Laith's Technical Blog

Switchport basic configuration

2010-05-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

Hi,

In this wiki article, we will talk about how to configure basics of Cisco switchports.

Read more....

reBlog from ciscoblog.com: CCNP Update: Changes in a Nutshell

2010-04-05T01:35:00.001-07:00

I found this fascinating quote today:

CCNP will now be three exams, ROUTE, SWITCH, and TSHOOT

Exam price will increase from $150.00 to $200.00 per exam

ROUTE and TSHOOT courses (typically 1 week Cisco official courses) are now supplemented with e-learning material (nearly 8 hours for ROUTE and 9 hours for TSHOOT) which is exam material

Classes / Exams are becoming even MORE real-world (TSHOOT class is 92% hands-on)

New ROUTE and SWITCH exam is available in March, TSHOOT is available in April.

BSCI exam can substitute for ROUTE or vice versa

BCMSN exam can substitute for SWITCH or vice versa

ONT and ISCW exams can substitute for TSHOOT until end of July (ONT/ICSW exams expire then...BSCI and BCMSN are no longer offered after July 31, however can substitute for ROUTE / SWITCH for their entire 3 year expiration period).

New CCNP exams now prepare you more for the CCIE R&S

ciscoblog.com, CCNP Update: Changes in a Nutshell, Jan 2010

You should read the whole article.

Extract commands from Vyatta configuration file

2009-12-06T23:14:00.000-08:00

In this article I will show you how to derive commands from Vyatta configuration file.

Cisco cheat sheets..

2009-11-25T23:38:00.000-08:00

ROUTER COMMANDS
TERMINAL CONTROLS:

Config# terminal editing - allows for enhanced editing commands

Config# terminal monitor - shows output on telnet session

Config# terminal ip netmask-format hexadecimal|bit-count|decimal - changes the format of subnet masks

HOST NAME:

· Config# hostname ROUTER_NAME

BANNER:

· Config# banner motd # TYPE MESSAGE HERE # - # can be substituted for any character, must start and finish the message

DESCRIPTIONS:

· Config# description THIS IS THE SOUTH ROUTER - can be entered at the Config-if level

CLOCK:

· Config# clock timezone Central -6
# clock set hh:mm:ss dd month yyyy - Example: clock set 14:35:00 25 August 2003

CHANGING THE REGISTER:

· Config# config-register 0x2100 - ROM Monitor Mode

· Config# config-register 0x2101 - ROM boot

· Config# config-register 0x2102 - Boot from NVRAM

BOOT SYSTEM:

· Config# boot system tftp FILENAME SERVER_IP - Example: boot system tftp 2600_ios.bin 192.168.14.2

· Config# boot system ROM

· Config# boot system flash - Then - Config# reload

CDP:

· Config# cdp run - Turns CDP on

· Config# cdp holdtime 180 - Sets the time that a device remains. Default is 180

· Config# cdp timer 30 - Sets the update timer.The default is 60

· Config# int Ethernet 0

· Config-if# cdp enable - Enables cdp on the interface

· Config-if# no cdp enable - Disables CDP on the interface

· Config# no cdp run - Turns CDP off

HOST TABLE:

· Config# ip host ROUTER_NAME INT_Address - Example: ip host lab-a 192.168.5.1
-or-

· Config# ip host RTR_NAME INT_ADD1 INT_ADD2 INT_ADD3 - Example: ip host lab-a 192.168.5.1 205.23.4.2 199.2.3.2 - (for e0, s0, s1)

DOMAIN NAME SERVICES:

· Config# ip domain-lookup - Tell router to lookup domain names

· Config# ip name-server 122.22.2.2 - Location of DNS server

· Config# ip domain-name cisco.com - Domain to append to end of names

CLEARING COUNTERS:

· # clear interface Ethernet 0 - Clears counters on the specified interface

· # clear counters - Clears all interface counters

· # clear cdp counters - Clears CDP counters

STATIC ROUTES:

· Config# ip route Net_Add SN_Mask Next_Hop_Add - Example: ip route 192.168.15.0 255.255.255.0 205.5.5.2

· Config# ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 Next_Hop_Add - Default route
-or-

· Config# ip default-network Net_Add - Gateway LAN network

IP ROUTING:

· Config# ip routing - Enabled by default

· Config# router rip
-or-

· Config# router igrp 100

· Config# interface Ethernet 0

· Config-if# ip address 122.2.3.2 255.255.255.0

· Config-if# no shutdown

IPX ROUTING:

· Config# ipx routing

· Config# interface Ethernet 0

· Config# ipx maximum-paths 2 - Maximum equal metric paths used

· Config-if# ipx network 222 encapsulation sap - Also Novell-Ether, SNAP, ARPA on Ethernet. Encapsulation HDLC on serial

· Config-if# no shutdown

ACCESS LISTS:

IP Standard	1-99
IP Extended	100-199
IPX Standard	800-899
IPX Extended	900-999
IPX SAP Filters	1000-1099

