lyyqx1mwfjUFSeEf7aJO7oZt/s1600/Gartner+MQ+IaaS+2014+final+hi+res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwqF8f6XfbxoPK87ikjSmcvH7Tu6Hzd2vP6zH00VH1W_H85gQ8H6bklMAe2i4XzqtpDclM8P9hthQxtoRZCWKrjDkdfwTcuGnP4Y3HD2SzaH6pY9GAJ1B2lyyqx1mwfjUFSeEf7aJO7oZt/s1600/Gartner+MQ+IaaS+2014+final+hi+res.jpg" height="200" width="197" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.428571; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS continues to pull away from the pack</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amazon pulling away from the pack probably isn’t huge news to anyone who read Gartner’s latest Lydia Leong report on Cloud Computing. As AWS continues to mature their product, being the biggest allows them to re-invest considerably into new product offerings to lengthen their lead.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While competitors try to follow, AWS is busy creating new tools, DB, key management, and more, pulling further away.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Implementation, using OpsWorks, automation, tools and services puts the cloud into code.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many of the things that were said last year still hold. AWS has 5 times more capacity than all of the 14 closest competitors combined and they are still adding enough capacity to Run Amazon when they were a $7 bln company in revenue. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The number of AWS announcements in 2014 is significantly more than the previous year. Although this is a fun stat, and is easily manipulated by the marketing department, I think the statement is still relevant. The pace of innovation and growth hasn’t slowed down.</span></div>
<br />
-- Christian Claborne<br />
# chris claborne<br />
<br />Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-90373080899899906862014-01-18T17:41:00.000-08:002014-01-19T09:35:13.938-08:002013 AWS re:Invent Conference Was Excellent <div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-oVy6dGBqMhVIvocplclmjmRaQ0r4dHi1Pj9mMqKS8_mNUob4mtdmiXvdoQK7TPlitv1upu01UCFGDu2Z5XgZQlZoCThzyG26qnAVijPpCCtUE1ttb-2VTXqBMLN_fWxpHNfUdKn70qwt/s1600/AWS-reinvent-2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-oVy6dGBqMhVIvocplclmjmRaQ0r4dHi1Pj9mMqKS8_mNUob4mtdmiXvdoQK7TPlitv1upu01UCFGDu2Z5XgZQlZoCThzyG26qnAVijPpCCtUE1ttb-2VTXqBMLN_fWxpHNfUdKn70qwt/s1600/AWS-reinvent-2013.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had the opportunity to attend Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing conference, “AWS re:Invent” at the end of 2013. I had a lot of fun, it was a lot of work, and I also went through the typical three phases of a conference attendee:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shock and Awe</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> -- The overwhelming stimulus input at the beginning of the show</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bewitchment -- The infatuation with the great ideas and marketing</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oversaturation -- Inability to take in one more presentation, product, or discussion about cloud computing.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall, AWS re:Invent, was one of the best conferences that I’ve been too in a while. Here are some of my key takeaways from the event.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS is clearly the market leader</span></h1>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the reasons to attend AWS re:Invent geek love-in is that they are by far the market leader. And therefore, if you want to watch where cloud computing is going, they are the ones to watch as many competitors are following their lead. </span>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-6cbae779-a81d-eae6-7dff-6ff1dc3c78a6" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you look at the Gartner Magic Quadrant for infrastructure as a service (IaaS) over the last three years (see below), not only has AWS move to the head of the pack in cloud IaaS, they’ve pulled away from the pack. The chart for 2013 looks like it needed to be resized in order to keep their competitors on it. </span><br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8uR5uLRh7PC6Y_2r59OwJo6OwfhePdV_gINl2doGg_TgiL1a8Wnl_HEZnqDO-6GA6P8l5YNDKtWqkzjB0kVGBu2Cht-11Z_QT4xhPwkdhORaHXaCVLLlG85K7o7MIR6CDCheD4smNcwB7/s1600/AWS-Gartner+2011.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8uR5uLRh7PC6Y_2r59OwJo6OwfhePdV_gINl2doGg_TgiL1a8Wnl_HEZnqDO-6GA6P8l5YNDKtWqkzjB0kVGBu2Cht-11Z_QT4xhPwkdhORaHXaCVLLlG85K7o7MIR6CDCheD4smNcwB7/s1600/AWS-Gartner+2011.png" height="150" width="150" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7O5gtTjf-LURVfjZDEyPPi-wnVu9gVy1duUCCwClkOMmcivkSrUEWooOMdmkqOlKIFxvXVrC7A7f7L4TUg32VCHIPPy7rpi28ZF9j3euFxBO3iJNtF8m68Lo3sYg3kd2ZXMI9q9A_af2Q/s1600/AWS-MagicQuadrant+2012.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7O5gtTjf-LURVfjZDEyPPi-wnVu9gVy1duUCCwClkOMmcivkSrUEWooOMdmkqOlKIFxvXVrC7A7f7L4TUg32VCHIPPy7rpi28ZF9j3euFxBO3iJNtF8m68Lo3sYg3kd2ZXMI9q9A_af2Q/s1600/AWS-MagicQuadrant+2012.png" height="150" width="150" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU1YSrjcw_8IK5YDnQvQzJ_bDkmxfXA2u_Loh98z4o5DRVLcuMQg7_7mY8SSqXKIEoMFHj_RhIa0ZPv9qgcWwczHsjUHw-GbCSA4CX7RqWoI1wZ6hkwnGFs7OzYSirQDwU4KmVzUuGsFWs/s1600/AWS-MagicQuadrant2013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU1YSrjcw_8IK5YDnQvQzJ_bDkmxfXA2u_Loh98z4o5DRVLcuMQg7_7mY8SSqXKIEoMFHj_RhIa0ZPv9qgcWwczHsjUHw-GbCSA4CX7RqWoI1wZ6hkwnGFs7OzYSirQDwU4KmVzUuGsFWs/s1600/AWS-MagicQuadrant2013.png" height="150" width="150" /></a>
<br /><br />
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS continues to pull away from the pack for a few reasons. They not only got the jump on the competition but they now benefit from their size and gravitational effect on the market. In addition to scale and size, pure intellectual capital is a big barrier to entry in the IaaS business. Until IaaS becomes a commodity, the know-how (intellectual capital) to do it at the scale that AWS does has to be created by the companies in the market. You can’t hire people (or buy the intellectual capital) needed to complete, you have to build it within your organization by learning. It takes time, learning from your mistakes, and customers willing to help you learn how to deliver IaaS and other services at the massive scale and reliability that AWS has today. It doesn’t hurt that AWS has customers that are willing to stick with them and help them learn, even when they make a mistake. One of those customers is the key account, Netflix. In addition, customers like Netflix are sharing what they learned and open sourcing some of their code and tools that they use to achieve massive scale and unprecedented availability of their service. </span></b></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_RgKqie0rTnGXq_IkBQemIdNrtLxoTf1tPjWYBGHahKmDDDUsO0MuYEKXFs16OTqmVsMiDnU9Yzugyi_QxJ1OvyBTrWmtOSlpCQc1jFqOVMfnMzauPHLds3D1wCE3RGkYyyF71dfaqec/s1600/real_hockey_stick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_RgKqie0rTnGXq_IkBQemIdNrtLxoTf1tPjWYBGHahKmDDDUsO0MuYEKXFs16OTqmVsMiDnU9Yzugyi_QxJ1OvyBTrWmtOSlpCQc1jFqOVMfnMzauPHLds3D1wCE3RGkYyyF71dfaqec/s1600/real_hockey_stick.jpg" height="142" width="200" /></a>
<br />
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Core Themes </span></b></h1>
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
</b>
<br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Below are some of the core themes that I caught during the 2013 conference. </span></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enabling Hockey Stick Growth</span></b></h2>
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
</b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many of the presentations I attended usually had a “hockey stick” graph that told the story of how AWS enabled them to to grow customers, compute capacity, storage or all three in a matter of months using AWS. By designing for the cloud, NASA JPL was able to support a massive increase of customer visits as they approached the mars landing. Although they were able to just as easily scale down that environment, they were able to take advantage of the massive amount of data they receive and make available to scientists.</span></b></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A special effects company, Atomic Fiction, talked about how they can quickly scale up compute capacity to render massive movie special effects and then shut it all down to avoid costs while they are in between compute workloads. (The example clips from the latest Star Trek special effects were fun too.)</span></b>
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DropCam showed how they utilize AWS storage to persist customer data at a rate that now exceeds YouTube uploads. </span></b>
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another area of hockey stick growth is AWS itself. AWS doesn’t just build data centers, they also are continuously releasing new services, feature enhancements and capabilities. In 2013, AWS will have made over 236 announcements, up from 159 a year previous.</span></b>
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhSTWUjDzCv10GW8kVx804gZgOxVq0famYHhNq74cAVL2u7Obqf5SxCHOmDk0S_9nIp6UoTHknzGgiYpbC3aj1cGZhYBQ4vMjDKTPCSqn3n2eJCmAQJiRK9YPgOU3kYp6MV3p_Z6s9c4kK/s1600/aws-datacenters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhSTWUjDzCv10GW8kVx804gZgOxVq0famYHhNq74cAVL2u7Obqf5SxCHOmDk0S_9nIp6UoTHknzGgiYpbC3aj1cGZhYBQ4vMjDKTPCSqn3n2eJCmAQJiRK9YPgOU3kYp6MV3p_Z6s9c4kK/s1600/aws-datacenters.jpg" height="103" width="200" /></a></b></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
</b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enabling Enormous Scale</span></b></h2>
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
</b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There were multiple customers in break-out sessions and the keynote presentations that discussed how AWS enables massive scale for their startups as well as established companies. Every one of these presenters showed hockey stick growth in their service use and therefore compute and storage needs. NASA JPL talked about how they used AWS to quickly scale up their environment that allowed millions of people to participate and follow the Mars landing as well as utilizing the massive storage of AWS to house and share science data being collected. DropCam used AWS to scale up their network camera service to petabytes of data within months, using an IT department of only 5 people. In addition, the compute capacity available to DropCam will allow them to deliver additional products and services to their customers, allowing them to focus on product and leave the job of building and operating massive data centers to someone else. </span></b></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By enabling this level of scale with such little effort, new companies are inventing new markets or attacking existing ones held by tech giants. In addition, these companies can go from idea to web-scale products in months.</span></b></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFtIiH5uRKL9BqFDr94Hq-xoOcjFHHZf9DdrSAzDz50uhe32USdJz2X7zEhQqIHpI5atyPhtEytyJ3JbPkQ9Qe5pl8EgndAYFrrHQr68Cyr8fchMBSGx4W4-QVTNl-_B4HdyO7dswc7bQV/s1600/Clariion+high+density+racks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFtIiH5uRKL9BqFDr94Hq-xoOcjFHHZf9DdrSAzDz50uhe32USdJz2X7zEhQqIHpI5atyPhtEytyJ3JbPkQ9Qe5pl8EgndAYFrrHQr68Cyr8fchMBSGx4W4-QVTNl-_B4HdyO7dswc7bQV/s1600/Clariion+high+density+racks.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Economies of Scale</span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To enable on-demand growth, AWS needs to build in front of demand and be big and wow is it. James Hamilton rocked the industry with some additional information about how AWS scales up to support big customers like Netflix (who drive 30% of north American traffic during peak hours) as well as small growing companies like DropCam. In his talk, titled “Why Scale Matters and How the Cloud Really is Different”, James discussed some of the details. AWS designs their own power sub-stations that are as large as 50 megawatts. They do this to achieve better time to market but they also have different goals than the power companies and therefore better alignment to their business.