Uplogix Network Automation Blog

Strengthen your AAA with local management

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:56:00 +0000

While your AAA servers might not be local,
Uplogix will ensure their security is still in place.

Your network infrastructure is only as good as its security. When it comes to controlling administrative access, organizations often want to limit and separate access and privileges among various IT groups. For example, the server people don't need the same access as the network folks, and it makes for better administrative control and auditing when users are assigned only the privileges they need.

Current solutions include authentication at the local device level, device segmentation, and centralized AAA (Authentication, Authorization and Accounting) using TACACS or RADIUS. The latter supports fairly granular permissions, allowing control over each user's level of access on a specific device, but if there is a problem with network connectivity, or if the device cannot communicate with the central software, then the system becomes unusable.

Local Management and the AAA Model
Uplogix applies a system of granular permissions that integrates with centralized AAA systems to provide command-level control over access and authorization. The benefits of this model are:

Customizable roles allow and deny access to commands
Roles can be assigned on a per-user and per-resource basis
Security is enforced even when the network is down or if the centralized AAA service is unreachable
When integrated with centralized AAA, last known permissions can be cached for offline enforcement

The Uplogix model for AAA ensures that you can maintain and enforce AAA regardless of the state of the network. Under normal circumstances, Uplogix Local Managers (LMs) integrate with remote authentication mechanisms, such as TACACS and RADIUS. If connectivity is lost, the LM can failover to other AAA servers before falling back on cached authentication data to maintain authorized access.

For more information, see the Uplogix website for Security and Compliance features of Local Management.

How smart is your data center?

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:20:00 +0000

One in five data centers are soaring at peak efficiency.

A January 2012 global study of CIOs and IT managers by IBM concluded that only about one in five data centers have reached the peak of efficiency.

How exactly do they define peak efficiency? Like many things -- it depends. For some data centers it means "providing state of the art levels of availability, flexibility and scalability," and for others, the goal is to provide "sufficient levels of service while keeping new capital expenditures to a minimum."

The study assessed data centers using an evolutionary efficiency path with four stages: Basic, Consolidated, Available and Strategic. It turns out that data centers running at the highest levels of efficiency allocate 50 percent of their IT resources to new projects.

It makes sense. If you are able to avoid spending resources on just maintaining existing infrastructure, you have more resources -- the time of highly-trained IT staff, equipment dollars, management time (think fewer meetings dealing with issues like downtime, hitting SLAs, etc.). These resources can be channeled into innovation and finding new ways to do things better.

This is the story we've been telling at Uplogix for years with the efficiencies that Local Management brings to an operation. Large amounts of time go into basic maintenance of infrastructure. Uplogix automates many of these relatively basic (level 1 & 2) tasks, freeing up that time for new projects -- innovations that will make your data center more cost efficient, flexible and available.

While Uplogix is currently deployed in many data centers around the world, we don't know if they participated in this study, or if they were part of the 21% identified as operating at peak efficiency by this IBM study. But we do have a pretty good idea that applying Local Management can play a large role for getting there.

For more information, check out the Local Management for Servers solution document in the Uplogix Resource Center.

Local Management: Imperative for the Cloud

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Tue, 01 May 2012 06:05:00 +0000

Here is a peek at the new white paper from Uplogix: Meeting the Network Requirements of Cloud and Virtual Computing with Local Management. Don't let the catchy title fool you -- this paper could be the plot of a movie.

There is the introduction of characters, introduction of the conflict, rising action, heroes, villains... but this story isn't yet complete. The script is still being written as Cloud adoption continues to rise, and as more and more physical systems are virtualized in datacenters around the world. You can almost hear the previews:

[To be read in the voice of that movie preview guy. You know the one.]

Imagine a world, poised to reap the benefits of a great new technology. The Cloud and related virtual computing breakthroughs promise to deliver new levels of service, savings and simplicity to corporations everywhere.

But a storm is brewing in the Cloud. It's bringing new customer expectations, new requirements for service levels, and business as usual in IT isn't going to be able to meet demands. And it just might bring down the whole network.  

[FADE TO BLACK]

Very dramatic, but all you have to do is read this white paper to see how IT is really going to need some new weapons, like Local Management, to deal with the good and the bad of cloud and virtual computing.

Here is the synopsis of the paper, along with some of the key sections to give you an idea of what is covered.

SYNOPSIS | The widespread adoption of virtualized computing (the enabling technology in “Clouds”) and the various ways that enterprises will change to fully exploit it will have a profound effect on the network and on IT Network Operations Groups.

Customer expectations are changing. New requirements are emerging, service levels are becoming more stringent and some time-tested strategies for managing costs and ensuring adequate service levels are being invalidated. Trying to use the same old network and network management strategies and tools will cause virtualization and cloud initiatives to fail or to incur runaway costs.

Implementing Local Management will be necessary to meet customer expectations for virtual and cloud computing.

Key Sections:

Climate Change in Virtualization
Network Operations Impacts
Changing Business Expectations
Centralization of Applications
The Impact of Rapidly Multiplying Virtual Switches
Local Management for Cost Control and Limiting Cloud Chaos

Get your copy of the white paper today and see what you are up against in the inevitable push to The Cloud. Every cloud has a silver lining, but the only way you are going to make it to the sequel, is to be ready with Local Management.

Infographic: Be ready for the Cloudy forecast

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Tue, 01 May 2012 04:55:00 +0000

Cloud is going to change customer expectations. New requirements are emerging, service levels are becoming more stringent and some of the time-tested strategies for managing costs and ensuring adequate service levels are being invalidated.

The new whitepaper form Uplogix shows how the same old network and network management strategies and tools won't just rain on the Cloud and Virtualization parade, without adding Local Management to the mix, the forecast is bleak indeed.

Get some of the facts from the following infographic, and then download the full whitepaper for more discussion.

