IP device tracking is a feature that allows web-based authentication via web authentication proxy. This enables authentication when IEEE 802.1x port-based authentication isn’t possible. While web authentication can be useful, it may not be necessary in your case, and any unneeded mode of authentication may pose security risks. You can turn off this feature using…
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Etherchannel is a standard that helps distribute different traffic flows into different links. However, sometimes people wonder why the performance for a particularly large traffic flow many not necessarily be sped up this way. The issue here is that etherchannel doesn’t split up the packets for a single flow of traffic; it simply helps distribute…
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It’s easy to think of responsive design primarily as using media queries and flexible CSS-based layouts to allow a site to display correctly on any device. But this definition misses an important point: Users of different devices often have different priorities. For example, mobile device users may want the actual content to be more concise…
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With advances in screen technology (as pioneered by Apple’s Retina display), some devices may actually be able to offer additional resolution within a pixel. To take advantage of the ability to display sharper images, you can use HTML 5.1’s srcset attribute to specify different images for the same layout. For example, following code displays a…
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Adobe Creative Cloud gives you the flexibility to log into your account from different computers, and by syncing your settings you can be sure to have all of your custom settings available no matter which workstation you are on, and no matter which Creative Cloud app you are using. To take full advantage of all…
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There are a number of ways to convert a color image to black and white in Photoshop. While some of these require a little bit of time and fine-tuning, there is at least one way that is super fast and produces great results: The Black and White adjustment. First, open a color image. Click on…
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One common way of passing information between systems is to use scheduled jobs to copy files between locations. If those locations are on Windows servers in the same network but different domains, a Windows batch file may be the simplest way to do the job. The key is to set up a locked-down account with…
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Online storage can be a great way back up files so that disasters that affect your building don’t wipe out your data. However, just because your data are backed up online doesn’t mean they’re safe. As an example of how unreliable online storage can be, in October 2014, Bitcasa subscribers received a generic, spam-filter-triggering…
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A key component to maintaining the reliability and efficiency of your network is keeping the firmware on your network devices up-to-date. As you know, these devices can include managed switches, routers, wireless access points, and intrusion detection systems among others. Unfortunately, the device’s documentation doesn’t always provide the proper procedures for upgrading the firmware successfully.…
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One easy way to get more bandwidth for less money is to buy a fast router and use switches to increase the number of available ports. For example, an 8-port router will generally cost more than a 4-port router. However, if you need 8 ports, you can connect an 8-port switch to your router. In…
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When configuring logging for Cisco equipment, you may want to have the best of both worlds in terms of detail and brevity. Too much detail in the console may make it difficult to focus on critical information. However, if problems are encountered, it’s good to have a place where you can explore the details further.…
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There are so many aspects to Cisco that it can be difficult to find at a glance all the information related to APIs and other developer information for currently supported products. To help make this information more accessible, Cisco has re-launched DevNet, also known as the Cisco Developer Network, in 2014. While DevNet existed in…
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Upgrading operating systems has become almost automatic, as it’s a crucial element of security maintenance. However, rapid advances in computer hardware have made it easy to forget the need to also consider system resources when upgrading to any new operating system. Clearly, this becomes more of an issue with hand-held devices, which typically are far…
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In the past, the only people who were worried about their jobs being taken by machines were low-skill workers who did a very repetitive task. A robot – or more likely, a host of robots – can very easily be programmed to build a car. And with Panera announcing that it wants to replace all…
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One of the most potentially frustrating challenges in any technical IT field is that the people to whom you report may not understand why various tasks take as long or cost as much as they do. This is a very common problem, especially in companies that aren’t in the high-tech industry, since managers lacking an…
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