CCIE in 3 months - Is it possible?

aggregate-address ... summary-only-after-a-while

2011-11-12T19:14:00.001+02:00

As it seems, there is always something that you think you know, until it's proven the other way around. Some years ago, when i was studying for the CCIE, i knew that in order to suppress more specific routes from an aggregate advertisement in BGP, you could use the "aggregate-address .... summary-only" command. And i believed it until recently. Let's suppose you have the following config in a

AAA and VTYs in IOS-XR : Bingo

2011-09-17T14:11:00.001+03:00

Continuing on the IOS-XR saga, this is the newest bunch of things that don't "work as expected" (© Cisco). Well, as expected by me, not by Cisco. Everything started while trying to configure a primary and backup aaa login method on an ASR9k, when i realized that... 1) having a backup aaa login method with the same tacacs servers as the ones in the primary aaa login method (which is using the

Debugging IPv6 MTU issues in Windows

2011-06-03T01:52:00.026+03:00

A common problem you might face soon (World IPv6 Day is 5 days away) is reachability to IPv6 sites due to MTU issues. ICMPv6 has a nice internal mechanism which is supposed to help the application overcome these issues, but like in the IPv4 world, not everything is perfect. Let's suppose that an IPv6 subscriber is using a DSL router and is connected through PPPoE to a BRAS. TARGET <=> BRAS <=>

To forward, to peer, or to tunnel?

2011-05-23T19:06:00.009+03:00

In an imaginary Cisco world every device would be able to talk with every other device in various layers. In the actual Cisco world, some devices can talk to some devices, while they can't talk to some other devices. I'm talking specifically about L2 Control Protocols (L2CPs), when these need to be exchanged between different devices in order to support a requirement (i.e. create a spanning-tree

How Multi is MP-BGP in IOS-XR?

2011-05-05T12:48:00.023+03:00

This caught me on surprise. I had an impression that IOS-XR as an advanced operating system would support all kinds of multi-protocol transferability over BGP. As it seems, there is an issue when transferring IPv6 prefixes over an IPv4 peering or IPv4 prefixes over an IPv6 peering. This happens for sure on ASR9k running latest 4.1.0, but i haven't verified it on the CRS yet. IPv4 prefixes over

BRAS/Server initiated renewal for DHCPv6-PD leases - When?

2011-05-04T01:08:00.032+03:00

One major issue when dealing with IPv6 CPEs is the currently missing capability to renew automatically the IPv6 addresses on the CPE's LAN after a disconnect/reconnect of the subscriber's dynamic session. Although there are some tricks (#1, #2) for client (subscriber) initiated renewal, not all CPE vendors support those tricks. Also many times it is preferable to have the BRAS/BNG, or generally

VTY IPv6 ACLs in IOS-XR

2011-04-30T16:27:00.016+03:00

One of the first things you have to do before adding IPv6 addresses in a router, is to protect its management plane. A simple way to implement a part of that is to define an ACL (Access List) under the relevant terminal lines (VTYs). In IOS it's quite simple. One ACL for IPv4 and one ACL for IPv6, which cannot share the same name. ! IOS !---- ip access-list extended IPV4-VTY-ACL permit ip

Sample IPv6 Addressing/Dimensioning Plan for ISPs

2011-04-30T13:05:00.018+03:00

This is a high level summary of an IPv6 addressing & dimensioning plan for mid-sized service providers. Obviously it doesn't apply to all cases, but i hope other people will find it useful too. First you define 3 levels of PoPs (Points of Presence), depending on number of customers and address consumption: Level-1 PoP (Large) Level-2 PoP (Medium) Level-3 PoP (Small) Then you define 2 types of

IOS-XR still lacks proper help output

2011-04-26T18:13:00.001+03:00

Is it really so hard for Cisco to put a logic in the list of available configuration commands? This is what you get if you enter "?" under a BVI in an ASR9k running IOS-XR 4.0.1. RP/0/RSP0/CPU0:ASR9k1(config-if)#? address-family AFI/SAFI configuration arp Configure Address Resolution Protocol bandwidth Set the bandwidth of an interface clear Clear

How to assign IPv6 addresses to broadband CPEs

2011-04-23T11:35:00.021+03:00

During the last months i've been experimenting a lot with all possible IPv6 address assignment methods to a broadband subscriber. As is the case with most ISPs and IPv6, we are testing every possible scenario before we put one (or a combination) of them into production; nevertheless we still haven't decided which path to follow on every aspect. And although we have made up our minds on many of

How to find the peer IPv6 address of a PPPoE subscriber

2011-04-16T01:36:00.012+03:00

In the IPv4 world you could very easily do the following on a BRAS/BNG, find the subscriber's IPv4 address and ping it. bbras#sh users | i test Vi4 test PPPoVPDN 00:01:42 10.11.12.13 bbras#p 10.11.12.13 Type escape sequence to abort. Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 10.11.12.13, timeout is 2 seconds: !!!!! Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 16/18/24 ms

Trying to calculate the IPv6 BGP table in 2015

2011-03-13T14:14:00.044+02:00

As you may have already noticed, during the last months there isn't anything new written here by me. This is mainly due to two reasons: 1) lack of free time due to new responsibilities in my company and 2) most of my writing happens in our internal wiki (almost 200 "docs" during the last 12 months!). On the other hand, there are a lot of "new" things happening in the internet, one of them being