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In order to deliver at the scale that AWS does, it makes economic sense for Amazon to design their own routers and protocols within the AWS data centers. James drove home that cloud is different than traditional data centers and trying to fit off the shelf network hardware isn’t optimal. Traditional corporate networks are typically over-subscribed because each server is only occasionally using the network. In cloud environments, AWS benefits when it’s servers are close to max capacity and new architectures, like massive </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapreduce" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MapReduce</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> clusters, would destroy most corporate networks. By owning the software used on their routers and other network equipment, AWS can optimize for their environment and fix problems in hours rather than the months it might take for off-the-shelf equipment.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To give conference goers an understanding of how large and dense AWS storage racks are, James showed a commercially available storage rack that holds 600 disks and weighs 3/4 of a ton. AWS achieves higher density with lower cost and power utilization using custom storage racks that weigh over 1 ton. AWS stores trillions of objects and serve 1.5 million requests per second at peak demand. And remember, this is historical data, they are still growing! </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS has five times the infrastructure of their fourteen closest competitors </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">combined</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. WOW! And to keep that lead or even pull away from the competition, AWS adds enough infrastructure every day to power Amazon when it was a $7bln company. They do this every day, including Sundays according to James. In 2013, AWS did all of this within 9 data center regions and 25 availability zones around the world. (Each availability zone has at least 1 data center). </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I can continue to quote statistics and size of AWS but I think by now, you get the message. AWS is mega-big. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5DbxamKwhVu5ffMlf8lDz_fJeKiK8I-0UGeGDx4ZhNQdWj4-wP61MLFoR0JUPtY9VXQi0X4CYkYTmzjbGyGx50tJWiCYT6HWYy1sl4ZTK4-wHQ_kDhnqqeKxXcnQDRub40tEcm8W342U/s1600/set_overclocking_records.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5DbxamKwhVu5ffMlf8lDz_fJeKiK8I-0UGeGDx4ZhNQdWj4-wP61MLFoR0JUPtY9VXQi0X4CYkYTmzjbGyGx50tJWiCYT6HWYy1sl4ZTK4-wHQ_kDhnqqeKxXcnQDRub40tEcm8W342U/s1600/set_overclocking_records.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Speed to learn deploy improve and scale</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During Werner Vogels keynote, he talked about agility but not in the way most think of business agility, he was talking about engineering agility. AWS allows engineers to use an iterative design process - tinker, rebuild, scale, change, and improve at very low risk and cost. Because designers are not locked into a particular architecture because of huge capital outlays, changes are much easier to implement. No longer do major architectural design changes result in physical data center modifications and juggling of capital costs associated with it.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I loved Werner Vogels term “Overclock your application”. He showed example after example of how small businesses are using the constellation of services and the scalable capabilities of AWS to build new markets or dominate existing markets. Companies with five guys with no data center in a livingroom overtake companies with legions of workers and huge data centers.</span></div>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maturity</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another theme at re:Invent was maturity. AWS is focusing on driving toward consistent delivery performance. One example Werner Vogels showed was the response times of </span><a href="http://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DynamoDB</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the AWS object database (think nosql). DynamoDB is provisioned by IOPs rather than forcing customers to choose a particular size of system. Prior to today they’ve had performance in sub 10ms response range but they would have spikes response latency at times. The result of their efforts to smooth the response times resulted in a nice consistent sub-10ms response time with no spiking at any scale. All data in DynamoDB is stored on solid state drives and synchronously replicated across three availability zones. AWS has a compelling story with DynamoDB and if I get some time, I’ll play around with it and do a writeup.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp49OZRS0n8H1PqroCkaKh5bZBKkrpewTrLPyvq2s7qst7t9yoXMa-9zoV7SdcZhcK2rFgKSQeobDMkRYZ3YMDDbfSJ0p23wBk8IeTyBUch8pJIEuxvS8ficgJ68SLCijURCmf4UikitxC/s1600/aws-redundancy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp49OZRS0n8H1PqroCkaKh5bZBKkrpewTrLPyvq2s7qst7t9yoXMa-9zoV7SdcZhcK2rFgKSQeobDMkRYZ3YMDDbfSJ0p23wBk8IeTyBUch8pJIEuxvS8ficgJ68SLCijURCmf4UikitxC/s1600/aws-redundancy.jpg" height="140" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Resiliency</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Resiliency was another theme (or marketing push) at the conference. This isn’t new, it’s been a constant theme of the AWS show-and-tell for at-least the last three shows. It’s obvious that their customers are catching on though, this conference was showcasing more of their customers showing attendees and other customers how to achieve higher availability. There were multiple breakout sessions that discussed how to deploy applications using AWS automated redundant infrastructure from RDS, to DynamoDB, to S3. AWS customers don’t depend on one monolithic highly reliable physical system to deploy to, AWS IS THE PLATFORM. AWS customers should assume every single component of AWS will fail at some point (good assumption no matter where you deploy, local or cloud). AWS designs to this axiom, making it easy for customers to deploy EC2 instances in multiple availability zones (think separate data centers), add them to load balancers. The same goes for the ease of provisioning auto-redundant databases. In addition, all of this can be automated. Customers like Netflix use automated tools to actually test what happens when various servers from their EC2 clusters are shut down during production but they go further. Their tools verify that their designs can withstand a complete zone failure, and more recently, are testing complete region failures (extremely rare but it can happen). </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS took resilience to the next level this year and announced new tools to easily replicate your environment across regions and use Route52 to act as a global load-balancer. One of the breakouts I attended, Netflix explained the complexities of designing highly reliable redundant persistence layers and how they do it. They also discussed the new member of their simian army, Chaos Kong.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_NCYTRTvgV6vAHKsjdK-5Q23x6PiCUYYaCieYc_bxRM1qX1qok5iUJKLbXP_g9YXFhgLjsHwz5VnOtXev4JuXQQtCfHyUGYghd94WLuPX__C_pQC4vG_3Hd2I_j4UV4oyVVfusbt87pQ/s1600/netflix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_NCYTRTvgV6vAHKsjdK-5Q23x6PiCUYYaCieYc_bxRM1qX1qok5iUJKLbXP_g9YXFhgLjsHwz5VnOtXev4JuXQQtCfHyUGYghd94WLuPX__C_pQC4vG_3Hd2I_j4UV4oyVVfusbt87pQ/s1600/netflix.jpg" height="200" width="197" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Netflix</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although not really a “theme” per say, Netflix plays an important part at AWS re:Invent conferences. Netflix is probably one of AWS’s largest customers, and can be 1/3 of all north american internet traffic. I’m pretty sure Netflix has helped AWS learn how to become even more resilient and gain the intellectual capital it takes to manage a monstrous infrastructure reliably and consistently. Netflix is a big draw for any attendee that wants to learn how to scale and design for an always-on delivery platform. Given that AWS new feature enhancements and introductions are customer driven and Netflix is their flagship customer, I expect a lot of the new features regarding region replication have been driven by them, including the region-to-region replication introduced at the show in 2013.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmgIMtchW2_oUmIm0LFDv-6qWtsy4NTwgdXFi4Ax9BvMbkLIlj2yaZ2dNCd4hP9j2Sv_-AUsPWbAdl-9d2H2njXf7V4A0gA2b7NtVJw8Vsiq9NMzr4C4WgOVIe-N9ijMWEexcf8ULdQ5C/s1600/Netflix+-+Simian+Army.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmgIMtchW2_oUmIm0LFDv-6qWtsy4NTwgdXFi4Ax9BvMbkLIlj2yaZ2dNCd4hP9j2Sv_-AUsPWbAdl-9d2H2njXf7V4A0gA2b7NtVJw8Vsiq9NMzr4C4WgOVIe-N9ijMWEexcf8ULdQ5C/s1600/Netflix+-+Simian+Army.png" height="200" width="160" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div dir="ltr" style="display: inline !important; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div style="display: inline !important;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many AWS customers come just to attend Netflix presentations to learn how they scale, and Netflix is happy to pass along what they have learned about implementing improved reliability on AWS. Netflix AWS utilization is massive and they’ve helped AWS improve availability by pushing their infrastructure to the limit. Netflix now has region-to-region failover and has open sourced some of its tools that abstract various services they consume in a way that improves fault tolerance. In addition to Netflix sharing some of their architecture designs and code, they’ve also open-sourced their “Simian army”, a suite of tools the helps test resiliency of solutions. These tools help teams test what happens when a compute instance fails, an entire data center fails (zone), and even a region. The mantra you always hear from AWS and it’s customers is plan for failure at every level if you want reliability and highly available systems. AWS makes deploying highly available solutions economically feasible for even the smallest of applications. For example, when deploying a database on RDS, all you need to do is select the “Multi-AZ Deployment” option to provision a database that is automatically replicated across two data centers with automatic failover. Instance price for single vs. redundant MySQL instances is less than double the cost whereas doing this yourself will result in excess 2X the costs due to setup, maintenance, network, and facilities. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As you can tell, I’m bullish on AWS availability and so are their customers, with some saying they have higher availability in the cloud. I think AWS learned from their failures (most notably the 2011 region failure) and strengthened their processes and architectures resulting in improve up-time. </span><a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-thoughts-about-amazon-web-service.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wrote about this in 2011</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Making IT / Operations invisible to the Business</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was interesting to listen to AWS customers talk about how few people it takes to run extremely large and complex infrastructures. Now that companies can get out of the business of racking-and-stacking equipment, troubleshooting hardware issues, networking, and maintenance, they can focus on their core competency and deliver their products at a lower overall cost. These companies rely on automation to scale, monitor and resolve infrastructure issues automatically. