devcentral
There are 36 entries for the tag devcentral
For those interested, there’s a great series of videos cropping up as the Interop folks and vendors begin staging infrastructure to support the event (starting 10-May in Las Vegas). The latest takes on the issues with IPv6 and includes a nice cameo by one of our favorite, highly-talented tech stars… BIG-IP! Some good stuff with that helps those not in the know about IPv6 “get learned” in just over 4 minutes. Check it. Some Related Articles Graphing your F5 LTM Environment with Cacti > DevCentral > F5 ... ...
Just wrapped up a great session with the F5/Microsoft team discussing Microsoft Lync Server and designing deployments for optimal availability and scale. As companies start to deal with the major wave of mobile/remote workers (in one report, IDC suggests that 75% of the U.S. workforce will be mobile in coming years – I think that’s high but I doubt few argue it’s a legitimate trend), Lync seems to pose some nice enhancements and quite possibly a better, more centralized (i.e. IT desired!) approach to support mobile workers vs. the many free IP-based tools users could begin using out of necessity...
During the morning session, the group took a brief detour to hear about the history of the TMOS proxy architecture. Here, iRule architect and all-around guru "unRuley" (in red shirt) talks about TMOS and the infamous HudProxy. To his immediate right is Joe Pruitt and Jason Rahm.
big-ip, devcentral, f5, irule, jeff browning, MVP
My absolute favorite part of working on DevCentral is meeting and spending time with community members. The number of thoughtful, interesting, and just plain cool people I’ve met actively involved with DevCentral are just astounding. A great example is Henrik Gyllkrans who we recently interviewed in Stockholm (check out those awesome boots!) Of course, right up at the top of the cool list are our DevCentral MVPs. These guys simply go above and beyond to make this community great and we jump at any opportunity to hang out with them. So, it was quite a...
Congratulations to the 2009 iRule. Do You? winners! Compared to previous years, it is worth noting that the competition for top-spots in both the Customer and Partner divisions was incredibly tight. In fact, the community voting – a first for this contest – actually played a role in determining the final outcome (as it should, given how great this community is). So, while we have to crown top winners, everyone of the finalists really delivered spectacular iRules that demonstrate creativity and flair. And, the winners are… Customer Winners 1st Chetan...
After reviewing the flood of entries (thank you ALL!) in 2009 contest, we’re ready for what I’ve been most excited about: your chance to select the winner of this year’s iRule. Do You? contest. If you want to skip the extra blabbering from me, you click here and vote! Otherwise, here are some more details about the contest. As you’ve probably noticed, we’re running a bit behind our original schedule. It’s directly due to the many entries and due diligence from our judging team to spend the necessary time reviewing the entries thoughtfully. Special thanks...
Back in 2001 (wow – seems like yesterday!), F5 introduced the first-ever, open/Web services API for network devices called iControl. With it, it sparked a major shift in the way companies could look at integrating network devices with applications. Leading software vendors figured it out. And, thousands of companies since then have used iControl to build custom monitoring apps, management solutions that more closely fit their internal processes, and even automate some cool stuff including enabling applications to tell the network how to deliver them. While all fine and dandy (and fun to be a part of personally), the...
I had a fascinating conversation recently with an IT pro that I know and respect. We were talking about IT management, issue triage and resolution, and he made the point that the first question any IT pro asks is, “what changed?” Makes sense to me. For many, change = risk. I understand that. Change even the littlest detail and there’s a reasonable likelihood that the fragile web of intricate IT interdependencies will come crashing down. Often, the risk (or fear?) of change is justification for standing still – not upgrading or choosing a newer, better approach that provides...