Admin privileges in IOS, IOS-XR, NX-OS

2010-10-09T11:49:00.009+03:00

For all of you that are using tacacs+ for AAA, if you want to assign admin privileges and permissions to your users, this is the configuration that has worked for me regarding a variety of Cisco devices: IOS user = username { default service = permit service = exec { priv-lvl=15 } } IOS-XR user = username { default service = permit

How to edit text files in IOS-XR - The easy way

2010-09-26T21:51:00.016+03:00

Everyone dealing with IOS-XR will know that you have the option of using an editor to edit your RPL (Routing Policy Language) configuration. As of 3.9.1 the available editors are the following: nano emacs vim (enhanced version of vi) So, instead of entering the configuration line by line in CLI, you can create it using an editor and a temporary file. The same editors are also available for

How to get full root access in IOS-XR with just a single permission

2010-09-13T03:02:00.029+03:00

During the last week i'm experimenting with an ASR9000 and IOS-XR and here is something tricky i found out yesterday. You may already know that IOS-XR uses a different concept for users' permissions. In IOS you have users and privilege levels, while in IOS-XR you have Users, User Groups, Task Groups and Task IDs. In general, the operational tasks that enable users to control, configure, and

Decoding the RIPE BGP experiment

2010-08-28T20:20:00.077+03:00

A lot of you probably saw your BGP routers go crazy on Friday 27th of August in the morning, especially if you happened to have a CRS (or another router running IOS-XR, like a C12k or ASR9k) in your (or a near) network.RIPE and Duke University decided to experiment with Quagga's BGP and the result was to make some routers reset their BGP sessions, because they were receiving malformed BGP update

How to find queue utilisation on 7600/ES+ cards

2010-04-18T17:25:00.035+03:00

Cisco usually provides various technical characteristics about their products, but you never get the details you need. One big mystery are the ES/ES+ cards on the 7600 platform. We've been using the ES+ cards for quite a long time and i was trying to get a comparison with the ES+T ones, which come in lower prices. The most worrying fact (regarding a specific project's needs) was a difference in

Realtime chat between Cisco routers

2010-02-13T13:32:00.013+02:00

You might probably know that it's possible to send messages from one vty line to another on a single Cisco router.R1#send ? * All tty lines <0-17> Send a message to a specific line aux Auxiliary line console Primary terminal line log Logging destinations qdm Send a message to QDM client vty Virtual terminal xsm Send a message to XSM clientR1#send 1Enter

Should IPC's 127.0.0.0/8 be redistributed by OSPF?

2010-02-08T10:50:00.013+02:00

I have a tac case open for over 5 months, regarding the default redistribution of 127/8 when "service internal" is configured on a C10000 router. Keep in mind that i'm redistributing all connected routes to OSPF.Specifically:C10k-33SB7>sh ip route 127.0.0.0Routing entry for 127.0.0.0/8, 2 known subnets Attached (2 connections) Variably subnetted with 2 masks Redistributing via ospf xC

Get your hands dirty with Linux on an ASR1000

2010-02-01T10:16:00.038+02:00

Most of you will know that ASR1000 is running IOS XE on top of a Linux kernel. Actually, more than one IOS XE packages run on top of more than one Linux kernels (all three control CPUs (RP, FECP, IOCP) run a Linux kernel).Here is how you can have some fun with it.WARNING : Everything below this line is being done at your own risk. You probably don't want to experiment on a production network and

Networkers at Cisco Live 2010 - Barcelona

2010-01-30T20:17:00.016+02:00

1 year after, i revisited Barcelona for this year's Networkers at Cisco Live 2010. This time i focused mostly on training.Below you'll find my experience, expressed in the usual ranking model:Category Grade Comments----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hotel B- I stayed at a non-Cisco hotel. + : it was only 3 mins walk

Shaper granularity on ME-3400 demystified

2010-01-16T13:44:00.045+02:00

Everyone using ME-3400 switches might have noticed the following error message when trying to configure an output policy-map under an interface:QoS: Configuration failed. The configured rate 4000000 bps is not achievable in hw within 1% of configuration. Closest value(s) are: 11111120 bps, 5882368 bpsCisco documentation is cryptic (as always) about the details of this, but it has to do

crinv (Create Inventory Report)

2010-01-10T01:06:00.029+02:00

Some months ago i was searching for a simple inventory management tool, that could catalogue my company's devices, mainly for updating our support contracts.I tried quite a few of free ones, some demos of commercial ones, but i didn't find what i was looking for. Most of them were bloated with features i didn't need and i had to dig very deeply in order to customize them. So i decided (once more)

EVC : Flexible Service Mapping

2009-09-05T22:25:00.024+03:00

After 2 months of intense network re-designing (mixed with a little bit of vacation days) and following my two previous posts about Flexible Frame Matching and Flexible VLAN Tag Rewrite, i finally found some free time to write a post about the third step in configuring service instances using the EVC framework : Flexible Service Mapping.Probably the biggest advantage of the EVC framework is the

EVC : Flexible VLAN Tag Rewrite

2009-06-28T23:40:00.043+03:00

Following the previous post about Flexible Frame Matching, this new post describes the second major step in configuring service instances using the EVC framework : Flexible VLAN Tag Rewrite. Each service instance can change the existing VLAN tag to be a new VLAN tag by adding, removing, or translating one or two VLAN tags. Flexible VLAN tag rewrite includes 3 main operations : 1) pop (remove

