January 7, 2009 by ted.

I recently decided to configure dynamic DNS on my Cisco router at home. Lately, my ISP has been giving me issues causing my IP address to change quite often. Since I don’t pay for a static IP, I use dynamic DNS services to map my IP to a DNS name.

I use a free service from dyndns, which lets you pick a domain name to link to your IP. This is most useful for those of us hosting some minor applications behind our routers and we want to connect via a DNS name vs. an IP address that can change.

I usually just go to the website when my IP address changes, but I decided I wanted to let my router do the updating for me.

See sample config below ::

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August 8, 2008 by ted.

Ok so I’m doing Volume 3 Lab 7 today and I’m about 2 hours into it. I’m doing basic stuff like configuring Layer 3 links between switches. No big deal, everything pings and checks out fine, connectivity verified. I then make my way to configuring RIP across the switches, again, cake right? Yup, you would think so until I looked at one of the switches and noticed it wasn’t getting the RIP routes (I mean come on, RIP is too easy!). Now I knew connectivity and IP addressing was good because I verified I could ping between switch links earlier and I really haven’t done much of anything else (RIP was the first routing protocol to configure). So then I start going back to basics and verifying basic connectivity. Ok, so let’s ping our directly connected neighbor across the layer 3 link. Hmm… Some work, most don’t! So then I start staring down the IP addressing and making sure I got the right links configured, you know, the obvious. Now I start getting mad because I know things pinged just fine before and I haven’t configured anything weird on the layer 3 links to stop my directly connected neighbor from talking to me.

Here’s my scratch paper, not that it makes a lot of sense…

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August 8, 2008 by ted.

In case you didn’t know, IPexpert’s blended learning solution also comes with an audio bootcamp with about 1GB worth of MP3 files! Since I got their bootcamp coming up next week, why not make use of them on the plane?

I got my hands on a “Coby” MP3/video player (about 50 bucks) and loaded all 1 GB worth of MP3’s. While you can listen to them on the Computer, this comes in handy while driving or a long flight. In case you didn’t know, you can browse the IPexpert external hard drive they give you and pull the MP3’s right from there. Very quick and easy.

The quality of the sound is very good and there is tons of hours worth of lecture. I don’t think the content differs much at all from the video bootcamp (aside from the slides and practice lab walk-throughs), so you can listen to the audio when you’re mobile and watch the videos when at a computer. It’s all about maximizing your time with this stuff I guess.

Check it ::

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August 8, 2008 by ted.

It has been a long week to say the least. I’ve got the IPexpert bootcamp coming up next week so I’m trying to prepare myself as best I can. Thankfully, I had this week off.

As you can see, I have used quite a bit a scratch paper (I also went through about 4 pens and not because I ran out of ink!). I seem to average about 5 sheets per lab. I draw out my initial diagram with IP addressing and interface details. I then place a blank sheet over it and trace out the devices again (less specific) and use that for IGP routing. I then trace it again with just the devices themselves (no links), I use this for BGP. For the most part, I just mimic the diagrams provided the difference being I can write on them. In some cases, I’ll diagram the switches layer 2 info if the lab is heavy on layer 2 technologies. I usually burn the first 30-40 minutes with diagrams and reading over the lab.

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July 30, 2008 by ted.

Well, I’ve recently got back from a much needed two week vacation. Between my job at Cisco and studying for my CCIE exam (only a few weeks away), I’m staying pretty busy. A nice camping trip seemed to help take my mind off things.

Now that I’m back, it’s back to reality. I’m currently working on the IPExpert Volume 3 labs. If you haven’t checked out IPExpert’s blended learning solution demo, you should give it a try. Check it out

They send you everything you need on a portable hard drive. Now when I first saw this on the website, I was thinking, “I hope this isn’t as big as the external hard drives I currently have”. I must say, when they say it’s portable, they mean it!

As you can see here, Their blended solution comes in a very nice professional package. If you’re thinking they just wrap a drive in bubble paper and send it your way, that is certainly not the case here.

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