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May 2008

iPhone Starbucks Wifi

Sat, 2008-05-03 11:38

Wahoo! Free Internet access for iPhone users at Starbucks!
Wahoo! Free Internet access for those who know how to make their laptop look like an iPhone at Starbucks!
UPDATE: AT&T has since disabled Wi-Fi access at all Starbucks. Good things never last ;o)

It's CCNA Month at Network World!

Mon, 2008-05-05 11:52

I mentioned a couple posts ago that I've been drafted to blog at Network World's Cisco Subnet for the month of May. Since Network World is promoting my new CCNA Practice Questions (Third Edition) book, I figured I would make my Network World blog dedicated to strategies to pass the CCNA exam. If you're interested, come on over.
PS - my CiscoBlog postings may be a little light in May. Talk about being spread as thin as butter...
PPS - The CiscoBlog Forum is rockin'! Thanks so much for those who have already started posting and replying!!! Killer.

I LOVE THESE THINGS!!!

Wed, 2008-05-07 10:25

881_large.jpgDo these 800 series routers just keep getting cooler or what?!? This one (Cisco 881) can even connect to a G3 cellular data network to use as a WAN link. I checked my reseller prices - it's about $450.00. Sweet!
All it's missing is an LCD display screen on the front. Now THAT would be hot! I have no idea what it would say...not sure I'd even care - I just want an LCD display screen.
NOTE: Correction G3 = 3G...dyslexia strikes again...

GNS3, The Initial Lab

Mon, 2008-05-12 10:29

Alright...this took a little more time than I had hoped, but my initial GNS3 lab is done. I designed this initial lab to test through most of the Cisco CCENT concepts. I'm planning on posting this on the Network World blog I'm running this month tomorrow, but figured I'd post it here first. The GNS3 topology is using a 2600 series router / image (I figured many people could get ahold of one of these images either via a SmartNet contract or Ebay). The exact image I used is c2600-i-mz.123-26.bin.
The lab itself isn't as pretty as I'd like, but I primarily wanted to get something out there with a template to create other labs.

Geez...I thought I was bad...

Thu, 2008-05-15 15:11

I was doing some looking around at Internetwork Expert and came across some of Scott Morris' material (which looks really good from the samples!). Being naturally curious, I googled his name and found a Network World article describing his home lab...Now THAT is nice! Insane...but NICE!
Scott Morris' Home Lab
What's funnier was that in reading more of his biography, he used to run a BBS system I regularly used (The Assassin's Guild). Ha! Small world.

Okay...I can admit when I'm wrong...

Tue, 2008-05-20 11:17

SecureCRT is incredible... Last week, my PuttyCM software crashed again. In a moment of frustration, I pulled out my credit card and paid the $139.00 for SecureCRT 6.0 with 3 years of maintenance. It's a little like the flu shot...you feel stupid paying money for it and it really hurts, but you're glad you did it when it's all over.
How did I ever live without this anti-idle feature before?!?
Ah geez...side note - I just went to the Putty CM website and saw they now have Alpha version 0.7.0 out that fixes many of the bugs I previously complained about. I can't believe I've just wasted $139.00 on SecureCRT now.
...I'm such a schizophrenic flake...

GNS3 Dream Fulfilled

Tue, 2008-05-20 11:49

Lo and behold - my GNS3 Lab Dream has been mostly fulfilled! As I was blogging on Network World, one of the readers posted this link:
http://7200emu.hacki.at/
It's a massive GNS3 support/lab forum where many people have created lab topologies for existing books/scenarios out on the market! Much less work than creating labs manually (my initial idea). I've redirected GNS3Labs.com to this site - great stuff!
Okay...I have to admit...I'm a little bummed this is already out there. It feels a little like I jumped out of my chair saying, "wouldn't it be great if there was a device that could excite water molecules to cause friction and heat up food?!?!" Ehhh... I'm sure I'll get over it - I'm really excited to see this site in play!
UPDATE: In surfing through the site, they even have a .NET file for the CCIE topology I created for CBTNuggets! Awesome!

Budget Wireless Sniffer

Wed, 2008-05-21 10:50

Just found this wireless sniffer from Canary Wireless. Looks like a pretty nice, cheap alternative to me carrying my laptop around trying to figure out what wireless channels are in use when deploying a wireless network.
UPDATE: Even better!!! http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/illuminated/991e/. TShirts reach a whole new level.



Dr. Radut