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgejLZk7tczVJJEM_g6fWrrqWgJXWumApNzcUQaLSwNzQjTVKFFxWEjai56Ztbcf7guZCR_OJXV7aT5SoMl2fa2Si8mrn9_Q0ggFPvx4n1Sxai4bIsi-cx8aDPKsj38gYl7BOAXtmVZcbKe/s1600/2013-aws-joel-s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgejLZk7tczVJJEM_g6fWrrqWgJXWumApNzcUQaLSwNzQjTVKFFxWEjai56Ztbcf7guZCR_OJXV7aT5SoMl2fa2Si8mrn9_Q0ggFPvx4n1Sxai4bIsi-cx8aDPKsj38gYl7BOAXtmVZcbKe/s1600/2013-aws-joel-s.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Innovation</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Woven into all of these themes was the theme of Innovation. AWS as it turns out, is giving budding companies, entrepreneurs, and dreamers a chance to put their ideas to the test without massively large initial capital investments to get started. Many of the companies that presented would have never been able to break into their respective industries or invent new markets without AWS because the barrier to entry is the massive compute infrastructures needed to help launch and run their business which requires a huge bet by investors. AWS allows inventors to tinker, adjust and trial launch services which previously would have been prohibitively expensive if they were forced to build their own data centers. Because of the flexibility of cloud computing, a mistake in how a solution is architected can be corrected without the need to replace capital equipment. More and more companies are willing to take a risk, knowing that if their invention is a flop, they can just turn it all off and try something else. </span></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS Trends</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are the trends I see not only at AWS but in the cloud industry as a whole (which is mostly AWS).</span></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More enterprise focus</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is more Enterprise focus this year in the customer presentations that I watched. A couple of presenters strongly recommended AWS enterprise support. There are global companies demonstrating how they achieve more secure solutions showing their use of virtual private cloud (VPC), security, and encryption. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS seems to be very focused on security, a top priority for any CIO looking at the cloud. One example is the introduction of “</span><a href="http://aws.amazon.com/cloudhsm/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cloud HSM</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”. The Cloud HSM service allows customers to securely generate, store and manage cryptographic keys used for data encryption in a way that makes the keys accessible only to the customer. This means that if a company’s data is swept up by authorities as part of a legal discovery process, they still need to properly serve the company to obtain the keys. There are many other attributes that come together that bolster the AWS secure cloud story and companies like NASA JPL publicly state they believe AWS allows them to be </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">more secure</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> than their traditional on-premise implementations. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqeyz7stvXx7Tc8uaB50wbKpGzrQjTPnIYBc_VJfRdaEpRkSRKPcL62Af35A5X6xVt4CjW8Raewd9V8MD2SqDWkEWhg9WT2sfvym_wkSXsFHN33M5aEs9_bTLcn6MJtiRf_RKELd0Jm4nO/s1600/cloud_first_stamp.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqeyz7stvXx7Tc8uaB50wbKpGzrQjTPnIYBc_VJfRdaEpRkSRKPcL62Af35A5X6xVt4CjW8Raewd9V8MD2SqDWkEWhg9WT2sfvym_wkSXsFHN33M5aEs9_bTLcn6MJtiRf_RKELd0Jm4nO/s1600/cloud_first_stamp.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Companies touting “Cloud First” </span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m not naive enough to think that AWS doesn’t carefully curate their presentations but I still see this as a trend with JPL and others using the term to describe their IT strategy.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The cloud is the backbone of the new Internet company</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More new companies are dominating markets with hockey stick growth and capacity as well as creating new markets or taking market share away from their competitors using AWS. These companies operate at internet speeds and the ability to change direction like an olympic skater.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBdZLbtHEWIR72STLbECakSsqmpwq1-h9sc3qGOL6iKWdElsQooPnMwiY2cHq0SCmyB88pn2jepeVZWeXETFqxKjGTX_9ecIUr_WMlSbWkN0dyrVTzARSHpjT-Oj7ZEhGFGgry4zTw9O0u/s1600/aws-tools.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBdZLbtHEWIR72STLbECakSsqmpwq1-h9sc3qGOL6iKWdElsQooPnMwiY2cHq0SCmyB88pn2jepeVZWeXETFqxKjGTX_9ecIUr_WMlSbWkN0dyrVTzARSHpjT-Oj7ZEhGFGgry4zTw9O0u/s1600/aws-tools.jpg" height="131" width="200" /></a></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More tools, patterns, features, services </span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS used the conference to launch new services and features like these:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Cloudtrail”, providing real-time logging (introduced with partner services like splunk)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Kinesis”, a real-time processing of streaming data</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Appstream”, streaming of app intensive applications to users (mobile is target)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PostgreSQL on RDS and Larger EC2 Instances</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Workspaces”, virtual desktop</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Closing Thoughts</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Intellectual Capital (IC) is the key barrier to entry in the cloud IaaS business. AWS size has a compounding effect on IC growth at AWS, making it very hard to challenge AWS’s lead. (Sort of like the Apple iPod effect).</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS is enjoying a growing constellation of businesses that consult, build products specifically for or work with AWS. This is similar to the marketing help Apple receives from all of the 3rd party vendors that make accessories for Apple products. Open a SkyMall magazine and the number of Apple related accessories is like one big advertisement for iPhone and iPads. The same can be said for the growing list of third party tools and services for AWS, it deepens the “gravity well” that AWS is creating in the cloud universe.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAkTEIBdaL1kvwZF_QaB2HTpAw1e4Nu5Vj860GHvJOM6e3SHu-NV5zPzeKNAE0LhPrarz7z6KCm1PuNRV2q9Z1fnitzLsnmqh4fKJSWtOsyrdesEveHhr1QYAACHOGpWI3hRlZpYcxocRm/s1600/aws_cloudhsm_vpc_3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAkTEIBdaL1kvwZF_QaB2HTpAw1e4Nu5Vj860GHvJOM6e3SHu-NV5zPzeKNAE0LhPrarz7z6KCm1PuNRV2q9Z1fnitzLsnmqh4fKJSWtOsyrdesEveHhr1QYAACHOGpWI3hRlZpYcxocRm/s1600/aws_cloudhsm_vpc_3.png" height="161" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amazon has capabilities that most companies would never be able to afford. For example, by leveraging AWS cloud, companies can deploy a new iteration of their product (doubling their compute size) when they switch over, and then turn off the old compute instances when they are confident their new products are working correctly. Using Redshift and Hadoop clusters, companies can use the massive analytics capabilities of AWS products for small jobs. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Security in the cloud is front and center and it’s at a tipping point. Not only is AWS delivering new capabilities in this area like CryptoKey HSM and VPC features, the vendor floor was packed with companies that address multiple areas of security as well. With companies like JPL stating that they feel like they can be more secure in the cloud than on-premise is helping to influence others.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjue2-83tItyOzXzmoGTQSd4TimGFX5NaXq36sp3wmiaNh_3TwA6dPLShQvjbL1C4Mcki_5mXxuWjPUD7_Q-JTSGD0T96SEAwrV4h7mjBVtNhaeQOH__auNq9OTcNIdMEvN59_bMFVwI3Fx/s1600/Benefits+of+the+cloud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjue2-83tItyOzXzmoGTQSd4TimGFX5NaXq36sp3wmiaNh_3TwA6dPLShQvjbL1C4Mcki_5mXxuWjPUD7_Q-JTSGD0T96SEAwrV4h7mjBVtNhaeQOH__auNq9OTcNIdMEvN59_bMFVwI3Fx/s1600/Benefits+of+the+cloud.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To be able to leverage and use AWS when the time is right, you need to build a competency. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I think that one of the biggest advantages of AWS is what I like to call “return on agility”. Time to market and getting things knocked out fast is a huge benefit. If you don’t prepare and have an AWS competency, you’ll miss opportunities that pop up. If companies think that AWS might fit some use future cases, they need to build a team that can use AWS with the same competency level as their local infrastructures. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS re:Invent is a great place to to learn from other companies. A lot of companies, started small and slow in order to learn and grow into the cloud where it made sense, and they passed along what they learned along the way at the conference. If AWS makes sense, leverage what’s been published by their customers and attend re:Invent as you do your research. </span></div>
<br />
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #365f91; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">References & Related</span></h1>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS DynamoDB</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://slashdot.org/topic/bi/why-my-team-went-with-dynamodb-over-mongodb/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why my team went with DynamoDB over MongoDB - Slashdot</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.stackdriver.com/reinvent/reinvent-hamilton-talk/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Coverage of James Hamilton talk by Stackdriver.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most conference presentations are available at </span><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Slideshare</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- </span><a href="http://linkedin.com/in/claborne" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chris Claborne</span></a></b>Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-13988097071060716322014-01-18T13:19:00.005-08:002014-01-18T13:21:10.746-08:00Is the PaaS market as we know it dying? I don't think so.<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I just finished reading an article by Brandon Butler titled “</span><a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/the-paas-market-we-know-it-dying-234125" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is the Paas market as we know it dying?</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”. I don’t think PaaS market will die but the market will change by collapsing most PaaS into IaaS portfolios but I also feel it’s still a budding market and surprises are in store.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-7de85d26-a738-c063-91b0-99dabbb7c7e1" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdpiXD7YBDPDknrDHAIXNARqIsVh-PZJ_6A4MNr8xeFCDSc_NhhtrCtSaqNrGxohYVjSXhEsPZtpubdEsY5KSfMWVhSHa01rR6BaMQQujulm_Z1BMOsWZ9YfyHBa7icYSsfV9XEPpkrO3g/s1600/Cloud+Stacks.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdpiXD7YBDPDknrDHAIXNARqIsVh-PZJ_6A4MNr8xeFCDSc_NhhtrCtSaqNrGxohYVjSXhEsPZtpubdEsY5KSfMWVhSHa01rR6BaMQQujulm_Z1BMOsWZ9YfyHBa7icYSsfV9XEPpkrO3g/s1600/Cloud+Stacks.png" height="200" width="175" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Platform as a service (PaaS) is a way to deliver an environment by which a developer can develop and deploy their applications without thinking about all of the infrastructure under that platform (servers, storage, networking, clustering, etc). For the most part, unless the infrastructure has a direct impact to the desired outcome, a developer would rather ignore what model of blade and SAN storage is in the rack to drive the application. Deliver enough performance and reliability and what is actually driving the platform becomes mute to a developer. By doing this in the cloud, IT shops can outsource everything else below the line (For more, </span><a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2012/09/platform-as-service-and-forcecom.