Lethe's Ccielogs

Hello all, I've already talked about this in another blog post and even if this is not properly a "fresh" news I think a lot of people can benefit of this and may find it useful and I had a chance to dig deeply into the new CCNP 6.0 Curriculum. 

I've already said I was really excited to see that the new exams will be more "real world" focuses, this is simply great as I love everything that is more real world oriented, I'm a trainer myself but usually in my classes I try to talk about what my students will really benefit of (aka I don't like to "…comment slides on a computer screen…") like real world/administration problems, real world tools, tips and tricks.

Enough words, in short in the new track we'll have lot of improvements and some good and some bad news :

• CCNP will now be three exams, ROUTE, SWITCH, and TSHOOT – As I've already written
  
• Exam price will increase from $150.00 to $200.00 per exam – Ouch!
  
• Classe, as exams, will be more real word and as per Cisco's words TSHOOT course will be 92% hands-on – Cool!
  
• ROUTE and TSHOOT official courses will now be supplemented with e-learning material (nearly 8 hours for ROUTE and 9 hours for TSHOOT) which will be part of the examination – Simply WOW lot of fun to cover!
  
• QoS almost gone from the CCNP Curriculum – Basically they removed the overlap with the CCVP track, too bad I've loved my ONT examination
  

New exams will be publicly available between march and april of this year, ROUTE and SWITCH exams will be available in March while TSHOOT will be available in April, and in general I think they'll better prepare both to real world Network Administration adn to the CCIE R&S Examination. If you've already started your CCNP track or want to take an alternative route to the certification you can also substitute exams as follows :

• ONT and ISCW exams can substitute for TSHOOT
  
• BSCI and BCMSN can substitute ROUTE / SWITCH

All the above remain valid for all the 3 years certification period, just keep in mind July 31st all "old" CCNP Curriculum exams will be retired, so you won't be able to schedule them anymore.

Even if it is too early to talk, I wish I had the time to schedule a beta exam in the new track , I'm really impressed and happy with the changes to the Curriculum I'm just worried as I would not like to see Cisco take the VmWare path (aka attend a course to get certified) or the Citrix one (you're not forced to undertake official training but due to lack of resources you end up anyhow attending one…).

We'll see, I can't wait to put my hands on the rough cuts of the new study material.

Cheer Lethe.

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010

Finally online again, I'm sorry for the long silince but I've been on a work trip in an "internet-less" hotel and I've been cut out of the virtual world for one entire week and the flue did the rest keeping me in bed for another pair of days, anyhow I'm back and hopefully I'll be able to post again, anyhow a lot of stuff has been going on lately so I think it's easier and more useful to post everything in here within a single post and in case I'll go in deeper detail later on.

New CCNP track to be announced in Junuary 2010

Well maybe not really a "big" news as rumors about this has been going back and forth for some time now and maybe you already know, Cisco announced some major changes to the CCNP, basically the CCNP track will be composed of only 3 exams (ouch!) with the addition of a new "Troubleshooting" exam. Personally I think this is a good move Cisco is going to implement, basically because having some "real world" troubleshooting will not hurt at all. Candidates will have time until December 2010 to complete the "old" CCNP track (BSCI, BCMSN, ISCW, ONT) so I think that is adequate for anyone who already started studying for this track… At the end of the post you'll find attached a FAQ sheet I've downloaded from Cisco's website which reassumes everything and clarifies all questions you could have about this.

Recruiters and their weird behavior

Well this is not really technical nor technology related but thought to share anyway, yesterday I've been contacted by a customer/recruiter for a job with a company as VmWare specialist (err… I wonder if they even read my CV, yes I do work with virtualization stuff but I'm far from being a specialist, I'm a VCP indeed but yet I prefer KVM/XEN based solutions… you know I'm a cheap bastard and prefer Open Source stuff when I can implement it), the phone call went on something like this :

Recruiter : Good morning we're looking for a VmWare specialist but please let's make this short as I'm busy with lot of stuff to do

Me: (Me think man you called me… I even don't know who you are but said) Morning to you please let me know what the job is about

R: As I said we need a virtualization expert, do you have any experience in that field? Do you actually hold the VCP cert?