EVC : Flexible Frame Matching

2009-06-21T11:58:00.045+03:00

EVC stands for Ethernet Virtual Connection and in Cisco's platforms it's used to represent Cisco's software architecture to address Carrier Ethernet Services. In MEF (Metro Ethernet Forum) terminology EVC means "Ethernet Virtual Connection/Circuit", but here EVC represents also the whole Carrier Ethernet software infrastructure developed by Cisco. EVC has many advantages (which i will try to

Debugging SUP720 booting process

2009-06-04T11:57:00.006+03:00

On Tuesday i had an rommon issue with a RSP720 in a 7600. One of the things i tried on a spare SUP720 (i didn't have any spare RSP720) in order to check for possible solutions, was to remove the NVRAM battery for a while and then reinsert it. As it proved out, i found a nice way to "debug" the booting process. Probably config-register changed to a factory default value (different than the usual

VLAN resource vs VLAN significance

2009-06-03T11:22:00.019+03:00

These are two terms that get used quite often when talking about hardware switching platforms (i.e. 6500/7600).As you all know, VLAN is a virtual LAN defined initially for L2 bridging. One VLAN represents a broadcast domain and packet forwarding within the same VLAN is based on mac-address learning. Another name for this is multipoint bridging (you'll meet that term quite frequently in ES/ES+

EoMPLS on 7600 : PFC-based, SVI-based, Scalable

2009-06-02T20:52:00.033+03:00

With the "recent" addition of the ES/ES+ cards (although some SIP cards might belong in the same category), 7600 can now support 3 types of EoMPLS configurations . Depending on your needs and the available hardware, you will find at least one between them that can help you implement your network design.PFC-based EoMPLSThis is the most well-known EoMPLS that is configured under a physical

Configuring 802.1q tunnels over Vlan-based EoMPLS & MUX-UNI

2009-05-23T16:53:00.043+03:00

One of the main disadvantages (besides all the usual disputes about L2 vs L3) of 802.1q tunneling is the fact that all the switches the tunnel is passing through, are learning all the MAC addresses passing through it, plus the consumption of other system resources like vlans and spanning-tree instances. So if you have many 802.1q tunnels passing through one or more central switches as bridged L2

Should the crash be an option?

2009-05-16T20:44:00.014+03:00

During the previous weekend i had a 7600/RSP720 crashing multiple times in the middle of the night without any apparent reason. Console was showing the following messages:%Software-forced reload03:31:06 EET Sat May 9 2009: Unexpected exception to CPU Vector 1500, PC = 0x0A7FA5 B0, LR = 0x0A7FA550-Traceback= A7FA5B0 A7FA550 A558DD8 A40B698 A442928 A442994 8814E18 8815FB8 8816CD4

"aaa accounting system guarantee-first" Pt2

2009-05-15T20:15:00.000+03:00

Just an update on the "aaa accounting system guarantee-first" issue. I submitted a PER and as it turned out, BU & developers decided to treat it like a bug and fix it. But not completely.Having to choose between the following 2 solutions, they chose the easy one; the first.1) "Console/Aux user should be permitted if authentication is not configured with any AAA Server Method (radius/tacacs)".2) "

Cisco : "this behavior is expected" & Archive Config Logger

2009-05-06T22:57:00.018+03:00

The last 2 months i've been busy playing with an ASR1000, finding bugs and "fighting" with the BUs.Dealing with a lot of issues lately (not necessarily of ASR's), there are a few times that i have come across Cisco's motto "this behavior is expected". One of them was the fact that the very useful functionality of archive config logger (Configuration Logging) is ruined by the inability to filter

Convert Cisco dumps into Wireshark's pcap format

2009-04-19T04:27:00.025+03:00

Lately i've been experimenting a lot with the hidden "dump" option of "debug ip packet", trying to decode various protocols. Yesterday i wrote a post about decoding the tacacs communication, something that required a little bit of awkward text editing.Tonight i created the following perl program in order to make the whole process easier.#!/opt/perl/bin/perl# ciscodump2text v0.1## Convert Cisco

Decoding login credentials regardless of access method

2009-04-18T19:43:00.027+03:00

In a previous post of mine i had described how easy it is to find the login credentials of any user, as long as you have enable access on the router where the user is trying to login and the user is using telnet.You all know that ssh is a better, far more secure, access method since the whole communication is encrypted.You also know that usually an external aaa server is used in order to allow

What is a PER (Product Enhancement Request)?

2009-04-03T13:41:00.012+03:00

According to your votes in the recent poll, i ended up having some interesting results.1) only 1 person has been successful in his/her PER (i would really like to know the company he/she works for and what the PER was about)2) 8 people have submitted a PER, but it wasn't implemented (i'm one of them)4) 83% do not know what a PER isWhile some other companies have PER open for public with online

Decoding telnet passwords using a hidden debug

2009-03-19T03:14:00.029+02:00

While messing with packet capture, i found an interesting feature, well hidden inside IOS.Almost all of you should probably know the command "debug ip packet detail" which displays details about process switched (received/generated/forwarded) packets. There is a hidden option "dump" that provides extra information including raw packet data in hexadecimal and ASCII forms. According to Cisco, "the

Using EEM 3.0 to get the top 3 processes

2009-03-10T02:16:00.034+02:00

As you may already know, IOS > 12.3(4)T provides an easy way to get notified through syslog and snmp, when the cpu load of your router exceeds a specified threshold for a specific duration.This is accomplished with the following global configuration commands :process cpu threshold type total rising 40 interval 30snmp-server enable traps cpu thresholdThe output produced, when the threshold is

DHCP Snooping & the TCAM ACL table

2009-03-09T03:11:00.014+02:00

While playing with DHCP snooping on a ME-3400 switch (that shouldn't be different from a 3560/3750), i found out the following interesting information.When you enable DHCP snooping, 3 special acl entries are created dynamically into the TCAM ACL table. These are defined as L3 Input and you can check them out by using the following command :switch#sh platform tcam table acl | i 4358 40_

Would you mind waiting for 2-3 mins in a console?