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">see my other PaaS article</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As long as all of the services and tools that a developer needs are on the PaaS platform, all is well. If a critical piece is missing, you will need to move down the stack and implement the platform on top of “Infrastructure as a Service” (IaaS) along with custom tooling. IaaS gives the developer shop full-control but it comes at a cost. By moving down the stack the team will need to own all of the responsibilities that comes with owning that layer. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think we will continue to see IaaS providers deploy PaaS or acquire others that have PaaS offerings. It will be interesting to see what AWS does in this space. In my opinion Elastic Beanstalk is their current solution. Where this doesn’t fit, companies are using AWS OppsWorks as a repeatable way to deliver consistent PaaS environments do their developers. The footprint of AWS and the myriad of additional services (message queue, database, analytics, workflow...) make it an attractive option without offering a PaaS like Heroku. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think the PaaS market will continue to bubble and boil. It’s a much more turbulent environment than IaaS because of the amount of change that goes on at that layer. Development languages, and software development tools, extensions, and development environments are changing rapidly. If asked what I would do on a particular project it would depend on the amount of change and size. The larger the project, the more risk that I will get into a situation that will force me to go the IaaS route. It it’s a small, closed in project, I’ll go with pure play PaaS. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reference</span></h2>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/the-paas-market-we-know-it-dying-234125" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is the Paas market as we know it dying?</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Infoworld</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2012/09/platform-as-service-and-forcecom.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Platform as a Service and Force.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Cloudrant</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- Chris Claborne</span></div>
Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-6258036014499549292013-12-05T17:20:00.001-08:002013-12-05T17:20:15.752-08:00The Cloud Replacing Enterprise Hardware VendorsIn <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/yes-the-cloud-replacing-enterprise-hardware-and-software-231835">David Linthicum's latest article</a>, he had this quote from Barclays to substantiate his claim that dollars will shift from hardware provider's to cloud:<br />
<ul><i>
Barclays, in its global technology outlook, <a href="http://news.investors.com/technology/112113-680141-barclays-2014-outlook-cloud-slows-information-technology-growth.htm" style="background-color: white; color: #0066cc; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20.39772605895996px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">has reached the same conclusion</a>: "We believe the deflationary impact from the cloud ($1 spent on cloud infrastructure actually results in several dollars coming out of other IT end-markets) should prevent IT spending from growing meaningfully in 2014 and 2015. ... We believe global IT spending will remain challenged in the lower single-digit growth range."
</i></ul>
In addition, according to 451 Group, IaaS revenue will jump at an annual rate of 57% through 2016!Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-41881747965273904732013-11-20T19:59:00.002-08:002013-11-20T20:12:42.875-08:00Salesforce is taking it up a notch???<span id="docs-internal-guid-59c272a6-78ce-aa8b-d7a8-92b9aa1479c0"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last week we saw AWS VP James Hamilton talk about how they are hosting data, transactions, and raw compute for companies at a scale like we’ve never seen before. Then </span><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/amazon-bares-its-computers/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he gave us a peek at how they do it</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, using custom servers, routers, power substations and software in order to achieve economies of scale and deliver incredible capabilities for pennies. On Monday, </span><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/salesforce-com-and-hp-buck-common-wisdom-of-cloud-computing/?ref=technology" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Salesforce.com announces they are going toinstall HP servers for customers to use</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. So, Salesforce is going to kill it (profit wise) with big iron they are buying from HP. Hmmm, I wonder.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- Chris Claborne</span></div>
Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-2360531005690726142013-09-16T09:16:00.002-07:002013-09-16T09:23:22.630-07:00Is the Apple A7 part of a Long Term Strategic Play?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4e8RitTo3bfI_74BUMyyKWgBmQt0ZVBK9v6el2ukhm9gmFpvZmfbXNPa7OYjR-u0p0GOz1kqFDx7PosqzJ2ZLbu67hnHRaRp3YWchsfk9r0Tbz1dcpYGbBQg6MnkKuWidDZrNKAvjzL0d/s1600/Apple-A7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4e8RitTo3bfI_74BUMyyKWgBmQt0ZVBK9v6el2ukhm9gmFpvZmfbXNPa7OYjR-u0p0GOz1kqFDx7PosqzJ2ZLbu67hnHRaRp3YWchsfk9r0Tbz1dcpYGbBQg6MnkKuWidDZrNKAvjzL0d/s200/Apple-A7.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/how-apples-a7-64-bit-chip-gives-ios-plenty-of-headroom-for-the-future-7000020686/">This article by Simon Bisson at ZDNet</a> points out that the Apple A7 chip that was just announced as part of the iPhone 5S (and most likely will carry over to the rest of the product line as they refresh) is bigger than a lot of people think. I think he may be right. The implications to a more secure OS is delightful.<br />
<ul>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>With a virtualisation-ready processor in its new phone, Apple can now start to move iOS in the direction of a hypervisor-controlled sandbox environment, perhaps using a technology like Microsoft's research OS Drawbridge.</i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>Here the operating system component of a VM is tailored to the application it is hosting – minimising the attack surface of each secure partition. Combined with a fingerprint sensor to identify users, Apple has the tools it needs to deliver biometric access control, allowing devices to support multiple users, with files and apps for one user hidden from another using hardware encryption.</i>
</div>
</ul>
<a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/09/14/after-its-disastrous-exynos-5-octa-samsung-may-have-lost-apples-a7-contract-to-tsmc">This article</a> in Apple Insider, is another good read. It describes what the author thinks is Apple catching one of it's biggest competitors and the field flat footed.<br />
<br />
-- Chris Claborne<br />
<br />Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-6407694272933531392013-09-11T13:06:00.001-07:002013-09-11T13:06:47.155-07:00Clouds Bringing Suite Rain (pun intended)<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Clouds Bringing Suite Rain (pun intended)</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-52e7a417-0ea1-5fbf-8da0-ec8a1bf48d35" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">According to an IDG survey, top IT Mgt. continues to see value in cloud. The following is a portion of David Linthicum’s recent article on the topic.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr">
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; width: 624px;"><colgroup><col width="*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Three takeaways emerge from this survey:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.5494791666666667; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud computing does not have much of a downside, considering the largely positive response from this and other surveys.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.5494791666666667; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The bubble that many predicted does not seem to be coming any time soon. Indeed, the use of cloud computing seems to be more of an evolution and slower growing style of technology adoption, not a mass movement.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.5494791666666667; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Businesses are beginning to understand the true value that cloud computing can bring. This means the strategic use of business data and access to mission-critical enterprise applications they would not be able to afford, were it not for the cloud. That's a good development away from the initial focus on just cheaper infrastructure.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>- Chris Claborne<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-1349581720143986592013-09-07T19:31:00.001-07:002013-09-16T09:24:47.496-07:00Using Amazon Glacier<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNbX3caTAF2hYj4FR6GULGpS4JwllcejGUSzfUnpgW0LDSqmBXF8joBNSLg6B6_cN5f-SOI81bjKTozmzQJkL1NWWwXPrs_fpBjMKe6njHnzWShEjND2zfwJ2kXCAq3kYqTHaC1iKoqSdi/s1600/amazon_glacier-150x150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNbX3caTAF2hYj4FR6GULGpS4JwllcejGUSzfUnpgW0LDSqmBXF8joBNSLg6B6_cN5f-SOI81bjKTozmzQJkL1NWWwXPrs_fpBjMKe6njHnzWShEjND2zfwJ2kXCAq3kYqTHaC1iKoqSdi/s1600/amazon_glacier-150x150.jpg" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve been wanting to test out </span><a href="http://aws.amazon.com/glacier/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amazon Web Services (AWS) Glacier</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> storage service since it was announced in August 2012. If you’ve been reading my BLOG for a while, you’ll know that I am a little crazy when it comes to backing up my data. The attraction of Amazon’s Glacier is low cost ($0.01/GB) and it’s high durability (11 9s). I was waiting for some client side tools so that I could test (which I now have). Windows based easy to use clients came out pretty quickly, </span><a href="http://fastglacier.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FastGlacier</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was one of the first and has since seen a major release in the last month. I decided to give it a try and backup my family and client photos as well as music. I think I have a strong use case for it and I’ve estimated that I can save $180+ per year by moving some of my archives to Glacier. So, I’ll save some money while I’m having some fun.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">What is Glacier?</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Glacier is Amazon’s storage platform in the cloud, dubbed “cold storage”. AWS has multiple persistence products (fancy way of saying you can store data multiple ways). There are tradeoffs between speed, cost, and durability (probability of loss of data). Among their offerings, they have the following products that serve as a means of easily storing files:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Elastic Block Storage (EBS). EBS storage is comparatively expensive but very very fast (think of it as local disk for an AWS server), which in fact is what many AWS EC2 users use EBS for. EBS has probably the lowest durability of the three covered here. AWS does replicate the storage volumes in the same data center, but because EBS is meant for speed and a large number of changes per millisecond, the probability of losing data is higher than with the next two options.