This week I'm attending Cisco DCUCI course in Milan. I have no experience on blade servers or Cisco UC plaftorm and it'll be a great opportunity to learn new topics and move another step towards the datacenter. I've prepared for this course watching Cisco PEC videos and reading the two must-read books from Silvano Gai: …

Today I passed this Cisco exam: (642-647) Deploying Cisco ASA VPN Solutions v1.0 (VPN) and my CCSP certification is now updated to the new CCNP(Security). I've prepared the exam on the Cisco Press Official Cert Guide. The exam was not very hard, probably because I work on Pix/Asa platforms since 2007. The guide is very …

I didn't pass the CCIE RS Lab exam today in Brussels. This was my first attempt. I have to improve my troubleshooting skills and go deeper in some technologies but I think I can do it. I don't have plans for the next attempt yet, there're other personal projects that will take most of my free time in the next months. …

A quick note about tcp small servers. DOC-CD says: The TCP small servers consist of three services: Discard (port 9), Echo (port 7), and Chargen (port 19). If we do a portscan to a router before and after enabling tcp-small-server with the command: R(config)#service tcp-small-servers We can see that these ports are …

Quick note about PPPoE address assignment. IPCP CLIENT interface Dialer1 ip address negotiated encapsulation ppp dialer pool 1 dialer idle-timeout 0 dialer persistent end SERVER ip dhcp-server 10.0.12.1 interface Virtual-Template10 ip address 10.0.32.2 255.255.255.0 peer default ip address dhcp end DHCP CLIENT …

Thou shalt above all, maintain the integrity of the network. Thou shalt have a long term strategic direction. Thou shalt always opt for quality before expediency. Thou shalt meet the requirements, exceed the expectations and anticipate the needs of users. Thou shalt benefit from a successful implementation by careful …

First of all: autoinstall works only on the first serial interface of the router, don't forget it. This is the topology for the small lab: "https://www.ifconfig.it/images/page4_blog_entry97-autoinstall_fr.jpg" R1 is a TFTP server, it stores R3 configuration in flash. R3 has no configuration. R2 interface is configured …

Autoinstall is a quite interesting topic, it deserves some labbing. Start from the DOC-CD as usual, we focus on the LAN implementation first. You can find HERE the flowchart of the autoinstall process. This guide is quite clear too: AutoInstall Using DHCP for LAN Interfaces This is the topology we'll use: R1 and R2 …

RMON is generally an easy task, can be tricky but usually on CCIE workbooks the task are fair. The hardest part for me is to find the MIB to monitor. This is the task: monitor interface Vlan1, send a trap if it receives more than 100 packets every 30 seconds, send a trap if it goes under 50 packets every 30 seconds. …

Conditional debugging is used to filter debugging messages: R#debug condition ? application Application called called number calling calling card card glbp interface group interface interface ip IP address mac-address MAC address match-list apply the match-list standby interface group username username vcid VC ID vlan …

Snmp v3 is described in many RFC, like RFC3414 and so on. History and security of the various SNMP versions are easy to find and well known, let's focus on configuration. SNMPv3 can work in three ways: noAuthNoPriv authNoPriv authPriv For the tests I use a Cisco871 as snmp-server and a OSX computer to walk the MIBs. …

How to keep track of logs of a Cisco router using OSX? Easy task! Enable syslog listener on OSX: instructions here add this line to /etc/syslog.conf local7.* /var/log/cisco.log enable logging on the router: logging facility local7 ! ip address of iMac logging 10.0.0.1 install the Syslog Widget and configure it to check …

"Breaking stupid rules for smart results." Not the best book ever but I liked the concept: don't stick to the rules if you feel the rules don't allows to work in and efficient way. Hacking work is actually intrapreneurship and requires a little anarchic spirit. How can we improve if we never try something different? …

Today I officially start my CCIE R&S journey. I decided to follow the Cisco track from CCNA to CCNP and then attempt the CCIE exam, written and lab. After spending a lot of time researching for the best study material I decided to purchase the IPExpert's Blended Learning Solution. I'm paying for it out of my pocket, a …