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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Beta Arrives! Download Now And You Can Win $500

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7 Arrived With Expanded Container Support, Performance Profiles, XFS As the Default Filesystem & Many More. 
We have just spent a less than a month time after the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 made available globally, yet again the American multinational software company, leading the world for open-source software has announced the availability of a first public beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version 7. Based on Fedora 19 and the upstream Linux 3.10 kernel, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 will provide users with powerful new capabilities that streamline and automate installation and deployment, simplify management, and enhance ease-of-use, all while delivering the stability that enterprises have come to expect from Red Hat. This further solidifies Red Hat Enterprise Linux's place as the world's leading Linux platform and a standard for the enterprise of the future. Whether rolling out new applications, virtualizing environments or scaling the business with cloud, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 delivers the keystone to IT success. The beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 adds value to new and existing IT projects across industries by adding key capabilities to improve critical but often cumbersome IT tasks like virtualization and storage while offering a clear pathway to the open hybrid cloudIn their official Red Hat Enterprise Linux YouTube channel, Red Hat posted a short video where you can hear what the team at Red Hat has to say about the next-generation of the world’s leading Linux platform.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Beta showcases hundreds of new features and enhancements, including: 
  • Linux Containers - Enabling applications to be created and deployed in isolated environments with allocated resources and permissions.
  • Performance Management – Using built in tools, you can optimize performance out-of-the-box.
  • Physical and Hosted In-place Upgrades - In-place upgrades for common server deployment types are now supported. Additionally, virtual machine migration from a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 host to a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 host is possible, without virtual machine modification or downtime.
  • File Systems – File systems continue to be a major focus of development and innovation.
    • XFS is now the default file system, supporting file systems up to 500TB
    • ext4 file systems are now supported to 50TB and include block sizes up to 1MB
    • btrfs file systems are now available to test
  • Networking – Enhanced networking configuration and operation. Added support for some of the latest networking standards, including:
    • 40Gb Ethernet support
    • Improved channel bonding
    • TCP performance improvements
    • Low latency socket poll support
  • Storage – Expanded support for enterprise level storage arrays. Improved scalable storage stack for deployments that are less disk intensive. Improved storage management for heterogeneous storage environments.
  • Windows Interoperability – Bridge Windows™ and Linux infrastructure by integrating SAMBA 4.1 with existing Microsoft Active Directory domains. Or, deploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux Identity Management in a parallel trust zone with Active Directory.
  • Subsystem Management – Simplified configuration and administration with uniform management tools for networking, storage, file systems, performance, identities and security. Leveraging the OpenLMI framework, enables use of scripts and APIs to automate management.
To know deeply about the hot features and enhancement of RHEL 7 beta 1, click hereI am quite sure that, after going through with the above description, all of you are very much excited to grab this brand new beta of RHEL 7. Like the previous beta release, this time also The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 beta has been made available to Red Hat customers, partners, and members of the public. For further information and to access the beta click here. Last but not least, with this release Red Hat also calls for an very interesting competition, where you can participate & win $500 while telling Red Hat, what interests you most in RHEL 7 beta. So what are you waiting for, lets download RHEL 7 and explore it. 



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Red Hat Inc Announced The General Availability Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.5

Red Hat Inc Announced The General Availability Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.5 

The RHEL 6x series get another important update as Red Hat Inc, the world's leading provider of open source solutions announced the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5, the latest version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. According to the official press release of Red Hat -RHEL 6.5 expands Red Hat’s vision of providing an enterprise platform that has the stability to free IT to take on major infrastructure challenges and the flexibility to handle future requirements, with an extensive partner and support ecosystem. 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 is mainly designed for those who build and manage large, complex IT projects, especially enterprises that require an open hybrid cloud. From security and networking to virtualization, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 provides the capabilities needed to manage these environments, such as tools that aid in quickly tuning the system to run SAP applications based on published best practices from SAP.“Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 provides the innovation expected from the industry’s leading enterprise Linux operating system while also delivering a mature platform for business operations, be it standardizing operating environments or supporting critical applications. The newest version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 forms the building blocks of the entire Red Hat portfolio, including OpenShift and OpenStack, making it a perfect foundation for enterprises looking to explore the open hybrid cloud.”-said Jim Totton, vice president and general manager of Red Hat Inc. Now lets take a closer look to the main highlights of RHEL 6.5 : 

Securing the Next-Generation Enterprise
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 continues the push for integrated security functionality that combines ease-of-use and up-to-date security standards into the platform. The addition of a centralized certificate trust store enables standardized certificate access for security services. Also included are tools that meet leading security standards, including OpenSCAP 2.1, which implements the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) 1.2 standard. With these additions, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 provides a secure platform upon which to build mission-critical services and applications.

Networking – When Every (Micro)Second Matters
In the financial services and trading-related industries, application latency is measured in microseconds, not seconds. Now, the latest version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 fully supports sub-microsecond clock accuracy over the local area network (LAN) using the Precision Time Protocol (PTP). Precision time synchronization is a key enabler for delivering better performance for high-speed, low latency applications. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 can now be used to track time on trading transactions, improving time stamp accuracy on archived data or precisely synchronizing time locally or globally. Thanks to other networking enhancements in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5, system administrators now have a more comprehensive view of network activity. These new capabilities enable sysadmins to inspect IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) data to list multicast router ports, multicast groups with active subscribers and their associated interfaces, all of which are important to many modern networking scenarios, including streaming media.