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). It’s slower than EBS and can be treated like object storage that is sharable. Applications that need to persist images and file attachments for their applications may use S3 because they can share the data between applications and a server farm and because the files don’t change often, access latency requirements isn’t as important. S3 has a higher durability because Amazon stores data in multiple facilities on multiple devices within each facility. This replication happens before the service returns “success” to the application using it (indicating the save is complete and safe). S3 also has Versioning, allowing you to preserve, retrieve, and restore every version of every object stored in S3. S3 is designed for 99.99% durability and 99.99% availability of objects over a given year and can withstand the concurrent loss of data in two facilities. Customers have the option to reduce the cost of their S3 storage by turning off replication as well.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amazon Glacier is the lowest cost option of the three and Glacier is meant for cold storage but restores are glacially slow. Slow as in, it could take up to 4 hours to start a restore or service an inventory request. Uploads are pretty fast however. The key differentiators are durability and cost. Glacier is the slowest of the three, but provides the same availability of S3 but with the highest durability of 99.999999999%. </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The key tradeoffs above are cost vs. speed and durability. Slower and more durable = lower cost. The target use case for Glacier is long term storage of files that really don’t change and are rarely downloaded. Examples are music, video, photos and other media. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<ul>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS Pricing as of 9/2013</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; text-align: center;"><colgroup><col width="122"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="79"></col><col width="88"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="background-color: blue; border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS Storage</span></div>
</td><td style="background-color: blue; border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">EBS</span></div>
</td><td style="background-color: blue; border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">S3</span></div>
</td><td style="background-color: blue; border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Glacier</span></div>
</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1TB for 1 month</span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">$100</span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">$95</span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">$10</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Target Use Case</span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First and foremost, you need to understand </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">how the pricing model will affect your use case because there is more to the story.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Glacier stores a gigabyte of data for one month for one cent ($0.01/GB). </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Upload and retrieval requests are $0.05/1,000 requests. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Data charges while uploading data to Glacier is zero. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Downloading data costs $0.12/GB for the first 10 TBs (The first GB is on the house)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deleting files within 90 days of uploading to Glacier incurs a delete fee.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div style="line-height: 1.15;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The other big cost is your time. A request for the inventory (a list of all the files in your vault(s)) can take up to 4 hours and once you have the list, it can take up to 4 hours to start the restore. When you take all of this together, it’s easy to see that glacier is meant for files that don’t change often and rarely need to be downloaded. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The obvious choices that fit the use case and cost model are:</span></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Media files</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Backup archive containers that need to be kept for multiple years.</span></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Typical system backups are constantly backing up new data and changed data files. Consider the documents directory on your PC. You add new documents and the ones you have may change several times per day. Glacier doesn’t support the use case of changes, rather you would delete the object and re-upload it.... or just upload a new copy. The pricing model doesn’t really support this either.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For me, photos won’t change much after just a few days on my computer. Once I post process my images (keeping the originals and creating new adjusted images), I’m done. Glacier’s low cost allows me to backup everything, including the original RAW files. I’ll upload my images and if I do have to make a change, I’ll just re-upload the image since the cost is so incredibly low. Uploading a file a second time won’t overwrite the file in Glacier because they don’t store it with the filename you give it, they assign a unique ID to the file along with the name you give it along with other meta-data. Using an application like FastGlacier, it normally just shows the file-names so they are still visible and that’s really how you work. If I upload the image twice in a folder, I’d see it listed twice with the same name which would through a lot of people off (FastGlacier does allow you to see the UID of the object you uploaded if you really want to). </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because of the size of image files, using my current cloud backup provider, iDrive, to store them is much more expensive. I’ll use iDrive for everything else because it provides unattended automatic continuous backups, Versioning, client-side encryption and restores are fast. The “restore” use case is more likely for documents. I’ve used iDrive a few times to not only recover a lost document but also to grab a previous version of the document because changes corrupted the document in some way. I had my wife up and running in just a few minutes when I had to restore a critical data file that was part of her research. The use case that would drive me to restore images and music is most likely a system crash where my redundant drives failed and my network attached storage device also failed (think really bad fire).</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FastGlacier</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6GVOGl2hjha0Z9SBNA0qU-tytL4P2ErFE76iUZIrsD6VNBccLX0AbIuk-N6aaEC7YWwNMsMm1cUPHqMlMOOjgJCQXHFb2v88JvgsTd792Ueh8LrRJj1utPn1XFlyyXmJukJXASUju9HrJ/s1600/fastglacier.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6GVOGl2hjha0Z9SBNA0qU-tytL4P2ErFE76iUZIrsD6VNBccLX0AbIuk-N6aaEC7YWwNMsMm1cUPHqMlMOOjgJCQXHFb2v88JvgsTd792Ueh8LrRJj1utPn1XFlyyXmJukJXASUju9HrJ/s320/fastglacier.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This really isn’t a review about FastGlacier. There are a lot of reviews of FastGlacier out there. I’ve got to say, they make uploading and restoring files to/from the Glacier cloud service easy. The UI is simple and supports drag-and-drop. The tool has some other features that I like as well.</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Support for multipart uploads for large files enabling better performance.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Multi-threaded uploads. It uploads multiple files in parallel, providing better performance and allows you to utilize your full internet upload capacity if that’s your desire. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ability to tune the application, controlling the number of threads to open, size of files that should be broken apart and other parameters that allow you to throttle your network usage.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Drag-and-Drop. This is nice because the UI “Upload” button allows only one directory or file to be highlighted at a time, it can be a real pain if you do it that way. Drag-and-drop allows you to use the file manager to select multiple objects and drop them on the UI. I grab multiple directories and drop them on the Glacier Vault and folder I want them uploaded to and press the start button. If FastGlacier is already uploading, it just adds them to the queue.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A console based application allowing you to automate uploads using batch files as well as the ability to conduct command line folder synchronization.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Support for multiple AWS accounts.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The UI allows you to manage Glacier “Vaults” so you don’t have to go into AWS management console once you are setup.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Queue management. FastGlacier queues all of the jobs and keeps track of them. This allows the ability to keep dragging and dropping files on FastGlacier and ability to retry failed jobs. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Queue management controls provide the ability to pause and restart activity. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When starting long running requests, like a restore request or inventory request, it will be picked up when it’s ready... Users don’t need to have the application running the entire time while waiting. If you start the job, shut down the app and come back later, you can pick up what is waiting for you.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The one typical feature you won't find in FastGlacier is local encryption </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">before</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> upload. iDrive and others do this on your PC before files are uploaded. The advantage of this is that only YOU have the encryption keys to the data. Glacier does encrypt the data with 256 bit AES encryption on the AWS servers but the keys are held by Amazon. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the content that I’m backing up, I don’t need encryption. In fact, I don’t really want that feature for my photos. The reason is, I don’t want to depend on one particular vendor’s software solution being available on the target machine when the time comes to restore since most solutions do encryption differently. There are several clients that will most likely be available to access Glacier as long as Glacier is around. Worst case, I can always write my own utility (although I’ll probably task my son create a utility for me.) If I do need to encrypt data before I upload, I’ll try to use a very basic method that will hopefully have a long shelf-life. If I need to pull something out of cold storage and it’s encrypted, I’ll need to ensure that I can decrypt it in the future. If the tool is basic enough I should be able to use it on new hardware and operating systems. Open source tools may provide a more optimal solution allowing users to hold onto the source code should they need to implement it on a platform in the future (whatever that might be). GPG is one example of an open source tool that that fits this category.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">I suggest you play around with your preferred Glacier tool and run through some use-cases in a test vault before you go to “full production”. Try installing the tool on a different PC and simulate a system crash recovery scenario. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hint: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During a crash recovery scenario, just install FastGlacier and request a new set of vault inventories be sent down. You won’t see any files to recover until you do this.
