10 layers of Linux container security

Jonathan MathewsPublic

Containers provide an easy way to package applications and deliver them seamlessly from development to test to production. This helps ensure consistency across a variety of environments, including physical servers, virtual machines (VMs), or private or public clouds. These benefits are leading organizations to rapidly adopt containers in order to easily develop and manage the applications that add business value. … Read More

Purism exceeds $1 million in funding for Librem 5 Linux-based smartphone

Jonathan MathewsPublic

Consumers don’t care about privacy anymore, right? Wrong — some actually do. True, we are systematically being conditioned to surrender our private information and rights nowadays, but some people are still fighting the good fight. In many ways, both the Linux and open source communities can be seen as the foundations of internet privacy. The most popular mobile operating system on … Read More

Linux Networking Hardware for Beginners: LAN Hardware

Jonathan MathewsPublic

Software is always changing, but hardware not so much. This two-part tour introduces networking hardware, from traditional switches and routers to smartphones and wireless hotspots. Local Area Network The traditional local area network is connected with an Ethernet switch and Cat cables. The basic components of an Ethernetwork are network interface cards (NICs), cables, and switches. NICs and switches have … Read More

Containers and Microservices Spark a Search for Better File Systems

Jonathan MathewsPublic

File systems usually stay low, both at the operating system level and in tech discussions. Red Hat’s recent deprecation of the Btrfs file system from its platform ignited some interest in the role of file systems in containerized environments. As Linux distributions container-based operations microservices, they come across new file-system related challenges. Linux vendors, including Red Hat, SUSE and Canonical, are major players in … Read More

Cloud security and IoT are the new peanut butter and jelly

Jonathan MathewsPublic

For enterprises using cloud services with IoT, it’s critical to adhere to as many security practices as possible. Experts weigh in on the best approaches to take. The Internet of Things (IoT) adds another sticky layer to the question of cloud security. Most organizations think in terms of the devices themselves, rather than the services offered through the cloud, as … Read More

Asterisk 15 Debuts Advancing Open Source Collaboration Technology with Video

Jonathan MathewsPublic

Digium, the lead commercial sponsor behind the Asterisk open source PBX project, announced the release Asterisk 15 on Oct. 3, pushing the 13 year—old effort into the world of video conferencing. Asterisk first had a stable release back in 2004 with the debut of Asterisk 1.0, and was most recently updates in September 2016 with the Asterisk 14 update. Among the key new innovations … Read More

How OpenBSD and Linux Mitigate Security Bugs

Jonathan MathewsPublic

At the upcoming Open Source Summit Europe + ELC Europe 2017, to be held in Prague, Czech Republic, Giovanni Bechis will be delivering a talk focused on tools that help improve software security by blocking unwanted syscalls. Bechis is CEO and DevOps engineer at SNB s.r.l., a hosting provider and develops web applications based on Linux/BSD operating systems that is mainly … Read More

Red Hat Delivers Standardized Platform for SAP Software Environments

Jonathan MathewsPublic

Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced the launch of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP Solutions, an enterprise Linux platform optimized for running SAP software deployments. Building upon Red Hat’s experience in delivering operating systems tailored for SAP software implementations, Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP Solutions provides a smoother path … Read More

Long Term Support Linux gets a longer lease on life

Jonathan MathewsPublic

At Linaro Connect, a mobile Linux conference, Google senior staff engineer Iliyan Malchev announced that the Linux kernel team had agreed to extend Linux’s Long Term Support from two to six years. This is an enormous deal for Androidembedded Linux and Linux Internet of Things (IoT) developers. Why? Malchev explained for Android programmers: “All Android devices out there […] are based of … Read More

Secure Your Container Data With Ephemeral Docker Volumes

Jonathan MathewsPublic

What with all the furor around containers and orchestrators, it can be easy to lose sight of some of their highly useful features. The portability and extensible nature of containers is a modern convenience to be cherished, but from my professional perspective it’s sometimes all too easy to get carried away and pay less attention to security. There’s a lesser-known … Read More

Apple open-sourced the kernel of iOS and macOS for ARM processors

Jonathan MathewsPublic

Apple has always shared the kernel of macOS after each major release. This kernel also runs on iOS devices as both macOS and iOS are built on the same foundation. This year, Apple also shared the most recent version of the kernel on GitHub. And you can also find ARM versions of the kernel for the first time. But first, it’s time for … Read More

Linux Kernel LTS Releases Will Now Get 6 Years Support

Jonathan MathewsPublic

Linux kernel Long Term Support (LTS) releases are “longterm maintenance” releases that currently come with 2 years of support for the purpose backporting bug and security fixes. The usual Linux kernel releases arrive after about every 7-8 weeks. This free and open source kernel serves as the base for most of the devices, including millions of Android and other ARM … Read More

ZorinOS Is a Great Linux Desktop For Any User

Jonathan MathewsPublic

If there is one flavor of Linux that is best suited to help users transition from their current platform to Linux, I would have to go with ZorinOS. This conclusion might surprise a good number of Linux faithful. Why? Unlike most of the distributions claiming to hold sway of the “universal use,” ZorinOS doesn’t opt for the standard fare. Instead, ZorinOS … Read More

SUSE Studio merges with Open Build Service

Jonathan MathewsPublic

When SUSE first introduced SUSE Studio in 2010, it was a radical change. You could build your own Linux distribution without being a Linux expert. Today, we use custom Linux images inside containers, virtual machines (VM), and every cloud worth its name every day. So SUSE is updating SUSE Studio by merging it with its Open Build Service (OBS) to create a better tool for bundling packages … Read More

Network Functions Virtualization: All Roads Lead to OPNFV

Jonathan MathewsPublic

Previously in our discussion of the Understanding OPNFV book, we provided an introduction to network functions virtualization (NFV) and explored the role of OPNFV in network transformation. We continue our series with a look at chapters 4 and 5, which provide a comprehensive description of the various open source NFV projects integrated by OPNFV and the carrier grade features contributed back to these upstream projects … Read More