Virtualization Enhancements
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 continues Red Hat’s commitment to improving the overall virtualization experience and includes several improvements that make it a compelling choice for running in virtualized environments. Sysadmins can now dynamically enable or disable virtual processors (vCPUs) in active guests, making it an ideal choice for elastic workloads. The handling of memory intensive applications as Red Hat Enterprise Linux guests has also been improved, with configurations supported for up to 4TB of memory on the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor. The KVM hypervisor also integrates with GlusterFS volumes to provide direct access to the distributed storage platform, improving performance when accessing Red Hat Storage or GlusterFS volumes. Finally, guest drivers have been updated to improve performance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 running as a guest on supported third-party hypervisors.

Evolving Ease-of-Use, Storage, and More
As application deployment options grow, portability becomes increasingly important. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 enables customers to deploy application images in containers created using Docker in their environment of choice: physical, virtual, or cloud. Docker is an open source project to package and run lightweight, self-sufficient containers; containers save developers time by eliminating integration and infrastructure design tasks. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 stays current with the advancements in Solid-State Drive (SSD) controller interface, introducing support for NVM Express (NVMe)-based SSDs. The NVMe specification aims to standardize the interface for PCIe-based SSDs and its inclusion in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 positions the platform to support an expanding range of future NVMe-based devices.

Improvements have also been added to improve enterprise storage scalability within Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5. It is now possible to configure more than 255 LUNs connected to a single iSCSI target. In addition, control and recovery from SAN for iSCSI and Fibre Channel has been enhanced, and updates to the kexec/kdump mechanism now make it possible to create debug (dump) files on systems configured with very large memory (e.g. 6TB).

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 makes it easier to track and manage subscription consumption across the enterprise, integrating subscription tracking into existing business workflow. Usability enhancements include support for remote access to Windows clients and servers that use a newer version of the RDP protocol, including Windows 7 and 8 desktops and Windows Server 2012

To Download Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 Click Here


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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 Beta Released & Available For Download

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 Beta Released & Available For Download 

Red Hat the global leader in open source solutions released another update of its enterprise Linux (RHEL Version 6). Since Red Hat Enterprise Linux has been released, we have got several updates, including three beta release and three final release (RHEL 6.1RHEL 6.2RHEL 6.3). Now the American software company added another beta, that is RHEL 6.4 and made it available for its customers. The beta release includes a broad set of updates to the existing feature set and provides rich new functionality in the areas of identity management, file system, virtualization, and storage as well as productivity tools. In their release note the RHEL Team said that -through collaboration with partners, customers and the open source community, we are committed to delivering technology that is tested and stable – including in the beta phase of development. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 demonstrates this commitment and has been designed for optimized performance, stability and flexibility to cater to today’s diverse workloads running in physical, virtual and cloud environments.

Key New Features & Enhancement :-
  • Identity Management
System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) enhancements improve the interoperability experience with [Microsoft Active Directory] by providing centralized identity access control for Linux/Unix clients in a heterogeneous environment.

  • File system
pNFS (Parallel NFS) client (file layout only) remains in technology preview, however now delivers performance improvements with the addition of Direct I/O for faster data access. This drives particular performance benefits for I/O intensive use cases including database workloads.

  • Virtualization
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 now includes the Microsoft Hyper-V Linux drivers, which were recently accepted by the upstream Linux community, improving the overall performance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 as a guest on Microsoft Hyper-V.
Installation support for VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V para-virtualization drivers. This new feature enhances the user deployment experience of Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a guest in either of these virtualization environments.
In this release, KVM virtualization virtio-scsi support, a new industry storage architecture, provides industry leading storage stack scalability.

  • Management
The use of swap functionality over NFS enables more efficient read/write tradeoffs between local system memory and remote disks. This capability increases performance in very large, disk-less server farms seen in ISP and Web hosting environments.
Enhancement in c-groups delivers the ability to migrate multi-threaded applications without errors.
Optimized perf tool for the latest Intel processors

  • Storage
New system log features identify mapping from block device name to physical device identifier – allowing an administrator to easily locate specific devices as needed.

  • Productivity Tools
Microsoft interoperability improvements with Microsoft Exchange and calendar support in Evolution. Productivity functions, such as calendar support with alarm notification and meeting scheduling is improved.
Customers such as animation studios and graphic design houses now have support for the newer Wacom tablets.


Through this next beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat team is proud to deliver the highest quality open source enterprise platform. To download the beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 click Here




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VMware Confirmed: The Source Code of ESX kernel Was Indeed Stolen By Hackers

VMware Confirmed: The Source Code of ESX kernel Was Indeed Stolen By Hackers

VMware, the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure again faced cyber attack. Earlier in this year a hacker named "Hardcore Charlie" had stolen files from its ESX server hypervisor source code has been posted online. In that attack the hacker managed to steal more than 300MB source code of  VMWare products. Here also after 6 months another hacker named Stun (57UN) claiming to be affiliated with hacker collective Anonymous managed to hack the source code of VMware's ESX kernel. Immediately after the breach the hacker tweeted a link to a torrent site hosting the stolen VMkernel source code. In their official blog post VMware director of platform security Iain Mulholland acknowledged the breach on Sunday and confirmed the source code was indeed stolen. But VMware also confirmed that leaked is source code that dates back to 1998-2004 which was previously leaked Hardcore Charlie. VMware also said that it is investigating what actions to take next. The torrent file posted by 57UN is leading to download you the source code of VMware ESX, that is sized almost 2MB
In a security note VMware said- "our security team became aware of the public posting of VMware ESX source code dating back to 2004. This source code is related to the source code posted publicly on April 23, 2012. It is possible that more related files will be posted in the future. We take customer security seriously and have engaged our VMware Security Response Center to thoroughly investigate. Ensuring customer security is our top priority. As a matter of best practices with respect to security, VMware strongly encourages all customers to apply the latest product updates and security patches made available for their specific environment. We also recommend customers review our security hardening guides. By applying the combination of the most current product updates and the relevant security patches, we believe our customer environments will be best protected. As is our practice, VMware will continue to assess any further security risks, and will provide recommendations and updates here as appropriate..." VMware also encouraged its customers to view the May 3, 2012 security patch information as a resource.