2009-03-03T21:11:00.041+02:00

Details about bug CSCed45578 : Console locked for 2 mins after booting with system accountingSymptom:When an IOS system is configured with "aaa accounting system", then users maybe prevented from starting an exec session on the console or terminal lines foras much as three minutes, after the system reloads.Conditions:This delay occurs when the RADIUS and/or TACACS+ accounting server(s) are

RFC 5396, RFC 5398, RFC 5462

2009-02-28T13:02:00.032+02:00

Here are 3 interesting RFCs that i have read lately:RFC 5398Autonomous System (AS) Number Reservation for Documentation UseTo allow documentation to accurately describe deployment examples, the use of public or private-use AS numbers is inappropriate, and a reserved block of AS numbers is required. This ensures that documentation does not clash with public- or private-use AS numbers in deployed

EEM 3.0 – Variable Logic Pt #2

2009-02-21T15:25:00.035+02:00

Continuing from my previous "EEM 3.0 Variable Logic Part #1" article, here is Part #2. You'll notice that although EEM begun as a customized approach to event detection and recovery, it has turned into a very powerful framework that not only has the ability to monitor events and act accordingly, but it can also take complex informational or corrective actions when the monitored events occur. Of

EEM 3.0 – Variable Logic Pt #1

2009-02-18T00:40:00.016+02:00

Latest IOS (12.4(22)T) from Cisco includes EEM 3.0, which is a major improvement over previous versions. Among the various enhancements introduced, the most interesting seem the interactive CLI support (a much requested feature) and the variable logic.Here is a simple applet that displays a countdown timer before shutting down, using a little bit of variable logic.Actions used : "set", "while/end

Storm-control differences between 6500/7600 and other switches

2009-02-11T12:17:00.010+02:00

3550/3560/3750The graph in the following figure shows broadcast traffic patterns on an interface over a given period of time. In this example, the broadcast traffic being forwarded exceeded the configured threshold between time intervals T1 and T2 and between T4 and T5. When the amount of specified traffic exceeds the threshold, all traffic of that kind is dropped for the next time period.

ARP spoofing - The easy way

2009-02-10T01:15:00.001+02:00

...or why a shut interface is not always shut...Copying from Wikipedia:Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) spoofing, also known as ARP poisoning or ARP Poison Routing (APR), is a technique used to attack an Ethernet wired or wireless network which may allow an attacker to sniff data frames on a local area network (LAN), modify the traffic, or stop the traffic altogether (known as a denial of

6500/7600 & storm-control limitations

2009-02-03T12:39:00.041+02:00

I do not know about you, but i quite often fall into CCO documents that instead of giving answers, they arise more questions.Here is an example of CCO documentation cryptology causing even more confusion.From Configuring Traffic Storm Control in 7600/12.2SR:Note On these modules, a level value of 0.33 percent or less suppresses all traffic:—WS-X6704-10GE—WS-X6748-SFP—WS-X6724-SFP—WS-X6748-

Cisco IOS under Solaris

2009-02-01T22:25:00.011+02:00

See anything strange below?%SYS-5-RELOAD: Reload requested by console. Reload Reason: Reload command.unix_reload() Restricted Rights LegendUse, duplication, or disclosure by the Government issubject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph(c) of the Commercial Computer Software - RestrictedRights clause at FAR sec. 52.227-19 and subparagraph(c)

CCIE Recertification - Do it early

2009-01-31T13:15:00.013+02:00

Today i got the official verification of my CCIE recertification:Dear XXX:Congratulations, you have successfully recertified as a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert! Periodic recertification ensures that the CCIE designation remains a valid measure of expertise in the networking industry. Your next CCIE recertification deadline will be January 18 2012. Current recertification policies require

Networkers 2009 - The Barcelona Experience

2009-01-30T23:21:00.043+02:00

7 months after my visit to Networkers in USA/Orlando, i visited Networkers in Europe/Barcelona this time. Different continent, different county, different city, different experience, same ranking model.Category Grade Comments----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hotels A- I stayed at a non-Cisco hotel, but it was very good

One year CCIE - Was it worth it?

