Software : Using Windows Azure as your data centre |
- Using Windows Azure as your data centre
- Rackspace opens mobile cloud stacks
- The threats from free smartphone apps
- Too late for Coachella, but YouTube for iOS app update adds live streaming
- Adobe announces Lightroom 5 beta for free download
| Using Windows Azure as your data centre Posted:  Microsoft has intensified its efforts to increase take-up of its Windows Azure cloud platform. Last week it announced that the Azure Active Directory service was ready to use in production and launched the full version of its Azure based backup service. Today its Linux and Windows Server virtual machines (VMs) are moving from test to general availability, as part of the Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service update. The move is part of the move to support companies developing a hybrid cloud - applications that connect to data and services across a number of data centres. "We want you to think about extending your data centre into our data centre, into Windows Azure" David Aiken, Windows Azure Technical Product Manager, tells TRPro. "We're not saying a business should move everything into the cloud; we want to use the cloud in ways that make sense to the business." He says the advantage is in getting things faster than with hardware in the office. "Many businesses still have the problem of this IT backlog," he says. "How we could potentially clear this backlog using Windows Azure is based on the speed at which we're able to deploy services. What could I get done if I could rattle through deployments at speed?" Possible scenarios include placing development and test labs on Azure, using it for SharePoint and SQL Server farms and to provide scalable, on-demand infrastructure for apps. Aiken also highlights virtual networking and connecting to on-premise and cloud infrastructure using a single identity with Azure Active Directory. Azure users now get access to a gallery of pre-built virtual machines running Windows Server, alone or with SQL Server, BizTalk or SharePoint already installed. The list also includes Linux VMs for OpenLogic CentOS 6.3, OpenSUSE 12.3, SUSE Linx Enterprise Server 11 SP2, Ubuntu 12.04 and Ubuntu 12.10. There is also a library of templates for content management including WordPress, Joomla and Drupal, plus e-commerce systems, wikis and other common server roles. If you prefer, you can upload your own VMs (for Microsoft's virtual hard disk format; newer VHDx machines which will be converted to VHD) which provides the option of changing your mind if Azure doesn't suit you. "You can take your SharePoint farm from Azure and spin it up on a Hyper-V box on premise. There's no lock-in," Aiken claims.
Running servers in Azure is like running any other server, and new PowerShell cmdlets, available as part of the latest update, let you run scripts that can provision a VM, wait for it to boot and turn on remote PowerShell for further configuration. "In a single script you can connect, add a server, configure it, run an installer; as long as you can script it in PowerShell, you can run through everything you need to do in a single script," Aiken says. You can script non-Windows virtual machine setup as well. "We provide a Node.js set of scripts that will run on just about any desktop or server OS. You can download the scripts on an Ubuntu client or a Mac and run them against Azure." If you use a gallery image of Windows Server, the licence cost is already included in your usage based Azure billing, but that doesn't cover the other Microsoft products. "If you use SQL Server, we will bill you," Aiken explains. That does not apply if you upload your own virtual machine and you can use the licence mobility in enterprise agreements to apply your existing Microsoft licences to running the same products on Azure rather than on your own servers. But if you prefer to pay for usage, Aiken says using the gallery images lets you turn the usual up-front licensing costs into operational expenses; one of the typical benefits of using cloud services. |
| Rackspace opens mobile cloud stacks Posted:  Open cloud company Rackspace Hosting has given mobile app developers a push with the release of its new mobile cloud stacks. The cloud stacks provide a preconfigured platform for developers to start building mobile apps without having to start from scratch. A company blogpost by Joseph Palumbo, one of the managed cloud support team at Rackspace, says the cloud stacks also provide a scalable reference architecture for developers. The first available stack is based on PHP scripting language and comprises the LAMP open source development platform and caching software. It has a number of configurations including Linux, Apache web server, MySQL and PHP. Rackspace is also launching a new partner scheme with the aim of strengthening its mobile cloud platform. It will give developers access to software developer kits (SDK), push services, mobile backend-as-a-service, testing and monitoring capabilities. The news comes amid predictions from IT analyst Gartner that mobile apps will become increasingly important to business over the next few years. In recent days it has forecast that the number of CRM apps will grow by 500% by 2016, and that by the same year more than half of mobile apps deployed with be hyrbrid. |
| The threats from free smartphone apps Posted:  As more small companies embrace the smartphone as a way to keep in touch with the office, it is all too tempting to save money by kitting out a phone with free apps. But there is a hidden cost. The allure of running business software on a smartphone for next to nothing may be attractive, but while the developers won't make money from you, they can make money from selling your personal details. We can expect apps to collect some data: a crash report that helps the developer fix problems, performance data or location data for a navigation app. But some applications collect large tranches of data, ranging from the highly personal to little snippets that can be pieced together to identify the person using the smartphone. Research carried out by security firm Bit9 last November found that more than 100,000 Android applications on Google's Play app store were "suspicious" or "questionable" because of what they did without the user knowing. Such activity includes location tracking, contact list access, and reading through email messages - activities that go beyond the stated purpose of the app. Information accessBut what information can they glean and how? A