The CCDE Practical Beta Exam is tomorrow (October 1st) in Chicago.
Wish us all luck!
Mike
CCDE Practical is a Go!
Sneak Preview of the CCDE Practical Exam
Clearing the Air on the CCDE Practical Beta Exam
CCDE Practical Beta Test Cancelled
CCDE Written Goes Live. I Passed. Can You?
Will Cisco's Master Architect Certification Test Leadership?
More Thoughts on Network Engineers and the CCDE
Separating Network Design and the CCIE
Took the CCDE Written Beta Test Today
Insight on the New Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) - Part III
Insight on the New Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) - Part II
Insight on the New Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) and Network Infrastructure Architect Certification
More >From the Field blog entries:
I have to admit, I'm impressed by Cisco's foresight for getting its technology inside VMware. If VMware is not a revolutionary change (close to it), it is certainly a fast-paced evolution for the IT infrastructure environment. Companies are building complete business models around VMware and IT organizations are developing news ways of operating in a virtualized ecosystem.
Furthermore, now that VMware is talking about taking over the whole DC, Cisco is wise to get in on the game. By placing Cisco IOS inside ESX, Cisco has guaranteed a place at the table and ensured its legions of Cisco engineers - the same people who buy Cisco products - a career path. That is a symbiotic relationship Cisco has to maintain. But, at this point, the Nexus 1000V is vaporware (unless someone has actually bought it??). So there are questions that need to be asked before the Nexus 1000V is more than a marketing success.
The first question is performance. The Nexus 1000V is not a Cisco switch that forwards packets in specialized ASICs for optimal performance. Now Cisco IOS is using software API calls to the ESX server to move packets, all of which relies on a general purpose x86 processor. The API calls should be interesting since API calls generally are limited and add extra overhead. From what I've read, Cisco does not have direct links into the ESX kernel, but relies on a the DVS API to provide networking services. VMware did an API to provide other companies the opportunity to provide the networking in ESX. Cisco may be the first, but I'm going to guess not the last. It will be interesting to see how Cisco optimizes the Nexus 1000V performance in this environment.
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Conforming to the axiom that it's easier to join 'em than fight 'em, Cisco launched its first software based network switch this week - the Nexus 1000V - as an integrated component of VMware's ESX platform. I've written a few blogs about VMware, how it's a growing storm to traditional networking by bringing networking right into the server. This went to the heart of Cisco's business model: selling high-end LAN switches with lots of features to provide advanced networking features. With ESX's virtual switch, VMware was doing, initially at a very basic level, what Cisco has built a $40 billion business on. Cisco wasn't at risk soon, but it was probably not a good idea to wait around (just ask Microsoft about Google). So, Cisco jumped in, bought a small part of VMware, and got its networking technology inside VMware's software.
The result is the Nexus 1000V. The Nexus 1000V is a two-part software solution that replaces the VMware virtual switch inside the ESX sever. Now, instead of the virtual switch, NX-OS (and Cisco CLI) is providing networking inside the ESX server for virtual machines.
The 1000V does this by integrating with VMware's new DVS API which allows external agents to provide network services to ESX.
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On the heals of starting my MBA a few weeks ago, I gave into the Dark Side this week and officially moved into management. Gone are the wonderful days of OSPF and BGP design, forever replaced with cost accounting, performance reviews, and marathon budget meetings.
;-)
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A few weeks ago, NetworkWorld's Jim Duffy asked me to provide some comments on Cisco network management products. They were used as part of his expose on Cisco's network management challenges. In this article, in only the fourth paragraph, I read what has to be one of the silliest statements I've ever seen from Cisco:
"It's actually a good thing when network management is struggling, because it says that innovation is really happening at a fast rate," says Karen Sage, Cisco's director of product management for network management.
Huh? Care to restate that? Are you kidding?
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Cisco held a fun event that ended recently with winners announced in The Cisco Home Networking Contest.
The rules seemed pretty simple. Send a diagram and description of your home network, and the most impressive (complex?) would be the winner. Two grand prize winners of the Best Overall Home Network were awarded: Iwan Eberhart, Frauenfeld, Switzerland and Andrew Ward, San Leandro, California, USA.
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If you're thinking the economy is doing very poorly right now, I would argue that you have given in to the media and political hype. Are we experiencing record growth and prosperity? Obviously no, there are parts of the economy and country suffering right now, like housing, and banking. Those industries are suffering a 100-year flood like IT did in 2001 after the boom ended. But the rest of the economy, not so bad; particularly for professions and especially skilled IT professionals.
