This is me having a chat with my friendly neighborhood Co-Pilot.

  

Could you summarize for me please, what's the scoop on this? Did anyone else get an email about device code flow being disabled? Isn't it the main auth method for Azure Kubernetes? I was directed towards these instructions and they do work: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/kubelogin-authentication?tabs=environment-variables&pivots=azure-cli Downside it that I need to run an az login before running my kubectl commands, as opposed to running the kubectl command and being directed towards the device code login for Azure. The az login works with using a device code (although you could force it with the appropriate argument).

Copilot said:

Copilot

Here’s the scoop, Deborah — and you’re definitely not the only one confused.

---

✅ Short Summary (What’s Going On)

Device code flow for AKS is not disabled, but the old “kubectl triggers device code login automatically” behavior has been removed because:

1. The legacy Azure auth provider in kubectl was fully deprecated and removed (Kubernetes 1.26+).
2. AKS now requires the newer kubelogin exec plugin, which does not trigger device-code flow automatically unless the kubeconfig is converted properly.
3. kubelogin ≥ v0.2.0 changed behavior, requiring an az login first in most cases.

You’re seeing exactly what others have hit when their kubelogin / kubeconfig wasn’t updated.

---

✅ Evidence from official sources

1. kubelogin ≥ v0.2.0 requires convert‑kubeconfig

Users reported that device code login seemed “gone” until they ran the required conversion step.
github

2. kubectl’s old built‑in Azure auth plugin only supported device code flow and is now removed

microsoftdev

3. Device code is still supported — it’s just the default mode after convert‑kubeconfig

github

---

🧩 Why you need az login now

With new kubelogin:

• kubectl no longer initiates device code auth directly.
• The recommended auth flow is:

az login
az account set --subscription <sub>
az aks get-credentials --resource-group <rg> --name <cluster> --overwrite-existing
kubelogin convert-kubeconfig -l azurecli
kubectl get pods

That convert-kubeconfig step rewrites your kubeconfig to use the exec plugin, which then uses the Azure CLI credential flow by default — hence the need for an az login.

This design is intentional and aligns AKS with standard client-go exec plugins.

---

🧩 Can you still use Device Code? Yes — here’s how

You can explicitly convert your kubeconfig to device code mode:

kubelogin convert-kubeconfig -l devicecode

Then your kubectl command will again trigger a device-code challenge:

kubectl get pods
# -> "use a browser to open https://microsoft.com/devicelogin and enter the code XXXX"

Device code mode is still supported, just not auto‑magically triggered without the conversion step.
github

---

🚨 Important Gotchas

• kubelogin device code mode fails if your tenant has Conditional Access — use web‑interactive instead.
  github
• The jump from kubelogin 0.1.9 → 0.2.x changed behavior and broke some setups until kubeconfig conversion was done.
  github

---

📝 So in plain terms…

You’re correct:

• Previously: kubectl → triggers device code automatically
• Now: kubectl → uses exec plugin → expects you to be logged in (Azure CLI) unless you configure your kubeconfig to use device code login mode explicitly.

This is because the internal Azure auth plugin is gone and kubelogin requires a more explicit and modern OAuth flow.

This is how to "upload" the certificate by CLI when web GUI doesn't accept it.

 Technical Note: Upload Certificate using PEM forma... - Fortinet Community

Fortinet get your paired devices back in sync

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It's a Kuhlua in your coffee first thing in the morning when you suddenly find your paired Fortinet devices out of sync and the FortigateSDN down and certain dynamic addresses just bling with red exclamation marks. Like what in the world?

Well for one thing, the secondary is still showing green. However, it's not an actual full fail because the Policies with hard-coded IP addresses so traffic is still going through, so it was hard to see right away.

1. Get the FortigateSDN Connector with Azure with the correct secret, check in the GUI.

Use the CLI to check if information about the SDN Connectors is there, though obviously it is.

show full | grep -f FortigateSDN

diag debug enable

diag debug app azd -1

I don't like using the config command just to show, but you can hit end right away

config sys sdn-connector

show full

end

(or edit each item as needed)

 

2. some CLI commands to check the health status.

get system ha status

diag debug console timestamp enable

diag debug application hatalk -1

diag debug application hasync -1

diag sys ha checksum cluster

 

Forcing a sync again maybe

di deb app hasync-1

di deb app hatalk -1

exec ha sync start 

(exec ha sync stop) why?

