Ensuring visibility in network traffic

EVER FACED a problem in retrieving data after the system recovers from a crash? If a company has robust Network Management in place, there are little chances of losing data. Similarly, recklessness towards network and information that flows across a network cannot only impede the speed of the work, but also can affect the progress of a business.
In addition to this, the apathetic behaviour of a network is exasperating for the users connected to the network, but what it is that actually causes the network to become passive and torpid?
Network Traffic
What happens when one is stuck in bumper to bumper traffic while going back to home from office? The vehicles move at a snail’s pace and it takes a lot of time for the person to reach his destination. The same situation occurs along with some other glitches when there is an information/data overload on the network. The data or information that travels across network in the form of packets constitutes network traffic, which is the major reason behind unresponsive network.
Rather, it is a weakness of network monitoring that raises visibility issues, but why it is important to ensure visibility and what can be done to achieve visibility?
Steps to Ensuring Visibility
There are three ways by which greater visibility can be created: accessing network traffic; monitoring of activities; data analysis. To ensure visibility in the network traffic, it is important to have access to data or packets that are being sent and received across network. By having access to data, it is possible to identify and distinguish data that is flowing with no commotion and the data, which is causing upheavals, but what are the ways to access data and are they all risk-free and reliable?
TAP and SPAN have been found as the two main methods of accessing data, TAP being more reliable. Initially, SPAN is inexpensive, but it becomes costly when packets drop in the mid-way before reaching the monitoring tool. This situation further aggravates that problem and makes it impossible to troubleshoot. SPAN almost fails in case of amplified internal traffic. TAP, however, allows continuous visibility in the network and rate of disruptions is lowest.
Access to data just helps in seeing and keeping an eye on the type and number of data flowing through and across the network. It doesn’t help one in knowing how the bandwidth is being used and who is guzzling more of it. Nevertheless, if the data and activities are monitored, it becomes easy to find this out. Moreover, it allows one todetermine if users are using file sharing programmes and one can also detect the presence of Trojan that is clandestinely passing on the information in the background. However, selecting a most appropriate network monitoring tool is the job of network administrator. Monitoring of data leads to capturing and analysis of data, but what if analysis of all captured data is not required?
Monitoring actually helps in filtering the data. Once it is filtered, it becomes easy to analyze data that requires analysis.  The analysis helps in identifying the underlying causes behind less visibility and network issues and leads to solutions.
The communication in the form of packets travels from user to server via router and the server then responds back to the user through router. The problems creating visibility issues can be solved either through replacing servers or increasing bandwidth i.e. the speed of the network. Bandwidth seems a skimpy hitch yet it is not that is why many companies, quite frequently, are found switching to fastest and most reliable internet connections. Actually, the process of flow of packets is affected by the speed of the type of connectivity. Simply putting ISDN cannot work in a large enterprise as it engages telephone lines and its speed ranges between few Kpbs. DSL is a better option as it doesn’t employ telephone lines, but wireless connection is the most in concept these days. It allows always-on connection, but in order to have access to it, it is must to be within a network coverage area geographically.
What does visibility yield?
Achieving visibility implies achieving cost savings and return on investment. The presence of malicious software, error counts, and identification of which protocols are using greatest bandwidth are valuable information gained through network monitoring. In short, monitoring helps in uncovering problems in network and allows provision of more network resources to the users connected to the network, thus yielding savings and more return.
A business relying on network needs to have a simple yet robust network. In the present times, where every company is making efforts to protect and safeguard their systems and information, it is important to ensure enhanced visibility in the network traffic. Even a small negligence can lead to serious repercussions such as data loss, slow processing, silent transmission and leak of the information, and business failure, which no firm wants.