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A couple years ago, I looked at my career and thought about where I wanted to be in 10-15 years. I was in the middle of architecting and building a new global network so what better time to think about what to do next. ;-)
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A couple months ago, after attending the FutureNet conference, I wrote a blog about the impending Internet meltdown. In short, there are two problems afflicting the Internet:
Either of these could lead to Internet outages, brownouts, and changes in expected access in the coming years.
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Cisco is doing a lot with their website these days, pushing a lot of Web 2.0 features and creating content aggregator sites, like the Cisco Validated Design Program (CVD) and the Cisco Design Zone for Data Centers and Data Center Assurance Program (DCAP). Since Cisco.com is so large, it can take too long to find things, even with the new search tool.
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It's offical, the CCDE Practical Exam is a go. The first test will be offered in Chicago on October 1st. CCDE Beta Test participants are getting a $280 discount offer the standard price.
This should be interesting. The highest score during the CCDE Practical demo at Networkers last month was 24%. I'll put a dollar down that no one passes the during the first go-round.
Good luck. I'll see you there. :-D
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My first reaction to Brocade buying Foundry yesterday was "hmmmmmmmmm". I was scratching my head as to why Brocade would want to jump into the highly commoditized LAN switching market, where Cisco dominates. What's the market differentiator? Why would I start buying LAN switches from Brocade all of sudden. Certainly they are having enough fun competing with Cisco in the SAN market, why jump into LAN switching? Juniper recently jumped into the LAN market and their sole differentiator was JunOS, not the hardware. So, what gives?
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I started playing with Twitter a couple months back - yes, before Cisco used it as a marketing toy during Networkers - and thought it was fun. I like the concept of indirect IM. Sort of like multicasting for humans. People subscribe to you and you send content...a nice PIM sparse-mode setup.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, the best way to go to Cisco's Networkers is to focus on a certain area and take as many classes and events as you can in that same area. I followed my own advice again this year and took all wireless classes.
I was very happy with the training and learned a lot. My knowledge of wireless was essentially limited to the channels to use in the 2.4 GHz range. So, what stuck me the most was the depth of the technology and knowledge needed to design, build, and manage wireless networks today. We're building a requirements list for an internal wireless upgrade project now so I took notes during all the classes. Here's just some of the notes I took:
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I was impressed by John Chambers keynote at Networkers the week before last, except for his purple tie and pink shirt (what?). But what really struck me was an underlying message - that I'm pretty sure John was cognizant of - but I'm not sure the rest of the audience was. That message was human freedom.
While I won't delve into my beliefs on every political issue, I happen to be a strong libertarian and constitutionalist. Above all, I love individual freedom and liberty as outlined and protected in our Constitution; be it civil, religious, or economic freedom (especially economic, which is often forgotten today).
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Since Cisco is the networking king, people often wonder how Cisco's performs. Well, I was interested in the Cisco Networkers network performance last week.
Getting on the network was simple enough. Connect via wireless to the broadcast SSID "ciscolive", then open a web browser to "sign in" to the network.
There was actually no "signing in", just clicking on the link. No terms of use or anything. Wireless coverage was decent throughout. I never had a problem connecting anywhere.
Now that Cisco Live (Networkers) is over, and we are all heading home, I thought it would be a good idea to give the event a report card in as many categories as I can think of.
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Category Grade Comments
------------------------------------------------------------------
Hotels B+ I liked the selection of hotels and
proximity to the conference.
Buses C They worked quickly, but were often
full. I had to wait 35 minutes on
Thursday morning (after the party)
as 5 full buses drove by. Better
coordination and some express buses
from each hotel are needed.
Conference A I liked the size of the rooms, and
And now for the winner of the most important, infamous, and unofficial contest at Cisco Networkers....that being the vendor with the hottest badge reader girl! Yes, each year a few smart vendors realize the quickest way to get a 99.9% male audience to listen to your boring pitch about the next, great fiber optic cable is to hire one (more than one is good too) beautiful girl and put her in a tight outfit. The men will stream to your booth to get scanned.
NetQoS made an art out of this last year in Anaheim with a large booth right at the entrance to the World of Solutions and 3 or 4 buxom blondes with badge readers. Very nicely done. I got scanned twice. ;-)
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I arrived at Cisco Live (Networkers) yesterday in Orlando and attended my first techtorial on Wireless. Very interesting topic. We getting ready to do a large WLAN upgrade so I've scheduled a whole week of wireless training.
Here are some of my first impressions of Networkers this year:
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Cisco has put more effort this year into their web presence for Networkers. There are four main websites for Cisco Live this year.