IP STANDARD:

· Config# access-list 10 permit 133.2.2.0 0.0.0.255 - allow all src ip’s on network 133.2.2.0
-or-

· Config# access-list 10 permit host 133.2.2.2 - specifies a specific host
-or-

· Config# access-list 10 permit any - allows any address

· Config# int Ethernet 0

· Config-if# ip access-group 10 in - also available: out

IP EXTENDED:

· Config# access-list 101 permit tcp 133.12.0.0 0.0.255.255 122.3.2.0 0.0.0.255 eq telnet
-protocols: tcp, udp, icmp, ip (no sockets then), among others
-source then destination address
-eq, gt, lt for comparison
-sockets can be numeric or name (23 or telnet, 21 or ftp, etc)
-or-

· Config# access-list 101 deny tcp any host 133.2.23.3 eq www
-or-

· Config# access-list 101 permit ip any any

· Config# interface Ethernet 0

· Config-if# ip access-group 101 out

IPX STANDARD:

· Config# access-list 801 permit 233 AA3 - source network/host then destination network/host
-or-

· Config# access-list 801 permit -1 -1 - “-1” is the same as “any” with network/host addresses

· Config# interface Ethernet 0

· Config-if# ipx access-group 801 out

IPX EXTENDED:

· Config# access-list 901 permit sap 4AA all 4BB all
- Permit protocol src_add socket dest_add socket
-“all” includes all sockets, or can use socket numbers
-or-

· Config# access-list 901 permit any any all any all
-Permits any protocol with any address on any socket to go anywhere

· Config# interface Ethernet 0

· Config-if# ipx access-group 901 in

IPX SAP FILTER:

· Config# access-list 1000 permit 4aa 3 - “3” is the service type
-or-

· Config# access-list 1000 permit 4aa 0 - service type of “0” matches all services

· Config# interface Ethernet 0

· Config-if# ipx input-sap-filter 1000 - filter applied to incoming packets
-or-

· Config-if# ipx output-sap-filter 1000 - filter applied to outgoing packets

NAMED ACCESS LISTS:

· Config# ip access-list standard LISTNAME
-can be ip or ipx, standard or extended
-followed by the permit or deny list

· Config# permit any

· Config-if# ip access-group LISTNAME in
-use the list name instead of a list number
-allows for a larger amount of access-lists

PPP SETUP:

· Config-if# encapsulation ppp

· Config-if# ppp authentication chap pap
-order in which they will be used
-only attempted with the authentification listed
-if one fails, then connection is terminated

· Config-if# exit

· Config# username Lab-b password 123456
-username is the router that will be connecting to this one
-only specified routers can connect
-or-

· Config-if# ppp chap hostname ROUTER

· Config-if# ppp chap password 123456
-if this is set on all routers, then any of them can connect to any other
-set same on all for easy configuration

ISDN SETUP:

· Config# isdn switch-type basic-5ess - determined by telecom

· Config# interface serial 0

· Config-if# isdn spid1 2705554564 - isdn “phonenumber” of line 1

· Config-if# isdn spid2 2705554565 - isdn “phonenumber” of line 2

· Config-if# encapsulation PPP - or HDLC, LAPD

DDR - 4 Steps to setting up ISDN with DDR

Configure switch type
Config# isdn switch-type basic-5ess - can be done at interface config
Configure static routes
Config# ip route 123.4.35.0 255.255.255.0 192.3.5.5 - sends traffic destined for 123.4.35.0 to 192.3.5.5
Config# ip route 192.3.5.5 255.255.255.255 bri0 - specifies how to get to network 192.3.5.5 (through bri0)
Configure Interface
Config-if# ip address 192.3.5.5 255.255.255.0
Config-if# no shutdown
Config-if# encapsulation ppp
Config-if# dialer-group 1 - applies dialer-list to this interface
Config-if# dialer map ip 192.3.5.6 name Lab-b 5551212
connect to lab-b at 5551212 with ip 192.3.5.6 if there is interesting traffic
can also use “dialer string 5551212” instead if there is only one router to connect to
Specify interesting traffic
Config# dialer-list 1 ip permit any
-or-
Config# dialer-list 1 ip list 101 - use the access-list 101 as the dialer list
Other Options
Config-if# hold-queue 75 - queue 75 packets before dialing
Config-if# dialer load-threshold 125 either
-load needed before second line is brought up
-“125” is any number 1-255, where % load is x/255 (ie 125/255 is about 50%)
-can check by in, out, or either
Config-if# dialer idle-timeout 180
-determines how long to stay idle before terminating the session
-default is 120

FRAME RELAY SETUP:

· Config# interface serial 0

· Config-if# encapsulation frame-relay - cisco by default, can change to ietf

· Config-if# frame-relay lmi-type cisco - cisco by default, also ansi, q933a

· Config-if# bandwidth 56

· Config-if# interface serial 0.100 point-to-point - subinterface

· Config-if# ip address 122.1.1.1 255.255.255.0

· Config-if# frame-relay interface-dlci 100
-maps the dlci to the interface
-can add BROADCAST and/or IETF at the end

