Data Center Therapy

Welcome back to another episode of Data Center Therapy where the topic this week is all things security related.  With your hosts Matt “You sure you wanna kick that can down the road?” Yette and Matt “The answer is: It Depends!” Cozzolino, the intrepid DCT Duo has a quick and fun but also informative podcast all around Information Technology Security this week.

In this episode, the Matts answer a few white-hot, timely and relevant questions such as:

• Is the sole purpose of SD-WAN to reduce costs by eliminating proprietary networking circuits?
• Is there a way to implement a SIEM without full time engineers manning a security NOC 24x7?
• In a zero-sum budget game, what’s the solution to security issues - endpoint protection, firewalls, multi-factor authentication (MFA), or microsegmentation?

Join us on this fast and light run through the landscape of security technologies, where you’ll get a high-level overview of the technologies and solutions that the Matts work with and prescribe for the folks they help.  As always, the Matts keep it funny and refreshingly frank, so give it a listen and if you like it, be sure to like, share and subscribe wherever finer podcasts are found.  Thanks for listening and stay safe, stay informed, harden those security postures, and we’ll catch you on the next episode of Data Center Therapy!

Welcome back to Data Center Therapy’s second security episode of late summer 2021.  With your hosts Matt “Fragged due to network latency!” Yette and Matt “Raspberry PIs 4 Life!” Cozzolino, the DCT Duo get into the nuts and bolts of how firewalls have evolved over the years (ASA to PIX and well beyond those), and the DCT Duo also discuss how your company’s most critical data can be corralled INSIDE your network with the right set of tools.

In this episode the Matts ask and answer:

• What information can be extracted from seemingly encrypted communications?
• What did the first generation of firewalls not have that modern, next-generation firewalls do?
• What’s the value in implementing outgoing web proxies?

Keep the security party going, give this episode a listen and if you dig it, please like, share, and subscribe wherever finer podcasts are found.  Should you have questions about the security in your networks and applications, do reach out to your IVOXY Account Managers so we engage the right folks in our conversations.  Thanks for listening and stay safe, lock it down when you need to, and stay tuned for yet more totally fresh episodes of Data Center Therapy!

We know, we know, EVERYbody’s talking about ransomware lately.  Given that there’s so many bad actors, and so many easily tricked users, though, how can we not talk about it?  At least talk about a different technical approach to anti-virus and anti-malware software, we say.  Tell us what makes it different and how it can be proactive, and not just reactive like most solutions out there.

Ask and ye shall receive!  Matt “The tinfoil doesn’t seem to be working!” Yette and Matt “I DROPped that packet, didn’t I?” Cozzolino welcome to the virtual studios a very special guest with a highly unique background.  John Nelson, Global Field Solutions Engineer from VMware’s Carbon Black acquisition joins the Matts and shares his experiences.  Were you expecting a Pennsylvania State Police Corporal, or a Computer Forensics specialist for the United States government to join Data Center Therapy for an episode?  Neither were we!

John and the Dynamic DCT Duo talk about:

• When companies talk about Machine Learning with respect to endpoint scanning, what does that REALLY mean?
• How is Carbon Black different than anti-virus or anti-malware scanning software?
• What kinds of bad-guy methodologies are out there to subvert typical scanning strategies, and what kinds of counter-strategies are there to harden or secure endpoints?

This one’s both entertaining and a shockingly deep dive into the somewhat dark, but not-so-mysterious-anymore world of cybersecurity.  Give it a listen and be sure to like, share and subscribe at all the usual doobleydoos.  If you’d like help implementing or learning more about Carbon Black in your virtual infrastructure and more, please reach out to your local IVOXY Account Manager.  Stay safe, stay ahead of the baddies, look into this Neuralyzer, and do join us on our next episode of Data Center Therapy!

Who doesn’t love a good procedural cop show? 

Welcome to a very different episode of your favorite I.T.-themed podcast, Data Center Therapy, where your hosts Matt “Football is Life” Yette and Matt “Now the Hunted becomes the Hunter!” Cozzolino welcome to the virtual studios Doug Abbott, Senior Investigator for Brand Protection at Cisco.  Doug and the Matts talk about many of the different ways Cisco gear can be counterfeited, and they cover topics on this show such as:

• How Cisco counterfeit products are created, “upgraded” or modified and how they’re trafficked, including on the Grey Market.
• What product diversion fraud is, and examples of how it happens.
• How stolen and counterfeit units enter the various markets and how unauthorized resellers play into those scenarios.