M: Well as written in my CV I've been exposed to some Virtualization related project and actually certified up to VCP 3.5 but that is not my core skills, I did this and that on project for this and that customer

R: Well have you ever virtualized a Microsft Cluster?

M: Well as you should know nor VmWare nor Microsoft actually support that kind of configuration nor I see why I should that, I used to implement up to 8 nodes cluster for high available mailbox servers

R: I asked about virtual servers

M: (Hmmmm we have a communication problem here) As I said never did that apart in my lab for studies

R: Well exactly what you have virtualized in the project xy

M: Well we virtualized a lot of servers based on Linux/Windows NT/2000/2003 with a lot of custom applications of which, in total honesty, can't recall the name now but I don't think that really matters as they were "custom" apps written by my company's devs

R: So you're saying you've virtualized something you don't know? You did not analyze the environment nor the applications?

M: (At this point I was 100% sure about the communication problem between me and this man) As I've said and written in my CV that were customs apps and of course I did analyze the environment before the project you know as an IT Architect that's part of my normal duty

R: I see well thatnks you'll be contacted by our HR department if your profile is in line with our searches but I don't think you're really what we're looking for but please the next time try avoid sending a candidature for a postion not perfectly fitting your skills

M: Hmmm sorry Sir but I have to remember you contacted me about this position and I did not send any CV for the position as I even don't know you company?

R: … (Silence) …. (More silence) …. Line dropped

Well I leave comments to you but this is the best interview like I ever had… Italian recruiters are not brillant for their "skills" in interviews (I think I did not see any decent technical interview for years herein Italy, that's one of the reasons cause I'm looking for a job abroad where technical interviews are just this, technical!).

Certification update to VmWare VSpehere 4

Just as I named this I'm in the process of updating my VCP Certification to latest release, VmWare VSphere, as VmWare is offering me the opportunity to update the certication without attending another course (yek I lack the time to!) and a second chance in case I don't pass at the first try… which is always good so I'll keep you posted about this

Well time to go back to my RHCE lab, please check the blog's polls as I have some ideas going on and would like to hear from you!

Lethe.

CCNP FAQs

Hello all, as it is my costume this will be a long post, so if you’re like me and too lazy to read everything here’s the short version, this morning I’ve passed Exam 642-845 “Optimizing Converge Cisco Networks” or if you prefer ONT with a score of 965.

Ok if you’ve read so far it means you want to read more, wise decision let me thank you about this. First of I’m sorry if I’m kinda disappeared, I’ve been answering to mails and RHCE Mailing List questions but that’s it, this is mainly due to the fact that the wheel of my life keeps turning in the wrong direction and I’m still trying to come to pacts with this… I survive, I smile but yet I can’t accept. Ok enough whining don’t want to bore you more than this.

Going back to topic, as I’ve already written today I’ve sit and successfully pass my ONT exam which was the last in my CCNP certification track. I think this is an important goal both in my personal and in my professional life of which I’m really proud of as it took a lot of effort (yeah real sweat, effort, time, sleepless nights and MONEY to setup a complete CCNP/CCVP almost CCIE rack) and I’m sure it brought my professional skills to the next level specially if you think that I knew very little about the networking architectures (well actually nothing more of what MS teaches you and that you use as an MS Architect *cough* very little *cough*) and nothing and I mean absolutely NOTHING about the Cisco world and its caveats.