· Config-if# interface serial 1.100 multipoint

· Config-if# no inverse-arp - turns IARP off; good to do

· Config-if# frame-relay map ip 122.1.1.2 48 ietf broadcast
-maps an IP to a dlci (48 in this case)
-required if IARP is turned off
-ietf and broadcast are optional

· Config-if# frame-relay map ip 122.1.1.3 54 broadcast

SHOW COMMANDS

· Show access-lists - all access lists on the router

· Show cdp - cdp timer and holdtime frequency

· Show cdp entry * - same as next

· Show cdp neighbors detail - details of neighbor with ip add and ios version

· Show cdp neighbors - id, local interface, holdtime, capability, platform portid

· Show cdp interface - int’s running cdp and their encapsulation

· Show cdp traffic - cdp packets sent and received

· Show controllers serial 0 - DTE or DCE status

· Show dialer - number of times dialer string has been reached, other stats

· Show flash - files in flash

· Show frame-relay lmi - lmi stats

· Show frame-relay map - static and dynamic maps for PVC’s

· Show frame-relay pvc - pvc’s and dlci’s

· Show history - commands entered

· Show hosts - contents of host table

· Show int f0/26 - stats of f0/26

· Show interface Ethernet 0 - show stats of Ethernet 0

· Show ip - ip config of switch

· Show ip access-lists - ip access-lists on switch

· Show ip interface - ip config of interface

· Show ip protocols - routing protocols and timers

· Show ip route - Displays IP routing table

· Show ipx access-lists - same, only ipx

· Show ipx interfaces - RIP and SAP info being sent and received, IPX addresses

· Show ipx route - ipx routes in the table

· Show ipx servers - SAP table

· Show ipx traffic - RIP and SAP info

· Show isdn active - number with active status

· Show isdn status - shows if SPIDs are valid, if connected

· Show mac-address-table - contents of the dynamic table

· Show protocols - routed protocols and net_addresses of interfaces

· Show running-config - dram config file

· Show sessions - connections via telnet to remote device

· Show startup-config - nvram config file

· Show terminal - shows history size

· Show trunk a/b - trunk stat of port 26/27

· Show version - ios info, uptime, address of switch

· Show vlan - all configured vlan’s

· Show vlan-membership - vlan assignments

· Show vtp - vtp configs

CATALYST COMMANDS
For Native IOS - Not CatOS

SWITCH ADDRESS:

· Config# ip address 192.168.10.2 255.255.255.0

· Config# ip default-gateway 192.168.10.1

DUPLEX MODE:

· Config# interface Ethernet 0/5 - “fastethernet” for 100 Mbps ports

· Config-if# duplex full - also, half | auto | full-flow-control

SWITCHING MODE:

· Config# switching-mode store-and-forward - also, fragment-free

MAC ADDRESS CONFIGS:

· Config# mac-address-table permanent aaab.000f.ffef e0/2 - only this mac will work on this port

· Config# mac-address-table restricted static aaab.000f.ffef e0/2 e0/3
-port 3 can only send data out port 2 with that mac
-very restrictive security

· Config-if# port secure max-mac-count 5 - allows only 5 mac addresses mapped to this port

VLANS:

· Config# vlan 10 name FINANCE

· Config# interface Ethernet 0/3

· Config-if# vlan-membership static 10

TRUNK LINKS:

· Config-if# trunk on - also, off | auto | desirable | nonegotiate

· Config-if# no trunk-vlan 2
-removes vlan 2 from the trunk port
-by default, all vlans are set on a trunk port

CONFIGURING VTP:

· Config# delete vtp - should be done prior to adding to a network

· Config# vtp server - the default is server, also client and transparent

· Config# vtp domain Camp - name doesn’t matter, just so all switches use the same

· Config# vtp password 1234 - limited security

· Config# vtp pruning enable - limits vtp broadcasts to only switches affected

· Config# vtp pruning disable

FLASH UPGRADE:

· Config# copy tftp://192.5.5.5/configname.ios opcode - “opcode” for ios upgrade, “nvram” for startup config

DELETE STARTUP CONFIG:

· Config# delete nvram

###########################################

P.S: I found that list of commands on Skullbox.net, there is another big list on packetlife.net. I love these two sites, I was looking for a cheatsheet for Vyatta router, yet I did not find any, I will try to make one myself and publish it.

Regards

A poll to launch new project!

2009-10-11T23:17:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

We are in need to your vote, we intend to launch a new project that is Vyatta based, i.e. a fork of Vyatta.

Like pfSense that was a fork of monowall, then got a very wider perspective, we intend to widen the Vyatta Community edition. We need as much votes as possible, so do not hesitate to vote.

