Wire Shire...I mean Shark

“Wireshark is the world's foremost network protocol analyzer, and is the de facto (and often de jure) standard across many industries and educational institutions.”[1] That’s a pretty robust statement. The program has the typical protocol analyzer features, along with some pretty cool inspection methods.

As featured on the Wireshark Homepage…

Wireshark has a rich feature set which includes the following:

• Deep inspection of hundreds of protocols, with more being added all the time
  Live capture and offline analysis
  Standard three-pane packet browser
  Multi-platform: Runs on Windows, Linux, OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and many others
  Captured network data can be browsed via a GUI, or via the TTY-mode TShark utility
  The most powerful display filters in the industry
  Rich VoIP analysis
  Read/write many different capture file formats: tcpdump (libpcap), Pcap NG, Catapult DCT2000, Cisco Secure IDS iplog, Microsoft Network Monitor, Network General Sniffer® (compressed and uncompressed), Sniffer® Pro, and NetXray®, Network Instruments Observer, NetScreen snoop, Novell LANalyzer, RADCOM WAN/LAN Analyzer, Shomiti/Finisar Surveyor, Tektronix K12xx, Visual Networks Visual UpTime, WildPackets EtherPeek/TokenPeek/AiroPeek, and many others
  Capture files compressed with gzip can be decompressed on the fly
  Live data can be read from Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, PPP/HDLC, ATM, Bluetooth, USB, Token Ring, Frame Relay, FDDI, and others (depending on your platform)
  Decryption support for many protocols, including IPsec, ISAKMP, Kerberos, SNMPv3, SSL/TLS, WEP, and WPA/WPA2
  Coloring rules can be applied to the packet list for quick, intuitive analysis
  Output can be exported to XML, PostScript®, CSV, or plain text [2]

As you can see, Wireshark can pretty much dissect a packet originating from virtually any source. How does this apply to us? In a Cisco class that I’m currently enrolled in, we were tasked with creating a subnet with a couple of switches. The switches were assigned management IP addresses and connected to host computers. Cross over cables connected the switches to replace the function of a router. After the hosts could successfully ping each other over the networks, we installed Wireshark and began inspecting packets.

The following shows a sample packet capture and inspection from Wireshark. The source and destination IP addresses are mapped, along with the protocol and associated information displayed in a column. There is a detailed view starting at the second half of the application window. In the screenshot above, the frame and Reassembled TCP packet is displayed. The packet is in hexadecimal format, followed by a translated decimal view. It breaks the object all the way down to the frame!

I don’t know if it’s the deepest inspecting protocol analyzer, because I haven’t used them all. However, if you’re trying to troubleshoot poor network performance, track rogue network administrators or just get a better understanding of the OSI model, this is the program I recommend.

[1] http://www.wireshark.org/about.html
[2] http://www.wireshark.org/about.html

http://weblog.infoworld.com/stratdev/WindowsLiveWriter/Wireshark_8E53/Wireshark.png

Linking Outside The Box: A Briefing On Cloud Computing

High tech businesses are always looking for ways to cut costs, reduce TCO(Total Cost Of Ownership) and increase productivity. For years, enterprise environments have housed servers, applications and and data with on-site IT staff. This just isn't cutting it anymore. With the advent of SaaS, (Software As A Service) the realm of outsourcing applications busted wide open, propelling third party vendors and begging developers to go web based. As time goes by, processors, media and storage resources are becoming smaller and faster. This creates new ways of implementing technology. In another sense money, or the lack of has become the catalyst of cloud computing.

We can see this model applied to super computing environments. Nodes are stacked, racked and linked together to generate enormous power. Throughout the life cycle of the system, nodes are replaced with newer, smaller and more powerful processors. Cloud computing is just the name behind the method applied to the consumer and business level. The idea is not new, the implementation is new.

I always understand things better in a methodical sense. Lets further break down the concept so we can understand what all the fuss is about. We can loosely define cloud computing in a couple of ways.

1. SaaS: As stated earlier in the article, SaaS is the process of offering applications to multiple users over the net. All the licensing, distributing and access can be had in one location. A new start up called OnLive has really took the concept of the SaaS cloud to a new level. They offer a video game solution that renders all the graphics remotely. Goodbye discs and hardcore SLI configurations. While you're at it, mosey on over to Google Docs. It essentially is SaaS incarnate.

2. Utility Computing: This is the newer implementation process behind the cloud. Large (extremely large) remote data centers act as on site appliances. This reduces TCO. Remember, it's all made possible by Moores Law.

An article from Info World further articulates the idea behind cloud computing.

"Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT(s) existing capabilities."2

Also, the term is some what ambiguous.

"Some analysts and vendors define cloud computing narrowly as an updated version of utility computing: basically virtual servers available over the Internet. Others go very broad, arguing anything you consume outside the firewall is "in the cloud," including conventional outsourcing."