For those not able to tune in to our live launch event at DevCentral this week, here is a great video to watch. It features F5’s Dan Matte, Johnson Chen, and Fred Wu presenting at the local China launch event for DevCentral-China in Shanghai. You can watch it at Network Chinabyte here! Here is another article from China’s IT168 that includes some great pics. Technorati Tags: f5, devcentral, china, chinabyte, shanghai, jeff browning
Election Day 2008 represented many “firsts”. As more people document President Obama’s campaign team and their creative use of social media (Twitter, etc.), one aspect few have explored is the web infrastructure used to support the flurry of online activity. For MSNBC.com, Election Day 2008 represented the biggest day of traffic in it’s 12-year history with over 20 million unique viewers and 250 million page views. Wow. When it comes to IT, it’s always fun to throw around big numbers. Well, these are indeed BIG numbers. Here is a particularly interesting aspect that really speaks to the importance...
If you get a moment, join in the celebration here! This is the culmination of a fantastic global effort to deliver our second region DevCentral section – DevCentral-China. And, for those of you online, you can join the live event underway in Shanghai now. Behind the scenes, there has been some exceptional work done to accelerate this solution (symmetric and asymmetric) using F5’s WebAccelerator. There will be much to see related to this effort over the coming weeks so stay tuned. Technorati Tags: f5, devcentral, china
Without question, times are tough everywhere these days. I nor our team take any of these struggles (or the employees and customers they affect) lightly. The latest news? Networking vendor Nortel announced they were in trouble. It's amazing to see how the networking landscape has changed over the past 5 or 6 years. Some vendors seen as leaders not long ago have nearly disappeared. Back in the day, I'm sure some could argue why the Alteon gear was worth the investment. (at the time, I disagreed and still do. However, I'm biased towards F5, of course) The uncertainty around financial...
One of my favorite - if not the most favorite - aspects of DevCentral is the remarkably global mix of the community. Any given month, we see visits originating from over 150 different countries around the globe (quiz: without using Google or a PC, can any of you actually recite 150 different countries from memory?! I didn't think so... <g>) As I was looking over some of the registrations from just one recent 24-hr period, I started thinking it would be cool to lay them out on a map. Here's what a snapshot of a recent, random 24-hr...
Sometimes, you see things that you just need to capture on... err... SD memory. While waiting for my bag yesterday at the Las Vegas Airport, Joe Pruitt found himself a nice little Java console app that probably wasn't supposed to be visible. If you've been through the baggage claim here, you've no doubt seen the HUGE banners advertising every new show in town. It's complete sensory overload (hey - it's Vegas, right?) However, this caught Joe's attention. Honestly, I doubt many people even saw it but Joe spun on a dime and started dissecting the database calls and methods...
There are many dynamic things happening every day on DevCentral. While innovative, powerful technology (IMO) helps,it all starts with incredible people. Customers. Industry partners. Resellers and Consultants. F5 staff. And, the DevCentral Team. The work that Joe, Don, and Colin have done and continue to do amazes me. Based upon how many people are reading the Blogs and Tech Tips, posting to the forums, and more, I'm guessing you agree. They've set the bar pretty high. However, it's just been kicked up another notch with the addition of a new member to the DevCentral Core Team. It's a honor to...
If you're running SAP software in your company, there's a good chance you've made a significant investment in making employees more productive. However, I've seen too many companies spend a ton of money on software and then forget that predictably secure application access and reasonable performance are instrumental in users getting value from the solution. It's like spending a bunch of cash on a speedy new PC and then... forgetting that you need power to run it. Or, a car with 600 horsepower and spellbinding looks... with no transmission. At some point, simply getting the app to the users can...
You know what? You never know what you might find in the DevCentral Forums. Some pretty cool stuff happens in the Solutions Forums - a place to focus on doing interesting things with F5 gear from an application perspective (i.e. Microsoft app, Oracle App, etc.). Here's an interesting one I found recently: load balancing resources protected by MS-AD-Kerberos. Not always two technologies you expect to see together... However, thanks to user "ravi.rajan", there's the solution. The trick is that you don't add the BIG-IP to the AD (you can't). Instead, you create a Microsoft Service Principal Name (SPN) for "the...
As Don mentioned earlier this week, we took the plunge and entered Forrester's Groundswell contest. To me, I believe this is the ultimate testament to what you, the community, are doing on DevCentral everyday (check out this page - it's pretty cool). Back when we started this thing, it was simply to help folks learn how to tap into F5's groundbreaking iControl API. After asking users, we learned that folks needed some assistance getting started. Surprise, surprise - understanding terms like WSDL, SOAP, and related things were a bit new to F5's traditional users! With backgrounds in software, where forums...
