Articles

Inventory  

Keeping track of hardware, software, and licenses is next to impossible in these days of BYOD and virtualization. Spiceworks Inventory solves the problem with a single, small executable full of open source software and a web browser.

Big and Small  

Automation is part of life in the data center, and Puppet is commonly regarded as the King of the Hill, but some users prefer the lean alternative Ansible.

Building Bridges  

Many companies use Active Directory for centrally managing existing systems, but if you mix in Linux systems, you have to take care of a few things, such as different forms of integration. We show you how to connect the FreeIPA identity management framework as an interface to an Active Directory domain.

Brothers  

The easier you can back up and restore data, the better. Mature Linux tools show that performing regular, automated backups doesn't have to be a pain.

Fresh Start  

With each version of Windows, Microsoft has expanded the built-in security functions. Windows 10 includes a number of new and interesting security features.

On-Screen  

A monitoring system helps avoid unpleasant surprises during operations, but admins need to modify existing solutions to fit a containerized world.

Stacking Up  

Abstraction layers are the alpha and omega in the design of complex architectures. The Linux Storage Stack is an excellent example of well-coordinated layers. Access to storage media is abstracted through a unified interface, without sacrificing functionality.

Locked Down  

We look at some common sense tips and open source tools for securing IoT devices.

Thing Minder  

Although the MQTT protocol is usually associated with the Internet of Things, it also works in some very different situations, such as monitoring, for example.

Everything Under Control  

OpenQRM is a web-based, open source, data center management and cloud platform that offers many popular Linux tools with no major configuration overhead. We show you how to use it.