Systems and Network

Technology Rocks

2010-09-05T02:01:00.000+05:00

Effectively Managing Team Conflict

2010-09-03T10:17:00.000+05:00

Dealing with Conflict
Successful managers can effectively manage conflict.This ability is considered a core competency and is
required of managers who want to grow and advance.Unfortunately,it is also one of the most difficult skills a
manager can develop.
The objective of this white paper is to illustrate team conflict symptoms and causes;to determine how to
address team conflict using specific tools, skills, and processes;and to improve the ability of managers to build
teams that can deal effectively with both healthy and unhealthy conflict.
This paper is written from the point of view of a manager ,supervisor,or team leader.Although written from
this perspective,team members or individual contributors can certainly benefit from reading this paper as well.
When dealing with conflict,there are four major questions that should be asked:
1.What are the symptoms of team conflict?
2.What causes team conflict?
3.How do I address team conflict?
4.What tools and aids can I use to help my team deal with conflict quickly and effectively?

1.What Are the Symptoms of Team Conflict?
Conflict can be defined as a serious disagreement over needs or goals.For the purpose of this paper,team con-
flict is defined as serious disagreements over needs or goals among team members.Conflict behaviors,or
symptoms of conflict,include:
• Not completing work on-time or to quality goals• Gossip
• Not returning phone calls or e-mails• Passive/aggressive behavior
• Not responding to requests for information • Hostility
• Hoarding information that should be shared• Complaining
• Finger pointing• Verbal abuse
• Not attending required meetings • Filing grievances or lawsuits
• Absenteeism• Physical violence
The last two items,filing grievances or lawsuits and physical violence,require specialized and/or legal help
beyond the scope of this paper.
Each behavior,by itself,does not necessarily indicate conflict.People don’t always complete work on time or
answer all phone calls.Sometime they miss meetings.These individual behaviors might be acceptable—unless
a behavior is taken to an extreme and causes severe or irreparable damage.
An extreme example might be poor performance,including not meeting work goals over
a period of time that has an impact on team performance.Another example is missed deadlines caused
by prolonged absenteeism or just not getting work
done.Either example can become severe or cause irreparable damage if not corrected.Either of these behav-
iors requires intervention,or at least an investigation.Let’s look at two scenarios.

In Scenario A,Fred is the lead hardware engineer in charge of the architecture for a new computer system.In
the past,Fred’s work was good to excellent,with the latter being the norm for the past few years.Fred is
someone we could count on and delegate to,a responsible and responsive team member.Now Fred misses
work,some of his deliverables are late,and his work is not up to the quality of previous assignments.In meet-
ings,he becomes hostile and argumentative.When a junior member of the team asks Fred for help he accuses
the junior member of being lazy and not able to do his job.The junior member tells Fred that the whole team
knows that Fred is coasting on past achievements and should be fired!

In Scenario B,a project team is focused on a new application that has to be rolled out within the next three
months.Some team members have been late with deliverables and team meetings are negative and some-
times degrade to shouting matches among members.Project features and functions that should have been
included have been omitted or missed.In addition,team members do not always attend meetings or report on
status,and it is very clear that cliques have formed with agendas that are not in the best interests of the team.
Although we do not have a lot of information,we can already determine that we need to find out what’s
going on with Fred and his team.If we do not deal with the situation it can become severe.In the second sce-
nario, we can see that project team members are not working well together ,power struggles are occurring,
milestones and deliverables are not being met,and productivity is declining.We can see multiple symptoms of
team conflict in each case,with more advanced symptoms in the second scenario.Neither situation will resolve
itself and so requires intervention before serious damage occurs to the teams and projects.
To summarize, the best way to identify the symptoms of team conflict is to be aware of the kinds of behaviors
that lead to conflict.The list above is a good list to use.When we identify extreme behaviors or multiple symp-
toms,we know we need to investigate.We also know we do not have a high-performance team.
What is a high-performance team? It’s a group of people who have complementary skills,who understand
roles and goals,and who are committed to achieving those goals together.An effective team works together
toward mutual goals,using their individual skills and supporting each other.They communicate and share
information.They understand they have a “group identity”and are committed to each other,reveling in praise
and recognition and sharing the hard times. They respect each other . They have a leader who can direct,sup-
port, be hands-on or off as needed,and establishes and models how the team will work together.Because of
these characteristics and their leader,they will be able to differ at times,have conflict and get beyond it,and
maybe even use conflict to expand perspectives and find better solutions than they would have otherwise.
A high-performance team:
• Works together to achieve mutual goals
• Recognizes that each member is accountable,a team player,and committed to achieving team goals
• Communicates effectively with each other
• Has a balance of team members with the skills and abilities to meet mutual goals
• Shares the joy of achievement and the pain of not meeting goals
• Shares information, helps each other ,and recognizes that the success of the group is dependent upon
each individual
• Is able to deal with conflict
• Understands roles and responsibilities and respects each other
• Marches to the same tune or is aligned with goals and commitments
By definition then,a non-productive team,or a team in conflict,does not have these traits.When conflict is
not handled,it becomes poisonous.It reduces productivity,causes missed deadlines and poor quality,can
impact the health of team members,and causes turnover.However,when team conflict is resolved,team mem-
bers grow individually and as a team.They are better able to deal with conflict.

2.What Causes Team Conflict?
Conflict is a serious disagreement over needs or goals.Said another way,conflict occurs because of an inability
to address needs or goals,or because goals are unclear,unacceptable,unrealistic,or are in opposition to the
parties involved.
Together,we could create a long list of things that cause team conflict.Here’s a good start.
• Poor or no communication
• Lack of problem solving skills or getting to “root cause”
• Lack of clarity in purpose,goals,objectives,team and individual roles
• Uncertainty about or lack of resources and sources for help and support
• Poor time management
• Lack of leadership and management
• Team members bored,not challenged,not really interested
• Lack of skills and abilities in team members
• Personality conflicts
• Personal problems
• Turnover
Some of these can be seen as both cause and result of conflict.How do these things happen? We can see that
some of these causes of conflict can be dealt with directly through management and leadership.Others chal-
lenge us in different ways.
Being able to resolve conflict effectively is a critical team skill.The manager,as leader,holds the key to helping
team members resolve conflict and develop trust in each other.Without trust team members will not bond.If
they do not trust each other they will not be able to deal with conflict.Conflict resolution is one of the key fac-
tors associated with committed and productive teams.So what causes it in the first place?

3. How Do I Address Team Conflict?
As a manager , what do I do to address team conflict? We’ve listed
causes;now let’s generate a plan to deal with the causes. Here are the steps we’ll use:
A.Define the problem
B.Gather data
C.Analyze the data
D. Choose the best solution
E. Implement the solution and continue to refine it

A.Define the Problem
Einstein said you cannot solve a problem until you define it.Defining a problem is frequently the hardest part
of the solution,and most of us jump into solving the problem rather than defining the problem.However,the
process of defining the problem also contains the seeds of the solution.
The first thing we want to do to help team members resolve conflict is to go through the process of defining
the problem together.Once we’ve done that,and it’s not always easy,we can work on a solution.Problem
definition may change or become refined during data-gathering,and may be further refined during the prob-
lem-solving process itself.That’s OK.
One way to work on a problem statement is to write it down multiple times in different ways and from differ-
ent perspectives.Just this exercise is beneficial for a team because it allows for different perspectives.A key to
success during team interactions is first to establish how the team will operate together.These might be con-
sidered “rules of engagement”or ROE.ROE might include statements about professional conduct,taking
turns,and not interrupting.If we worked as a team to describe the problems in Scenario B above,we might
come up with the following statements:
• The project team is missing assignments
• Team meetings are non-productive
• Some team members are not doing their jobs
• Some people are always late to meetings
• Team leadership is not strong enough
• The team is not working together effectively
When we allow ourselves to look at the problem from different perspectives and through different statements,
we can begin to agree on which statement most reflects the real problem.In Scenario B,we see that each of
the statements describes a part of the problem.We might agree that the last one is a good general description
of what’s going on. Each of the other statements helps us to break down the problem into more manageable
chunks for work assignments.We’ve used a good process for problem definition,and now we have a problem
statement with sub-headings.We have used a good process for problem definition and are more equipped to
develop a solution.
The team is not working together effectively (problem statement)
• The project team is missing assignments.(sub-headings)
• Team meetings are non-productive.
• Some team members are not doing their jobs.
• Some people are always late to meetings.
• Team leadership is not strong enough

B.Gather Data
The second step to addressing team conflict is to gather data on what is actually occurring. This means collect-
ing facts that can be substantiated,not hearsay or opinions.The intent is to gather facts that are actual,
observable,and measurable.It also means observing first-hand through meetings,teleconferencing,or video
conferencing.We need to know about individual performances,who’s meeting deadlines and goals,who works
independently,who needs a lot of “face”time,who comes up with good ideas,who initiates,who takes on
extra work or goes that extra mile,who’s inside or outside of the group,who lunches together,and who are
our informal leaders.We can see that this data- gathering is the manager’s job and requires discretion.
Data gathering means gathering facts that can be substantiated and proven.Hearsay and opinions are just that and
cannot be used.Our intent is to gather facts,which are actual observable and measurable behavior.
Let’s return to our project team scenario,Scenario B,and the problem statement with sub-headings.During
data gathering,we may uncover other symptoms or causes of conflict.In turn,these may require us to refine
or re-define our problem statement.Having to refine or change a problem statement is not a negative.It just
means that our understanding of the situation has increased,and this new knowledge may require us to
adjust our problem statement.That’s okay.
Another part of data gathering is to review what I,as manager,have been doing.How do I communicate with
my team? How do they communicate with each other? Are team members clear on roles and responsibilities?
Have I been providing regular performance feedback to them? Have I been visible,available,and supportive?
Do I “know”my employees? Do I have a good understanding of individual job roles,skills,experience,and
what motivates each employee?
This is hard to look at,but I have to do it as part of understanding what’s wrong and how to fix it.I may not
really know how to do some of these things.I may need to talk with my boss or a good mentor.Part of the
solution may be my plan to develop and augment my skills.It’s rare that team conflict is associated only with
team members.We as managers have to be confident and objective enough to look at ourselves as part of the
problem and part of the solution.

C.Analyze the Data and Diagnose
We have now defined the problem, and we have gathered the facts.Before we begin to analyze the data,let’s
be sure that everything we’ve gathered so far makes sense.Do we have observable and verifiable facts? Are
we clear about symptoms and potential causes? Have we separated management and employee causes and
issues? If so,we are ready to analyze.
Analyzing the data means we can diagnose what is going on with the team itself,and determine the role the man-
ager is playing.Let’s assume we’ve completed a self-assessment and know what we,as manager,have to do to
help solve the problem. To diagnose team dynamics and performance, let’s use this list to stimulate our thinking.
Poor or no communications:
• What kind of communications is occurring?
• Is it effective or non-productive?
• Have I established a style and/or methodology for communications to ensure that everyone on the team
is updated on a regular basis? Do I have a communications plan?
• Do I model good communications when I work with the team or with individuals,(i.e.,do I listen and
communicate effectively)?
• Do I,or my team,need help with communications? What kind of help?
Lack of problem-solving skills,or getting to the “root cause”:
• How do we approach problems and issues?
• Do we approach them in a logical way?
• Do we capture data as we problem-solve or is it a haphazard,uncoordinated session that does not
resolve issues and does not seek input from all team members?
• Do we need to change how we try to solve problems?
• Do we really address root cause or do we deal with symptoms?

Lack of clarity in purpose,goals,objectives,team and individual roles:
• Do all team members understand their individual roles and the role of each team member?
• Does each member of the team understand his or her roles and goals (what they were hired to do and
tasked to accomplish)?
• Do team members understand how individual roles and goals support group goals?
• Do they understand how the group goals roll up to support the larger group’s goals and all the way up
to support Corporate group goals?
Uncertainty about or lack of resources and sources for help and support:
• Do team members each understand their strengths and what they contribute to the team?
• Are they clear about where to go for help and support,which involves clarifying team roles regarding
special skills and helping each other?
• Are they committed to helping each other within the scope of their responsibilities,(i.e.,NOT actually
doing the work of the other person but providing assistance or guidance)?
• Do team members rely on me as the manager to ensure they have the resources they need to meet indi-
vidual and team goals?
Poor time management:
• Are team members usually able to meet goals and deadlines?
• Do they have time management skills or are they always late or always behind?
• Are they clear about what kind of time management is expected?
• What kind of mentoring or guidance do I as a manager provide to individuals to ensure they meet
goals?
• What could help them to improve their time management skills?
Lack of leadership and management:
• As a manager , have I been clear regarding my expectations of individuals and the team?
• Do I give feedback regularly that helps them to understand how they’re meeting my expectations?
• Do I provide corrective guidance when it’s necessary?
• Do I support them in public and remonstrate in private?
• Do I model the kind of behavior I expect from my team?
Team members bored,not challenged,not really interested:
• Does each team member have a career plan?
• Can I detect a lack of interest or commitment?
• Where is boredom or lack of interest or commitment coming from?
• Am I,as manager,sufficiently aware of individual career plans and performance to determine if an indi-
vidual needs a change,a challenge,or corrective action?
• Do I delegate effectively?
• How am I motivating my team?
Lack of skills and abilities of team members to meet goals:
• Are team members matched well in their roles?
• Do they have the skills and abilities to perform their assigned tasks?
• Do they need special training and how is this in line with career goals?
• What kind of guidance can I,as manager,provide?

Personality conflicts:
• Are team members able to work effectively with each other?
• Are there any who just cannot get along?
• Do I treat all team members fairly regardless of my own personal feelings about each?
• Have we,as a team,developed a “conflict resolution”process or strategy”that we can understand and
use effectively?
Personal problems:
• Are personal problems interfering with job performance – theirs or mine?
• Am I aware of personal problems of individuals?
• Am I encouraging individuals to go to Human Resources (HR) or to find the help and support they need,
(i.e.,I’m not trying to solve problems outside of my expertise)?
• How am I working with these individuals to get their work done through flexible schedules,reduced
workloads,assistance from others,allowing delays,other approaches,or some combination?
• Am I,as a manager,working with HR to be fair to the individual,to the company,and to my group?
Turnover:
• What is my turnover rate?
• What are the causes of turnover?
• What is the impact of team conflict in causing people to leave?
• Are the causes of turnover beyond my control (i.e.,economic factors,competition,locale,etc.)?
• Are the causes within my control, ie,some of the above factors?
• If some of the above factors are observable in my group,how will I proceed?
As we perform our diagnosis,we develop a more precise understanding of team dynamics.Instead of just say-
ing we have poor communications,we can focus in on details.As we analyze each area,we can see two
things: further problem definition, and the beginnings of our plan to fix things.As managers,we all have our
own skills and abilities and tools we like to use.Use whatever works for you.You might simply ask yourself
these questions and capture your answers.A checklist may be appropriate,or a diagram,or flow chart.Your
framework or outline for your plan will depend upon you as an individual and your experience as a manager .
Those factors also will determine the point when you involve your team members.

D.Choose the Best Solution
As we gather and analyze our data,we have begun to separate it into discrete areas such as communications,
turnover,etc.We are getting down to “root causes”versus symptoms.We are really defining what’s wrong.
With answers to questions in each area,we can focus in on distinct areas of the problem.We can work on
solutions and then choose the best solution,or solutions,to implement.We will not have major issues in all
areas. Plus, addressing some areas,such as leadership,role and responsibility clarification,and communica-
tions,will likely improve other areas.
How do we select the best solution? Look at each of the areas again – plus issues you’ve thought of.Consider
what you’ve observed.If necessary,go out and observe some more.Write down your notes on observable
behaviors. Reflect on them. Consider the impact of individual behaviors on team members, on how team mem-
bers talk and work together , and how they interact with each other in meetings.Results will help you to deter-
mine which ones are the best solutions for your team’s particular problems.Talk with your boss or mentor and
reflect together.Let’s face it.We can’t always be right the first time.If we try something and it doesn’t work,
we can perform a “lessons-learned analysis”and try again.

E.Implement the Solution and Continue To Refine It
Through the work we’ve already done,we have the seeds of our “get-well”plan.After we analyze the data
and develop solutions,we select the best solution for our problem areas and begin to construct a plan.This
plan will include actions to address each problem area,and will include a schedule for implementation with
measurements.Work on one or two areas versus trying to fix everything at once.
Let’s look again at Scenario A.In the past Fred has been one of our best performers.Now he is missing work,
missing deadlines,and becoming defensive.We know this is not at all like the Fred we know.Our solution is to
observe and gather facts and set up a meeting with Fred.During this meeting,we need to find out what’s
changed in Fred’s life.Are there issues at home? Is he bored? Are there issues at work? After listening to him
to find out what’s going on,we need to work on a plan to get the work done and make sure he understands
our expectations along with deadlines and measurements.We might meet with him on a regular basis until
the issues are resolved and his performance improves.We also need to observe his impact on the team.If not
corrected,his impact on the team will increase and poison the team.Morale and productivity will decline.The
goal of our intervention with Fred is to support him and improve his performance,while also demonstrating to
the team how we will work with team members on performance issues.Working with Fred demonstrates our
leadership.It tells him and the rest of the team that we are aware of issues,we are available,we hold each
team member accountable,and we will support them toward problem and conflict resolution and performance
improvement.
As we develop our plan and/or begin implementation we may need help.We need to talk with our manager or
to a mentor or someone trustworthy with the appropriate skills, or we could go to a class.We have to look at
our management style and how it’s working.We need to keep our minds open to finding the best solution and
plan for our team.
The process for this is part of the solution.Thinking and considering in an ordered and systematic process is
crucial to defining and solving the problem.Working together to define and correct causes of conflict is the
best solution to resolve team conflict.Are there tools and aids to help teams deal with conflict quickly and
effectively? Yes.In defining the problem,gathering data,analyzing that data,and selecting and implementing
the best solution, we’ve begun to develop a list of tools and skills to use to resolve conflict. Here are other
tools and skills that can help:
• Clearly articulate thoughts and ideas
• Active listening
• Paraphrasing
• Clarify and question effectively
• Give effective feedback
• Think and analyze in a methodical and systematic way
• Set clear , reasonable, achievable objectives
• Identify risks and assumptions
• Build contingencies to counter risks and assumptions
• Stick to facts and issues,not personalities or personal issues
• Take turns
• Develop the ability to work effectively as a team member
• Cross training
• Use of ‘rules of engagement’ where helpful or necessary
• Delegating and mentoring for senior employees
• Time management
• Conflict resolution
How do you,as a manager,help employees to develop these skills and tools? One way is through modeling
the behavior desired.Another is through coaching.Another is to directly state what is required.Still another is
through training.As a manager,we can work with our team to develop a process that is acceptable for conflict
resolution.Below is an example of a simple conflict resolution process.

Conflict Resolution
Step 1

The first step is for individuals to try to resolve the conflict with each other.We might need to perform some coaching first.Or,we may need to listen to each side independently.This will help each individual to sort out their thoughts and feelings before the one-on-one.Being able to resolve conflict with each other helps individ-
uals to learn how to confront each other,clearly state the issue,listen to each other,and work together to find
a mutually acceptable solution.The benefit is that individuals learn a highly critical skill for now and the
future,and become more valuable team members.
Step 2
If the two individuals are not successful with a one-on-one meeting, we may need to intercede. If we have not
already met with each person,we would do that first.Then we would bring the two people together with clear
goals and an expected outcome.There should be rules or guidelines as to how the meeting will be conducted
and how they are expected to behave. This latter step about behavior may not be required in all instances, but
we all know that sometimes we have to be very explicit about what will and will not be tolerated.
Step 3
If Step 2 doesn’t work,or if the conflict involves us as manager,the next step is to involve Human Resources.
Human Resource people generally have excellent skills and/or have contacts with people who specialize in
mediation and conflict resolution for conflict situations requiring this level of expertise.

4.What Tools Can I Use To Help My Team Deal with
Conflict Quickly and Effectively
These tools and may also be helpful and may be used as part of ROE:
• Attack the problem,not the person
• Focus on what can be done,not on what can't be done
• Encourage different points of view and honest dialogue
• Express feelings in a way that does not blame
• Accept ownership appropriately for all or part of the problem
• Listen to understand the other person's point of view before giving your own
• Show respect for the other person's point of view
• Solve the problem while building the relationship
When conflict arises during a team meeting,it is important to address it as soon as possible.If the conflict has
nothing to do with the topic at hand,defer it to a later time.If conflict gets extremely overheated,take a break
and let everyone cool off.