(dia deb disable) makes it stop writing to the screen

di deb reset

diag sys ha checksum recalculate

3. can look at probes

show sys probe-response

show full-config sys probe-response

show full-conf sys interface 

4. Comparing working flows

diag debug reset

(diag debug enable)

diag debug flow filter dport 8008

diag debug flow show function-name enable

diag debug flow trace start 100

 diag debug enable

Type that one last or you'll have too many things pop up all over the screen!

 

5. here's to get rid of an annoying startup banner

 set gui-firmware-upgrade-warning <enable | disable>

 

 

 

Cisco Enterprise Core Technologies

During the ongoing months of COVID lockdown, and being sent to work from home for most of the week, I decided to gear up on some Cisco training.

I recently completed the Cisco Certified Network Administrator bootcamp course! I'm not sure if I have the intention of actually going through with the certification exam, but why not. However I went straight to the next course on the schedule and it was Cisco Enterprise Core Technologies.  It was the perfect combo because it refreshes and expands the material that was already covered in CCNA and makes things more practical. Of course we had the best instructor ever for both courses, gotta love Patrice and Raj.

I will post some of the links to other great topics we uncovered and also some great screen shots. I call this one, hot tips for fast subnetting and finding your address space. Boom. 4 seconds and no binary required. Can you see it? I will explain this later.

Talk to Your Kids

An important discussion popped up during dinner time conversation; a tough talk that I was hoping to postpone to the future.  That dreadful talk about drugs! Bring it up sooner when they are still willing to listen!  We were able to get the point across but in a humorous and serious way.  We basically flat out said, hey kids don't do drugs. What?

I had already warned them in the past, don't take candies from strangers, and I had used the same example before about not accepting "things that look like candies" from anybody. My kids are still young but not too young to be aware of the dangers; warning them to be strong in the face of a decision point. We talked about how drugs can be addictive, make someone do crazy things, make someone waste all their money, mess up their face, lose their friends and family....

Fast forward to 2020, we've been watching the teen drama, Riverdale. Lots of great conversation starters for important topics - jingle jangle, bootlegging maple rum, off-board gaming, and safe sex.

On a quiet bus ride home this evening from the downtown core, I overheard a conversation between two young men. One guy told his friend that he would like to try Ecstasy, the friend just said, "Don't do it man, it's bad for you, you don't know who you're getting it from or if it's the real thing. If you want to have fun, just have a beer, but don't drink too much..." They chatted some more and the guy had to get off the bus.  I really couldn't help but commend the young friend for counselling his buddy to stay away from drugs. We chatted about things, including the conversation I had with my kids, and how important it is to talk about it, and even be that friend who is strong enough to say no, please don't do it.

Pre-flying Operational Knowledge for the UAV Airman

The first assignment for the third and final course in the Professional UAV Certificate course.

"Pre-flying Operational Knowledge for the UAV Pilot"

 

If you think back to the time you were first learning to ride a bike, the first and most important thing about learning to ride a bike, was in fact, actually riding a bike. The act of balancing while riding in a straight line, turning and for sure, stopping! As well another important thing would be staying safe on the roads, abiding by traffic rules and looking both ways before rushing across the street, and possibly wearing a helmet.

 

One could just read books about bikes, or even complete an online course on riding bikes! While it would be important to understand the physics and mechanics of the bicycle movement, and the understanding the gear chain assembly, and the construction materials of the frame, and knowing all about the top brands, and quoting the specs of the bike itself and other bells and whistles, the most important thing still is actually riding the bike, and operating correctly on a nature trail, or the neighborhood streets or even at the bicycle park with ramps and jumps for fun. Take it a step further, and consider all the requirements for gearing up to ride a bike on the mean city streets along with motor vehicles!

 

The same could be applied to flying UAV in terms of studying background theoretical knowledge vs the practical knowledge of actually flying the UAV in a recreational environment, while completing meaningful tasks and missions and operating in the designated airspaces alongside other UAV and manned airplanes.

 

Step 1. Attain the Basic Knowledge for HOW TO fly a Quadcopter

This is a great tutorial retrieved from an online blogger and drone enthusiast: http://myfirstdrone.com/how-to-fly-a-quadcopter/ (Links to an external site.) as it covers the basics of how to hover and complete bank turns, with lots of practical exercises and basic techniques.


