iambashiru: @loggix simulators/emulators are very good it just depends on how you use them. I have built complex labs covering topics like gre, ipsec, unified communications, routing and SWITCHING using them. And believe me it is VERY hands on. Saying you need physical equipment for ccna is just like saying you need physical equipment to teach active directory when virtual machines will serve just as well (except in cases where things like the uc500 might be needed for ccna voice etc) but overall you can go very in- depth with simulators. Moreover I even read somewhere that the ccie rs lab uses iou simulators now. Concerning the economic viability of physical infrastructure; it’s not just in the training but involves post training jobs, why would a person pay a huge amount when he isn’t sure of a job after? I have trained quite a few people and can see their zeal; it is really disheartening when there are no jobs to absorb them. If you want to invest then you have to mark yourself out, maybe partner with an organization either here or abroad to absorb them (make it an export like the Indians do). Concerning the “paper tigers” you can set up your own lab to test their capabilities (thereby boycotting dumps). I created a ccna lab on behalf of a company last year for a job opening and it was advertised in the Tuesday guardian, it was completely practical with simulators and was also open book. Needless to say none of the certified individuals shortlisted passed the lab. I am also open to ideas and suggestions and ready to learn in terms of technology and otherwise from all

@donami I am also doing in depth studies in ip/mpls vpn and bgp it is quite intriguing but ones foundational understanding of cisco technologies has to be good to grasp it all.

Am into Cisco and Microsoft technologies and have offices in different part of Nigeria will like to know about Ɣou. Adenijiazeez@gmail.com

Can I have I c into your project will be willing to learn from Ɣou. Adenijiazeez@gmail.com is my personal mail kindly drop ur mail here.

Loggix:


On a different note, for those who contribute and those who view the posts and pass on - can we share some of the 'Gotcha' situations we have run into in our daily Operational roles. Ofcourse no one needs to divulge any proprietary Client information. I for one have a few projects coming on line shortly invloving 2 x NEXUS 5020 Data Center Switches and associated Fabric Extenders connecting to a VSS infrastructure Backbone. I have completed the VSS 10Gig Backbone config and deployment, utilising 2 X Catalyst6509VE, each with 2 x SUP720 10Gig Engines, for a total System Backbone BW of 1.4Tbps. I now need to complete the NEXUS deployment and migration of Enterprise Servers from a Cat6509 Server Switch platform. I will try to share my deployment and migration process without compromising my NDA [ non-disclosure aggreement].

@ integrated a2z technologies we make sure equipment are made available for our trainees to work with while attending any of our training session. Info@ia2ztech.com, adenijiazeez@gmail.com, 08174755151.

Loggix:


Splitting hairs - simulate vs emulate:

sim·u·late (smy-lt)
tr.v. sim·u·lat·ed, sim·u·lat·ing, sim·u·lates
1.
a. To have or take on the appearance, form, or sound of; imitate.
b. To make in imitation of or as a substitute for. See Synonyms at imitate.
2. To make a pretense of; feign: simulate interest.
3. To create a representation or model of (a physical system or particular situation, for example
---------
em·u·late (my-lt)
tr.v. em·u·lat·ed, em·u·lat·ing, em·u·lates
1. To strive to equal or excel, especially through imitation: an older pupil whose accomplishments and style I emulated.
2. To compete with successfully; approach or attain equality with.
3. Computer Science To imitate the function of (another system), as by modifications to hardware or software that allow the imitating system to accept the same data, execute the same programs, and achieve the same results as the imitated system
----------------
my contention is that no simulated nor emulated environment in the Cisco Centric world will ever fully compensate for the tactile experience gained from actually Cabling and interconnecting devices. Half of theballtle is familiarity with the Platforms and the other half is understanding the Technologies and CLI needed to configure the equipment. I have had a few 'Paper Tigers' hired into a data center environment on the strengh of their Certs, and they were completely lost in the performance of teh Roles and Responsibilities associated with their positions relative equipment configuratin and deployment.