2009-01-18T18:17:00.030+02:00

Today i got the following email from Cisco reminding me of my CCIE recertification:Dear XXX:Our records show your CCIE recertification deadline, January 18 2010, is approaching. We want to encourage you to prepare for and schedule one of the available CCIE written exams to satisfy the recertification requirement.CCIEs are required to pass one written exam within the 24 months preceding their

EEM action CLI uses a VTY with "null" username by default

2009-01-18T02:34:00.022+02:00

While i was experimenting with some new features of EEM (which looks like it's turning into a programming language!), i found out that the action cli command uses one of the vtys that are available for normal access to the router, but with a null (or should i say empty?) username.I created a sample eem applet (which produces some cli output when "show clock" is executed) in order to test it:event

Changes to CCIE Lab and Written Exam Question Format and Scoring

2009-01-14T11:51:00.010+02:00

Effective February 1, 2009, Cisco will introduce a new type of question format to CCIE Routing and Switching lab exams. In addition to the live configuration scenarios, candidates will be asked a series of four or five open-ended questions, drawn from a pool of questions based on the material covered on the lab blueprint. No new topics are being added. The exams are not been increased in

NAT Hairpinning using NAT pools & PBR

2008-12-26T19:06:00.005+02:00

Here is an interesting problem i met some days ago...All hosts want to communicate each other by using their respective external (inside global) ip addresses, while dynamic/static NAT takes places in front of them. 1) Introducing the problemThis is an issue being "resolved" in RFC 4787 (for UDP) & RFC 5382 (for TCP), known also as NAT hairpinning, but Cisco doesn't seem to have implemented any of

Solving routing asymmetry due to HSRP by using EEM & EOT

2008-11-22T12:17:00.099+02:00

This is a topic that comes up at least once in a year at the c-nsp list (and everywhere else i believe), but i still cannot understand why Cisco doesn't provide a solution about it.1) Introducing the problemThe scenario is simple. You have 2 routers running HSRP on a LAN serving various hosts. These 2 routers have a third -common- router as an uplink and all three of them are running a routing

Possible new CCIE logos

2008-08-21T21:59:00.018+03:00

Few hours ago i received an email from Cisco, asking certified professionals, to provide feedback on the possible new logos that will represent Cisco career certifications on learning materials, as well as on promotional items such as shirts, hats, and jackets.The two choices i was given were the following:©2008 Ipsos Interactive Services©2008 Cisco Systems, IncI personally prefer the 1st one...

Exam Discounts, Vouchers & Promotional Codes

2008-08-10T20:35:00.018+03:00

Lately i'm finding quite a few of "free" voucher codes on the internet that provide you with 20%-30% off the price of a Cisco written exam.According to Cisco, these third-party vouchers should not be used, but i have seen a lot of people giving them for free (Brandon being the latest example) and many other people using them without any problems. I respect Brandon's movement and intentions (

CCO documentation errors & the VTP v2 transparent issue

2008-07-28T23:43:00.014+03:00

Dear Cisco Customer,Thank you for your recent feedback on Cisco technical documentation submitted throughthe embedded feedback form. Your feedback has highlighted a potential change to ourdocumentation and this has formally been raised as an error with the relevanttechnical documentation organization.We look forward to your continued participation on improving our product documentation.Thank you,

Minor blog redesign & advertisements addition

2008-07-25T01:15:00.009+03:00

During the last months i have been experimenting with and doing small changes in the design of my blog, ranging from the addition of a custom Google search to the addition of today's advertisement.Here is a summary of all of them:Profile details have been moved inside the profile, so they are not viewable from the main page. You have to click on "View my complete profile" in order to view them.A

Embedded Packet Capture - How to make routers more active

2008-07-16T02:40:00.019+03:00

How many times where you in a need to get a remote packet capture and either ERSPAN wasn't available or the network architecture couldn't help you accomplish it easily?How many times were you wondering what packets are being dropped in a interface or are being punted to the CPU?Can you think of an easy way to capture traffic with source and destination on the same router?Using EPC you can solve -

Object Groups for ACLs - At last!

2008-07-14T10:52:00.027+03:00

If someone was telling you that's it's possible to enable the following communication using an access-list (ACL) with only 5 ACL entries (ACEs), you would probably laugh!hosts 10.10.10.1, 20.10.20.1, 30.10.30.1 40.10.40.1 should be able to telnet to any hosthosts 10.10.10.1, 20.10.20.1, 30.10.30.1 40.10.40.1 should be able send mailhosts 10.10.10.1, 20.10.20.1, 30.10.30.1 40.10.40.1 should be

Cisco Live 2008

2008-07-09T19:27:00.000+03:00

It has been almost 1 week since i returned from Cisco Live (Networkers) in Orlando and since i enjoyed Michael's report card about it, i decided to use something similar in order to describe (and grade) my experience.Category Grade Comments------------------------------------------------------------------Hotels B+ I stayed at a non-Cisco hotel, but it was good for

Cisco Exam Price Update as of June 24, 2008

2008-07-05T17:46:00.006+03:00

In case you didn't notice it, there has been an increase in the price of Cisco written exams.Some interesting facts about it, taken from certification online support:Q. What exactly is the price adjustment being made at this time?A. As of June 24, 2008, the price of the CCNA comprehensive exam #640-802, the single exam option for achieving CCNA certification, will be $250 USD, the

CCIP completed

2008-07-03T22:48:00.014+03:00

After 40 days of hard preparation (there were times i was feeling more exhausted than the days of my CCIE preparation) for the MPLS exam, i finished my CCIP certification. The MPLS exam was the most difficult, because it was almost new to me, besides some basic theory which i already knew (and 2-3 labs on my dynamips setup). So i had to spend a lot of time on understanding the concepts behind it,

Inform Cisco of your disappointment regarding the new CCIE plaque

2008-07-02T13:43:00.008+03:00

This is the email i had sent some months ago to Abby Douglas (adouglas AT cisco.com), Certification Program Manager (Customer Advocacy), regarding the new CCIE plaque.If you're also disappointed by the new CCIE plaque (like Arden Packeer is), you should probably do the same.Dear Abby,I'm writing this email because i feel very disappointed by the new CCIE plaque.I received mine 1 week ago and i

Upgrading ROMMONs in 6500s/7600s with SUP720

2008-06-14T12:34:00.031+03:00

The Supervisor Engine 720 (or the Supervisor Engine 720-10GE) ROMMONs consists of two modules:- A resident module that is not changed during the upgrade procedure. This is the Gold region one. - An upgradeable module that is updated during the upgrade procedure. This is the only module that you have to download from cisco.There are three regions (including the Gold region) where versions of the

What is the longest time you had a Cisco SR open?