Limit risks and calculate the savings of Local Management

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Tue, 01 May 2012 04:09:00 +0000

Local Management enables a range of savings that traditional centralized tools can’t deliver
When the network and dependent systems are down, orders can’t be placed, employees are less productive, and costly resources have to be diverted to fix problems. Traditional centralized network and system management tools—although good at collecting and reporting system data—still do not proactively fix problems once they occur. The result is that people are still required to perform most of the work over console servers on remote networks.

Understanding the business case for remote network support is based on a risk/return calculation that takes into account the cost of downtime compared to the mix of resources spent to avoid downtime. The following chart shows that how much you spend on your resource mix doesn’t always equate to the lowest risk.

Determining where to invest– Managing network cost & risk
The key is in defining the resource mix:

Automation | Whether scripts that run over the network, or the automated management and recovery processes deployed by Uplogix, automation saves human effort, and reduces risk by taking human error out of the equation.
Monitoring Software | Software that uses SNMP polling to monitor a wide variety of network and device statistics. Reliant on a network connection to the equipment and networks it monitors.
Console/OOB | Connecting remotely to devices over the console port, providing base-level access for management. Out-of-band (OOB) access is an alternate path to connect to equipment other than the primary network.
Onsite IT Staff | Trained people. Whether direct employees or through break/fix contracts, this is the cost of assigning a human to solve a problem at a site. Along with high costs come issues like lack of coverage during night or holiday hours, plus the possibility of travel costs if they are unable to access a site remotely.

Running the numbers
For companies administering their own networks, quantifying downtime is more than just the infrastructure management costs (both planned and unplanned), but also the opportunity costs of the network being down (again, both planned and unplanned). In this example we’ll use statistics provided by an Uplogix customer that is a managed service provider (MSP), because the cost of network downtime is so clearly articulated by SLAs with their customers. Some of the categories listed represent an aggregated cost. For a more detailed analysis with your specific costs, please contact Uplogix.

Starting Assumptions

Sites: 1,000	Devices per site: 4
“Real” Tickets per Device per Year: 2.0 (not alerts, tickets after ECA tools)	Tickets per month: 667

Make your own calculations
There is a confidential ROI calculator available on the Uplogix website.
It allows you to input your own data on things like the number of sites and devices, cost of managing those devices (both scheduled and unscheduled), as well as your own expectations for the value delivered by Uplogix. Just go to: www.uplogix.com/roi

Ensure good configuration health before it's too late

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:25:00 +0000

Don't let this be your configuration!

Hackers broke into a server for the State of Utah Health Department recently in what has been described as a "configuration error" or an "installed password that wasn't as secure as needed."

The breach resulted in over 182,000 Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program members having their personal information stolen, with about 25,000 Social Security numbers being compromised. Those affected will be notified of the information theft.

Configuration errors are often thought of in terms of downtime, with well known stats from folks like Gartner, calculating 80% of all downtime is caused by human-induced configuration errors and average hourly costs for business of $42,000. Amazon's hourly cost of a website outage was independently calculated at $350,000!

But how much more expensive is a security breach than downtime? Potentially much, much more expensive. The Congressional Research Service concluded in 2004, that companies' stock prices dropped between 1%-5% in the days following the announcement of data loss. For the average NYSE corporation, that's shareholder loss of $50M - $200M (remember we're talking 2004 dollars).

How Uplogix Can Help
Uplogix ensures that only the right users have the right access to devices and systems by providing very granular and customizable administrative access. Here are a few ways Local Management can help you ensure good configuration health:

Maintain and enforce AAA (Authentication, Authorization and Accounting), regardless of the state of the network. Under normal circumstances, Uplogix Local Managers integrate with remote authentication mechanisms, such as TACACS and Radius, but if connectivity is lost, the LM can failover to other AAA servers before falling back on cached authentication data to maintain authorized access.
Use multifactor authentication through integration with RSA SecureID and Secure Computing Safeword
Prevent unauthorized user access by automatically closing idle sessions, eliminating a potential security gap. Uplogix also ensures that the right users have the right access by enforcing granular, role-based permissions
Enable audit and compliance reporting by constantly logging all changes made to managed devices and the results of these changes
Eliminate modem security issues with CallHome™ connectivity. Uplogix appliances always “dial-out,” never allowing in-bound dial-up requests, to restore connectivity when the primary network connection goes down, closing common security holes.
Improve overall security by restricting access to specific IP addresses and encrypting passwords stored in the database, and by automating management functions related to security enforcement, like updating the access passwords on hundreds of managed devices at once.

Local Management also has important capabilities for audit and compliance reporting to validate and demonstrate that you are meeting both internal and public standards. Uplogix not only audits all changes made to the managed infrastructure, but also inspects audit logs in real-time for problems and can proactively take rules-based automated corrective actions based on log patterns.

So, the next time you are evaluating the cost of downtime in your organization and trying to minimize the opportunities for configuration errors, keep in mind that you are only looking at the cheaper side of the configuration risk equation and give Local Management some thought. You probably can't afford not to.

Uplogix partner releases State of the Network report

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:25:00 +0000

Network Instruments recently issued their annual State of the Network report predicting a number of network challenges due to increasing use of video and Cloud technologies.

With no shortage of work for IT at most companies, the next year should be busy. The highlights from the study include the following challenges for IT staffs:

Moving apps to the cloud: 60% anticipate half of their apps will run in the cloud within 12 months
Video is mainstream: 70% will implement video conferencing within a year
Bandwidth demand driven by video: 25% expect video will consume half of all bandwidth in 12 months
Chief application challenge: 83% were most challenged by identifying the problem source
Increased bandwidth demands: 33% expect bandwidth consumption to increase by more than 50% in next two years.


Skip the details and see the report highlights in the infographic.

Critical CloudThe study showed the number of companies embracing cloud remaining steady at 60%, but the number of implementations at those companies increasing. Overall, respondents expected one-third of their applications to be running in the cloud in the next year, and of those already using cloud, that number was half of their applications.

