San Francisco Plastic Surgeon offers most advanced silicone breast implant option

San Francisco, CA November 20, 2006 -- Following the United States Food and Drug Administration?s approval on Friday November 17th 2006 of silicone breast implants for use in cosmetic breast augmentation surgery, San Francisco Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon Dr. Scott W. Mosser, will begin immediately offering the newly approved implants as an option for all his patients seeking this type of cosmetic surgery.

This is good news for Bay Area women who may be considering breast augmentation. They now can consider silicone implants in addition to the commonly used saline filled implants currently being used for cosmetic surgery.

Dr. Mosser, who specializes in breast surgery, has used the improved silicone implants for some time for reconstructive breast surgery following mastectomy and for corrective surgery for medical reasons. The FDA?s 14-year ban on silicone implants did not extend to their use in breast augmentation surgery for medical reasons. He now anticipates a greatly increased demand for cosmetic reasons.

In announcing the approval, the FDA stated, "The extensive body of scientific evidence provides reasonable assurance of the benefits and risks of these devices. This information is available in the product labeling and will enable women and their physicians to make informed decisions."

This newer form of silicone implants ? with a thicker, cohesive gel ? has been widely used in the US for some time for breast surgery designated as ?reconstructive?; that is, anything from breast lifts combined with implants to post-cancer restoration.

The new silicone implant gel technology is cohesive, which means that it defies diffusion when rupture occurs, behaving more like a viscous gel than a liquid. Would a leak to happen, this material is designed to be less likely to seep into local tissues and cause inflammation.

The FDA approved the implants for use in cosmetic surgery on women over the age of 22 after carefully reviewing safety data over the past decade. The FDA has also stipulated that the manufacturers must continue follow up safety studies. As a condition of the implants' approval, each company agreed to conduct a study tracking 40,000 women for ten years after receiving silicone implants and must also continue lab studies on implant failures.

This development, coupled with recent studies disproving any link between silicone implants and systemic disease, have now lessened the fear and greatly broadened the options available to any woman seeking cosmetic breast augmentation.

Now that women have the added option of using silicone, each qualified breast augmentation candidate has the additional responsibility of understanding the pros and cons of silicon vs. saline, cautions Dr. Mosser. ?The decision of whether to use saline or silicone implants is still one which should be made by a Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon and should be tailored specifically to the individual patient. Every patient is unique and the choice of type of implant and surgical procedure used is a very personal and carefully weighed decision.?

In addition to understanding implant options, one of the most important questions to ask when you are researching breast augmentation surgeons, in order to make a responsible decision, is the surgeon?s qualification. Any licensed physician can legally advertise him/herself as a plastic or cosmetic surgeon. Therefore, choosing a board certified plastic surgeon for a breast augmentation can help prevent complications and reduce the risks already involved. Patients who choose a board certified plastic surgeon can be assured that quality training and prestigious credentials are available.

Dr. Mosser also advises breast augmentation candidates to ask the following questions while researching plastic surgeons in order to determine if he or she is able to perform the procedure at a high level of safety, with desirable results:

-How many breast augmentations have you performed?
-Are the goals I wish to achieve attainable?
-What are the risks involved?
-How long is the recovery period before I can expect to see the final results?
-What happens if I am dissatisfied with the results?

Following the FDA approval of silicone breast implants for cosmetic augmentation on November 17th, a Board Certified San Francisco Plastic Surgeon offers a perspective on responsible, individualized patient decisions.

How to: Cisco 2600 Router's Password Recovery

As you might already know, the configuration register value is the key player in password recovery. This is due to the fact that the configuration register value controls the boot sequence. The part that matters in the configuration register here is the sixth bit. When this bit is off, the router look into the NVRAM for the configuration. If the bit is on, the router neglects the contents of NVRAM and acts as if there is no (startup-config). So, to get things going when you have forgotten the password, or a previous administrator does not give you the password due to lack of documentation, you can bypass this problem.

Go through the following steps carefully:

1. Interrupt the router booting operation. This is done by pressing (Ctrl+Break) key simultaneously as soon as you turn on the router. This step will get you to the ROM monitor mode (rommon).

You will have the following:

System Bootstrap, Version 11.3(2)XA4, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)

Copyright (c) 1999 by cisco Systems, Inc.

