Networks Articles

Computers » Networks | By Chris Bryant @ Wednesday, 22nd March 2006 @ 8:55 AM

Your BSCI and CCNP exam success depends on knowing the details, and one such detail is knowing the proper way to summarize routes in OSPF. Route summarization is not just a test of your binary conversion abilities, but knowing where and when to summarize routes. It will not surprise any CCNA or CCNP certification candidate that OSPF gives us the most options for route summarization, and therefore more details to know! OSPF offers us two options for route summarization configurations. ... more...

Computers » Networks | By Chris Bryant @ Tuesday, 21st March 2006 @ 9:46 PM

When you're studying to pass the CCNA, you're introduced to "private addresses", the address ranges formally referred to as RFC 1918 Private Addresses. (RFC stands for Request For Comment; to see a typical RFC, just put that term in your favorite search engine.) There are three ranges of 1918 Private Addresses, one in each major network class. Class A: 10.0.0.0 /8 Class B: 172.16.0.0 /12 Class C: 192.168.0.0 /16 Be ca... more...

Computers » Networks | By Chris Bryant @ Tuesday, 21st March 2006 @ 9:38 PM

BSCI exam success, not to mention earning your CCNP, can come down to your OSPF route summarization skills. There are a few different commands and situations you need to be ready for, and one of these situations is the proper use of the "summary-address" command. The summary-address command should be used on an ASBR in order to summarize routes that are being injected into the OSPF domain via redistribution. In the following example, four routes are being redistributed into OSPF o... more...

Computers » Networks | By Chris Bryant @ Monday, 20th March 2006 @ 6:20 PM

Passing the BCSI exam and earning your CCNP certification requires you to know OSPF stub areas inside and out. Stub areas, total stub areas, a little study on not-so-stub stub areas ... and pretty soon your head is swimming. Then when you hear that EIGRP offers stub routing, your first reaction may be unprintable! But while EIGRP stub routing is effective in the right situation, it's not as complex as OSPF stub routing. Let's take a look at basic EIGRP stub routing. While EI... more...

Computers » Networks | By Chris Bryant @ Monday, 20th March 2006 @ 4:36 PM

CCNA exam success depends on mastering the fundamentals, and two important fundamentals are knowing exactly what the terms "collision domain" and "broadcast domain" mean. In this free Cisco tutorial, we'll take a look at the term "collision domain" and how a collision domain is defined. A collision domain is an area in which a collision can occur. Fair enough, but what "collision" are we talking about here? We're talking about collisions that oc... more...

Computers » Networks | By Chris Bryant @ Thursday, 2nd March 2006 @ 7:55 PM

Preparing to pass the BSCI exam and earn your Cisco CCNP? Route summarization is just one of the many skills you'll have to master in order to earn your CCNP. Whether it's RIP version 2, OSPF, or EIGRP, the BSCI exam will demand that you can flawlessly configure route summarization. Route summarization isn't just important for the BSCI exam. It's a valuable skill to have in the real world as well. Correctly summarizing routes can lead to smaller routing tables that are... more...

Computers » Networks | By Chris Bryant @ Thursday, 2nd March 2006 @ 7:55 PM

Microsoft is revamping its certification tracks, and will eventually retire the familiar MCSE certificatons. The new certification setup is much like Cisco's, where there are specialist certifications to go along with the more general CCNA, then mid-level certifications such as the CCNP, and then a more-advanced practical exam modeled somewhat after the coveted CCIE certification. Microsoft's new specialist exams are the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) exams. ... more...

Computers » Networks | By Chris Bryant @ Tuesday, 28th February 2006 @ 6:02 PM

Preparing for your BSCI exam on your way to the Cisco CCNP certification, you can quickly get overwhelmed by the details! Here are five commonly overlooked points you should keep in mind when it comes to your OSPF studies. The virtual link command includes the area number of the transit area, and if authentication is being used on Area 0, the virtual link command must include the authentication statement. Since the virtual link is a logical extension of Area 0, it stands to reason that ... more...

Computers » Networks | By Chris Bryant @ Tuesday, 28th February 2006 @ 5:58 PM

When you're studying for your CCNA exam on the way to earning this coveted Cisco certification, the details can seem overwhelming! In this article, I'll point out five Frame Relay details that you must keep in mind when you're on your way to the CCNA exam! Inverse ARP starts working as soon as you open the serial interface. This protocol performs dynamic Frame Relay mapping, but you don't have to enable it - it's already enabled as soon as you enter the command &q... more...

Computers » Networks | By Chris Bryant @ Tuesday, 28th February 2006 @ 5:57 PM

Microsoft is in the middle of a major push to overhaul its certification program. Last year, they announced the new Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) certification, which is not a written exam but rather a practical exam that will be graded by a board of examiners. Just applying for the certification will require 10 years' experience in IT as well as three years of practical experience as a network architect. For those of us not quite ready for that, Microsoft has announced that ... more...