Let us not encourage mediocrity nor short cuts, lets us demand the best as obtained in other environs. Simply because the Nigerian training market lacks the requisite devices for training - I.e Router/Switch racks etc, we should continue to spend our money overseas, instead of clamoring for the same resources to be made available within our shores. Don't get me wrong. I am not advocating that we should not go to where the opportunity is, rather we should endeavor to make those opportunities available at home.

Back to my question in an earlier post - is there an economic benefit at this time,to make available CCNA, CCNP and CCIE Racks available in the Nigerian market, and if so does any one know what the market can support in terms of a pricing structure.

Anyone with ideas of where i can get GNS3 video training? also additional images for routers and switches would be apprciated

you can go to check torrents or www.careercert.info they have a good collection over there of images for routers,wish i was close i've got about 33Gb of ios file including callgen ant pagent

donami: you can go to check torrents or www.careercert.info they have a good collection over there of images for routers,wish i was close i've got about 33Gb of ios file including callgen ant pagent

@donami

Thanks. the information there is nice. i just need basic router and switches which can be setup for small to medium business companies. The use of 10 routers in scenarios really baffles m as i hardly see lots of companies use that much.Maybe multi-nationals .

Any ideas on the tutorial for gns3. need to setup virtual machines with it also

Is it just cisco images that are available for GNS3?

that would depend on what the network design entails, but some 2950 or 2960 switches would do. but for switching, gns3 would do little. And on gns3 site there is a virtual box edition but if you are looking for something to practice with, cisco iou would be a good bet. there is a version 15.2 layer 2 iou on solaris, so maybe you can run that on vmware too. though i have not tested it cos am busy . but all the best.

donami: that would depend on what the network design entails, but some 2950 or 2960 switches would do. but for switching, gns3 would do little. And on gns3 site there is a virtual box edition but if you are looking for something to practice with, cisco iou would be a good bet. there is a version 15.2 layer 2 iou on solaris, so maybe you can run that on vmware too. though i have not tested it cos am busy . but all the best.

i just installed the virtual box edition. i am thinking of switches like netgear cuz only mutinationals can afford cisco switches. Most organization install cisco routers and use other vendors for switches like dell and netgear. any idea on if there is a video tutorial on gns3? the whole gns3 is really confusing to setup

yes but that would be on youtube. Am sure u would find a lot over there. There is also a pdf file on gns3 site just look for it too. Its easy to setup. U'll figure it out in 5-7 minutes

Sky-walker:

@donami

Thanks. the information there is nice. i just need basic router and switches which can be setup for small to medium business companies. The use of 10 routers in scenarios really baffles m as i hardly see lots of companies use that much.Maybe multi-nationals .

Any ideas on the tutorial for gns3. need to setup virtual machines with it also

Is it just cisco images that are available for GNS3?

I quite understand what you mean but that is a wrong approach to take.
You must understand your switching whether or not companies buy them.

You must also connect those 10 routers. No scenario should be overlooked for your personal development.
You never know what job interview you'll be attending tomorrow.

nateevs:


I quite understand what you mean but that is a wrong approach to take.
You must understand your switching whether or not companies buy them.

You must also connect those 10 routers. No scenario should be overlooked for your personal development.
You never know what job interview you'll be attending tomorrow.

I fully understand what u said but at the moment, i am currently studying more of server,exchange, Vmware, citrix and sharepoint. These are the fields i feel i can develop better. i have tried to use train signals for cisco but its really hard and i prefer hand on practical like labs.i learn faster with that but all cisco tutorial are not like that and you can hardly see testing of configurations on the tutorials. I need to understand some basic stuff like
1) how to setup vpn on a router
2)how to monitor bandwidth on a router
3) site to site VPN
4) some other everyday easy setup that i can develop myself further which will gear me up on routers

Labs like that can be tested. Maybe its just me but i am really not a fan of routing and its part of my work. i know the basics of networking which makes me handle Microsoft products and softwares but when it involves routers,i am ignorant on a lot of things. i want to specialize of Microsoft products and other but i just need to learn routing that would be beneficial to what i am learning. i am not really going to develop on routing,just need to understand how its configured

the beauty if life is diversity. so am sure nt every 1 is doing the same thing, i wanted to go for my ccie bt at the moment i am looking at linux network admin and am sure there a lot of other things i would love to do. its good to hear from you guys but i must confess that this forum is a bit low level, replies take too long and they are rarely post, seems like everyone is too busy. anyway let us give some air to this forum so that it would start breathing[color=#006600][/color]