While talking about source code leak, we want to remind you that couple of months ago this hacker (57UN) stolen the source code of Skype. Also earlier in 2012 another hacker group named  The Lords of Dharmaraja has managed to steal the source code of Norton Symantec





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Microsoft Releases Windows Server 2012 [Download Now]

Microsoft Releases Windows Server 2012 With Complete Virtualization, Cloud Services, Improved Scalability & Performance [Download Now]

In March this year software giant Microsoft has announced the availability of Windows Server 8, later in April it has been renamed to Windows Server 2012. Windows Server powers many of the worlds' largest datacenters, enables small businesses around the world, and delivers value to organizations of all sizes in between. Windows Server 2012 redefines the server category, delivering hundreds of new features and enhancements spanning virtualization, networking, storage, user experience, cloud computing, automation, and more. Simply put, Windows Server 2012 helps you transform your IT operations to reduce costs and deliver a whole new level of business value. With Windows Server 2012, Microsoft delivers a server platform built on our experience of building and operating many of the world's largest cloud-based services and datacenter. Whether you are setting-up a single server for your small business or architecting a major new datacenter environment, Windows Server 2012 will help you cloud-optimize your IT so you can fully meet your organization's unique needs. 

Features at a Glance:- 

Beyond Virtualization:- Offers a dynamic, multitenant infrastructure to help you scale and secure workloads and build a private cloud. Windows Server 2012 can help you provide:

  • Complete Virtualization Platform- A fully-isolated, multitenant environment with tools that can help guarantee service level agreements, enable usage-based chargeback, and support self-service delivery.
  • Improved Scalability and Performance- A high-density, scalable environment that you can modify to perform at an optimum level based on your needs.
  • Connecting to Cloud Services- A common identity and management framework to enable highly secure and reliable cross-premises connectivity.

The Power of Many Servers, the Simplicity of One:- Delivers a highly available and easy to manage cloud-optimized platform. Windows Server 2012 can help you provide:

  • Flexible Storage- Diverse storage choices that can help you achieve high performance, availability, and storage resource efficiency through virtualization and storage conservation.
  • Continuous Availability- New and improved features that provide cost-effective, highly available services with protection against a wide range of failure scenarios.
  • Management Efficiency- Automation of a broad set of management tasks and simplified deployment of workloads as you move toward full, lights-out automation.

Every App, Any Cloud:- Offers a cloud-optimized server platform that gives you the flexibility to build and deploy applications and websites on-premises, in the cloud, or across both. Windows Server 2012 can help you deliver:

  • Flexibility to Build On-Premises and in the Cloud- A consistent set of tools and frameworks that enables developers to build symmetrical or hybrid applications across the datacenter and the cloud.
  • A Scalable and Elastic Infrastructure- New features to help you increase website density and efficiency, plus frameworks, services, and tools to increase the scalability and elasticity of modern applications.
  • An Open Web and App Development Environment- An open platform that enables mission-critical applications and provides enhanced support for open standards, open-source applications, and various development languages.


Modern Workstyle, Enabled:- Provides users with flexible access to data and applications while simplifying management and maintaining security, control, and compliance. Windows Server 2012 can help you offer:

  • Access to Applications and Data from Virtually Anywhere, Any Device- Seamless, on-demand access to virtualized work environments from virtually anywhere.
  • A Full Windows Experience Anywhere- A personalized and rich user experience from virtually any device that adapts to different network conditions quickly and responsively.
  • Enhanced Data Security and Compliance- Granular access to data and corporate resources based on strong identity, data classification, and centralized policy administration and auditing.

To Download Windows Server 2012 (Both iso & VHD) Click Here


-Source (Microsoft) 







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VMware Announces The Availability of VMware Workstation™ 9 (Download Free Trial)

VMware Announces The Availability of VMware Workstation™ 9 (Download Free Trial)

The global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, VMware globally announced the general availability of its Workstation Version 9, the latest version of its award-winning personal virtualization software. VMware Workstation 9 delivers best-in-class Windows 8 support and innovative new features that transform the way technical professionals work with virtual machines whether they reside on the PC or on enterprise private clouds.  “For over a decade we have consistently delivered innovative new technologies with each Workstation release and Workstation 9 continues this tradition,” said Vittorio Viarengo, vice president, End-User Computing, VMware. “Workstation 9 brings the power of VMware virtualization to any IT professional desk and enables them to leverage the latest evolution of operating systems, processors and other technologies to be more productive and effective.”

