10 Must-Have WordPress Plugins For Your Business Website

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According to WordPress, there are over 60 million people who have chosen WordPress as the platform for their website. WordPress is a very customizable CMS software, which means you can accomplish almost anything you want with it. It also has a lot of developer support so there are many plugins available, most of which are free. I’m going to share the 10 most essential WordPress plugins for your business website in this article.

10 Must-Have WordPress Plugins For Your Business Website
Haris Bacic
Mon, 15 Jul 2013 14:44:00 GMT

Barry Hesk

Intrinsic Network Solutions

Microsoft Releases First Windows 8.1 Fixes

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That didn’t take long.

Microsoft last week rolled out its first round of bug fixes for Windows 8.1. The first update came less than a week after the new operating system debuted as a public preview and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer touted the company’s commitment to quick releases. The company’s quick strike seems to signal that Ballmer’s plan, central to his larger “devices and services” vision, is rounding into shape.

Ongoing rumors of an imminent shake-up, further fueled by the departure of Xbox head Don Mattrick, suggest the CEO is charging forward, in any case.

Windows 8.1 has been relatively well-received. Several analysts have said that it has made the changes necessary to satisfy enterprise users. But as curious users dig into the Windows 8.1 preview, new concerns are already afoot. As much as Windows 8 is changing, it seems one thing might stay the same: Microsoft can’t win for losing.

The company issued six updates to Windows 8.1. Two were designated “important” and the others were rated “recommended.” One of the higher-priority updates installs a virus definition for Windows Defender, Win8’s native security program. The other improves support for third-party programs such as AutoCAD and Parallels Desktop.

Microsoft Releases First Windows 8.1 Fixes
Tue, 09 Jul 2013 14:04:00 GMT

Barry Hesk

Intrinsic Network Solutions

New Gaping Security Holes Found Exposing Servers

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A widely deployed protocol and controller used in servers and workstations both contain serious vulnerabilities that, in effect, give attackers near-physical access to the machines, a pair of renowned researchers said recently.

HD Moore, chief research officer at Rapid7 and creator of Metasploit, and security researcher Dan Farmer announced findings of their research on major flaws in the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) protocol and the Baseboard Management Controllers (BMC) packaged with most servers for remote management purposes.

As part of his ongoing Internet scanning research, Moore found more than 100,000 servers and workstations online that are vulnerable to one or more of six flaws in IPMI and BMC — some of which were bugs Farmer revealed earlier this year — which Moore says is just the tip of the iceberg of potential servers in danger on the Net. The bugs could allow an attacker to compromise BMCs in the affected servers and siphon data from attached storage devices, make changes to the operating system, install a permanent backdoor, sniff credentials sent through the server, launch a denial-of-service attack, or wipe the hard drives.

New Gaping Security Holes Found Exposing Servers
Mon, 08 Jul 2013 13:21:00 GMT

 

Barry Hesk

Intrinsic Network Solutions

Catalyst 6800 Series Switches Announced

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25 June 2013

Cisco have today announced a range of new high end Catalyst switches designed to placate customers who have invested in the 6500 series. Described as a “game changer” by Cisco the 6800 series feature a set of fixed an modular chassis systems with some backwards compatibility to the 6500.

The full announcement is here

Game changer? Not really. Just more of the same, and according to Cisco, at a lower price point. Same OS, same restrictions with back plane speed.

How does this compare to Nexus? According to Cisco, the new models will be cheaper (which is not hard, Nexus systems should come with gold plated power supplies for how much they cost) and have the same set of features that is supported in the 6500 series. This presumably means that like in most 6500 deployments, 99% of them won’t be used by most customers.

However, for customers with an installed based of 6500s who are looking for some investment protection, the 6800 series could be something to look at.

The models:

  • 6807 – 7 slot modular switch 
  • 6880 – 3 slot modular switch with 16 fixed 10 Gbps ports
  • 6800ia – 1 RU “instant access” switch – provides similar features as the Nexus 2000 FEX and acts as a “remote line card” switch when attached to a core 6800.

The 6800s are expected to be shipping by the end of the year.

Barry Hesk
Intrinsic Network Solutions

Cisco 2960X Switch Range Announced

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As of 4th June 2013, Cisco have announced the 2960X range of switches. Building on the existing 2960 and 2960S ranges, the 2960X is a fixed configuration gigabit switch available in both PoE and non PoE models.

The 2960X offers a number of configuration options including:

Flex Stack Plus modules (compatible with existing Flex Stack modules in 2960S switches)

A range of software options including LAN Lite, LAN Base and IP Lite.

IP Lite provides basic L3 IP connectivity including unicast routing, and other features such as PIM, HSRP, OSPF and PBR. Redundant power supplies are available for some of the models.

A data sheet on the 2960X is available here.

The 2960X is also meant to be Cisco’s first production switch to support the Cisco ONE API which will allow the unit to be integrated into SDN networks. SDN is the hot buzz word at the present time, and brings Wireless Controller-like architectures and topologies to wired infrastructures.

 

Barry Hesk

Intrinsic Network Solutions