Step 2. The Know Before You Fly website (knowbeforeyoufly.org (Links to an external site.)) really nails it down what you need to do for Recreational, Business, Educational, and Government use. The Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration has released the first operational rules (Links to an external site.) (PDF) for Small UAV, under 55 lbs.

While flying aircraft would require airworthiness standards or aircraft certification, the FAA is not requiring UAV pilots to do that. Instead, the remote pilot must perform a preflight visual an operational all systems check on the UAV, including the comms link with the control station and UAV.


3. Complete the UAV registration process


Recommend privacy guidelines


* Comply with local and state laws


* FAA Remote Pilot Certification with small UAS rating


* Part 107 Rule


* Applying for a waiver for the Part 107 rule




There is a great merit for the written exam portion of the UAV Pilot Certificate. I think there would be an even greater need for the practical exam and the operational test. ERAU-Worldwide sUAS Consumer Guide Operational Test Plan (Links to an external site.). The two will truly test basic knowledge and hands-on competency. The two go together. We all stay safe if we all play by the rules.


The test criteria tests indoor and outdoor flight operations, and safe observer zones. The assessment sheets also cover every crazy scenario possible, with a threat/ risk assessment on items like if rotor blades hit the floor, batteries exploding and bad landings.

Source: Beyond the Drone Zone

4. Pushing the Envelope

The Waiver process adds the needed flexibility for new users to do greater things with drones than the average user, for example something as necessary as night flying AND simultaneously controlling more than one UAV, try 100 to attain a Guiness Book of World Records feat !

Intel obtained FAA approval to become the first company to manually control multiple drones by one pilot under the Section 333 exemption, using a unique and coordinated IP networking scheme, to demonstrate the power of "the Internet of Things". [3]

Quote retrieved from Intel Newsroom https://newsroom.intel.com/sydney-drone-100-field/ (Links to an external site.)

[An even 100 drones took to the air over Tornesch, Germany, on the evening of Nov. 4, 2015, to create Drone 100. The elaborate marriage of music and light and flight was the result of months of effort by Intel Corp. engineers and Ars Electronica FutureLab digital artists. Their sky-filling artwork was accompanied by an orchestra on the ground and fully enabled by Intel-powered PCs. All their efforts were rewarded with a Guinness World Records citing for the “most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously.” (Credit: Intel Corporation) ]




A civilian non-regulatory body can help bridge the gap with drone enthusiasts, expert users and the FAA. The Drone Advisory Council was founded in May 2016. The FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced that Intel CEO Brian Krzanich will lead the Drone Advisory Council (Links to an external site.), who had this to say: “A positive regulatory environment can be the great enabler for drone innovation, safety and industry expansion. I am honored to assist decision makers in prioritizing and addressing issues facing the integration of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) into national airspace,” said Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO. “As a technology partner in the UAS ecosystem, our work at Intel has given us relevant insight into issues faced by a wide range of stakeholders. The creation of the Drone Advisory Council is an excellent step forward for all in this industry.” [4]

[3]https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/beyond-the-drone-zone
[4] https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/peter-cleveland-intel-ceo-and-drone-enthusiast-to-lead-new-faa-drone-advisory-council/

Launching Up Up and Away

Assignment #1: Attributes to consider for fixed wing UAV

“According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way that a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyways. Because bees don't care what humans think is impossible.”

― Bee Movie (Links to an external site.)

Steering entirely away from the obvious science that makes flight possible, or the mechanics behind flight dynamics, and the whole avionics or auto-pilot package let’s focus on the mission, the comms and the payload.  UAV design teams also need to consider the following attributes such as

Takeoff – Will the UAV use a high energy launch system ie catapult, or vehicle mounted take off? How about Vertical Take Off and Landing (VOTL) but that’s not for Fixed Wing models.  In some cases, hand launching is possible though too unpredictable

Landing – Parachutes, Deep Stall (free falling drop from the sky!), Belly Landing (hard), Wheeled landing, Net Recovery, or high precision hook catch (Scan Eagle by Insitu)

Positioning of payload – The actual payload or delivery capability. Some experts would say that the most important consideration in designing the UAV _IS the payload, without the payload the UAV has no purpose [3]. Depending on the structure of the UAV and purpose of the payload and load balancing, possible positions could be belly mounted (for cameras or munitions) vs nose positioning.

Comms Path – more to follow.