Just back from my summer vacation with the family, I thought I would share a picture that reminded me of something: IT is not always a glamorous job. Yes - sure - I know most of you, when asked by friends, compare your jobs to the other exotic professions such as globetrotting spy, travel photographer, rock star, etc. However, I know that some days... well, IT is simply not actually that glamorous. Not every day is a briefing for senior management highlighting how you have single-handedly done 3x more with 54.6% less. You don't always get to high-five your...
Another great clip featuring the folks at BlendTec and Forrester's Josh Bernoff! Nothing like blending ALL of the social media technologies, huh? Technorati Tags: social media, groundswell, will it blend?, blendtec, f5, jeff browning, devcentral
After many requests, we've just launched a new discussion area for folks that want to talk about the F5 Application Security Module (ASM). This is a new opportunity for the community - existing users or those just curious about ASM - to post questions, share ideas, and generally discuss the possibilities and solutions available with ASM. To learn more about ASM, you can go here. When you combine ASM with other technologies from folks like our friends at White Hat Security, there are some interesting applications and scenarios that will surely spark some interesting dialog. You know what I...
Filed under the "not necessarily new but cool" category for those that don't know it, you can keep tabs on DevCentral by following us on Twitter. If you're a Twitter fan, you know what to do. Follow us here. Technorati Tags: twitter, devcentral, f5, jeff browning
Walking across the street to grab a sandwich this afternoon, I saw something pretty cool. Flying proudly atop the iconic Seattle Spaceneedle is a huge flag sporting the Sub Pop Records logo. Why the big deal? Well, not many people know about Sub Pop outside of Seattle. However, it launched this little band called Nirvana. It also broke Soundgarden, Mudhoney and so many others that it become THE label most closely associated with the "grunge" scene. And - it's celebrating it's 20th birthday this weekend. As I was pleasantly reminded by this article, they sold some pretty funny t-shirts...
There was a nice little acronym we used around F5 a few years back (probably more than a few...). However, I was reminded of it today (thanks Annie and Joe!) while walking through the halls. It's simple. And, it's powerful. And, it deserves a "refresh" because there's no hiding from reality: there are more protocols, app flows, user distribution, and complexity challenging IT, not to mention shorter development cycles and performance demands challenging app teams. The move to TMOS ushered in the opportunity to do this and well. Here's what it means (updated for 2008): I = Intercept (as in...
We're lucky. It's rare to find such a team of people like those on the DevCentral team (and F5, for that matter) that are very bright, like to work hard together, and genuinely care about making people's lives better. I've worked with enough people to know that this is special. For me, it's inspiring and I'm proud to be a part of such a dynamic group of people. However, on a completely different level (and hopefully just a little inspired by the team), our community has become something incredibly special. We continue to be amazed (and frankly, humbled) by the...
During an interesting conversation yesterday, Jim Metzler made a very clear and insightful comment. There are [or should be] two distinct roles in IT: application development and application delivery. Pure and simple. In challenging times (or any time, really...), this clarity could be a powerful rallying point as well as a basis for collaboration and focus on results. Good advice. His recently released 2008 Handbook of Application Delivery also offers some excellent advice. [Update: Kiwi Paul was kind enough to remind me that the handbook link above requires a free registration here. Thanks mate!] Technorati Tags: F5, Devcentral, Jeff Browning,...
Here at Interop, I had an interesting conversation on the show floor about integration. We were talking about how another company can remotely invoke change against infrastructure "via the CLI". When I asked why, the reasoning was that it's just how the infrastructure can be integrated - kind of because, "that's what's available". Sadly - that's pretty true in the networking world. To date, there is no API like iControl that offers a comprehensive API with broad tool support and functionality. So - when writing integration via the CLI, what happens when the hardware versions change? Maybe an upgrade patch?...