</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you don’t like FasGlacier or you have a Mac, there are several other tools on the market that do the same thing. If you have a Linux system, try </span><a href="http://blog.tkassembled.com/326/creating-long-term-backups-with-amazon-glacier-on-linux/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">using this method to backup to Glacier</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ll continue to use iDrive on all my home PC’s, but I’ll direct my large archive of images and music to Glacier while utilizing the security, speed and ease of use of iDrive for my home network workstations. I expect to save over $180/year in cloud storage costs by moving my media files to Glacier.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moving In</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, how do users move into AWS Glacier? You can upload your data over the net but if you need to move a terabyte or more, use the AWS moving truck. I'll cover <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/importexport/">Amazon Import/Export </a>in my next article.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I were a small business, I’d certainly consider AWS glacier in place of off-site backups. Managing tapes or other media can be a real headache (and costly) and you are hoping that the media is durable and readable should you need it and that the hardware that you created the media with is still operational. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For a small business, and certainly a home user, cloud backups alleviate the cost and management off-site storage services for data, and restorations are just a click away. With Amazon Glacier, people with lots of large data files that fit the use cases mentioned above can now access lower cost durable storage in the cloud.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reference</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://fastglacier.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FastGlacier</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2009/10/backup-your-pc-to-net-or-just-backup.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Backup your PC to the NET, or just backup!</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://blog.tkassembled.com/326/creating-long-term-backups-with-amazon-glacier-on-linux/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Backup to Glacier using Linux</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
- Christian Claborne<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-23609513471223027932013-06-03T09:04:00.001-07:002013-06-03T09:06:13.994-07:00Going All in on the Google Cloud<b id="docs-internal-guid-179d0b4b-0ac6-9896-f311-4f72a7f7acd9" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcwrrOCtqdDQ1lO71yJqJdmWP3lWo2h5GtTIcer8HJ7UNs51i-ZyvO2Z3bc7mXIgW4va0XLY_18ST152nAz8AGSOoigWJOP1huY6bw35uqPXPbHzUBZv-HCAjSZf1150c2BiEb4VSAZ_ty/s1600/google-docs.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcwrrOCtqdDQ1lO71yJqJdmWP3lWo2h5GtTIcer8HJ7UNs51i-ZyvO2Z3bc7mXIgW4va0XLY_18ST152nAz8AGSOoigWJOP1huY6bw35uqPXPbHzUBZv-HCAjSZf1150c2BiEb4VSAZ_ty/s200/google-docs.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mike Elgan of InfoWorld wrote </span><a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/10-shocking-lessons-using-only-google-products-219385" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">an interesting article</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> about what he learned by going all-in on Google Apps, gMail, etc. What's surprising is he decided to stay there.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>You can't get the ultimate mobile computing experience by using nothing but Google products, but it's possible and enjoyable to use only Google products. I had a lot of fun with this experiment.</i></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>...</i></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>'m going all-in on cloud services, and sticking with Drive, Keep, and Docs, as I found them to be better than the alternatives I used previously.</i></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/10-shocking-lessons-using-only-google-products-219385" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Go here for Mike's full article.</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- Chris Claborne</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">aka Christian</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-46018867264576143232013-04-23T22:20:00.002-07:002016-08-04T22:09:43.448-07:00Cloud Based Development Environments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2AgNqoPTltk8bhyphenhyphenbBxTj0tJeNO4gbqYrX2xgxDlazj7upfbhiXtOpEhwJtRkVtxwYbEIwJReqfUDxjr39Gi63Je6io6Q420HwfChg9G3r7d183cx9M_rkm3T5gVVf19MvCMK76ovsfq6h/s1600/c9-ce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2AgNqoPTltk8bhyphenhyphenbBxTj0tJeNO4gbqYrX2xgxDlazj7upfbhiXtOpEhwJtRkVtxwYbEIwJReqfUDxjr39Gi63Je6io6Q420HwfChg9G3r7d183cx9M_rkm3T5gVVf19MvCMK76ovsfq6h/s200/c9-ce.jpg" width="157" /></a></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Updated 5/1/2014] In some ways, developers have done themselves a disservice in the tool department, like the shoemaker’s children going without shoes. As a cloud user for some years now, I’ve always felt it was kind of strange that I have to setup a complex integrated development environment (IDE) on my workstation in order to develop for the cloud. In addition, tools to push my code to the cloud platform for testing my cloud apps were missing. As a Google Docs user, I expect to have the same collaboration capabilities in my IDE.</span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This may be changing with the advent of cloud IDEs. Mark Downey, a Product Manager at Codenvy, posted a comment to Infoworld saying that “they believe </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">editing the code close to where it is meant to be executed provides countless advantages that have yet to be explored.... it’s just a matter of time before desktop IDEs are completely obsolete.” </span></b><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s about time we have some decent cloud based IDEs. If the future platform is cloud, then the IDE needs to move to the cloud as well. There are several advantage to developer teams, like having consistent tools, collaboration, and hopefully better productivity since developers don’t need to setup and maintain multiple tools on their local workstations. Maintaining a set of development tools can be a major time sink in itself. Regarding time to setup, Codenvy published a </span><a href="http://codenvy.tumblr.com/post/46844499370/march-release-real-time-collaboration-editor-themes" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">post on their BLOG</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> stating the following.</span></b></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;">
</b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It took an expert Java developer hours to setup Eclipse, maven, and Cloud Foundry on a blank Ubuntu machine. It took 2 minutes with Codenvy.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.15;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.15;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sure, there’s some marketing here, but even if I tweak the numbers, there’s real value here. I expect that having a cloud IDE may be the next battlefront for cloud PaaS providers like AWS, Rackspace, Heroku and others. As the market continues to mature, I can easily see a company like AWS purchasing a cloud IDE company or implementing the open source Cloud9 IDE and making it part of AWS solution set. I decided to test a couple of the cloud based IDEs, </span><a href="http://codenvy.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Codenvy</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><a href="http://c9.io/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud9</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and play with some Python and PHP code. It was free and painless to setup accounts with both vendors. </span></b><br />
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Being able to use a source control platform, like github, reduces one of the risks to using these IDEs since your code is pushed out to a common source control system allowing the use of any IDE.</span></b></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;">
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgToLUSWd2izIcsS3VaU9nhxW8wwU-fBvwyQ_BO3HfCEBwnJaockSJu1KYdbaoJeDnn2BqMEPLsTw5C-xSZwWpHDqLlSPEl9m0bOwPNsaHo1tofefWl4XP7uLM01jI0Bh09rZIpHIW60d8N/s1600/codenvy-create-project.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgToLUSWd2izIcsS3VaU9nhxW8wwU-fBvwyQ_BO3HfCEBwnJaockSJu1KYdbaoJeDnn2BqMEPLsTw5C-xSZwWpHDqLlSPEl9m0bOwPNsaHo1tofefWl4XP7uLM01jI0Bh09rZIpHIW60d8N/s200/codenvy-create-project.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;">
</b>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Executive Summary </span></b></h2>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As of this writing, the cloud based solutions that I tested seemed just out of beta. Although we are moving to the “post-PC world”, I couldn’t use my iPad with either environment, mainly because both tools required double-click. I’m guessing I’d have to wait for an app for this. If I have to code in the cloud, I use </span><a href="http://www.textasticapp.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Textastic</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for my iPad.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The cloud IDEs that I tested both had many of the features that you would expect to find in a development IDE.</span></div>
<i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Editors built for application development like color coding elements of the code, auto-indentation (a must for python), command completion, etc.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i><i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Debugging environment which depended on the language</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i><i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ability to collaboration with other developers.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i><i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Integration with source repositories (like github)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Application deployment integration to platform as a service (PaaS) vendors (like </span><a href="http://heroku.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Heroku</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="http://aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS Elastic Beanstalk</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">).</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s been awhile since I’ve done any development, so I stumbled around Codenvy’s test environments as well as trying to figure out why Codenvy wouldn’t push my PHP application to AWS Elastic Beanstalk (like you can to AppFog and OpenShift). I hope Codenvy will support that in the future. You can deploy directly to AWS if you develop with Java in Codenvy but if you want to deploy PHP, you’ll need to bridge through github since AWS supports github deployments. I’d prefer a single push button approach though which would improve development team testing cycles. Codenvy supports more PaaS vendors than Cloud9, and because of this, and better documentation, their platform seemed more mature than Cloud9. Although I liked Codenvy’s tight integration with github, it would clone but not push code back to github giving me an error in the process. I ran into numerous bugs and wasn’t able to invite other developers to collaborate in Codenvy due to an error 500. I was very interested in testing </span><a href="http://codenvy.tumblr.com/post/46844499370/march-release-real-time-collaboration-editor-themes" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">real-time collaboration in Codenvy</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (it works like google docs) but it wasn’t functioning the day I tested. [Update: Some of these issues were fixed. See the <a href="http://codenvy.tumblr.com/post/49434920217/04-30-13-release-notes?