Conclusion
Is it possible to maintain a conflict-free team environment? The simple answer is “no”.Every team has internal
conflicts at some points.However,team conflict is not always negative.It can be destructive,or it can be
healthy and productive.How it’s handled is the key.How a manager leads a team and helps the team to man-
age the conflict can change a negative to a positive,as in our Scenarios A and B.
Sometimes conflict can force teams and managers to look at themselves or issues in a new way,producing
solutions and results far better than originally anticipated.The conflict in this situation can act as a catalyst—
again,based upon how it is handled.Productive conflict occurs when team members are able to disagree and
continue to dialogue.It requires skill and maturity to achieve this,and it can be learned.When conflict is chan-
neled positively the results can produce:
• Alternatives not yet considered
• Better solutions
• A focused and productive team
• Increased ability to deal with conflict
As a manager,there a number of things you can do to enable your team to deal effectively with conflict:
• Use your powers of observation
• Use your Active Listening skills
• Do everything you can to minimize potential conflict, ie, (the “causes of conflict” checklist)
• Establish tools and processes to minimize team conflict (i.e.communications plan,conflict resolution
process,regular meetings,and good communications skills)
• When conflict does occur , deal with it immediately
• Have appropriate team get-togethers to celebrate successes,recognize accomplishments,and reward
achievements
Handle team conflict with skill and confidence.You and your team will achieve your goals and improve your
ability to deal with conflict.

.

Friendster and Publicly Articulated Social Networking

2010-09-02T10:30:00.000+05:00

Many social applications have social networking embedded both implicitly and explicitly in their design. Through features such as Buddylists and Blogrolls, developers and users have recognized the value of social networks.Recently, this implicit networking has evolved into explicit effort as entrepreneurs seek to capitalize on the social networking theory. Although explicit social networking sites have existed for years (SixDegrees.com), recent commercial interest has resulted in the emergence of multiple new sites dedicated to helping people capitalize on their social networks for jobs (Ryze.com, LinkedIn.com), dating (Friendster.com), recommendations and listings (Tribe.net). While all of these sites are valuable in this domain, Friendster’s popularity, press coverage, and diverse usage make it an ideal candidate for studying the value and implications of this phenomenon on the HCI community. In this paper, I present portions of my ethnographic work on Friendster in order to consider the tensions that emerge between the architect and the site’s population. In particular, I emphasize how users have repurposed the technology to present their identity and connect in personally meaningful ways while the architect works to define and regulate acceptable models of use.

REFLEXIVE CONSIDERATIONS

It is important to note that I have been an active participant observer amidst both Friendster users and the social networking software creators. I have tracked Friendster through the media and through the viral discussions on mailing lists, blogs and IRC channels I have organized six focus groups of various relevant social groups and have interviewed or surveyed over 200 users on various aspects of their Friendster experience. Via access to 1/3 of the Profiles, I have analyzed thousands of Profiles and run queries on the visible data. While the vast majority of these accounts are located abroad (predominantly in Asia), the majority of my informants have been in the United States and Canada. Furthermore, the majority of my interviews took place before October 2003, although the site continues to grow and attract new relevant social groups. I have also consulted with or advised many competing companies and I have regularly informed the press of my findings. In studying Friendster, my primary ethnographic goals are to: 1) understand how people negotiate context when presenting themselves; 2) examine how the network structure of a meme spreads and connects people; 3) determine the issues involved in articulating one’s social network as compared to a behavior-driven network.

WHAT IS FRIENDSTER?

Friendster is a website that allows people to explicitly articulate their social network, present themselves through a Profile (interests and demographics), post public Testimonials about one another, and browse a network of people. Friendster is built on the assumption that friends-of-friends are more likely to be good dates than strangers.The site was built to compete with Match.com and other online dating sites, with social networks as an additional feature. While Milgram argues that everyone is connected through a countable number of connections [5], Friendster only allows you to access those within four degrees. Unlike most dating sites, Friendster encourages users to join even if they are not looking for dates, under the assumption that they probably know a wide variety of friends who are looking and, thus, would serve as a meaningful connector and recommender.
Friendster launched its public beta in the fall of 2002. As of early January 2004, the site is still in beta and has amassed over 5 million registered accounts and is still growing. Both mainstream and alternative press have covered the site, yet word of mouth is the dominant entry point for most people. It is important to note that users have a selfish motivation in spreading the meme, as their network grows by doing so.
Friendster’s population is primarily cluster-driven and users often convince their entire friend group to participate. While Friendster users are typically 20-something, educated city dwellers, their social and sexual interests are quite diverse. As such, they bring vastly different intentions and expectations to the site.

THE VALUE OF THE NETWORK

Friendster assumes that users will authentically define their identity via their Profile so as to ensure more meaningful connections. Embedded in this is the assumption that users will see the value in connecting to actual Friends. This is a critical assumption because the desired theoretical results rely on the accuracy of this. Unfortunately, Friendster fails to recognize that publicly articulated social networks and identities are not identical to the private articulation gathered by sociologists. Furthermore, while sociologists have employed various techniques to categorize and weight relationships, people are often unable to do this individually. As shown in Friendster, this architectural difference results in behavior not predicted by the sociological analysis developed on top of observed behavior and protected informants. Relationship indicators in Friendster are binary: Friend or not. When traversing the network, there is no way to determine what metric was used or what the role or weight of the relationship is. While some people are willing to indicate anyone as Friends, and others stick to a conservative definition, most users tend to list anyone who they know and do not actively dislike. This often means that people are indicated as Friends even though the user does not particularly know or trust the person. In some cases, it is necessary to publicly be-Friend someone simply for political reasons. Sometimes, people connect broadly so that they may see a larger percentage of the network. Because of this weakness in the system, the weight of a Friend connection is often devalued because trust cannot be guaranteed. Users publicly recognized this by using the term Friendster in everyday conversation to describe one’s Friends. Overheard conversations might include statements such as “She’s not my friend, but she’s my Friendster” and
“Did you see that Alex is Drew’s Friendster?”
Publicly articulated social networks also disempower the person performing. As the hub of one’s social network, power exists in the structural holes that one maintains [3]. By controlling what information flows between different connections, one is able to maintain a significant role in transactions that occur, and thereby control information flow. This is the value of a headhunter or a businesswoman’s Rolodex. Even at the simplest levels, people are often uncomfortable with certain groups of friends to be able to reach out and connect with others, or for work colleagues to connect with personal friends. By asking users to articulate and collapse their network in a public way, Friendster is also asking them to give up their status as a social connector, or bridge.

PRESENTATION OF SELF

A Friendster Profile consists of five primary elements:

1) demographic information;
2) interest and self-description prose;
3) picture(s);
4) Friend listings;
5) Testimonials.

While providing both the individual’s perspective of self as well as that of their Friends is beneficial, the Profile is still a coarse representation of the individual, which provides a limited and often skewed perspective [2]. The Profile represents how the individual chooses to present their identity at a specific time and with a particular understanding of one’s audience. While the audience and the individual evolve over time, one’s Friendster Profile is usually stuck in time. Friend and Profile information are rarely updated and people only remove Friends when there is an explosive end to the relationship, as opposed to the more common growing apart. Testimonials are only a tribute of the moment and reflect the same type of language one might see in a high school yearbook. Fundamentally, context is missing from what one is presenting. On one hand, an individual is constructing a Profile for a potential date. Yet, simultaneously, one must consider all of the friends, colleagues and other relations who might appear on the site. It can be argued that this means an individual will present a more truthful picture, but having to present oneself consistently across connections from various facets of one’s life is often less about truth
than about social appropriateness [1]. Another argument is that one is simply performing for the public, but in doing so, one obfuscates the quirks that often make one interesting to a potential suitor. Notably, most users fear the presence of two people on Friendster: boss and mother. Teachers also fear the presence of their students. This articulated concern suggests that users are aware that, in everyday activity they present different information depending on the audience. Given the task of creating a Profile, users elect to present themselves based on how they balance the public/private dimension.

FRIENDSTER AS A SITE OF CONNECTION

People use Friendster to connect to others for a variety of reasons. Most users begin surfing Friendster by looking for people that they already know, either currently or in the past. In doing so, it is assumed that there is value in reconnecting with long lost friends. For some, this is not true. One interviewee removed her account on Friendster when her high school boyfriend contacted her – she “didn't want [the] past dredged up.” While these relationships are quite outdated, people often link to these found old Friends, even though they may now have little in common and cannot vouch for one another when friends want to connect. While the initial Friend search is in order to build one’s network, Friendster users regularly search for people out of curiosity. They look up colleagues and other people who exist in their daily lives. Headhunters use the service to track potential employees’ personal lives. Beyond individual connections, groups of people have organized private “elite” clubs and started weekly pub gatherings through Friendster. Anti-Friendster users have connected in rebellion. In one somber situation, a man with a Friendster account passed away in his sleep. His unconnected friends were able to pass on information to one another via the site. Friends of other deceased Friendster users have constructed memorials via the site. Two users capitalized on their social network. Believing in the value of their network, they decided to auction connections on eBay. In their ads, they promised both Friendster and real-life connections to hipsters, artists, musicians, record labels, etc. One was serious, while the other was simply making a point: “The 'self' you're packaging on Friendster is a strictly delimited individual - but when I'm selling my network on ebay, the value is determined by my extended self, defined by its relationships and surfaces rather than content - in other words, the true me, in its full, fragmented, postmodern glory, all the more true the instant a dollar value is placed on it!” Other users have capitalized on the network structure of Friendster. Women advertise their porn sites by attracting potential clientele. One group of users created a network of Fraudster Profiles to deal drugs, using the Bulletin Board to announce “events” – coded cues to indicate the availability of specific drugs. While most users are just using the site for fun, curiosity and to play with their friends, it is important to note that many are using it for its intended purpose: dating. The majority of dating falls into three categories: hookups, direct pestering and familiar strangers.

How to Deal With a Computer Crash

2010-08-31T20:34:00.000+05:00

Almost everyone has experienced an unfortunately timed computer crash. Maybe you were right in the middle of doing your taxes, or were at the halfway point of finishing that report your boss expects in the morning. But there have been many computer crashes and glitches that have caused far more wide-ranging damage:

--CNN reports that in 2000, the spy computer used by the National Security Agency crashed for a few days, preventing staff access to important information.

--According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a 2009 computer failure at U.S. Bancorp denied access to thousands of unemployed people who were attempting to withdraw their money.

-- The London Stock Exchange suffered a blow in trading in September 2008 as a result of a computer crash that lasted a few hours.

--Computers responsible for control and navigation of the International Space Station failed temporarily in 2007.

-- News reports claim that the crash of the Spanair plane that killed 154 people in 2008 was supposedly related to a malware-infected computer.

Reasons for a computer crash
“Sam,” a security engineer who prefers anonymity because of the nature of his job, explains that there are usually two main causes for a computer to freeze or crash: defective computer memory and impending hard disk failure.

“Computer memory is composed of several chips placed together on a stick. If one of those chips on the memory stick goes bad, it could cause a computer to freeze because the operating system is expecting that memory space to be available.

“A hard drive disk is composed of spinning metal plates with a metal arm that reads/writes data to the drive," Sam says. "Since it is mechanical, it is prone to failure. As such, hard disk drive manufacturers have what's called a MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure). Usually, it's in the range of hundreds of thousands of hours, but it's not a guarantee. If the operating system attempts to read/write data to a hard drive that has started to physically fail, it could cause a computer freeze or crash.”

Other reasons for crashes and freezes include clicking on malicious links or attempting to use modern software on an older computer.

According to a help-desk analyst we spoke with, “The most common reason that people's computers have problems is because they try to do 2010 tasks on a 2003 computer. We have a lot of computers that are way past their warranty, and they install programs that were never meant to run on hardware of that age. Once they install and open that program, they also have various other programs running in the background, such as multiple Internet browser windows or Word documents,” she says.

Preventive measures
The primary advice from tech experts is to always save your documents regularly in case sudden disaster strikes. Aside from that obvious but often overlooked step, our tech expert "Sam" outlines a few simple steps that can help deter computer failures and prolong its life:

--Keep your anti-virus subscription up-to-date and download the latest updates.

--Download and install the latest updates for your operating system (Windows or Mac).

-- If a website or email looks suspicious or asks for personal or banking information, do not click any links contained within the email or website.

Using programs like AOL Computer Checkup Premium can also help fix various glitches, make your computer run more smoothly and increase its performance. If you're worried about losing important documents, music or videos, you may wish to consider online-storage solutions like SugarSync -- so even if you do crash, your important data is protected.

What not to do
A few years ago, MSNBC reported a couple of studies that showed many users suffer from “computer rage,” and that some scream or hit their computers when it has crashed or failed. The story even cites a case of a restaurant manager who tossed his laptop in the deep-fryer when it had stopped working.

In the event of a crash, the best thing to do first is reboot. According to our help-desk analyst, this simple step is often overlooked. “Most calls I take start with, ‘Have you restarted the computer?’….This is the easiest (and least painful) troubleshooting step.” If rebooting fails to work and the computer is “dead,” so to speak, your last best hope may be a professional computer technician. With hope, they can diagnose the problem, and if all else has failed, help salvage your data.

Top risky for web surfing "Turkey and Russia"

2010-08-28T22:13:00.000+05:00

AVG study looks at the safest and most dangerous places to surf the Internet

[Where are the safest and most dangerous places in the world to use the internet? ]

Where in the World are you most likely to be hit by a malicious computer attack or virus? According to Internet Security company AVG, it’s the Caucasus region, with web surfers in Turkey, Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan all being the most likely to face threats while online.

At the other end of the scale, some of the world’s safest surfers can be found in Japan and Taiwan, while seven of the 10 safest countries in which to surf the Internet are in Africa. As a continent, South America was ‘safest’, and North America riskiest. Globally your chances of being attacked while online on any given day are 1 in 73.

The data taken from 144 countries, involving over 100 million PCs, enabled AVG to look at the incidence of security threats that its software had to deal with in the last week of July. From these figures, AVG came out with an average for attacks per user per country.

Key results for the last week of July 2010 are as follows:

Turkey leads the league table for risky surfing, with AVG’s software having to step in to protect on average, one in 10 users of the Internet. Web users in Russia (1 in 15 were hit), Armenia (1 in 24), and Azerbaijan (1 in 39) also suffer high rates of attacks.

Other areas where web surfers are disproportionately at risk include Bangladesh (1 in 41), Pakistan (1 in 48) and in SE Asia, Vietnam and Laos (where the chances of facing an attack are both 1 in 42).

What about other major Western countries? The US is at number nine when it comes to the riskiest places to go online (1 in 48) , UK is ranked 31st (1 in 63), Australia 37th (attack ratio = 1 in 75) while German web surfers come in at number 41 (1 in 83).

Sierra Leone had the fewest attacks with on average one in 692 web surfers facing an attack. Niger too fared where just one in 442 surfers on average were attacked, however with low broadband penetration and Internet use in these African countries.

It is because of its high internet use and broadband penetration that Japan, where there is an average of just one in 404 facing an attack, is arguably the safest place to surf the net.

Meanwhile Taiwan (1 in 248 attacked), Argentina (1 in 241 attacked), and France (1 in 224 attacked) all came in the top 20 safe list.

Analyzing the data by continent, your chances of getting attacked while surfing the Web in North America are 1 in 51. In Europe it is 1 in 72, while in Asia (including Asia Pacific) 1 in 102. The safest continents are Africa (1 in 108), and by a long way South America (1 in 164).

While African countries make up seven of the top 10 ‘safe surfing’ list, it’s noteworthy that the chances of being attacked in all South American countries is more than 1 in 100. The ‘riskiest’ country in South America was Peru at 1 in 131, which globally still only ranks 78th out of 142 countries.

According to AVG spokesperson, Roger Thomson, “Our research tells us a lot about the behaviour of web surfers worldwide. Internet users in Turkey, Russia, the Caucasus and South-east Asia for example show disproportionately higher rates of being attacked than the global average of 1 in 73.

“There are a number of reasons for this. Some of it may be down to a tendency to access semi-legal or illegal download sites, while some of it probably is down to being less cautious when it comes to sharing links and files online. Another factor is the popularity of Internet cafes and people generally sharing computers. However, it is safe to say that even in these countries, a minority of users account for a large proportion of attacks.”

“If you look at Japan at the other end of the scale - a country where both Internet use and broadband protection is very high - our software only picked up a web attack for every 403rd user. Our take on this is that Japanese web surfers are generally more aware of safe and risky surfing behaviours.

However, our research should also serve as a wake-up call to people going abroad. If you are travelling without your computer and use a public machine or borrow a friend or colleagues, ensure that when accessing web -based services like email, that you log out and close the browser when you have finished your session.

If you are taking your laptop with you ensure you have backed up your data and removed any sensitive information from your machine.

Finally the key point is that all these web attacks were successfully caught and stopped by ourselves. Even the global average of facing a 1 in 73 attack on any given day does not present great odds if averaged out across a year. Hence the importance of making sure that your computer really does have the right anti-virus software installed.”

Methodology

AVG looked at the number of Internet attacks worldwide for the final week of July 2010, as well as the number of AVG installs per country. From this, AVG was able to work out on average the chances of web surfers being attacked.

This sample was taken in the last week of July. Rankings and order of countries will change over time and is not fixed.

The research involved taking data from over 100 million AVG installations across 144 countries.

For further information

Check this link: http://thompson.blog.avg.com/2010/08/the-safest-and-most-dangerous-places-in-the-world-to-use-the-internet.html

Information Technology Infrastructure

2010-08-26T01:28:00.002+05:00

Information Technology Infrastructure

Selecting new IT leaders

2010-08-19T11:43:00.000+05:00

One of the great privileges and responsibilities of leadership is identifying and training the next generation of managers and leaders. Somewhere in between crisis management, contract negotiations, internal politics, status monitoring and your myriad other tasks, you should spend a few moments considering the future leadership of your organization. Figuring out who has the potential to become a great leader or middle manager of IT is difficult. Given that leadership is one of those things that most of us can identify when it's put before us but find difficult to describe, it often seems impossible to predict an individual's prospects.

There are traits that can be predictors of success. But before we dive into what to look for, let's put to rest a few of the commonly used criteria that haven't yielded stellar results.

Education. Lots of great business leaders have put in time in MBA programs, but even a degree from Harvard or the Kellogg School (my alma mater) doesn't guarantee the right stuff. While important, understanding the mechanics and subtleties of business doesn't necessarily translate into leadership success.

Tech smarts. As believers in meritocracy, we're drawn to the idea that the person who best understands what's going on technically is best qualified to be in charge. Unfortunately, the skills needed in a leadership role are different from technical savvy -- and often don't reside in one person.

Bossiness. The natural desire to be in charge doesn't necessarily predict whether someone will be a good leader in a technical environment. The hierarchical top-down approach tends to be fragile when it comes to creative work. Those with the built-in desire to command frequently run smack into the brick wall of technical staff intelligence and intransigence.

So, which traits are better predictors of who will make great leaders?

Emotional flexibility. We talk a lot about being a good leader, but what about becoming one?

Great leaders start out somewhere else and have to move into leadership roles. Becoming a leader poses transitional challenges that can be met only with emotional flexibility. One of the great challenges for a new manager is to transform his view of himself, to change how he measures himself and his success. Early life and career work is judged by personal productivity. In school, we're judged by the quality and quantity of our papers, tests and quizzes. Young workers are judged by the quality, quantity and speed of task completion. Our self-images become tied to our personal productivity.

Moving into management requires a fundamental shift in how we view ourselves, a shift in the emotions about self and work. Leaders are judged not by their personal productivity but by their effect on the productivity, morale and effectiveness of others. Managers must be able to derive their personal satisfaction from helping others be productive rather than being productive themselves. This is a difficult transformation that's poorly understood and rarely discussed.

The ability to adopt a new self-image is critical to the transition into a successful leadership role.

Comfort with ambiguity. Beyond mastering their emotions, leaders must be able to cope with the chaos and confusion of reality. The world is a complex place filled with facts, provisional facts, lies, opinions and emotions. A large part of the leader's role is to help interpret the turmoil and bring order, sense and meaning to daily work. Successful leaders must transform ambiguity into clarity and create compelling narratives out of complexity.