Wow - that sounds kind of bizarre. Like load balancing a load balancer? Or, maybe launching a rocket launcher? OK - I kid. However, when you think about the ease with which companies can spin up instances of virtual servers, it's pretty easy to understand how a bit of intelligent load balancing could be useful. Useful from not just an optimization perspective but especially a management simplification perspective. So, that's where Steve Duplessie's recent post comes into play. Honestly, sometimes it takes someone a few steps removed to explain things most eloquently. Here on DevCentral, we can get pretty deep...
I've said foolish things before and I'm 100% certain I'll say them again (anyone that opens their mouth will). And, "foolish" probably comes down to a matter of perspective in many cases. However, after having our entire team (not to mention our respective families) hit with some nasty cold and flu bugs over the past month or two, this comment sort of strikes me as... well... from a perspective that I can't understand. "Unfortunately, people have not been getting sick at a rate that we would all like yet." - A.G. Lafley, CEO, Proctor and Gamble (from the 5-Apr...
Some of the team watches as Joe goes whiteboard outlining a cool new DevCentral feature in the works... BTW - we're working in the "Discovery" conference room in F5's Technology Center today. This cool space is available for you to use to evaluate and test F5 gear, design deployments, and more if you choose to take advantage of it. Technorati Tags: F5, devcentral, whiteboard, jeff browning
The entire DevCentral Team is together this week in Seattle to talk about the DevCentral community, how we're doing, what we can do better, and more. Yesterday, we were sequestered on the shore of Lake Washington with limited connectivity (otherwise, would have posted this pic featuring the crucial caffeine pre-load featuring Colin and Joe). Great discussions, some cool new ideas from the entire team, and a lot more "top secret stuff". However, a few funny things came up: "Butter burgers" - According to Don, these are the latest fast food craze in Wisconsin... Wow. Ninjas - Apparently...
No doubt about it, virtualization is hot. It seems that you can't read an IT publication without some mention of it. And, for good reason. For a long time, organizations have been forced to contend with brittle, heterogeneous infrastructure and software that's expensive to acquire and maintain. Aside from the high cost, the gating factor it has placed on dynamic adjustment to changing business needs have made traditional IT design painful for IT departments and frustrating for the business folks. Virtualization provides a nice alternative for more dynamic, cost-effective, and nimble architectures. At F5, we've been "virtualizing" servers from the...
Blogs are a fascinating thing. When I was first turned onto them years ago, I had flashbacks to the early world wide web days. Remember? When it seemed that being able to hack HTML and use FTP to post a page enabled way too many folks to promote uninformed opinion? Sadly, I recall too many stories of people believing myth and innuendo because they "read something in print". Just as those days, a blog gives anyone incredible (and transformational) abilities to hang out their shingle and begin blogging. Some even make a living at it which I think is great....
There's no denying it. IT has it's fair share of dirty jobs. While they may not LOOK as dirty as some, they most certainly FEEL as dirty. These descriptions - "The Seven Dirtiest Jobs in IT" - as published by ComputerWorld Malaysia are pretty entertaining. My guess? Many of these are all together too familiar for some of you. I hear about #4 and #2 quite often from members of the community. How about you? Do any of these closely resemble your daily life? Technorati Tags: IT, dirty jobs, computerworld, malaysia, f5, devcentral, jeff browning
Along with Joe's post yesterday, there is a great deal of activity going on with regional user groups. It seems that folks just want to get together to talk about F5 technologies, iRules, and other cool F5 stuff. These events are a great way to meet peers that work with similar technologies, make a new friend or two, and maybe even and learn some new tips or tricks. The fantastic F5 UK Team is hosting a cool session at "The Brewery" in London on 12 March (wow - cool venue - I might need to attend!). As part of this...
RSS is a curious thing. I've found people either love it or hate it. For the most part, I still really like content on the web delivered in it's original format. However, I continue to come around the elegance and power of RSS. Here's an example: when you're stuck at an airport with a little time to burn, it's really nice to be able to access your Google Reader client on a Blackberry and catch up on your favorite blogs and feeds. And, using a decent reader is virtually essential if you track as many different blogs and news sources...