 A Complete UAV package design would typically include [2]

• The baseline aircraft be it fixed wing or rotary series
• Optional manual control backup, by remote control link for collision avoidance
• GCS system for remote monitoring the UAV in flight status, intervention
• Onboard flight control

The communications link between UAV and GCS (ground control station) may theoretically be established by laser, fiber optics or radio but the RF- based communications is by far the most practical and widely used.  Comms link is required for sending flight control data and analysis back to the control station, and depending on the mission, sending the data logging and interaction with on board sensors. Navigation sensors provide measurement of the UAV inflight status. Mission oriented sensors complement the nav sensors, can provide real-time and first person view.

ITU and IEEE names the designated frequency bands for small-scale UAV comms operation to

L band 405-425 MHz, 915 MHz, and 1.35 to 1.39 GHz

S band 2.45 GHz, C band 5.8 GHz all in LOS

Signal modulation – the wide usage of frequency hopping, spread spectrum has made it highly unlikely to lose comms between a UAV and GCS from signal interference.   Spread spectrum is spreading the signal across the frequency spectrum and repeats the freq switching to minimize the chance of intercept or jamming.

Here is a really great example for a complete fixed wing UAV in operation, the Aerosonde.

Interesting facts about Aerosonde by AAI Corporation, a catapult-launched UAV with a typical takeoff weight 39 or 55. It lands by a net recovery catch or a soft belly landing in the snow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-EsZxysbik

It was initially designed to collect weather and atmospheric data over oceans, at a high altitude (over 5,500 ft) and endurance of over 10 hours. Example of other uses include missions by the US Navy and the US Special Operations Command.

In August 1998, it was the world’s first smallest aircraft to traverse the Atlantic Ocean, the first UAV for sure, launched from the roof of a moving car from Newfoundland, Canada and flew for over 26 hours to a small island off the coast of Scotland through stormy weather. Aerosondes have been known to fly through tropical storms since 2001. [1]

[1] Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAI_Aerosonde (Links to an external site.)

[2] G. Cai, J. Dias, L. Senevirantne, “A Survey of Small-Scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Recent Advances and Future Development Trends” Unmanned Systems, Vol 2, No 2 (2014) pg 1 – 25.

[3] H. Loewen (MicroPilot) - Expert Pointers for Better Fixed-Wing UAV Designs
https://www.micropilot.com/pdf/fixed-wing-uav-designs.pdf (Links to an external site.)

Aerial Delivery of Vaccine-Laced Treats for Wild Ferrets

This blogspace shall be used as a digital notebook/ sandbox to write up my assignments for an online course on small UAV. This is my own original writing and expressively my own opinion, with references hopefully correctly referenced.

Aerial Delivery of Vaccine-Laced Treats for Wild Ferrets

The US Fish and Wildlife Services have a strong case to begin using UAS (aka drones) to deliver the Prairie Dog Sylvatic Plague Vaccine (SPV) to protect the black-footed ferret population, possibly in September 2016.
As widely reported in newspapers, radio broadcasts and tweets around the world, drones will deliver M&M peanuts smeared with vaccine-laced peanut butter to the ferrets on the ground in their own natural habitat, specifically in the Charles M Russell National Wildlife Reserve, as well as thousands of acres of habitat from Canada to Mexico.  The key factors for choosing drones as the most efficient method of delivery is 1) the ability to cover a larger area in a shorter time ie: one vaccine dose per 9-10 meters at a rate of 50 doses per acre; whereas a human can cover only 3-6 acres per hour on foot or ATV. The projected speed of the UAS would fly at 9m/ second and cover an area of 60-200 acres in one hour.  Retrieved from https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/UAS_2016_EA_final.pdf 2) low environmental impact or damage to ground vegetation and animals on the ground. UAS operators will also maintain safe operation with birds. The exact make and model of drones selected for the contract has not yet been determined as the project is awaiting the final stages of approval. However one could surmise that while deciding on possible candidates, some considerations would be made on the maximum payload (calculate the total weight of M&Ms and peanut butter, plus fuel), the flight path and maximum range and return flight, before reloading or refueling; especially if the category of sUAS is chosen for this application, then the limit would be 55 pounds.