The major concern was data security, with twice as many companies listing that as their biggest fear in the Cloud.

Video is finally mainstreamOver half of the respondents have implemented video conferencing at some level with that number expected to hit 70% within the year. Implementations are fairly distributed with nearly two-thirds with multiple deployments including conference rooms (75%), desktop PCs (63%) and telepresence (30%).

These hungry deployments are expected by one-in-four respondents to top half of their bandwidth consumption by 2013. Bandwidth that is also going to be critical for delivering high quality I/O for the growing number of business-critical applications hosted in the Cloud.

The network is more important than ever
With this perfect storm of increasing network performance and bandwidth requirements facing IT shops around the world, it's clear the answers are going to come from multiple sources. Application and performance monitoring products like Network Instruments to find problem areas is one side of the solution, and proactive tools to save the precious time of IT staff like Local Management that can address network problems at the infrastructure level as soon as, or maybe even before they become an issue.

California Lunch & Learns

Join Uplogix, Network Instruments, Anue Systems and NewFocus Networks at an Executive Lunch and Learn with Jim Frey of Enterprise Management Associates.

April 18th, 11 a.m.City Club on Bunker Hill
Los Angeles, CA

April 19th, 11 a.m.Center Club @ Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa, CA

Click here to register

Cloud computing: What it might mean for your job

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:53:00 +0000

Over the next few months we'll be talking more about the impact Local Management can have on cloud computing network infrastructure, what does Cloud mean for your job? Looking more at the macro level of the impact of Cloud on IT jobs, two recent studies show the answer is mixed.

On a global basis, Microsoft and IDC concluded in their study that by 2015, cloud computing will create 14 million jobs, while a study by CSC reported that 14% of companies reduce IT jobs after deploying a cloud strategy.

The key difference is that Cloud shifts the location and types of IT jobs. According to Network World, the impact to IT staff is that, "instead of managing infrastructure, tending the help desk and commissioning server instances to be created, IT workers of tomorrow are instead more likely to be managing vendor relationships, working across departments and helping clients and workers integrate into the cloud."

This fits the traditional argument that when positions are eliminated in one area through technology advancements, demand is created that increases positions elsewhere.

John Gantz, an IDC researcher said that three-quarters of IT spending today is on legacy systems and upgrades, with the remainder on new products. "By offloading services to the cloud, you increase the amount of budget you have for new projects and initiatives, which are the things that truly lead to new business revenues."

In the longer term, increasing the funding available for new projects and initiatives through cloud savings can drive revenues and potentially create jobs. In the shorter term, cloud deployments can create increased need for IT staff to manage transitions, but as the efficiencies reduce IT staffing jobs in an enterprise, these lost jobs might just migrate to the cloud vendors.

What's the moral of the story? Get ready to be flexible. At a macro level, the impact of cloud on IT jobs might mean transitioning into new roles in enterprise IT or following the infrastructure to a job at a cloud provider.

Widening IT skills gap impacts business success

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:06:00 +0000

The non-profit IT trade association, CompTIA, recently released a study reporting that eight in ten organizations say their business operations are impacted by gaps in the skill sets of their IT staffs. The fast-pace of technology change and a lack of training resources are listed as the biggest factors contributing to the skills gap.

The majority of companies surveyed intend to devote more resources to training.

“The expected commitment to more education is an encouraging sign,” said Terry Erdle, executive vice president, skills certification, CompTIA. “IT professionals have a strong propensity for lifelong learning and skills enhancement, so the large majority will welcome the opportunity to broaden their knowledge. An investment in new IT education and training will deliver strong return on investment to the business’s bottom line.”

The key resource is time
Over 50% of respondents said that the most popular training method is online self-study, followed by vendor-provided training and in-person classroom training. Unless part of the expected investment in training includes addressing the average IT workers workload, it's going to be tough to find time to take more training classes.

How do you make more time? Short of inventing a time machine, you need to cut IT workload. How do you cut workload? By hiring more employees, outsourcing, or working smarter by automating tasks that don't actually require a human IT specialist.

Here is where Uplogix can help out by automating many of the routine network management tasks that consume a majority of IT staff time -- important functions that have traditionally required human intervention. Local Management brings a combination of network-independence, intelligence and integration that provides IT with the ability to reduce everything from the number of truck rolls to support remote sites, to configuration struggles due to human error or the need to individually update multiple devices, to convenient, secure out-of-band access to equipment for those times when an issue does require human attention.

With Uplogix Local Management deployed in the network handling routine issues currently sapping time from your staff, IT can be more proactive -- learning the skills required to ensure your network delivers business value and innovation instead of just trying to keep the lights on.

Persistence, survivability key requirements for arctic network

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:46:00 +0000

What qualifies a site as "remote" to you?

Researchers at DARPA (the US military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) recently announced that they want to create a massive system of unmanned sensors and systems to monitor and track the even the most remote regions of the Arctic.

With retreating ice expected over the coming decades, the regions strategic importance is expected to grow with increased shipping during summer months and a push to exploit natural resources along the continental shelf. The Assured Arctic Awareness (AAA) project will be challenging. According to DARPA:

As with the development of any remote distributed system, developers will need to overcome the technical challenges of persistence, survivability, energy management, sensing, mobility, delivery, and communications.

This description could be applied to some of the use cases for Local Management from Uplogix. While many of our devices are deployed in climate controlled data centers in suburbs and big cities, other Local Managers are in racks on oil platforms in the North Sea, isolated pipeline monitoring stations, and military bases in Afghanistan

Local Management provides persistence and survivability for critical network infrastructure by managing directly - not over the network. For widely distributed applications, the capability of Uplogix to automatically address common faults without human intervention is key to ensuring service levels are met and avoiding costly monitoring over the network.

Uplogix can do anything from automatically rebooting a hung, or wedged, device to performing multiple types of configuration recovery. Uplogix also provides a robust framework for end-users to define new recovery procedures or customize and extend prepackaged ones.

