SiMU HD - The iPad revolution for Cisco UCS Management

It's been in the works for a long time now, too much Mt. Bike riding is to blame for the amount of time it's taken to build this.  But, as luck would have it, I "ruptured" my ACL so I have plenty of time to work on it now.

I've also enlisted some help on this project to add a real programmer to the team.  Vallard will be doing all the hard stuff.  We had a good meeting last week and added a few todo things to the list.  Below is a bit of a teaser on what's either their now, or I hope to have available when it's released.

Filtering and sorting options for Faults by severity and job role (LAN, SAN) - Partially Done
Filtering and sorting options for Servers by state. - Done
Saving multiple UCS login information (Usernames and URL)
Locator beacon access from service profile
Power draw of a particular blade
Top 5 resource users of the system with pretty graph - Done
Instantiate a Service Profile from a SP Template - Done
Export information via email

We should be ready for beta testers soon.  This version will only be fore an iPad.  It will not run on an iPhone.

-Tige and Vallard

SiMU Pro - Released!

SiMU Pro was released on the iTunes App Store today.  SiMU Pro is almost identical to SiMU Lab, with the exception of being able to do SSL encryption.  SiMU Pro can securely be used to connect to a production system.  As always, please test SiMU with a Read Only username if you are not comfortable with the security and or the testing that I have completed.  I make no promises as to the stability or safety of this application.  I've done the best I can to make sure it won't do anything unexpected, but that doesn't mean there isn't a problem that either myself or my beta testers didn't find.

A note about the security of SiMU Pro.  The application will ignore all warnings of a self signed certificates. Basically, I don't look at certificates at all.

Thanks for using SiMU Pro!

http://tinyurl.com/simupro

Things are going well

Today my app changed from "Waiting for export compliance" to "waiting for review". I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but that sure seems like I have passed the requirements to export my app with encryption.

I have a ucsm simulator running in a virtual machine at my house now with a dynamic dns hostname pointed to my router with the proper inbound rules to allow the app to be tested by Apple. It only took a day to two last time to test the app.

Once I know for sure that my method of getting encryption export authorization works I'll make a full post of how it's done.

Update:  I posted my instructions here in my other blog.
http://tigelane.blogspot.com/2011/01/apple-itunes-export-restrictions-on.html

-Tige

Crossing Fingers

I finally read a few more obscure sections of the BIS web site, tried calling the person at the bottom of the message I received (he never answered or returned my calls), and finally came to the conclusion that I was rejected because I didn't need to get a CCATS number.

With that in mind I started looking around more and I noticed that I could also submit an ERN number to Apple. I had read a few things about ERN (Encryption Registration Number), and was already investigating how to get this.  An ERN number allows you to export standard encryption technology, and report each year on your product (software). This is the notice on the Apple encryption page:

So I went back to the SNAP-R site and found how to do this here:
http://www.bis.doc.gov/encryption/question3_sub.htm

I filled out the short form they wanted and submitted it. I received instant approval. I took that approval and pasted the web screen into a word document along with the information that I was using HTTPS/SSL in the app and submitted the entire thing to Apple.

This is a copy of the message a received back from BIS that I pasted into the document for Apple.

I'll update the blog again when/if I get approval from Apple.  Hopefully that will be soon.  It in "Waiting for Export Compliance" right now after I uploaded the binary.

Limbo anyone?

I'm in limbo.. I submitted everything to the government to get my CCATS number on the 3rd of December. On the 8th I got the most cryptic message I have EVER read. Honestly, I have no idea what the heck they told me. From what I can decipher they are telling me that I need to be in compliance with a bunch of stuff. Well, yes that's why I filled all that stuff out. Duh.

Below you can find their letter. Sorry for the pictures, but the PDF they sent is encrypted. Oh, here is a note for you iPhone developers out there. The PDF they send is encrypted, but it does not require a password. If you use Preview on your Mac it will think it needs a password and you won't be able to open the file. Download the Mac Adobe Acrobat Reader and open the files with that. It a secured file, so you can't copy it electronically in text form. Hence the pictures below. Bottom line, Preview can't open this file from the SNAP-R site.

I'll update when you know something. Right now I'm not Denied, so I'll just keep waiting.

A big thank you to Stephen Lombardo who wrote the Mass Market Encryption CCATS Commodity Classification for iPhone Applications in 8 Easy Steps. It's a great resource.

SiMU Pro is getting ready for release!

SiMU Pro will add encryption (already done) to the application (reviewed by the US government), and will also include recognition of new blades (already done) that have been added. I'm also doing some limited testing with both the new version of the UCSM Emulator, and new versions of UCSM software on systems.

I'm doing a final submission to the government later this week for encryption export, and I should be able to submit the new executable to Apple early next week. At the same time I'll release a version 1.1 of SiMU Lab. This will be updated for new blades (already done).

If all goes well, and I can export SiMU Pro to all countries, then I'll end-of-sale SiMU Lab because it's only reason for existing is for a non-encrypted version. SiMU Pro can operate either with or without encryption.

Have a great week everyone!

Update 3-Dec-2010: I submitted the encryption paperwork today. Let's all cross our fingers! It's going to be a few days before I can submit to Apple. The app needs some minor changes first that I didn't think I was going to do.

SiMU Lab available on the app store!

It's there! After over 8 months of work I finally have SiMU on the App Store. It still needs to features like SSL primarily, but that's going to take some time due to requiring a test system for Apple to test against, and me getting US government approval.

If you get a change, please install SiMU Lab from the App Store. It's free!

Copy of the email I sent to my beta users:

Everyone,
It's my pleasure to announce that the first version of SiMU was released to the Apple App Store. This would not have been possible without many of your comments, suggestions, and of course finding bugs for me. :) The application is free and available as I write this note. (I just downloaded and installed it myself.

My final ask of you is to download and install the application. It's free, and if I get some downloads on the first day it should help get some recognition on the store.

The first version will not include SSL encryption. I need to resolve two things for that to happen, so it's going to be a little while. You should be able to continue using the Beta version if you need encryption. There are very few, if any bugs fixed in the release that you don't have. There are some cosmetic changes that you may notice.

Thanks everyone! Please download the application tomorrow from your device if you can. I will really appreciate it.

If you search for "cisco ucs" it's the only hit. Or you can follow this link: Link to AppStore

-Tige
tige@tigelane.com