The goals of the project is to extend the usability of VC and tie break the limitations of VC edition. Delay in releasing updates, subscription only editions, and similar limitations that make us frustrated sometimes.

The project will managed so features implemented are not those requested by customers, rather they will be what requested by the community.

PPPoE server, Captive portal, Cisco like access lists to manage traffic matches, VRF, and so on, all those features and many more are requested by the community, but they will not be implemented, unless they get a room in the developers priority list. We want to be more initiative, and do more, and I believe that this project will help Vyatta team a lot, it will provide them with free tests, a whole bunch of new features every while, features that are developed/tested by the community, so it will not take any of their time except time required for integration in the original project, just like Fedora and RedHat.

I hope this poll get filled with your invaluable votes, and I hope the project be a big help for all parties.

Regards,

Laith

PS: You can find the poll on the right of the page. Good luck :)

VPN lan2lan using ASA template!

2009-08-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

Hi,

If you intend to create a VPN connection using two ASAs, and you have already two static IPs at both sites, then you only need the following:

access-list inside-voice_NAT_outside extended permit ip <source lan subnet> <source lan mask> <dest. lan subnet> <dest. lan mask>
access-list outside_cryptomap_voice-inside extended permit ip <source lan subnet> <source lan mask> <dest. lan subnet> <dest. lan mask>

nat (inside-voice) 0 access-list inside-voice_NAT_outside

route outside 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 <DGW IP> 1

crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-AES-256-SHA esp-aes-256 esp-sha-hmac
crypto map outside_map 20 match address outside_cryptomap_voice-inside
crypto map outside_map 20 set peer <Peer IP address>
crypto map outside_map 20 set transform-set ESP-AES-256-SHA
crypto map outside_map interface outside

crypto isakmp enable outside
crypto isakmp policy 10
authentication pre-share
encryption aes-256
hash sha
group 5
lifetime 86400

tunnel-group <Peer IP address> ipsec-attributes
pre-shared-key <a key of your choice>

#END

I will add all kind of VPN config here, as well as I will try to make the same with Vyatta not only Cisco.

I hope it will help!
;)

My new MacBook Pro 15"

2009-07-09T05:07:00.001-07:00

Hi,

I have purchased my new MacBook Pro 15" last week, I would like to share with all some pics of my new MAC ;)

Ethernet Layer 2 Addressing & Switching and Bridging Logic

2009-04-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

Layer 2 address is basically the MAC address, and there are three major types of MAC addresses:

Unicast: individual device to receive the frame

Multicast: group of devices to receive the frame, like radio, one transmit and group receive

Broadcast: all devices in the current network segment, always = FFFFFFFFFFFF

I/G = Individual group, 0 means unicast, 1 means multicast.

U/G = Universal group, 0 means the address in vendor assigned, 1 means the address is administratively assigned, overriding the vendor-assigned address.

So, the first byte of the MAC address is either 00, 01, 02, 03:

00 = unicast, vendor assigned

01 = multicast, vendor assigned

02 = unicast, administratively assigned

03 = multicast, administratively assigned

By setting the MAC address administratively (by hand), the device driver would not enforce the U/G to be 1, so we are able to set the MAC address to some freaky address of our choice, yet when it is being dynamically set, the U/G will be set to 1 automatically.

Here is the Switch behavior whenever a frame hits an interface incoming:

Type of Address	Switch Action
Known Unicast	Forwards frame out the single interface associated with the destination address
UnKnown Unicast	Floods frame out all interfaces, except the interface on which the frame was received
Multicast	Floods frame identically to unknown unicasts
Broadcast	Floods frame identically to unknown unicasts, unless multicast optimizations are conﬁgured

Thanks

Configure cisco devices via console port with Linux using USBserial cable!

2008-12-01T21:31:00.000-08:00

Hi,

If you were using Windows, then you might not notice any problem trying to configure cisco devices via a console port usign usbserial cable, just plug it in the USB of your laptop and install the appropriate driver, and you are done.

You will not notice a problem with MAC OS X either, some usbserial cables even do not need any driver.

But, when you are using Linux, then you are wondering, how to obtain the driver.

In Linux ,for ease of understand, comparing to Windows, drivers = kernel modules. So, you need to load the appropriate kernel module, to have the cable works.

Here is how to have this up and running, after reading this tutorial you will be able to configure your cisco devices or any other server via console port with your laptop using usbserial cable.

If you don't know how the usbserial cable looks like, here I have a picture for mine:

Steps:
1. Load the kernel module: 'sudo modprobe pl2303'

pl2303 is the kernel module that will enable using the usbserial, to verify that is has been loaded successfully use this command, 'echo $?', if the result is "0", then it is ok.

use: 'lsmod | grep pl2303' to see what are the modules that are loaded currently or depends upon by ours.
###
lsmod | grep pl2303

pl2303 22020 0
usbserial 35816 1 pl2303
usbcore 146412 7 pl2303,usbserial,usbhid,hci_usb,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
###
You can see that usbserial/usbcore modules are depended upon by pl2303.