2008-06-12T09:00:00.016+03:00

Yesterday i was having a review of all our Cisco cases (open and closed) and i felt disappointed.I realized that there is one platform that has the most cases (should i say above 70?) during the last 4 years and some of them have lasted for over a year!What does it mean for me?The platform has a difficult (and probably not optimal) architectureThe platform doesn't have enough engineers to deal

Security best practices = How to enable vulnerabilities ?

2008-06-11T00:04:00.007+03:00

Today Cisco published a new security advisory regarding SNMPv3 (CVSS Base Score 10).Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could result in the disclosure of sensitive information on a device or allow an attacker to make configuration changes to a vulnerable device that is based on the SNMP configuration.A few days ago it was SSH's turn (CVSS Base Score 7.8).Successful exploitation of

Passing VTP advertisements through a VTP V2 transparent switch

2008-05-25T17:19:00.016+03:00

I was sure that i had it working in the past, but recently Antonie Henning made me rethink about it:Yes,all the books and doccd says this should work. I have tried different combinations. From making all devices V2, to only the transparent sw V2 and the other V1. Reloading the switches after making changes. Making the 3550 the transparent switch to making a 3560 the transparent switch. Also tried

QoS classification/marking using PBR

2008-05-24T11:52:00.006+03:00

Most of you already know the 2 usual methods of doing QoS classification and marking:Use MQC:class-map match-all HOST-CLASS match access-group name HOST-ACL!class-map match-any P2P-CLASS match protocol fasttrack!policy-map TEST-POLICY class HOST-CLASS set ip precedence 3 class P2P-CLASS police 64000 conform-action set-prec-transmit 0 exceed-action drop !ip access-list extended HOST-ACL permit

CCIE R&S Lab info by Maurilio Gorito - Mar-Apr 2008

2008-05-20T01:00:00.018+03:00

After the October 2007 update from Maurilio Gorito (content manager for the CCIE R&S) which helped me a lot, here is a newer one (Mar 21, 2008) based on what happened on the recent "ASK THE EXPERT - PREPARING FOR CCIE IN ROUTING & SWITCHING" Q&A session, that might help you this time.you can visit the lab testing facility. If you want to anticipate that you are going to visit the lab facility you

Books for MPLS

2008-05-10T18:49:00.032+03:00

I have just started my preparation for the MPLS exam (last one of CCIP) and i'm looking for some relevant books to buy.I need a book that covers the basics and another one (or two) for the advanced stuff plus design principles/architectures. Preferably a book from the 2nd category should help me in the CCIE SP track too.During the last week i've been doing an online research and after reading

How to use extended-range vlans in the NM-16ESW

2008-05-04T02:07:00.024+03:00

In case that you don't already know, in the latest IOS (> 12.4(15)T) you can use extended-range vlans (1006-4094) in your dynamips router/switch (using the NM-16ESW module). Also the vlan database mode is not recommended anymore and you can use the latest config-vlan submode. That way you can replicate more closely the various vendor labs.I'm using a 3725 as switch, so this is its config in the

4 more blogging CCIEs

2008-05-02T13:38:00.008+03:00

Ethan Banks passed the CCIE R&S lab and is now CCIE #20655.Victor Cappuccio passed the CCIE R&S lab and is now CCIE #20657.Joe Harris, CCIE #6200, passed the CCIE SP lab and got his triple CCIE!!!Congratulations to all of you guys!!! To the rest of you, just keep the numbers running...Update 7-May-2008...Arden Packeer passed the CCIE R&S lab and is now CCIE #20716.

How to update dynagen in Ubuntu using the rpm file

2008-04-30T11:13:00.012+03:00

First check if the update is available through the Synaptic Package Manager. If it's there then select and proceed with the update. Nothing different here.At the time of writing, the latest version found through the official Ubuntu repositories is 0.10.1, which is what i had installed too:xxx@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ dynagen --versiondynagen 0.10.1.090807But there are many cases that you won't find it

Proxy test takers, item harvesters and cheaters... be very afraid

2008-04-24T10:43:00.016+03:00

"I've been in testing since the 1980's with Control Data's first computer testing implementation," said Randy Trask, Vice President of Market Development for Pearson VUE, "and I can tell you that cheating has always been around. What's changed is the pervasiveness of the internet. In a half second, an individual can compromise intellectual property around the globe in forums that are highly

e-Islands (Connected Schools) - Greece where are you?