So, whether you are putting together a proposal for a monitoring network in the Arctic for DARPA, or maybe just a branch office for your company, you might be looking for some of the same functionality that Local Management delivers.

Local Management part of the solution for wireless carrier challenges

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:31:00 +0000

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week wireless carrier executives discussed the challenges of meeting an exploding demand on their networks as the number of users and their appetite for bandwidth continue to grow. The service providers' concern is that while they are seeing doubling in wireless data needs, they are not expecting to see a linear increase in revenues.

Execs from Orange Group, AT&T and Shaw Communications all voiced concerns that their revenues were not growing enough to keep up with expenses. Panel moderator John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, didn't offer much comfort, saying, "We’re moving from a connected to a hyper-connected world. Two-fifths of cloud loads will be off a mobile environment, and video will be the killer app – the primary way to do mobile cloud, and not just how we communicate." His solution, presumably, is for service providers to buy more gear - and even better if it has the Cisco logo on it.

Dennis Steiger, CTO for Canadian-based Shaw Communications said that operators have no choice but to continue to innovate and invest in technology. "If you see the potential to make a disruptive change, you invest..."

Applying Local Management as a solution for Wireless Carrier Networks
Wireless providers fall into the sweet spot for local management in many ways. Their infrastructure is widely distributed and critical -- two requirements that make for high support costs involving frequent truck rolls and redundant gear.

A wireless location contains a variety of infrastructure devices for both transmitting and receiving signals as well as backhaul devices that vary from fiber connections to microwave or even satellite links depending on location and traffic load. An Uplogix local manager can connect via a console port to all of these devices and monitor at 30 second intervals. Automated functionality can ensure devices are up and running, as well as create an out-of-band link for remote experts to access troubled gear before rolling a truck.

Uplogix in a wireless station can manage the wide variety of networking and communications infrastructure.

Combined with highly configurable and granular role-based administrative access with flexible password rules, multi-factor authentication and TACACS and RADIUS integration ensures that the network infrastructure stays as secure as the weather-proof buildings that house the delicate electronics.

If you are a wireless carrier trying to innovate your way out of a challenging market, give Uplogix a call - or maybe a text message. We can probably help you squeeze more out of your network by lowering service costs and increasing uptime.

Single-vendor networks vs. multi-vendor, no problem

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:02:00 +0000

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

This well-known line most likely did not refer to the networks that today's IT shops have to deal with, but it's not far off when it comes to network management. As everyone struggles to find the right combination of spending, manpower and ingenuity, one reoccurring argument is single versus multi-vendor networks.

One vendor, one network
The argument for single-vendor networks is that you get better application and product integration. This holistic view of the infrastructure should ensure both a high level of QoS and security and application support integrated into the networking products.

More vendors, better networks
On the multi-vendor side, arguments boil down to cost, performance and risk. With more options for each layer of your network, you can mix and match based on your budget and requirements. Creating a more varied stack also should allow you to distribute some of the risks of putting all your eggs in one basket.

Network management in either regime
With Uplogix in your network, you are really equipped for either way of thinking. Say you are running a single-vendor network made up of gear from, oh let's say Cisco. We know Cisco gear backwards and forwards. In fact, you can run Uplogix on Cisco gear and maintain the purity of your network. Talk with us or your favorite Cisco rep to find out more.

If you are on the other side of the coin, running a network made out of best-of-breed devices, or maybe just the best-of-what-you've-put-together, Uplogix is there for you. We'll provide secure remote access and support for any console-managed device. We provide a unified CLI framework and a wide range of "native" functionality for any connected device. In addition, there are advanced drivers providing enhanced automation for some of the most common networking and communications vendors like Cisco, HP, Juniper, iDirect, Sea Tel, Comtech, and more.

For both setups, System alarms, events and device performance data can be forwarded to NMS systems from the Uplogix Control Center via SNMP messages that appear as if they came from the managed device itself. Additionally, syslog messages can be sent in real-time to an NMS system or syslog server for consolidation, auditing and analysis purposes.

So in this election year, breathe free and easy with local management because you don't have to choose a side. We can work with your network.

De-duping redundant systems for savings, simplicity and savings

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:07:00 +0000

A recent congressional hearing focused on getting rid of duplicate IT systems - a significant potential source of savings considering the 2011 overall federal spending on IT was over $79 billion. The two organizations under the microscope were the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, with 2013 IT budget requests of $37 billion and $2.2 billion, respectively.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a study on systems redundancies identifying potentially duplicative investments at DoD and DoE in three management categories - human resources, information & technology and supply chain totally approximately $1.2 billion for FY2007-12.

It's not in our scope here to evaluate these claims, but applying an Uplogix view of the IT world, systems redundancy can be a problem for any organization. When it comes to what tools to use, obviously you want what to minimize cost while getting all the functionality you need. Local Management provides several ways to reduce redundancy in your network management.

While Uplogix provides all of the functionality of a top-end console server, that's really just the beginning. Unlike a console server, deploying local management means getting the ability to apply automation to infrastructure management. You get the tool and through automation, additional headcount on your IT staff. Save time and money by shedding the Level 1 & 2 management tasks plus avoid truck rolls with secure out-of-band access for jobs that require human expertise.

When it comes to device management, we're not picky. Sure we know how to manage Cisco like nobody's business, but we also have advanced functionality for most leading brands of networking and satellite communications devices. Then there is basic functionality (basic only compared to our advanced drivers, but still highly useful for device management), that we can apply to any device with a console port. Plus, we're more than happy to manage your all-one-vendor network, or a menagerie of heterogeneous gear. That's power.

One question we're often asked is if migrating to local management requires a "rip & replace" strategy. Of course the answer is that it depends. It depends on what you have already in place. It depends on what you want to get out of local management. Now that the Uplogix Local Management Software has been ported for use as a virtual machine on a server, new custom solutions are available that can let you take advantage of your existing investment in console servers and reap the benefits of local management.