They also bring a high tolerance for the continuing existence of confusion. They're able to hold contradictory ideas in their heads simultaneously without experiencing undue stress. Strong leaders aren't impervious to new facts and information but are comfortable revising their interpretations to meet changing times.

Ability to communicate. The ability to cope with ambiguity means nothing without the ability to communicate. If leaders and managers deliver value through their effect on others, communication is their primary tool. Whether leaders communicate verbally, in writing or through their actions, their ability to connect with those they lead is of prime importance.

Considering these "softer" skills can help you to ensure a successful future for your organization.

Few Important things you should know about privacy protection and IT

2010-08-19T11:06:00.000+05:00

These days, IT bears a tremendous responsibility for safeguarding corporate data and protecting personal privacy information. This overview shows just how entrenched privacy concerns have become in the regular operations of the IT organization.

Personal privacy has become a major public concern. Highly visible data breaches, identity theft, and frauds such as phishing scams have created a huge corporate and consumer burden and threaten trust in Internet and e-commerce services.

Studies have shown that almost half of U.S. residents have "little or no confidence" that adequate steps have been taken to secure their personal data. Compounding this lack of confidence is the increasing sophistication of online crime schemes. It's hard to tell who is legitimate, and a growing number of users are becoming victims of the Internet. Let's look at some privacy concerns and how they affect IT.

#1: Reporting compromised data: It's the law

Several states require that state entities, persons, or businesses disclose to a resident when his or her private information is reasonably believed to have been acquired by someone without authorization. An organization must publicly disclose when personal information in its possession appears to have been compromised. In 2003, California passed a law that requires organizations to notify residents if the organization experienced a data security breach that caused risk to personal information. Currently, 28 states have passed similar laws, and security breach notification bills are pending in more than 15 other states. Notification of a breach is costly, as there is usually a per-person fine.

#2: Customer loyalty is directly dependent on privacy

Consumers rely on the Internet for shopping, banking, government, healthcare, and other services, while trusting that their personal and financial information is protected and inaccessible to unauthorized use. When this trust is broken, customer loyalty can evaporate--overnight. The costs of identity theft and other fraud are too great to risk doing business with organizations known for mistrust of private information.

Between 2001and 2004, more than 196 privacy-related legal actions were raised against 255 corporate defendants, including financial services, health care, pharmaceutical, information services, e-commerce, manufacturing, media, and retail. More than 33 class action suits have also been filed. Here are some interesting figures on how Web consumers view privacy:
86% are concerned about privacy of personal data.
45% never provide real names to sites.
5% use software to hide computer identities.
86% favor "opt-in" that requires permission before using data.
94% want privacy violators to be punished.

#3: IT pros bear most of the burden for privacy

Here are a few things to consider when developing systems:
Know the types of data you are working with that include PII (personally identifiable information.) This includes the user's name and e-mail address, health care, and credit card or social security numbers. Don't collect more data than necessary.
Know how to implement mechanisms for notifying users that their personal data may be collected and offer them ways to opt out or consent to the collection of their data. A record of opt-out acknowledgement may also be required.
Determine where the system vulnerabilities lie: in the application, database, wireless network, Web access, or other interfaces.
Understand the steps to secure PII from misuse or unauthorized access, including access controls, encryption, physical security, and auditing. Encryption is probably the best defense. When an encrypted laptop is stolen, at least the data is protected.

#4: A data classification policy is essential

Today, data managers are expected to become steward of their organization's information. They're asked to view the data under their care as a valuable asset and manage it based on what or who it represents. An organization should have a policy definition of classified, confidential, and public information and clearly define data that's the most valuable and/or secret.

A key component of this policy is a data security plan that addresses the foreseeable risks to the integrity of the information maintained in an organization's systems. Control of and access to PII data is the subject of recent privacy regulations in the United States. The European Union also has specific requirements to protect its residents.

#5: Identifying critical systems helps risk analysis

Once you have a clear picture of how the data is classified and have identified potential data risks, target the systems that manage the data for a more detailed analysis of risks to data integrity.

A benefit of this exercise is to have better risk-ranking of major IT processes and systems, allowing you to focus on higher potential privacy risk areas. Auditing controls that are expected by law for critical systems that contain "regulated" data is a best practice.

#6: Organizations carry the burden of proof

Did you get hacked? Was it successful? What data was affected? How many customers? What states? Even unsuccessful attacks may have to be disclosed, unless an organization can prove that no personal information was made available to or accessed by an unauthorized party. As a result, an organization's intrusion detection and prevention systems must be effective and create reliable records of their effectiveness.

If a company concludes that a security incident didn't result in unauthorized access to personal data, but a customer suffers identity theft as a result of the attack, the organization will probably be found liable. Disclosing and reporting a breach is almost sure to damage the organization with financial consequences. Notification alone costs about $100 per customer per incident. So if 10,000 customers are affected, the incident will cost at least $1,000,000.

#7: CPOs oversee privacy issues

The primary role of the chief privacy officer (CPO) is to establish privacy policies for both customers and employees and to review and rule on related issues. A CPO usually chairs a privacy committee in larger organizations to provide guidance on managing incidents, privacy policies, security awareness, and many other privacy issues. The buck stops here when there's a decision to be made on technology or business that can affect compliance.

The CPO is becoming very busy these days, fielding questions on legal issues that usually have an impact on IT. IT is often responsible for finding solutions to privacy issues, such as intelligent encryption.

#8: Privacy incident management can prevent future risks

Who gets notified and when? Privacy incident management is not unlike other incident response functions, except when it comes to notification. Notification requirements are usually spelled out in the law, but notification can still be an arduous process. The CPO will likely oversee the incident response team that determines the cause and severity of the incident and issues report findings. An important outcome of investigating an incident and finding the root cause is remedying systems against similar risks in the future.

#9: Boundaries are blurring

Who is responsible when data is shared between organizations in the course of business? What if a breach is caused by one of your organization's outsourcers? If your employees' 401K data is on an insecure laptop owned by the 401K provider and the laptop is stolen, who bears the burden?

IT outsourcing is popular, but whose responsibility is it to protect you when an employee or a vendor happens to leave a USB stick on the counter at Starbucks when paying for a latte? If this device contains insecure private information, the mishap could constitute a data breach.

It's most critical to have privacy and security language in all IT contracts with third parties. Incidents can't always be prevented, but you can buy some indemnity if you draft a proper contract. Data security in contracts is becoming more common; use your legal team if necessary.

#10: White collar crime threatens privacy

A huge market exists for selling personal information, especially credit card numbers. The average rate for an ID is about $50. The infrastructure for online crime is more sophisticated than you can imagine. Marc Gaffan, a marketer at RSA Security Inc., offered this description of the problem in the article "The Net's not-so-secret economy of crime": "There's an organized crime industry out there with defined roles and specialties. There are communications, rules of engagement, and even ethics. It's a whole value chain of facilitating fraud, and only the last steps are actually dedicated to translating activity into money."

A Web site called TalkCash.net was a fraud marketplace for its members. To become a member, an applicant was asked to submit a few credit card numbers to show that he or she was really a "crook." This site is no longer open for business.

10 Dying IT Skills

2010-08-17T11:17:00.000+05:00

Introduction
There are some things in life, like good manners, which never go out of style, and there are other things, like
clothing styles that fall in and out of fashion, but when an IT skill falls out of favor, it rarely ever comes back.
Here’s our list of 10 dying IT skills. If any of these skills are your main expertise, perhaps it’s time to think about

updating your skill set.

10. COBOL
Is it dead or alive? This 40-year-old programming language often appears in lists of dying IT skills but it also
appears in as many articles about organizations with legacy applications written in COBOL having a hard time
seeking workers with COBOL skills. IBM cites statistics that 70% of the world’s business data is still being
processed by COBOL applications. But how many of these applications will remain in COBOL for the long term?
Even IBM is pushing its customers to “build bridges” and use service-oriented architecture to “transform legacy
applications and make them part of a fast and fexible IT architecture.”

9. HTML
We’re not suggesting the Internet is dead but with the proliferation of easy to use WYSIWYG HTML editors
enabling non-techies to set up blogs and Web pages, Web site development is no longer a black art. Sure, there’s
still a need for professional Web developers (see the ColdFusion entry above for a discussion about Java and
PHP skills) but a good grasp of HTML isn’t the only skill required of a Web developer. Professional developers
often have expertise in Java, AJAX, C++ and .Net, among other programming languages. HTML as a skill lost
more than 40% of its value between 2001 and 2003, according to Foote Partners.

8. SNA
The introduction of IP and other Internet networking technologies into enterprises in the 1990s signaled the
demise of IBM’s proprietary Systems Network Architecture. According to Wikipedia, the protocol is still used
extensively in banks and other fnancial transaction networks and so SNA skills continue to appear in job ads.
But permanent positions seeking SNA skills are few and far between. ITJobsWatch.com noted that there were
three opening for permanent jobs between February and April, compared to 43 during the same period last
year. Meanwhile, companies such as HP offer consultants with experience in SNA and other legacy skills such as
OpenVMS and Tru64 Unix for short-term assignments.

7. Siebel
Siebel is one skill that makes a recurring appearance in the Foote Partners’ list of skills that have lost their luster.
Siebel was synonymous with customer relationship management in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, and the com-
pany dominated the market with a 45% share in 2002. Founded by Thomas Siebel, a former Oracle executive
with no love lost for his past employer, Siebel competed aggressively with Oracle until 2006 when it was ulti-
mately acquired by the database giant. Siebel’s complex and expensive CRM software required experts to install
and manage. That model lost out to the new breed of software-as-a-service (SaaS) packages from companies
such as Salesforce.com that deliver comparable software over the Web. According to the U.K.’s ITJobsWatch.com
site, Siebel experts command an average salary of GBP52,684 ($78,564), but that’s a slide from GBP55,122 a
year ago. Siebel is ranked 319 in the job research site’s list of jobs in demand, compared to 310 in 2008.

6. RAD/Extreme Programming
Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s the rapid application development and extreme programming develop-
ment philosophies resulted in quicker and more fexible programming that embraced the ever changing needs
of customers during the development process. In XP, developers adapted to changing requirements at any point
during the project life rather than attempting to defne all requirements at the beginning. In RAD, developers
embraced interactive use of structured techniques and prototyping to defne users’ requirements. The result was
accelerated software development. Although the skills were consistently the highest paying in Foote Partners
survey since 1999, they began to lose ground in 2003 due to the proliferation of offshore outsourcing of applica-
tions development.

5. ColdFusion
ColdFusion users rave that this Web programming language is easy to use and quick to jump into, but as many
other independent software tools have experienced, it’s hard to compete with products backed by expensive
marketing campaigns from Microsoft and others. The language was originally released in 1995 by Allaire, which
was acquired by Macromedia (which itself was purchased by Adobe). Today, it is superseded by Microsoft .Net,
Java, PHP and the language of the moment: open source Ruby on Rails. A quick search of the Indeed.com job
aggregator site returned 11,045 jobs seeking PHP skills compared to 2,027 CF jobs. Even Ruby on Rails, which
is a much newer technology receiving a major boost when Apple packaged it with OS X v10.5 in 2007, returned
1,550 jobs openings on Indeed.com.

4. Wireless Application Protocol
Yes, people were able to browse the Internet in the late 1990s before Apple’s iPhone. Web site operators would
rewrite their content to the WAP’s Wireless Markup Language, enabling users to access Web services such as
email, stock results and news headlines using their cell phones and PDAs. WAP was not well received at the be-
ginning because WAP sites were slow and lacked the richness of the Web. WAP has also seen different levels of
uptake worldwide because of the different wireless regulations and standards around the world. WAP has since
evolved and is a feature of Multimedia Messaging Service, but there are now a new generation of competing
mobile Web browsers, including Opera Mobile and the iPhone’s Safari browser.

3. Visual J++
Skills pay for Microsoft’s version of Java declined 37.5% last year, according to the Foote Partners’ study. The
life of J++, which is available with Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0, was not a smooth one. Although Sun Microsys-
tems licensed Java to Microsoft to develop J++, Microsoft failed to implement some features of the offcial Java
standard while implementing other extensions of its own. Sun sued Microsoft for licensing violations in a legal
wrangle that lasted three years. Microsoft eventually replaced J++ with Microsoft .Net.

2. Novell NetWare
Novell’s network operating system was the de facto standard for LANs in the 1990s, running on more than 70%
of enterprise networks. But Novell failed to compete with the marketing might of Microsoft. Novell tried to put
up a good fght by acquiring WordPerfect to compete with Windows Offce, but that move failed to ignite the
market and Novell eventually sold WordPerfect to Corel in 1996. Novell certifcations such as Certifed Novell
Engineer, Master Certifed Novell Engineer, Certifed Novell Certifed Directory Engineer, and Novell Administra-
tor were once hot certs in the industry, but now they are featured in Foote Partners’ list of skills that decreased
in value in 2008. Hiring managers want Windows Server and Linux skills instead.

1. Asynchronous Transfer Mode
ATM was popular in the late 1990s, particularly among carriers, as the answer to overworked frame relay for
wide-area networking. It was considered more scalable than frame relay and offered inherent QoS support. It
was also marketed as a LAN platform, but that was its weakness. According to Wikipedia, ATM failed to gain
wide acceptance in the LAN where IP makes more sense for unifying voice and data on the network. Wikipedia
notes that ATM will continue to be deployed by carriers that have committed to existing ATM deployments,
but the technology is increasingly challenged by speed and traffc shaping requirements of converged voice
and data networks. A growing number of carriers are now using Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), which
integrates the label-switching capabilities of ATM with the packet orientation of IP. IT skills researcher Foote
Partners listed ATM in its IT Skills and Certifcation Pay Index as a non-certifed IT skill that has decreased in
value in the last six month of 2008.

Top 10 Skills in Demand in 2010

2010-08-13T11:51:00.000+05:00

Introduction

In 2010 Salary Survey, conducted at that end of last year, one of the ques-
tions put to respondents was “What skill set will your company be looking to add in 2010?” The skills listed by
respondents include the perennial favorites: security, network administration, and Windows administration. Also
included are virtualization/cloud computing and Web development. Meanwhile, an old favorite, business analy-
sis, makes a come back. Here’s the complete list, with the No. 1 skill listed being in the highest demand.

1. Project Management

As we emerge from the recession, organizations aren’t likely to go back to the go-go days of throwing money
at IT initiatives or taking risks and deploying without careful thought and planning. Organizations are putting
pressure on IT to only implement projects that can show real return-on-investment. The first step to achieving a
good ROI is professional project planning and implementation.

Project management skills often appear in top 10 skills lists, perhaps because some organizations got their fingers
burned in the 1990s through the poor implementation of IT projects such as enterprise resource planning initia-
tives. But even though the profession is mature (in IT terms), project managers still have work to do to advance
their status within organizations. According to an article on the Project Management Institute Web site, project
managers still have to develop their people skills, organizational leadership, and individual professionalism.

2. Security

It’s a never-ending game of cat and mouse for security professionals and 2009 proved to be another fun filled
year. According to Symantec’s Security and Storage Trends to Watch report, the number of spam messages con-
taining malware increased nine-fold to represent more than 2% of e-mails, while other criminals manipulated
people’s love of social networking sites to launch attacks. Twitter, for example, spent much of 2009 battling
DDoS and other attacks. Meanwhile, top headlines, such as the H1N1 flu and the death of Michael Jackson were
used by criminals to lure people to download malware.

Symantec predicts more of the same in 2010, warning that attackers will continue to use social engineering
to get to consumers’ sensitive data, and criminals will take Windows 7 as a challenge for seeking and exploit-
ing vulnerabilities in the new platform. Mac and smartphones will also be targeted more by malware authors,
Symantec says.

Despite the economic challenges of ‘09, organizations continued to hire security pros. The most sought-after
security skills were information risk management, operations security, certification and accreditation, security
management practices, and security architecture and models, according to a survey last year of 1,500 U.S.-based
security pros by security certification provider ISC2. 2010 is expected to be another busy year from security
professionals.

3. Network Administration

Networking administration skills never lose their luster. It’s the second most sought after skill in the Global
Knowledge survey and it will be the top skill sought by CIOs in the first quarter of 2010, according to a survey of
IT chiefs by Robert Half Technology. In 2010, organizations are expected to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2
and the Windows 7 client, and perhaps install Exchange Server 2010 and SharePoint 2010. Enterprises are going
to need network administrators to ensure network traffic continues to move without a hitch.

Meanwhile, Cisco hopes to push more data-intensive traffic onto corporate networks. Video is a key focus for
Cisco in 2010 as it works to finalize its control of video conferencing maker Tandberg and through its 2009
purchase of Pure Digital, developer of the Flip video camera. At the end of last year, Cisco introduced two Tele-
Presence certifications: the Cisco TelePresence Solutions Specialist for midcareer voice or networking engineers
seeking to specialize in the planning, design and implementation of Cisco TelePresence; and TelePresence Instal-
lation Specialist aimed at installation technicians.

4. Virtualization – Cloud

The projected cost savings and efficiencies are no-brainers for organizations seeking to implement virtualiza-
tion and cloud computing. With the cloud computing space now taking shape it’s difficult for enterprises to find
pros with substantial relevant experience. Instead companies are drawing expertise from a range of IT skill sets,
including storage, networks and desktop, according to a Network World article. Initially companies will set up
cross-functional teams to buy and implement virtualization, but eventually cloud computing will be an expected
skill set of systems administrators. In a few years, it could even be a standard skill set of all IT pros because it
touches different aspects of IT.

For details about virtualization certifications from leading virtualization software vendors VMware, Citrix and
Microsoft, see Global Knowledge’s Top IT Certifications in Demand Today newsletter of June 2009.

5. Business Analysis

Business analysis roles were commonplace in many organizations in the 1990s when big projects, such as
enterprise resource planning initiatives, required the critical thinking that business analysts could provide. But
as businesses began moving at a faster pace, business analysis fell by the wayside. Factors such as the economic
downturn and regulatory compliance have forced companies to take a step back and to think through business
problems and their solutions, and business analysis is making a comeback, as a result. Kathleen Barret, presi-
dent of the International Institute of Business Analysis says the discipline is a phoenix rising.

The IIBA describes the job of a BA as a “liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze, communicate, and
validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies, and information systems.” IT pros are good can-
didates for BA jobs because they have a broad perspective of a company’s business, says Barret. There are three
types of BAs: enterprise BAs who identify opportunities for business change and defines the work to be done;
transition BAs who fine-tunes the plans; and project BAs who work on project teams that implement the changes.
Annual salaries average around $75,000 with enterprise and transition analysts earning more, Barret says.

6. Business Process Improvement

With project management and business analysis skills appearing in this skills list, it’s no surprise that business
process improvement skill is also here. Business process improvement and business analysis go hand-in-hand.
Business analysts identify areas for improvements to business processes, while business process improvement or
management pros use BPM techniques and technologies to help companies optimize their business processes.

A recent BPM survey by IT researchers, the Aberdeen Group says the top reasons business are driving BPM activ-
ity are the need to reduce operating costs and to improve cash flow. However, the top barrier to adoption was
the lack of knowledge about BPM. According to Gartner, among the competencies required for successful BPM
initiatives include process skills, tools and process assets, and transformation skills.

To learn more about BPM, go to the Web site of the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI.org), which
promotes the standardization of common business processes; and the BPMinstitute.org, which describes itself as

a peer-to-peer exchange for business process management professionals.

7. Web Development

If you are—or you know friends who are—addicted to the FarmVille game on Facebook you’ll know the power
of Web development. In just a few short months, FarmVille’s popularity has spread across the globe as Facebook
fans tend to their farms and purchase virtual goods. The game, including others by FarmVille developer Zynga,
has netted the start-up more than 200 million monthly unique users for its online apps. One financial analyst
reckons Zynga could be valued at $1 billion if it were to go IPO in mid-2010.

Developing Facebook games is just one extreme of the vast Web development spectrum. Building iPhone apps
could also be very profitable, writes Web developer and blogger Glen Stansberry. As moderator of the Freelance
Switch job board, Stansberry listed other popular Web development skills including Framework knowledge, wid-
get development, content management system customizations (for small businesses looking to create a unique
look to their standard Wordpress and Drupal blogs), and Javascript Plugin creation.