Sky-walker:


I fully understand what u said but at the moment, i am currently studying more of server,exchange, Vmware, citrix and sharepoint. These are the fields i feel i can develop better. i have tried to use train signals for cisco but its really hard and i prefer hand on practical like labs.i learn faster with that but all cisco tutorial are not like that and you can hardly see testing of configurations on the tutorials. I need to understand some basic stuff like
1) how to setup vpn on a router
2)how to monitor bandwidth on a router
3) site to site VPN
4) some other everyday easy setup that i can develop myself further which will gear me up on routers

Labs like that can be tested. Maybe its just me but i am really not a fan of routing and its part of my work. i know the basics of networking which makes me handle Microsoft products and softwares but when it involves routers,i am ignorant on a lot of things. i want to specialize of Microsoft products and other but i just need to learn routing that would be beneficial to what i am learning. i am not really going to develop on routing,just need to understand how its configured

I am a little confused about where to begin any advice regarding routing. That's largely because of this statement.

i am not really going to develop on routing,just need to understand how its configured

There's really no way to explain "how routing is configured" because routing is a study of it's own.
It's other words, you either know it or you don't. If you are good at routing, there are no half measures.

Also the form of routing you are exposed to is largely dependent on your network environment.
It's does not really mean you "know how to configure routing".

I just finished working on a test project of integrating 4 sites for SNMP monitoring, management and control.
With all sites connected to the internet, in a hub and spoke design and using a global 10.x.x.x private address space, I implemented GRE over IPSec.
I cannot begin to tell you all the features involved in getting one site set-up given that every site had an ADSL connection to the internet (which I configured from scratch as well).

It does not really mean that I know how to configure routing for the reason that I may struggle for instance in a pure OSPF or BGP environment. I am talking massive converged networks with hundreds of routes and routing tables in MB size.

My point is, you need to make a decision if you want to do routing. By deciding to do it, you study it. No half measures as I stated.
There are labs littered over the internet if you want them. Unless you are saying you want a live set-up to practice a lab.

nateevs:


I am a little confused about where to begin any advice regarding routing. That's largely because of this statement.




There's really no way to explain "how routing is configured" because routing is a study of it's own.
It's other words, you either know it or you don't. If you are good at routing, there are no half measures.

Also the form of routing you are exposed to is largely dependent on your network environment.
It's does not really mean you "know how to configure routing".

I just finished working on a test project of integrating 4 sites for SNMP monitoring, management and control.
With all sites connected to the internet, in a hub and spoke design and using a global 10.x.x.x private address space, I implemented GRE over IPSec.
I cannot begin to tell you all the features involved in getting one site set-up given that every site had an ADSL connection to the internet (which I configured from scratch as well).

It does not really mean that I know how to configure routing for the reason that I may struggle for instance in a pure OSPF or BGP environment. I am talking massive converged networks with hundreds of routes and routing tables in MB size.

My point is, you need to make a decision if you want to do routing. By deciding to do it, you study it. No half measures as I stated.
There are labs littered over the internet if you want them. Unless you are saying you want a live set-up to practice a lab.

I am setting up a lab in my house.i already just got a server which can handle vsphere so I am learning the topics I said.currently I just learnt how to implement site to site VPN.i do know I am going thru shortcuts but it getting to a point where I want to specialize in VMware Citrix and Microsoft not Cisco but i need to know some part of Cisco networking so I can just learn and understand the concept.i av no plans to specialize in Cisco.IT is very big and I just need to specialize in some but have knowledge of others

I am thinking of going into Networking and would like to know this.

Since Fiber optic communication is the future. Which of these is more suitable :

Certified Optical Network Associate and Certified Optical Network Engineer

OR

CCNA and CCNP ?