TAC:Home:SW:IOS:Specials for info

PC = 0xfff0a530, Vector = 0x500, SP = 0x680127b0

C2600 platform with 32768 Kbytes of main memory

PC = 0xfff0a530, Vector = 0x500, SP = 0x80004374 monitor:

command "boot" aborted due to user interrupt

rommon 1 >

The (rommon 1 >) prompt is for the ROM monitor mode.

2. Now you should change the value of the configuration register in order to make the router neglect the contents of the NVRAM in the next boot up. This is achieved using the following command:

rommon 1 > confreg 0x2142

This command will change the sixth bit (originally the configuration register is 0x2102) to one. By doing so, the router will act as new in the next boot.

3. Perform a restart to the router using the following command:

rommon 1 > reset

4. The router now will restart and ask you if you want to use the setup mode and of course you will say no. Now, in order not to loose the configuration that you already have in the router, you should go to the USER privileged mode and perform:

Router#copy start run

This will get you back your old configuration but with one exception, you already are in the privileged mode without having to know the password..!!!!

Now you put a new password or passwords if you may:

Router(config)#enable secret blabla

And you can also put new console and telnet passwords if you like.

5. To get things going back to normal, change the value of the configuration register to its original form (0x2102) using the following global configuration command:

Router(config)#config-register 0x2102

6. Now you should save the configuration including the new passwords that you know:

Router#copy run start

7. Now reload and you are good to go:

Router#reload

What we have done in these steps is that we by passed the original configuration that has the unknown password, and then we got to the privileged mode without the need to know the password. And then we loaded the old configuration so we don?t loose it and imposed a new password and saved things back to the NVRAM. And then we got back to the original boot sequence. A piece of cake, isn?t it??

Cisco CCNP Certification Training Tutorial: The New ONT 642-845 Exam

The Cisco CCNP certification is changing at the end of 2006, with the BSCI and BCMSN exams being updated and the BCRAN and CIT exams being dropped. One of the two new exams is the 642-845 Optimizing Converged Cisco Networks (ONT) test, and the name of the exam doesn't give many hints as to the material covered!

According to Cisco's exam blueprint, the major topics on this new exam will be Voice over IP (VoIP) and Quality of Service (QoS). This exam change is an excellent move on Cisco's part, since VoIP is one of the fastest-growing network technologies today, and implementing VoIP demands the ability to implement QoS!

Among the QoS topics on the exam will be NBAR, ToS, IP Precedence, DSCP, traffic policing, and traffic shaping. Some of these topics may be familiar to you if you studied for the BCRAN exam, but I feel it's a safe bet that there will be much more detail on the ONT exam as compared to the BCRAN exam. Wireless LANs (WLANs) are also on the Cisco exam blueprint for ONT, and again I'd expect a lot more detail on that topic than you would have seen on the BCRAN exam.

Cisco's obviously raising the bar for the new CCNP exams, and that's a good thing for both you and for Cisco. The CCNP will be harder to get in 2007, but it will also become more valuable - and when you invest time and money into a certification, you want the vendor to protect your investment. Besides, to work with Cisco networks today and in the future, you'll need to learn VoIP and Qos, so you might as well get the certification while you're at it!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of over 100 free certification exam tutorials, including CCNA certification training articles. His exclusive CCNA study guide is also available!

Visit his blog and sign up for Cisco Certification Central, a daily newsletter packed with CCNA, Network+, Security+, A+, and CCNP certification exam practice questions! A free 7-part course, ?How To Pass The CCNA?, is also available, and you can attend an in-person or online Cisco CCNA training boot camp with The Bryant Advantage!

 

Cisco CCNA Certification Training Tutorial: PPP Multilink And ISDN BRI

Earning your CCNA certification means you have to notice details about Cisco routers that others might miss, and that's true in the exam room and on the job. In today's tutorial, we'll take a look at multilink PPP - a topic that seems simple enough, but has details that trip up some CCNA certification candidates.

ISDN BRI (Basic Rate Interface) has two B-channels that both carry data, and they each have a capacity of 64 KBPS. Interestingly enough, they don't share the load by default - the first channel has to be at capacity before the second channel starts taking some of the load. It's more efficient to have the channels share the load before then, and we can do just that by configuring PPP multilink. (Note that it's called PPP multilink for a reason. We can't configure it if the BRI interface is running at the default of HDLC.)

Configuring PPP multilink is simple enough. PPP must be running on the interface to begin with, and then you simply configure the interface with the "PPP multilink" command.

