Skip to Content

October 2007

Network Security and Netflow

Tue, 2007-10-02 13:24
end-to-end

 

A couple things I'd like to mention in this post...First off, I just finished looking through End-to-End Network Security from Cisco Press...Very nice. If you've ever wanted to get into network security, this is a great starting point. It talks about major areas of network security to address and the tools you can use to do it.
So that brings me to my second thought...Someone talk to me about Netflow. Netflow is one of the tools this book mentions that you can use to analyze your network traffic. In it's basic form, Netflow tracks all the "flows" (aka traffic) going through your router. You can categorize it per-application and even get down to a per-user level (so you can finally figure out who is killing the Internet connection with their peer-to-peer traffic).

Migrating Routing Protocols

Mon, 2007-10-08 10:08

These guys at NIL continue to impress me. I originally met one of the NIL staff when I was running a BGP lab at Cisco Networkers a couple years back. We sat and talked about regular expressions with each other while the Networkers folks hacked away at the remote NIL equipment. Ever since then, I've glanced at their website from time to time - they just added a great post on migrating routing protocols:
http://www.nil.com/go/ChangingRoutingProtocol/
While you're there, you can find a wealth of other "best practice/cool tips" articles they have on-hand. This was the first place I learned about the Configure Replace command...which I've found doesn't work as well in practice as it does in theory. But that's another post :).

Cheap Cisco Exams

Mon, 2007-10-08 14:07

One of my students passed on this website to me: http://www.getcertify4less.com/cisco.asp. Apparently you can get Cisco VUE exam vouchers at a fraction of the price provided you are scheduling your exam soon. He said he used it and it worked great for him - I haven't had the chance yet. Seems pretty awesome - exams at half price - Not bad!

The Power-Packed 1861 Micro Router

Tue, 2007-10-16 06:00
Cisco1861

I stumbled on this router while reading through some new Cisco marketing mish-mesh...Alright - check this thing out: it's a branch router that does...EVERYTHING! 

CallManager / Unity Express (VoIP Phones)
VPN Support (site-to-site, remote access, SSL VPNs)
Firewall features
802.1x features
HWIC Slot (for WAN cards)
Built in FXS/FXO slots (for POTS phones & phone lines)
The only thing it's missing is wireless...but still sweet nonetheless. It's so new, I can't find out how much it costs yet...I'm guessing 2,000 - 3,000 dollars...donations anyone?

The Ultimate on the Road Cisco Management - Apple iPhone

Wed, 2007-10-31 11:40
iphone

 

I can't stop...just when I thought, "alright, it's time to stop being such a geek and get back into family life..." I get an Apple iPhone. What was I thinking?!? This is hours of endless addictive fun. The Apple iPhone uses a smaller-version of the full Apple operating system based on Free-BSD. Once you "unlock" the iPhone (the industry lingo is "Jailbreaking your Phone"), you can install a plethora...I mean HUNDREDS of useful utilities on it. I thought I'd share a picture of the latest one (click the thumbnail - I dare ya). THAT'S RIGHT! It's an Apple iPhone accessing a remote Cisco ASA firewall using OpenSSH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! THaT iS SoOOoO awESoME! Who the heck needs bathroom reading anymore?!?
Woa...too much info there...sorry.



Dr. Radut