When it comes to learning and getting started with Cisco there are some tools that will help out a lot like Packet Tracer, GNS3 and other emulators. These are great tools for that "simulation" of hands on learning, but you can't always stay in that area.
Although this protocol has been around since 1996 it has been anticipated that IPv4 would one day be exhausted. In February 2011 the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) assigned the last /8 address blocks to the Regional Internet Registries so time is getting close but you have heard this warning before right? Let's go over IPv6 at least just an overview some the features and changes compared to IPv4 because one day it will happen it's just a matter of when. :) So the first thing to understand about IPv6 is that it's a 128-bit binary value, which is displayed as 32 hexadecimal digits. What does this mean in the size or scope of the addresses?
In this post I want to cover how to recover passwords on a Cisco IOS Router. This is helpful in lab environments as well as production environments. Although this method can be used the correct "legal" way you can also use this method to break into these devices "illegally" if you have physical console access to the device. However to get into it physical power must be turned off first causing a disruption in the environment, let get started!
In this short but helpful post, I'll go through the process of upgrading the ASA IOS via the ASDM. This is a pretty painless method if all goes well the only thing you have to do schedule downtime if this box is in production, and grab the ASA IOS image from Cisco. For this post all have been covered let's get started! First things first is always backup your configuration before upgrading and I always read the release notes that Cisco provides when I download the IOS image, it's good reading and important because usually new features are introduced and sometime the ASDM can't paraphrase and parse the new configuration which way I usually upgrade the ASDM first.
The Cisco 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances are of course an excellent firewall but the ASA also offers (depending on the model) other security services as well, like IPS systems, VPN, content security, unified communications and remote access. These ASA's can be used as a standalone appliance' that can handle the need for branch offices to enterprise data centers. Or they can be included in high-performance blades that work together with the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series, and recently new they can also run in a virtual instance which provides tenant isolation for public and private clouds!
Out with the old and in with new Cisco is updating its well-known certification CCNA Security. Candidates that are studying for the older exam (640-553) are suggested to take it on or before September 30th 2012. What has changed in the exam? For the most part Cisco SDM is no longer covered, as it has reached its "End of Life" and in fact Cisco Engineering stopped covering the product from developing and testing on February 26th 2012. You can still renew the product for support (Cisco SmartNet) until March 24th of 2013 and the last date the product will get support will be February 28th of 2014 after that it will become an old friend :). Let's compare these two CCNA Security Exams and see what has changed, removed and added. (640-553 & 640-554) I have compared these two exams side-by-side. If you take look at these two exams, the red on the older exam means it is no longer covered on the (640-554 exam) and the blue on the new exam is new material that is not covered on the (640-553 exam). For the most part Cisco SDM is no longer available instead it is the Cisco Configuration Professional along with that the new exam mentions the Cisco ASA system and walking you into the ASDM along with the different products and services the ASA system offers.
So I just passed my ICND2 exam, I'm now CCNA certified!
This was a long road to travel over a year ago I passed ICND1 which I recived the CCENT certification but with just general life getting in the way I also saw my chance of getting CCNA status stepping further in the distance. If you read how I passed ICND1 will find that the way I studied for this exam was totally different from studying for the ICND1. When I finished the ICND2 exam I saw my score and I was proud that I passed but I knew I could have done better but I don't think I would've. Why?
So here we are on Part 2 of subnetting. What makes me laugh is that I really think a lot of people over think this stuff, and the fact that I mispelled subnetting! (Really? 4Ts) It's really not the complicated and it should not scare you. Another thing to mention is that usually in the real world you usually have calculators and another pair of eyes to double-check your work unlike the exam you will need to fully understand it if you would like to pass the ICND2 or the CCNA test. So let's get started! On Part 1 of my subnetting post I was spiting up networks into equal parts.
Since network technicians work with IP addressing, it is hugely important to understand subnetting. I remember back when I started to learn subnetting it was confusing and I wanted nothing to do with it. The thing that made me change my mind was after I understood it and how important it is. In the "Cisco world" they don't cover useless topics...right? ;) there is always a reason why they expect you to know this and it's not just for the exams. Subnetting has always had its moments with people and in this blog I'll do my best to show you what I have done to make subnetting an easier experience. Eons ago I talked about "The Wonders of Binary" which talked about how to convert these ones and zeros into decimal value and is another stepping stone into understanding the subnet world.
I have worked with the Nexus 1000v product and wanted to share my thoughts on it. I want to explain in this blog what this product is and what it does. The Nexus 1000v can be virtual or a hardware appliance and is considered to be a virtual switch that runs in VMware. The major benefit to this product is the visibly you get when running in a virtual environment. Remember in the virtual environment the network engineer has a cloudy vision of what's going, because the built-in switch within VMware does not get that technical it just works.