2008-04-20T16:24:00.013+03:00

There have been already 3 months since the day i passed my CCIE lab in Brussels. During the same period that i was having my lab exam, a Networkers event was happening in Barcelona. Although i wanted too much to visit it, i had other things in my mind that period, so i gave up the idea in favor of the CCIE.Together with the Networkers event, there was the Cisco Networkers Innovation Awards event

BGP - How to display incoming/outgoing routes before/after filtering

2008-04-10T22:21:00.024+03:00

Below you'll find some simple BGP commands that you can use in order to check your policy-control rules (filter-list, distribute-list, route-map, etc.) locally, when you don't have access to the peer neighbor.This is our initial network....Incoming Routes : Before filtering (soft-reconfiguration in must be enabled *)R1#sh ip bgp nei 10.10.10.2 received-routes% Inbound soft reconfiguration not

BGP - Can an aggregate-address suppress another aggregate-address on the same router?

2008-04-07T22:34:00.049+03:00

Or can an aggregate-address aggregate another aggregate-address on the same router?Today i was playing with BGP a little (i found some time to prepare for my CCIP) and here is what i found out:Suppose you have the following config on a router:interface Loopback1 ip address 1.1.1.1 255.255.255.128!router bgp 1 no synchronization bgp log-neighbor-changes network 1.1.1.0 mask 255.255.255.128

CCIE practice - My new desktop environment in Ubuntu

2008-04-05T18:15:00.019+03:00

After having taken the decision to move to Ubuntu for all the future dynamips labs, i sat down and tried to create a comfortable desktop environment in Ubuntu like the one i had in Windows.By default Ubuntu comes with 2 workspaces. I added one more (right click on a workspace in the bottom/right corner, choose Preferences and increase the number of columns), so i'm having 3 in total. I'll be

Installing Ubuntu 8.04 & dynamips/dynagen

2008-03-29T17:08:00.040+02:00

Today i decided to install Ubuntu again, but this time without using the wubi installer. So i was going to use a partition solely for linux.It took me around 3 hours and here is the procedure for all of you...Download latest Ubuntu Desktop LiveCD (8.04 beta was available when i did it). You can run it from the CD before installing it (that's what LiveCDs are all about), if you want to check for

Cisco Search 2.0 - Is it really better?

2008-03-27T21:42:00.043+02:00

I have given many fights with my colleagues whether Cisco's site is organized in a way that a not-grown-with-cisco person can use it and find the required information fast and easily (after 10 years working with Cisco, i still doubt about it). I must have bookmarked over 500 pages (which usually get moved around, with redirections not always working, feedback for lost links missing, etc.) on

Cisco Updates Policy on Employee Blogging

2008-03-24T22:26:00.005+02:00

From Lessons Learned….Cisco Updates Policy on Employee Blogging...Background A lawyer in Cisco’s intellectual property department, Rick Frenkel, created the Patent Troll Tracker blog. Rick started his anonymous blog in May 2007, writing frequently and broadly on patents and presenting relevant data related to patent litigation, an area currently of great public interest, in which Cisco also has

ASR1000 (aka the Good - Pt 2)

2008-03-22T12:11:00.021+02:00

4 days ago i visited CiscoExpo 2008 in Athens, where my company was invited on a presentation of the ASR1000 series routers. There i had the chance to talk with the ASR1000 product manager and discuss some details about our plans of using this platform in our network.So, what came out of this discussion?Cisco doesn't want to replace any existing platform with ASR1000. They see a new market for

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2008-03-08T15:26:00.031+02:00

C.Eastwood : "This world had two kinds of people my friend: those with loaded guns and those who dig!" Guess who's digging ;)Some days ago Cisco introduced the ASR1000 Router Series. A breakthrough in technology according to Cisco; something that will probably change the networking industry.What does it have to do with the title?The Good (QFP), the Bad (PXF) and the Ugly (SW)!!!QFP is the

CCIP and then -maybe- CCIE SP

2008-03-03T21:28:00.015+02:00

The poll has been closed and it's time to announce my decision...I guess the majority of those who voted will be disappointed, but my decision is to take the CCIP exam...and then -maybe- (see the explanation at the end) the CCIE SP.I have already passed BSCI from CCNP and some days ago i passed the QoS exam. That means i still have BGP & MPLS. BGP should be easy, because i know most of the stuff

How to match CoS on a 3750

2008-02-24T21:55:00.021+02:00

During the last 2 days i have been trying to limit ingress PPPoE traffic passing through a 3750 switch. In order to be as strict as possible, i didn't want to drop any PPP/PPPoE control packets, like PPP keepalives/LCP auth or PADI/PADO/PADR/PADS, otherwise there was a high possibility that the PPPoE connections of some users would be dropped (because of missed PPP keepalives) or would not be

CCIE plaque - too cheap for a CCIE?

2008-02-23T16:30:00.024+02:00

From the CCIE Program Features :CCIE Plaque and CertificateAs an official CCIE, you will receive an engraved plaque and certificate, shipped to the address listed in your profile within 10-12 weeks. Please make sure your contact information is up-to-date.Yesterday, one month after my lab exam, i received my CCIE plaque (if that can be considered a plaque). According to some people it's a crystal

7600-ESM-20X1GE (7600-ES20) testing

2008-02-13T22:49:00.051+02:00

The last week i've been experimenting with an ES20 card and i must say i'm impressed. A lot of nice features (that should be standard in the simple 6500/7600 LAN cards too) are included while some other are there to help you accomplish whatever ethernet scenario comes into your mind.These are some features that differentiate it from the simple 67xx cards:SubinterfacesSubinterface Switchport /

show parser dump - full CLI syntax at your hands

2008-02-10T13:18:00.000+02:00

To display the CLI syntax options for all command modes or for a specified command mode, you can use the show parser dump command in privileged EXEC mode.This command was developed to allow the exploration of the CLI command syntax without requiring the user to actually enter a specific mode and use the ? command line help.Examples:The following command will display all the commands that can by