Key  features in VMware Workstation 9 include:-
  • Windows 8 Support– Easy install simplifies the task of creating virtual machines for Windows 8 that can run simultaneously with a variety of legacy operating systems. Unity mode intelligently works with Windows 8 applications, and multi-touch support ensures a true Windows 8 experience. 
  • More Powerful Virtual Machines – Faster startup performance, USB 3.0 support for Windows 8 virtual machines, Intel™ Ivy Bridge compatibility, more powerful virtualization extensions, virtual performance counters, support for OpenGL 2.1 on Linux and improved 3D graphics performance make running highly demanding applications simple and efficient.
  • Increased Mobility – A new Web interface allows access to virtual machines running in Workstation or on VMware vSphere® from tablets, smart phones, laptops or desktop PCs.  This high performance, Web-based interface delivers a native desktop experience and does not require flash or browser-based plug-ins.
  • Restricted Virtual Machines – IT administrators and instructors can create virtual machines and configure them to prevent employees or students from dragging and dropping files between virtual and physical desktops, attaching devices, or tampering with the virtual machine settings.  Once restrictions are configured, the virtual machines can be encrypted and distributed to run on Mac, Windows, or Linux PCs with VMware Fusion® 5 Professional, Workstation 9, or VMware Player™ 5.
  • Better 3D Graphics- With faster 3D graphics and support for DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3 and OpenGL 2.1 3D graphics in a Windows and now Linux virtual machine, VMware Workstation easily handles demanding 3D applications like AutoCAD, Solidworks, and many current games.

To know detailed information about VMware Workstation 9 click Here. To Download a free trial Click Here.


-Source (VMware)








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Microsoft Releases Windows 8 Enterprise Edition (Freely Available For 90 Days)

Microsoft Releases Windows 8 Enterprise Edition (Freely Available For 90 Days) 

Redmond based software giant Microsoft has released the Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation version yet again making it available free for 90 days. Before this Evolution version we have tested three different flavors of Microsoft's upcoming and long awaited operating system Windows 8, and they are  Windows 8   Consumer PreviewWindows 8 Developer Preview Windows 8 Release Preview. According to Microsoft - Windows 8 Enterprise features include all the capabilities that customers get with Windows 8 Pro* plus premium features designed to provide the mobile productivity, security, manageability and virtualization needs of today’s businesses. Developers can write their own apps in widely used languages such as C#, C++, JavaScript, and Microsoft’s Visual Basic. Windows 8 Enterprise also includes a built-in print driver that supports “a wide range” of printers without the hassle of installing printer drivers from CDs or the Web onto print servers or client devices.

Some of the key features that will be available exclusively to Windows 8 Enterprise customers are:-

  • Windows To Go is a fully manageable corporate Windows 8 desktop on a bootable external USB stick. This will allow IT organizations to support the “Bring Your Own PC” trend and businesses can give contingent staff access to the corporate environment without compromising security.
  • Direct Access allows remote users to seamlessly access resources inside a corporate network without having to launch a separate VPN and helps IT administrators keep remote users’ PCs in compliance by applying the latest policies, software updates. When used with Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 makes Direct Access easier to deploy and implement with the existing IPv4 infrastructure.
  • BranchCache allows users’ PCs to cache files, websites, and other content from central servers, so content is not repeatedly downloaded across the wide area network (WAN). When used with Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 brings several improvements to BranchCache to streamline the deployment process, optimize bandwidth over WAN connections and ensure better security and scalability.
  • AppLocker can help mitigate issues by restricting the files and apps that users or groups are allowed to run.
  • VDI enhancements: Enhancements in Microsoft RemoteFX and Windows Server 2012, provide users with a rich desktop experience with the ability to play 3D graphics, use USB peripherals and use touch-enabled devices across any type of network (LAN or WAN) for VDI scenarios.
  • New Windows 8 App Deployment: Domain joined PCs and tablets running Windows 8 Enterprise will automatically be enabled to side-load internal, Windows 8 Metro style apps.

Windows 8 Enterprise is available to Software Assurance customers via the Volume License Service Center (VLSC), allowing you to test, pilot and begin adopting Windows 8 Enterprise within your organization. For those customers who are interested in trying out the key features in Windows 8 Enterprise, you can also now obtain Windows 8 Enterprise through your TechNet Professional Subscription or MSDN Subscription. For IT professionals that don’t have access to any of the above options, a 90-day evaluation version is now available for download through the TechNet Evaluation Center


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Microsoft Fixes & Apologizes Embarrassing 'Big Boobs' String (0xB16B00B5) From Linux Code

Microsoft Fixes & Apologizes Embarrassing 'Big Boobs' String (0xB16B00B5) From Linux Code

Buried in the software that connects the Linux kernel to Microsoft‘s HyperV virtualization program was the following code string: '0xB16B00B5'The string was spotted by programmer Paolo Bonzini, who posted about his discovery to the Linux Kernel mailing list saying “Somone (sic) was trying to be funny, I guess”.
The string was used every time the Microsoft program ran a virtual version of Linux. Linux developer Dr Matthew Garrett is upset by what he sees as “straightforward childish humour”. He points out that previously Microsoft used the string 0x0B00B135 (or “BOOBIES” to non-programmers) in a previously submitted piece of code. Dr Garrett points out that the string may be used to connect Linux system to Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, making the problem even tougher to fix. “So, full marks, Microsoft,” says Dr Garrett. “You’ve managed to make the kernel more offensive to half the population and you’ve made it awkward for us to rectify it”. Microsoft was made aware of the code quickly issued an apologetic statement, saying “We thank the community for reporting this issue and apologize for the offensive string. We have submitted a patch to fix this issue and the change will be published in a future release of the kernel.”  The software giant then immediately issued a patch that corrected the string. In early June, Microsoft suffered another embarrassment over '"vulgar" language used during a song and dance routine at a company conference.





