Now CCIE R & S troubleshooting exam is available in virtual lab environment. Cisco added switching features to the CCIE R&S Troubleshooting exam through L2 IOS software on Unix (L2IOU) virtual environment. The new feature was started on January 17, 2011.

The CCIE R & S exam consists of 2 sections – the troubleshooting (TS) section runs for two hours, and the configuration section lasts for six hours. The config section of the lab make use of real physical Cisco Devices in the racks where the virtual lab environment under IOU used by the troubleshooting (TS) lab. The addition of the new L2IOU , the TS lab is capable of both L2 and L3 capabilities in virtual environment.

According to a Cisco Learning Network the CCIE R & S lab exam takers may notice some subtle cosmetic and functional differences between the behaviors of the physical switch and the virtual switch. However, the function of the devices is fundamentally the same, and these differences should not affect the candidate’s ability to apply what he has learned to succeed in the lab exam.

We are facing some problems with couple of Cisco IP Phones, lucky we had SMARTNET. I was out of my office; I was thinking how I can open a TAC case. I managed to get the toll free number for Cisco TAC center. I called them and placed my compliant. Within few moments I received the service request number and the support Engineer assigned to my case. In matter of five minutes I got the confirmation email from the Cisco support Engineer stating that our hardware will be replaced and he reconfirmed me back the shipping address. I never thought or expected a quick fast reply from Cisco support team. Hats off to Cisco as they value their customers and for Cisco, customer support seems to be the number one priority.

I strongly recommend all Cisco customers to have a SMARTNET for all their Cisco devices, to enjoy the privilege of getting support as soon as possible. You can always avoid the down time and can fix the problem at the earliest. If there are any hardware issues Cisco always try to ship the failed hardware at the earliest based on type of SMARTNET support you have.

Netflow is an important tool and it has become an important factor especially when it comes to managing the network and vigilantly watching the bandwidth utilization.  Solar Winds designed a free NetFlow confrigurator which is the easiest tool I have seen, the Solar winds NetFlow confrigurator is capable of configuring the NetFlow v5 via SNMP on supported Cisco® devices. The free NetFlow Confrigurator also facilitates setting up collectors for Cisco NetFlow data, specifying the ports on which the collectors are listening, and enabling monitoring of inbound and outbound (ingress/egress) traffic data per interface.

Here is a cool video from Solar Winds which demonstrates how to configure NetFlow in Cisco Devices.

 [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/rP_PvRbeQIM" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

We all know the importance of logs generated by Cisco Devices. Since long time I am using Kiwi Syslog server to capture the log generated by the Cisco Devices installed in our network. Recently Solar Winds announced the release of Kiwi Syslog Server. Since I was using an old version I downloaded the latest full trail version of Kiwi Syslog Server version 9. In the new version I found some new cool features which are really useful for Network Administrators.

Pic Courtesy: Solar Winds

With new Kiwi Syslog Server you can access the Syslog data from anywhere on the network using the web access this feature is amazing as its easy for me to look at logs periodically no matter where I am.

Some of the key features of Kiwi Syslog Server v9 are as follows.

• View your syslog data from anywhere on the network via web access – NEW FEATURE!
• Filter messages and create advanced alerts with Advanced Script Processing
• Log to any database with ODBC logging
• Schedule archiving and log maintenance by using Automated Log Archive
• View syslog messages in multiple windows simultaneously
• Automatically perform actions based on alerts, including sending email, forwarding messages, triggering audible alarms, sending SNMP trap messages, and paging IT staff
• Retain the original source IP on forwarded messages as one of many advanced forwarding options
• Forward Windows event log messages from your Windows servers to your Kiwi Syslog Server using the included Log Forwarder for Windows – NEW FEATURE!
• Produce trend analysis graphs and email syslog traffic statistics
• Leverage and share user-created rules, filters and scripts with the Community Content Exchange on thwack – NEW FEATURE!

With new Kiwi Syslog Server v9 my day to day activity is somewhat simplified as I can create filters based on host name, IP address or even event based. I just don’t need to look at each and every log.  It does saves lot of time.

For sure you must try the new Kiwi Syslog Server. It does comes in two versions a free one and a full version with lot features.