8. Database Management

Databases are the hearts of key business systems that drive payroll, manufacturing, sales, transaction process-

ing, and more. Programmers must be able to build programs that quickly and efficiently interface with the

database management system (DBMS), while database administrators “must be able to bring the full power of

database features to bear on business problems”, writes Oracle- and IBM-certified DBA Howard Fosdick in his

whitepaper Database Skills Availability: Critical to Your Selection of Database. “DBA expertise can be the Achil-

les’ heel of database projects - many IT projects have failed due to the inability to secure DBA talent or success-

fully address DBA issues,” he adds.

The major database vendors are Oracle, IBM and Sybase. Oracle runs three main certification programs for

database professionals. Oracle Certified Associate is the first rung of the Oracle certification ladder. Next is the

flagship Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) credential, which certifies an individual’s ability to manage, develop,

or implement enterprise-wide databases and other software. Oracle Certified Master (OCM) is Oracle most

advanced accreditation. IBM offers a dizzying array of certifications surrounding its DB2 product series. The main

credentials are IBM Certified Database Associate, Database Administrator, Application Developer, and Advanced

Database Administrator. Sybase has two sets of certifications for its Adaptive Server Enterprise product: ASE

Administrator Associate and ASE Administrator Professional; and ASE Developer Associate and ASE Developer

Professional.

9. Windows Administration

As previously mentioned, Microsoft shops are expected in 2010 to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2 and the
Windows 7 client, and perhaps install Exchange Server 2010 and SharePoint 2010 as well. Windows administra-
tion skills is going to be key for many enterprises implementing and maintaining existing and upgraded systems.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 certifications at the MCTS level cover configurations for Active Directory, net-
working, and applications. Certifications available for the MCITP level are Server 2008 Server Administration,
Enterprise Administration. In a November blog posting in Microsoft’s Born to Learn blog, the company wrote
that the first of its Windows Server 2008 virtualization exams would be entering beta soon. The exams will cover
server virtualization, desktop virtualization, and virtualization administration. Windows 7 pros can certify as
MCTS: Windows 7 – Configuration, and MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7.

10. Desktop Support

Our recent article “Top Certifications in Demand Today” listed desktop support as a hot skill. In Global Knowl-
edge’s 2010 salary survey, it was named as the 10th most sought-after skill this year. In the June article, we
quoted Robert Half Technology Executive Director Dave Willmer as saying that businesses will need desktop sup-
port personnel to support new workers as organizations begin hiring as the economy improves. The introduction
of Microsoft Windows 7 is also expected to generate additional interest.

Microsoft currently provides the MCITP: Consumer Support Technician, and MCITP: Enterprise Support Technician
certifications, but they are based on Windows Vista. Microsoft, in its Born to Learn blog, in November said that
it is working on a MCITP: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Support Technican certification. Prospective candidates
are advised to prepare for 680: Win 7, Configuring and 685: Win 7, EDST.

Solving the Mysteries of Subnetting

2010-08-10T12:19:00.000+05:00

Introduction
Subnetting is a complicated topic that has confused students for a very long time.However,subnetting is an
important topic for many different certifications with various vendors,including Cisco.In the real world envi-
ronment,people are used to just punching in the numbers in many of the free subnet calculators that are
readily available on the internet.For exam purposes,you still have to do this in a very fast manner since many
exams are time-based and you don’t have the luxury of spending those precious minutes on any single ques-
tion. This whitepaper will solve some of those age-old and complicated subnetting puzzles.
Why Do We Subnet?
Why can’t you take the numbers provided by the providers? The answer is simple – because YOU know your
network, your provider doesn’t. Only you know the details such as how many users you would want in each
network.Only you know how many of these networks (sub-networks/broadcast domains) you need.Various
design classes will give you different specs on how big the broadcast domain should be (answer depending on
the application needs you have).We also do subnetting because you might want to create a manageable,
doable,and realistic set of numbers rather than the defaults,which might not work for your needs or could be
overkill.
Note: Each router interface is its own broadcast domain,since routers,by default,terminate broadcasts.Also,
VLAN = broadcast domain since you need a L3 device (router) to interconnect different broadcast
domains/Vlans/subnets.Yes subnets = broadcast domain = vlan.We use these terms interchangeably,but sub-
net is a L3 concept and vlan is a L2 concept.
There are three classes of addresses that we use for unicast (one-to-one communication) purposes in our IPv4
network (32 bit addresses):Class A,Class B,and Class C.There are some default assumptions for each class,
indicating which octets (8 bits) are network and which octets are host. The defaults are:

Class A Network Host Host Host
First 8 bits for net
work; last 24 bits for
host

Class B Network Network Host Host
First 16 bits for net
work;last 16 bits
work;last 16 bits

Class C Network Network Network Host
First 24 bits for net-
work; last 8 bits for host

Since we are working with binary here,we can easily calculate the number of hosts possible in each class of
addresses.
Class A has 24 bits of host possibilities,which comes to 224
-2 number of hosts.This comes to 16,777,214 hosts
in each class A network.
With the Class B address,we have 16 bits of host possibilities.216
-2 = 65,534 hosts in each class B network.
With the Class C address,we have 8 bits of host possibilities.28
-2 = 254 hosts in each class C network.
The reason we subtracted 2 from each of these ranges is that the first and the last number in the range has a
special meaning to the system.The very first number in the range (all bits in binary off) indicates the
network/subnetwork you are on.The last number in the range (all bits in binary ON) indicates the directed
broadcast on that network/subnetwork).
I don’t know of any network that has the capability to support in a flat segment 16,777,214 users with Class A
(or 65,534 hosts for Class B).Since these numbers are not realistic,you need to subnet them,based on your
needs.With class C,you get 254 hosts in each segment,which is possible but can still be subnetted to accom-
modate smaller networks (like point-to-point WAN networks with 2 hosts or other possibilities).
With all subnetting questions,first you have to ask yourself with what class of address you are working.This
always tells you which octets are network octets so you can take it from there and manipulate the host bits
based upon your needs.
Remember your ranges of addresses:
Class A address range is from 1 – 127
Class B address range is from 128 – 191
Class C address range is from 192 – 223
Lets dig in to an example.
Let’s use RFC 1918 Class B address 172.16.0.0.In this scenario we are going to work on this to get eight sub-
nets.(This is a random number I picked,based on eight different VLANs I might want to configure in my net-
work).
The default subnet mask for class B is 255.255.0.0
In binary,the subnet mask is 11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000
Note that there are 16 consecutive zeros, which indicate the number of hosts (as previously discussed).
Remember that we have 65,534 hosts possible,but in ONE big,flat network.We don’t want that for this sce-
nario;we need eight different subnets.So lets do it.
Ask yourself how many bits you need to get 8 subnets.The formula for this is
2n
= # of subnets where n is the number of bits to use for subnets

In this scenario
2n
=8 so using basic math n=3 (three occurrences of 2 to get 8 -> 2x2x2)
Since we said earlier that zeros identify the number of hosts you have (from right to left in the 32-bit subn
mask),the same works for subnets.Subnets are indicated by the number of contiguous ones we have (from
left to right in the 32 bit subnet mask).We just determined that we need 3 bits for this example where we
need six subnets.Remember now that subnets are indicated by contiguous ones from left to right
The subnet mask we had for class B is
11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000
Now that we need to borrow 3 additional bits,let’s write this down.
11111111.11111111.11100000.00000000 (now thirteen bits left for host,indicated by 13 zeroes,so 2
13
-2
would give us 8190 hosts in each subnet).
This gives us 255.255.224.0 for our subnet mask.

Once you determine the mask, you need to write that down in binary. In this case,the number is
255.255.224.0 (we borrowed three bits and determining the subnets you borrow the bits left to right. Subnet
bits are 1s (left to right) and Host bits are 0s (right to left).
255. 255. 224. 0
11111111. 11111111.11100000.00000000
Now,here is a tricky part.After the first subnet (subnet zero),the decimal value of the lowest active bit is your
second subnet (after subnet zero) and then you increment that number by itself until you reach the mask.This
will give you all the subnets.
Let’s see it step by step
Decimal value of the lowest active bit
Active means 1,not active means 0
Remember,the binary place holders for all eight bits in the octet In this example, only the first three bits are on. The decimal values of those bits are 128, 64, and 32; 32 is the
lowest active bit versus 64 or 128.
27
26
25
24
23
22
21
20
123 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

Let’s increment 32 by itself until we get the mask (224)
32-Second subnet
64-Third subnet
96-Fourth subnet
128-Fifth subnet
160-Sixth subnet
192-Seventh subnet
224- Eighth subnet
This just gave us all of our eight subnets (with subnet 0 being the first subnet).
Lets write these numbers down for clarity.
172.16.0.0 ->172.16.31.255 First subnet all possible numbers in the range
172.16.32.0->172.16.63.255Second subnet all possible numbers in the range
172/16.64.0->172.16.95.255Third subnet all possible numbers in the range
172.16.96.0 -> 172.16.127.255 Fourth subnet all possible numbers in the range
172.16.128.0->172.16.159.255Fifth subnet all possible numbers in the range
172.16.160.0->172.16.191.255Sixth subnet all possible numbers in the range
172.16.192.0 -> 172.16.223.255 Seventh subnet all possible numbers in the range
172.16.224.0->172.16.255.255Eighth subnet all possible numbers in the range
Do not forget that when we were calculating the number of hosts,we kept subtracting 2 from our host
range (the first and the last one).The first and the last one have special meanings.The first number in the
range is the subnet itself (the wire that the people are plugged into). The last number is the directed broadcast
for all the hosts on that subnet.
So,the valid list of hosts is every number in the range except for the first and the last number.
For the first subnet,it will be 172.16.0.1 to 172.16.31.254.
For the second subnet,it will be 172.16.32.1 to 172.16.63.254 and so on for all subnets.

Verify Your Work

This is how to verify your work in binary, if you didn’t like the easy “trick” method approach.
How do you verify that the three bits we got will give you eight subnets? If you write down all possibilities of
0s and 1s, you will see that there are only eight possibilities:
000 – First subnet100 – Fifth subnet
001 – Second subnet101 – Sixth subnet
010 – Third subnet 110 – Seventh subnet
011 – Fourth subnet111 – Eighth subnet

Don’t forget that these are all the possibilities with the first three bits we have borrowed.We still have 13 bits

left after using these first three bits (in the third octet so we have five bits in the third octet and 8 bits in the
fourth octet left,which is a total of 13 bits).
If you pick any of the above three bit combinations and write them down twice (lets say we pick 011 for our
example)
172.16.011 __ __ __ __ __.__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
172.16.011 __ __ __ __ __.__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
Now fill in the first one with all zeros in the 13 bits left blank and the next one with ones in the last 13 bits
(remember the first number in the range is all zeros and the last number in the range is all ones.
172.16.011 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 which in decimal is 172.16.96.0
172.16.011 1 1 1 1 1.1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 which in decimal is 172.16.127.255

WOW! This gave us the same set of numbers that we got with our short,trick method.This second verification
method is not bad either,but we were lucky that we only had to write down all possibilities of 0s and 1s of
only three bits.If we had a big number,we will be spending some quality time writing down ones and zeroes,
which we might not appreciate.
This is end of subnetting,but ask yourself one question.Consider the possibility if one of these subnets was
meant for a point-to-point circuit.Remember from our previous discussion that there are only two points in a
point-to-point circuit,so why do we have 13 bits for hosts? With 13 bits left for host (all zeros) we get 8190
hosts per subnet.But this is a point-to-point subnet,and we will NEVER need 8190 addresses.This is a waste
of addresses and not what you would want to do in a properly designed network.This is especially true when
we are complaining that we are running out of IPv4 addresses and are coming up with alternate solutions like
IPv6 to fix the problem of not enough addresses. To solve this problem of point-to-point interface addressing,
we take the subnetting to the next step called VLSM (variable-length subnet masking).What we have done so
far is FLSM (Fixed-length subnetting masking).Since our host needs are not the same across the organization,
we will be doing VLSM all the time,which is not a stretch from the FLSM case study we have done here.

">

12 Things To Know When Troubleshooting Your Network

2010-08-09T15:10:00.000+05:00

Introduction

You work for a small organization where you wear many hats. You are the network admin for PCs and your
routers and switches. Anything that’s broken is YOUR problem and only your fault. So, you walk into your of-
fice one morning, and you hear the phone ringing. You have an irate user on the other end telling you that the
“network is down.” I always love those calls where a user, who has no networking background, tells you that
the network is down without any analysis tools or technical background. After years of working in networking,
you probably know that if the network were really down, then the whole department would probably be calling
you and not just this one same user every morning.

This white paper approaches this situation with some of the common troubleshooting things that, you as a
network administrator, know or maybe should know.

Mental Preparation

The first and foremost concept for troubleshooting is not to panic. It might sound like the simplest thing, but
that is the reason why some new administrators make mistakes. Then, they dig themselves deeper because they
panic. A calm mind can identify the problem and approach the problem with a systematic method. Sometimes,
if you have been working with the problem for a long time, it will not hurt to just walk away from the problem
and look at it after taking a break. You’ll see that there are some very obvious things you missed. I also like the
buddy system. You might want to have someone else look at the problem rather than you seeing or not seeing
the same issue - which was probably staring right at you.

Now, we know that in real life you can’t just walk away from a problem; your management might not appreci-
ate that. You might be losing many millions of dollars while the network is down. I can tell you that in certain
medical environments, you want to fix the problem fast since someone’s life might depend on that piece of
equipment that you are trying to fix.

Systematic Approach

So, let’s visit our caller from the beginning of the paper. We are going with an assumption that this user is
running the most common operating system available out there – some Windows platform. Common mistakes
that new administrators make are that they believe the user and assume that the network is really down. I
would strongly recommend against that. I am not asking you to argue with the user. I would like to check out
the problem on my own.

Physical Layer Verification

One of the first things you should do it to check the cable. Do you have a green light at the back of your ma-

chine? You will find many times that the problem might just be a cabling problem. I have seen, in some rare

cases, that inexperienced users just didn’t have the monitor plugged in so it was just a loose cable. Although, in

my example, it could be the monitor cable, it could also be a network cable that is unplugged.

Network Layer Verification

If I see that the cable is plugged in, then I would ensure that there is an IP address assigned on the system.

Now, with Windows systems, you can go to the command prompt and checking the IP address using the

“ipconfig” command. You want to make sure that you see that the IP address/subnet mask that are assigned

are correct for that segment. Keep in mind that the command to verify your IP address and subnet mask will

vary, depending on the system you are working on. For Windows systems, it’s ipconfig or ipconfig /all for more

detailed information. For Cisco routers, the command show interface will show you the IP address and subnet

mask. So, please, consult your documentation for the systems you are working on.

Interviewing the User

I have had many instances where, after all the work you do, you find out that someone had just moved this

machine to this location from a different office, or floor, or segment, and it still has the IP address/subnet mask

from a different part of the network. Maybe this system has both wired and wireless cards, but the IP address

was incorrectly configured on the wireless card rather than on the wired connection. Maybe it would’ve been

wise to ask the user if something changed in the environment related to machines being moved.

Reviewing the Logs: If You Have Them

I hope that your company has a central change log procedure where all things are documented, and you can

refer to the logs before you even approach the user. Besides the company change logs, I hope you are also using

a central syslog facility that is collecting alerts from various systems in your organization.

You can find many free syslog products on the internet for download.

Knowing Your Company Policy

It is also wise to ask the user the last time they were able to successfully connect to the network from this

machine. I had a user once who kept insisting that the company internet was down so he couldn’t do web

browsing related to his job. After further investigation, we found out that the websites this particular user was

trying to visit were banned by the company and therefore prohibited. It is a very good idea to know your own

company’s security and ethical policies. I would recommend having the disclaimers in writing approved by your senior management.

Isolating the Problem Using Tools

It also makes sense to do a basic ping command to try to get a response to/from different systems on or off

your network. If you can reach the local systems but not the remote systems, then there is a possibility that your default gateway is down, or missing, or configured incorrectly. It is also possible that your default gateway (router) doesn’t know how to route the packets to that particular destination, or maybe it’s possible that your company doesn’t allow ICMP protocol, which is what ping uses. Again, it makes perfect sense to know your company policies.

Sometimes, you can ping the remote systems with their IP address but not with their names. This implies that

there is no name resolution method available to resolve from the name to the IP address.It could also be that

the name resolution method is resolving it to the wrong IP address.

In Windows systems, you can also check to see if your TCP/IP stack is loaded correctly. You can ping the local-host address (127.0.0.1), which can be done at the command prompt. DNS does the translation from the name to IP address. You can see what your DNS is configured for using the ipconfig/all command at the command

prompt.

You can also use the traceroute command (tracert on Windows Systems) to see if you can see where the

packets are failing. You can see a hop by hop packet flow using the tracert command. Tracert command

output is explained in various Microsoft and Cisco courses offered.

Here is a sample partial output of tracert command.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]

C:\Users\dt>tracert 10.0.0.1

Tracing route to test [10.0.0.1]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms . [192.168.2.1]

2 6 ms 7 ms 5 ms 10.58.160.1

3 6 ms 7 ms 7 ms gig-2-0-nycmnyu-rtr2.nyc.rr.com

[24.29.98.189]

…….…….

Have an Up-To-Date Network Diagram (Not an

Outdated One)

Let’s say you did all those things, and you see that all those things are configured correctly or not prohibited by

your company policy. What should you do next? It’s always good to have a network topology map to consult

to see where this particular system is supposed to be plugged in. If there is nothing wrong on the PC, then the

next logical approach will be to go to the switch where the user is plugged in. In this white paper, we will only

use Cisco Systems routers and switches in our examples.

Checking the Switch

Now that we are on the switch where the user is plugged in, and you have found the port number where the

user is plugged in, let’s see how that particular port is configured. You can use the show run int gi 0/2 com-

mand to see what is currently running for that particular interface (in this example gigabit 0/2 port)

Here is a partial output from the show run int command.

Switch#show running-config int gi0/2

Building configuration...

Current configuration : 85 bytes

interface Gigabit0/2

no ip address

switchport

switchport mode access

…

Switch#

Another thing to check on the port would be to see if the port is in the right VLAN. VLAN is a logical grouping

of ports.

VLAN assignment can be checked on Cisco switches using the Show vlan output.

Here is a partial output from one of the switches showing the ports that are assigned to the two VLANS (namely

VLAN1 and VLAN2). Gigabit 0/2 – Gigabit 0/5 are assigned to VLAN1 and Gigabit 0/6 – Gigabit 0/12 are as-

signed to VLAN2).

Another thing to check on the port would be to see if the port is in the right VLAN. VLAN is a logical grouping

of ports.

VLAN assignment can be checked on Cisco switches using the Show vlan output.

Here is a partial output from one of the switches showing the ports that are assigned to the two VLANS (namely

VLAN1 and VLAN2). Gigabit 0/2 – Gigabit 0/5 are assigned to VLAN1 and Gigabit 0/6 – Gigabit 0/12 are as-

signed to VLAN2).

Switch# show vlan

VLAN Name Status Ports

--------- ----------- ---------- --------------------------------

1 default active Gi0/2, Gi0/3, Gi0/4, Gi0/5

2 VLAN0002 active Gi0/6, Gi0/7, Gi0/8, Gi0/9

Gi0/10, Gi0/11, Gi0/12

…….. ……….

All ports in the same VLAN form a logical grouping called a broadcast domain. Broadcasts stay within these

ports. In our output example, Gi0/2 – Gi0/5 form one broadcast domain, and ports Gi0/6 – Gi0/12 forms the

other broadcast domain. All systems plugged in the same VLAN should have same subnet IP address.

(It’s very important to have a very solid understanding of how subnetting works.

This is also a typical problem in most environments.

Now that you have verifed that the VLAN assignment is correct on the switch, you might want to ensure that

there are no other restrictions on the switch port, such as port-security restricting that port to be used for

only certain MAC addresses. Typically, in organizations, it is common to see that companies implement MAC

address-based security and then move machines around. Perhaps the port is still only allowing the old machine

and not this new system. Remember, this could be a new machine assigned to the same user, or it could be

that particular cubicle was used by someone else and now this is the new user. Remember, both of these things

could’ve been answered with a good conversation with the user or maybe looking at the log fle we discussed in

the beginning. Let’s say we verifed that the router is plugged in, and you are now connected to the router. Does the router

have a path to the destination where this particular person is trying to go? Does the router know how to route

to that destination? You can always use the show ip route command to see if the routes exist to the destina-

tion. However, in bigger environments, this might be very cumbersome since you might have hundreds or even

thousands of routes.

