Category Archives: General

Cisco Nexus 7009?

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Earlier today Cisco announced a bunch of new stuff in their Nexus product line. I won’t go into details as you can read about it in the link provided below. One funny note however is that the picture on the original page has changed. The original picture included what we all seem to believe is the new Nexus 7009. However in the press release from Cisco they never mentioned the Nexus 7009.

Seems they have now removed the Nexus 7009 from the press release photo and are using a new photo.

The press release can be found here: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2011/prod_033011.html

The original photo with the Nexus 7009:
Nexus 7009

The new photo without the Nexus 7009:
Nexus Products

Here is a large closeup of the Nexus 7009:
Cisco Nexus 7009

Cisco Live 2011 US – Twitter Users

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There is a strong Twitter presence thanks to the many Cisco Live attendees.  Plenty of tweetups and information sharing goes on each year at Cisco Live among the Twitter folk.  Follow the action on Twitter by searching or filtering for the #cl11 hashtag.

Some notable Twits / Cisco Live 2011 Attendees to follow on Twitter:

Jeff Fry – Twitter: @Fryguy_PA – Mgr, US Network Engineering for kgb (542542) – CCIE 22061 http://blog.fryguy.net/ Schedule: http://bit.ly/mxd4ta

Jennifer Huber – Twitter: @JenniferLucille – Wireless Engineer, CCNP & CWNE #51 Location: Austin, TX Blog: http://www.jenniferlucille.com

Amy Renee – Twitter: @amyengineer – Systems Engineer, CCNP, CCVP Location: Dallas, TX

Dane DeValcourt – Twitter: @danedevalcourt, Title: Senior Network Engineer, Cox Communications, Location: Lafayette, LA  http://www.devalcourt.com Schedule: http://bit.ly/hCN6L3

James Key – Twitter: @James_Key – Network Engineer, Jack Henry & Associates  CCIE# 25772 (Voice)  http://http://www.blindhog.net/

Hank Yeomans – Twitter: @HankYeomans – Principal Technical Architect, AT&T  CCIE# 21174

Jon Nelson Twitter: @jnelso22 Technical Architect – Cisco UC – CDW Location, Twin Cities, MN CCIE #17032

Tom Hollingsworth – Twitter: @NetworkingNerd – Senior Network Engineer, United Systems  Location: Oklahoma City, OK. http://networkingnerd.wordpress.com/ Schedule: http://bit.ly/lfREHO

Jody Lemoine – Twitter: @ghostinthenet – Network Architect, tishco networks  Location: Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON. Schedule: http://yfrog.com/h2udurp

Erik Peterson – Twitter: @ucgod – UC Architect, Alliance InfoSystems  Location: Baltimore, MD.

Jeff Pazahanick – Twitter: @jeffpaz – Technical Architect, Midwave  Location: Minneapolis, MN. CCIE# 25966 Schedule: http://bit.ly/lSJCT9

Jason Beltrame – Twitter: @jmbeltrame – Lead Network Engineer, INetU  Location: Allentown, PA.

Chris Jones – Twitter: @25655 – Location: San Diego, CA. CCIE# 25655 Schedule: http://bit.ly/mu4Jos

Teren Bryson – Twitter: @someclown – IT Director, Sr. Network Engineer, Zetec, Inc.  Location: Seattle, WA. Blog: blog.packetqueue.net Schedule: http://bit.ly/lNovoD

Rick Mur – Twitter: @rickmur – Support Engineer at Telindus-ISIT  Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands CCIE# 21946

Aaron Conaway – Twitter: @aconaway – Location: GA. Schedule: http://bit.ly/kFHiZi

Ron Fuller – Twitter: @ccie5851 – Data Center Architect, Cisco Systems  CCIE# 5851 *Presenter: BRKDCT-2121

Tony Mattke – Twitter: @tonhe – Senior Network Engineer  Location: Indiana. http://routerjockey.com/ Schedule: http://bit.ly/mqBG7T

Oleg Konovalov – Twitter: @okonovalov – Network Engineer, CCIE# 22607 Schedule: http://bit.ly/kqPkxc

Jason Schmidt – Twitter: @jws77

Chris Gauthier – Twitter: @av8rgeek – Network Admin., Maps Credit Union  Location: Salem, Oregon http://networkgeek.wordpress.com/

Mike Taney – Twitter: @miketaney – Lead Network Engineer, Thomson Reuters, Location: Minneapolis/St. Paul

Bill Burnam – Twitter: @stilgar – Network Engineer, MAPEI Corp. Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL. http://sh-run.com

Ed Weadon – Twitter: @avalonhawk – Senior Network Engineer, Society for Human Resource Management Location: Alexandria, VA.

