Cisco reaches 1 Million certified, CCIE R&S Program Update, and NEW CCNA Voice Option

1. Cisco recently announced that, to date, they have certified over 1 Million individuals and over 20,000 people with CCIE certifications. WOW - can you believe that there are over 1 million people in the world who are Cisco certified? Pretty amazing!

When I achieved my CCIE, there were about 5,000 CCIEs. Now, 7 years later, there are 20,000.

2. Cisco announced changes changes to the CCIE Routing and Switching written certification test. In the latest revision, dubbed “4.0″, the new test will have hands-on troubleshooting and will now cover MPLS and VPN. This new version will come on line October 18, 2009.

To me, personally, this is critical news as I will have to take this test to keep my CCIE. I have to do this prior to May 2010 so stay tuned for news about this test as I will be following it closely.

3. Cisco has announced changes to the CCNA Voice certification. There will now be two options available for candidates wishing to achieve their CCNA Voice certification: A commercial option and an enterprise option.

Cisco Live is this week!

Will you be at Cisco Live 2009 (aka Cisco Networkers)?

I blogged about Cisco Live back in May because I was even excited about it then. Now that it is here, I am even more excited about it. Even though I won’t be there this year (I opted to go to VMworld instead of Cisco Live), I will be following the conference through Twitter (Follow me on Twitter) and through the Cisco Live conference website (Cisco Live!).

Here are some important facts about Cisco Live in 2009:

• The conference runs from June 27 to July 2 in San Francisco
• You can still just “show up” and register onsite
• This marks the 20th anniversary of Cisco Networkers / Live
• If you are like me and you can’t make it to the event, you still need to register for Cisco Live Virtual. The standard version of this allows you 2 days of ondemand technical training classes and the Premier level (for $395) gives you additional access to virtual programming and 1 year to check it all out.
• And, you don’t want to miss what John Chambers has to say at the Keynote!

For more information, checkout Cisco Live 2009!

Introduction to Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances

In this article from the Petri IT Knowledgebase, Tom Finnis covers the Cisco ASA 5500 series appliances - what models are available and what they offer you. All the key features like Firewall, SSL, IPSec VPN, Intrusion Prevention (IPS), and Content Security are covered.

To read the full article, take a look at:

Introduction to Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances

Cisco’s John Chambers answers questions from Twitter

During Cisco Live 2009, @CiscoSystems Twitter followers submitted questions for John Chambers the CEO of Cisco. Their questions regarding the companys overall strategy, Flip, video, and smart grid technology are answered in this video.

Configuring Microsoft Hyper-V Virtual Networking

I just created and posted a new video on how to configure Microsoft Hyper-V virtual networking. This can be a bit confusing for those new to virtualization because you have this whole new concept of the virtual network. Also, configuring virtual networking is very different between Hyper-V and, say, VMware ESXi.

To watch the full video, click on the video screen below:

Enable More Simultaneous Downloads in IE 8

Did you know that with IE 8, you are only allowed to download up to 6 files at one time? However, it’s easy to change this with a quick registry hack. My friend Daniel Petri showed me how at his blog. To see where to go to tweak this, checkout Enable More Simultaneous Downloads in IE 8

Win a Palm Pre!

You have just 3 more days (from the date of this blog post) to enter to win a Palm Pre (yes, that’s the cool new PDA from Palm). All you have to do is sign up for 1 no-spam, totally informative, newsletter. After you win the Palm Pre, you can unsubscribe without worry (but you likely won’t as its a good newsletter).

To enter to win the Palm Pre, just visit: Windows Server HQ Contest

(and don’t worry, if you are reading this after June 30, they offer other prizes)

Name 7 Things you can do with Hyper-V

Yes, I know, I am a VMware-guy but I also use Hyper-V. What do I use it for? Well, I run my vCenter server inside of it. I know, Microsoft likely wouldn’t care for that use of Hyper-V and I know that Hyper-V has some great uses for those who love Microsoft and are satisfied with the maturity level of their enterprise virtualization product.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to name 7 things that you can do with Hyper-V, my friends at Train Signal wrote a great new post (with lots of cool pictures). You can find it at:

7 Awesome Things you can do with Hyper-V

VIDEO: SQL 101 Part 5: The UPDATE Statement

The folks at Train Signal Training have released 5 FREE Videos covering Microsoft SQL Server. In the latest video, part 5, they cover, step by step, how to use the SQL UPDATE statement. Check it out:

Spiceworks 4.0 released with Twitter intergration

In the past, I have taken a look at SpiceWorks network management tool. ISurprisingly, it is a completely free tool and, to add some icing on that cake, they are based out of my home state - Texas.

So, when they contacted me to let me know that they were releasing a new major upgrade to SpiceWorks, I thought I would try to help them get the word out here.

The latest rev offers Twitter Integration, 3rd Party Application Plug-ins and Network Mapping. Here are the details on those features from the SpiceWorks press release:

• Network Mapping – the fully-integrated network mapping application automatically creates network diagrams that graphically display network elements, their relationships, and bandwidth consumption. The “Hotspot” mode uses enhanced visualization features to help IT managers visually monitor and troubleshoot network problems in real-time.
• Management Application Plug-ins – top technology vendors, including Microsoft, LiveOffice, Intel and Trend Micro, have built management widgets that plug into Spiceworks to help users better manage technology from those vendors. The LiveOffice Mail Archive Widget, for example, allows users to archive email accounts from within Spiceworks in a couple of clicks. The Microsoft License Organizer allows users to automatically track Microsoft licenses and to order additional licenses when needed. Additionally, Intel offers a plug-in that allows IT pros to see which computers are vPro-enabled.
• Help Desk Tickets Anywhere – users can control the Spiceworks help desk from any email-enabled device, including mobile phones. With a few simple key strokes, users can create new tickets, edit & update existing tickets, and delete tickets from anywhere – whether right next to a user’s desktop or half-way across town.
• Social Windows Event and Twitter Alerts – users can now see how other IT pros have prioritized and managed various Windows Events. With one-click they can view Windows event background pages and read community group discussions on how to best troubleshoot and resolve related problems. In addition, activity updates sent from within Spiceworks can now be automatically updated or “cc:’d” to a user’s Twitter account. These features help small businesses to use social networking tools to resolve and stay better informed on IT issues.

You can try out the latest version for yourself (no evaluation timeout) by signing up at the SpiceWorks website. I figure that if its already used by 700,000 IT Professionals, I can’t go wrong!