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Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.3 Released & Globally Available

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.3 Released & Globally Available

Only six months after the release of RHEL 6.2. Red Hat officially announced the global availability of the next minor release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3. Couple of months ago we got the Beta of RHEL 6.3 and with this final release Red Hat has tweaked the enterprise grade Linux distribution to add new capabilities in storage, virtualization, security, developer tools, file systems, scalability and performance.

Highlighted Features :-
  • Developer Tools: In addition to OpenJDK6 support in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, the newly introduced OpenJDK7 allows customers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 to develop and test with the latest version of open source Java. The Red Hat Developer Day is scheduled for June 26th at the 2012 Red Hat Summit & JBoss World. More about this and other capabilities will be presented, including the Red Hat Enterprise Linux toolset (updated GCC), performance optimization, thread programming and NUMA. For more information about developer day, please visit here.
  • Virtualization: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 helps smooth migration to a virtualized environment. This is achieved with the help of new Virt-P2V tools that can easily convert a Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Microsoft Windows system running on physical hardware to run as KVM guests. This release implements a more robust mechanism to protect data associated with defunct virtual machines. The method by which virtual disk images are securely wiped has been enhanced to allow greater security and stronger compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS).
  • Security: Users can now use two-factor authentication for securely accessing their Red Hat Enterprise Linux environment. This type of authentication mechanism is more secure than simple password based authentication. Two-factor authentication is being adopted into enterprise environments and is often referenced in industry standards. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 also includes advanced encryption capabilities so data blocks can be encrypted in parallel by taking advantage of underlying multi-processor capabilities. This is supported by the introduction of AES-CTR (Advanced Encryption Standard Counter Mode) cipher for OpenSSH. AES-CTR is well suited for high-speed networking environments.
  • Scalability: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 continues to test the outer bounds of scalability for an operating system platform by increasing the maximum number of virtual CPUs (vCPUs) per guest to 160 from 64. This is significantly higher than the 32 vCPU per guest limit for VMware ESX 5.0. The maximum supported memory configuration for KVM guests has also been increased from 512GB to 2TB.
  • File Systems: File system improvements include O_DIRECT support in FUSE (File system in user space). When enabled, all FUSE reads and writes go directly to storage, bypassing the server cache. This capability can lead to more consistent response times and predictable access to data by multiple accessors for certain use-cases, including database writes and deduplication. GFS2 (shared storage file system) can now read and write data to the disks faster than in previous releases for certain use-cases. In addition, file system check utilities for GFS2 can now be used to check the integrity of the older GFS1 file system.
  • Storage: The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) now provides support for RAID levels 4, 5, and 6 to simplify overall storage administration by consolidating all management functions, such as creating and re-sizing volumes, deploying RAID, and taking snapshots into a single interface. It is now possible to deploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 as a FCoE based storage target server providing the high level of reliability and performance available with native Fibre Channel but at a significantly lower cost. This feature complements the FCoE Initiator support that was delivered in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0.
  • Subscription Management: With Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3, by default customers can use Red Hat Subscription Management (SAM), an enhanced subscription management capability using X.509 certificates that allows customers to effectively manage subscriptions locally and report on subscription distribution and utilization. This helps facilitate compliance, upgrades, and long-term planning. Customers register their systems using Red Hat Subscription Manager to the Red Hat award-winning customer portal or an instance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux SAM. Customers who used RHN Classic subscription management with prior releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, can continue to use it or migrate to Red Hat Subscription Management.



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VMware Patches Denial of Service & Memory Corruption Vulnerability

VMware Patches Denial of Service & Memory Corruption Vulnerability in Desktop, Server Virtualization Products

Critical arbitrary code execution vulnerability in Desktop, Server Virtualization Products of VMware has been patched. Giant in Visualization software vendor VMware has released security patches for its Workstation, Player, Fusion, ESXi and ESX products in order to address two vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to compromise the host system or even crash a virtual machine completely.
Attackers could exploit this validation error by loading specially crafted checkpoint files to trigger a memory corruption and potentially execute arbitrary code on the host system. VMware advised customers to upgrade to the newly released Workstation 8.0.4, Player 4.0.4 and Fusion 4.1.3 or to install the patches available for their respective versions of ESXi and ESX.
According to VMware security advisory the more serious vulnerability is identified as CVE-2012-3288 and stems from an improper validation of input data when loading virtual machine checkpoint files.
The second vulnerability addressed by the new security updates could allow attackers to crash a virtual machine by sending malformed traffic from a remote virtual device. Remote virtual devices are devices like CD-ROMs that are made available to a virtual machine, but are physically attached to a remote computer. Traffic coming from remote virtual devices is incorrectly handled, VMware said.



-Source (VMware & PCWorld)



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Microsoft Azure Cloud Starts Supporting Linux (Hybrid Cloud)

Microsoft Azure Cloud Starts Supporting Linux (Hybrid Cloud)

If you love both Microsoft and Linux parallely then we have a great news for you and that is Microsoft is now offering Linux-based operating systems on its Windows Azure cloud service. The software giant has announced the release of a new preview version of the platform which will add Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) capabilities to it. As well as Windows Server 2008 and the release candidate of Windows Server 2012, Microsoft will be supporting openSUSE 12.1, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, Ubuntu 12.04 and CentOS 6.2 on the Hyper-V virtual machines that power Azure.