According to the US FWS, delivery of the vaccine using drones “is potentially the most efficient, effective, cost-conscious and environmentally friendly method of application,” Retrieved from, http://www.uasvision.com/2016/07/19/us-to-deliver-mm-vaccines-to-endangered-ferrets/

Type 2 - small UAV

With regards to the criteria for selecting the right small UAS for the specific application of wildlife vaccination by aerial delivery, there are key factors to consider for choice of Type 2, which are classified by the US military as 21 to 55 lbs.  On paper, by comparing payload size, command and control range, and endurance,  the top choices were the Aerosonde Mark 4.7 by AAI Corporation, the Penguin B and Penguin C by UAV Factory, the Shadow Hawk by Vanguard Defence Industries, and the Scan Eagle by Boeing. However I decided to also include videos of live demonstrations to judge suitability in the target environment - a nature preserve, with forested areas, and open fields.

The Scan Eagle boasts a proven track record of military service with a powerful high speed launcher and an equally impressive skyhook catcher by GPS precision guidance, suited tactical environments with the Allied Forces both on land and at sea. See a Scan Eagle Launch and Recovery Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r5gG6cngyg Perhaps the launch and recovery alone would be a disturbance to the natural environment, as well he payload is too small 0.9 kg is barely a Costco-size bag of peanut M&M's.

On the other hand, Penguin models may be launched more gracefully from a tripod on the ground or from a moving vehicle, with a more seemingly civilian approach to deploy multiple deliveries of tiny packages to a more delicate target set. Penguin Launch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVZS-w4zKTc The Penguin C offers over 20 hours of continuous flying, onboard video recording, and fuel injected options.  The Penguin B model allows "build your own" payload and autopilot using the given airframe; Penguin C is a more complete package, all-inclusive, "built to suit", ready to fly. (It sounds tempting...)

The Aerosonde has a small footprint, an imagery data link, EO-IR sensors, an automated launch and recovery (mesh net catcher), ideal for maritime operations, and expeditionary military intelligence capabilities.  It is quite graceful in flight, car top or rail launch possible. Aerosonde https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjqsSoKNt4c The cruising speed of 111 km/h alone would be too fast.

The Shadow Hawk seems to have many applications in surveillance, law enforcement, target tracking and acquisition. See the Shadow in Action set to ominous music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GlLcI6P-rM The payload size of 10kg, control range of 88km and easy manoeverability and target tracking make it an ideal candidate.

Therefore my top choice would be the Shadow Hawk, by Vanguard Defense Industries.

Length 2.184m

Height 0.757m

Maximum takeoff weight 26kg

Max speed 88.5 km/h

Cruising speed 35 km/h

Control range 24 km

Endurance 3h

Payload 10kg

UAV specifications, source: http://www.uavglobal.com/small-uav-datasheets/

Hello Barbie, Hello World

Can you imagine your child talking to a wifi-connected Barbie doll? And the doll talks back? I acknowledge there could be privacy concerns but this is very impressive to have such a capability to capture and record the voice data, retransmit the data, process and analyse the data (children are so complicated), and send a clever reply back in near real time to have a proper conversation.

There are folks hugely concerned with safety and privacy, of just plain electronic interference. How about a doll being too chatty, would be my concern! Toys with too much noise and they dont stop making noise. Where is the off switch! The doll is not available in Canada yet but the CBC news is ranting and raving all about it, more of a bad review.

I like the more balanced view of the reporting on this newest high-tech evolution of a classic toy, from PC Mag. I am game to bring home this new toy for my kid. I will try not to talk to the doll too much, and ask for fashion or relationship advice. I promise!

Image Source

Dell 2950 Troubleshooting with Dell 32 bit Diagnostic Tool

My buddy says, Help! My server won't boot up, I keep seeing these errors:

The following VD's are missing: 01
and
The battery hardware is missing
The second one is possibly easy to fix, probably the battery drained from being unplugged on the shelf for too long. Plugging in the Dell 2950 without powering up should do the trick, probably abou 24 hours to reach full charge.

VD1 is the RAID 0 virtual drive that is set up across the drives 2,3,4 and 5
VD0 is the RAID 1 mirrored on drives 0 and 1

Were the drives installed in the right bays? yes.
If not, you can recreate this from the RAID Controller GUI

Now the tech has started the proceduce to reconfigure the RAID but the system is not seeing the hardrives 2,3,4,5 anymore.
HOW TO configure RAID on Dell 2950
http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/07/step-by-step-guide-to-configure-hardware-raid-on-dell-servers-with-screenshots/
Check if the RAID controller card is functioning.
Swap with another system that is working to verify.