2. plug the cable into any USB port in your laptop, and issue 'screen /dev/ttyUSB0 9600', supposing that your device's speed is 9600 and using the default for flow control and other parameters. If your devices uses speed other than 9600, then you have to specify it, if any of the parameters are different then you have to specify it either, read the manual page of the screen to see how.

3. your are now in your device console.

Cheers,

Resolving the APM issue, reducing HD Load_Cycle.

2008-11-07T01:46:00.000-08:00

Hi,

There is a noticeable issue for whom using Linux (say Ubuntu) on laptops, which is the HD load cycle.

When you leave your laptop on battery power, HD generates a strange sound, maybe 3 time per minute or once every 10 seconds, this is the sound of parking/unparking.

This happens even during activity, and this severely shortens the life of hard drives, this bug is reported on the launchpad under the name: " Bug #59695 : High frequency of load/unload cycles on some hard disks may shorten lifetime".

Now, I think they managed to resolve the problem in the latest Ubuntu release 8.10. Yet, I am using Ubuntu 8.04.1 Hardy and the problem still exist.

Therefore, I have fixed this problem temporally until there is an official fix for this issue in the next update.

My solution will effectively keep this parameter at reasonable amount: 193 Load_Cycle_Count. You can know your number by executing this command in a shell: 'sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda', you have to install "smartmontools" program before you can use this command.

Steps:
1. install smartmontools by issuing this command in a shell: 'sudo aptitude install smartmontools'
2. create a new file named: "hdparm" in the /etc/init.d
3. edit /etc/hdparm.conf to add the following lines in it:

/dev/sda { #Your HD's name maybe different
apm = 255
spindown_time = 0
}

4. edit /etc/init.d/hdparm to add the following line in it:
#!/bin/sh
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda #Or whatever your HD name is.
hdparm -S0 /dev/sda #Or whatever your HD name is.

5. give hdparm execute permission: 'sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/hdparm'
6. edit /etc/acpi/power.sh: 'nano /etc/acpi/power.sh', to replace the 1 from the command '$HDPARM -B 1 /dev/$drive 2>/dev/null' with 255, the new command will be: '$HDPARM -B 255 /dev/$drive 2>/dev/null'
7. update the rc by issuing this command: 'sudo update-rc.d hdparm defaults', this will make hdparm script start at boot time.
8. DONE

This will reduce the number of spinning down per min/hour/day significantly.

Thanks

VMware Workstation 6.5 ROCKS !!

2008-10-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I have downloaded VMware Workstation 6.5 yesterday, it rocks, in fact it has more features than I thought.

One of the noticeable features is speed. Speed has been improved tremendously, huge gap comparing to the previous version.

I have been using VMware server 2 for a quite a while now, and wanted to do a quick comparison.

VMWorkstation:

- Unity mode: rather than only summary, console, quick switch and full screen, there is a new one called unity, so much like the seamless mode in VirtualBox, but far more speedy and stable.
- Wide range of guest OS support.
- New GUI installer for Linux.
- New virtual network editor (works great, and more than enough).
- When you chose a CD ISO image while creating a new VM, it auto-detects the guest OS (you can change the guest later).
- Aimed at Workstation virtualization (Desktop and Laptop).

VMServer:

- Wider range of guest OS support.
- Great performance, in focus on networking.
- Extra flexibility on networking.
- Client-Server design, for remote administration.
- WebGUI interface runs on top of a lightweight http server.
- VMware Infrastructure like management console.
- Aimed at server virtualization.

Enjoy,

Hyper-V Integration Services Requires a Newer Version of Windows Vista

2008-10-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Virtualization is a revolutionary technology, it offers so many features. In this article David is reviewing an error rises in the MS hyper-V, please read the full article:
Hyper-V Integration Services Requires a Newer Version of Windows Vista

Thanks

Use extended ping and extended traceroute to better troubleshoot your Cisco network

2008-10-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Ping and traceroute are the very basic troubleshooting commands issued by the network administrator to figure out problems.

Cisco routers offers an extended ping and traceroute commands, to know more about the extended commands offered by cisco, read David's article:
Use extended ping and extended traceroute to better troubleshoot your Cisco network

Regards

VIM text editor highlighted..

2008-09-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

Hi,

If you are Ubuntu user, you are by default using vim text editor without highlighting. Well, if you have used openSUSE before, then you will notice that its vim editor comes with this feature out-of-the-box.

We managed to see Ubuntu easier and more eye-candy than other Linux distros, so, why this feature is absent from Ubuntu while it is a nice and eye-candy one.

Lets go ahead and enable it together, it is easy:

1. Open a shell ..
2. Type this:
sudo gedit /etc/vim/vimrc
(Install vim if it is not already installed, just type: sudo aptitude install vim).
3. Search for: "syntax"
4. You will see this line commented:
#syntax on
5. Remove the # sign (uncomment the line).
6. Save and exit gedit.
7. We are done, enjoy vim highlighted.

