Issue 39: Container Security

I'm fascinated by the stories of disasters and near disasters related to me by my IT peers, especially those involving backups – or the lack of backups, as is so often the case.

ClearOS provides a simple and easy-to-use platform for all layers of the IT environment. Offensive Security bills Kali Linux 2017.1 as their “most
advanced penetration testing distribution, ever”.

News for system administrators around the world.

Docker unveiled some exciting new initiatives at their annual event, including a new program for containerizing legacy applications.

Any OpenStack installation that hosts services and VMs for several customers poses a challenge for the security-conscious admin. Hardening the overall system can turn the porous walls into a fortress – but you'll need more than a little mortar.

Although developers appreciate Docker's ease of use and flexibility, many admins are worried about vulnerabilities. We look at various approaches to securing container images and the price to be paid.

Virtualization solutions isolate their VM systems far more effectively than a container host isolates its guests. However, implementation weaknesses in the hypervisor and configuration errors can lead to residual risk, as we show, using KVM as an example.

Standard hardware plus LizardFS equals a resilient, flexible, and configurable POSIX-compliant storage pool.

Several versions of the venerable Spanning Tree protocol have appeared through the years. We'll help you sort through the acronyms and show you which version is right for your network.

As automation of IT landscapes continues, a plethora of new tools reach the market to help admins with this task. Rundeck offers a web-based GUI and job delegation.