I'm pretty sure "cloud" is actually (presently) the most abused word in IT. Recent Microsoft ads would have us believe that remoting to a desktop over the Internet and photo editing are now all possible thanks to the cloud. And execs talk about putting web apps and email in the cloud--what we used to just call hosting things on da Internet. There are few words as misunderstood as cloud right now.
For what its worth, my employer (in Washington D.C.) has their own Blackberry Enterprise Server (an on-site server that interfaces directly with corporate mail systems), and it appears to be unaffected by this outage.
I can only speak from my own personal experience...I used to buy at least one game a month. Then I got into Dark Age of Camelot early on in its launch. I didn't buy another game for a year and half after that.
I even convinced myself that being completely addicted to DAoC was a good thing--at only $12.95 a month, I was saving a bundle in not having to buy new games.
-wolftattoo
Shortly after starting DAOC when it came out, I let my wife start a character on my account. Before I knew it I was buying another box and paying for a second account. She made it to level 43 before getting tired of it.
Try turning your SO onto a game by letting them make a toon and giving it a spin. Chicks dig MMORPGs.
FWIW, for over a year now it has been illegal to even have your cellphone on at gas stations in Puerto Rico. If you are seen using one at a station you can be fined (forget the exact penalty, but I think its like $250). We were somewhat baffled when this law went into place, and it still seems there is little fact to support it.
Don't get me wrong, the last thing I think we need is another format. However, while the use of their own format may seem stupid now, I suspect Sony may get the last laugh if/when their PSP supports it and has sold a gazillion units.
Considering how poor the music store is, the only reason I can think of for its existence is to plant the seeds for making PSP their true iPod killer...
And now that I think of it, I believe Microsoft also had a line of PC speakers at one point in time. If memory serves, they were flat, and one of the first speaker products to have a USB connection
I can't recall a case in which Microsoft had viable products and decent sales and exited instead of spending more money to compete more effectively.
Actually, there is another market Microsoft backed out of recently, game controllers. Microsoft's Sidewinder line of Joysticks and gamepads was actually quite good. Their gamepad was the defacto standard for the PC for quite some time.
I can't speak for other companies, but FWIW the SCO FUD hasn't had one ounce of affect on the company I work for. Since the SCO BS began, we've actually increased our use of Linux and continued to look into where else it is a good fit in our enterprise. We've even added an additional AIX server. Maybe our plans will change once SCO has some actual legal settlements behind them, but until then we arn't buying into their Brooklyn Bridge offer.
Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, and while it isn't a 100% action game, Neverwinter Nights is still a great multiplayer experience and the Linux client for it is excellent. It should run reasonably well on the aforementioned systems, although probably would need to be in lowest resolution and have graphics settings tuned down a little.
A Cisco 12000 (high-end) can handle 2.5Gbps - 40Gbps of throughput per port, and an aggregate 750 Mpps (Million Packets per Second) forwarding performance.
I'm not sure what the direct translation to Connections per Second would be, but the above would support a hell of a lot. Lower end Cisco routers, like the 2x00 series, support 15-70 Kpps (Thousand packets per second), which is still not too shabby. However, assuming a 50 thousand packet per second SYN flood, the lower end units may be able to handle forwarding the number of packets but not necessarily have enough CPU/storage power to handle the Intercept duties. The high-end (ie 12000) should have more than enough processing power to mitigate the attack. I'm too lazy ATM to look at the spec of midrange routers
Well, I'm not sure if I can 'prove' it since I've never been unfortunate enough to suffer a serious SYN flood attack on any of the networks I'm responsible for. However, just looking at the literature for the high-end Cisco 12000, it can handle from 2.5Gbps to 40Gbps per slot with a maximum aggregate 750 Mpps (Million packets per second) forwarding capacity. Considering the processor power required for these kinds of loads,I don't think the router itself would have a problem using TCP Intercept to protect against this level of attack. Of course, upstream bandwidth may then become the bottleneck.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps1 67/index.html
Again, I can't "prove" it one way or the other, but I am fairly certain that todays more industrial strength routers shouldn't have too much difficulty keeping up with these kinds of loads when properly configured.
SYN Floods are relatively easy to protect against these days, and there isn't too much processing overhead to determine if SYN packets are unsolicited.
Doh, angled brackets don't show. Anyways, correction, the first config line should read:
(config)#access-list 151 permit tcp any host [IP of server to protect]
I have no idea if SCO is using Cisco routers on their permiter, but I guess its not too unreasonable to assume this is a possibility. With a Cisco on the permiter, preventing a SYN attack requires all of 3 additional lines to the configuration. I'm guessing it also doesn't take too much more than this on any enterprise-class router.
Configuring a Cisco perimeter router to prevent SYN flood attack against web server: (config)#access-list 151 permit tcp any host (config)#ip tcp intercept list 151 (config)#ip tcp intercept mode intercept
With Intercept mode enabled, all incoming SYN are held by router which proxy-answers w/syn-ack. Won't forward to server if Ack not recieved.