Thanks.

Enjoy man pages colorized

2008-09-10T02:35:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Linux users know that manual pages (aka man pages), is initially black and white.

Yet, we can colorize them with two simple steps: (I use Linux mint/ubuntu here)

-- Open a shell and execute this:

sudo aptitude install most

-- After application is installed successfully, execute the following:

sudo update-alternatives --set pager /usr/bin/most

That is it, now enjoy a beautiful colored man pages..

Cheeeeeeeers.

How to look up in the dictionary, via CLI (Command Line Interpreter)

2008-09-07T23:53:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Have you been in a problem, when you don't have a GUI, and want to look up a word in the dictionary.

Here is how to do it, so let's begin:

Everybody heard about www.dict.org. Oh, you did not! so let me tell you, dict.org is a WWW interface to several freely available on-line dictionaries.

This is the first resource, second, is DICT protocol, which is a protocol to access dictionary services on the Internet (like www, a protocol to access hyper-text transfer services on the Internet, i.e. web browsing).

So, we need a combination, to make DICT to transfer data from dict.org via CLI. Yes, we have curl.

CURL, is a tool to transfer data from or to a server, using one of the supported protocols HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SCP, SFTP, TFTP, DICT, TELNET, LDAP or FILE). The command is designed to work without user interaction.

Now, how to use curl to transfer dictionary queries from dict.org to our CLI, here is how:

curl dict://dict.org/d:<word_to_look_in_the_dictionary>

for example: curl dict://dict.org/d:lion, will give the following results:

220 aspen.miranda.org dictd 1.9.15/rf on Linux 2.6.18-6-k7 <675471.1393.1220856699@aspen.miranda.org>
250 ok
150 1 definitions retrieved
151 "Lion" gcide "The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48"
Lion \Li"on\ (l[imac]"[u^]n), n. [F. lion, L. leo, -onis, akin
to Gr. le`wn. Cf. {Chameleon}, {Dandelion}, {Leopard}.]
1. (Zool.) A large carnivorous feline mammal ({Panthera leo},
formerly {Felis leo}), found in Southern Asia and in most
parts of Africa, distinct varieties occurring in the
different countries. The adult male, in most varieties,
has a thick mane of long shaggy hair that adds to his
apparent size, which is less than that of the largest
tigers. The length, however, is sometimes eleven feet to
the base of the tail. The color is a tawny yellow or
yellowish brown; the mane is darker, and the terminal tuft
of the tail is black. In one variety, called the {maneless
lion}, the male has only a slight mane.
[1913 Webster]

2. (Astron.) A sign and a constellation; Leo.
[1913 Webster]

3. An object of interest and curiosity, especially a person
who is so regarded; as, he was quite a lion in London at
that time.
[1913 Webster]

Such society was far more enjoyable than that of
Edinburgh, for here he was not a lion, but a man.
--Prof.
Wilson.
[1913 Webster]

{American lion} (Zool.), the puma or cougar.

{Lion ant} (Zool.), the ant-lion.

{Lion dog} (Zool.), a fancy dog with a flowing mane, usually
clipped to resemble a lion's mane.

{Lion lizard} (Zool.), the basilisk.

{Lion's share}, all, or nearly all; the best or largest part;
-- from Aesop's fable of the lion hunting in company with
certain smaller beasts, and appropriating to himself all
the prey.

{Lion of Lucerne}, a famous sculptured lion at Lucerne,
Switzerland, designed by Thorwaldsen and dedicated in 1821
as a memorial to the Swiss Guards who fell defending Louis
XVI. in the attack of the mob on the Tuileries, Aug. 10,
1792. The animal, which is hewn out of the face of a rock,
is represented as transfixed with a broken spear and
dying, but still trying to protect with its paw a shield
bearing the fleur-de-lis of France.

{Lion of St. Mark}, a winged lion, the emblem of the
evangelist Mark, especially that of bronze surmounting a
granite column in the Piazzetta at Venice, and holding in
its fore paws an open book representing St. Mark's Gospel.

{Lion of the North}, Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632), King of
Sweden, the hero of the Protestant faith in the Thirty
Years' War.
[1913 Webster + Webster 1913 Suppl.]
.
250 ok [d/m/c = 1/0/17; 0.000r 0.000u 0.000s]
221 bye [d/m/c = 0/0/0; 0.000r 0.000u 0.000s]

Thank you for viewing,

Change the MAC address of a NIC in Debian system

2008-08-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Today we will see how to change the MAC address of a Network Interface Card (NIC) in a Debian/Debian like system.

There are a lot of reasons you might want to manually set your MAC address for your network card.

