With Infoblox IPAM Freeware you can manage a maximum of 500 active IP addresses and it provides  reliable and manageable platforms for core network services like domain name resolution, IP address assignment and IP address management.

The Infoblox IPAM Freeware allows you to:

• Store specific data filters and get dynamic, real-time results;
• Quickly visualize blocks of network address space and manage subnets with up to 500 IP addresses; and
• Better manage your migration to IPv6.

I would recommend this freeware utility which is simple manage and install to any small organization with less than 500 users.

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The combined solution resulted in supporting FCoE end-to-end to reduce the number of devices and cables needed to drive data center consolidation, virtualization, and automation. Cisco data center switches and NetApp storage FCoE solutions are now validated by VMware to support VMware-based virtualized environments, marking a significant milestone for the progression of the FCoE protocol to help more customers achieve efficiency in their dynamic data centers and progress on their journey to cloud computing.

Cisco Systems, NetApp and VMware are currently the only networking, storage, and virtualization vendors to combine data center consolidation, virtualization, and automation in a jointly certified end-to-end FCoE solution that includes both FCoE initiators (such as Converged Network Adaptors) and FCoE storage targets. VMware validated Cisco Nexus® 5000 Series Switches and NetApp FAS series unified storage support FCoE protocol in virtual environments running VMware vSphereTM. The solution has completed the VMware Hardware Certification Program testing criteria for use with VMware software and is now listed on the VMware Hardware Compatibility Guide, with support offered by all three companies.

For further info do have a look at the press release by Cisco Systems on 28^th of July 2010.

According to a Cisco Press release at Cisco Partner Summit on 28^th of April,2010 , Cisco Systems and VMware will expand their relationship with the launch of a comprehensive channel acceleration initiative.

Some of the supporting quotes are

·         Ralph Nimergood, vice president, Worldwide Partner Organization, Cisco:

“The Cisco and VMware relationship focuses on delivering solutions that help customers on their journey to building private clouds that deliver IT as a service.  The launch of this initiative will serve as a catalyst with our mutual channel partner community to capitalize and accelerate on the market transition towards data center virtualization and private clouds.”

·         Gary Green, vice president, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware:

“VMware vSphere™ and Cisco Unified Computing System comprise an innovative solution that helps customers accelerate their journey to the private cloud. This new initiative will help our mutual channel partners deliver solutions that enable faster time to value for customers while lowering costs.

Targeting mutual channel partners that are Cisco data center specialized and authorized to resell VMware solutions, the initiative includes a wide range of new benefits, including solutions training, solution bundles, financial incentives, funding for virtualization assessments, online demo labs, market enablement and financing.  The initiative will help solution providers derive greater value for their investment in Cisco-VMware capabilities by simplifying the delivery of a complete architecture with the industry-leading Cisco Unified Computing System and VMware vSphere™.  The integrated solution will reduce data center complexity, lower costs and enable a more flexible, agile IT service delivery model.

For more details do check this press release from Cisco Systems.

Are you interested on the benefits ofunified computing in your data center, and then good news is here. Cisco TechWise TV team is coming back with a new broadcast on 4^th February 2010.

For sure it will be a great opportunity to learn how this new architectural approach will dramatically reduce your server, cabling, cooling, provisioning, and management needs. And learn how you can take a building block approach to a unified data center, while enjoying significant ROI at each step. This event comes to you with the participation of Intel, VMware and BMC.

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So book your calendar, register here  and have fun on February 4th at 1:00 pm EST

Agenda

·         Mapping the Journey

·         Intel and Cisco: Joined at the Chip

·         Cisco and the C-Series Servers

·         VMware and Virtualization-Aware Networking

·         BMC and Unified Computing

 Cisco, NetApp and VMware have joined hand to present an elegant solution that may help you to imagine and achieve virtually anything, sounds great right. Then just register to the event and enjoy the executive discussions with Tony Bates, Cisco; Tom Georgens, NetApp; Paul Maritz, VMware; and a special guest and participate in a live Q&A with technical experts from all three companies.

The event is scheduled on 26^th of Jan 2010 and timings are as follows

9:00–10:00 a.m. Pacific
12:00–1:00 p.m. Eastern

Dear folks as you all know on 15^th of July 2009, Cisco Systems along APC by Schneider Electric, EMC, Emerson Network Power, NetApp, Oracle, Panduit, and VMware conducted a live virtual event “Data Center of the future”

The event was a great success, I never imagined a virtual event of this standard and the presentations were simply amazing. The interaction was amazing and I was zapped by the virtual environment. For a moment I felt as if I am in the auditorium physically. I really enjoyed each and every presentation.

As I am leaving in the other part of the World time was the major constrain for me. I did miss few presentations, but now I have an opportunity to watch them offline.  As Cisco Systems along with its event partners are allowing us to access on demand presentations. If you have missed this event no worries, you have one more opportunity to access the content on demand. You can download the slides as well. Wow.