I am interested in the cisco program, I would love to start at the beginners level CCNA to precise, please can some of the experts here give advice on how to go about it, thanks a lot.

first develop the mind set to go to any length cos u wil find discouragement and it might nt happen as fast as u want it to and wuld require ur everything, time , money and a whole lot. Do it knowing that u want to live of life doing wat u love n u will definately feel da joy. Start with CCNA , then pick a track and from routing and switching, voice,security,service provider, service provider operations,data center and specialize, d sky is ur starting point. And understand that everything needs time to blossom

Thanks a lot donami, I really appreciate, however can you please give advice on how to go about it, like the kind of books I would need, a place where I can register and write the exam etc I would love to know everything. I know I am ready for it. Thanks a lot once again

find out a good cisco academy close to where u live, join a breathing forum online, also try to stay away from dumbs cos they are like Viagra, also source for your materials but for the ccna, ccna study guide by todd lammle is ideal,packet tracer, gns3,look for such stuff on www.4shared.com there u will find a lot of what you need. simply search with the keyword ccna. best of luck

@digitite. Like u said, fibre is the future, it is expensive to deploy even in the us and europe. Why would u want to jump the gun. I think u should start with basic lan cabling, ip subnetting, wireless tech 802.1x, routing, swithching technology and stuff. In this field, u dont want to leave anything behind and come back for them later. I started with ccna, delved into mikrotik, juniper and others, i ve come to realise that the basic really counts. I know guys who are deep with practical stuffs, but cant do basic subnetting.You dont want to walk dat path.

Hi, pls any cisco professional in Nigeria.
¤Pls i need videos by cbt nugget or trainsignal on the ccnp(route&switch) programme.
I know where to get them on the internet but it will cost me alot to get them out and so will be very willing to appreciate if i could meet you to get the files from you. I wouldnt also mind if we can arrange for you to send a cd down.

¤I will also want u to include bin files of cisco ios to be used with gns tracer.

¤Any other literature on the ccnp programme.

I reside in abuja, but we could arrange for d materials to be sent from any part of nigeria.

I will be checking this thread for your response but u cld reach me on 07032472292.thanks

i got quite a number of ccnp vids official training materials and cbt nuggets for route and switch, also ine tshoot, 32Gb of ios and a lot of other files, when you source for them yourself you will appreciate them better, nt tryna say i wont share them. got ma ccnp last year august and basically only using it for revision purpose and to solidify my skills , official training package from cisco is bout 8Gb,Cbt nuggets is bout 4Gb etc

@donami,
Pleasee drop ur contact. I would love to get as many materials as posible. Esp d videos, ios file.everytin dat wld make me succeed in d exams.
Where do u reside? We cld arrange to get dvds to burn d files and courier them to abuja. Please i urgently need all this as will b taking d exams in december.

I am trying to get d materials myself,. The cost is prohibitive. Pls reach me wit d number on my earlier post. Thanks

I was in abuja bout a week ago, but am nt in abuja at the moment, but for one reason or the other i can disclose my location, but you could reach me by donami080@gmail.com,

Ok i wld drop u a mail.
Pls i nid d materials asap. Thanks

Ok i will drop a mail.
Pls i nid d materials asap. Thanks

donami: I was in abuja bout a week ago, but am nt in abuja at the moment, but for one reason or the other i can disclose my location, but you could reach me by donami080@gmail.com,

I have dropped the mail. Please reply. If u are on watsapp add me wit 07032472292 or on 2go with username pipmaster. We could also chat on facebook add me with Nkem C. Omede. Thanks

@donami, pls i have not gotten your reply. I sent u an email yesterday.
I nid those materials v urgently.
I saw your number on one of your post. I tried calling and texting u but it is not going through.

samfibby: @digitite. Like u said, fibre is the future, it is expensive to deploy even in the us and europe. Why would u want to jump the gun. I think u should start with basic lan cabling, ip subnetting, wireless tech 802.1x, routing, swithching technology and stuff. In this field, u dont want to leave anything behind and come back for them later. I started with ccna, delved into mikrotik, juniper and others, i ve come to realise that the basic really counts. I know guys who are deep with practical stuffs, but cant do basic subnetting.You dont want to walk dat path.

