July, 2008

Cisco Packet Magazine

Cisco has it’s own magazine that it publishes where it explains up-coming features, what companies it purchased, how to perform common tasks and a whole bunch of other information. The magazine is really well put together and can be downloaded in PDF form for free here.

If you have any interest in Cisco equipment check it out.

Generic Cisco RAM

Cisco routers and switches are like any other piece of computing hardware. It needs slow long-term storage and fast short-term storage. In the case of a Cisco 2821 router this equates to compact flash storage for the long slow storage and regular RAM for the fast short-term storage.

Typically, people think if I am going to add RAM to a Cisco router then I will need Cisco brand RAM. While the logic is sound it misses a standard point. The RAM in a Cisco router is the same RAM they sell off of eBay or for HP, IBM or Dell computers. You don’t have to purchase the Cisco brand.

Recently, we priced out some RAM for a Cisco 2821 for a 1 GB strip of the generic stuff it was just over 100 dolllars. The Cisco RAM was about 3,000 dollars for basically the same thing.

The moral of the story, make sure you know what your buying.

Cisco Feature Comparison Tool

The need for more robust hardware is always a struggle. Cisco hardware is very exspensive so you always want to do more with it than you origianlly intended. What seems to always end up happening for me is that I load the IOS with just the features that I need and then later I need to a feature that isn’t in that version of the IOS. The question is always “Which version of the IOS does what I need it to do”?

Now there is a tool that will allow you to compare the features of the different flavours of Cisco IOS. The Cisco Feature Navigator FAQ found here allows you to compare and contrast different flavours of different of the same version of the IOS or different versions of the same flavour. It is a tool worth checking out.

CCNA Voice Certification

Cisco updates their exam tracks every few years and requires each certified person to re-certify every few years (typically 3). Recently they have introduced a new track for those wishing to pursue the VoIP side of things.

CCNA Voice Certification can be found here and outlines what you will need for this exam. The exam is a good addition to their already strong line of certifications and will increase their precense in the VoIP market.

Cisco Router Emulator

Cisco hardware and software is extremely complex. When it comes to routers their abilities are unmatched which is why a lot of people strive for the Cisco certifications of CCNA, CCNP and the highly coveted CCIE. But who can afford to purchase 5 to 10 thousand dollars for the hardware that you would need in order to practice for those exams?

Cisco router emulators will the need just perfectly. While Cisco emulators have been around for a long time their success has been somewhat limited but their stability. Recently I was re-acquanted with a very good and very stable emulator named Dynagen.

The tool highly customizable, runs on Linux and Windows, can emulate several hardware platforms and allows you to add/remove hardware as needed. Perfect for testing and training.