When you start looking for areas of redundancy, give Uplogix a double-take. Local management might be the single solution to solve many issues.

Ensuring the network is as fresh as the produce

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:15:00 +0000

Uplogix enables a small IT team to
support a 24x7 operation where the network
is as important as the fresh food.

Retail Customer Case Study
How one of the largest independent food retailers in the United States Controls IT costs with local management

Network is critical for everything from fresh produce to store management
This Uplogix customer is recognized for its fresh food, quality products, convenient services, and a commitment to environmental responsibility and sustainability. With annual sales of more than $16 billion, the grocer operates in 150 communities and employs more than 76,000 people.

Ranked in the top 25 for both private US companies and retailers, this modern grocery operation encompasses stores, data centers, warehouses as well as large milk and bread processing plants producing own-brand products. The chain has been recognized by its industry as a retailer of the year and a top food retailer.

Supporting a cost-conscious retail network
Uplogix Local Management provides a network-independent platform that augments the grocer’s centralized management tools to reduce operational costs, improve both daily management tasks as well as break-fix incidents, and increase security and compliance.

Reducing network costs in an industry with razor-thin margins
With Uplogix in their datacenter and part of the standard network installation at every new store, the IT staff has the benefit of local management when their dashboards are green, and red. Features for reliable automated devices upgrades and config changes increase efficiency and reduce the number of errors, while detailed local config change logging ensures accountability in a 24x7 environment.

Supporting a regional operation with a small IT staff
The combination of intensive local monitoring and secure out-of-band access to managed devices ensures that when there are network issues that are beyond Uplogix’ automated actions, IT knows about the issue and can take actions before having to roll a truck.

The value of local management in a double-redundant network
The network is so critical to operations that stores have redundant T1 connections backed up by a satellite link. Uplogix plays a key role in networks like this because monitoring the additional devices required for redundancy decreases the risk of configuration problems. Plus, Uplogix can automatically test heterogenous backup systems on a regular basis to ensure they are ready if, and when, needed.

Ensuring millions go home happy
A retail operation with hundreds of stores and critical uptime requirements really sees the benefits of Uplogix in increased performance, availability and security with lower operational expenses. For more information, please go to www.uplogix.com/retail.

Cyber arms race taking place now

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:01:00 +0000

43% of respondents identified damage or disruption to
critical infrastructure as the greatest single threat posed
by cyber-attacks, causing wide economic impact.

A report recently released by McAfee indicated that more than half of cyber security experts believe that a global arms race is already on with damage or disruption to critical infrastructure as the greatest single threat from cyber-attack.

The report was created for McAfee by the Security & Defence Agenda as "an independent think-tank to produce the most extensive report on Cyber Defense." The SDA had in-depth
interviews with some 80 world-leading policy-makers and cyber-security experts in government, business and academia in 27 countries and anonymously surveyed 250 world leaders in 35 countries.

Cyber-readiness in the United States, Australia, the UK, China and Germany all ranked behind small countries like Israel, Sweden and Finland. By the numbers, here are some of the report's findings:

57% of global experts believe that an arms race is taking place in cyber space.
36% believe cyber-security is more important than missile defense.
43% identified damage or disruption to critical infrastructure as the greatest single threat posed by cyber-attacks with wide economic consequences (up from 37% in McAfee’s 2010 Critical Infrastructure Report).
45% of respondents believe that cyber-security is as important as border security.
The report was intended to reflect the varying views on what cyber-security means and reflect consensus on how to move towards it.

Those surveyed agreed that developments like smart phones and cloud computing introduce a whole new set of problems linked to inter-connectivity and sovereignty that require new regulations and new thinking.

What Uplogix does to Improve Security
The Uplogix Local Management platform is a component for protecting critical infrastructure around the world from pipelines to banks to the front lines.

Uplogix improves security by extending role-based systems management policies to network devices. By applying rules-based policies, Uplogix ensures sessions are properly closed, eliminating the likelihood of inappropriate access. For audit and compliance reporting, Uplogix logs all user interactions and device responses.

If/when the network is down, Uplogix maintains administrative security policies and audit. This eliminates the need for unaudited access to managed devices using "break glass" passwords with sweeping privileges.

Read more about what Uplogix does for security.

Is Local Management valuable when you have redundant systems?

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:50:00 +0000

When adding redundant hardware, be ready
for twice the cost of maintenance.

When talking with someone for the first time about Local Management, sometimes they jump to a quick objection that goes something like this:

"I don't need out-of-band access for my network infrastructure. I have a redundant architecture."

Sometimes people go on to detail how robust their redundancies are by offering up the speeds and feeds of the backup hardware and outside network connections. Does this sound like you? If so, you really need to read on.

All of this is great -- uptime is very important in many businesses and that number is increasing daily as connections both within the LAN and the WAN are the difference between making money and sitting idle -- or worse, losing sales.

Many companies spend significant dollars ensuring they are backed-up for any scenario, and the "when the network is red" value scenarios for Uplogix can sound redundant to the redundancies. However, playing the redundancy card is a sign that a contact might be a great candidate for Local Management. It tells us 1) they have high expectations for network uptime, and 2) they have a more complicated network, with more gear and likely multiple means of connectivity into their site.

Both of these factors benefit greatly from the "when the network is green" functionality of Local Management. These are the day-to-day features that reduce support costs by simplifying tasks that centralized management tools aren't able or trusted to do. The daily tasks that account for a large portion of the time it takes to run a network (even more when you are adding redundancy to the picture).

For example:

Configuration Management

Reliable automated device upgrades & changes: Gain efficiency, reduce errors
Local TFTP storage of OS and configuration files
Detailed local configuration change logging & differencing

Security & Compliance

Comprehensive activity logging
Role based administrative access
TACACS/Radius Integration

Performance & Availability

Intensive off network monitoring of performance & availability
More detailed monitoring than SNMP increasing visibility
Point to point user experience testing
Integrated with centralized systems management consoles

So next time you are judging the strength of your network, keep in mind both the pros (better uptime), but also the cons (higher costs), and give Local Management a look. It can help with both.