With over 13 years of experience in his role at Cisco, Doug shares his thoughts and glimpses of how his team stays vigilant, engaging in the fight against counterfeit gear.  Yette and Cozzolino also share their views on dial-home technologies, how that plays out into the future and how long-term assurances of functioning gear are still important after companies sunset solutions.  Give this shaking-things-up edition a listen for its unique guest and a prescriptive action item on making sure your I.T. gear stays supported and powers your networks and infrastructure for years to come. 

Please be sure to like, share and subscribe wherever quality podcasts can be grokked.  Stay informed, stay genuine, avoid those knockoffs and get ready for another exciting DCT episode in the coming weeks!  Thanks for listening.

After a short summer hiatus, hosts Matt “If you’re from Chicago, fight me!” Yette and Matt “Free Chimenea” Cozzolino return to the virtual Data Center Therapy studios to record another fun and casual podcast about all things Smart Home.  Commenting on Cozzolino’s continued updates to his new-to-him log cabin, our intrepid hosts cover a wide amount of topics such as:

• Core technologies that power automation, such as Node Red, IFTTT (If This Then That), MQTT and Message Brokers, and Home Assistant.
• Z-wave sensors and clever programs to integrate changes in motion, temperature, humidity and luminosity.
• Corded and cordless electric chainsaws - their surprising utility, as well as speculation on motor and battery innovations over the years.
• Ubiquiti products such as UDM Pro, USG and the possible decline in the quality of their solutions.
• And musings on proper pizza (including opinions on both pineapple-on-pizza, as well as deep dish, by Mr. Matt Yette).

You, our valued listeners, also learn the true name of Yoshi from the Mario Series (Therapoda Yoshisaurus Munchakoopas, surely a future discount code for IVOXY classes!) and find out just how flammable old Christmas trees can be.  Blow some steam off, crack open your favorite beverage, give it a listen and have some fun learning about everything BUT datacenter technology on this episode.  

If you like this podcast, please be sure to like, subscribe and share wherever quality podcasts are found.  Thanks for tuning in and as always, stay safe, stay informed, and catch you on our next podcast drop, DCT friends!

For this episode, our intrepid hosts Matt “Southern Upstate New York Accent” Yette and Matt “Running NFSv3 before eligible for Driver’s Ed” Cozzolino welcome vSphere Guru and Senior IVOXY Consultant Shane Bradley back into the virtual studios.  Shane shares where he’s at, what he’s working on, and gives us, the loyal Data Center Therapy listeners, a little preview of what’s coming down the pipe for Shane’s newest class, vSphere 7 Advanced.

Along the way, the Matts and Shane talk about:

• NFSv4, pNFS, and how the changes from NFSv3 can potentially impact their customers and you.
• Best practices and use cases for folks considering large numbers of vSphere Standard Switches (or for the folks with the right license levels, large numbers of vSphere Distributed Switches!).
• How VMware’s Skyline, vSAN, and (now retired) vCloud Air products have changed in the past few years, sometimes for the worse, but mostly for the better.

Yette also gives a quick overview of one of the shows he’s enjoyed in the past, Orphan Black.  Give this episode a listen, it’s short and sweet and will give you a peek into a new class which you, our listeners, can even submit requests in to add material so you can get the most out of the experience when you register for it!

As always, be sure to like, subscribe and rate our podcasts wherever you grab them from.  Be safe, enjoy the summer, we hope things open back up for you, your family and friends and we’ll be here, keeping the lights on, educating everyone, and sharing our empathy and tech tips with all.  Catch you on the next episode!

What is Bitcoin?  What’s Dogecoin (pronounced dohj-coin)?  For that matter, what the heck is cryptocurrency?  What’s it useful for?  Why is the price of it so volatile?

To answer these questions and more, Matt “Mine This!” Yette and Matt “Transactions and…all the things!”  Cozzolino welcome IVOXY Network Consultant Keith Emmanuel to the virtual Data Center Therapy studios this week to break it all down for us.  Keith sheds some light on how he got interested in cryptocurrency, the history and genesis of Bitcoin, and how it works (or the “Layer 1” as Yette likes to describe it!).

To bootstrap our loyal DCT listener’s knowledge, in this overview, Keith talks about:

• Mining and how Bitcoin is created.
• What Block chains and blocks are.
• The economic realities of the finite number of Bitcoins possible, and how macroeconomic Bitcoin trends impact the (fixed) costs of real-world things. 
• What Bitcoins effectively accomplish with respect to certain countries’ (failing) monetary policies.

For those who love to learn more and dive deep, this episode is certainly a great start to your own understanding of cryptocurrencies - so tune on in if you’re ready to get your head twisted and enjoy a technical and intellectual challenge (and something other than the usual datacenter infrastructure chats!).

It is probably worth saying that we are not financial advisers or cryptocurrency experts - so please no cryptocurrency or life altering financial decisions based off today's Data Center Therapy session! 