Mr. Tugs – Twitter: @mrtugs – Mysterious Mr. Tugs is a 10 Year CCIE, CCIE # Unknown, Employer Unknown, Location: Atlanta, GA. Schedule: http://bit.ly/joo6jH

Gideon Tam – Twitter: @mfmahler – Advisory Network Specialist Location: NY/NJ Schedule: http://bit.ly/l3HsqX

Bryan Baize Twitter: @bbaize Trainer – Boson Training Location: Tampa, FL CCIE #16139

Andy Sholomon Twitter: @asholomon Author – “Enterprise Network Testing” Location: RTP, NC. CCIE #15179

Tim Walsh Twitter: @TMWalsh Senior IT Architect – Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant Location: Michigan

William Maguire Twitter: @wfmaguire Senior Network Engineer – Teach for America Location: NYC

Joe Papesh – Twitter: @netpappy – Telecom Analyst Senior, Frankenmuth Insurance Schedule: http://t.co/k1yBmGR

Marko Milivojevic Twitter: @icemarkom Senior Technical Intructor at IPexpert Location: San Jose, CA. CCIE #18427

Jay Franklin – Twitter: @jay25f – Network Engineer Location: Washington, D.C. Blog: http://www.somerandomgeek.net

Edwin Gonzalez – Twitter: @Edwinrg00 – Sr. Network Engineer Location: Jacksonville, FL Blog: http://l3ol2.blogspot.com/

Bob McCouch – Twitter: @bobmccouch – Consulting Network Engineer, CCNP & CCDP Location: Southeast PA

Blake Krone – Twitter: @blakekrone – Cisco and AeroScout Certified Wireless Engineer Location: Chaska, MC Blog: http://blakekrone.com/

Jason Nash – Twitter: @nash_j – Data Center Solutions Principal for Varrow. VCDX #49 Location: Charlotte, NC Blog: http://jasonnash.wordpress.com/

Mario Gingras – Twitter: @gingmar CCIE# 7704 Work: SNC-Lavalin Location: Montreal Blog: http://gingmar.wordpress.com

Andrew von Nagy – Twitter: @revolutionwifi CCIE# 28298 Lead Wireless Engineer Location: Minneapolis, MN Blog: http://http://revolutionwifi.blogspot.com

Josh Lauer – Twitter: @josh16024 CCIE# 16024 Network Architect Work: Chesapeake Netcraftsmen

Leslie H – Twitter:  @kappadonna – Cisco Live Conference Manager

Vanity Call Sign and General License

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On Jan. 6th 2011, I passed my Amateur Radio Technician license

On Jan. 14th, 2011 I was granted my technician license and call sign KF5JKZ

On Feb. 1st, 2011 I was granted my new vanity call sign W5DLD

On Feb. 10th, 2011 I passed my Amateur Radio General license

Accomplished my goal and then some by getting the general class license already. Very excited and looking forward to learning more and more.

First Contact!

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First night on the radio was Friday 1/14/11.

Made my first radio contact around 8:45pm that night with Adam Melancon KD5QZG using a repeater in New Iberia, 145.410.

Also spent some time scanning for others to listen to and came across 443.800 were I heard many contacts / calls actually between a few guys who appeared to be in Alaska.  They were mostly talking about things in Anchorage I believe, some of their calls were KL7XJ and KL7BM.  Still not entirely sure how the heck I was hearing them so clear, need to get a better understanding of that.

Both the TX and RX that night was done using an ICOM IC-281H with a simple mag mount that was all lent to me by Dr. Swan.  He pulled his old gear out of his attic just so I could play around and learn on.  Can’t say thanks enough for that!

Also, the other bit of awesome news for tonight was that I got my FIRST radio the same night from HamCity via UPS around 6:45pm.  This is the first ham radio I purchased and is a handheld Kenwood  TH-F6A “triband” covering the 144/220/440 mHz spectrum.

I went ahead and did something I probably shouldn’t admit to just yet but I request a new call sign (vanity) call sign, did the application and paid the $13 for it but it takes up to 18 days before you can get it sometimes.  I requested W5DLD, simplest one I could think of and that would have meaning to me.  You use your call sign so much that I don’t understand why more don’t get or at least try to get a simpler one.  My current one can be a bit of a tongue twister I must admit, and hearing some of the ones out there are very hard to make out and copy down quickly.  Anyway, fingers crossed!  Hopefully I will have it by birthday!  :-)

First Ham Radio “Net”

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Participated in my first ham radio “net” last night – 1/17/2011

It was the Acadiana Amateur Radio Association – W5DDL

I managed (wanted) to particpate using the handheld despite having just finished mounting the antenna for the mobile unit earlier that day.  The W5DDL repeater / net is pretty well centered in Lafayette and it was a good test for the handheld I thought.