CCIE practice - My dynamips environment

2008-02-06T15:29:00.000+02:00

This is the PC i used during my practice:Abit IP35ProCore2Duo E6550 (@2.66)2 GB DDR2 RAM320GB HDWindows XP & UbuntuI started using WindowsXP, but soon i found out that i couldn't run concurrently >10 routers (i didn't insist too much on trying this). So i switched to Ubuntu, where after 1 week of trial & error, i managed to create my home environment and then run the sample lab that is provided

Greek CCIEs

2008-02-02T16:49:00.027+02:00

I'm trying to gather the names of all the Greek CCIEs and this is the list i have come up until now: ? Sotiris Spanos ? Paraskevas Lykourgiotis ? Nassos Papakostas 1858 Nicholas Stathakis (?) 2310 Andreas Agrafiotis 4273 Pantelis Parvantonis 4446 Dimitri Kotantoulas 6046 Narkissos Sevastiadis 6507 Vicky Fyrigou 6866 Vassilis Constantopoulos 6969 Chara Kontaxi 6981 Nikolaos Apοstolou 7201

CCIE practice - My "scripts"

2008-01-28T22:43:00.000+02:00

I wouldn't call them scripts. They are just simple commands that help you get quickly the information required.Maybe you have already seen them around. Some parts are surely not mine. I just found them and adapted them to my needs.Collection ScriptsCollect the active ip addresses from each router/switchendsh ip int br | exc unasswrCollect the ip addresses belonging to backbone routers$INTERFACE

CCIE practice - My desktop environment

2008-01-28T10:33:00.000+02:00

These are the two desktop environments i was using during my practice. These are also the ones i used in the CCIE Lab. The only difference is that i used Putty during my practice (it's the lightest telnet client and it's free) vs SecureCRT in the CCIE Lab. But since i knew i was going to use SecureCRT in the lab, i spent 1 hour on practicing with it, just the day before my flight to

CCIE Program Offers Weekend Lab Exams

2008-01-26T13:31:00.000+02:00

Although it's old news, i just found out the following: In an attempt to significantly reduce the wait time for a lab appointment, the CCIE team is offering weekend lab exams in Routing and Switching. The following dates and locations are the first to open. December 22, 2007 Brussels and DubaiDecember 23, 2007 Research Triangle ParkDecember 29, 2007 Brussels and DubaiDecember 30, 2007

CCIE SP or CCDE?

2008-01-25T12:50:00.002+02:00

You may be thinking i'm moving too fast...You may be right...After passing the CCIE lab, i found out (no that i didn't know it) that all these years i was keeping myself in a low profile and everyone (especially my employer) was taking advantage of it (something not censurable, since most employers do the same; that's part of their job). But when my salary is below CCNA's average, when i'm

CCIE Lab - The chronicle of success

2008-01-20T18:41:00.001+02:00

3 Jan 2008 (15 days before the lab exam)Isolation begins. I get 2 weeks vacation from my work, in order to boost up my preparation.4-6 Jan 2008 (14 days before the lab exam)During these 3 days i have 2 Mock Labs and 1 Rack Rental. I have chosen the most difficult Mock Lab this time (you can see my relevant post here), because i want to test myself in extreme conditions. As it proves out, i did

CCIE Lab - Self-Teaching

2008-01-20T18:01:00.000+02:00

One week before my lab exam, i started recording into a mp3 player all my handwritten notes. I know it might seem funny, but later i found out that this was my best idea ever!I recorded around 7 hours of myself describing strange scenarios and proposing solutions (mostly from the online labs i had done), reading difficult/unknown parts from the DocCD and everything else i though it would come

CCIE Lab - Things i didn't do

2008-01-20T17:04:00.000+02:00

During my preparation for the lab i had come into a lot of pages that were describing some things that you can do and possibly increase your chances of passing. Below you'll find some that i didn't do.Before the examI didn't use any CCIE workbookI didn't attend any CCIE bootcampI didn't watch any CCIE mailing listI didn't use any CCIE dump programDuring the examI didn't use any aliasesI didn't

CCIE Lab - How much money it costed

2008-01-20T12:00:00.001+02:00

212€ (5 CCIE books)540€ (Upgrade of my PC)17€ (MP3 Player/Recorder)4€ (AAA Batteries)2 x $249 = 347€ (2 IE Mock Labs)4 x $99 = 272€ (4 IE Mock Labs)3 x $30 = 62€ (3 IE Rack Rentals)- $80 = - 55€ (IE Discount)$399 = 273€ (2 CCIE Assessor Labs)6€ (Train @ ATH, Home-Airport)256€ (Flight ATH-BRU-ATH)588€ (NH Brussels Airport Hotel, 3 days + breakfast + lunch/dinner)20€ (Taxi @ BRU,

My CCIE in numbers

2008-01-20T11:04:00.000+02:00

0 tasks unanswered in the CCIE Lab1 CCIE Lab attempt2 CCIE Assessor Labs3 months of preparation4 HD partitions used for CCIE primary/backup material5 CCIE Books6 IE Mock Labs7 hours of mp3 personal recorded material10 questions to the proctor during my CCIE Lab11 candidates on the same room during my CCIE Lab13 GB of HD space used for Dynamips/Dynagen practicing15 days of complete isolation16