R1(config)#int bri0

R1(config-if)#encapsulation ppp

R1(config-if)#ppp multilink

Here's where knowing the details comes in handy. An additional command, "dialer load-threshold", is needed to define the capacity level of the first b-channel that will bring up the second b-channel. For example, let's say we want the second channel to come up when the first channel hits 50% of its capacity. It's easy to think that we would put "50" at the end of the dialer load-threshold command, but that's wrong! Look at what IOS Help tells us about this command.

R1(config-if)#dialer load-threshold ?

<1-255> Load threshold to place another call

This value is based on 255, not 100. To bring the second channel up as described earlier, we need to enter a value that is 50% of 255:

R1(config-if)#dialer load-threshold 127

The dialer load-threshold command has other options not shown here. The interface can be configured to consider only incoming or outgoing traffic for this command, or both.

This is just one of the many details you must master in order to earn your CCNA certification. Take it from me - it's worth it. Keep studying!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of over 100 free certification exam tutorials, including CCNA certification training articles. His exclusive CCNA study guide is also available!

Visit his blog and sign up for Cisco Certification Central, a daily newsletter packed with CCNA, Network+, Security+, A+, and CCNP certification exam practice questions! A free 7-part course, ?How To Pass The CCNA?, is also available, and you can attend an in-person or online Cisco CCNA training boot camp with The Bryant Advantage!

California Dreaming on Highway One from San Francisco to Lose Angeles

As a teenager in the mid-sixties I was greatly inspired by the music of the Beach Boys. One balmy evening during the summer of 1964 I was stirred by the driving tempo of I Get Around by a group I'd never heard of blasting from the huge old bakelite valve-driven radio that dominated my bedroom. It was during those times when, against the British government?s wishes, every teenager was tuned to Radio Caroline, broadcasting illegally from an old coaster moored somewhere out on the North Sea. I?d heard nothing like this before. It was certainly beyond the play lists of Auntie BBC and her tedious Home Service! I was hooked, not only to the vibrant, close harmonies and falsettos of the vocals but by the very images the lyrics portrayed of sun, sand, striped-shirt freedom and long=legged bikini clad girls. Flower power, love-ins, peace movements and the whole Haight-Asbury thing followed. Then, in 1969, Pirelli published their highly collectible California calendar, containing evocative close-up images by photographer Harry Peccinotti of beautiful sun tanned Californian maidens. By modern standards the photographs were very tame, more like snapshots. Nevertheless that calendar re-enforced a yearning to visit California because it seemed the best place on earth. My vision was of stunning blond California girls, a youth culture driving Chevrolet Corvette Stingrays and a wild freedom that seemed unknown to teenaged Britain.

For various reasons, ok I?ll be honest ? a lack of funds, forced me to wait a decade before I managed to realize my dream and by this time LA, Carmel, Santa Monica, Santa Cruz and San Francisco had become household names through the lyrics of a continuous stream of hit songs by The Beach Boys, Eagles, Jan and Dean and The Mamas and Papas, California Dreaming really had become something of a reality. By the time I arrived in the City of Angels aboard a TWA westbound seven-forty-seven and things were every bit as I imagined. Once bitten, I was smitten and vowed to return as soon as I could. But it took more than twenty years, but with the love affair still intact, I was going back. Maybe I?d become an ageing hippie still listening to those melodic surfin? sounds that had continued to drive my mind through all of these years. Previously I?d flown from San Francisco to LA this time I was going to do things for real by driving the Pacific route between the two largest cities along California State Highway One.

Despite claims that the USA lacks culture, nobody can deny that what it does have is scenery ? huge, mind blowing scenery such as Yosemite, the Grand Canyon and Zabriski Point. California?s Pacific coast similarly does not go begging. It is where nature competes with itself for superiority along rugged cliff tops that rise and fall against the might of the great ocean; mist encrusted mountains against mighty sequoia forests. The Pacific is everything the Atlantic lacks. It can be wilder, more belligerent; the breakers tend to roll higher making it, sometimes a surfer?s paradise, at others a seafarer?s grave. California, despite an element of confident brashness, has always appealed more for its natural untamed beauty than say the tourism evoked retirement condominiums of Florida on America's opposite coast.