PDF explaining the Dell diagnostic utilities (written by Dell):
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps1q05-20040119-Patel-OE.pdf


Downloads page for Dell PowerEdge 2950:
http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/555/Index


The "Dell 32 Bit Diagnostics" tool (best):http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/555/DriverDetails?DriverId=Y6D93&FileId=2731107576&DriverName=Dell%2032%20Bit%20Diagnostics%2C%20v.5118A0%2C%205118.3&productCode=poweredge-2950&urlProductCode=Falsehttp://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/555/Indexhttp://www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps1q05-20040119-Patel-OE.pdf

HOW TO remotely run the Dell 32 bit Tier 2 Diagnostic over KVM
http://technicalsupportnetwork.org/blog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=5&blogId=1

What the heck is on that guyz roof?

I often see the strangest antennas strapped to someone's chimney or poking out of someone's trunk of the car. Usually it belongs to someone who's a ham radio enthusiast, or buddy searching for extra terrestrials or simply someone grabbing HDTV off the air. I've always been fascinated by the symmetry or the mathematical basis behind the aesthetic design, and "what does that antenna do?"

Image Source

I came across a Log Periodic Antenna design, while looking up the Blonder-Tongue Doctrine in US patent law oddly enough; the case set a precedent. Sometimes LPA is referred to as Isabel (in honor of one of the creators) at the University of Illinois.  The repeating nature also gives it a fractal design. The design parameters are simplified into four design criteria

1) Upper and lower operating frequencies set the shortest and longest dipole length
2) Number of elements
3) Apex angle of antennae
4) Each successive element is a scaled-down length of its immediate predecessor down the array.
5) The scaling factor τ (tau) derived from a log function.

The longest dipole is 1/4 wavelength of the lowest frequency; the shortest dipole is 1/4 wavelength of the highest frequency. The geometry diagram shows only the top half of the antenna; the bottom half is a mirror image of it. I don't understand why they have to make it a pyramidal design for aesthetics. They must do this to achieve a symetrical RF footprint instead for two lobe pairs instead of just a single side.  This article explains in detail how the formulas are used and the magic math involved.

I found an online calculator for the LPA design parameters but I just find it creepy that the page displays your IP address and makes snide comments about the browser you're using. Other than that, it's very accurate, I matched the numbers I punched in with a real Kathrein-Scala dual band wireless antenna spec sheet.

Cross Polarization

The LPA can be quite small to cover a fairly broad radiation footprint with a reasonable power gain. What's neat is only a part of the array is active at a given frequency. Therefore the antenna can cover a wide frequency band without the need of a switching system. This is good for television reception or as advertised, dual band wireless applications.

To the untrained eye, the Log Periodic Antenna could be confused as a Yagi or have many similarities but I'd say that the LPA is more triangular while a yagi is more rectangular.

Image Source

Miss Canada answers Ubiquitous Broadband Internet Access

At every beauty pageant they always ask the bikini-clad candidate, what is your wish for mankind. Everyone always says the noble standard answer, "World peace" and the crowds cheer. However if I were ever the Miss Canada candidate, I would have to make my answer, free broadband Internet access in Africa.

I cannot claim this idea as my own but it starts with an obscure agreement between the government of the Province of British Columbia and a major Canadian telco Telus Corporation signed in July 29, 2011.  BC is in a business agreement with Telus, for a transfer of $10.00 Canadian (if I read that right), to provide access to all residents in BC access to broadband Internet and telecommunications services to have access to the social benefits of connectivity for economic initiatives, access to government services, electronic health and
education services. Contract in pdf here.

The 109 page document signed by the Minister of Citizen's Services and Open Government outlines lots of provisions including askingTelus
- to facilitate last mile connectivity
- expand cellular coverage in rural areas
- maintain Central Office live status if no other ISP is available
- to provide carrier service to the CO for a small ISP
- set a fair wholesale pricing list
- to not compete with eligible ISPs to provide the retail broadband services to end users, except where Telus already has cellular coverage (EVDO, HSPA, LTE) and DSL

The agreement seems to support fair market prices for the consumer and a non competition period of three years, and seems to leave it up to Telus to build the infrastructure, the way I understand it. Sound like a pretty sweet deal for all!

I read a recent article on CNN that poverty in the USA was linked to lack of access to basic telecommunications and Internet because job searching opportunities and even access to higher education and everything these days were most accessible to folks with Internet access, and the have nots were hurting even more with lack of it. We'll see how this reaches out the more rural communities and people living off the grid. Imagine what it could do for a developing nation! Access to information and the capability to communicate and collaborate with other humans.

