On July 19, 2024, a faulty software update from CrowdStrike, a leading cybersecurity firm, caused a widespread outage impacting businesses globally. I'm writing this blog post mostly for posterity. I will dive into the context of the outage, its far-reaching effects, and the current remediation efforts. Context: A Flawed Update Disrupts OperationsThe culprit behind the outage was a defective update ...
What is CVE-2024-6387?CVE-2024-6387, also nicknamed "regreSSion," is a critical vulnerability in OpenSSH's server software (sshd) that allows for remote unauthenticated code execution (RCE) on affected systems. This means an attacker could potentially take complete control of your machine without ever needing valid login credentials.The vulnerability stems from a signal handler race condition within OpenSSH. When a client fails to authenticate ...
In the world of design, there are a few phrases that hold immense weight. "Form follows function" is one such concept that has transcended disciplines and time. Coined by renowned architect Louis Sullivan in 1896, this principle emphasizes that the design of an object should be driven by its purpose. In simpler terms, the way something looks should be a ...
Imagine a world where a simple yet revolutionary idea is rejected, not because of a lack of evidence, but because it challenges the status quo. This is the cautionary tale of the Semmelweis reflex, named after Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician who dared to question prevailing medical beliefs in 19th century Vienna.Back then, childbirth was a terrifying ordeal. A significant ...
The "Free" in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) stands for "Freedom"; Not "Free, as in Beer"!The open-source software (OSS) revolution has transformed how businesses operate. From Linux powering your servers to web frameworks building your applications, OSS offers a robust, cost-effective foundation. But for many for-profit entities, the relationship with open source is one-sided: they leverage the benefits without ...
Note: This topic has been bubbling away in my head for a while. However, since it's a controversial issue and I might have my own perspective, I decided to take a lighter approach using humor. So, I created two fictional characters, one representing each profession, to have a fun debate. Code Warriors at War: SysAdmins vs. Software Engineers Part 1 ...
As an Enterprise Solutions Architect, I recently had the opportunity to delve into the world of ArchiMate while tackling a complex system architecture project. Let me tell you, this modeling language is a game-changer!In this post, I'll share what ArchiMate is and how it empowers us to visualize, analyze, and design enterprise architectures. I'll also discuss my experience choosing ...
Imagine you're building a house. Most people would look at existing blueprints and adapt them. First principles thinking flips that script. It's about going back to the basics, the fundamental truths (the first principles) of physics and materials, and then reasoning up from there to design the most efficient house possible. In this blog post, we'll break down what first ...
Stuck on that first step with Generative AI? Don't worry, Amazon has you covered! The genai-quickstart-pocs repository on GitHub provides a treasure trove of sample code to jump-start your journey. It's definitely worth your star. This developer-friendly repository offers a collection of projects, each focusing on a specific use case for Generative AI and Amazon Bedrock. No more sifting through ...
Source: GartnerThe very first time someone introduced me to the Gartner Hype Cycle was back in 2004 at the Virtusa R&D Lab. It remains a reliable resource for assessing the investment potential of new technologies at the time the graph was created.It's unsurprising that Generative AI currently finds itself at the Peak of Inflated Expectations, with an estimated 5-10 ...
In today's cloud-driven world, understanding how your code impacts your bottom line is crucial. My blog post here was inspired by Erik Peterson's recent talk, Million Dollar Lines of Code: an Engineering Perspective on Cloud Cost Optimization. His talk dives into the importance of cloud cost optimization and explores a concept called the Cloud Efficiency Rate (CER) to help ...
Hands-on LeadershipDuring my time at Virtusa, a couple of decades ago, Software Architecture Review Boards weren't passive affairs. Our Chief Architect, and the entire engineering leadership team, actively participated. We didn't just review diagrams; we dug into the code depending on what was on the agenda. A memorable example involved reviewing a Java codebase connecting and executing queries against a ...
Open your imagination and say goodbye to storyboards! OpenAI's latest masterpiece, Sora, isn't your average AI – it's a video magician conjuring realistic, minute-long scenes from mere text descriptions. Picture bustling Tokyo streets, Mammoths roaming snowy meadows, or even a dramatic spaceman trailer – all brought to life with stunning visuals that adhere to your specific commands. Dive into a ...
In this video, NVIDIA unveils EOS, the ninth fastest supercomputer in the world, and explains how it is being used to power the company's AI breakthroughs. EOS is an AI Factory, a purpose-built AI engine that is designed to help developers build larger, more useful AI models faster. It is built on a full stack architecture that includes NVIDIA-accelerated infrastructure, ...
In the bustling world of generative AI, a crucial debate simmers: RAG or fine-tuning? To choose between these two formidable forces, we must dive deeper into their strengths and weaknesses, understanding how they shape the landscape of large language models (LLMs). Fine-tuning, the precision surgeon, meticulously adjusts an LLM for domain-specific tasks. Think of it as tailoring a suit – ...
Remember the good old days? When sharing files meant a trusty USB stick, not a slow upload dance with the cloud? Well, ShareDrop is here to reignite that file-flinging fun, straight from your web browser! Think of it as AirDrop's cooler cousin, with a few extra party tricks up its sleeve. Sharing files between devices becomes a whisper-fast, peer-to-peer ...
Tired of OpenAI's limitations for private data and eager to experiment with RAG on my own terms, I dove headfirst into a holiday quest: building a local, OpenAI-free RAG application. While countless tutorials guide Full Stack development, the "AI" magic often relies on OpenAI APIs, leaving private data concerns unresolved. So, fueled by frustration and holiday spirit, I embarked on ...
In today's data-driven landscape, enterprises are increasingly seeking to leverage the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to unlock new insights and automate tasks. However, commercial SaaS AI models often struggle to handle the specific data (usually hidden behind firewalls) and nuances of large organizations. This is where retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) comes in. RAG is a powerful technique that augments ...
Mistral AI just announced Mixtral, a new open-source AI model - https://mistral.ai/news/mixtral-of-experts. Mistral AI holds a special place for me due to its Apache 2 open-source license. It truly embodies the spirit of "Open" AI. What is Mixtral?Mixtral is a new open-source (Apache 2) AI model that is based on the mixture-of-experts (MoE) architecture. MoE models are a type of ...
Having implemented a large scale Serverless integration middleware platform on AWS for a client, I thought of writing this blog post to note how serverless best practices can help organizations improve their DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics. DORA metrics are a set of four key metrics that measure the performance of software delivery teams:Deployment frequency: How often does the ...