Stay tuned from the IVOXY crew for more educational opportunities - there will soon be a vSphere 7 Advanced Class, another Horizon class and much, much more.  Stay safe, stay informed, like, share and subscribe as always and we’ll catch up with you soon on the next episode of Data Center Therapy!

Question: When does a 40-minute podcast episode feel like a fun 15-minute chat beside the old water cooler? (Remember when that was still a thing?)  

Answer: When it’s Matt “Lemme tell you something about Android” Yette and Matt “Got YubiKey?” Cozzolino talking about multi-factor authentication!

Our intrepid hosts of Data Center Therapy have a lively and always topical talk about MFA and more in this latest chapter.  You, our welcome listeners, get to hear about:

• How TouchID, FaceID, and biometrics are an important part of the multi-factor authentication story (and if they’re generally proven to be secure).
• How Duo, Okta, Microsoft and Google Authenticator apps as well as password management software tie into enabling better security.
• When a “backup plan” involving printouts, USB keys, or a big heavy safe might be a good idea for a CYA factor.

You’ll also get to hear cringey tales of sticky notes under keyboards, badly designed applications (for banks!) that improperly used two-factor auth, and how back in the day PayPal sent Yette a nifty gadget, now long gone.  Tune in to have some fun, learn a little, and come away from the conversation with a fresh perspective on how to lock things down.

As mentioned in the episode, if you’re interested in attending Matt Cozzolino’s “Introduction to Microsegmentation with NSX-T” class, please be sure to reach out to your IVOXY Account Manager to register for the class before it fills completely up.  If you enjoyed the episode, please be sure to like, subscribe and share wherever finer podcasts are found.  

Be safe, be healthy, subscribe to the “something you have, something you know, and something you are” model of security, and we’ll keep the lights on for you, our loyal DCT friends!  See you next time.

Join Matt “Always carry a Mobile Hotspot” Yette and Matt “Palo Alto ARE my middle Names!” Cozzolino as they welcome Senior Network Consultant and Engineering Manager Mack Nethkin to the virtual Data Center Therapy Studio, to talk about all things Software-Defined Wide Area Network, or SD-WAN it’s come to be known.

Mack and the Matts chat about:

• What the basic recipe of SD-WAN is, and where you’d want to use it in your corporate and datacenter networks.
• How SD-WAN can act as a unified management platform for wide area connectivity, how it can efficiently enable cloud applications.
• Who the players are in the SD-WAN space, such as CloudGenix, Silver Peak, Velocloud and Viptela, and how various acquisitions of the OEMs by other companies affects them.

Mack also shares an “I’ve never seen that before!” about his experience working with SD-WANs in the field.  Note that there’s some audio difficulties with Mack’s studio set up on this episode, but loyal listeners will be rewarded with a great introduction to this new world of high-bandwidth, managed-performance, cloud-enabled 2021-ready networking technologies.

As Yette mentions, drop the promo code PODCASTPODS when you register for Cozzolino’s Introduction to Microsegmentation with NSX-T class and you’ll receive $1,000 off and a pair of AirPods Pros, so register now before the class fills up completely!  And as always, be sure to like, subscribe and share your love for DCT wherever finer podcasts and social media are found.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and securely network (with SD-WAN technology!) DCT friends, and we’ll see you (listening on) our next exciting episode!

In this short but sweet DCT Episode, Matt “Yette never refers to himself in the third person!” Yette and Matt “Every User is an Attack Surface” Cozzolino give a great little introduction to traditional firewalling, microsegmentation, and Zero Trust concepts in the IT world.

Listening to this episode, you’ll get to hear about:

• The history of the security “bastion” mindset, leading to how most enterprises built their network infrastructure.
• What Layer 2 stretch is, what Zero Trust represents, and what microsegmentation comprises and why it’s desirable.
• Why Windows Firewalls (and even Linux firewalls) can “fall down” after a compromise and how microsegmentation at the hypervisor layer can be a better solution.
• How to inspect flows between components of an application with software tools, and how to implement microsegmentation after understanding and analyzing those flows.

As Matt Yette mentions in this podcast, if you register for Matt Cozzolino’s Microsegmentation with NSX-T Virtual Workshop using the promo code PODCASTPODS, you’ll save $1,000 off the class and receive a pair of Apple AirPod Pros as well, so be sure to get in and register before the class fills up! Go to ivoxy.com/micro-segmentation-using-nsxt to learn more and enroll. 

Be sure to like, subscribe and share wherever finer podcasts are found, and be safe, trust nothing, micro-segment like a boss, and tune into the next empathy-filled episode of Data Center Therapy, friends!