Many claim that Highway One is best tackled north to south. Route One really beings at Legett where the road clings tightly to the ocean for nearly 150 salt splashed miles as it passes close to the giant redwoods at Muir Woods before becoming US 101, the Golden Gate freeway, and crossing the magnificent, often fog enshrined, bridge of the same name. Most don?t bother with the first part, choosing to join the route at San Francisco and continuing at a gentile pace with a stop or two before reaching the congestion rush of greater Los Angeles. If you?re in a hurry, then the 400 mile drive can comfortably be made in a day although there?s little point in missing the enormous potential it offers. It?s best to stop and linger a while if you can. The West Coast can be chilly, often hemmed in by coastal fogs held in by the mountains, despite this you?ll still feel at one with the elements and it's best driven in an open-top sports car. I didn?t but, but should have and I regret that I didn?t!

San Francisco is a beautiful city of over six million and a delicate charm of its own, especially where the palatial Victorian homes have survived a series of earthquakes. There?s Lombard Street, short but steep, rising 27 degrees through a series of eight hairpins that twist and turn forcing a cars to proceed at a snail?s pace. Some of the main streets reach 300 feet at Pacific Heights before dropping through amazing gradients to the Marina District below. As you top each crest you?ll be transformed and in your minds-eye you are Steve McQueen playing Bullitt flooring the accelerator of that throaty Shelby-Mustang and bouncing over those bumps at breathtaking speed as you fight to tame this out-of-control beast. In reality you?ll take it slow, real slow, fearing the consequences should your brakes fail! A more sober way is to take the cable car from Nob Hill to the Bay and watch the floor show performed by the driver and his agile grip man as they work together to traverse the undulating tarmac. These days the cable cars are usually packed with tourists and it can be hard to get a ride.

Once more in the real world I start my journey at Fisherman?s Wharf, the trendy waterside area of good fish restaurants, a waxworks and tourist shops that compete with a fine view of the Bay. Alcatraz Island, the former penal establishment that is now a crumbling State Museum, stands formidably in turbulent waters three miles east of the Golden Gate. This, for seventeen years, was the home of Robert Stroud the infamous Bird Man but he was never the gentile ornithologist Bert Lancaster portrayed. It was also where Al Capone was finally caged up for, of all things, tax evasion.

Leaving behind the squawking sea lions feeding off restaurant scraps at one of the piers, I head south leaving the city behind, past San Francisco International Airport and some of the wealthy outlying suburbs. The car radio informs me that ?It?s going to be a fine day right across the whole of the Bay Area and there are no reported traffic snarl ups?. That?s good to hear because only weeks before floods had caused landslides that were still keeping the coast road closed until twenty miles south at Half Moon Bay. Between here and Ano Nuevo lie a number of State beaches renowned for their outstanding natural beauty. This is where the northern elephant seals and sea lions come to breed or just to wallow lazily in the sun. This was March however and the beaches were deserted.

For much of the way the route is a two-lane blacktop ? no dual carriageway, just a well maintained twin-lane tarmac highway that clings heroically around the cliff tops that tower and fall above the Ocean. I am surprised at so little traffic, most of the locals preferring to take highway 101, a faster route that meanders on an almost parallel inland course for most of the way. Better still I haven?t seen a single cop. But beware, I am told they patrol from low flying helicopters (bears in the air) so I watch my speed and although I try to keep to a steady 55mph my instincts push me to go ever faster.

The highway runs via Pescadero where there is a lighthouse built in 1872, then onward to the seaside resort of Santa Cruz on the northern point of Monterey Bay. A further 28 miles south around the coast and I reach the old Spanish town and former Californian capital. Monterey, a town made famous by John Steinbeck in his novels Cannery Row and Tortilla Flat. The old sardine canneries are now long closed but the buildings have been transformed into trendy shops and restaurants. There is also an excellent aquarium. Beyond the beach, in waters stretching 110 miles out to sea is the Monterey National Marine Sanctuary, containing the largest underwater cavern anywhere in offshore US.

I didn?t have sufficient time to take the 17 mile drive but if you do it starts just south at Pacific Grove, ends at Carmel and passes the world class golf courses at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill. Although you pay for the privilege, those that have taken the detour say that the beauty of the drive, much of it man-made, is exceptional. Instead, I remain on Highway One and head for Carmel, home of Clint Eastwood, aka Dirty Harry and the former mayor. He wasn?t about. At least he wasn?t driving the West Coast. The city dates back to 1770 when a Franciscan monk, Father Juniperro Serra built a mission and church. Although it fell into disrepair after being abandoned in 1834, the Mission, one of several along the coast, has been carefully restored.