It took me one year (well to be exact 350 days) to complete the whole track from the CCNA level as I still remember sitting my CCNA exam July 25th back in the summer of 2008, I still remember how nervous I was then… Even after more than 60 exams successfully completed I was totally scared about Cisco stuff and well known simulations I knew I had to solve in the exam. Too much time? Too less? Yes we all know I’m not the smarter IT guy out there so maybe I took some time to complete all the required exams but please again consider I was a total 0 in the Cisco world and I wake up everyday at 5:30 AM in the morning, commute at least 3 hours a day to go work, work 10+ hours a day while trying to have a life and yes during this year I had a lot more exams in the middle (certification update to Windows 2008, Linux and much more stuff!) I don’t mind. I’m proud of myself for completing this even if life is hitting hard on me and I’m happy I had a lot of special people who helped me a lot in this (even if indirectly), you’re too many to name everyone but I want to say thank you to one for all, Gordon thanks a lot for all the information, support and kind words in my moments of down! To the rest (Andy, Charger, 13th… and many many more) THANK YOU GUYS you’re simply GREAT! Ok enough of emo

The exam was… EASY! I met and talked to a lot of people who said QoS and Voip stuff is difficult to grasp but, even if I know what’s covered in the ONT exam is just the tip of the iceberg, I’ve found it a fascinating and easy topic. The exam itself was not difficult at all, at least for me, as I’ve already stated I’ve studied all the material with great enthusiasm and more important of all no lot of SDM in this exam In all the track I’ve found ISCW being the hardest of all exams… all the topics in that exams are ok (I’m seriously considering doing MPLS exam) but I simply don’t like SDM, what I mean, I have a wonderful CLI there why use SDM eheheh

Most of the preparation was done with the CCNP Ont Certification guide but as I’ve already did in the past I’ve used other books (mainly QoS certification guide and Routing TCP/IP volumes I &II) to go deeper in some arguments that I felt weak in, I’ve solved a lot of doubts using Cisco’s website and a few other blog you can find around the net.

So what’s next? Well in November I’ll sit my RHCE exam (drool finally it is scheduled) so I think most of my time from now on will be spent on my RHCE lab but before that I need to spend some time with my GF (the Best Certified Girl Friend in the world!) as she’s been indirectly involved in this as well… so a special THANK YOU goes to her as well.

Anyhow I’m really interested in the CCVP track as well (wow voice is simply fantastic!) so probably I’ll side RHCE study with CCNA Voice study as well (I can easily do this… I think….) as I don’t want to waste all the work done in the Cisco world (plus I don’t want to waste all those FXS, FXO, Gatekeeper dusting in my lab). In the middle of this I’m going to complete the MCITP – Database Administrator certification as well as my company asked me to do it which I think it’s the easiest part of all this mess

Well it’s time to relax a little, I really need and think I deserve it. I’m sorry if I bored you with all this auto celebration but I’m so happy about this accomplishment that I feel the need to share it with you!

Best of luck with your professional life and, as a good forum mate always says, NEVER GIVE IN!

Lethe.

Hello all, this will be a quick and short post just to let you know I’ve finally managed to schedule RHCE Lab Exam for November the 27th. Even if things here are far from going back to normality I don’t have time to whine or to let hard times block my career so I’ve found a spot for this date and just went through the registration form.

I was confident that my company would pay for the Lab + official course, at least they said they would so, but I guess recent happenings made them change their mind so I’ll just prepare for the exam myself, I know this will be the hardest path but I always liked challenges.

Next Friday, FINALLY!, I’ll sit my ISCW exam which I had to reschedule for the third time due to personally and professional issue anyhow this date is final and no changes will be made anymore, it’s a do or die thing. I hope I’ll manage to pass so that only ONT will be on my way to CCNP and I can fully concentrate on RHCE matters, I’m already preparing a few Virtual machines that I’ll be using for the preparation, I hope I’ll be able to make them available as soon as possible.

Well time to go back to my lab for final preparation as the exam is approaching and there is still a lot of work for me to do, if you like leave me an encouragement comment I’ll be more than glad to read it!

Cheer Lethe.

Finally some calm to settle down and write a little, this won’t be a technical post but more an update one in which I’ll recap what has been going on these days and what’s yet to come.

I had some free time, I’ve been home sick, that I’ve used to update some stuff on the blog and change something else :) Probably you’ve already noticed it but I’ve changed the blog theme, hope you’ll like it, and I have to tell I’m really satsfied with the new one, yes I know it’s a "Windows" like theme but well… I have to admit it’s functional and nice to look at. Please let me know if you encounter any problem or have any suggestion about this.