Uplogix completes FIPS 140-2 certification process

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:12:00 +0000

The code was validated, the hardware inspected, and the paperwork completed months ago. Now Uplogix has the final approval for the FIPS 140-2 Certification. No longer are the Uplogix 430 and 3200 Local Managers "In Process" with NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) for accreditation of cryptographic modules for secure communication on government computing platforms. They are fully compliant.

Want to know more about the differences between a standard Uplogix Local Manager and the FIPS-compliant versions? Read this blog entry: The Uplogix Platform & FIPS 140-2 Compliance.

Here are the details from the certificate of compliance:

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, as the United States FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Module Validation Authority; and the Communications Security Establishment, as the Canadian FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Module Validation Authority; hereby validate the FIPS 140-2 testing results of the Cryptographic Module identified as:

Uplogix 430 and 3200 by Uplogix, Inc.

(When operated in FIPS mode and with the tamper evident seals installed as indicated in the Security Policy)

in accordance with the Derived Test Requirements for FIPS 140-2, Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules. FIPS 140-2 specifies the security requirements that are to be satisfied by a cryptographic module utilized within a security system protecting Sensitive Information (United States) or Protected Information (Canada) within computer and telecommunications systems (including voice systems).

Products which use the above identified cryptographic module may be labeled as complying with the requirements of FIPS 140-2 so long as the product, throughout its life cycle, continues to use the validated version of the cryptographic module as specified in this certificate. The validation report contains additional details concerning test results. No reliability test has been performed and no warranty of the products by both agencies is either expressed or implied.

FIPS 140-2 provides four increasing, qualitative levels of security: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4. These levels are intended to cover the wide range and potential applications and environments in which cryptographic modules may be employed. The security requirements cover eleven areas related to the secure design and implementation of a cryptographic module. The scope of conformance achieved by the cryptographic modules as tested in the product identified as:

Uplogix 430 and 3200 by Uplogix, Inc.
(Hardware Version: 43-1002-50, 43-1102-50, 37-0326-03, 37-0326-04; Firmware Version: 4.3.5.19979; Hardware)

and tested by the Cryptographic Module Testing accredited laboratory: SAIC CSTL, NVLAP Lab Code 200492-0 CRYPTIK Version 8.6c is as follows:

Cryptographic Module Specification	Level 2
Cryptographic Module Ports and Interfaces	Level 2
Roles, Services, and Authentication	Level 3
Finite State Model	Level 2
Physical Security	Level 2
Cryptographic Key Management (Multi-Chip Standalone)	Level 2
EMI/EMC	Level 2
Self-Tests	Level 2
Design Assurance	Level 2

What are your top tech priorities for 2012?

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:39:00 +0000

Gartner's Global CIO Business and Tech Priorities for 2012

Gartner recently asked over 2,300 CIOs around the world to name their top business and technology priorities for 2012. The survey showed that overall budgets will remain essentially flat in North America and Europe, although Latin America expects an increase of almost 13%.

The top ten tech priorities list has changed somewhat since last year with a major move by Virtualization and some shake-ups in Analytics & Business Intelligence and Collaboration/Workflow. Here is the full list:

Analytics and business intelligence (Last year's rank: 5)
Mobile technologies (Last year: 3)
Cloud computing, including SaaS (Last year: 1)
Collaboration/workflow technologies (Last year: 8)
Legacy modernization
IT management (Last year: 4)
CRM
ERP applications
Security
Virtualization (Last year: 2)

The business priorities did not change in the top three spots:

Increasing enterprise growth
Attracting and retaining new customers
Reducing costs

How does this list compare with your priorities? At Uplogix, our connection to network infrastructure (both literally and figuratively!) put us on the list for projects with a variety of goals. Across each of the CIO priorities above, the common connection is a network that is functioning as good if not better than its 2011 performance.

See how Local Management can address the Top Ten issues of CIOs in 2012.

Celebrating 2011: Looking back, looking ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:26:00 +0000

As 2011 closes, the long drought in Uplogix' hometown
of Austin, TX has subsided enough to lower the burn ban,
enabling us to celebrate with this photo!

It's hard not to look back at the end of a year, and for Uplogix, 2011 has been an eventful year. Some say that time in small companies passes like dog years -- when your company is small and nimble, everything goes faster. Before we cover a few highlights of 2011, we'll send out a quick thanks to all of our customers, partners, employees and their understanding families that are continuing to support Uplogix and the mission to expand local management in networks all over the world.

Satellite Communications
Uplogix continues to find good traction in the satellite market. The vast distances and high costs of on-site support make local management a game-changer for VSAT service providers who are able to remotely provision gear and recover from issues -- all with the confidence of connectivity over and out-of-band connection.

In 2011, Uplogix continued to expand the gear it can manage, including Intellian satellite antenna control units and arbitrators. To steal a quote from the press release:

“Intellian has deployed over 15,000 marine stabilized satellite antenna systems since 2005,” said Eric Sung, president and CEO of Intellian. “We’re excited to partner with Uplogix to bring remote access and control of these systems to satellite operators for even greater service quality and lower cost of ownership.”

The Uplogix platform combines persistent localized management of devices—like Intellian VSAT antennas as well as the traditional IP networking gear common in today’s maritime networks—with onboard intelligence to automate management, whether the network is up or down.

A customizable rules-engine makes it possible to create specialized operations, such as generating an SMS message when an antenna is in a blockage zone or loading a satellite modem’s configuration when predefined conditions exist. Especially valuable in satellite-enabled networks, Uplogix includes an out-of-band connection to provide persistent management control of remote sites.