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoku6%2FOZKXonjHpfsX57e4sX6C%2FlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ASMNnI%2FqLAzICFpZo2FFdAu8%3D">release notes</a>.]</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Looking at the </span><a href="http://codenvy.tumblr.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Codenvy BLOG</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, it looks like they release new features monthly. One of the advantages of software as a service (SaaS) is that there’s nothing for users to do to receive updates since there’s nothing to install. The marketing is slick and the interface seems a tad more polished than Cloud9</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I found Cloud9 easier to use, faster and less bug prone. Cloud9’s IDE would catch undeclared variables and other bugs in the code. It had continuous saving as well as having better command completion features than Codenvy. I also liked Cloud9’s test environment for PHP, it was quick to fire up and reliable. Although you are forced to use the terminal window for some github commands, it was easy and the more I tested in the two environments, the more I liked Cloud9. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wasn’t able to try application deployment on either app since they supported PaaS systems that I’m not signed up for at this time. Neither product tested would support the same PaaS vendors so this would have been very time consuming portion of the review. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I didn’t have a complete project that I was developing so a deep evaluation is out of reach at this time. I would have liked to push my PHP app to AWS EBS but Codenvy doesn’t support it and Cloud9 only pushes java apps to AWS. I’ll be interested in following where these products mature and grow. I expect Google, AWS and or others to offer an IDE to achieve tighter integration for their platforms and improve the development and code life cycle management.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHh4cr5IelxQXnSymgUnP5ZeJqV_1wKC42isA7zeFpQOKILeQWHZ9UIL_CKYbfaeDNLxCaELbN33MPl8vjbQM8lqzKDmgpkZpFcOfSERWCjipqG1r9Eif-6XjrvRWudngx7Pn2dn9wh_0/s1600/codenvy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHh4cr5IelxQXnSymgUnP5ZeJqV_1wKC42isA7zeFpQOKILeQWHZ9UIL_CKYbfaeDNLxCaELbN33MPl8vjbQM8lqzKDmgpkZpFcOfSERWCjipqG1r9Eif-6XjrvRWudngx7Pn2dn9wh_0/s200/codenvy.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Codenvy</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Codenvy IDE is supposed to be more familiar to users of eclipse. Codenvy doesn’t have auto-save like Cloud9 (requires you to <ctrl>-s). It’s IDE acts more like a local editor showing you that the file has changed by displaying an asterisk on the tab for the changed content and warns you if you try to close a tab that hasn’t been saved. The advantage is that it may produce less network chatter. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While I tried using Codenvy with php and python, it indented and color coded my code. It also tried to un-indent the code in PHP when it saw the matching “}”. Another feature is that it turned a brace red if it didn’t have a matching brace or parentheses. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The “Run” in Codenvy menu command is used to test applications is not available when editing a PHP application. I had limited success starting a Python application (if there are any errors in the code it won’t start at all). </span><b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="display: inline !important; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></b></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="display: inline !important; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div style="display: inline !important;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Update: PHP run is supported and some of these issues were fixed. See the <a href="http://codenvy.tumblr.com/post/49434920217/04-30-13-release-notes?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoku6%2FOZKXonjHpfsX57e4sX6C%2FlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ASMNnI%2FqLAzICFpZo2FFdAu8%3D">release notes</a>.]</span></b></b></div>
</div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</b></b></div>
</div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wasn’t able to try collaboration as I received error 500 page when inviting others to collaborate. I was looking forward to trying the collaboration feature that is similar to Google Docs. </span><b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="display: inline !important; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></b></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="display: inline !important; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div style="display: inline !important;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Update: Some of these issues were fixed. See the <a href="http://codenvy.tumblr.com/post/49434920217/04-30-13-release-notes?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoku6%2FOZKXonjHpfsX57e4sX6C%2FlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ASMNnI%2FqLAzICFpZo2FFdAu8%3D">release notes</a>.]</span></b></b></div>
</div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-39cd684b-3a6d-3d0f-2e58-3335dd38d9b0" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</b></b></div>
</div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It wasn’t obvious how to setup github but a quick look at the documentation and it was pretty painless. I like how github is integrated into the UI for various file based actions. I was able to clone a project from the main dashboard and and then edit the source. My commits back to the repository didn’t work however and this was a major point of frustration. Adding files to my github also failed.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Depending on the language, Codenvy allows you to deploy to the following PaaS providers directly from the tool.</span></div>
<i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AWS Elastic Beanstalk</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AppFog</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud Foundry</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CloudBees</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google App Engine</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Heroku</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">OpenShift</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCmO4D4mNREthqkKDeI0LsGCxQdWJMcprP15eFOqBJHFANPRkhHvaGGmAEB6tjJYoZStaw70GpAT5WxWznbSB1Q1alMH0rrQ9nMI7ZG71dhT-EACgoNPqYBB1Ec1C_bNrrgG9z1QXJrtXq/s1600/c9-ide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCmO4D4mNREthqkKDeI0LsGCxQdWJMcprP15eFOqBJHFANPRkhHvaGGmAEB6tjJYoZStaw70GpAT5WxWznbSB1Q1alMH0rrQ9nMI7ZG71dhT-EACgoNPqYBB1Ec1C_bNrrgG9z1QXJrtXq/s200/c9-ide.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud9</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From the Cloud9 (C9) documentation:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud 9 IDE is, at its core, an online code editor. Specifically, it's an IDE for Javascript that uses Node.js as a backend. Cloud 9 IDE supports the ability to import projects from github, Bitbucket, and FTP, as well as an offline mode, collaborative development, and syntax highlight for a variety of languages. It's simple, fast, and extremely powerful, with tabbed file browsing, autocompletion of methods and properties, searching across project files, and many other features you'd expect from a terrific editor.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since Cloud 9 IDE runs on Javascript, you can build, debug, and run Node.js applications within your browser. You can run npm and import packages developed by the Node.js community. Cloud9 IDE can also instantaneously deploy your projects to production servers hosted by Heroku and Nodester in order to take your awesome ideas to a wider audience. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cloud9 IDE is based on the open source version with the same name but with some additional code on-top to run the management console, authentication and the business operations side. The editor tries to auto-save as you type which I think is mandatory for cloud based applications since you could lose your connection at any time. It was much more like using Google Docs in this regard.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When using parentheses in PHP the editor added the ending paren and was smart enough to not put a second one if you put the ending paren on. When using a curly brace, it added the ending brace to the next line below so it was easy to duplicate by accident. The editor highlights the matching parenthesis or brace when placing cursor to the right of one of them, which is very helpful. For Python code, the editor placed a faint line to show indention (Python uses indentation rather than terminators or keywords to indicate when a conditional or looping statement ends (my nemesis)). Seeing how the code lines up is really helpful.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I tried collaboration. It’s supposed to work similar to Google Docs from what I’ve read, but that wasn’t the case when I tried it. There were some very recent bugs submitted on this feature during my review. I’ll be interested to see how this is resolved.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For source control, Cloud9 supports github and mercurial. The integration makes it easy to clone a repository or add a file that’s in your git repository. Committing changes back requires you to use command lines in the terminal window. I expect this to be better integrated in the future.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud9 supports the following PaaS vendors for direct deployment:</span></div>
<i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Windows Azure</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud Foundry</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">heroku</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cloud9 BLOG is moderately active and indicates that updates come out every 1 to 2 months with a clear indication that they plan to add more PaaS vendors.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reference</span></h1>
<i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/review-4-killer-cloud-ides-216616" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Review: 4 Killer IDEs</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (by Peter Wayner - Infoworld)</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://c9.io/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloud9</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://codenvy.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Codenvy</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i><i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2010/05/benefits-of-cloud-computing.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefits of Cloud Computing</span></a><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- Cloudrant.com</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2012/06/evaluating-software-as-service.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Evaluating Software as a Service</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - Cloudrant.com</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2012/03/step-function-of-cost.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Step Function of (compute)</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Cost - Cloudrant.com</span></div>
<br />
</li>
</ul>
</i></b>