It was not what I was expecting but in a very good way.  It was much more formal than I expected and I enjoyed that as it was easy to catch on and follow along.  Net control seemed really on top of things, clear, concise and seemed like a pro thats for sure.

The way the “net” went was net control basically did a roll call asking who was participating and listening.  He did so by requesting those with call signs that began with a certain set of letters to checkin.  Funny how this process reminded me of boarding a plane and how they use groups to board now so that not everyone just rushes in.  Could really use this sort of control on many of the phone conference calls we participate in at work.  It’s usually one big free for all mess when taking roll.

After everyone was checked in they went through any notes and news and upcoming events.  Once that was done they basically called off the callsign of each person who checked in and gave them the floor or radio waves for the moment to say anything on his/her mind.  Most were just polite and wished people a safe and happy week ahead and then gave things “back to net control” who then moved on to the next person and so on.

Not the most interesting or enthralling thing by any means but I understand its importance and procedure particularly in times of emergencies and calling upon ham radio for help with communication challenges.

I really enjoyed being a part of it and seeing how it was done and who all is out there lurking on the waves.  Until that night on that repeater I hadn’t heard one peep from that repeater for a few days so I was starting to wonder if I had done something wrong or if I had the incorrect info or if there really wasn’t anyone out there.

First Antenna is Up!

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Put my first ham / amateur radio antenna up yesterday 1/18/2011.

It’s at a height of about 23″, that’s counting the poles and the antenna itself.

Hardest part was driving that darn 8ft copper grounding pole in, yeah I’m an idiot and did it by hand using just a hammer.  Even managed to take a nice little tumble off the ladder when I first got started (again, I’m an idiot) but the good news is I had bushes and tree to break my fall / tumble.  It really wasnt a bad kind of fall, just an idiot clumsy move that made me a little sore is all.

In the end it took about one hour to hammer in that darn grounding rod, stupid hammer and stupid tired old hands and arms.

Pic of the grounding rod and wire from the antenna:

Grounding Rod

It then took me about another hour to get the mast pieces together, attach the antenna and the grounding clamp.  Then ran the 4 gauge bare copper from the grounding clamp that clamped around both the base of the antenna and the mast down the mast of the antenna and zip tied it to the mast down to the bottom.

I then stood up the antenna and positioned it at the base (ground) and used my 250+ lbs of heft to push it into the ground a bit.

View from the top before it was secured to the house:

Antenna From The Roof

Then went up and used some metal straps to secure it to the top of the house.

First Ham Radio Antenna

All in all it went very well for my first time putting up a basic antenna.  I still have lots of questions and concerns regarding the grounding though.  For instance, was it right or wrong to place the grounding clamp around the base of the antenna and the mast and then run the copper grounding wire all the way down the pole with it attached to the pole?  My thought was the more metal surface and components it came into contact with the better.  But maybe I wasted 20+ feet of 4 gauge copper wire by doing so?  Maybe all I need to do was just ground it at the base of the mast to the grounding rod?  I don’t know the answers but these are thing I think about and want to know.

Really helped reception I think which was evident in the clarity of some of the repeaters in the area.  Its already taught me a little both in using the right tool for the right job and got me on the track to learn a little more, particularly about grounding due to its importance both from a safety stand point but also questions on RF grounding and how it impacts or affects things.  Still so much to learn.

Cisco Feature Navigator

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A lot of people new to the industry or new to dealing with Cisco products don’t realize the min. requirements difference between IOS images or different features and so on. Anyway, I think some of us who have been doing it a while take it for granted and well thought I would share.

Cisco Feature Navigator:

http://tools.cisco.com/ITDIT/CFN/

Cisco Emulators / Simulators

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Trying to put together a list of known Cisco emulators or simulators that exist, particularly for training purposes. My reason for this is simply to understand what all is out there, why they are so different and diverse, who has access to them (internal or external) and how might Cisco make the educational side of things better or worst through these products or educational licensing.

I am NOT interested in things like Dynamips or GNS.

Current list consists of:

Packet Tracer
UCS Platform Emulator
Cisco IOU (IOS-on-Unix)
Titanium – Nexus Emulator

Uncrate

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So if anyone out there actually reads this stuff I thought I would share with you one of my favorite websites: www.uncrate.com

Can’t afford 90% of what they show on there but if your like me there is more fun in wanting and desiring things sometimes then actually having them.