Some of the Highlights:- 
  • Windows Azure Virtual Machines— Virtual Machines give you application mobility, allowing you to move your virtual hard disks (VHDs) back and forth between on-premises and the cloud.   Migrate existing workloads such as Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft SharePoint to the cloud, bring your own customized Windows Server or Linux images, or select from a gallery.    As a common virtualization file format, VHD has been adopted by hundreds of vendors and is a freely available specification covered under the Microsoft Open Specification Promise.
  • Windows Azure Virtual Network— Virtual Network lets you provision and manage virtual private networks (VPNs) in Windows Azure as well as securely extend on-premises networks into the cloud.  It provides control over network topology, including configuration of IP addresses, routing tables and security policies and uses the industry-standard IPSEC protocol to provide a secure connection between your corporate VPN gateway and Windows Azure. 
  • Windows Azure Web Sites —Build web sites and applications with this highly elastic solution supporting .NET, Node.js, and PHP while using common deployment techniques like Git and FTP.  Windows Azure Web Sites will also allow easy deployment of open source applications like WordPress, Joomla!, DotNetNuke, Umbraco, and Drupal to the cloud with a few clicks. 
  • New tools, language support, and SDK—Windows Azure SDK June 2012 includes new developer capabilities for writing code against the latest service improvements with updated support for Java, PHP, and .NET, and the addition of Python as a supported language on Windows Azure.  Additionally, the SDK now provides 100% command line support for both Windows and Mac.
  • Availability in New Countries— Availability of Windows Azure is being expanded to customers in 48 new countries, including Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, and Ukraine.  Roll-out will be complete later this month, making Windows Azure one of the most widely available cloud platforms in the industry with offerings in 89 countries and in 19 local currencies.  
These new capabilities simplify building and bringing applications of all kinds to the cloud and enable flexibility in the following areas:
  • Increased datacenter capacity through secure VPN connections to the cloud
  • Easy operations and management from an improved Windows Azure Management Portal, with powerful operational capabilities for deploying and managing your cloud applications – with similar management support from the command line
  • Cloud scale for building websites with ASP.NET, PHP, and Node.js
  • Support for additional Operating Systems and OSS language libraries for building cloud applications
  • Scale on demand by migrating existing applications to the cloud using portable, industry standard VHDs -- delivering global scale with maximum control
  • Secure connectivity between cloud and on-premises applications
  • Ability to develop, test and configure new applications in the cloud, and then deploy on-premises for production



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#CFP - Call For Papers Nullcon Delhi 2012 (International Security Conference)

#CFP - Call For Papers Nullcon Delhi 2012 (International Security Conference)
After the success of Goa, now its the preparation time for nullcon Delhi to showcase cutting edge security technologies and discuss new attack vectors and security threats among the Corporate world and the Government sector. The event brings together thought leaders, Corporates, Government and security professionals all under one roof. Being the official media partner, Team Voiceofgreyhat wishes all the very best for Nullcon Delhi 2012.


Categories:-

The talk time duration includes time for questions and answers (5-10 minutes).
  1. Research Category (40 mins - 1 hr) - is a deep knowledge technical track that includes new research, tools, vulnerabilities, zero days or exploits.
  2. Technical Category (30 mins - 1 hr) - comprises of known security issues, case studies, twist to an existing research, tool, vulnerability, exploit or research-in-progress. Although this track is fairly technical, it covers known techniques and analysis and is specially created for security professionals who are not too much into new research, are auditors, management professionals and newbies.
  3. Desi Jugaad (1 hr) - is our signature research category talk and includes any local Indian/Asian hacks.

Submission Topics:-

  1. One of the topics of interest to us is Desi Jugaad(Local Indian/Asian Hack) and has a separate track of its own. Submissions can be any kind of local hacks that you have worked on (hints: electronic/mechanical meters, automobile hacking, Hardware, mobile phones, lock-picking, bypassing procedures and processes, etc. Be creative!)
  2. The topics pertaining to security and hacking in the following domains(but not limited to):
    • Hardware Hacking(ex: RFID, Magnetic Strips, Card Readers, Mobile Devices, Electronic Devices)
    • Tools/exploits/Zero-days (noncommercial)
    • Programming/Software Development security and weaknesses
    • Network vulnerabilities.
    • Information Warfare, cyber espionage, cyber crime, cyber laws
    • Malware, Botnets
    • Web attacks and application hacking
    • New attack vectors
    • Mobile malware, vulnerabilities, exploits, VOIP and Telecom
    • Virtualization security, hacking VMs, breaking out of VMS etc
    • Cloud security, threats and exploitation
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Satellite hacking
    • Forensics

Submission Format:-

Email the paper to : cfp@nullcon.net
The subject should be : CFP Delhi 2012 <Paper Title>
Email Body :

