Tech Field Day Coverage
Our delegate panel includes independent writers and thought leaders, and we collect their coverage of the event, Tech Field Day presentations, and sponsoring companies here.
Managing VMware Proactively with Runecast
Gabe Maentz was a delegate at our recent Tech Field Day Extra at VMworld US, and got to see the latest from Runecast. In this post, Gabe looks at Runecast Analyzer, which is designed to help VMware admins keep their environments secure and up to best practices. On a technical level, Runecast Analyzer is a single VM that aggregates various sources to synthesize a single repository of information. From this Analyzer can look at your specific configuration and proactively alert you when if finds something applicable.
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Managing VMware Proactively with Runecast
MFD3 – AirCheck G2 V3.0 Announcement
At Mobility Field Day, Jonathan Davis got a first look at the updated 3.0 firmware for the AirCheck G2. This update adds a lot of important features to the wireless testing device, including better VLAN support, iPerf testing improvements, a better Location tool, and the ability to assign statuc IP addresses to the devices ethernet port. Overall Jonathan found the device to add some exciting capabilities to the wireless engineer’s toolkit.
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MFD3 – AirCheck G2 V3.0 Announcement
Data Point: Why Automation Won’t Replace Humans
Ivan Pepelnjak thinks network engineers don’t need to worry about automation replacing them in the near future, given that a forward looking company like Tesla has failed with their complete automation efforts. Instead, he points that network engineers should train themselves to do higher value jobs for organizations, which seems to be a good hedge against automation. He points out some recent Networking Field Day videos on the topic as well.
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Data Point: Why Automation Won’t Replace Humans
Aruba Takes The Lead With WPA3
WPA2 is more than a little long in the tooth, having been around for about as long as 802.11g. Jim Palmer outlines what Aruba presented on the new WPA3 security standard, and their efforts to push Opportunistic Wireless Encryption into the specification as well. It led to a lively discussion at Mobility Field Day last week.
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Aruba Takes The Lead With WPA3
Storage is not just a bunch of disks, said SoftNAS
Raff Poltronieri wrote up a look at what SoftNAS presented at Cloud Field Day last month. He breaks down the company’s take that storage is “not just a bunch of disks”, and how SoftNAS Cloud provides a data control and management platform to manage large amounts of data in the cloud.
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Storage is not just a bunch of disks, said SoftNAS
Storage Field Day 17 – Day 0
Dan Frith is coming back out to Silicon Valley for another Storage Field Day experience. This is Dan’s eighth Storage Field Day, and we always appreciate him crossing an ocean to attend. Make sure to follow along with the presentation on our live stream, and engage with Dan and the other delegates using #SFD17.
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Mobility Field Day 3 – A Delegate
It’s always great to hear about people’s first Field Day event experience. In this post, Jim Palmer talks about some of the behind the scenes of being a delegate at Mobility Field Day. It was a packed event and Jim was impressed by his fellow delegates around the table.
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Mobility Field Day 3 – A Delegate
Forti What?
One thing immediately struck Scott Lester from Fortinet’s Mobility Field Day presentation. The company has a swiss army like product portfolio that provides everything you need for a modern enterprise network, with the added benefits of no complex licensing tied to it. This particular presentation focused on their FortiGate as a wireless controller.
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Power to the Max
Arjan Timmerman reviews what he saw from Dell EMC at Storage Field Day this summer. They focused on their highly available tier zero PowerMax storage array. Arjan outlines that even though this product comes from a long lineage, it’s able to offer cutting edge performance.
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NetApp Acquires StackPointCloud
Rich Stroffolino outlines how NetApp’s recent acquisition of StackPointCloud compliments what they presented at Cloud Field Day earlier this year. Their Cloud Volumes service now naturally rolls into a larger managed Kubernetes play.
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NetApp Acquires StackPointCloud
ARM Servers and End Times | Gestalt IT Rundown: September 19, 2018
Rich Stroffolino and Tom Hollingsworth discuss the news coming out of Mobility Field Day last week on the latest Gestalt IT Rundown. This includes a look at what Arista Networks is doing with the assets from Mojo Networks, as well as NETSCOUT’s business divestment of their monitoring tools portfolio.