There are more substructures behind the concept of cloud computing. We only touched a couple to get a grasp of the nebulous term. Hopefully this has been insightful in your quest for further understand THE CLOUD.

Sources:

1. http://lonewolflibrarian.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/cloud-computing-kitchen-sink.jpg

2. http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/what-cloud-computing-really-means-031

R to the SS

A relatively new technology called Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a great way to stay up to date on the latest news and blog updates. With a simple aggregation tool or content manager, your inbox can be transformed into a news casting machine, receiving as many “feeds” as you’re subscribed to. Most users are not aware that their personalized start pages are consumed with RSS technology. According to online surveys, 88% of people online are unaware of RSS.

RSS collects Metadata from the XML source and extracts it to a feed. The feed is processed by the content aggregator to keep everything in order. Google Reader is a popular web based RSS reader. I use a custom Google start page, with an RSS feed compiled with technology news. I also use RSS in my Microsoft Exchange email. Though not as popular now, the button you see above used to be easily found on the address bar in Internet Explorer or Firefox.

The history of RSS is somewhat multicolored tainted with folklore. Some say RSS can be traced back to 1997 and the creation of Resource Description Framework (RDF). RDF stores Metadata, which is information about information. For example, Meta for a news article would be the information associated with the report, i.e. the author, copyright information and language. In 1999 Netscape created a standard named RSS 0.90. Netscape employee Dan Libby improved version 0.90 and deployed version 0.91. Here’s where the confusion starts. Dave Winer of Userland also created an updated version, again naming it RSS version 0.91. The names were the same, but the specifications were slightly different.

Netscape decided to abandon RSS, and O’Reily took over publishing RSS 1.0. RSS 1.0 isn’t compatible with previous version of RSS, because it’s based off the original RDF framework. This caused mass market confusion. Userland decided to mitigate the confusion by creating yet another standard, RSS v 2.0. Dave Winer sold Harvard Law the idea that competitors were leery of using a standard he had a hand in creating. They took responsibility for the future development of RSS.

Aeronautical Interfaces

Aero is the “new” graphical interface created by Microsoft for the Windows Vista platform. Interestingly, the acronym translates to Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open. This is a rather bold acronym, and some would argue the theme is precariously similar to any flavor of Linux or Apple OSX. Operating partisan choices aside, let take a look at what Aero has to offer.



The first thing that catches the eye is the translucent and glossy feel after entering in user credentials. Briefly after a successful login, the screen disappears into the monitor only for a second (depending on your machines specifications) only to reappear proud to show you the Windows desktop. Appropriately and uniformly dressed, the unmodified desktop stares back at you, anticipating and seemingly panting for the hand to mount the mouse. Keep in mind, backbone of windows (NTFS) is ever present; so many features will look and feel the same. There are two levels to Aero available to the operating system. Namely, “Windows Vista Aero” and “Windows Vista Basic” are the options that automatically conform depending on your machines specs.


Moving onto the desktop background selection, Windows presents a polychromatic display of grass roots selections. From dry wheat fields to frost over snow scenes, the background selection borders reality with high definition displays. Consider investing in a mid range video card for an optimal viewing experience. The interface is very demanding, and like many video games, the graphics options can be modified by navigating to the control panel.

The button repository has been completely revisited. Partnering with The IconFactory, Microsoft has developed new and aesthetically sounded pieces. For users, this means easier identification and navigation to Windows programs. I’m still unsure about some of the default Windows XP icons. The default font for Aero is Segoe UI typeface. The font works well with Clear Type technology becoming the standard.

Remember those annoying notifications that minimized the game you were playing only to tell you that you have unused desktop icons? The notifications are back, but less intrusive. The window appears and dissipates after a couple of seconds, kindly reminding you to update Windows. If you use any Windows Live service like Hotmail or Microsoft TechNet, you will notice the integration of the user interface. The Aero design layers almost all Microsoft products, web services and local PCs alike.

Overall, the Aero interface for Windows Vista is a more of a facelift to its predecessor. After toying around with Windows 7 which also uses Aero, It is beginning to grow on me. Features like Aero Shake which allow all dialogue boxes to be minimized except the one that is “shook” by hand gesture, is innovative and responsive. I also like the automatic resize of windows by dragging boxes to each side of the screen. The only thing that hurts Aero is Windows Vista.

Hark, a OSX server is coming!

Today I was tricked into thinking that Apple has enterprise software. After visiting apple.com I became aware this wasn't a dream. For all the Mac fan boys, I will indulge and agree that there a few benefits to having a Mac. You can color, browse the web with some nostalgic browser called navigator, and watch a pin wheel go round and round.

This inspired me.

I want to learn about Apple's domain software, I thought. Here's to tears, for there will surely be pain.

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