At a glance here’s what new on the blog :

- Widget to track my Skype status so you’ll be able to see when I’m online and eventually drop me a message or a call, I can’t promise I’ll be able to answer but I’ll get back to you  

- Now you can print, send via mail or save in PDF format every single post just using the link above every post

- During the next days I’ll implement a form called "Tell a friend" so that you’ll be able to send posts or links to the blogs to your friends/colleagues

On the technical side I’ve almost done with my BCMSN review, I moved exam to friday morning 10:00 AM GMT+1 time, so keep fingers crossed for me  I’ll spend tomorrow doing some labs, and reviewing material I know I’m weak in. I used breaks from study to start mounting my rack (yes finally!) and so far 4 out of 5 switches and 4 out of 12 routers are on their place I’ll use next week to finish mount this monster and then I’ll cable everything again (ouch!) while I’ll start my studies for ISCW exam.

Last but not least what I’ve been thinking and planning during these days is basically a series of posts to help out our friends preparing for the CCNA exam, yes you’ve understood that correctly I’ll be publishing FREE CCNA TRAINING! with excercises and lab you’ll be able to complete on GNS3 or on Real hardware, this is just an idea and I need to sort stuff out but as I said the best has yet to come! Basically you’ll have a trainer at your disposal totally for FREE! (Yes that’s not a typo and there are no hidden costs/scams behind this).

If the feedback will be good I’ll create a mailing list to make communication easier.

Probably I’ll be doing something similar for RHCE exam but for that I think you’ll have to wait a little longer, as usual if you have any question of doubt you can always contact me I’ll be glad to be back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading this and don’t forget if you liked the blog help me out subscribing to RSS Feeds!

Lethe.

Hello all, I had this question via mail this very morning. It surely happened to you as well to buy a new router off ebay and once received it you found out there is already a configuration in it, or if you’re like me your routers/switches have lot of crappy configuration on them cause of study and tests.

Well to reset the configuration back to the default, read empty configuration, simply boot up the router and in privileged mode issue the followin command :

Ccielogs-R11#write erase

IOS will ask for your confirmation :

Ccielogs-R11#write erase
Erasing the nvram filesystem will remove all configuration files! Continue? [confirm]
[OK]
Erase of nvram: complete

Now simply reboot the router with the reload command and once it has finished to boot up you’ll be presented with the initial setup asking you to insert the basic configuration.

Pretty easy eh?

On a side note if you need to this on a switch remember switches keep vlan configuration information in a separated file called vlan.dat so you’ll need to delete that as well with the followin command :

Ccielogs-3550-2# delete flash:vlan.dat

You’ll be asked again for confirmation and once done you’ll be good to reboot your switch and enjoy a brand new device ready to be configured.

Thanks for reading this, I hope you’ve found it informative.

Lethe

Hello all, I’ve been asked this a dozillion times both at work and on various forums so I’ve finally decided to post this little how to.

If you ever used putty you should know its default "look and feel" it’s not really that good with just black background and grey characters on the screen :

 

To solve this simply open putty configuration page by launching the application and select Colours under the Window node as in the picture :

What I’m going to configure it’s a classic green characters on black screen so all you have to change is the Default Foreground colour parameter and the Cursor Colour choosing a color you like for your text/curson : 

Once you’re satisfied with the resulting colours simply go back to the Session category select Default Settings  and click on Save.

Congratulations! You can enjoy a really cool and professioanl looking puty like this one! 

Hope you’ve found this article interesting, please bear with the lack of content but as usual I’m really busy with real life (arrrgh) and final BCMSN exam preparation even if I ad to move it to next week but please keep coming I’m preparing a relaly great suprise which is called FREE CCNA training! 

Lethe.

Hello all before finally today I received my 24 Units rack so I guess it’s time to cable all my lab again! This is a great news for me as I’ve been “labbing” using routers on my desk or on the floor, yes I know that’s not professional but that was the only way for me to have all routers handy, the bad part of this is I have to spend lot of time on configurations/cabling but I think it’ll be well worth the effort.