You make a lot of sense. I see where you are coming from. I was just thinking of keeping abreast with the technology.

hello people, i need a CCNP tutor in Lagos, preferable in Lagos mainland or V.I. I need the training sessions to be very flexible with lab and live practice sessions. Any one who can do this should please send me a mail on adekunleolusanya@gmail.com or call me on 07087611956. Thanks

Looks like this thread grew cold again. I must confess I have not been back to share, due to time constraints as a consequence of my project load. I will try to do better.
The last time I posted, I indicated I would share some of the things I run into and do in the Data Center, my NDA permitting, ofcourse.
So here we go. An Intro - I have responsibilty for a regional D/C that supports over 100 remote Sites, both International and domestic. My team is the Design and Architecture team and Lvl-3 escalation for Tiers 1 and 2 Operations Team
Today - worked 2 escalation outages, one in a remote site in Europe, and the other domestic. I got a call [an IM actually - secure ofcourse] about the outages.

The Intrntl outage was funny: It is a Cisco VPN Router: I had attempted to upgrade the IOS via Ciscoworks. Due to insufficient space on flash, to accommodate 2 IOS images [old and new] and the large size of the new IOS - 55Mg, the old one had to be deleted to make room for the new one. Anyway, while dwnldng via my FTP Server, it would just not complete. To get around this I decided to drop the image on a local machine onsite, connect to the machine via console connection into the Router- yea, I can do that . Connect the machine to an Ethernet port on the Router and TFTP the image via a local Server running on the machine. This way I can bypass the VPN Tunnel and firewall and just keep the file transfer localized to a directly connected machine.

Long story short - The Router crapped out due to a power Surge: Remember it has no bootable image now., and it went into Rommon mode, aaarrrrgh. Man, it was a mad scramble to set up an alternate connection so I could log in from thousands of miles away remotely to recover it. I was able to get into a local machine via an alternate secure remote connection and Xmodem the IOS image into the Router. ahh, Xmodem to the rescue.

----

The Second one was similar somewhat, due to someone messing with the power on/off as a result of some work at the Site. The Router crapped out, but thanks to goodness it did not end up with a corrupted image. The Router defaulted to a default startup config file you would see when you first fire it up out of the box - and went to Router>. I recognized the state right away and typed -en- for enable and went into exec mode. From here I issued a <Router#Reload> command and Voila!!, it reloaded the proper Start-up config file and Service was restored to the Site. I had to run some tests to confirm VoIP functionality, and check the Wi-Fi APs to make sure all applications/Services were fine.
Just goes to show, you may have similar looking symptoms, but they do not have the same solutions.

------

All this was from my desk - so from here I headed back into the D/C to get back to the project that has taken so much of my time lately,
the new 2 X NEXUS 5596 Data Center Switches that will Run FcOE [Fibre Channel Over Ethernet] to the SAN [Storage Area Network]Infrastructure - These are Uplinked to 2 X NEXUS 5020,s running as Server Switches. The connection here is via their mgmt0 Ports to 1Gig Ethernet Port on the FEXs [ Fabric Extender] of the NX-5020. -- More on these later.

------
Did I mention the Transition of my Cisco VoIP infrastructure from standalone boxes for CUCM, CUC, IPCC, etc to a full blown Cisco UCS Infrastructure with 4 X UCS 210 [Unified Communication Systems] Servers with over 10TB combined hard Drives. --- More on this too.

So you get the idea of how busy a Data Center can get, and the diversity of Technologies it supports.

---- Oh, also had to deal with decommisioning of Juniper F/Wall boxes for Cisco ASA 5585s FireWall Appliance- Very Nice, but the Rules structure in command line [ in the interest of full disclosure - I love CLI] can be mind boggling based on your filter type and their granularity. The ASDM client GUI is not bad though. Oh, I am more of a R/S & VoIP guy than SEcrty, though I seem to be getting there also. .

Okay, that will do for now. Need to get some sleep.