Here is a sample output of show ip route, looking only for 10.0.0.1 destination. As you can see, you have

a route to that destination. In advanced routing classes, you learn what the other fun parameters mean. The

Global Knowledge BSCI class covers this in great detail.

Router# show ip route 10.0.0.1

Routing entry for 10.0.0.1/32

Known via “isis”, distance 115, metric 20, type level-1

Redistributing via isis

Last update from 10.191.255.251 on Fddi1/0, 00:00:13 ago

Routing Descriptor Blocks:

* 10.22.22.2, from 10.191.255.247, via Serial2/3

Route metric is 20, traffc share count is 1

……..………

Now that you know that you have a route to that destination, you can try pinging the destination. Remember,

just because you have a path to some destination, that doesn’t mean that the remote site has connectivity with

you. How do you know that there is a return path available? If both of these sites are in your offces, then

you can ping from the remote site. Also remember, it could be that your company doesn’t allow ping (or entire

ICMP protocol). Have you considered using something other than ping? You might try to do a telnet or even FTP

to the remote site? If the remote site is running the Telnet or the FTP daemon, then you will succeed. If they are

not running that, then maybe you need to fnd some other test application.

Most people think that since they couldn’t get in the remote site using Telnet or FTP, it means a failure. As long

as you even get a prompt for a password, that is a success. You don’t have to be connected. Getting the dialog

box for password is a success.

If the user is trying to talk to systems that are outside of its broadcast domain, then there has to be a device

that will take you outside this grouping of ports (VLANs). How do we go out of our room? Well, that’s simple,

we just use the door. So, what is the equivalent of the door in the networking world? Your router is the door

that takes you outside of your local network segment.

Checking the Router

Let’s visit the router. Is your router up? Do you see the lights? Again, the same basic question is whether it is

powered up. The port on the router that you are using as your default gateway for the PC should be plugged

into the same VLAN.

MySpace and Facebook: How Racist Language Frames Social Media (and Why You Should Care)

2010-08-09T12:26:00.000+05:00

Every time I dare to talk about race or class and MySpace & Facebook in the same breath, a public explosion happens. This is the current state of things. Unfortunately, most folks who enter the fray prefer to reject the notion that race/class shape social media or that social media reflects bigoted attitudes than seriously address what’s at stake. Yet, look around. Twitter is flush with racist language in response to the active participation of blacks on the site. Comments on YouTube expose deep-seated bigotry in uncountable ways. The n-word is everyday vernacular in MMORPGs. In short, racism and classism permeates every genre of social media out there, reflecting the everyday attitudes of people that go well beyond social media. So why can’t we talk about it?

Let me back up and explain the context for this piece … three years ago, I wrote a controversial blog post highlighting the cultural division taking shape. Since then, I’ve worked diligently to try to make sense of what I first observed and ground it in empirical data. In 2009, I built on my analysis in “The Not-So-Hidden Politics of Class Online”, a talk I gave at the Personal Democracy Forum. Slowly, I worked to write an academic article called “White Flight in Networked Publics? How Race and Class Shaped American Teen Engagement with MySpace and Facebook” (to be published in a book called Digital Race Anthology, edited by Lisa Nakamura and Peter Chow-White). I published a draft of this article on my website in December. Then, on July 14, Christoper Mims posted a guest blog post at Technology Review entitled “Did Whites Flee the ‘Digital Ghetto’ of MySpace?” using my article as his hook. I’m not sure why Mims wrote this piece now or why he didn’t contact me, but so it goes.

Mims’ blog post prompted a new wave of discussion about whether or not there’s a race-based (or class-based) division between MySpace and Facebook today. My article does not address this topic. My article is a discussion of a phenomenon that happened from 2006-2007 using data collected during that period. The point of my article is not to discuss whether or not there was a division — quantitative data shows this better. My goal was to analyze American teenagers’ language when talking about Facebook and MySpace. The argument that I make is that the language used by teens has racialized overtones that harken back to the language used around “white flight.” In other words, what American teens are reflecting in their discussion of MySpace and Facebook shows just how deeply racial narratives are embedded in everyday life.

So, can we please dial the needle forward? Regardless of whether or not there’s still a race and class-based division in the U.S. between MySpace and Facebook, the language that people use to describe MySpace is still deeply racist and classist. Hell, we see that in the comments of every blog post that describes my analysis. And I’m sure we’ll get some here, since online forums somehow invite people to unapologetically make racist comments that they would never say aloud. And as much as those make me shudder, they’re also a reminder that the civil rights movement has a long way to go.

Race and class shape contemporary life in fundamental ways. People of color and the working poor live the experiences of racism and classism, but how this plays out is often not nearly as overt as it was in the 1960s. But that doesn’t mean that it has gone away.

There is still bigotry, and the divisions run deep in the U.S. We often talk about the Internet as the great equalizer, the space where we can be free of all of the weights of inequality. And yet, what we find online is often a reproduction of all of the issues present in everyday life. The Internet does not magically heal old wounds or repair broken bonds between people. More often, it shows just how deep those wounds go and how structurally broken many relationships are.

In this way, the Internet is often a mirror of the ugliest sides of our society, the aspects of our society that we so badly need to address. What the Internet does — for better or worse — is make visible aspects of society that have been delicately swept under the rug and ignored. We could keep on sweeping, or we could take the moment to rise up and develop new strategies for addressing the core issues that we’re seeing. Bigotry doesn’t go away by eliminating only what’s visible. It is eradicated by getting at the core underlying issues. What we’re seeing online allows us to see how much work there’s left to do.

In writing “White Flight in Networked Publics?”, I wanted to expose one aspect of how race and class shape how people see social media. My goal in doing so was to push back at the utopian rhetorics that frame the Internet as a kumbaya movement so that we can focus on addressing the major social issues that exist everywhere and are exposed in new ways via social media. When it comes to eradicating bigotry, I can’t say that I have the answers. But I know that we need to start a conversation. And my hope — from the moment that I first highlighted the divisions taking place in 2007 — is that we can use social media as both a lens into and a platform for discussing cultural inequality.

So how do we get started?

Blogs vs Twitter? It’s the Interactivity

2010-07-16T11:11:00.000+05:00

In a post that appeared remarkably soon after my last post in which I noted that I am easier to find on Twitter than on Online Fandom these days, Rob Walker of Murketing and Buying In fame, expressed “Nostalgia for Blogs” and lamented:

I checked the Twitter feed and it was, of course, far less substantial than the blog had been. In fact I didn’t seen a single tweet of interest, whereas this person’s earlier blog posts had been, with some regularity, worth a look. If I don’t “follow” this person, I miss the possibility of some future interesting tweet — at least a link I would have missed, something.On the other hand, if I do follow, I clearly have to wade through a bunch of garbage. The signal-to-noise ratio will clearly be way worse than it had been on the now-dying blog. I’m interested in this person’s thinking — but I’m not that interested.

I wouldn’t want to presume he’s talking about me*, but either way, I’ve got some thoughts.

I agree with him that blogs are (sometimes) more substantial and I think reports of the death of blogs due to Twitter and Facebook are wrong. For me blogging has been a great way to collect and share thoughts on a particular issue, to collect ideas for future longer projects, and to create a public persona as an expert with something to say about the topics I know a lot about. I like to think the blog has been useful to people I wouldn’t otherwise get to communicate with. I’ve come into contact with many people, especially those on the ground addressing the issues I write about here, through this blog. Blogging has been and I hope it will continue to be great. It also takes a lot of time to get a post to what I want it to be before I post it.

But that said, I think Walker’s characterization misses the point on a few scores.

1) Twitter isn’t a substitute for blogging. Some people may choose to Twitter instead of blogging, but I wouldn’t assume that anyone has that kind of either/or relationship. A tweet is not meant to accomplish what a blog post is meant to accomplish. Neither’s killing the other, they aren’t in competition anymore than, oh, say writing books vs. writing a blog.

2) People like Twitterers’ minutia. In my case, though we’re not talking big numbers either way, more people follow me on Twitter than subscribe to this blog. One man’s garbage is another’s treasure, or entertainment, I guess. People — even smart thoughtful ones — actually LIKE the mix of links, random thoughts, and bits of daily life. They LIKE watching the person, not the topic. I know I do. I find Twitterers who stick to posts about their one professional interest boring. Other people love them, and more power to them. I don’t. IMHO, that’s what blogs are for. If you come to Twitter looking for ideas about a topic, you’re better off watching Twitter trends and searching keywords than following individuals; Twitter usually offers great topical coverage only in the aggregate.

3) Looking at a Twitter feed or profile isn’t the same as following someone on Twitter. People who don’t actually use Twitter think that you have to read all the tweets that are directed specifically @someoneelse. If you follow from within a Twitter account, there’s a setting so you don’t have to watch that banter unless it’s between people you also follow. That changes the signal/noise ratio a lot. Yes, there will still be tweets you don’t care about, but let’s be honest, can you name a single blogger who posts only posts you find interesting? I sure can’t.

4) Twitter is about banter. That banter is the best part. I’ve written this blog for a few years and I’ve talked to lots of bloggers. Getting people to post comments is hard. Getting conversation going is harder. The majority of things I write here get no response at all. On Twitter I don’t get responses to everything I say, but I sure get a lot more fast feedback than I do here. It’s also a lot easier to make a quick response to someone else — much more so than commenting on a blog post, especially if, like me, you read your blogs through an RSS reader. That back and forth makes me want to keep participating in Twitter. In comparison, blogging feels like a solitary endevour.

5) Twitter is temporal and cumulative. I made this mistake myself; it’s not until some time after you’ve decided to take Twitter seriously and made it part of the ritual of daily life that you really get it. If you check out someone’s feed, you can get a sense of whether they’re interesting to you, but it’s not until you live with someone’s tweets day in and day out that you know whether the rhythms and content of their messages are going to be rewarding or not. It’s not like a blog where you can read all the archives and get pretty much the full effect. On Twitter, it’s what happens interactively amongst the twitterers over the long haul in real time that makes it interesting.

6) Twitter is a great site for language play. The 140 character limit is a fun challenge for wordsmiths, and those who do it well are joys to read. As a genre, insamuch as it is a genre, the language of Twitter is just way more fun than the language of blogs.

7) Ugh. Can we just quit judging every new mode of communication that comes along and finding it wanting in comparison to the last one? Haven’t we been doing that for millenia? Don’t we always look back later and feel kind of silly?

Don’t like Twitter? Don’t use it! Disappointed someone’s blogging less? Encourage them to keep on blogging by letting them know how much you appreciate the volunteer work they do through blogging. But don’t be disappointed because people don’t twitter how you want them to blog. That just doesn’t make sense.

Windows 2008 Server as a Workstation

2010-07-12T11:29:00.000+05:00

Introduction

I recently set myself the goal of creating a Server 2008-based laptop that I could use either as a normal business
laptop or as a server platform for testing out Hyper-V. Several questions loomed.

   • Would Server 2008 x64 support most of my (Dell Latitude D830) laptop hardware? and Would Dell’s 64-
   bit Vista drivers work fine with Server 2008?

   • Could the machine be made responsive enough to act as a viable workstation, even though the OS was
   designed for a server?

   • Could the machine act as a reasonable facsimile of a Vista box for teaching and demo purposes?

   • Would the system run my various day-to-day applications with acceptable speed and reliability?

In this white paper, I’ll go through some of the hoops I had to jump through and come up with some answers
to the above questions - answers that may be useful for those of you who are interested in walking down the
same path with your laptop (or desktop). Overall, the experiment has been a success, with one big caveat for
laptop users who install the Hyper-V role.

Issue #1: Hardware and Drivers

The first big question was this: Were there going to be driver problems? One of the distinguishing characteristics
of 64-bit Server 2008 editions is that the universe of hardware drivers is limited to signed drivers. (You can boot
x64 Server 2008 with unsigned drivers via a “safe mode” option at boot time, but who wants to go through that routine every single startup?) So, I dutifully made a list of the machine’s drivers and hardware model numbers from Device Manager in the system’s original Windows XP operating system.
The good news here was that after a vanilla install of Server 2008 Enterprise Edition, most of the Latitude’s
drivers were up and running. There were only two that the installer didn’t recognize: the wireless driver and the sound driver. My theory was that the Vista x64 drivers that Dell publishes on its website should work, due to Vista and Server 2008 having essentially the same kernel and architecture. However, after a few years in this business, you get leery of making too many assumptions.

I was glad to find that the sound driver (which I’d downloaded beforehand using the XP incarnation of the
laptop) seemed to install just fine, and it actually worked, too, at least after I went to the Services console (see Figure 1) and set the two sound-related services to start automatically (“Windows Audio” and “Windows Audio Endpoint Builder”). One down, one to go. The wireless driver installed, but it immediately failed with a fatal error (APPCRASH) that repeated about, oh, once every second. The light bulb moment was that Server 2008 doesn’t activate the wireless service by default: you have to install “Wireless LAN Service” as a “feature” in Server Manager. After that, and a reboot, the wire- less adapter was happy, and there was no yellow in Device Manager (which in Server 2008 appears in the Server Manager console under the Diagnostics category).

The answer to question 1, at least in my case, was a qualifed “yes.” Issue #2: Viability as a Workstation Servers from Microsoft have all kinds of settings that make sense for servers but that may not make sense for workstations, so the next question to answer was: Could this Server 2008 operating system be optimized so that it would be fast enough for day-to-day workstation use? There were a few settings that needed attention here, but the frst and most important was the default al- location of CPU horsepower to background services and processes rather than foreground ones. In the System control panel, click the “Advanced system settings” link in the task pane at left; in the “Performance” area, click

the Settings button; click the “Advanced” tab of the Performance Options dialog box. There’s a setting named “Adjust for best performance of:” which you need to change from “Background services” to “Programs” (see Figure 2). The next setting that needed attention was the IE Enhanced Security Confguration, which the Server 2008 prod- uct defaults to, but which makes browsing the Web reasonably painful by setting the default Internet zone se- curity level to “high.” It’s easy enough to turn that off in Server Manager. At the Server Summary screen, which you see when Server Manager frst starts, scroll down to the Security Information area and click the link labeled “Confgure IE ESC.” Deselect the enhanced security mode for both administrators and non-administrators (see Figure 3), and IE7 is now functional for a workstation user.

While on the subject of Internet Explorer, it’s interesting to note that the Start menu entry for IE actually points to the 32-bit version of the program. The 64-bit version of IE presents occasional-to-frequent compatibility is- sues that, apparently, Microsoft was aware enough of to make it a non-default choice. Then there was the “shutdown event tracker,” a useful feature for servers (which are rarely shut down) but an annoyance for workstation use, for which, until someone invents a tiny nuclear laptop power source, shut- downs occur very frequently. No problem here, just fre up the good old Group Policy editor (run GPEDIT.MSC) and navigate to Computer Confguration, Administrative Templates, System, and disable the Display Shutdown Event Tracker policy (see Figure 4). Now you can shut your system down without the OS demanding to know the reason. When it comes to power options, the news is not good for Hyper-V users. As soon as you install the Hyper-V role you lose the ability to make your computer sleep or hibernate. That may not a big issue for everyone, I suppose, but for laptops it’s a defnite drawback – and even for towers or rack systems, not all servers are necessarily required to be awake 24/7.

Surely Microsoft could have fgured out a way to address this issue, such as simply warning the user if he or she tries to put the host to sleep when there are virtual machines running. Would that have been so hard? We’re all supposed to be trying to use less energy, right? One demerit for Server 2008 and Hyper-V. Another workstation-viability point to address is that of Offine Files (the new name of “Offine Files and Fold- ers”). On my previous Vista laptop, I made a few folders on my offce network “available offine” so that they’d be cached on the laptop, and I could synchronize folders before and after a trip. Server 2008 didn’t show me the usual “Always Available Offine” context menu option for a network share, so I found it in the Services console and activated it, prompting an error that “The system could not fnd the fle specifed.” I enabled Offine Files in the Offine Files control panel, which is probably what I should have done in the frst place. After a restart, Of- fine Files seemed to work just as it does in Vista – I did some synchronizing just to be sure (yes, the Sync Center is present in the GUI), and didn’t notice any problems.

Issue #3: Can Server 2008 Look Like Vista?
Because I often teach classes about Vista in which Vista runs in a virtual machine, where you can’t see the AERO interface, I like to use my laptop to demo certain Vista AERO features, such as live thumbnails, Flip3D, and so forth. So it was relevant to ask whether Server 2008 could put forward a reasonable facsimile of the Vista GUI.
The frst thing you must do is to install the Windows Desktop Experience, which the Server Manager console categorizes as a “feature” (see Figure 5). The descriptive text for the feature warns you that although installing it will put the binaries in the right place, you have to manually turn on the features, which seems sort of silly. Why would anyone install this software unless they wanted to turn it on? However, I followed the directions, got the binaries installed, rebooted (is it just me, or do you have to reboot Server 2008 a lot more than Server 2003?), and then went to the Display control panel (oops, I mean “Personal- ize,” which is a good example of Microsoft renaming something badly and for no good reason).

Alas, no Vista theme seemed to be present. A visit to the Services control panel and changing the startup type for the Themes service fxed that. Then another visit to the Personalize control panel and wallah, there was the AERO theme. Transparent window borders: check. Live thumbnails: check. Flip 3d: check. Sidebar seemed to be missing in action, but I could live with that; besides, there’s probably some tweaky way to get it running, if I ever get desperate. The Mobility Center seemed gone, as well, but again, it’s something I never use, so I didn’t sweat it. Application compatibility looks very good indeed. Just about all the apps that I need to run, whether available in a 64-bit version or in a 32-bit version, seem to work just fne. This includes Offce 2007, Open Offce (which is one of those products that if it were only maybe 5% better, I would be tempted to make my daily workhorse), and even a smattering of third-party apps written for earlier versions of Windows (I’m talking about programs like Agent Ransack and UnLocker, both of which, by the way, are highly recommended).

Issue #4: Speed and Reliability
Overall I’d rate the issue of speed and reliability as a conditional win for Server 2008 compared with Vista. I haven’t done any formal benchmarking, but even running the AERO interface, Server 2008 feels faster than Vista on the same hardware. It doesn’t seem plagued by the same bizarre delays that Vista encounters when doing things like copying large fles or enumerating a network share. Yes, installing roles via Server Manager is slower than one might like, especially considering the frequent re- quired reboots; but that’s not a daily task. The daily tasks, by and large, feel crisp and responsive. Overall reliability seems good so far, but with asterisks. Server 2008 has defnitely done some strange, and potentially dangerous, things. For example, when I connected a perfectly good (and data-flled) USB fash drive, Server 2008 tells me I need to format it before I could use it, and do I want to format it now (NOOO!). There’s a potential nightmare scenario – recommend that a user format a perfectly fne data storage volume! I haven’t seen that behavior from a Vista machine, although I can’t rule it out.

The operating system also had a terrible time getting the RTM version of Hyper-V role installed, doing some signifcant damage to my NTFS fle system in the process. You should defnitely back up your system before in- stalling Hyper-V; it doesn’t install as smoothly as most of the other Server 2008 roles, plus it took about half an hour, including the required reboots. In fairness, I should note that when I performed a “sidegrade” (an upgrade to the same version of the OS in order to repair the fle corruption), several weeks later, Hyper-V installed that time with no complaints. My fnal asterisk is that the Hyper-V role seems to slow down the base operating system a smidgen. I recently removed the Hyper-V role for a few days and I noticed that the OS felt a little faster to me. It certainly booted and shut down faster. Again, I haven’t formally benchmarked the change, but it was noticeable.

Conclusion
Server 2008 isn’t just for servers. It’s a solid workstation product that makes for a nice demo machine and coin- cidentally gives you a platform (on the 64-bit version) for running Hyper-V. If you want to run Hyper-V, though, you give up the ability to hibernate your machine or put it into sleep mode, which as a road warrior I’ve found to be a signifcant limitation. Hyper-V also slightly slows down your startup and shutdown sequences. As is so often the case with Microsoft operating systems, you can never quite get exactly what you want. How- ever, I’m glad that I now have a mobile system that I can use to demo both Vista (at least, 95% of it) and Server 2008.

Facebook Office

2010-07-07T20:44:00.000+05:00

About Facebook:

Facebook, Inc. is a company that operates and privately owns social networking website, Facebook. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region. The website’s name stems from the colloquial name of books given at the start of the academic year by university administrations with the intention of helping students to get to know each other better.
Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes while he was a student at Harvard University. The website’s membership was initially limited to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It later expanded further to include any university student, then high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. The website currently has more than 350 million active users worldwide.