This year also saw increasing brand recognition and visibility in the satellite space at trade shows like Satellite 2011 and the Offshore Communications Conference, where we had the opportunities to demo gear and interact with current and potential customers. As a demonstration the importance of the satellite market for Uplogix, this year our largest customer is in the VSAT space.

See more of the Be a Rockstar with Uplogix stage at Cisco Live.

Uplogix Goes Virtual
With the release of the Local Management Software version 4.4, we added the new ability to run Uplogix as a virtual machine (VM) on the Cisco UCS Express platform. Debuting on the rock star stage at Cisco Live in Las Vegas, this initial application of the virtualized Uplogix software runs on the UCS in a Cisco integrated services router (ISR). With the ISR providing the serial connections to managed devices and the Uplogix VM running on the UCS Express, the solution expands that hardware deployment options and increases managed port density to 48 per Uplogix Local Manager (LM).

The virtualization of the Uplogix software will enable additional new ways to deploy Local Management in the coming year. Today they are available as custom solutions that include virtual LMs on select platforms to exploit in-place console servers, and virtual Uplogix Control Centers. It's an exciting new, if virtual, world.

New Faces, New Places
The Uplogix executive team added two new members this year. Both Lisa Frankovitch (VP - Corporate and Business Development) and Jim Cahill (VP- Sales and Marketing) brought a career of experience in the tech industry to their roles and have had an immediate impact on Uplogix. 2011 was a year of new partnerships and customers, and Lisa and Jim have the airlines miles to prove it.

2012: A Year in Preview
As we close out 2011, the coming year promises to be another exciting one at Uplogix as we look to put seven years of work into just 12 months (remember - dog years?). We look forward to our customers continuing to find value in local management and explore new ways to increase uptime and reduce their service costs. New partnerships, the final completion of the FIPS 140-2 certification process, and additional product innovations are all in the plan for the upcoming year as we look to cram in more new users to our logo slide.

From all of us at Uplogix, thank you. We wish you a safe and happy holiday season and a prosperous new year.

Helping Managed Service Providers Manage

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:56:00 +0000

Ensuring high availability and performance for customers with geographically distributed networks and multiple remote locations presents a number of unique management challenges for MSP staff. Since it’s not possible to be onsite everywhere, network device errors often require expensive support calls and drive missed SLAs.

This is where the benefits of Local Management directly address the bottom line for MSPs by increasing uptime and lowering support costs.

Monitor AND Control Remote Networks
Local Management drastically reduces the cost and complexity of supporting highly distributed IT environments. Uplogix Local Managers (LMs) enable MSPs to remotely monitor, manage, and control network equipment on the customer’s premise—even when the network is down.

From the Uplogix Control Center, operations staff can centrally manage multiple customers’ networking, communications and other IT devices connected to Uplogix LMs via a simple, web-based interface with multi-tenant capabilities. With Uplogix, you can also give your customers the added value of secure access to their network infrastructure at all times.

Uplogix saves MSPs significant labor costs by displacing mundane daily maintenance tasks and reducing the dispatch of costly, limited IT personnel to remote customer sites. Uplogix augments existing network & systems management with a unique ability to not only alert, but to take immediate local action to remediate issues.

Uplogix in a Typical MSP Deployment
Uplogix LMs deployed at remote sites are connected over the console port to managed network devices. With a variety of out-of-band options, Uplogix ensures that you can always have local management and control. LMs at customer sites are managed from the Uplogix Control Center in the MSP NOC.

With Uplogix Local Managers at customer sites, the MSP can manage many configuration, troubleshooting and recovery situations from the NOC, with considerable savings of direct support costs (think fewer truck rolls) and the backend cost of missed SLAs.

For more information, visit the
Uplogix Resource Center to
download the Solutions for MSPs document.

Looking at the Uplogix Control Center

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:15:00 +0000

Local Management is defined as managing network devices directly -- not over the network they utilize or provide. To tie together multiple sites and numerous Uplogix Local Manager devices, there is the Uplogix Control Center. The Control Center deploys in the NOC to provide real-time monitoring and management capabilities as an element manager for Uplogix Local Managers. The Control Center also serves as the gateway between the Local Managers deployed across the network and other IT management systems.

Centralized Control for Distributed Management
With its web-based graphical user interface (GUI), Control Center puts IT administrators in control of real-time data to easily manage, configure, and control all network devices and servers connected to Uplogix Local Managers. Groups can be created for device and user management by similar sites (i.e. branch offices), localities (i.e. west coast) and devices (i.e. firewalls).

Watch a five-minute overview of the Uplogix Control Center.

The Control Center provides a consistent, enterprise-wide point of control for configuring administrative policies for and scheduling all maintenance, management, configuration, and recovery tasks performed by Uplogix Local Managers. Simple point-and-click interface for executing enterprise-wide management tasks, such as distributing patches, resetting passwords or performing configuration changes.

The Uplogix Control Center's web interface

For example, you could set up a change to a particular device type once, and push it out to all of those devices in your network. And while you are at it -- set up the change to happen at 2 a.m. local time in a follow-the-moon type scenario. With the Local Manager's Surgical Rollback function, any devices that respond negatively to the change will roll-back to the previous configuration.

Local Management is complimentary to existing network management platforms, with the Control Center providing the important role of integrating with centralized systems and network management consoles. It serves as a point of integration with other management systems and solutions. Alarms and events appear as if they came from the managed device itself, even if the network is down and the Local Manager is forwarding the message over an out-of-band connection.

Enhanced Reporting with Local Management
The Control Center includes robust and customizable reporting of event, alarm and device statistics, network service level measurements and the operational status of Local Managers across the enterprise.

The simple web interface allows users to customize automated actions for configuration management and recovery by archiving and storing configuration files for all managed devices. It can quickly restore good working configuration files to a managed device via the Local Manager. The Control Center also archives all session logs from Local Managers and the Control Center for auditing and compliance purposes.

Finally, the Control Center serves as a central proxy for seamless in-band or out-of-band communication with Local Managers.