  1. Name
  2. Handle
  3. Track (& Time required in case of General/Business track)
  4. Paper Title
  5. Country(and City) of residence
  6. Organization and Designation
  7. Contact Number
  8. Have you presented or submitted this paper at any other conference(s) or magazine(s)?
    Yes, No. If yes, where? and how this submission is different from the previous ones. Note that new research talks already given elsewhere or are due to be given elsewhere prior to nullcon will be considered as Technical category talks unless they consist of cutting edge and ground breaking technology, which is at the judgment of the review committee.
  9. Are you releasing an open source tool?
    Yes/No. (If yes, please include the source code for review)
  10. Are you releasing an exploit?
    Yes/No. (If yes, please include the source and vulnerability details for review)
  11. Are you releasing a new vulnerability/Zero-day?
    Yes/No. (If yes, please send us the details, including reproduction procedure, for review)
  12. Why do you think your paper is different/innovative (for all tracks) and how does it qualify as new work/research(for Research track only)?
  13. Are there any live demonstrations (These earn you good points during review)?
    Yes/No. (If Yes, how many? Also please explain each demo)
  14. Brief Profile ( less than 500 Words)
  15. Paper Abstract - Please provide detailed working or your research/work. The more details you provide the better it is for the reviewers. Please keep the abstract to the point. Please do not try to hide the technical details or say “I can't disclose it till bla bla” as it does not help the reviewers in any way and may give your paper a low score because of insufficient information available in the abstract.
  16. Your high resolution photo (attached)

Important Dates:-

CFP Opens: 25th April 2012
1st round of Speaker list Online: 10th June 2012
CFP Closing Date: 30th June 2012
Final speakers List online: 10th July 2012
Conference Dates: 26th-29th September 2012 


For Detailed Information Click Here 



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Fedora 17 "Beefy Miracle" Released With JBoss Application Server, oVirt & More

Fedora 17 "Beefy Miracle" Released With JBoss Application Server, oVirt & More
Couple of weeks ago we got the Beta version of Fedora 17 and now the developers at Fedora Project announced the general availability of of its popular Linux distribution Fedora 17 code named "Beefy Miracle". According to the release note - "At the heat of a thousand hot dog cookers, the seventeenth release of Fedora shall be forged by contributors the world over, and it will be known as: Beefy Miracle. The mustard shall indicate progress. For six months, participants in the Fedora Project shall freely contribute to the release of the distribution, in the spirit of the Four Foundations -- Freedom, Friends, Features, and First -- and moreover, they shall relish in Fun, as a community without Fun would be like a day without sunshine..."
This new release includes a version of the GNOME Shell which works on systems with graphics drivers that don't support 3D acceleration. The latest version of the Linux distribution also implements much-discussed changes to the filesystem structure involving the removal of the /bin/, /sbin/, /lib/ and /lib64/ directories. A new sandbox feature allows applications to be easily isolated using KVM or LXC.
Fedora 17 includes a pre-release of Juno, the release of the  Eclipse SDK expected in June 2012.  Java 7 (and OpenJDK 7) is the default Java runtime and Java build toolset, and GCC 4.7.x is now the primary compiler in Fedora.  Other language refreshes include shipping Ruby 1.9.3, the latest stable version of the Ruby language; PHP 5.4, the latest PHP stack; an update of Erlang to the R15 release; and the D language has been updated to the 2.058 release.
Fedora 17 will increase your reliability and versatility with the new enhancements to the clustering stack in Fedora  17. Load balancing and high availability improvements have been made, allowing systems administrators to deploy Fedora in environments requiring greater availability and clustered file systems. JBoss Application Server (AS) 7 has also been added to Fedora 17; this fast, lightweight, and modular application server allows you to run full Java EE applications. oVirt, a server virtualization management system with advanced capabilities for hosts and guests, is also included.  The automatic multi-seat feature enables multiple, concurrent end-users to utilize a desktop from a single machine, which any systems administrator can relish. For detailed information about this release please go through the release note of Fedora 17.

To Download Fedora 17 "Beefy Miracle" Click Here

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Red Hat Announced Beta of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.3

Red Hat Announced Beta of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3
Just over four months after the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.2, developer at RedHat has made a beta of version of RHEL 6.3 available. This beta includes a broad set of updates to the existing feature set and also provides rich new functionality particularly in the areas of virtualization, scalability, storage, file systems, and security. As always, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 beta delivers new hardware enablement made possible by our strong relationships with our strategic hardware partners. This beta release has been designed for optimized performance, scalability, and reliability to cater to the diverse workloads running in physical, virtual and cloud environments.