So what is your choice? I already made up my mind but I won’t tell you mine :)

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Working or Googling

2010-07-07T19:52:00.000+05:00

Google Inc. is an American public corporation specializing in Internet search. It also generates profits from advertising bought on its similarly free-to-user e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking and video-sharing services. Advert-free versions are available via paid subscription. Google has more recently developed an open source web browser and a mobile phone operating system. Its headquarters, often referred to as the Googleplex, is located in Mountain View, California. As of March 31, 2009 the company had 19,786 full-time employees. It runs thousands of servers across the world, processing millions of search requests each day and about one petabyte of user-generated data each hour.

Little bit about Google Inc and their working environment. Thats why they lead the world.

Why, despite myself, I am not leaving Facebook. Yet.

2010-06-24T15:12:00.000+05:00

As my Facebook friends and Twitter followers know, like many others I’m angry at Facebook. I haven’t written a blog post about it because so many others have been making most of my points so eloquently (forgive me for not linking to them). But I relent, and here it is anyway, in the form of responses to the criticisms of criticism that I keep hearing:

(1) Twitter’s public, where’s the rage against Twitter?

Here’s the difference, and it’s a big one: When I signed up for Twitter, like everyone else who signed up for a public Twitter account, I knew it was public. There was an easy box to click: private or public? It said right there that if I chose private my tweets wouldn’t appear in the public timeline. Now there may be some users who didn’t infer that if they picked public, their tweets would appear in that timeline, but Twitter was always above board from the start that a public twitter account meant decontextualized public display and searchability of your tweets. That has never changed. Some whom I really respect are upset with the Library of Congress archiving tweets, but I view the Library of Congress as a very different entity from the unknown agencies to whom Facebook sells our data and don’t think a tit-for-tat comparison makes sense.

When I signed up for Facebook in early 2006, it boasted of its strong privacy, of my ability to control who saw what. I used it as a place to share things I didn’t want publicly searchable. Now I’ve been teaching about the internet long enough to know not to post things anywhere that I don’t want in the newspaper, but it nonetheless felt like a safe place to target messages toward a known audience rather than the hundreds of strangers who follow me on Twitter.

And then they changed the rules. Regularly. Repeatedly. And every time they did it required more research to understand what they’d done and more unclicking to preserve the premises they’d offered when I signed up. I was President of The Association of Internet Researchers, I read articles about Facebook every day, I check my settings regularly, and I still can’t keep up and I still get confused.

Facebook has engaged in a bait and switch. They promised privacy, they encouraged us to invest our data in it and build connections on that premise, and then, when we had built networks that really mattered to us, they changed the rules. Which brings me to…

(2) If you think it’s so evil, just leave.

Don’t think I don’t think about it. Every day. I look with admiration and envy on my friends who have left. I’ve also watched sadly as several have returned. And I note above all that very few of my friends, who by nature of our professional connections are probably more attuned to these issues than most, have left. I don’t like supporting Facebook at all. But I do.

And here is why: they provide a platform through which I gain real value. I actually like the people I went to school with. I know that even if I write down all their email addresses, we are not going to stay in touch and recapture the recreated community we’ve built on Facebook. I like my colleagues who work elsewhere, and I know that we have mailing lists and Twitter, but I also know that without Facebook I won’t be in touch with their daily lives as I’ve been these last few years. I like the people I’ve met briefly or hope I’ll meet soon, and I know that Facebook remains our best way to keep in touch without the effort we would probably not take of engaging in sustained one-to-one communication.

I know that I don’t NEED these little interactions but I also know that I like them very much and that my daily life would be less fun without them. The rewards of Facebook are concrete and immediate. The costs are abstract and ideological. When I try to balance the two, the rewards win, but that is because of my friends and despite Facebook. It is not evidence that Facebook is acting appropriately. Telling people with complaints to leave ignores the very real value of the networks they have built and what should be their right to continue those networks on the grounds on which they were built.

(3) Facebook needs to make money.

I agree. Facebook should make money. But I have yet to hear a convincing case that their strategy of itemizing every bit of data we give them, repackaging it into groups of people into that thing or into profiles they can sell for advertising purposes is the best way to do this. I haven’t heard compelling arguments that it is the only way to do this. What I hear is “Facebook needs to make money. Facebook thinks they can make money this way. Ergo, this is the way Facebook can make money.” You know, I’d gladly pay a subscriber fee to opt out of being data mined, though I wouldn’t propose it as a sole solution since it would mean privacy is only for people who can afford it. It is sad that such creative minds can only think of one business model. Where’s the innovation?

(4) If you don’t want it shared, don’t share it.

Setting aside the assumptions of privilege that this claim entails (like the legitimate safety of marginalized and oppressed people who should have a right to affiliate though social networking sites without fear of being identified as dissidents, GLBT, etc), ‘if you don’t want to share it, don’t post it’ completely misses the point. The willingness to disclose all our data to marketers should not be required to socialize. Imagine if AT&T said “we’re going to track all your calls and all your networks and we’re going to store keywords you mention and personal connections in your profile we’ll sell to others so we can insert ads before and after your phone calls. And if your friend calls from another carrier, we’ll share that data with their carrier too.” People would be mortified, legislators would snap to attention, and most users would probably switch carriers. But there is no other Facebook. We can’t switch carriers. We can only give up what we have now and go back to what we had before. You might say, “but you pay for AT&T” which brings me back to #3: Paying for Facebook with money is not an option.

So for now I’ve decided I am better off fighting the system from within. I AdBlock the ads, I have removed almost all my connections. My info is nearly empty. My settings are as locked down as I can figure out how to make them. Like many of my friends, my contributions to the site are increasingly pithy. Most of my posts these days serve to inform my friends who are not obsessed with the ethics of Facebook about what bad behaviors they’re up to this week. Using Facebook with the rules I signed on for makes me a subversive user. That’s wrong.

What I want is a Facebook that is premised on a belief that first and foremost human relationships are valuable and sacred, not the ground on which money trees grow, but that if the value of relationships is genuinely nurtured, there will be ways to earn money.

I want a Facebook that really believes that people have a right to select how their information will be shared, instead of a belief that they’re too dumb to figure it out if the settings are too confusing so it’s okay to dupe them.

I want a Facebook that can find creative ways to make a profit using the rules they originally set for their own game.

I want an ethical Facebook.

That shouldn’t be too much to ask.

22 Ways to Adjust Privacy Settings In Facebook

2010-06-24T12:19:00.000+05:00

Keep Facebook safe by changing your Privacy

Uncovered for you are 22 privacy settings you can change to keep your private information safe when networking on Facebook. When you join a site like Facebook you take the chance of letting your private information run wild. By adjusting your privacy settings you'll find that the Internet can be a safe, and very fun, place.

You're able to change your personal profile information privacy settings, photo and video privacy settings, keep your personal information secure, and decide who can contact you or see your profile and who can't. Start adjusting your Facebook privacy settings by going tothe privacy settings page in your Facebook account page. Now you're ready to start making your privacy settings more, or less, secure.

Profile, Privacy Settings
Go to: Privacy -> Profile -> Basic

Adjust who can see your profile information. You have four choices; My Networks and Friends, Friends of Friends, Only Friends, or you can create customized settings. The parts of your profile you can change privacy settings for here are:

Profile
Basic Info
Personal Info
Status Updates
Photos Tagged of You
Videos Tagged of You
Friends
Wall
Education Info
Work Info

Photos, Privacy Settings
Go to: Privacy -> Profile -> Basic -> Edit Photo Albums Privacy Settings

Edit privacy settings for each photo you have on your Facebook profile individually. Every single photo can have it's privacy settings changed separately. Choose to have everyone see your photo, only networks and friends, friends of friends, only friends or you can customize your privacy settings for each photo.

Personal Information, Privacy Settings
Go to: Privacy -> Profile -> Contact Information

Adjust who can see your more personal information. You may want to go change this one right now. These are things like:

IM Screen Name
Mobile Phone Number
Other Phone Number
Current Address
Your Website
Your Email Addresses

Searching For You, Privacy Settings
Go to: Privacy -> Search

These privacy settings will determine who can search for you and find you on Facebook. If you leave the choice at "anyone" then everyone can find you on Facebook. You can even choose to have your Facebook profile entered into search engines if you really want to be found.

Contact Information, Privacy Settings
Go to: Privacy -> Search

When you want your Facebook profile to be private then you need to change some of these privacy settings. They determine what someone can see when they come across your Facebook profile, but are not yet your friends. They also make it so non-friends can contact you, or make is so they can't. These are the privacy settings you have under contact information:

See Your Picture
Send You a Message
Add You As a Friend
View Your Friend List

Seeing a Twitter #Hashtag Spread

2010-06-24T11:46:00.000+05:00

#CheeringForTheYankeesIsLike is a hashtag created by @mattsly the morning of October 26th. He submitted the following snarky message – ‘Go Phillies. #CheeringForTheYankeesIsLike hoping investment bankers get really huge bonuses of at least 8 figures‘ – hoping to entertain his friends, and possibly get others to participate. Matt had 182 followers at the time, not sizeable by any means on Twitter. Little did he expect that some 9 hours later, 271 different users, most of whom have no connection to him whatsoever, would participate, posting around 500 messages in total.

How did this happen and what prompted this message to spread?

#CheeringForTheYankeesIsLike

About an hour after Matt sent out his first message, one of his followers, @lizzieohreally, wrote the following message ‘@jaketapper? @abcdude? …Hoping someone w/ more Twitter than I can help popularize #CheeringForTheYankeesIsLike (via @mattsly)‘. Lizzie clearly understood that in order to get many others to play, she would have to get someone with a large set of followers to participate. Lizzie had only around 500 followers at the time, so posted this message in an attempt to seek @jaketapper or @abcdude’s attention.

Sure thing, some twenty minutes later, @abcdude see’s the message and adds his own variation to the meme: ‘#cheeringfortheyankeesislike pulling for Regina George in “Mean Girls.”‘ He enjoys it so much that he promptly posts another message and attaches the hashtag. @abcdude is a new york based correspondent for ABC news. He dubs himself a RedSox fan and a cosmic power broker. Not as cosmic as Lizzie had hoped, but still, he has some 7,000 followers, which could certainly help give the meme some traction. We see a small spike after @abcdude’s participation, and by now, some 3 hours after Matt sent the original message, there have been 34 different messages posted with this unique hashtag.

But it wasn’t until @jaketapper joined in that the conversation really took off. The hashtag came to Jake’s attention after @DetourJazz, whom he follows, participated. Jake reacted by posting: ’RT @DetourJazz: #cheeringfortheyankeesislike rooting for “Craterface” in Grease to beat Danny (via @Laura_Martin)’. He then added a new message that he posted to his followers. Jake is a senior White House correspondent for ABC news with over 30,000 followers. Before he took part in this meme, new posts appeared at a frequency of one every 5 minutes. Immediately after he joined, we see a sharp rise in participation, with multiple messages from a variety of users every minute.

Seeing it Spread

1. Graphing the Network – Every user who participated in the meme is represented by a gray circle (Matt, whom first started the meme, is shown in yellow). Edges represents the person who most likely influenced the other to first participate.

2. Seeing the Flow – in this applet, a user is represented by their twitter icon. As the timeline moves forward, each profile lights up when they post a new message with the hashtag. Tthe moment that @jaketapper chose to participate is evident – there’s a clear, sudden spike in participation after his profile picture lights up.

3. Seeing the distance – the following applet highlights the total social distance that this hashtag traveled between users. Each user is represented by a circle, the more influence a user has, the larger their circle is drawn. Edges in this example represent the social ties – when there’s a follower/friend relationship between two users, a line is placed between their representation on the screen. The first column includes only Matt who first used the hashtag. The second row consists of only those people he directly influenced to participate (his followers). While there are a total of 9 columns, it is crystal clear that the most important phase happened in the second and third column, when a core cluster of users chose to participate, and a mini tipping point was reached.

Parsing the Data

#CheeringForTheYankeesIsLike lasted for a total of 9 hours that day, activated 271 different users and included around 500 messages in total. From looking at this meme, it is clear that on Twitter, there’s great advantage to having many followers if one intends to spread a message. It is also clear that having the right followers is key. If it were not for @lizzieohreally who knew to actively pass the message onwards to heavy Twitter users, the meme would never have spread out the way it did. In order to come to these conclusions it was necessary for me to look at social ties in addition to the semantics of the messages posted.

I used the Twitter API to discover the follower/friend relationships between all users who participated in this meme. This is extremely important data, especially when modeling the flow of participation and influence within this hashtag. For example, lets look at a simple case where user B follows user A. If user A first participates and is followed by user B participating, user A is rewarded some number of influence points – this is assuming user B saw the hashtag posted by user A, and decided to participate. Additionally, if a user is retweeted or ‘@’ messaged they are rewarded some number of influence points. Real life situations can easily become complicated, as user B might also be following user C, who participated in the meme as well. Now how do we know if user B was influenced by user A or user C? Hard to tell, but we can build an influence model that takes these situations into account, which is exactly what I did.

Translating the semantics and social ties from the dataset into a visual language that made sense was key to helping me understand this hashtag experiment. I am a big fan of visualization as a means to parse large datasets, however dealing with social, implicit data is tricky, and extremely challenging to represent visually. But when done right, these representations can shine a whole new light and hopefully help us better understand some of the dynamics at play.

[tags] design, interactive, processing, twitter, visualization | [/tags]

Facebook Diss|Like: Designing Digital Warning Signs

2010-06-23T15:51:00.000+05:00

Like many friends, I have been horrified to see Facebook take aggressive measures to make as much of its content publically available. Since its shift in privacy defaults last December, Facebook has been working diligently to take away our privacy in an attempt to ‘colonize’ the web’s social graph (as Kara Swisher suggests). It is now ridiculously easy for any website to embed Facebook functionality, and thus personalize its experience per visiting user. Truth is, I am torn; torn between hating Facebook as a user and excited for the opportunity as a web entrepreneur; mostly excited at the prospect of creating compelling, contextualized socially-rich user experiences. And as much as I despise Facebook, I will not delete my account.

I am sure I’m not the only one who feels this way, since ceasing to exist on Facebook so will drastically reduce my ability to communicate with many friends. And this gets to the crux of the challenge: are we so addicted to Facebook that we can’t tell whats good for us anymore? Is Facebook an Evil? Are they trying to Monopolize the social web? All of the above??

Last December, Facebook broke the social “contract” that we all signed up for by changing its privacy defaults. It switched the context right under our noses, prompting some 65% of users to go public without even knowing it. Many users still have no clue how visible their profile information and photos are (we all know how unintuitive FB privacy controls are). While this is totally unacceptable behavior and places some users in potentially risky situations, I can’t help but also look at the flip side. Facebook is on its way to becoming the first truly global social network platform that has potential to fundamentally change the way we experience the web. By placing social information in context and not in a single, aggregated feed, Facebook might actually succeed at creating some fantastically useful socially-aware and personalized browsing experiences. All that simply traded for our privacy!
Well, not so simple.

Some think that it is possible to bring the demise of Facebook by creating applications that will scare users; creepy apps that know way too much about you. While this might make headlines, it is unlikely that such an approach will prove to be successful in the long term. As a society, we’ve become so hooked on Facebook, that we are willing to take potential future risks in return for current socializing. And realistically, unless I were a hormone-fluctuating, socially uncomfortable teen, what content could your app possibly surface that is so detrimental to my life?

Raul Pacheco hits the spot when he writes that Facebook’s actions are ‘not enough for us to care’:

There has been a lot of debate online about how Facebook keeps making it more difficult for users to keep their privacy. My question to everyone is — if Facebook is that “evil,” why are we all still using it? Why not be completely democratic and demonstrate (with our vote, e.g. with our not having a Facebook account) that this loss of privacy is unacceptable?
The answer is — because not enough of us care. If the millions of users of Facebook really cared that much about their privacy, they would make the Big Brother/Sister accountable. But in a society that is valuing privacy less and less, accountability has become an afterthought and not mainstream. Sadly, that also means that we have lost the power of protecting our privacy to commercial interests.

I wouldn’t say that Facebook users don’t care about privacy. I just think that many don’t care enough to be obsessing and worrying about potential future risks. Even if one recognizes a slightly riskee photo or comment, it is tempting to just leave online, as the fun of social interaction trumps the thought about potential future uncomfort. While these types of actions most likely don’t affect users in the near term, there are two things that we should be aware of: (1) the consequences of our actions onto others, and (2) the long term implications of sharing our data.

This is where User Experience Design can play a significant role, as we are facing an extremely difficult design challenge. We need to create a visual language that helps users understand these potential risks taken by making content visible. Not unlike the automobile association in West London who set the first warning signs on roads in 1908, or the cigarette manufacturers who were mandated to highlight the medical issues correlated with smoking, we need to figure out best practices to display potential risks without scaring users away. We need to design digital warning signs that keep attracting people’s attention and not fade into the background. We should be aware of our privacy controls at all times – perhaps by placing icons of just how many people can see an item before it is submitted.

I shouldn’t have to dive into complicated settings that give the fiction of privacy control but don’t — since they’re so hard to understand that they’re ignored. I shouldn’t need a flowchart to understand what friends of friends of friends can share with others. Things should be naturally clear and easy for me . . .

Would you like to see your dad, teacher and ex-girlfriend’s icons next to an item before submitting it? Probably not.
Is there a system that can helps us visualize the audience to which we are writing? That’s something users don’t want to see, and thus a challenging design problem.

There is a growing need for applications that help us understand our personal online brand: how we are portrayed online, and what potential risks we face. What’s the equivalent of an anti-virus application, that instead of protecting our computer, protects our online persona? We need something that can warn us when a risky action was taken online (either by us or our within our social network).

Facebook’s new APIs makes is super easy for web developers to build on top of its social graph. Almost too easy. By embedding widgets in the form of like buttons and status update boxes, websites can easily personalize their views according to you. For a growing number of services, this is done without even requiring users to login. For example, on likebutton.me you will see your Facebook friend’s activities from a variety of websites, as long as have previously logged into Facebook. A central listing of what my friends recommend, separated by topics. Creepy, but potentially useful.

The same type of connection happens with both yelp and pandora. At first feels creepy, yet as an experience, potentially something we may get used to, or even like.

Here are two examples where things can get out of hand:
(1) There are Facebook “community pages” that automatically add any status updates that include the page keyword. From CIA and FBI to Terrorism, they’ve got it all, with your name and thoughts right there, thanks to your inability to understand their privacy defaults! As a user, without even knowing it, your name is automatically associated with a community that algorithmically formed around a used keyword.

(2) It is dead simple to create Evil “Like” Buttons – by hacking the button to point to another page. Again, adding the risk that our usernames would be associated with something we are not aware of.

As a User Experience designer my task is to think about users first, place them in the center of my design, protect them, respect their needs, and help them accomplish whatever they come to do in the best possibly way. However, Informing users of privacy hazards is a difficult design challenge, one that Facebook obviously doesn’t want to handle. As web entrepreneurs, should we be leveraging this powerful yet scary technology that Facebook has enabled?
If so, how do we warn our users without scaring them away? How do we show users what they don’t really want to see or deal with? How can we warn of risks that only affect the far future?

We should also ask ourselves if regulation is needed. And if so, what would it look like and how it might further complicate the matter?

IOS Tips and Tricks

2010-06-21T19:36:00.000+05:00

Introduction

There are some helpful things we can do with Cisco’s IOS to make our lives easier. I will present
some useful commands, followed (in parentheses) by their most concise shortcuts (at the time of this writing).

But we begin, please note that nothing requires you to use the briefest shortcuts. For example, many people
shortcut the command configure terminal as conf term, config t, or config term. You can find the
shortcuts you like, and use them. Remember that when shortcutting commands, you can only shortcut the key-
words, not the variables (such as names or IP addresses). Finally, don’t forget that you can use the “Tab” key to
complete keywords (but not variables, of course).

Also note that although this white paper is illustrating these commands on a router, they also work on the IOS-
based switches. With these basics in mind, let’s move on to some ways to streamline our work environment.

