Archive for 'Greatness habits revealed'
Best Cisco Laptop?
Posted on 30. Jul, 2008 by rivansystems.
I’ve been a “quasi-apple fan” for years…When they came out with the MacBook Pro, I bought the 17″ giganto-screen model and have been using it to configure Cisco devices ever since. Recently, I was at a client site…he pulled out an old Dell X200 12″ laptop to configure a Cisco router. I suddenly found myself [...]
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Automatic Err-Disable Recovery
Posted on 28. Jul, 2008 by rivansystems.
Someone showed me a great feature today. One of the constant pains in the network is when you get a port err-disabled on the switch. Regardless of how many times I see it, it always seems to be the last thing I check. There’s a little-known feature in the IOS called “err-disable recovery” which automatically turns a err-disabled switchport back on after 5 minutes (by default). The good news is that this command allows you to choose specific reasons where you’d like to re-enable the port, such as re-enabling ports disabled because of a port-flap instance but keeping mac-address security violations error disabled. Here’s the syntax to make it happen:
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VUE Releases Testing “Enhancements”
Posted on 24. Jul, 2008 by rivansystems.
These were rumored at the end of last year…looks like they have finally arrived! VUE Testing enhancements:
• Photo on Score Report and Web - On completion of a certification exam at the test center, candidates will receive preliminary score reports imprinted with their photos and unique authentication codes. The authentication code can be used to access a candidate’s official score online at Pearson VUE’s website usually within 72 hours of the examination. The online score report will also display the candidate’s photo. Candidates may share access to their online records with employers or other third parties.
• Forensic Analysis - Exam results and other testing data will be continuously analyzed by forensic software to detect aberrant testing behavior and to flag suspect exams for further investigation.
• Preliminary Score Report - All paper score reports will be preliminary, pending the results of forensic analysis, until official exam scores are posted to the Web usually within 72 hours of exam completion. Once the exam scores are official, candidates may use the authentication codes on their score reports to access the Pearson VUE website for score and photo verification.
That “Forensic Analysis” section looks pretty interesting. I wonder if they’re looking for the TestKing brain dump-style tests? I’m very curious!!!
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Another Great Resource
Posted on 21. Jul, 2008 by rivansystems.
Here’s another great blog/website resource to add to your list:
The site is well organized into interesting sections. I especially like the cheat sheet (for technology, not exams) and Network Monitoring / Utilities categories.
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Scheduling Periodic Config Backups in IOS
Posted on 19. Jul, 2008 by rivansystems.
Pretty cool article talking about using kron jobs on a Cisco router to schedule periodic configuration backups.
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CCNA Voice Exam Debrief
Posted on 08. Jul, 2008 by rivansystems.
Alright, this afternoon I took the CCNA Voice exam (aka Implementing Cisco IOS Unified Communications, 640-460). While I completely loathe brain dumps, I am all for getting a good idea of focus areas and the general feel for the exam, so that’s what I’ll give you here.
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More CCNA Voice Information
Posted on 30. Jun, 2008 by rivansystems.
Cisco has just launched a new learning site that has great info about all the new certifications. Click here to check it out.
One of the documents they posted to the site is excellent. It’s the CCNA Voice prep session from the Networker’s conference. If you want to get a good idea of the question types, topics, etc, download this document.
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Training in an Alternate Universe
Posted on 25. Jun, 2008 by rivansystems.
So…I’m sitting in the Cisco keynote speech featuring Padmasree Warrior (Cisco’s new CIO) who is talking about the power of collaboration in the world. She was mentioning things like Twitter, vLogs, and Second Life…suddenly, a brilliant idea hits me: training in Second Life?!? Is it possible?
Okay, I admit, up until now, I thought Second Life was going to lead us into the Matrix…where everyone lived in and was controlled by machines. I steered clear of it. But, now I’m thinking - is it possible to deliver live, interactive classes through Second Life? Help me out here second-lifers…Here’s my idea…
Build a “virtual classroom” in second life where “virtual students” can come and see a whiteboard, ask questions, watch live demos on Cisco gear, maybe even do labs themselves? Is it possible? What would it take to make it happen?
This could be really cool…
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New CCNA Certifications: The Cat is Out of the Bag!
Posted on 25. Jun, 2008 by rivansystems.
Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, Cisco announced the new CCNA-level certifications…and they are (drum roll please):
CCNA Security
CCNA Voice
CCNA Wireless
I’m actually creating the CCNA Voice Official Exam Certification Guide for Cisco Press as we speak. I’ve got to tell you - this certification is awesome. It completely fills a much needed gap of knowledge that’s needed before you get into the CCVP program. I can’t speak for the Security & Wireless certs, but in the CCNA Voice, you’ll be learning:
VoIP & Legacy System Integration
CallManager Express setup
Unity Express setup
Basic QoS, Dial-Peers, and other technical nuances
Having this foundation before someone gets into a CCVP will be awesome. Yesterday afternoon, Cisco Press conducted a “podcast video interview” with me about the cert. I’ll post the link as soon as it’s available. I was actually interviewed by none other than Jeff Doyle (the TCP/IP routing genus) - I’m honored! Anyhow, I’m finally free to talk about this stuff, which is relieving. I’m sure I’ll talk plenty about it in my 4:00pm session today at Networkers.
UPDATE: It looks like the Routing and Switching CCNA (the original) will be the prerequisite for all the other CCNA specialties.
UPDATEx2: CCVP and CCSP will now require CCNA Voice and CCNA Security as official prerequisites as of June 2009.
Here’s more information, if you’re interested:
Official Cisco Press Announcement
Cisco’s CCNA Voice Preparation Course
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A Cisco Tip Repository
Posted on 20. Jun, 2008 by rivansystems.
Cisco has converted their “Reader TIPS” from the TAC newsletter into a WIKI. Plenty of cool stuff here:
http://supportwiki.cisco.com/ViewWiki/index.php/Tech_Insights:Homepage