South of Carmel is a truly wonderful stretch of coastline that runs almost a 100 miles below the Ventana Wilderness, part of the Los Padres National Forest. This is Big Sur, a mood-inspiring rocky, wild area of State Parks and exceptional natural beauty. I Linger for a while just listening to the breakers crashing against the rocks before continuing, crossing the Bixby Creek Bridge, once the world?s longest single-arch span at 550 feet. This was built in 1932 two years after the Highway was opened at Big Sur. In 1983 storms here swept much of the highway away forcing it to close for over a year.

At San Simeon there is a wooden pier on a rugged shale beach. I decide to stay the night at a reasonably priced motel. In the hills above the highway is Hearst Castle, a stately palace folly created from treasures imported from all over the world by newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst and bequeathed to the state of California in 1958. Visitors must park at the tourist center and be transported by buses up a long, winding hilltop drive to reach the surrealistic Castle. The creation reputedly cost $10 million to build but it is very much a statement of bad taste, nevertheless it?s sure to impress.

Just south of San Simeon is the artist?s colony of Cambria. It is also a weekend retreat for those wishing to escape the heavy yellow smogs of LA. Next, Morro Bay where the chimneys of the PG & E power station are the singular blot on the landscape of the entire route The road turns inland here around a sand spit and causeway that leads to a huge extinct Volcano known as Morro Rock. Soon I reach the halfway point between San Francisco and LA at San Luis Obispo where there is another mission. Now highway one unites with 101 for a brief stretch until Pismo, a 20 mile stretch of wide, sandy beaches.

The beautifully kept Spanish colonial style terracotta roofed houses and picturesque clean streets of Santa Barbara make it, for me, one of the loveliest small cities anywhere. Following the earthquake in 1925, the city was rebuilt in the adobe fashion and the buildings are now preserved by law but this didn?t stop nature from coming perilously close to covering some of the dwellings in mud washed down from by the floods from the surrounding hills. The high street is full of interesting shops, excellent, but expensive, restaurants and a wonderful book shop where I enjoyed a coffee and a muffin while browsing the shelves. There is a prosperous, relaxed air to Santa Barbara and I can see why the city has attracted so many Hollywood stars who have come to build their homes in the exclusive hills above the city.

The last leg of my journey takes me through Ventura and on to Santa Monica Bay. At the northern end is Malibu, where a long, wide stretch of state beach is exclusive to surfers (no swimming allowed). At Malibu Colony, another place favoured by the famous names of Hollywood, the lavish mansions line the shoreline but there is no public access to beach. In the hills above, the J Paul Getty museum claims to house some of the finest art in the world.

Santa Monica, a lively resort on the fringes of Los Angeles is the setting for Bay Watch. The city sits atop a cliff overlooking the beach and separated by a palm lined strip known as Pallisades Park. From here there are fantastic views of the Bay especially at sunset. My time however does not allow me to linger. As highway one turns inland away from the Pacific Coast cities of Venice, Marina Del Ray (where Beach Boy drummer Dennis Wilson drowned in 1983) and Long Beach before rejoining the ocean at Seal Beach, I bid a fond farewell. A short distance away my journey takes me to LAX and my flight home. As my jet climbs above the twinkling lights of Beverley Hills I reflect on my memories of this trip and in those famous words of Arnold Schwarzeineger I swear ?I?ll be back?.

Robert Bluffield is a full time professional photographer and writer based in Milton Keynes. As a writer he specialises in features on travel, cars, food and wine, business, current affairs and photography. He is an author of 3 published books and he is currently working on a history of Imperial Airways and the Birth of British Airlines. Web site: http://robertbluffield.co.uk

Cisco CCNP Certification Training Tutorial: The New 642-825 ISCW CCNP Exam

 

As part of the new CCNP curriculum, Cisco has added two brand-new exams.  Learn all about the ISCW exam from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.

Cisco CCNP certification is getting a brand-new look, and that new look includes two new exams! The BCRAN and CIT exams are retiring at the end of 2006, and the exam replacing the BCRAN is the 642-825 Implementing Secure Converged Wide Area Networks exam, which is thankfully known as ISCW.

The key word in this Cisco exam is "secure".  Very few of the BCRAN topics are moving to the ISCW exam, and an emphasis is being placed on VPNs and network security configurations and methods.  According to Cisco's exam blueprint, the only BCRAN topics you can expect to possibly see on the ISCW exam are PPPoE and PPPoA. The importance of network security has never been higher, and it's to Cisco's credit that their new CCNP exams are emphasizing security. 