Factors to consider before buying a Solar PV system

OWING TO the unprecedented level of power shortage being faced throughout the major cities and villages of Pakistan, a substantial demand of quick and reliable power solutions for household and industrial application has been observed. People have now started understanding that quick fixes in the form of UPS (Uninterrupted power supplies) and petrol/diesel generators are not a long term and sustainable solution to the impending power crisis, which is here to stay.
In scenarios such as these solar PV systems have shown great acceptability amongst the masses, not only because solar PV systems can be quickly installed on demand but can also be designed to be a dependable source of power. Pakistan is amongst the few countries which are blessed with tremendous solar resource potential year out, and thus solar PV systems can be a commercially viable alternative for a number of applications. However, unfortunately seeing this exponential growth in the off grid solar PV market a significant number of “easy money” oriented opportunists and make shift companies have started to sell these solar PV systems without taking into account the numerous engineering design factors and design practices that have to be brought under consideration before such an installation is actually made. The current situation is pretty clear; traders are selling solar PV system equipment like vegetables. The lack of knowledge and awareness amongst the customers result in bad deals (system failures or equipment failures) which in turn damage a prospective solar market and the possibility of wide spread applicability of solar energy.
This article’s objective is to educate solar PV customers of the factors that have to be brought into perspective before any solar PV system is bought. Overlooking these factors would otherwise make the PV system vulnerable to performance failures and which could also possibly lead to the damage of system components. The major components of an off grid solar PV system includes the photovoltaic module, charge controller, inverter and the batteries.
A solar PV module is the most sophisticated component of the complete system, designing a solar system energized by PV modules requires the thorough study of the performance behavior of a solar module in outdoor conditions. PV module manufacturers rate their panels at standard testing conditions based on the IEC 61215 (Crystalline) and IEC 61646 (Thin Films). PV Module performance or output in outdoor conditions is strongly linked with three important factors which are irradiance, cell temperature, air mass. Other factors which also influence PV module outputs are wind speed, shading, dust accumulation, module inclination and humidity, all of these factors contribute to the net wattage produced by the module.
With so many varying conditions worldwide a generalization was essential to compare different PV panel manufacturers, and this is where the standard testing conditions (STC) were introduced. STC specifies the irradiance to be 1000W/m2, cell temperature to be 25C and air mass to be 1.5. This means that when STC prevails the panel will produce its rated output; however, in actuality such conditions are rarely ever reached. Pakistan is a country where there are generally high ambient temperatures which result in higher cell temperatures and thus resulting in a reduced output. The solar irradiance also generally varies from 100W/m2 to 1000W/m2 throughout the day. Thus knowing the actual output of the PV panel under all the stated conditions is crucial for designing a reliable solar PV system. Amateur designers of solar PV systems tend to make a lot of generalization while designing, like for e.g. assuming the amount of sunshine hours in which STC conditions are assumed. This leads to the systems which are likely to fail under the deviating conditions. All contingencies like the variability of environmental conditions and their influence on all the components must be taken into account.
Batteries are another component which requires a careful study and understanding before it can be deployed with any system. The batteries which should be used should have the capacity of undergoing deep cycle discharges that is the depth of discharge is higher compared to conventional car batteries. There are a range of different batteries which can be used each having its own advantages and disadvantages and must be selected while keeping the application in perspective. Ambient temperature and the time of discharge also determine the batteries charge holding capacity and must be considered in the design of a reliable solar PV system. The number of cycles (i.e. life of battery) that the battery is capable of withstanding under the anticipated environmental conditions and also based on the applications must be communicated with the customer. The life of the battery must be accurately determined as this is one component which has to be replaced at least 3 to 4 times within the life of the PV system thus represents a recurring cost.  Mediocre PV system designers fail to understand that cutting corners while selecting batteries is detrimental to the economics of a Solar PV system.
The charge controller and inverters is considered as the heart and brain of the solar PV system, sizing both components adequately based on a number of factors is crucial for the long reliable life of the PV system. The charge controller can only be sized once the max and min current/voltage output from the PV array is determined and the inverter can only be sized once the load wattage dynamics are understood. Detailed understanding of the PV performance is necessary to size the right charge controller.
Companies in Pakistan currently selling solar PV systems are designing these systems without any regard to the technicalities associated with executing such a task, most are primarily traders willing to get the most out of the sustainable energy hype. The end result is that people end up accusing the technology for not being able to cater their power demands. This makes the renewable energy market even more challenging to work in. Thus people should be aware whether the solar solution provider they go to is capable of providing a solution which incorporates all the above factors. The government should also take appropriate steps to ensure people get the necessary training and awareness.

Tsunami foresight Normative science perspectives

 
SINCE THE day humans came to being and started thinking about new techniques to survive on earth, the only planet we know has life, we humans have been doing foresight of some sort. We try to avoid the upcoming hazards in one way or another e.g. we try to keep ourselves safe from diseases, we try to keep ourselves healthy through stockpiling the food, we hoard luxuries by calling them necessities e.g. oil, gold, silicon etc. Humans are clever beings as they are observed to be the only ones manipulating the nature. They try to come up with sophisticated technologies to gear up their joy and security needs through different tactics of invention and innovation in addition to consensus with no regards to laws of nature. Often we hear this that we do we put on clothes, why do we do what our forefathers been doing for ages, why women take care of babies at home and men working outside, why do we give charity for the ones who suffer are only because of their wrong doings….
We humans have more tendency to think about the future for securing the things which we fear about and to giving ourselves liberty from fears and restrictions. Tsunamis are one of our fears which haunt us and we think how to take care of these which are completely unpredictable. The tendency to plan for secure future is motivating us to do foresight about these natural hazards though there is common belief that it can’t be controlled by humans but God. Still being the second to God on earth efforts are on to control and foresee the things we can’t see.
Tsunamis are earthquakes which are due to the movement of the tectonic plates deep down in earth’s crust. The movement is always for a reason but how to predict that now it is going to happen. Can we really foresight the future Tsunami or earthquake thus accordingly taking actions to avoid the damage? Do we have a technology in our mind which keeps track of these movements ultimately resulting into a simulation which results in a model demonstrating the damage which may occur due to it? Or is it just for the sake of taking actions to avoid all those actions which result in Tsunamis and earthquakes? The very common person will say that we need to overcome the damage by living a simple life, keeping away from sea, always living like a traveler so that damage, if occurs, should be minimum. Some would be there who will try to make their buildings like ships so that if it ever happens then some transformation of ship like homes may occur to save from damage by going under the ground or transforming into a vessel which is submarine like.
We have strong faith persons who believe that it is because of our deeds. We do good and the result is to have good. For bad ones, troubles and issues are always ready to happen just in a moment. These believers may have assumptions but science needs to come up with a reasoning for that. Do we have a bad impact on our environment due to a bad deed which somehow impacts our earth’s crust thus making the plates to move to at least generating a potential to make them move in near or far future? Is there a linkage between the deeds and our natural hazards? Can we come up with a research project that a common type of deed resulted into a disaster which was all natural and was out of control of human beings? May we not the study the deeds or common habits of a place where these natural disasters occur? Its all meta-physics which is based on spirits. Religions do have space for this but can science come up with a proof or a linkage between the two: Tsunamis’ Science & Normative Science.