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Since we are in the process of Data Center, these days I am always looking for the resources, seminars, webcast related to the Data Center.

Cisco Systems, APC by Schneider Electric, EMC, Emerson Network Power, NetApp, Oracle, Panduit, and VMware joined hands together to share their vision for the unified computing and data center consolidation. They are conducting a live event on 15^th of July 2009.

Pic Courtesy: Cisco Systems.

 The Unified Computing and Data Center Consolidation virtual event is a one-day live program, where you can access the webcast full of informative presentations that will cover wide range of important topics.

• Increasing business agility
• Reducing total cost of ownership
• Increasing compute and virtual machine scalability
• Achieving immediate productivity gains through consolidation of inefficient, underutilized infrastructure
• Improving energy efficiency and extending the life of your existing data centers
• Starting to lay the foundation for a best-practice architecture to deal with the emerging needs of the 21-century business and new business models
• Accelerating the deployment and reducing the risks

So register now and enjoy the wonderful event, may be you can win an IPhone.

Other day I was looking for an upgrade for the Cacti in Google, while searching I came across this wonderful ready to use virtual appliance based on FreeBSD UNIX.

To brief about the Cacti is a complete network graphing solution designed to harness the power of RRDTool‘s data storage and graphing functionality. Cacti provide a fast poller, advanced graph templating, multiple data acquisition methods, and user management features out of the box. All of this is wrapped in an intuitive, easy to use interface that makes sense for LAN-sized installations up to complex networks with hundreds of devices.

The creator of this appliance Ernie did a great job by including nice collection of pre- configured open source software’s which includes the following

    – FreeBSD UNIX v6.2 RELEASE built to Ernie’s specifications
    – PERL v5.8.8 and many carefully selected modules
    – PHP v5.2.4 that I custom compiled from source
    – Apache v2.2.6 that I custom compiled from source
    – Net-SNMP v5.4 that I custom compiled from source
    – MySQL v5.45 that I custom compiled from source
    – RRDTool v1.23 that I custom compiled from source via FreeBSD’s Ports
    – Cacti and Many Plugins:
    – Various other key ingredients compiled from source with the help of the FreeBSD Ports Collection
        – OpenSSL
        – OpenSSH
        – GD
        – NTop
        – Tripwire
    And even more!

This VMware Cacti Appliance is really helpful, easy to install and manage. More over you will find the installation guide with illustrations as well Wow.  Download the VMware Cacti Appliance here.

InformIT  has just released the VCP VMware flash cards, which is better to use as a preparation tool for VCP 310 exam.  The VCP VMware flash cards cover all the objectives of the VCP 310 exam.  Flash cards are always helpful as they happens to be the alternative learning format which are easier to access with a  unique approach  which complements the traditional self study formats.  This VCP VMware flash card is better to use at the later stage of the preparations for the VCP 310 exam.

VMware Cert Flash Cards Online is a custom flash card application loaded with 300 total questions that test your skills and enhance retention of exam topics. Questions are organized by exam objective, allowing you to focus your study on selected topics. You can choose to view cards in order or at random, and you can create custom sets from the entire bank of cards.

What is Untangle?

Untangle is a privately held company that provides an open source network gateway for small businesses. Untangle provides many gateway applications, such as blocking spam, blocking malware, web filtering, phishing protection, intrusion prevention, and more [1] on the Untangle Gateway Platform.

Untangle was founded in 2003 as Metavize, Inc. by John Irwin and Dirk Morris. Metavize officially launched in 2005 at Demo@15![3]. In 2006, Metavize raised a $10.5M series-A venture round from CMEA Ventures and Rustic Canyon Partners, named Bob Walters as CEO, and renamed to Untangle, Inc. In 2007, Untangle released the Untangle Gateway Platform as open source under the GPLv2 license .In 2007, Untangle also experienced significant growth and surpassed 100,000 users in 2,000 organizations

Some of the features available with Untangle are as follows 

·         Spam Blocker

·         Spyware Blocker

·         Web Filter

·         Virus Blocker

·         Firewall

·         OpenVPN

·         Phish Blocker

·         Protocol Control

·         Intrusion Prevention

·         Attack Blocker

·         Router

·         Untangle Reports

Untangle can be installed easily on any pc and its ready use. You can download Untangle from following link http://www.untangle.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=226&Itemid=739

The minimum hardware requirements to install untangle are as follows

Untangle can also be installed in VMware platform do follow this link for more details http://wiki.untangle.com/index.php/Untangle_Virtual_Appliance_on_VMware

In order to know about the supported configurations do access http://wiki.untangle.com/index.php/Introduction#Supported_Configurations

Further details can be found at the following links

http://www.untangle.com/

http://wiki.untangle.com/index.php/Main_Page