For more information about the
Uplogix Control Center,
download the data sheet.

Expanding the reach of local management in secure mobile communications

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:04:00 +0000

Uplogix recently announced an agreement with TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) that will allow TCS to utilized Uplogix solutions in their managed services business units, as well as act as a reseller of Uplogix solutions to end customers.

TCS is a leader in reliable and secure mobile communications technology with solutions ranging from military communications to 9-1-1 emergency call systems to GPS and text messaging applications. Their customers include communications carriers and operators, public safety organizations and the federal government.

The ability of local management to lower support costs and increase uptime are clear for a company like TCS. They have large infrastructures for global location-based services, text messaging traffic (they delivered about a third of the US text message traffic -- delivering over 850 billion text messages in 2010!), plus satellite communications through the TCS global network including teleports, operation center and field services.

There are also possibilities for local management in their SwiftLink family of deployable communications solutions that could bring network automation and remote troubleshooting like what is already deployed in many maritime applications that utilize Uplogix.

In managed services engagements, local management can be a game changer. The ability to automate many level 1 and 2 network management and device recovery tasks means that SLAs are easier to deliver and services can be delivered at lower costs. That combination of fewer rebates for missed SLAs, plus reduced support cost across the lifetime of the service from installation through monitoring and managing gives Uplogix users the ability to be more competitive and deliver on their contracts.

For more information, check out the Managed Service Providers data sheet in the Uplogix Resource Center.

The Uplogix Platform & FIPS 140-2 Compliance

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:07:00 +0000

FIPS guidelines prevent unauthorized physical
access to critical security parameters

Recently at Uplogix we've had expanded interest in FIPS 140-2 compliance from outside the federal market as an even more secure version of the local management platform. The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 140-2 is a computer security standard issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to accredit cryptographic modules for government computing platforms.

Uplogix meets the requirements for FIPS 140-2 Level 2 certification and is in-process with NIST.

The enhancements made to the already-significant security features in the Uplogix Local Management Platform meet or exceed government standards for the protection of data and information captured and stored by Uplogix Local Managers (LMs).

Software enhancements for FIPS
Most of the differences between a standard Uplogix LM and a FIPS compliant device is in the operating software with some alterations to Roles, Services and Authentication procedures as well as rules for security policy.

A default Uplogix LM ships with the Admin and Guest roles. During FIPS initialization, a third role is created to allow operators the ability to Factory Reset, or zeroize the system. In FIPS mode, the Admin and Factory Reset roles are assigned to the Crypto Officer.

Additional security rules are implemented in FIPS mode by the Crypto Officer to confirm to FIPS 140-2. In FIPS mode, the Uplogix LM operates with specific security rules to ensure secure communication with administrators as well as the Uplogix Control Center using FIPS-compliant algorithms.

Hardware differences from standard Uplogix Local Managers
Additional improvements to the physical device itself include tamper-evident labels (TELs), visual obstructions and solid state onboard storage. The TELs indicate that someone has attempted to dismantle the LM, or in addition in the case of the Uplogix 430, access the device using the console connection.

The onboard storage differs by LM model:

Uplogix 430 LM, 8GB Compact Flash Card
Uplogix 3200 LM, 40GB SATA Solid State Drive

Get ready for the ride: Tech needs for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:55:00 +0000

A recent article by the Cisco Innovators Program likened managing a network today to being on a wild ride. With administrators strapped in and riding through: "

A steep climb in Internet traffic and network access from smartphones and tablets
Increased traction in cloud services and virtualization
The growing popularity of IP voice and video
Challenging twists and turns in security, including international hacking"

The article goes on to list five must-have technologies for 2012, including 1) reliable and secure Wi-Fi access, 2) power over Ethernet, 3) Stronger network security, 4) Collaborative communications and 5) High-performance, high-availability connections.

Of course, at Uplogix, we add Local Management to that list. If not as a must-have in itself, as an enabler for the other challenges network admins will face on the wild ride of networking.

With the challenges of managing increasingly sensitive and highly utilized WANs and LANs that deliver the high-performance, high-availability connections, Uplogix can help offload some of the basic care and feeding of the network. This frees up time for network admins to focus on the fine-tuning that will deliver SLAs and grow businesses.

If you look a the five future technology trends listed in the article, any device/any content, collaboration, video, network security, and a flexible network technology architecture, they each fit with the Uplogix view of IT trends:

So, as you ride your network into 2012, keep Local Management in mind as a complement to your traditional centralized management tools. It can help make the ride more enjoyable.

New users of local management on the high seas

noreply@blogger.com (Uplogix) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:55:00 +0000

For nearly 100 years, Radio Holland has brought the latest communications technology to sea to improve maritime business, shipboard life and safety. In addition, Radio Holland USA uses Uplogix to reduce support costs for satellite communications and to improve customer experience.

With a corporate emphasis on quality service, Radio Holland uses Uplogix to monitor shipboard communications and networking gear. In the event of trouble, Uplogix can automatically resolve many problems - often before they are noticed by ship or shore personnel.

The primary access to Uplogix Local Managers (LMs) is in-band over the core satellite connection, but if there is a problem with that link, out-of-band connectivity through a variety of options ensures that Radio Holland always has access to remote gear.

Uplogix offers Radio Holland an effective approach to reducing the cost and complexity of supporting satellite network environments. LMs enable operators to remotely monitor and control both satellite and terrestrial-based network equipment. The LMs co-locate and connect serially with network and satellite communications equipment to provide non-stop local management and control.

Uplogix LMs automate numerous network support, maintenance, configuration and recovery procedures - reducing the time, cost and error associated with manual support. Radio Holland administrators can manage all Uplogix LMs via the Uplogix Control Center, a centralized, web-based portal that presents a full inventory of both Uplogix devices and the infrastructure equipment connected to them.

To learn more about how Radio Holland USA uses
Uplogix Local Management, check out the case study.