User versus Privileged Mode

As you may know, when interacting with IOS from the command line interface (CLI), there are two main EXEC
modes, user and privileged (the latter is also referred to as enabled mode). In user mode, you can do
limited examination of the device (via show commands), and the prompt appears as the device’s hostname
(Router in this example) followed by the greater-than (>) symbol:

• Router>

In contrast with user mode, in privileged mode you can see everything the device is capable of displaying
(via show commands), access the various configuration modes, and execute the copy and debug commands,
among others. To access privileged mode, use the command enable:

• Router>enable (“en”)

• Router#

As you can see, when in privileged mode, the hostname is followed by the pound sign (#). If necessary, you can
move from privileged mode back to user mode with the disable command:

• Router#disable (“disa”)

• Router>

You can enter global configuration mode from privileged mode:

• Router#configure terminal (“conf t”)

• Router(config)#

Hostname Lookup

By default, if you mistype a command, the router will attempt to resolve it as a hostname via DNS. This will ulti-
mately fail if there is no DNS server available, but it will take time (behind the scenes it makes twelve attempts).
To speed things up, you can tell the device not to bother, like this:

• Router(config)#no ip domain-lookup (“no ip domain-lo”)

Speaking of name-to-address resolution, you can manually build a host table that allows you to use the IP utili-
ties (ping, trace, telnet, etc) by host name:

• Router(config)#ip host Big_Switch 1.2.3.4

• Router(config)#ip host SmallSwitch 10.20.30.40

• Router(config)#ip host TFTP-Server 100.200.50.150

Once you’ve created it, you can display the host table:

• Router#show host (“s ho”)

Console Messages & Terminal Commands

When various events occur, the device will display informational messages on the console. If you’re annoyed by
these console messages, you can shut them off:

• Router(config)#no logging console (“no logg con”)

Unfortunately, if you disable console logging, you won’t receive any more of those very informative console
messages! Nor will you see any debug output, even if debugs are running. I suggest that a better way is to leave
the console logging enabled (logg con), and synchronize the console output with your typing, like this:

• Router(config-line)#logging synchronous (“logg s”)

Now if a console message appears while you are typing, it will display the message, and then re-display your
input right where you left off, so that you can keep typing. It’s the best of both worlds.

In a lab environment, it’s sometimes handy to disable the inactivity timeout for the console line (the default set- ting is ten minutes):

• Router(config)#line console 0 (“lin c 0”)

• Router(config-line)#exec-timeout 0 (“exec-t 0”)
It also works for the aux and vty lines. You can also use no exec-timeout, but be careful not to shortcut it to
no exec, which shuts off the EXEC process, preventing future logins via the line. I made this mistake once, so I
don’t recommend it.

Aside from saving a router or switch configuration to NVRAM, it’s always a good idea to have a backup copy of your current configuration in a separate location in case the device bursts into flame and needs to be replaced.
You can do this with copy run tftp (or similar), but this requires a file server.

Another way is to do a show run, and capture the output to a file. The problem is that as the config is dis-
played, it will give the “more” prompt every 24 lines (by default). You can disable the “more” function like this:

• Router#terminal length 0 (“ter l 0”)

Now you can do the show run (or whatever) and obtain a continuous output stream. When you’re done with
the capture, don’t forget to reset the terminal length to enable the “more” function:

• Router#terminal length 24 (“ter l 24”)

And speaking of termina commands, remember that to see console messages and debug output in a vty ses-
sion (telnet or SSH) or the aux port, you have to specifically request it from within the session:

• Router#terminal monitor (“ter mon”)

Debugs

While we’re on the subject of debugs, you can display a list of all of the debugs that are currently running:

• Router#show debugging (“s deb”)

And you can disable all of the running debugs with:

• Router#no debug all (“no deb all”)

To save a few keystrokes, you can also do it like this:

• Router#undebug all (“u all”)

Config Commands

To see the startup config (stored in NVRAM):

• New#show startup-config (“s start”)
• Old#show config (“s conf”)
Note that show config does not display the running config, it displays the startup config. To erase the startup
config:

• New#erase startup-config (“erase start”)

• Old#write erase (“wr er”)

To display the running config (also referred to as the active or current config):

• New#show running-config (“s run”)

• Old#write terminal (“wr t”)

To save the running config to NVRAM:

• New#copy running-config startup-config (“copy run start”)

• Old#write memory (“wr”, you don’t need the “mem”)

Although Cisco no longer officially endorses the old commands (due to confusion over what “show config”
does), you might see “old-timers” using them, especially “wr”. Why type fourteen or so keystrokes (“copy run
start”) when two (“wr”) will do?

Speaking of configurations, to display only the lines of the running config that contain a specific alphanumeric
string (such as “rip”), “pipe” it into “include”:

• Router#show run | include rip (“s run | in rip”)

The pipe (redirect) symbol (which looks like a vertical bar) is often found as a shifted backslash, above the
Enter key. To display the section of the running config that begins with a specific alphanumeric string (for
example, “ospf”), pipe it into begin:

• Router#show run | begin ospf (“s run | beg ospf”)

Among other options, you can also do an exclude (show all lines that do not include the string). Use the ques-
tion mark to see the other options:

• Router#s run | ?

• Router#s start | ?

Note that the include, begin and exclude options are case-sensitive. To display the section of the running
config for a specific interface or subinterface, you could pipe it into begin, but you have to identify the interface
exactly as it appears in the config:
• Router#s run | beg FastEthernet0/0

The problem with this is that you can’t shortcut the interface type (for example, “fa”), and the search string is
case-sensitive. A slicker way to display the interface-specific config info is:

• Router#s run int fa0/0

When you use this option, it’s not case-sensitive, and you don’t have to bother with the pipe. Although you can
shortcut it, you do have to be precise when specifying the interface identifier. For example, if you want to display
the Serial 1/2.345 subinterface config, this will work:

• Router#s run int s1/2.345

But this will not:

• Router#s run int s1/2.3

As always, no shortcutting of variables! These options also work when viewing the startup config. And
speaking of show start, you can also display the startup config with line numbers, which can sometimes be
handy when reviewing or discussing it:

• Router#s start linenum (“s star li”)

As with show run, you can use the question mark with show start to see any other available options:

• Router#s run ?

• Router#s star ?

Some IOS features require PKI certificate data, which appears in the running config as a large block of nonsense
text. To bypass the PKI certificate data when displaying the running config, use the brief option:

• Router#s run brief

Remember, when the output of any show command displays –More– at the bottom, you have several options:

• To see the next line, hit the Enter key

• To see the next screen, hit the spacebar

• To return to the CLI prompt, hit any other alphanumeric key

Keyword “Do” Commands

With recent versions of IOS you can execute privileged mode commands from the various config modes by
prefacing the command with the keyword do. Here are some examples:

• Router(config)#do show running-config (displays the running config)

• Router(config-if)#do sh start (displays the startup config)

• Router(config-line)#do copy run start (saves the running config to NVRAM)

• Router(config-ext-nacl)#do wr (also saves the running config to NVRAM)

• Router(config-subif)#do ping 1.2.3.4

• Router(config-router)#do trace 10.20.30.40

Unfortunately, once you’ve gotten into the habit of typing do to the point where you can’t type a command
without it, you’ll find that if you try to use it from user or privileged mode, it doesn’t work:

• Router>do show interface (this doesn’t work)

• Router#do sh run (neither does this)

• Router#do wr (nor this)

Changing Interfaces

On a related topic, you can move from a subordinate config mode, such as config-if or config-router, to
global config mode (GCM) with the exit command:

• Router(config-if)#exit

• Router(config)#

In other words, exit took us one level up. You can also move from a subordinate mode to GCM by executing
any GCM command. Note how this moves us to GCM, executes the command, and leaves us in GCM:

• RouterA(config-router)#hostname RouterB

• RouterB(config)#

You can also jump from one subordinate config mode to another:

• Router(config-if)#router rip

• Router(config-router)#

Note that if you jump from one interface to another, the prompt doesn’t change, but you’re wherever you last
told the router to be:

• Router(config)#int fa0/0 (places us into interface config mode for fa0/0)

• Router(config-if)#shutdown (shuts down fa0/0)

• Router(config-if)#int s1/1 (moves us to serial 1/1)
• Router(config-if)#shut (shuts down serial 1/1)

Since the prompt does not indicate which interface you’re configuring, if at any time you’re not sure where you
are, execute the commands necessary to put yourself back where you need to be. This applies to routing proto-
cols, as well, for which the prompts all appear as config-router:

• Router(config)#router rip (places us into router config mode for RIP)

• Router(config-router)#version 2 (selects RIP v2)

• Router(config-router)#router ospf 1 (moves to OSPF process 1)

• Router(config-router)#router-id 1.2.3.4 (configures router ID for OSPF 1)

Tab Key Completion

Online help and tab-key completion for a command are only available at the native prompt for that command.
For example, this will display the available IP routing protocols:

• Router(config)#router ?

But this will not:

• Router(config-if)#router ?

Likewise, this will display the interface types:

• Router(config)#int ?

But you can’t display the interface types from within interface config mode:

• Router(config-if)#int ?

The tab key will work here, displaying interface as the complete keyword:

• Router(config)#int

But not here:

• Router(config-router)#int

Reloads & Restarts

To get a router to begin using the new IOS after an upgrade, you either have to power-cycle it or execute the
privileged mode reload (software restart) command:

• Router#reload

Let’s imagine that we’ve established a Telnet (or SSH) session to a router for some remote-control configuration.
What if we make a mistake that not only terminates our session, but also prevents us from reconnecting, such
as a misconfigured access list? The result could be a CLE (Career-Limiting Event).

To prevent this, we connect to the router, instruct it to perform a reload in five or ten minutes, then make the changes to the config. Assuming that all goes well, we save the config, and cancel the reload. If, on the other
hand, all does not go well (and we cut ourselves off), the scheduled reload will occur. After the router reboots, it
will come up with the old config, allowing us to reconnect and try again.

You can schedule reloads for the future by using the in option. For example, to reload five minutes from now:

• Router#reload in 5
You can also reload at a certain time and date with the at option. For example, to reload on August 31 at 1:00 am:

• Router#reload at 1:00 31 august

To display a reload scheduled via the in or at options:

• Router>show reload (“s rel”)

When there is one minute remaining before the scheduled shutdown, the system will display messages to all ac-
tive lines (console, aux, and vty). The system will also display a message just prior to the reload, but at that point
it’s too late to stop the reload from occurring.

To cancel a scheduled reload:

• Router#reload cancel (“rel can”)

You should see a message confirming that the shutdown was aborted. Make sure that you see this message,
because if you mistyped the “cancel” command, the reload clock is still running. Note that you can view a
scheduled reload from user mode, but you must be in privileged mode to schedule or cancel a reload.

Traceroute

Every programmer thinks that his or her way of doing things is the best way, but I often wish that they would
make a little more effort to be consistent. A case in point is the Traceroute command, which exploits the TTL
field in the IP header to determine the routers traversed on the way to a specified destination. Like UNIX, the
Cisco IOS implementation of Traceroute uses UDP with high port numbers, whereas Microsoft’s implementation
uses ICMP Echo Requests (“Pings”). The result of this is that a trace from a Cisco machine may make it through
firewalls and router access lists, while a trace from a Microsoft machine may not, or vice-versa.

Another difference is that Cisco’s command is traceroute (which can be shortcut as trace or even tr) and Micro-
soft’s command is tracert, which can’t be shortcut at all. What makes this really annoying is that Cisco’s trace-
route (or trace or tr) and the like don’t work on a Microsoft machine, and Microsoft’s tracert doesn’t work on
Cisco. This means that if you work in a mixed Cisco/Microsoft environment (as lots of us do), you have to think
about which machine you’re on every time you do a trace.

Cisco has given us a way around this, though … the alias. What we can do is set up an alias on the Cisco, so
that typing the Microsoft tracert command on a Cisco machine will invoke the Cisco traceroute. First, create the alias:

• Router(config)#alias exec tracert traceroute

Now, whenever the router (or switch) sees the string tracert from an Exec prompt (that is, user or privileged
mode), it substitutes the string traceroute in its place. You can now execute the tracert from user or privileged
mode:
• Router>tracert 1.2.3.4

From privileged mode you can also invoke the extended tracert, which like extended ping, will prompt you for
additional information. Granted, we’ve just “dumbed-down” Cisco IOS to the Microsoft level with regard to
trace, but at least now tracert will work on both platforms. The other option, as mentioned before, is to just use
tra on a Cisco and tracert with Windows.

By the way, if you work in a Microsoft environment, don’t forget about the Windows pathping command
which is similar to Cisco’s extended trace, but using ICMP echoes, of course. Try this on a Windows machine:

• C:\WinXP>pathping /?

Alias

The alias feature of IOS can be used for other things. For example, if you make frequent use of the show ip
ospf neighbor detail command, you might have discovered that you can shortcut it, like this:

• Router#s ip o n de

Or, you could set up an alias, such as siond, from global config mode:

• Router(config)#alias exec siond show ip ospf neighbor detail

Now you can use siond (or whatever you set up) in place of the full-blown command, including any options,
such as:

• Router#siond fa0/0

To display what a particular alias represents:

• Router#siond? (with no space between the alias and the question mark)

To display all existing aliases:

• Router#s alias

And, of course, to delete an alias, precede it with “no” in global config mode:

• Router(config)#no alias exec siond show ip ospf neighbor detail

Summary

These are just a few ways that IOS commands can help streamline your work, and give you more insight to your system. Note that the shortcuts shown here are not necessarily the most concise possible. Use the question mark option to find shortcuts that you like, and use them.

IOS Tips and Tricks

2010-06-21T13:46:00.000+05:00

Introduction

There are some helpful things we can do with Cisco’s IOS to make our lives easier. This white paper will present
some useful commands, followed (in parentheses) by their most concise shortcuts (at the time of this writing).

But we begin, please note that nothing requires you to use the briefest shortcuts. For example, many people
shortcut the command configure terminal as conf term, config t, or config term. You can find the
shortcuts you like, and use them. Remember that when shortcutting commands, you can only shortcut the key-
words, not the variables (such as names or IP addresses). Finally, don’t forget that you can use the “Tab” key to
complete keywords (but not variables, of course).

Also note that although this white paper is illustrating these commands on a router, they also work on the IOS-
based switches. With these basics in mind, let’s move on to some ways to streamline our work environment.

User versus Privileged Mode

As you may know, when interacting with IOS from the command line interface (CLI), there are two main EXEC
modes, user and privileged (the latter is also referred to as enabled mode). In user mode, you can do
limited examination of the device (via show commands), and the prompt appears as the device’s hostname
(Router in this example) followed by the greater-than (>) symbol:

   • Router>

In contrast with user mode, in privileged mode you can see everything the device is capable of displaying
(via show commands), access the various configuration modes, and execute the copy and debug commands,
among others. To access privileged mode, use the command enable:

   • Router>enable (“en”)

   • Router#

As you can see, when in privileged mode, the hostname is followed by the pound sign (#). If necessary, you can
move from privileged mode back to user mode with the disable command:

   • Router#disable (“disa”)

   • Router>

You can enter global configuration mode from privileged mode:

   • Router#configure terminal (“conf t”)

   • Router(config)#

Hostname Lookup

By default, if you mistype a command, the router will attempt to resolve it as a hostname via DNS. This will ulti-
mately fail if there is no DNS server available, but it will take time (behind the scenes it makes twelve attempts).
To speed things up, you can tell the device not to bother, like this:

   • Router(config)#no ip domain-lookup (“no ip domain-lo”)

Speaking of name-to-address resolution, you can manually build a host table that allows you to use the IP utili-
ties (ping, trace, telnet, etc) by host name:

   • Router(config)#ip host Big_Switch 1.2.3.4

   • Router(config)#ip host SmallSwitch 10.20.30.40

   • Router(config)#ip host TFTP-Server 100.200.50.150

Once you’ve created it, you can display the host table:

   • Router#show host (“s ho”)

Console Messages & Terminal Commands

When various events occur, the device will display informational messages on the console. If you’re annoyed by
these console messages, you can shut them off:

   • Router(config)#no logging console (“no logg con”)

Unfortunately, if you disable console logging, you won’t receive any more of those very informative console
messages! Nor will you see any debug output, even if debugs are running. I suggest that a better way is to leave
the console logging enabled (logg con), and synchronize the console output with your typing, like this:

   • Router(config-line)#logging synchronous (“logg s”)

Now if a console message appears while you are typing, it will display the message, and then re-display your
input right where you left off, so that you can keep typing. It’s the best of both worlds.

In a lab environment, it’s sometimes handy to disable the inactivity timeout for the console line (the default set- ting is ten minutes):

   • Router(config)#line console 0 (“lin c 0”)

   • Router(config-line)#exec-timeout 0 (“exec-t 0”)

It also works for the aux and vty lines. You can also use no exec-timeout, but be careful not to shortcut it to

no exec, which shuts off the EXEC process, preventing future logins via the line. I made this mistake once, so I

don’t recommend it.

Aside from saving a router or switch configuration to NVRAM, it’s always a good idea to have a backup copy of your current configuration in a separate location in case the device bursts into flame and needs to be replaced.

You can do this with copy run tftp (or similar), but this requires a file server.

Another way is to do a show run, and capture the output to a file. The problem is that as the config is dis-

played, it will give the “more” prompt every 24 lines (by default). You can disable the “more” function like this:

• Router#terminal length 0 (“ter l 0”)

Now you can do the show run (or whatever) and obtain a continuous output stream. When you’re done with

the capture, don’t forget to reset the terminal length to enable the “more” function:

• Router#terminal length 24 (“ter l 24”)

And speaking of termina commands, remember that to see console messages and debug output in a vty ses-

sion (telnet or SSH) or the aux port, you have to specifically request it from within the session:

• Router#terminal monitor (“ter mon”)

Debugs

While we’re on the subject of debugs, you can display a list of all of the debugs that are currently running:

• Router#show debugging (“s deb”)

And you can disable all of the running debugs with:

• Router#no debug all (“no deb all”)

To save a few keystrokes, you can also do it like this:

• Router#undebug all (“u all”)

Config Commands

To see the startup config (stored in NVRAM):

• New#show startup-config (“s start”)

• Old#show config (“s conf”)

Note that show config does not display the running config, it displays the startup config. To erase the startup

config:

• New#erase startup-config (“erase start”)

• Old#write erase (“wr er”)

To display the running config (also referred to as the active or current config):

• New#show running-config (“s run”)

• Old#write terminal (“wr t”)

To save the running config to NVRAM:

• New#copy running-config startup-config (“copy run start”)

• Old#write memory (“wr”, you don’t need the “mem”)

Although Cisco no longer officially endorses the old commands (due to confusion over what “show config”

does), you might see “old-timers” using them, especially “wr”. Why type fourteen or so keystrokes (“copy run

start”) when two (“wr”) will do?

Speaking of configurations, to display only the lines of the running config that contain a specific alphanumeric

string (such as “rip”), “pipe” it into “include”:

• Router#show run | include rip (“s run | in rip”)

The pipe (redirect) symbol (which looks like a vertical bar) is often found as a shifted backslash, above the

Enter key. To display the section of the running config that begins with a specific alphanumeric string (for

example, “ospf”), pipe it into begin:

• Router#show run | begin ospf (“s run | beg ospf”)

Among other options, you can also do an exclude (show all lines that do not include the string). Use the ques-

tion mark to see the other options:

• Router#s run | ?

• Router#s start | ?

Note that the include, begin and exclude options are case-sensitive. To display the section of the running

config for a specific interface or subinterface, you could pipe it into begin, but you have to identify the interface

exactly as it appears in the config:

• Router#s run | beg FastEthernet0/0

The problem with this is that you can’t shortcut the interface type (for example, “fa”), and the search string is

case-sensitive. A slicker way to display the interface-specific config info is:

• Router#s run int fa0/0

When you use this option, it’s not case-sensitive, and you don’t have to bother with the pipe. Although you can

shortcut it, you do have to be precise when specifying the interface identifier. For example, if you want to display

the Serial 1/2.345 subinterface config, this will work:

• Router#s run int s1/2.345

But this will not:

• Router#s run int s1/2.3

As always, no shortcutting of variables! These options also work when viewing the startup config. And

speaking of show start, you can also display the startup config with line numbers, which can sometimes be

handy when reviewing or discussing it:

• Router#s start linenum (“s star li”)

As with show run, you can use the question mark with show start to see any other available options:

• Router#s run ?

• Router#s star ?