Key Features in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 Beta:-
Virtualization-
  • A new tool called Virt-P2V that facilitates the conversion of physical Windows or Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems into virtual images to be deployed as KVM guests inside Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization.
  • Stronger compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS), including the ability to perform secure wipes of virtual machine disks.
  • The ability to perform live volume resizing, improving the overall availability of virtualized guests.
Scalability-
  • The maximum number of virtual CPUs (vCPUs) has been increased from 64 to 160, which lets you run larger CPU-intensive workloads on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform. VMware ESX 5.0 currently support 32 vCPUs.
  • The maximum supported memory configuration for KVM guests has been increased from 512GB to 2TB.
File Systems-
  • GFS2 enhancements that create faster read-write capabilities for specific use cases.
  • Support of O_Direct in FUSE (Filesystem in User Space), which can provide improved performance for certain workloads.
  • Simplified configuration and administration for the file system. Integration of automount capability with System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) provides centralized management of configuration data and the ability to improve performance through caching and load balancing. (This feature is a Technology Preview.)
Storage-
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 provides full support for Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Target. This feature, which was previously provided as a Technology Preview, allows customers to present their Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers as FCoE storage devices. This feature complements the FCoE Initiator support that was delivered in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0.
  • The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) now provides support for RAID levels 4, 5, and 6. (Previously, support for these RAID levels was provided through the MD subsystem.) This expanded LVM RAID support simplifies overall storage administration by consolidating all management functions, such as creating volumes, resizing volumes, deploying RAID, taking snapshots, etc., into a single interface. (This feature is a Technology Preview.)
  • The LVM now provides the ability to create thin provisioned logical volumes. Previously, storage was allocated when the volume was created, and needed to be monitored for space consumption and expanded manually. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3, storage is allocated as required, allowing volumes to expand up to the requested size on demand without intervention. (This feature is a Technology Preview.)
Security-
  • Availability of a two-factor authentication mechanism, enhancing the overall security available to lock down Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments and enabling compliance with industry standards such as PCI-DSS.
  • Expansion of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to provide particular benefits for system performance on multi-processor machines.
Identity Management-
  • With native support for netgroups and the services map in System Security Services Daemon (SSSD), Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers can be integrated into centralized systems -- such as Active Directory -- to manage system users.
  • The addition of an automembership plug-in streamlines the administration of new users and hosts when they are added into the Identity Management system by automatically placing them into a predefined set of groups, speeding user and host provisioning.
  • Performance improvements through session data caching, which lowers the overall load on authentication servers.
Hardware Enablement-
  • Software bandwidth management for USB 3.0 for select Intel platforms is now available.
  • Compiler optimization for Intel Xeon E5 processor family, which improves the result of string operations, is now included.
  • Improvements to memory and I/O breakpoint execution operations within compiler tools are now included.
Developer Tools-
  • With the introduction of OpenJDK 7, customers can develop and test with the latest version of open source Java.
To Download Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 Click Here

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Microsoft Announced Three Editions of Windows 8 Along With Key Features

Microsoft Announced Three Editions of Windows 8 Along With Key Features

Earlier we have discussed on Consumer Preview Windows 8 & Windows 8 Developer Preview. Now In the official blog post Microsoft Windows Communications Manager Brandon LeBlanc Microsoft announced three editions of its upcoming Windows 8 platform: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and Windows RT, which was previously known at Windows on ARM, or WOA. According to Brandon LeBlanc’s post, Windows 8 Pro will include everything in Windows 8 along with advanced features such as encryption, virtualization, PC management and domain connectivity. Windows 8 Pro users will also be able to purchase Windows Media Center as a cheaper add-on. Microsoft recommends Windows 8 (the entry-level, limited functionality edition) for home use. As usual, this edition does not include BitLocker hard drive encryption, EFS file encryption or the ability to boot from a VHD. It is also not possible to access it using Remote Desktop (host). Computers running this edition are also unable to join domains and can't be managed using group policies. All these functions are reserved for Windows 8 Pro, as is the Hyper-V client for desktop visualization

Key Features:- 

Feature name Windows 8 Windows 8 Pro Windows RT
Upgrades from Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium
x
x
Upgrades from Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate x
Start screen, Semantic Zoom, Live Tiles x x x
Windows Store x x x
Apps (Mail, Calendar, People, Messaging, Photos, SkyDrive, Reader, Music, Video) x x x
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote) x
Internet Explorer 10 x x x
Device encryption x
Connected standby x x x
Microsoft account x x x
Desktop x x x
Installation of x86/64 and desktop software x x
Updated Windows Explorer x x x
Windows Defender x x x
SmartScreen x x x
Windows Update x x x
Enhanced Task Manager x x x
Switch languages on the fly (Language Packs) x x x
Better multiple monitor support x x x
Storage Spaces x x
Windows Media Player x x
Exchange ActiveSync x x x
File history x x x
ISO / VHD mount x x x
Mobile broadband features x x x
Picture password x x x
Play To x x x
Remote Desktop (client) x x x
Reset and refresh your PC x x x
Snap x x x
Touch and Thumb keyboard x x x
Trusted boot x x x
VPN client x x x
BitLocker and BitLocker To Go x
Boot from VHD x
Client Hyper-V x
Domain Join x
Encrypting File System x
Group Policy x
Remote Desktop (host) x

Announcing the Windows 8 Editions:-  
"First, Windows 8 is the official product name for the next x86/64 editions of Windows.
For PCs and tablets powered by x86 processors (both 32 and 64 bit), we will have two editions: Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. For many consumers, Windows 8 will be the right choice. It will include all the features above plus an updated Windows Explorer, Task Manager, better multi-monitor support and the ability to switch languages on the fly (more details on this feature can be found in this blog post),which was previously only available in Enterprise/Ultimate editions of Windows. For China and a small set of select emerging markets, we will offer a local language-only edition of Windows 8.
Windows 8 Pro is designed to help tech enthusiasts and business/technical professionals obtain a broader set of Windows 8 technologies. It includes all the features in Windows 8 plus features for encryption, virtualization, PC management and domain connectivity. Windows Media Center will be available as an economical “media pack” add-on to Windows 8 Pro. If you are an enthusiast or you want to use your PC in a business environment, you will want Windows 8 Pro.
Windows RT is the newest member of the Windows family – also known as Windows on ARM or WOA, as we’ve referred to it previously. This single edition will only be available pre-installed on PCs and tablets powered by ARM processors and will help enable new thin and lightweight form factors with impressive battery life. Windows RT will include touch-optimized desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. For new apps, the focus for Windows RT is development on the new Windows runtime, or WinRT, which we unveiled in September and forms the foundation of a new generation of cloud-enabled, touch-enabled, web-connected apps of all kinds.  For more details on WOA, we suggest reading this blog post which shares more detail on how we have been building Windows 8 to run on the ARM architecture..."



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