Jump to content
  • entries
    9
  • comments
    3
  • views
    2,844

About this blog

So, here is something new I would like to try ;)

 

I've wrote small configuration blogs and tiny detailed networking blogs on my own website but I'm never motivated since it takes time. I would rather be typing and mocking up example pictures to post in a a forum (such as LTT) so I can look back at my blogs and recap or revise if needed. I am not exactly very clear with writing but I find this really helps me with my studying and also showing friends, I would like to have a post to backup my examples when speaking to friends/customers/fellow college partners when explaining specific protocols, services etc...

 

I will learn when I make mistakes when trying to explain, I'll try to keep most of my own examples similar to how you would see a typical example from the relevant vendor (Microsoft sometimes over complicated examples and write 5 pages for something that could be explained in under a paragraph! xD)

 

But yeah... I'll make mistakes and would always thank those who correct my mistakes... So.... This is mainly for my own learning while at college and to maybe document things I do in a few projects at work that I get involved in. Although being in a small company (2 man team...) doesn't pay as well, I have felt like I wouldn't gain as much knowledge working in a specific role/area in IT. (Although that is my plan to go for networking for a few years)

Entries in this blog

GNS3 and Ubunutu VM for TACACS+

I was just testing around and finding a simple way to have a look at TACACS+ without getting a friend to obtain Cisco ACS for me. I have an Ubunutu VM that I was testing on so I thought I'd find a TACACS+ package or somewhat, many are available but I found one which is based off the original cisco TACACS+ code (doesn't provide LDAP integration but they have examples how to 'almost' fully integrate it haha)...   So this is more or less a quick post so I can look back when I need to revi

BSpendlove

BSpendlove

The conversion of IP addresses (Decimal) and Binary

This is a revision of a previous blog I posted on my website with better examples and hopefully more depth into the world of binary for IP addresses and Subnetting. I will not explain how to subnet in this article but will explain why you might need to know how to convert binary to decimal (vice versa) and why it is useful.   Let's dive straight into the deep end.   Binary   Binary can be represented as either 1 or 0 (On or Off). We will be using the 'on/off' terms

BSpendlove

BSpendlove

Basics of STP and the root bridge election

The 'wonders' of 802.1D... This is just a quick blog to discuss the CCNA level of the process of how switches in an ethernet LAN will elect the root bridge and a few other details.   Firstly, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is? Simply, a way to create a logical 'loop free' network in our LAN by blocking specific ports that could cause a frame to loop indefinitely in our network. I'm assuming you have a basic understanding of STP because that would be required to understand the basic root

BSpendlove

BSpendlove

CDP Basics - Cisco Discovery Protocol

CDP - Cisco discovery protocol...   A protocol that runs on Layer 2 which means it doesn't give a damn which layer 3 protocol is running on the interface! The basic concept from our point of view with CDP is that it can obtain information related to device name, interface, management IP and more!   A tiny bit of theory that isn't really required for the CCNP level is what CDP runs on. Medias must support Subnetwork access protocol (SNAP). Essentially this is a frame format which

BSpendlove

BSpendlove

A guide to a Cisco R&S lab: Equipment

I've always wanted to do a post but felt like this is more appropriate for a blog post instead of on the networking forum. I've had a few people ask me on instagram + other social sites about building a lab and decided to create this so I can point them to it. Let us begin!     So, you're studying for a Cisco exam or want to get some 'real' hands on experience with Cisco equipment because either:   1) People are telling you real hardware experience is better than emulati

BSpendlove

BSpendlove

tac_plus (TACACS+) - Filtering the accounting file to get user total login time

I am currently working on a personal project but so far, I've created a simple python script (with many comments to try and explain what is going on!) to pull data from the default tac_plus.acct (AAA Accounting file) that is created with tac_plus.   By default this file is saved in /var/log/tac_plus.acct and records user sessions (whether it is authenticated via TACACS+ or by the local database on our cisco router (10.0.100.1). The script takes an argument used to filter the specific '

BSpendlove

BSpendlove

DMVPN - Basic lab and theory

DMVPN is mentioned in the official CCNA guide and also in the CCNP (specifically Routing and Switching I'm talking here) but it isn't really listed to configure in the exam topics for the CCNP route. The exam blueprints state you need to 'Describe' but if you've ever attempted a Cisco exam before then you might know, that doesn't mean you might get a question related to the configuration side. We are going to be looking at a simple lab with some theory behind DMVPN without the encryption, but a

BSpendlove

BSpendlove

A taste of python automation in networking

A few personal projects I've been working on, mainly just putting together a load of useful functions in python along with the netmiko library to pull specific data from Cisco IOS devices (mainly ISRs and Catalyst, not been designed for Nexus, ASAs, other vendors yet etc..)   I've mainly been testing some open source IPAM solutions such as netbox and PHPIPAM to see if I can do some neat little tricks and I've created a few things for both solutions on the side of my job because I want

BSpendlove

BSpendlove

Cisco DNA - CLI Templating

If you've ever used Cisco Prime Infrastructure's CLI Templating, you'll find that Cisco DNA's (Digital Network Architecture) CLI templating is an enhanced version found within Cisco Prime. Of course, there are many other features within DNA but this is just a quick example while I have 15 minutes of free time to demonstrate CLI templating and how it can be used to effectively deploy unified templates to a Cisco infrastructure instead of using other methods such as: Python + CLI scraping, Ansible

BSpendlove

BSpendlove

×