Today I’ve assembled the rack pieces, I think it was the IKEA model, and next week hopefully I’ll be putting all the routers on it so I can finally have a stable and well cabled lab, trust me it really sucks to have tons of cables and routers around your room…

I’ll be using a two pods topology with 2 backbone routers, 1 frame relay router and 8 “remote” routers divided into the two pods, this should give me all that I need to keep testing routing and switching stuff.

Below you can find the detail of the topology I’m going to build :

If you, like me, have used BSCI self study guide to prepare for BSCI CCNP exam this picture should be familiar  As soon as I have some spare time I’ll be building and publish this exact topology for you GNS3 fans out there. If you’re wondering why I’m going to use two pods instead of one, well I don’t want to ruin the surprise so I’ll just tell I’m preparing a surprise for all of you preparing for the CCNA exam.

Well time to run as my BCMSN exam is approaching and I still need to practice a few stuff and tomorrow I have class.

Lethe.

Tonight I was looking for a document on Cisco’s website and came across a nice article that taught me a nice tip I want to share with you.

Have you ever been in the situation in which you issue a show running config on busy router and it takes ages for it to print the configuration on screen? I’ve been with one of the modular routers into my lab, a 3640 fed up with lots of cards, and when you’re in a rush or trying to save time it’s not nice at all to sit there and just wait and this just gets worst as the configuration grows.

This happens as every time you issue a show running config your router has to query each interface on the device to check the commands bound to every single interface! That’s scary and can even take several minutes to complete! Since IOS release 12.3 Cisco has introduced a command to cache the configuration in memory to speed up the generation process (I think the 15kb of memory required is well worth).

To enable this feature simply enter Global Configuration mode and issue the following command :

Ccielogs-R2(config)#parser config cache interface

That’s it! Keep in mind straight after you’ve issued this command you have to issue a show running config to commit configuration into router’s cache.

This can save you some time and it’s a nice tip to impress your colleagues/students  

Hope you’ve found this article useful!

Cheer Lethe.

Hello all, in the past posts we’ve seen what GNS3 and Dynamips are and how to configure a working lab for our Cisco studies, as I’ve mentioned in the previous posts even if GNS3 is a great and powerful router emulator it can’t emulate, yet, Catalyst switches but I never said it’s impossible to build a switching lab even if with a few differences (mainly in the syntax used).

What you need to start your career in the switching world is :

• GNS3 installed (of course)
• A working IOS of any 3600/3700 router (I’ll be using c3640-is-mz.124-16.bin image)
• This guide

I’ll assume you already have configured GNS3 and imported the proper IOS image. Open up GNS3 and drag a router (or two) into your topology and open up the router properties :

To add switch capabilities to our 3640 router we’ll add an NM-16SW module to slot0, this module will make possible to implement switching capabilities into a single platform if you’re interested you can read more about it here :

Once you’ve done this you can connect the rest of the routers in your topology to the switch’s ports via FastEthernet connections :

As you can see the two routers are connected via FastEthernet connections to our virtual switch, once you’ve done this you’re ready to configure VLANs and trunking betwen your routers/switches. When using an NM16-SW you have to use the "old" syntax to add a VLAN so from the exec mode type vlan database to enter the VLAN configuration mode and be able to add VLANs :

 *Note* If you studying for BCMSN exam keep in mind Cisco deprecated the use of the vlan database to create VLANs, if you’re using a Catalyst switch you should use the global configuration mode vlan <vlan number> syntax. Also note that when you’re using the vlan databse syntax you can’t use CTRL + Z to go back to privileged exec mode but you have to use the EXIT command, if you simply use CTRL+Z IOS won’t commit changes to the configuration and you’ll lose the changes.

Ok this ends this quick "How to configure switching in GNS3", in the next article I’ll show you how to extend the topology and configure the "Router on stick" topology.

Thanks for reading this, Lethe.