To do so, we need to edit the "/etc/network/interfaces" file.
Run this command in a shell:
gedit /etc/network/interfaces
OR
vim /etc/network/interfaces

We should see the line for the NIC, it should be eth0 for the first Ethernet interface, or wlan0 for the first wireless Lan. If we have dhcp enabled, it will look like this:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

By adding another line we shall change the NIC MAC address:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
hwaddress ether 00:13:e8:a5:2a:c9

MAC address (Media Access Control), is a 6 bytes address in hexa format, its format should look like this: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx. Each x is a number from 0-9, or a letter from a-f.

Now, we have to restart the networking service for the changes to take effect, by running this command in a shell as root:
/etc/init.d/networking restart

After changes take effect, we have successfully changed the MAC address of our happy NIC.

Regards,

OSPF, some useful info

2008-07-25T02:44:00.000-07:00

OSPF is a Link-Stat routing protocol, which relies on the Djikestra algorithm to calculate all of its tables (routing table ... etc), here are some of its key specifications:

* There is a property called Adjacency, which is the relationship between two or more routers that its formation is a condition to begin exchange routing information, there are variables must match for that adjacency to form, and other variables must be unique:
-- Must match:
- Area number
- Hello and dead timers
- Mtu (the maximum transmission unit)
. ip ospf mtu-ignore - in case we want to ignore this variable
- Compatible network types
- Stub flags
- Authentication

-- Must be unique
- IP address
- OSPF router-id

OSPF network types:
-- Types
- BC (broadcast network)
- Non-BC (non-broadcast network)
- P2P (point-to-point network)
- P2MultiP (point-to-multi-point network)
- P2MultiP Non-BC (point-to-multi-point non-broadcast)

Network types affects the following:
- Unicast/ Multicast
- DR/BDR election
- Next-hop processing

-----------------------------------------

Broadcast network type:
- Default on broadcast medias - Ethernet/Token Ring
- Sends hellos as multicast - 224.0.0.5/6
- Performs DR/BDR election

DR/BDR election:
- Used to minimize LSA replications
. Like BGP router-reflector
- Election based on priority and router-id
. 0-255
. Higher is better
. 0=never prompt the election
- Router-id - higher wins
. Highest loopback/interface IP
. Can be statically set
. higher is better

Non-broadcast network
- Default on multi-point NBMA medias
. Frame relay / ATM
- Sends hellos as unicast
. static "neighbor" command is necessary
- Performs DR/BDR election

Point-to-Multipoint
- Non a default option
- Sends hellos as multicast
. 224.0.0.5
- No DR/BDR election happens
- Modifies next-hop processing
- Best option for NBMA

Point-to-multipoint non-broadcast
- Not a default option
- Sends hellos as unicast
. Static "neighbor" statement
- No DR/BDR election
- Modifies next-hop processing

OSPF Convergence Timers
- Convergence based on hello and dead timers.
- Different timers for different network types
- Changing hello time automatically adjusts dead time
. ip ospf hello-interval
. ip ospf dead-interval
- New feature: sub-second convergence

Changing the network type will cause adjacency to form but no routing information will be exchanged.
Broadcast -------
|--> will adjacent and will exchange routing information
Non-broadcast ---
|
|------> will adjacent but will not exchange routing information
|
Point-to-Point ----------------
Point-to-Multipoint |--> Will adjacent and will exchange routing information
Point-to-Multipoint Non-Broadcast ----

Kind regards,

EIGRP is a DV protocol, and the secondary IP in the routing protocols ..

2008-07-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hi,

This articles is written to declare somethings regarding EIGRP and a hidden trick in every routing protocol:

-- EIGRP:

It is common to say EIGRP is a hybrid routing protocol, BUT, this is a common mistake.
In fact, EIGRP is a distance vector routing protocol, well, at least it has the split-horizon feature. Furthermore, EIGRP contains all the distance vector features, the big BUT here is: it is an enhanced Distance Vector protocol, so, it does not have the negative features other DV protocols have.

Anyway, if you don't believe me, then, you are free to refer to the official Cisco website, there you will have the ultimate shock ;-)

-- The hidden trick:

Sometimes, easy things become a nightmare for the engineer whom configuring a router, when configuring a routing protocol, and you think everything is going fine, BUT, the nightmare is: the routing protocol does not work as expected.

Why? Here we begin troubleshooting. And nothing wrong found.

Finally rises the hidden hated trick, the network you are trying to advertise in the routing protocol is one of the subnets assigned to an interface as a secondary IP.

It is that easy, but it turns a journey into a nightmare. Here is the trick: no routing protocol deals with a secondary IP, and even if you add the network statement hundreds of times for that particular subnet, it will not included in the routing protocol calculations.

Just for fun, both of these created problems to me, and turned my funny work into a hell.

I hope it was informative for you,
My regards,

How to make firefox faster

2008-07-20T02:45:00.000-07:00

Mozilla Firefox is a graphical web browser developed by the Mozilla Corporation.

Mozilla Firefox is a cross-platform browser, providing support for various versions of Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Although not officially released for certain operating systems, the freely available source code works for many other operating systems, including FreeBSD,OS/2, Solaris, SkyOS, BeOS and more recently, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

I am providing some Very Useful Tips to speedup your Firefox.