First up is the main, public web site for Cisco Live.
Since my last blog convinced Cisco to bring back the CCIE party ;-) it appears other groups are taking up the idea.
IP Expert is also hosting a party, on Monday night, a day before the Cisco CCIE Party.
This one is at:
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Cisco is demo'ing the CCDE Practical Exam next week at Networkers in Florida as part of the CCDE Practical Beta process. You'll be able to sit down and demo the new practical exam yourself and meet the CCDE development team. There is also a 2-hour CCDE session at Networkers on Tuesday. I got a sneak preview of the beta exam this week.
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At last year's Networkers I wrote a blog about how cheap the conference bag was. So, in December, I was pleased to see that my blog got to Cisco and they announced much improved conference bags. ;-)
So, in March, I issued a similar challenge to Cisco to bring back the CCIE Party. Cisco had thrown a killer CCIE party in 2005 at the Ghost Bar at the top of the Palms Casino in Vegas. I felt it was my right, as an ardent Cisco bigot, to be pampered once a year to a party of that caliber. ;-) ;-) ;-)
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You may have noticed over the last couple years that Cisco has been sending out its PSIRT e-mails with a Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score included. Despite being a tad cryptic, this is a very useful tool and scoring system for quickly assessing security vulnerabilities.
CVSS scores are derived from three scores: a "base" score, a "temporal" score, and an "environmental" score. These can better be described as "fixed" score, "variable" score, and "your" score.
The base score is fixed at the time the vulnerability is found and its properties do not change. The base score includes the following metrics:
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Cisco has a new (or at least new to me) Cisco Learning Network website. It's a very nice consolidation of information on Cisco certifications, careers, and training.
The site is broken down into five main sections - Cisco Learning Home, Careers, Connections, Certifications, and Learning Center.
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Back from vacation..... ;-)
I wrote a couple blogs a few months ago about how few organization have a proactive capacity management program, but how everyone should. I'm a firm believer in the benefits of capacity management programs, but they are often the first thing to go during budgeting. Few organizations have ever had a proactive capacity management program so they don't see the benefits.
That's why I was pleased last week to receive an e-mail from a recruiter looking to hire a Network Performance Engineer. This was for a carrier size network, but with a large retail footprint. Technology ranged from Frame-Relay to MPLS to Gigabit Metro Ethernet. The job called for skills with:
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I read a Gartner report last year about Unified Communications that said the future is softphones. People have been buying pretty Cisco IP Phones for $400 a piece for a while, making Cisco very happy.
The Gartner report made the case that enterprises should stop buying expensive desk phones, which are mini-PCs (they have an OS, run Java, and can run applications), and use the real PC right next to the phone to run a softphone. This cuts hardware investment, maintenance, and operational support. That all made sense to me. Why buy a separate piece of hardware when you have a system right there that can do everything?
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I read an article earlier this year about how Comcast is planning to upgrade broadband access speeds to as fast at 160 Mbps. From almost all perspectives, this is great. Faster broadband means a better user experience, interactive applications, and HDTV.
But, what does this mean for VPN access to work? Well, first, it would seem great. Think of working remotely with the same performance as in the office. That would be great, especially for applications like VoIP, desktop video conferencing, and file transfers.
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Despite all the newstories, blogs, and speaches about the forthcoming Interent problems because of IPv4 shortage and the lack of enthusiam for IPv6, the message just isn't getting across. People aren't concerned.
Perhaps we need a new way to deliver that message. Something people can relate to and get behind....
Just plain funny!
I've assembled quite a collection of browser bookmarks over the years. My Cisco.com links form the bulk of those links. I thought it would be good to share these bookmarks. There are many pages you are just not going to find on your own, even with Cisco.com's new search tool.
I've cleaned them up too; removing obsolete entries, organizing better, and deleting all porn links....err....deleting all links dead links. ;-)
Have fun!
Michael Morris is a communications engineering manager at a $3 billion high-tech company. His background is in enterprise WANs working with telcos, and developing large-scale routing designs. He has worked on networks at government and corporate organizations, including networks at two Fortune 10 companies. In his current role, he leads large-scale IT networking projects and develops and maintains architectural standards for data networks, storage area networks, IP Telephony, and security. Michael is a CCIE and has 11 years experience in networking and communications, including four years as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army. He has a bachelor's degree in MIS from the University at Buffalo. Recently, he was awarded the Network Professional Association® (NPA) Professional Excellence and Innovation Award for his work on network architecture, templates and enterprise MPLS design.
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