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ARM Servers and End Times | Gestalt IT Rundown: September 19, 2018
LinkRunner G2 v2.0 Update
Jonathan Davis digs into some of the updates in the latest firmware for the LinkRunner G2, which he saw at Mobiltiy Field Day last week. Highlights include 802.3bt and injector support, improved VLAN information, and packet capture. One feature that wasn’t new but new to Jonathan, the LinkRunner G2 can charge from PoE!
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MFD3 – Huge updates for AirCheck G2 and LinkRunner G2; then Netscout announces their sale
Jonathan Davis heard a bevy of updates from RUNECAST across most of their network diagnostic tool line. This included a deep dive into new features of the LinkRunner G2 v2.0 and AirCheck G2 v3.0 firmware. The features added were impressive, and Jonathan hopes to see updates for these solutions in a future Field Day presentation.
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MFD3 – Huge updates for AirCheck G2 and LinkRunner G2; then Netscout announces their sale
Cost of Perfection
After Mobility Field Day last week, Jim Palmer got to thinking about how wireless professionals approach their networks. He considered what trying to achieve wireless perfection actually costs, when the vast majority of the time connectivity falls short of that goal. He stopped to think if this quest for perfection often misses broader customer requirements and the implications of the return on time invested toward perfection.
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RuneCast presents @ #TFDx VMworld 2018
It’s always a pleasure to have Matt Leib at an event, and we most recently had him attend a Tech Field Day Extra at VMworld presentation from Runecast. He got a deep dive on Runecast analyzer, which is easy to install and connect into vCenter, providing analysis of authorized sources, while still keeping within compliance guidelines.
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RuneCast presents @ #TFDx VMworld 2018
A Story of Three Companies
Jim Palmer wrote up a look at three different companies he saw at Mobiltiy Field Day last week, Arista Networks, Fortinet, and NETSCOUT’s. He looks at how each companies presentation impacted their messaging. From Arista trying to work in their acquisition of Mojo Networks into their broader portfolio, to Fortinet’s improved focus as a wireless company, and NETSCOUT’s divestment of their Handheld Network Test product line almost at the same time they were presenting to the delegates. Overall Jim got a little look at not just these company’s mobility solutions, but into the companies themselves.
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Aruba, leading the charge for wireless security
Scott Lester got to see some of Aruba’s latest AP hardware at Mobility Field Day last week. During the presentation, Aruba made the case why WPA3 was needed after a decade with WPA2, and why they are continuing to push for better standards. Scott also touches on one thing left out of the WPA3 spec, Opportunistic Wireless Encryption. This optional component has major security benefits for anyone connecting to an open AP.
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Aruba, leading the charge for wireless security
Catching Up With NETSCOUT at MFD3, Big News, and “Body Fade” Explained
Lee Badman got to hear from NETSCOUT at Mobility Field Day last week. They announced a number of update to their network diagnostic tools, including updated firmware for the AirCheck G2 and LinkRunner G2, as well as a status update on the AirMagnet product line. He also goes into a deep dive about how to avoid body interference when using the AirCheck G2, which is important when you have Mr. Badman’s clearly sculpted physique.
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Catching Up With NETSCOUT at MFD3, Big News, and “Body Fade” Explained
The Aruba Networks 802.11ax AP-Series
Hendrik Lüth was following Mobility Field Day online, including #MFD3 on Twitter. There he got a look at the 802.11ax-AP-Series by Aruba. In this post, he breaks down the capabilities of these new APs and what the new 802.11ax standard will mean for 5GHz and 2.4GHz radios in these APs.
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The Aruba Networks 802.11ax AP-Series
Figuring Out What Bothers Me About Wi-Fi and “Analytics”
Lee Badman heard about a number of wireless analytics solutions at Mobility Field Day last week. But one thing stuck in his mind. Outside of the merits of any solution over another, the underlying assumption behind many was that an analytics solution was needed because the wireless network is in some way being managed poorly. For Lee, WLAN problems often come from problems in vendor code, not something an admin can really be proactive about. This isn’t to say that these analytics solutions aren’t needed, but Lee wants them put in the proper context of why WLAN problems most often arise.
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