Some IOS features require PKI certificate data, which appears in the running config as a large block of nonsense

text. To bypass the PKI certificate data when displaying the running config, use the brief option:

• Router#s run brief

Remember, when the output of any show command displays –More– at the bottom, you have several options:

• To see the next line, hit the Enter key

• To see the next screen, hit the spacebar

• To return to the CLI prompt, hit any other alphanumeric key

Keyword “Do” Commands

With recent versions of IOS you can execute privileged mode commands from the various config modes by

prefacing the command with the keyword do. Here are some examples:

• Router(config)#do show running-config (displays the running config)

• Router(config-if)#do sh start (displays the startup config)

• Router(config-line)#do copy run start (saves the running config to NVRAM)

• Router(config-ext-nacl)#do wr (also saves the running config to NVRAM)

• Router(config-subif)#do ping 1.2.3.4

• Router(config-router)#do trace 10.20.30.40

Unfortunately, once you’ve gotten into the habit of typing do to the point where you can’t type a command

without it, you’ll find that if you try to use it from user or privileged mode, it doesn’t work:

• Router>do show interface (this doesn’t work)

• Router#do sh run (neither does this)

• Router#do wr (nor this)

Changing Interfaces

On a related topic, you can move from a subordinate config mode, such as config-if or config-router, to

global config mode (GCM) with the exit command:

• Router(config-if)#exit

• Router(config)#

In other words, exit took us one level up. You can also move from a subordinate mode to GCM by executing

any GCM command. Note how this moves us to GCM, executes the command, and leaves us in GCM:

• RouterA(config-router)#hostname RouterB

• RouterB(config)#

You can also jump from one subordinate config mode to another:

• Router(config-if)#router rip

• Router(config-router)#

Note that if you jump from one interface to another, the prompt doesn’t change, but you’re wherever you last

told the router to be:

• Router(config)#int fa0/0 (places us into interface config mode for fa0/0)

• Router(config-if)#shutdown (shuts down fa0/0)

• Router(config-if)#int s1/1 (moves us to serial 1/1)

• Router(config-if)#shut (shuts down serial 1/1)

Since the prompt does not indicate which interface you’re configuring, if at any time you’re not sure where you

are, execute the commands necessary to put yourself back where you need to be. This applies to routing proto-

cols, as well, for which the prompts all appear as config-router:

• Router(config)#router rip (places us into router config mode for RIP)

• Router(config-router)#version 2 (selects RIP v2)

• Router(config-router)#router ospf 1 (moves to OSPF process 1)

• Router(config-router)#router-id 1.2.3.4 (configures router ID for OSPF 1)

Tab Key Completion

Online help and tab-key completion for a command are only available at the native prompt for that command.

For example, this will display the available IP routing protocols:

• Router(config)#router ?

But this will not:

• Router(config-if)#router ?

Likewise, this will display the interface types:

• Router(config)#int ?

But you can’t display the interface types from within interface config mode:

• Router(config-if)#int ?

The tab key will work here, displaying interface as the complete keyword:

• Router(config)#int

But not here:

• Router(config-router)#int

Reloads & Restarts

To get a router to begin using the new IOS after an upgrade, you either have to power-cycle it or execute the

privileged mode reload (software restart) command:

• Router#reload

Let’s imagine that we’ve established a Telnet (or SSH) session to a router for some remote-control configuration.

What if we make a mistake that not only terminates our session, but also prevents us from reconnecting, such

as a misconfigured access list? The result could be a CLE (Career-Limiting Event).

To prevent this, we connect to the router, instruct it to perform a reload in five or ten minutes, then make the changes to the config. Assuming that all goes well, we save the config, and cancel the reload. If, on the other

hand, all does not go well (and we cut ourselves off), the scheduled reload will occur. After the router reboots, it

will come up with the old config, allowing us to reconnect and try again.

You can schedule reloads for the future by using the in option. For example, to reload five minutes from now:

• Router#reload in 5

You can also reload at a certain time and date with the at option. For example, to reload on August 31 at 1:00 am:

• Router#reload at 1:00 31 august

To display a reload scheduled via the in or at options:

• Router>show reload (“s rel”)

When there is one minute remaining before the scheduled shutdown, the system will display messages to all ac-

tive lines (console, aux, and vty). The system will also display a message just prior to the reload, but at that point

it’s too late to stop the reload from occurring.

To cancel a scheduled reload:

• Router#reload cancel (“rel can”)

You should see a message confirming that the shutdown was aborted. Make sure that you see this message,

because if you mistyped the “cancel” command, the reload clock is still running. Note that you can view a

scheduled reload from user mode, but you must be in privileged mode to schedule or cancel a reload.

Traceroute

Every programmer thinks that his or her way of doing things is the best way, but I often wish that they would

make a little more effort to be consistent. A case in point is the Traceroute command, which exploits the TTL

field in the IP header to determine the routers traversed on the way to a specified destination. Like UNIX, the

Cisco IOS implementation of Traceroute uses UDP with high port numbers, whereas Microsoft’s implementation

uses ICMP Echo Requests (“Pings”). The result of this is that a trace from a Cisco machine may make it through

firewalls and router access lists, while a trace from a Microsoft machine may not, or vice-versa.

Another difference is that Cisco’s command is traceroute (which can be shortcut as trace or even tr) and Micro-

soft’s command is tracert, which can’t be shortcut at all. What makes this really annoying is that Cisco’s trace-

route (or trace or tr) and the like don’t work on a Microsoft machine, and Microsoft’s tracert doesn’t work on

Cisco. This means that if you work in a mixed Cisco/Microsoft environment (as lots of us do), you have to think

about which machine you’re on every time you do a trace.

Cisco has given us a way around this, though … the alias. What we can do is set up an alias on the Cisco, so

that typing the Microsoft tracert command on a Cisco machine will invoke the Cisco traceroute. First, create the alias:

• Router(config)#alias exec tracert traceroute

Now, whenever the router (or switch) sees the string tracert from an Exec prompt (that is, user or privileged

mode), it substitutes the string traceroute in its place. You can now execute the tracert from user or privileged

mode:

• Router>tracert 1.2.3.4

From privileged mode you can also invoke the extended tracert, which like extended ping, will prompt you for

additional information. Granted, we’ve just “dumbed-down” Cisco IOS to the Microsoft level with regard to

trace, but at least now tracert will work on both platforms. The other option, as mentioned before, is to just use

tra on a Cisco and tracert with Windows.

By the way, if you work in a Microsoft environment, don’t forget about the Windows pathping command

which is similar to Cisco’s extended trace, but using ICMP echoes, of course. Try this on a Windows machine:

• C:\WinXP>pathping /?

Alias

The alias feature of IOS can be used for other things. For example, if you make frequent use of the show ip

ospf neighbor detail command, you might have discovered that you can shortcut it, like this:

• Router#s ip o n de

Or, you could set up an alias, such as siond, from global config mode:

• Router(config)#alias exec siond show ip ospf neighbor detail

Now you can use siond (or whatever you set up) in place of the full-blown command, including any options,

such as:

• Router#siond fa0/0

To display what a particular alias represents:

• Router#siond? (with no space between the alias and the question mark)

To display all existing aliases:

• Router#s alias

And, of course, to delete an alias, precede it with “no” in global config mode:

• Router(config)#no alias exec siond show ip ospf neighbor detail

Summary

These are just a few ways that IOS commands can help streamline your work, and give you more insight to your system. Note that the shortcuts shown here are not necessarily the most concise possible. Use the question mark option to find shortcuts that you like, and use them.

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

2010-06-17T10:47:00.000+05:00

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Ten Things You Should Know about Windows 7

2010-06-15T12:38:00.000+05:00

Introduction

We’re all trying to get to know the latest revision of the Longhorn platform, arriving in two different suits of
clothes: Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. In this Microsoft white paper, I toss out ten things that you should
probably know as you get familiar with the latest version of the Windows client.

   1. There Are No Radical Changes

   2. Windows XP Mode Runs Older Apps

   3. IE Compatibility View Makes 8 Work Like 7

   4. Windows Touch Needs Expensive Hardware

   5. Libraries Will Require Training

   6. Backup Is Better

   7. Applets Are Growing Up

   8. Windows 7 Is Huge

   9. The Versions Are Still Confusing

   10. UAC Is Still a Work in Progress

1. There Are No Radical Changes

The first thing you need to know is that Windows 7 does not represent any radical changes compared to its
predecessor Vista. It’s still Longhorn under the hood, just with some new features and some performance-tuned
code for everyday operations. I’ve said before that Windows 7 is what Vista should have been, and nothing I’ve
seen in Windows 7 changes my mind about that.

If you want proof that Windows 7 is basically a spruced-up Vista, open a command prompt. In Vista, you’ll see
a version number like 6.0.. In Windows 7, it’s 6.1.. (See Figure 1) I can’t refrain
from commenting on the bizarre nature of an operating system whose name is “7” but whose version number is
“6.1,” although I’ll leave the interpretation of that symbolism to the reader!

In fact, some of the more useful features of Windows 7 (Windows XP Mode, IE8 Compatibility View) have more
to do with the past than with the present - they enable you to run applications written for XP, and view websites
written for IE7. Thus does the continuing burden of supporting old stuff weigh down Microsoft’s new operating
systems. I’ll bet that sometimes the Microsoft engineers wish they could just start fresh with a clean sheet of
paper. (Actually, I wish they would do exactly that - the desktop metaphor has gotten awfully long in the tooth!
- but I’m not holding my breath.)

2. Windows XP Mode Runs Older Apps

This capability is only available on Ultimate and Professional versions of Windows 7. It combines two download-
able (i.e., not-in-the-Windows-7-box) technologies: Virtual PC, which, frankly, I’m surprised is still around, given
the far-superior performance of Hyper-V, and “Windows XP Mode,” which is much larger (approaching half a
gigabyte).

My suspicion is that after the IE6 fiasco with Vista (ever try running IE6 on Vista? No? Good!), Microsoft decided
that it would be smart to provide a virtual XP system where Windows 7 users can run apps that refuse to run
satisfactorily under Windows 7 natively. I put this in the “last resort” category: if you can’t get an app to run us-
ing the various other tricks (such as the EXE file’s Compatibility tab), then use Windows XP Mode.

It’s not an elegant solution by any stretch of the imagination, because you’re virtualizing an entire XP system
in order to run an application that doesn’t like Windows 7. But sometimes, an approach that works and isn’t
elegant is preferable to not having an approach that works!

To use “Windows XP Mode,” you have to have virtualization support on your computer (we’re talking Intel-VT
on Intel motherboards and AMD-V on AMD ones). This shouldn’t be much of an issue; most systems of recent
vintage will have this capability. You also need gobs more disk space, according to Microsoft.

3. IE Compatibility View Makes 8 Work Like 7

In the same spirit as Windows XP Mode comes IE8 “Compatibility View.” This is a special IE8 mode that inter-
prets Web pages just as IE7 would. By default, IE8 runs in “Standards Mode” for Web addresses. Standards
Mode adheres more closely to published Internet standards - something Microsoft has not always been known
for, frankly!

To the right of the address bar in Internet Explorer is a button with an icon of a torn page on it (!). Pressing the
button when in “Standards Mode” causes IE to activate the Compatibility View and record the setting for reuse
when you revisit that particular domain.

There’s also a list of public websites that you can “opt into” when IE8 is installed. If you do so, these sites will
be viewed in Compatibility View by default.

Visiting intranet locations causes IE8 to default to Compatibility View. However, you can modify the META tag,
or the HTTP header, to force Standards Mode, if that’s what you want. The META tag or HTTP header will win
out over the browser setting, and what’s more, it will cause the Compatibility View icon to vanish for that page.
You can also write inline code in your intranet pages that checks for the User Agent string (IE7 or IE8) and
makes decisions accordingly.

Despite these options, I suspect that it might be easier to configure the IE8 mode via Group Policy if you’re in an
Active Directory environment. The Group Policy settings (see Figure 2) are basically the same options that you
can set in the Compatibility View Settings dialog on the browser’s Tools menu

(see Figure 3)

The bottom line for organizations is that they should test internal and external web pages for IE8 compatibility,
and then make Group Policy settings and/or modify internal web pages accordingly. If the Web pages you use
seem to work fine with IE8 in Standards Mode, then you don’t need to deal with Compatibility View, but it’s nice
to have it there if you need it.

4. Windows Touch Needs Expensive Hardware

Anybody who has used an iPhone has a pretty good idea of what Windows Touch gives you in Windows 7
equipped with a compatible touch-sensitive screen: zoom in by putting down two fingers and spreading them
apart, zoom out by doing the opposite. You can also perform rotation, “right-clicking” and a variety of other
commands with Windows Touch.

Touch screens are undeniably cool, but most IT people I know are skeptics of their appeal for most users. The
smartboard-style touch devices (think John King’s US presidential election coverage on CNN) are great for pre-
sentations, but impractically large for daily computing. On the other end of the size scale, the iPhone is generally
regarded as having a good touch screen, but it doesn’t work well for someone with big fingertips. Microsoft
has changed the sizes of certain buttons and icons in the touch interface to make them more “finger-friendly,”
which moves in the right direction.

If you want to experiment with the touch interface in Windows 7, I highly recommend a “multitouch” computer
display or laptop, because single-touch systems really don’t tap the power of the interface that Microsoft has
built. Unfortunately, at least as of this writing, there aren’t many affordable multitouch systems available. I
suspect that for the near future, and for most businesses running common software, the hoopla about Windows
Touch will prove to be largely irrelevant.

In a couple of years, though, who knows? Mouse technology has not advanced dramatically in recent years -
you still can’t buy a mouse that has a really great, smooth feel, like a Mont Blanc rollerball pen, for example;
and even expensive mice still feel cheap - so maybe we’ll all be using touchscreens once the hardware costs
come down. They’ve got a long way to go though.

5. Libraries Will Require Training

Here is another much-touted feature. The overall concept is that a “library” is a collection of related documents,
which may be scattered about in various different folders. You can think of a library as a set of folders that are
logically related but not necessarily physically related. (For those of you who remember reading about WinFS,
Windows Future Storage, a few years ago, the Windows 7 “library” has some of the same philosophical basis.
It’s also conceptually related to DFS, the Distributed File System.)

The Windows 7 beta testers seemed to be of different minds when it came to the Libraries concept. Some of
them felt that it was a great feature for easily viewing the contents of multiple folders. (The most common
example is simultaneously viewing the user’s own Documents profile folder along with the machine-specific “All
Users” Documents folder.) Others pointed out that it can give rise to some confusion when creating or saving
files. For example, when saving a file, Windows 7 tells you that the Library represents multiple folders - but it
doesn’t show them to you unless you click the Locations link, nor does it give you the opportunity to select
which of those folders you want to create or save your document into, unless you change the default save loca-
tion (see Figure 4).

The only thing that seems certain is that organizations are going to need to do some user education if the Li-
braries feature is to be used successfully. It’s just not intuitive enough for us to be able to assume that users will
understand it without some guidance.

6. Backup Is Better

The venerable NTBACKUP.EXE program went away with Windows Vista, as Microsoft decided that, having a
few programmers on the payroll, perhaps they could write their own decent backup program. They didn’t really
succeed in that goal with the Vista version, which did not offer users the ability to select specific files or folders
to back up.

The Windows 7 version is still not perfect by a long stretch. For example, when first running the Backup tool,
you’re prompted where to save your backup - but you can’t specify a network location unless you’re running
Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise. And the program wants to set up your backups on a schedule, whether
that’s what you need or not.

On the plus side, you can now select individual files or folders to back up (see Figure 5). To be fair, that’s a sig-
nificant improvement, and possibly just enough to make this applet suitable for business use, where its prede-
cessor was not. And this tool seems just as fast as it was under Vista, that is to say, very.

7. Applets Are Growing Up

I don’t know about you, but when setting up home PCs for my kids, it has always seemed a bit silly that the
built-in applets that Microsoft ships with Windows were so brain-dead. I know the company is concerned about
maintaining the profitability of Microsoft Office, but Paint has been an embarrassment for years, and Wordpad
was not much better. It seemed as though the company put all its applet effort into Media Player and all the
other applets were left gasping for air.

I’m glad to report that Windows 7 has given the non-Media Player applets a fresh coat of paint and, in some
cases, a real structural overhaul as well. WordPad has become a perfectly usable word processor for students
and professionals who don’t need fancy features; it even “feels” like the Office 2007 applications in terms of the
user interface. Calculator (see Figure 6) now includes some very practical capabilities, such as unit conversions,
and even features for programmers and statisticians. Paint is no longer a complete embarrassment (although it
still lacks the two capabilities I use most, namely contrast and brightness).




One can debate whether it is the job of an operating system to include useful applets such as these, but if you’re
going to do it, make them usable and useful. Microsoft has done some nice work along these lines, and organi-
zations will want to make sure users know about it, by including some “applet awareness training” as part of
the migration plan.

8. Windows 7 Is Huge

And you thought Vista was a space hog. On the Windows 7 test machine I am using, the OS is using northwards
of 10 GB not counting hibernation and paging files (see Figure 7). The total goes to 17GB on my system, if you
do include those files.

You do get certain benefits from this very large OS. For one
thing, remember the days in Windows XP when you would
want to install an optional component, and the operating
system would ask you to please insert the Windows CD?
That could be a daunting task in many organizations, given
the widespread use of imaging software, and preinstalla-
tion of operating systems by OEMs. You won’t have to worry
about that with Windows 7; pretty much all the bits you’ll
need are sitting on the user’s hard drive (although some
goodies still need to be downloaded from the Net; see the
discussion of Windows XP Mode above, for example.)

Another benefit is that in-place version upgrades don’t
require additional media. Microsoft offers an “Anytime”
upgrade that basically consists of a new product key, which
an individual or business can purchase online. All the neces-
sary bits for the various Windows 7 versions are sitting on
your hard drive after you install any version. (Interestingly,
as of this writing, the Anytime upgrade will work with OEM
versions of Windows 7, too; but individuals and small busi-
nesses still won’t be able to transfer their OEM Windows

7 licenses to different hardware.) Why Microsoft is appar

ently not providing an in-place upgrade to Windows 7 from

Windows XP is a big mystery to me, and one I certainly hope they will correct before the official launch. Lots of
companies like a clean install, but in-place upgrades are very convenient for home and small business users who

may not have the time or expertise to manage an app-and-data migration.

9. The Versions Are Still Confusing

When Vista rolled out, many organizations wrestled with which version they should choose. The differences
between Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions could be confusing and complex. Home users wrestled
with Home Basic versus Home Premium and Ultimate.

Sorry to say it, but that hasn’t changed with Windows 7. Windows journalist Paul Thurrott (on his Windows Su-
persite) has put together an impressive tabular summary of the feature differences between Windows 7 Starter
Edition, but it’s enough to give you a migraine. (Not Paul’s fault, of course!) Corporate IT planners can expect to
spend many long hours debating the pros and cons (and costs) of the different versions, and Apple can dust off
one of its old “Mac vs. PC” television advertisements that featured a spinning wheel of Vista versions.

One bit of good news is that, apparently, companies that do business in Europe will not need to worry about the
“E” versions of Windows 7 (these are the ones that do not come with IE8 built in). Microsoft announced that
they will not be releasing these versions and that Europe will get the same versions as the rest of the world.

10. UAC Is Still a Work in Progress

User Account Control may well have been the most disliked feature of Windows Vista. Microsoft has tried to
make it a bit more usable by providing a slider control (see Figure 8), but providing four settings, of which two
are not recommended, doesn’t really offer much of an improvement.

Microsoft still has not integrated UAC with the command prompt, either. If you run a CMD session and try to
do something administrative, UAC does not prompt for elevation, it simply issues a denial (see Figure 9), with a
spelling error thrown in for free! (OK, this copy is just a Release Candidate, maybe they’ll fix it for RTM.) As with
Vista, if you think you might perform an administrative operation within a CMD session, you must invoke CMD
with the “Run as administrator” context menu option.

Finally, the Group Policy settings for UAC remain virtually unchanged, which falls into the category of Large
Missed Opportunity. Giving administrators a much greater degree of control over this feature would have gone
a long way towards removing administrators’ objections to it. Perhaps that is too much to ask for what is really
a “point upgrade,” but Microsoft is calling Windows 7 a new operating system, so perhaps it is not.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to Windows 7 - as one might expect, in a 17GB operating system! I hope that these ten tidbits will

either get you off to a good start in your evaluation process, or perhaps suggest one or two areas for examina-

tion that you might not have thought about before. Warts and all, it looks like Windows 7 has a much better

chance than Vista did of convincing organizations to upgrade from Windows XP.