Other new topics on this exam include Frame-Mode MPLS, the configuration and verification of Cisco IOS firewalls, and the Cisco IOS IPS.   Successful CCNP candidates will also be able to describe and defend against network intrusions and attacks by everything from Trojan Horses to Denial of Service (DOS) attacks.   The access-list knowledge you picked up during your CCNA exam studies will come in handy on the ISCW exam as well, since ACLs are a form of network security.

VPNs are just about as common in today's networks as cable, and all well-rounded network admins must know about the many different forms of attacks their networks can suffer, as well as how to defend against those attacks.  The knowledge you acquire while studying for the ISCW exam will be immediately applicable in any network environment. This new CCNP certification exam is a tremendous step forward for Cisco certifications, and this already valuable certification is only going to become more valuable -- and tougher to get!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of over 100 free certification exam tutorials, including Cisco CCNA certification test prep articles. His exclusive Cisco CCNA study guide and Cisco CCNA training is also available. Attend an in-person or online CCNA boot camp with The Bryant Advantage!

CCNA Cisco Certification Training Case Study: How Multiple Passwords Affect Router Access

 

You have to know how to configure passwords on a Cisco router to earn your CCNA, but you also have to be able to look at a router configuration and determine the existing levels of security.  Learn how from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.

Your CCNA certification exam efforts must include practicing with different password types and knowing how to configure them on a Cisco router - but for CCNA exam success and to thrive in real-world networks, you also have to know how to examine a Cisco router configuration and determine the level of network security that is already present.  After all, most routers you work with already have passwords set, and it's up to you to determine if those passwords are getting the job done.

Let's start with a telnet password.  Telnet passwords are configured on the VTY lines, and no telnet access is enabled on a Cisco router by default.  If you saw the following configuration, what would it mean?

line vty 0 4

 privilege level 15

 password baseball

 login

That small Cisco router configuration means three things - first, Telnet access is enabled.  Second, the password is baseball.  Third, the "privilege level 15" command means that any user who attempts to Telnet to the router and knows the password will automatically be placed into privileged exec mode.  (If that command were not present, the user would be placed into user exec and then prompted for the enable password before being allowed into privileged exec.)

You may not want to give that level of access to all incoming Telnet connections.  If you walked into a client's router room and saw this configuration on a router, what would it mean to you?

username halas password 0 bears

username ewbank password 0 jets

username ed privilege 15 password 0 mcdaniel

line vty 0 4

   login local

This configuration means three things as well.  Each user attempting to telnet in will be prompted for both a username and password.  Each individual user must enter the password that's been assigned to them.  For example, the user "halas"would have to enter the password "bears" to successfully Telnet into this router.  The command "login local" under the VTY lines means that this local database of usernames and passwords will be used for authentication. 

Again, by default, users who are Telnetting in will be placed into user exec mode by default.  Only users with "privilege 15" in the middle of their username / password definition will be placed into privileged exec immediately upon login.

Notice that zero in each of the username / password statements?  I didn't enter that when I configured these statements.  This number indicates the level of encryption the password is currently under; a zero is the lowest level of encryption, indicating that the passwords aren't encrypted at all.   There's a single line near the top of a Cisco router configuration that tells you why.. which of these three is it?

service timestamps debug uptime

service timestamps log uptime

no service password-encryption

Simple enough!  The password encryption service is off by default.    To turn it on. just run the command service password-encryption.  Let's do so here and then take a look at the configuration.

R1(config)#service password-encryption

username halas password 7 1415170A1E17

username ewbank password 7 070524585D

username ed privilege 15 password 7 082C4F4A08170C121E

Now that's what I call encryption!   Note that the zero has changed to a "7" - that's the highest level of encryption on a Cisco router, and as you can see, it's very effective.

Knowing how to read a Cisco router configuration is a valuable skill for both the CCNA certification exam and working with production networks.  Keep practicing, keep studying, and you'll have the coveted letters "CCNA" behind your name soon!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of over 100 free certification exam tutorials, including Cisco CCNA certification test prep articles. His exclusive Cisco CCNA study guide and Cisco CCNA training is also available!Visit his blog and sign up for Cisco Certification Central, a daily newsletter packed with CCNA, Network+, Security+, A+, and CCNP certification exam practice questions! A free 7-part course, ?How To Pass The CCNA?, is also available.