Intense School CCNA Voice Article - CME Installation and Administration

I have written an article regarding CME Installation and Administration. Please find the link below and comment. Thanks!


http://resources.intenseschool.com/ccna-voice-prep-cme-installation-and-administration/



For more information on studying for CCNA Voice, please click this link.  http://www.intenseschool.com/boot_camp/cisco/ccnavoice

Intense School CCNA Voice Article #3

Intense School Article on Demystifying CCNA Voice Exam
I have written an article over at the Intense School resources website on CCNA Voice, "Cisco IP Phone Boot Process and Registration". Here is a link to the article.

http://resources.intenseschool.com/ccna-voice-prep-cisco-ip-phone-boot-process-and-registration/

For more information on studying for CCNA Voice, please click this link.  http://www.intenseschool.com/boot_camp/cisco/ccnavoice

Intense School Article on Demystifying CCNA Voice Exam

I have written an article over at the Intense School resources website on CCNA Voice, specifically "Demystifying the CCNA Voice Exam". Here is a link to the article. http://resources.intenseschool.com/demystify-ccna-voice-cert-exam/

For more information on studying for CCNA Voice, please click this link.  http://www.intenseschool.com/boot_camp/cisco/ccnavoice

Intense School CCNA Voice Article 1

I have written an article over at the Intense School resources website on CCNA Voice, specifically "Understanding the Pieces of Unified Communications". Here is a link to the article. http://resources.intenseschool.com/demystifying-ccna-voice-understanding-the-pieces-of-cisco-unified-communications/

For more information on studying for CCNA Voice, please click this link." http://www.intenseschool.com/boot_camp/cisco/ccnavoice.

Still Here and Doing Cisco Stuff

Its been a while since I last posted, I am currently studying for my 2nd attempt late this year. I promise to post again once I get my digits and there will be a lot of changes in this site. I thank you my friends for visiting this and I hope you continue to do so. See you again when I get my digits.

Video Blogs

I am quite busy with my studies now that I don't have time to blog. I am thinking of using Camtasia and instead do a Video blog, saves a lot of time and the explanation will be real time. I want to get active in posting again as the visits in this site seems to be increasing.

Let me know if this is a good idea. Thanks!

Using TCL to Prepare Configuration

If you have worked as a network engineer for an enterprise or even a telco, you would notice that the best practice to have a standard configuration template. Sometimes, you are stuck in a situation wherein you need to prepare configuration let's say for around 20 routers and time is not on your side. My approach for this when I was starting my networking career was to get that standard template and start filing up the necessary configuration in notepad for the 20 routers and save one file after another. Believe me it was not an easy task and it was prone to having typo's.

It is for sure a tedious task but using TCL, it will pretty much make your life easier. I have researched for a way to automate the config preparation provided you have all the necessary data required. I am not a programmer but somehow I managed to find some TCL software and commands to make this possible. Before we begin we would need to have TCLKIT which can be downloaded here.

Now for this example, let us only try to create configs for 10 routers. Our standard config is as shown below. (not so long so make things easier)

hostname (hostname)
!
interface Serial1/1 
ip address (ip address)(mask)  
!
router ospf 1
network (network) (wildcard) area (ospf area)

The first step is to create our variables, quite much work required for this especially for long standard configs. We will create variables for those with () in the standard config above. These are the parts in the configuration wherein the data will be placed. Standard configuration with variables shown below.

hostname $hostname
!
interface Serial1/1
ip address $ipaddress $ipmask
!
router ospf 1
network $network $wildcard area $ospfarea

Now we have created our variables. Let us use the multivariable "foreach" TCL command to create a looping script. We put in our variables next to the "foreach" statement. The "$" is not required. If you are not familiar with this, please visit this post.

foreach {hostname ipaddress ipmask network wildcard ospfarea}

The next line of this script will now contain the data. Prepare the data in excel spreadsheet and the sequence of the columns should be the same as the one listed in the "foreach" statement. Then add that to the second line of the script. Put an open { before the data and } after the data.
Add also the important commands below that will make auto text file generation for each config file. The final script will look like something below. Then save this as a text file.

foreach {hostname ipaddress ipmask network wildcard ospfarea} {
Router1    1.1.1.1    255.255.255.0    1.1.1.1    0.0.0.0    1
Router2    1.1.1.2    255.255.255.0    1.1.1.2    0.0.0.0    2
Router3    1.1.1.3    255.255.255.0    1.1.1.3    0.0.0.0    3
Router4    1.1.1.4    255.255.255.0    1.1.1.4    0.0.0.0    4
Router5    1.1.1.5    255.255.255.0    1.1.1.5    0.0.0.0    5
Router6    1.1.1.6    255.255.255.0    1.1.1.6    0.0.0.0    6
Router7    1.1.1.7    255.255.255.0    1.1.1.7    0.0.0.0    7
Router8    1.1.1.8    255.255.255.0    1.1.1.8    0.0.0.0    8
Router9    1.1.1.9    255.255.255.0    1.1.1.9    0.0.0.0    9
Router10    1.1.1.10    255.255.255.0    1.1.1.10    0.0.0.0    10

} {set data "

hostname $hostname
!
interface Serial1/1
ip address $ipaddress $ipmask
!
router ospf 1
network $network $wildcard area $ospfarea

"
      set filename "${hostname}.txt"
      set fileId [open $filename "w"]
      puts -nonewline $fileId $data
      close $fileId

}

Now its time to auto generate the configs. What this looping script does is take the first line on the data, do the variable substitution and then at the end it will save the text file with the hostname as the filename. It does this until the last line of the data. The files will be auto generated where the TCLKIT software is saved.




Open TCLKIT, two windows will appear big and small. Click on File -> Source ->Go to the directory where you saved the script as text file -> Change "Files of Type to "All Files" -> Select the Script. Then viola, your configurations appear and all variables substituted. It makes life easier for a network engineer.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All

It's been a while since I touched any materials and listened to Scott Morris' Audio bootcamp. My current job really demands a lot of my time. After 3 months of inactivity I promised myself that I will bounce back. I only have 11 months left to take the lab so I'll be studying full force when the new year arrives.

Anyways have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to be everybody. Let us overcome any hindrances that tries to stop us from getting our dreams fulfilled. Expect new posts coming when the new year comes. Enjoy!

It's Been A While

Again, its been a while since I posted something here. I miss the technical stuff I was doing and I could say I was 70% ready for the CCIE exam now I am back to mere 1%. I have a lot more things to share and once again I'll try to find time. Whatever happens my dream to be a CCIE still stands. Hope to hear good news from guys reading my posts.

New Job

It's just today that I have posted something here and the reason behind this is that I am moving to Singapore for a new job on first week of September. I have been very busy with employment passes and other things required for the transfer. My new job involves lesser technical job than what I did in Hewlett Packard but its around 50/50 similar to my current job in a bank. 50 percent for technical and 50 percent for network project management. Even though I lost the other half to project management :), its still related as I will be handling network projects specifically MPLS migrations. Will my pursuit for CCIE still continue? The answer is yes. I love the technical stuff and its still useful with my current job position. My studies for now is in a standstill though I have finished all the topics I need a round or two to go through again all of them.

I will be posting here topics from time to time since there are people who requested from me. I never thought there are people interested with my blog. :) I have created a Facebook page for those who view my blog entries and those who like to be my friends. Please join/like I WANT TO BE A CCIE in Facebook. See you there and keep in touch.