social media app might be used for keeping in touch with friends, but it can access the email addresses and information about company executives. Another app running adverts could see internal IP addresses or keywords used for business browsing. In most cases the developers of free apps supported financially by these adverts are not aware of, or able to control, what information the third party advertisers collect. (The advertising inherits the permissions of the app itself). According to David Emm, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab, it is difficult to know just what an app have given itself permission to do. "Understanding app permissions can be daunting process, even for security professionals. It's not always clear what the permissions allow the app to do, what data it will collect and importantly what it will do with that data," says Emm. Data collected by apps, when in the wrong hands, could easily be used to carry out sophisticated spear-phishing attacks. Harry Sverdlove, Bit9's Chief Technology Officer, says of these apps that they "perform questionable tasks and have access to private information, which represent a risk to enterprises." He adds that a large percentage of mobile apps are accessing more information on their devices than people realise, and "when those devices are holding both corporate and personal data, this is a problem for individuals and their employers". Protection measuresSo what can a small business do to protect information on mobile devices? Emm says that organisations need to implement anti-malware protection on smartphones, to defend against the growing number of threats. "They also need to develop a wider security strategy that incorporates every aspect of how staff conduct business – including, but not limited to, mobile devices," says Emm. "This includes weighing up the risks and benefits from adopting a 'bring your own device' approach and developing a policy for staff on how to reduce the risks from mobile devices." This should include not rooting the device, avoiding public Wi-Fi networks for confidential transactions, not relying solely on a simple PIN and only installing apps from trusted sources. "Employees need to understand that they are handling business data and that they share responsibility for ensuring its security," Emm adds. Mark James, Technical Team Leader at internet security firm ESET UK, says organisations should limit the type of apps installed on a device. "It sounds simple, but games or apps can and will often send a variety of data off to other countries or areas, which don't have the same legal data protection that the EU has," James says. "A mandatory message is presented to users with an option to view what the apps will send, but often no option is presented to choose what is or is not allowed to be sent. Users either want the app or not, and sadly most people choose 'want' over security." McAfee's EMEA Chief Technology Officer, Raj Samani, says that in addition to controlling which applications can or cannot be installed on the device, it is important to detect any attempts to circumvent the security of the device. "This refers to the ability to identify any modified devices, such as 'jailbroken' phones," he says. "All of these features, as well as other key mobile security controls, should all then be able to be easily managed." |
| Too late for Coachella, but YouTube for iOS app update adds live streaming Posted:  The YouTube app for iOS devices now allows users to access events live streamed through the video sharing service. The update, posted to the App Store on Monday, comes just a day after the first weekend of YouTube's live streaming of the Coachella music festival in Indio, California concluded. As many sites have already pointed out in their reports, it's poor timing for those who would otherwise have been able to watch the hugely popular event on their iPhone and iPad devices. A live stream of Psy performing his new single Gentleman M/V aired on Saturday, while sporting events, press conferences and popular online multiplayer games often appear on the YouTube Live site. Send to TV enhancedThe update also brings an enhancement for the AirPlay-style Send to TV feature, unveiled for iOS users in February after the initial Android roll out in November. Users can now queue-up videos to send to the compatible devices like Google TVs, and Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games consoles. The App Store listing also touts faster access to new uploads through 'My Subscriptions,' while there's also stability and performance improvements. |
| Adobe announces Lightroom 5 beta for free download Posted:  Adobe's latest version of the popular photo editing and management software, Lightroom 5, is now available as a free public beta. As the company is looking for feedback on the software, members of the public will be able to download and review the program ahead of its full launch. A number of new features have been added, while others have been improved since Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4. The new radial filter enables vignettes in various places on the image, rather than just in the corners. Improvements have been made to the healing brush, which now enables you to make a custom shape for the brush, rather than the standard circular shape. There's also a new way to fix perspectives and converging verticals with one touch of a button, known as the Upright tool. Adobe says over 50 additional "JDIs" (Just Do It) features should speed up workflow. Dust trap
A Visualise Spots feature quickly highlights dust in an image sensor to enable quick removal. The sensitivity of this feature can be increased or decreased, depending on your preference. Smart Preview is a particularly interesting feature in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 that enables image editing even when the full file is not available - for instance if it's stored on an external hard drive. When the full file is later available, any edits are rendered. The way photo books are created has seen some improvements, with the ability to modify and edit page numbers more easily, while page templates can now be created. Adobe has thought about the way that photographers now work with video, as well as photography. A new video slideshow tool enables customers to combine still images with video clips in an HD slideshow. Adobe Lightroom 5 is available now as a free download via this link until the beta period expires. |
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