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I'm pretty sure "cloud" is actually (presently) the most abused word in IT. Recent Microsoft ads would have us believe that remoting to a desktop over the Internet and photo editing are now all possible thanks to the cloud. And execs talk about putting web apps and email in the cloud--what we used to just call hosting things on da Internet. There are few words as misunderstood as cloud right now.
For what its worth, my employer (in Washington D.C.) has their own Blackberry Enterprise Server (an on-site server that interfaces directly with corporate mail systems), and it appears to be unaffected by this outage.
I can only speak from my own personal experience...I used to buy at least one game a month. Then I got into Dark Age of Camelot early on in its launch. I didn't buy another game for a year and half after that. I even convinced myself that being completely addicted to DAoC was a good thing--at only $12.95 a month, I was saving a bundle in not having to buy new games. -wolftattoo
FWIW, I don't think my XBOX has an Intel Inside sticker.
Oh no, shes gone from suck to blow! -Spaceballs
Shortly after starting DAOC when it came out, I let my wife start a character on my account. Before I knew it I was buying another box and paying for a second account. She made it to level 43 before getting tired of it. Try turning your SO onto a game by letting them make a toon and giving it a spin. Chicks dig MMORPGs.
FWIW, for over a year now it has been illegal to even have your cellphone on at gas stations in Puerto Rico. If you are seen using one at a station you can be fined (forget the exact penalty, but I think its like $250). We were somewhat baffled when this law went into place, and it still seems there is little fact to support it.
Don't get me wrong, the last thing I think we need is another format. However, while the use of their own format may seem stupid now, I suspect Sony may get the last laugh if/when their PSP supports it and has sold a gazillion units. Considering how poor the music store is, the only reason I can think of for its existence is to plant the seeds for making PSP their true iPod killer...
And now that I think of it, I believe Microsoft also had a line of PC speakers at one point in time. If memory serves, they were flat, and one of the first speaker products to have a USB connection
Actually, there is another market Microsoft backed out of recently, game controllers. Microsoft's Sidewinder line of Joysticks and gamepads was actually quite good. Their gamepad was the defacto standard for the PC for quite some time.
I can't speak for other companies, but FWIW the SCO FUD hasn't had one ounce of affect on the company I work for. Since the SCO BS began, we've actually increased our use of Linux and continued to look into where else it is a good fit in our enterprise. We've even added an additional AIX server. Maybe our plans will change once SCO has some actual legal settlements behind them, but until then we arn't buying into their Brooklyn Bridge offer.
Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, and while it isn't a 100% action game, Neverwinter Nights is still a great multiplayer experience and the Linux client for it is excellent. It should run reasonably well on the aforementioned systems, although probably would need to be in lowest resolution and have graphics settings tuned down a little.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps1 67/index.html
I'm not sure what the direct translation to Connections per Second would be, but the above would support a hell of a lot. Lower end Cisco routers, like the 2x00 series, support 15-70 Kpps (Thousand packets per second), which is still not too shabby. However, assuming a 50 thousand packet per second SYN flood, the lower end units may be able to handle forwarding the number of packets but not necessarily have enough CPU/storage power to handle the Intercept duties. The high-end (ie 12000) should have more than enough processing power to mitigate the attack. I'm too lazy ATM to look at the spec of midrange routers
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps2 59/products_data_sheet09186a00801761b1.html
Well, I'm not sure if I can 'prove' it since I've never been unfortunate enough to suffer a serious SYN flood attack on any of the networks I'm responsible for. However, just looking at the literature for the high-end Cisco 12000, it can handle from 2.5Gbps to 40Gbps per slot with a maximum aggregate 750 Mpps (Million packets per second) forwarding capacity. Considering the processor power required for these kinds of loads,I don't think the router itself would have a problem using TCP Intercept to protect against this level of attack. Of course, upstream bandwidth may then become the bottleneck. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps1 67/index.html
Again, I can't "prove" it one way or the other, but I am fairly certain that todays more industrial strength routers shouldn't have too much difficulty keeping up with these kinds of loads when properly configured.
SYN Floods are relatively easy to protect against these days, and there isn't too much processing overhead to determine if SYN packets are unsolicited.
Doh, angled brackets don't show. Anyways, correction, the first config line should read: (config)#access-list 151 permit tcp any host [IP of server to protect]
I have no idea if SCO is using Cisco routers on their permiter, but I guess its not too unreasonable to assume this is a possibility. With a Cisco on the permiter, preventing a SYN attack requires all of 3 additional lines to the configuration. I'm guessing it also doesn't take too much more than this on any enterprise-class router.
p s2 120/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a0080 0b6f0e.html
Configuring a Cisco perimeter router to prevent SYN flood attack against web server:
(config)#access-list 151 permit tcp any host
(config)#ip tcp intercept list 151
(config)#ip tcp intercept mode intercept
With Intercept mode enabled, all incoming SYN are held by router which proxy-answers w/syn-ack. Won't forward to server if Ack not recieved.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/