In my search for the road to world peace, I came across the most inspiring article on CNN by Hamadoun Touré who writes the best case scenario for how mobile broadband could save Africa and help them reach Millennium Development Goals. The UN Millennium Development Goals are best summarized in three categories of education, health, and the environment, and the author sees mobile broadband  playing a key role in each. Alright, he takes the crown from Miss Canada's idea.

"If you combat disease, you also reduce child mortality; if you give every child a primary education, you promote gender equality. It is because these goals are interlinked that broadband is so important."
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/27/opinion/technology-toure-africa-mobile/index.html?iref=allsearch

The government priority or foreign aid should be geared at building the infrastructure to support the broadband network or even mobile public transport vehicles equipped with low-cost wifi repeaters.

Here are examples of the Smartphone usage helping local businesses
1) Regular weather updates for the farmer on his Smartphone to plan his planting and seeding schedules
2) GPS geolocation capability for precision farming and optimizing fertilizer and pesticide usage
3) Online access to employment and training in Kenya
4) A young entrepreneur who developed an app for children to improve literacy, numeracy and general knowledge and the platform to delivery the wifi Internet access by public transport vehicles

As long as the kids don't spend too much time playing Angry Birds, here's to saving Africa one smartphone at a time.

Top Female Astronauts of China

Wow you have to be smart and hot to be chosen as the next Astronaut of China. Really? Perfect teeth, for the photo ops I bet. Another criteria, having given birth naturally, so that cosmic rays don't affect reproduction or rather their reasoning was, to prove that biologically all systems were functioning. Ew.

Can you wear makeup in space? Image Source

The original article mentions that there were two top candidates selected from a list of top fighter pilots. Some folks were upset that requirements for higher education wasn't mentioned.  My opinion is that I'd rather have a good pilot fly the spacecraft; if they've made it this far, they definitely have an impressive resume. Last I heard, Chinese people are all about having that Dr. in front of the name, and the extra degrees and fancy industry qualifications. Therefore, by default to be a pilot you have to have a university degree.

I have a friend who would indeed meet all the other specs, writes: "The article itself doesn't seem to say that they need to be photogenetic (though the photo certainly implies that), but rather have a body with certain biological standard, none of which applies to looks. What I'm naturally skeptic about are their "scientific" claims as to why these standards are necessary in space."

What makes the best astronaut for the mission?

Here is a more balanced view of reporting on mothers for female crew selection.

Forever Stocks to Buy

Bill Gates buys $571 Million dollars in stocks on this ticker. Are you gonna read on? He calls these kind of things, like Mastercard and the Deer & co (farm equipment) his Forever stocks, things that you could hold on to forever.

What are Warren Buffet and Bill Gates buying.

Personally I would consider Cisco a Forever stock, and for sure Lululemon. I'm just bragging because I made over $200 in one day on that stock the other day. I bought the shares at $71 and it went up to $72-something. I say something cuz I'm obviously not managing my own money, too busy studying for these Cisco exams but there you go. Imagine if I had bought these in 2009 when they were $9 something a share, and then they split at $100 a few months ago.

My friend works at Cisco in Silicon Valley Kanata and he writes the Cisco IOS. They get stock options so that's pretty awesome.  He was explaining to me this new thing with delivery of wireless in a metropolitan area and enabling mobility by having the user keep the same IP. The cellular bandwith is getting to congested so it sounds like folks in Hong Kong are moving over to the internet routing. Sounded really impressive, I'm not in mobile or wireless but that sounds really neat.

I won't be rich like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, just working full time hours on routers and switches but atleast I know what is powering those supercomputers at the NYSE, forever!

ICND 2 Flashcard: Frame Relay

Frame Relay allows the expansion of the WAN with less hardware by providing virtual circuits; less costly than running multiple leased lines like HDLC and PPP.

For example Router 1 (DTE) at your company site has to connect to Router 2 (DTE) at the other site. In between is the Frame Relay cloud. The Router 1 connects to one switch (DCE) in the cloud, and the other Router 2 connects to anothr swtich (DCE). Router 1 could also connect to a Router 3 and so on.