-- Chris ClaborneChris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-42381525207258686542013-04-22T23:06:00.004-07:002013-04-22T23:06:37.226-07:00When The SaaS Ship Sinks<b id="docs-internal-guid-76058ef3-357f-5f7c-d5be-7f81dc4e2fc2" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-76058ef3-357f-5f7c-d5be-7f81dc4e2fc2" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl-tKrMcqr4ZaFx5-SryBFNxx4mQ9Ki1CqcUwfdPAsG3TyWYZOR4DG4GIgYOugxlSbbuSTqFDraoengdkY3ohiAWCV6AvugXo7X74UCbuX_YC3F78eX54UA6NumLnj4CTMqlP2I9bXmGRV/s1600/officedrop-broken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl-tKrMcqr4ZaFx5-SryBFNxx4mQ9Ki1CqcUwfdPAsG3TyWYZOR4DG4GIgYOugxlSbbuSTqFDraoengdkY3ohiAWCV6AvugXo7X74UCbuX_YC3F78eX54UA6NumLnj4CTMqlP2I9bXmGRV/s1600/officedrop-broken.jpg" /></a></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-76058ef3-357f-5f7c-d5be-7f81dc4e2fc2" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I, like many others, received a letter from OfficeDrop, telling it’s customers they were closing the doors on the company. To it’s customers, this means an eventual shutdown of their web software as a service (SaaS). OfficeDrop is a cloud SaaS company that allows it’s customers to upload PDF documents (normally scanned documents) and then search for them after they are indexed on the OfficeDrop cloud servers. The OfficeDrop service also allows it’s customers to send them the physical documents and then scans them as a service. </span></b></div>
<a name='more'></a><b id="docs-internal-guid-76058ef3-357f-5f7c-d5be-7f81dc4e2fc2" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The OfficeDrop closure is a good example of one of the risks of moving to cloud computing and SaaS in particular. If you ran the service locally, the vendor may go out of business but it doesn’t normally translate to a secession of that capability but it still means that you’ll never see another update. If a company stops offering their service, what will you do? My suggestion is that when you evaluate a SaaS solution, first evaluate the level of risk. If the service handles a non-critical area of your business, and the loss of the service would have low impact, chances are you aren’t going to spend a lot of time researching the company and evaluating business continuity impacts. If it’s a higher impact to your business, you’ll need to evaluate multiple aspects of the service provider as it pertains to this particular scenario. This should be documented and reviewed at least annually as a company enterprise architecture standard. For this scenario, these are some of the things that I would recommend be evaluated.</span></div>
<i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How easy is it to switch to another service?</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i><i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: circle; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Are there APIs or other ways to retrieve your data in a format that is transferrable?</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: circle; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Can the data be exported or reproduced another way that allows high enough information fidelity to transfer it?</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: circle; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Are there costs to export your data? You should include consulting and other services that might be needed.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where is your data stored so that you can gain access to it in case of a catastrophic failure?</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I decided not to use OfficeDrop so I use another vendor. My recovery in this situation is to maintain my own copy of the data that I upload and feed that into my local backup processes. I happen to know that the software that OfficeDrop gave to it’s customers allows them to do exactly that (it allows storing a local copy of a scanned document). If their customers didn’t think about this they may have never turned on this feature. Although I can tag content that is uploaded, and put them in various folders, the real value to me is that I can access the data from any web connected device using pure search. I’m willing to lose the work that I spent tagging my content, therefore, I don’t have to think about how I would extract my content in a high fidelity manor. This is a very simplistic example, but I think you get the idea. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Obviously, loss of service due to a company completely getting out of the business is just one of the many scenarios. Take a look at “</span><a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2010/06/challenges-risks-of-implementing-cloud.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Challenges and Risks of Implementing Cloud Computing</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”) to see what I mean. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reference</span></h1>
<i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://readwrite.com/2013/04/22/what-happens-when-the-cloud-abandons-you" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What Happens When The Cloud Abandons You</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (by Brian Proffitt - Read Write Cloud)</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i><i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2272727272727273; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2010/04/primer-on-cloud-computing.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Primer on Cloud Computing</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2272727272727273; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2010/05/benefits-of-cloud-computing.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benefits of Cloud Computing</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2272727272727273; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2010/06/challenges-risks-of-implementing-cloud.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Challenges & Risks of Implementing Cloud Computing</span></a></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i><i style="font-style: normal;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2272727272727273; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2011/06/comparing-local-to-cloud-security.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Comparing Local to Cloud Security</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2272727272727273; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2012/03/step-function-of-cost.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the Step Function of Cost</span></a></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2272727272727273; margin-bottom: 3pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://dreamvent.blogspot.com/2011/10/have-exit-plan.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have an Exit Plan</span></a></div>
</li>
</ul>
</i></b>Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079967585021297285.post-36570699124328694092013-04-11T09:13:00.001-07:002013-04-11T09:13:08.343-07:00HP Moonshot Servicability<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtjDHEBY6JHUEDFy52VjGJ6jRxAPo9b_4Ad4HJtJTxOkj7h8sbyztus5iopmRCToZ9asJfXDpkFHUesHIp8AfGOxMR9FXVJhPwFCetTO17lM6FoI95mHU9ue13VP9bXoOljATOugekUGDZ/s1600/Redstone_Platform_Full.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtjDHEBY6JHUEDFy52VjGJ6jRxAPo9b_4Ad4HJtJTxOkj7h8sbyztus5iopmRCToZ9asJfXDpkFHUesHIp8AfGOxMR9FXVJhPwFCetTO17lM6FoI95mHU9ue13VP9bXoOljATOugekUGDZ/s200/Redstone_Platform_Full.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I enjoyed this comment to the article <a href="http://readwrite.com/2013/04/08/will-hp-moonshot-ignite-or-fizzle">Will HP Moonshot Ignite or fizzle</a>. Is this what cloud infrastructure is coming to?<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="publisher-anchor-color" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a data-action="profile" data-user="47747895" href="http://readwrite.com/2013/04/08/will-hp-moonshot-ignite-or-fizzle?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=linkedin#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s linear; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(198, 38, 39) !important; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s linear;">PeterNic</a></span> <span aria-hidden="true" class="bullet" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #cccccc; font-size: 9px; line-height: 1.4; padding: 0px 3px;">•</span> <a class="time-ago" data-role="relative-time" href="http://readwrite.com/2013/04/08/will-hp-moonshot-ignite-or-fizzle?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=linkedin#comment-858101137" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s linear; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s linear;" title="Tuesday, April 9 2013 5:16 PM">2 days ago</a><ul class="post-menu" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s linear; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: -2px; transition: 0.2s linear; visibility: visible !important;">
<li class="collapse" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px;"><a data-action="collapse" href="http://readwrite.com/2013/04/08/will-hp-moonshot-ignite-or-fizzle?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=linkedin#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s linear; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.498039) !important; font-family: inherit; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.6; padding: 10px 0px 10px 10px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; top: -7px; transition: color 0.1s linear;" title="Collapse">−</a></li>
</ul>
<ul class="post-menu" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s linear; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: -2px; transition: 0.2s linear; visibility: visible !important;">
<li class="dropdown" data-role="menu" role="menu" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="http://readwrite.com/2013/04/08/will-hp-moonshot-ignite-or-fizzle?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=linkedin#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s linear; border-left-color: rgba(75, 83, 94, 0.360784); border-left-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.498039) !important; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s linear;"><b class="caret" style="border-left-color: transparent; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 4px; border-right-color: transparent; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 4px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 4px; box-sizing: border-box; content: ↓; display: inline-block; height: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-top: 4px; opacity: 0.3; text-indent: -99999px; vertical-align: top; width: 0px;"></b></a></li>
</ul>
Why are these even user serviceable? If they are cheap enough and plentiful enough, just give me a rack with hundreds of them... if any fail, bypass them, the same way as we bypass bad sectors on hard drives. This will remove a lot of the cost/sheetmetal and maintenance. Just a thought!</blockquote>
<header style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #777777; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; position: relative;"><ul class="post-menu" style="-webkit-transition: 0.2s linear; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: -2px; transition: 0.2s linear; visibility: visible !important;">
<li class="dropdown" data-role="menu" role="menu" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="http://readwrite.com/2013/04/08/will-hp-moonshot-ignite-or-fizzle?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=linkedin#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s linear; border-left-color: rgba(75, 83, 94, 0.360784); border-left-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.498039) !important; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s linear;"><b class="caret" style="border-left-color: transparent; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 4px; border-right-color: transparent; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 4px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 4px; box-sizing: border-box; content: ↓; display: inline-block; height: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-top: 4px; opacity: 0.3; text-indent: -99999px; vertical-align: top; width: 0px;"></b></a></li>
</ul>
</header><br />
<br />Chris Clabornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667976111738074928noreply@blogger.com0