Blogs

If you are attending the conference and haven't downloaded it yet, I highly recommend the Cisco Live App. It includes a ton of features such as what is pictured here, but when you log in it also gives you access to your schedule, people search, a find nearby feature that links with Yelp, and a messages feature to communicate with others using the app. 

Now I don't have to use those Internet kiosks or waste paper printing out my schedule.

The apple version of the app is linked above, but it's also available for berry and droid.

Cisco Live 2011 has kicked off and I'll be here all week partaking in the festivities. Got a full week of sessios scheduled, but I'll try to squeeze in some fun as well ;)

I'll be posting about some of the topics in the sessions I attend to share the experience with those of you unable to make it this time.  If you have any requests for videos / photos / topics covered, let me know in the comments and I'll see if I can accommodate.

Also, I'll be posting this content in it's own special tab just for the week to keep things organized. I might be posting some photos or videos that aren't really "front page" material, so if you want to see it check out the tab, otherwise just keep an eye on the main page for the standard stuff.

I have been a fan and user of VanDyke Software’s SecureCRT for many years. Until recently, if you wanted to use SecureCRT on a Mac, you had to run the Windows version in a VM. Although that works for some, it’s nice to have a native Mac option available. 

The beta version was released about a year ago and not too long after the full version became available. Download and Installation was a breeze and took all of about 2 minutes to complete.

There are some subtle differences between the Windows version and the Mac version, however the user experience is comparable. One item to note for you script kiddies out there, the Windows version uses VB scripts whereas the Mac version uses Python. The documentation has some basic syntax and sample code to get you started, but converting a basic script I had working in windows took some time since I’m not a Python expert.

Common Unicast Addresses

Node-Local Scope Multicast Addresses

Link-Local Scope Multicast Addresses

When redistributing routes into OSPF, there are some default metric (cost) values that are good to remember if no metric configuration exists:

1. Use the source route’s cost if from another OSPF process
2. Cost is 1 for routes learned from BGP
3. Cost is 20 for all other routes

A couple more facts to remember:

• External Type 1 OSPF routes have incrementing costs.

• External Type 2 OSPF routes maintain the same cost throughout the AS and are the default type when redistributing. 

So, for the most part routes will be external type 2 and have a cost of 20 by default unless you are using BGP (say, for either an Internet connection or MPLS configuration), in which case those routes will have a cost of 1. If you are running two OSPF processes and redistributing between them, then the cost is carried over. 

But what if you want to manipulate the cost of those routes? Here area few examples on how to go about doing that. 

After months in the works, the Tekcert Forums are officially open to the public! 

For the next month or so, the forums will be in "beta" - this is to ensure things are running smoothly enough to let the forums continue to run. During this period, I will be making modifications and improvements to the forums. Also, I hope that you, the readers, will step up to the plate and become contributors as well. Create an account, login, and post to the forums.  Let me know if you run into any problems or tell me if you have a suggestion to improve the forums. To send me feedback, use the Contact form located here.

I hope this becomes a useful source of information for everyone. I've tried to create more certification focused forums, but if you want some new forum categories let me know and it might get added. 

Thanks and Happy Posting!

Feels like it was just a few months ago we were installing the brand new Firefox 4 and now it is obsolete! That's right, Mozilla is laughing at Murphy's Law and coming out with a major rev of their software every 3 months instead of their previous schedule that was much more sane.

According to mozilla.com, "Mozilla Firefox is moving to a rapid release development cycle to
deliver new features, performance enhancements, security updates and
stability improvements to users faster."

So, if we're understanding this correctly, they want to deliver updates to their users like they always have, but they want to throw the whole concept of subversions out the window and stick with major releases. As a regular end user, I guess I can roll with that.