Networking

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:

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!

10 Free Networking Tools from NetQoS

I admit it, I am a sucker for free tools. Many times, I end up seeing that the free tools are junk but I was pleasantly surprised when i checked the 10 free networking tools from NetQos.

Besides the Network Rockstar Challenge, NetQos has quietly released 10 free networking tools in their Network Estimation Toolkit. They are:

• Latency
• Subnet
• Ethernet
• Etherchannel
• Link Speed
• Multicast
• Hex to Decimal
• OUI Lookup
• Cable
• Canonical

You can try out the Network Estimation Toolkit for yourslef.

Prevent Network Attacks on your Cisco Network including the ping of death

Over at TrainSignalTraining, they recently published towCisco Security articles that I found to be very helpful if you have any remote interest in preventing networks attacks. The articles are:

• How to Prevent Threats and Attacks on Your Cisco Network
• The PING of Death and Other Network Attacks

Cisco IOS How-To Tips and Tricks

I have published over 20 different Cisco IOS tip and trick articles over at the Petri IT Knowledgebase. In these Cisco tips, I cover things like setting up a Cisco switch, VLAN configuration, DDNS, ACLs, and selecting the right router for your CCNA studies.

Of these 20+ Cisco tips, here are 5 of the most popular:

• Cellular Data to your Cisco Router
• Cisco 800 series Routers - the best routers to practice for your CCNA exam and learn the IOS
• Configuring Dynamic DNS (DDNS) in the Cisco IOS
• How to Recover a Lost Password on a Cisco Switch
• How to Setup VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) on Cisco Switches

I hope you will check them out!

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

I attended Cisco Live/Networkers 2007 in Las Vegas and it was a blast! While I may always call it “Networkers” instead of Live - its still the best networking conference in the world. Besides John Chambers big keynote, tons of Cisco Education, lots of vendors, and big This year, Cisco Live will in in San Francisco, California from June 27 to July 2. While I won’t be able to make it to Live this year (because I will be at VMworld in San Francisco at the end of July), I highly recommend that you go if you can make it.

And if you can’t make it to California this year, you still have the option to attend “virtually”, over the Internet with the new Cisco Live Virtual.

For full conference information checkout the Cisco Live! 09′ website!