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CCIE Data Center: Version 2.0

CCIE Data Center: Version 2.0

Woah… Deja Vu This all seems so familiar… OH YEA! I went through this once before already. I took the CCIE R/S version 3 with the high (naive) hopes of passing it my first attempt. #n00b The challenge I had with the R/S v4 update was that it felt like the content managers had a serious case of ADD. Open ended questions, no open ended questions, troubleshooting, etc… It was frustrating that I had to experience every possible derivative of the…

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ConfigBytes: ASA 5506x w/ FirePOWER Services

ConfigBytes: ASA 5506x w/ FirePOWER Services

#ConfigBytes Getting Started with the ASA5506x & FirePOWER Services   Official Quick Start Guide: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/asa/quick_start/5506X/5506x-quick-start.html FirePOWER User Guide: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/firesight/541/firepower-module-user-guide/asa-firepower-module-user-guide-v541.html FirePOWER Services for ASA Data Sheet: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/security/asa-5500-series-next-generation-firewalls/datasheet-c78-733916.html   TL:DR Key Points Since the ASA5506x doesn’t have built-in switch capabilities (yet), you will need a L2 switch to connect the management interface which is used for firepower services module and your inside ASA interface for management. If you have an L3 switch the FirePOWER management interface can be on a different subnet from your inside…

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The Journey to CCIE #2 Starts Now

The Journey to CCIE #2 Starts Now

Game On Old Friend   It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 2 years since I passed the R/S lab and my digits (40755) were assigned. I remember the numbers just passed 40k and I was so hoping to get 40007. This way I could be 007. <GRIN> Now I’m ready for the next challenge. My motivation for CCIE DC was simple. First I wanted to challenge myself yet again. Second, I feel strongly that a deep understanding of UCS…

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ConfigBytes: Nexus 6000/5600 Latency & Buffer Monitor

ConfigBytes: Nexus 6000/5600 Latency & Buffer Monitor

#CONFIGBYTES Episode 2 Platforms: Nexus 6000 & 5600 (UPC based ASIC)   Latency Monitor: Full Documentation The switch latency monitoring feature marks each ingress and egress packet with a timestamp value. To calculate the latency for each packet in the system the switch compares the ingress with the egress timestamp. The feature allows you to display historical latency averages between all pairs of ports, as well as real-time latency data. You can use the latency measurements to identify which flows…

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CCIE Data: Lab Blueprint 1.1c Implementing Port Channels

CCIE Data: Lab Blueprint 1.1c Implementing Port Channels

CCIE Data Center Lab Blueprint 1.1c Implementing Port Channels   ConfigBytes #2 Port Channels A port channel bundles physical links into a channel group to create a single logical link that provides the aggregate bandwidth of up to 16 physical links. If a member port within a port channel fails, the traffic previously carried over the failed link switches to the remaining member ports within the port channel. F and M series line card port members cannot be mixed into…

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Cisco Smart Install

Cisco Smart Install

This is my first post in a new series called “Config Bytes”. My objective is simple. Take a technology that I’m working on with a customer and post the data points. Overview: A global company asked me if there was an easy way to provision switches for rapid deployment. They are somewhat limited on networking personal and this would save the team some time if they could automate the staging of switches before deployment . The basic requirements were a standardized…

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VIRL is HERE!

VIRL is HERE!

              VIRL is HERE along with a new logo. Dec 1st (aka Cyber Monday) brings us many good deals, including $50 off (virl50 at checkout) the $199 personal edition price. If you have not seen my previous posts on CML, basically VIRL is the same as CML without TAC support and limited scale (15 nodes). If you don’t want to read through my previous posts, I’ll summarize inline. http://www.4g1vn.com/2014/07/virlcml-update/  http://www.4g1vn.com/2014/09/cml-1-0-first-impressions-getting-started/   What is VIRL? VIRL enables…

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Cisco Modeling Labs 1.0: First Impressions & Getting Started

Cisco Modeling Labs 1.0: First Impressions & Getting Started

When a Legend becomes Real I’m still pinching myself. Last week I delivered my very first Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) 1.0 demo to a customer. Overall, they were pretty darn excited, however there are some things that we need to address to make it a GREAT fit for their specific testing/validation environment. Let’s take a step back and talk high level about CML for a moment. CML is the Cisco TAC supported variant of VIRL. The FCS date for CML 1.0…

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Next Wave of UCS Innovation

Next Wave of UCS Innovation

Today was a BIG day for us at Cisco. We announced our next wave of UCS products and continue building our data center innovation superhighway. Did we announce one product? NO! We announced four major UCS products today at #UCSGRANDSLAM and it was AWESOME! I knew about this stuff for months, but had to keep quite. As you can imagine, I was at the point of imploding because I just wanted to share this info with EVERYONE. Here is a quick…

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VIRL/CML Update

VIRL/CML Update

Virtual Internet Routing Lab/Cisco Modeling Lab: UPDATE (08.07.2014): Cisco Modeling Labs 1.0 Corporate Edition Available August 11, 2014 This is an excerpt from an email one of my colleagues received today. “We are very excited to announce that Cisco Modeling Labs 1.0 Corporate Edition is expected to ship on Monday, August 11th (if this changes we’ll let you know). As you know, Cisco Modeling Labs 1.0 Corporate Edition is a game changing product with powerful virtualization features that provide corporations…

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