Well, the day finally came: I’ve got my Wireshark Network Analysis book in the mail. After paging through it for about an hour, I can definitely tell you that it’s a worthwhile book to get for your library. As I hoped, the writing style is kept casual (Sidenote: I really loathe reading ’sterile’ books – no passive voice, no contractions, no referring to yourself. The very first book I wrote was like that…please don’t ever buy it.)
I was a little worried when I first started reading. Chapter 2 was a Wireshark interface breakdown, “This button does this, that button does that, and so on…” with no context of why you would use the features. But then, the book begins to turn into a scenario-driven guide…to the feel of, “Here’s the problem. Here’s what capture filters are…now, here’s how you use them.”
Now here’s what I loved: every chapter ends with one or more “real life” scenarios submitted by various engineers in the network world. Really helps put the WHY into the concepts you just learned. Likewise, each chapter ends with labs anyone can do with either live captures or canned pcap files from the author’s website. You could easily teach a class straight from this book…hmmmm…
When I ordered the book, I selected the “Signed by Author” option from the site (why not?)…and indeed it was! Someone’s hand is tired I’m sure. The simple inscription just said, “Enjoy!” – thanks! I’m sure I will.
Ever notice that explaining to people that you are a Cisco engineer gets quickly translated to “computer guy” to family and friends? I have rebuilt countless family and friend PCs that are all gunked up with malware, spyware, and who knows what else (“the pop up told me I had 14,020 viruses, so I told it to please fix it…”).
Anyhow, the most painful piece of this process is finding all the drivers. Enter cool-tool-of-the-week: HWInfo32.
This little freeware app reliably detects all major components installed in the PC. Talk about a lifesaver when it comes to an old Dell laptop where they possibly used one of 15 different video card models.
Put this on your USB key…it’s a keeper. Download it from here.
Wow – I had no idea the amount of ruckus I would cause with my most recent post. Thanks to everyone for all the kind words and support! I thought I would take a moment to respond to many of the questions and thoughts that have been thrown on the table.
First off, Cisco is fully in the clear legally to do what they’re doing. I’ve done a little research myself and even spoken with a couple trademark lawyers on this. If you’re interested, here’s one case that’s been referenced many times.
Despite finding this out, I was still really bugged about this move…especially with the hundreds (if not thousands) of other domains that use Cisco in their name. That is…until Cisco pointed out to me violating their trademark policy also violates their certification NDA agreement…What?!? Yep, it’s true…buried there in the certification agreement you take every time you take a certification exam is essentially the statement, “I will not violate Cisco’s trademark.” (who knew?).
Uhhh…”Did I say box of t-shirts? I really meant I’d LOVE to give my domain to you! Could I get you a cup of water while you wait?”
So, that finding put this whole thing in perspective for me. The cost of fighting it far outweighed the benefits. Interestingly enough, I’ve been contacted by people internal to Cisco over this whole thing with an offer to blog for them on the Cisco Learning Network. That might be interesting.
Most likely, I’ll just find another domain name to use and continue on from there. We’ll see.
Well, after 5 fun years of running CiscoBlog.com, Cis
co “agents” have come. I was contacted by Cisco a couple weeks ago stating that CiscoBlog.com violates their trademark. Being that CiscoBlog.com gets 600,000 hits monthly (isn’t that amazing?!?) I thought I could at least get a box of t-shirts out of the whole deal. Unfortunately, the response went something like, “Mr. Anderson…this is a legal matter. We don’t negotiate.”
So…I have until July 4th to find a new domain name. I guess if I owned Cisco, I wouldn’t want some hoodlum posting at CiscoBlog.com…so I understand the complaint.
…I just wanted a box of t-shirts out of the whole thing… 
)
Hands down, this Iomega StorCenter Pro ix4-200d is the most amazing product I’ve bought in the last year. If you’ve got VMWare ESX or ESXi in a lab environment (or even a small production environment), the cost of this quasi-SAN is a no brainer. I’ve currently got 8 VMs (including multiple CUCM 7.1 servers) running on this thing across bundled dual-Gigabit network connection. Supports SNMP monitoring. Brainless web-based setup. Fantastic. This is more exciting than the iPad 
.
I seriously just walk into my office at random times just to watch the LCD display change.
With the symbiotic relationship between Cisco and VMWare, I’m slowly becoming a VMWare junkie. Their free ESXi platform is entirely addicting. Anyhow, I’ve always dreamed of having a SAN in my home connected to my VMWare ESXi server…now it’s possible!!! IOMega (now EMC) has created some low-cost, VMWare-certified SAN storage. TOTALLY iSCSI capable!! Check these bad-boys out:
StorCenter Pro ix2-200
StorCenter Pro ix4-200d
StorCenter Pro ix4-200r
These are cheaper buying from Amazon.com rather than IOMega. While I’d love a ix4-200r, it’s only got one Gigabit Ethernet port (no redundancy), so I went for the ix4-200d (dual GBit Ethernet ports). Anxious for it to arrive! Boy – Wireshark books and iSCSI storage all it one week – it’s Christmas in March!
When it comes to gritty-nitty troubleshooting, Wireshark is awesome. Now, Laura Chappell has released a Wireshark certification study guide. If the book’s writing style is anything like Laura is in person, I’m sure it will at least be…interesting! The book is $100, but I got an email saying that it’s being offered for 35% off if you use the code 998nws35 at checkout. I’ve ordered one…and am actually really excited to get it.
Interesting information given to me by a friend. Cisco is jumping the IOS versions from 12.4 up to IOS 15. In doing so, you’ll see the IOS trains simplified and…<enter scary music> License keys! These will work exactly like the ASA currently functions – you need to have a valid license key to unlock specific features. This feature will take effect on the new ISR G2 router lines (Cisco 1900, 2900, 3900 routers).
While this will be a major pain point, I can’t say I blame Cisco for doing it (if Cisco were my company, I’d do it…but since it’s not, I’ll just heckle from the sideline).
More information on IOS 15 here
Just came across this link: Navigating Cisco.com Documentation. What a fantastic walk-through!
While randomly searching for a Cisco DSP Calculator, I came across this link with a plethora of free Cisco tools – go Brad Reese! (a fellow I commonly see in Network World magazine).
Cisco | admi | 
April 10, 2010 5:01 pm | 
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