Recently in Off-Topic Category

One of my CBTNuggets students forwarded this over to me. Freakin' amazing use of a Cisco 1900 series switch. Wish I could do something like this for my fish tank!

http://www.newtonnet.co.uk/catfeeder/

Image via Wikipedia

Okay, I've got more useless iPhone apps than I care to admit...but CBTNuggets just released their iPhone app and it's awesome. I was learning how to configure MS Exchange 2007 Storage Groups on the way to Pizza Hut last night. Nice!

...watching the demos does create quite the driving adventure though...

So...if infinite monkeys were typing on infinite typewriters, would they really reproduce the complete works of Shakespeare? Either way, a protocol standard is created to handle such an event:

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2795.txt

You may have noticed that my posting has dropped off lately...things have gotten really busy of late, so - rather than individual postings, here's my "Bulk April Update" of the miscellaneous cool items I've found:

• In studying for my CCIE Voice, I've found that the CCIE Voice is actually the most "desired" CCIE right now (based on a 2007 survey). Wow! That's good news
• I was recently at a Phoenix Cisco User Group meeting and needed WIFI access. The receptionist asked me for my info (name, company, etc...), typed it into a webpage, and printed out a paper that showed my personalized, 24-hour key for the guest SSID at Cisco. How cool is that?!? Apparently Cisco 2100 Wireless Controllers let you do this...must research more.
• I'm really interested in watching Solarwind's presentation on the "Black Art of Log Management" ... why can't there be 50 hours in a day?!?
• Found an interesting article on managing the VLAN.dat file on Catalyst switches.
• Juniper extended their Fast Track program to suck Cisco people to the Juniper side till December 2009. Maybe this year I'll be inspired to try it.
• Yet another cool, free tool from Solarwinds: IP SLA Monitor - measure QoS over your WAN links. 
• Stumbled on a "free tools galore" link: The Free Country - I so love free stuff. Played with the PING imaging utility - awesome "ghost-like" imaging for free!
• My friend Mike Storm gave me this insane data center design PDF (banner sized) that I could explore for hours.
• Found out that Cisco is finally reducing the price on the hardware and licensing for the UC500 series! Hurrah - finally this killer box might start beating the competition's pricing.
  
• Finally, I found enough Simpson's sounds to entertain me for the rest of the year...mmmmmmm....Simpsons sounds.
  

I've never been hip on desktop wallpapers for my PCs...I usually just go with a straight "black" solid color background. This morning, I suddenly had the thought, "it sure would be cool to have a Cisco logo (the new one, of course) right in the middle of my desktop." Some quick Google searches didn't turn up anything...anyone know where to get a sweet Cisco wallpaper?

FOLLOW-UP #1: Here's a decent one with the old logo. I'd really like to keep my black background though...Fluorescent green fries my eyes.

FOLLOW-UP #2: Here's a wallpaper with the new logo on a black background (thanks Daniel!).

We take a break from our regularly scheduled Cisco programming to bring you this 'killer free-product' alert. I've now added VMWare ESX server (free) to my list of "programs that will change your life." I believe we actually have Microsoft to thank for making this product free since they're now trying to compete with VMWare by including Hypervising with MS Server 2008.

 If you haven't seen it, VMWare ESX allows you to do essentially the same thing VMWare Server does, but without running on a client operating system (well, technically there's a 32MB VMWare operating system it runs now). I know, it doesn't sound that cool, but I can't begin to describe the performance increase for all my virutal machines. About 3 weeks ago, I converted my Dell Poweredge 2900 server to this product...Suddenly, I got a raise, my dog stopped barking, my neighbor brought me chocolate chip cookies, and I found an extra 5 bucks I had forgotten in my shorts pocket months ago (I love it when that happens).

Seriosuly...VMWare ESX server cannot be explained; you must experience it for yourself.

I am currently sitting in a sub-zero IT room on my 6th hour and 12th CD of a CiscoWorks Lan Management Solution (LMS) 2.6 installation/upgrade. This is the most pathetic, waste-of-time product I've ever worked with...and I haven't even finished the installation.

I will never agree to do a CiscoWorks LMS installation again.

Ever.

At least my fingers are numb so I can chew on them from boredom without feeling anything.

I've been a "quasi-apple fan" for years...When they came out with the MacBook Pro, I bought the 17" giganto-screen model and have been using it to configure Cisco devices ever since. Recently, I was at a client site...he pulled out an old Dell X200 12" laptop to configure a Cisco router. I suddenly found myself being jealous over a thin laptop (2.9 pounds) that cost 1/10th what my behemoth MacBook did. I'm thinking I'll hit Ebay to pick one of these up for a couple hundred bucks (they're older), but before I do...does anyone know of a better super-thin, small, lightweight laptop to use for base Cisco configs? Nothing fancy, just needs to run a terminal window.

I thought this might start a good thread for "Cool ultra-portable Cisco-configuration laptops" everyone (including me) can use.

UPDATE: I've settled on the Dell D400 since it has a built-in serial port.

Here's another great blog/website resource to add to your list:

http://www.packetlife.net

The site is well organized into interesting sections. I especially like the cheat sheet (for technology, not exams) and Network Monitoring / Utilities categories.

So...I'm sitting in the Cisco keynote speech featuring Padmasree Warrior (Cisco's new CIO) who is talking about the power of collaboration in the world. She was mentioning things like Twitter, vLogs, and Second Life...suddenly, a brilliant idea hits me: training in Second Life?!? Is it possible?

Okay, I admit, up until now, I thought Second Life was going to lead us into the Matrix...where everyone lived in and was controlled by machines. I steered clear of it. But, now I'm thinking - is it possible to deliver live, interactive classes through Second Life? Help me out here second-lifers...Here's my idea...

Build a "virtual classroom" in second life where "virtual students" can come and see a whiteboard, ask questions, watch live demos on Cisco gear, maybe even do labs themselves? Is it possible? What would it take to make it happen?

This could be really cool...

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...

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!

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.