Lets begin:

In your location bar (URL), type about:config

Tip1
In the filter bar type network.http.pipelining
Normally it says ” false ” under value field , Double click it so it becomes ” true “.

Tip2
In the filter bar again and type network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
Default it says 4 under value field and you need to change it to 8

Tip3
Go to the filter bar again and type network.http.proxy.pipelining
Normally it says ” false ” under value field , Double click it so it becomes ” true “.

Tip4
Go to the filter bar again and type network.dns.disableIPv6
Normally it says ” false ” under value field , Double click it so it becomes ” true “.

Tip5
Go to the filter bar again and type plugin.expose_full_path
Normally it says ” false ” under value field , Double click it so it becomes ” true “.

Tip6
Now you need to Create new Preference name with interger value for this got to Right click -> New -> Integer
Here you need to type nglayout.initialpaint.delay and click ok
Now you need to enter 0 in value filed and click ok

Tip7
Now you need to Create one more Preference name with interger value for this got to Right click -> New -> Integer
Here you need to type content.notify.backoffcount and click ok
Now you need to enter 5 in value filed and click ok

Tip8
Now you need to Create one more Preference name with interger value for this got to Right click -> New -> Integer
Here you need to type ui.submenuDelay and click ok
Now you need to enter 0 in value filed and click ok

Some more Tweaks
Enable the spellchecker for inputfields and textareas (default is textareas only)
layout.spellcheckDefault=2

Open lastfm://-links directly in amarok
network.protocol-handler.app.lastfm=amarok
network.protocol-handler.external.lastfm=true

Firefox Memory Leak Fix
Open a new tab. Type “about:config” without quotes into the address bar and hit enter/click Go.
Right-click anywhere, select New, then Integer. In the dialog prompt that appears, type:
browser.cache.memory.capacity

Click OK. Another dialog prompt will appear. This is where you decide how much memory to allocate to Firefox. This depends on how much RAM your computer has, but generally you don’t want to allocate too little (under 8MB), but if you allocate too much, you might as well not do this. A good recommended setting is 16MB. If you want 16MB, enter this value into the dialog prompt: 16384

(Why 16384 instead of 16000? Because computers use base-12 counting. Thus 16 megabytes = 16384 bytes. Likewise, if you want to double that and allocate 32MB, you’d enter 32768.)

Click OK to close the dialog box, then close all instances of Firefox and restart. If your Firefox still uses the same amount of memory, give it a few minutes and it should slowly clear up. If that fails, try a system reboot.

Now your Firefox will now be 3 - 30 times faster in loading pages.

Original article can be found in: www.ubuntugeek.com

How to make fonts in Ubuntu Linux more clear

2008-07-20T02:06:00.000-07:00

This is how to make fonts in Ubuntu Linux more clear and nicer.
Four very easy steps and all done, so lets get started:

-- Open a terminal window and write this line into it:
sudo ln /etc/fonts/conf.avail/10-autohint.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d/. -s

-- edit the file ~/.fonts.conf, which is in your home directory, or create it if it does not exist:
gedit ~/.fonts.conf

-- then write the following xml code in it:

code

Done, save and exit gedit.

-- Finally run the following command in the opened terminal window:
fc-cache -vf

Now you are done, but one more step further, restart your graphical session ;-)

You will notice the fonts are very clear and much more sharper and nicer.

Regards,

How did I achieve my CCNA certificate

2008-07-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

I achieved my CCNA by passing the fast-track 640-802.

When you start to prepare for the CCNA exam, you have to make a studying program. If your studying is random, then you will not pass it for your life.

I made this program for myself, and I stuck to it:

-- I studied continuously for 51 days.

-- I started with Chris Bryant video course (TrainSignal). With 10 hours of studying a day, I was able to finish this course with 17 days, including the labs.

-- After that, I begun with the Cisco Press, and finished it with 12 days. (17+12=29)

-- After finishing Cisco Press, I begun studying Jeremy's course (CBT Nuggets), I finished with 17 days, I consider this course a review. (29+17=46).

-- I toke 3 days for rest. (46+3=49).

-- One day before the exam for registration. (49+1=50).

-- One day for the exam. (50+1=51).

By the way, I have my own lab, I don't have to rent a rack remotely. I have built my own lab for preparation for the CCNA exam, and upgraded it to help myself passing CCIE.

Finally, I passed the exam (640-802) with 947 points.

Now, I am preparing for the CCIE, I was planning to do the CCNP first, but, I decided finally to achieve the CCIE directly.

My best wishes to you all ;-)

Welcome to my newly opened blogsite

2008-07-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I am so happy to open my blog, it still new, and there are no posts into it for the moment. BUT it will be enriched with IT stuff very soon.

I invite you to my site too: http://laith43d.googlepages.com

Kindest regards,

Laith Z.