One router is an access linl which can support multiple virtual circuits to send data to multiple remote routers. Each link is a virtual circuit. The data link header and trailers on each frame. The header holds ad address filed called a DLCI.
DLCI - Data Link Connection Identifier

The notes for this section are taken from the first CCNA Bootcamp course I studied in 2003 by Marketbridge Technologies in Hull-Gatineau. http://www.marketbridge.com/#  The company has grown and changed alot over the years from offering courses to consulting services, but the owner remains the same so it's probably the same company.

Two Frame Relay encapsulations: Cisco and IETF
Cisco is the default, and it means that you have a Cisco router on each end of the Frame Relay network. If you don’t have a Cisco router on the remote end of your Frame Relay network, then you need IETF encapsulation.

Frame Relay is a cost efficicient technology, for intermittent connection from LAN or between endpoints to major backbones or a public WAN.  A permanent virtual circuit (PVC) is formed, enabling the customer to perceive a continous, dedicated connection without having to pay for a full-time leased line; the ISP determines the route each frame travels to its destination and can charge based on usage.  Think of it as shared bandwidth, a portion of the dedicated paid bandwidth to allotted to each user; allows the user to exceed the guaranteed bandwidth if resources are available

However for a truly private network, Frame Relay would run over leased lines over T-1 lines. A dedicated connection during the transmission period is required, but without a steady flow of transmisions, so it is not often used for voice or video.  The data units are in frames in variable sizes.

Packet based switching.
Frame relay is based on the older X.25 packet-switching technology which was designed for analog voice. Frame relay today is fast packet switching because it operates in the Layer 2 data-link layer and not so much Layer 3 network even though a frame can carry packets of Ethernet and X.25 Error checking or resending is up to to the endpoints to evaluate.

DLCI - Data Link Connection Identifier

I really like the description of a frame-relay map and how it joins an DLCI with an IP address much like ARP mapping MAC address to IP. See the IP-to-DLCI mappings with the command, show frame-relay map (IARP is default on Cisco routers).

Possible network topologies
Hub and Spoke: one hub many spokes used with sub interfaces
Partial Mesh or Hub and Spoke - routers do not have a VC to all other routers

Full Mesh: each router has a logical circuit to every other router

Hybrid: Two remote routers may have VC to each other providing full mesh connectivity between them and the hub. The other remote routers may have only one VC back to the hub.
Frame-Relay LMI
Frame-Relay used the Local Management Interface (LMI) protocol to generate keepalives and obtain a status on the virtual circuits.  LMI message formats: Cisco (DLCI 1023), ANSI or Annex D (DLCI 0), and Q.933A or Annex A (DLCI 0?) containing info regarding -

• Keepalives
• Multicasting - Multicasting uses the reserved DLCIs from 1019 through 1022.
• Global addressing - This provides global significance to DLCIs, like a LAN
• Status of virtual circuits - This provides DLCI status.

Possible states for the circuits
Active - the circuit is up and running
Inactive - possible cause, circuit to CO (frame switch) is find but remote end is down
Deleted - circuit to CO not working, interface down or cabling issue, no LMI

Congestion Control in Frame-Relay
DE - Discard Eligibility, mark for packets exceeding the CIR
BECN - Backward Explicit Congestion Notification, tell source to slow down transmission
FECN - Forward Explicit Congestion Notification, tell destination there was congestion in the cloud
An excellent summary of everything you need to know about Frame Relay for Cisco CCNA, written like a study blog with network diagrams. The style of writing is like an instructor speaking. Click here.

usage: conf t
encapsulation frame-relay

Scenario
There are seven remote sites to connect and only one serial port on the router. Instead of seven leased lines, frame-relay might be a good soluction to statistically multiplex multiple logical circuits over one physical interface to save money.

Access rate The maximum speed that the Frame Relay serial interface can transmit.

CIR The maximum bandwidth of data guaranteed to be delivered. In reality, it’s the average amount that the service provider will allow you to transmit.

For example if the T1 is carrying an access rate of T1 (1.544Mbps) and you're paying for a CIR of 256Kbps. The first 256Kbps of traffic you send is guaranteed delivery. Beyond that, it's a “burst”— a transmission that exceeds the guaranteed 256Kbps rate and up to the T1 access rate (if that amount is in your contract). I believe this sounds like the whole discussion about paying for bandwidth usage and doing away with unlimited with the CRTC ruling??

Obviously if the combined committed burst (the CIR) and excess burst sizes, known as the MBR or maximum burst rate when combined, exceed the access rate, then the packets will be dropped, depending on the service provider.