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!

 

Culture and Contemporary Life at San Francisco

San Francisco has been characterized by a high standard of living. The downtown has seen a renaissance driven by redevelopment of the Embarcadero, with the strong neighborhoods South Beach and Mission Bay. Boutiques along Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights are centralized by commerce and shopping districts downtown, with the Financial District and the area around Union Square, are very well-known.

Performing arts

San Francisco's ?War Memorial? and the ?Performing Arts Center? features some of the longest running and performing arts companies throughout the United States. The ?War Memorial Opera House? houses the ?San Francisco Opera? and ?San Francisco Ballet?, where as the ?San Francisco Symphony? is played in Davies Symphony Hall. The ?Herbst Theatre stages? an eclectic mix of real music performances, plus public radio's ?City Arts & Lectures?.

The ?Fillmore? is a music venue located in the Western Addition. It is the second incarnation of a venue that gained fame in the 1960s. Beach ?Blanket Babylon? is a zany musical revue and also a civic institution. San Francisco often hosts national touring productions of Broadway theatre shows in a number of year 1920s-era venues in the ?Theater District? including the ?Curran?, ?Orpheum?, and in ?Golden Gate Theatres?.

Museums

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has 20th Century contemporary pieces. It moved to iconic building in South of Market during 1995 and attracted 600,000 people annually. The ?Palace of the Legion of Honor? has primary works done by Europeans. The ?De Young Museum? and the ?Asian Art Museum? have a significant anthropological and non-European holding.

The ?Palace of Fine Arts?, was originally built for the 1915 ?Panama-Pacific Exposition?, now houses the ?Exploratorium?, a popular science museum devoted to teaching through hands-on-hands interaction. The ?California Academy of Sciences? is a natural history museum, which hosts the ?Morrison Planetarium? and ?Steinhart Aquarium?. The ?San Francisco Zoo? cares for about 250 animal pet?s species out of which 39 have been deemed endangered or threatened.

San Francisco is all about having contemporary life. The culture is maintained from long time. One can enjoy and explore themselves at San Francisco with great experience.

Amjath is a great tourist guide of San Francisco and is also a good copywriter who has worked for many sites describing many hotspots of San Francisco. For Further details on San Francisco tours, culture and life please visit http://www.sanfranshuttletours.com/ or contact Amjath through mail: sanfranshuttletours@gmail.com

 

Cisco CCNP Certification Exam Tutorial: Making The Most Of Cisco's CCNP Program Changes

Cisco has announced major changes to the CCNP program.  Learn how to benefit from these changes and make a plan for exam success from Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933.

As you probably know by now, Cisco's making some sweeping changes in their Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) program.  Two longtime exams are being retired at the end of the year, two are being revised, and two new exams will be making their debut in late 2006.

If you're currently working on the CCNP or even thinking about it, the one thing you must NOT do is postpone your studies.  On occasion, some certification exam candidates postpone their studies when they hear of an exam change.  Cisco has announced these CCNP changes well ahead of time, and you've got plenty of time to pass some CCNP exams by the end of the year - and they still count toward the CCNP!

Let's take an exam-by-exam look at the current and future CCNP programs.

The BSCI exam is being updated, with the current exam being retired at the end of 2006.

The BCMSN exam is being updated, with the current exam being retired at the end of 2006.

The BCRAN exam is being retired at the end of 2006, and it will be replaced by the Implementing Secure Converged Wide Area Networks (642-825) exam.

The CIT exam is being retired at the end of 2006, and it will be replaced by the Optimizing Converged Cisco Networks (642-845) exam.

Any CCNP certification exam you take by the end of 2006 does count toward your CCNP, so there is no reason to postpone your studies.  You never get anywhere by waiting!

The one thing you can't do is take the current exam version and then take the new one and have both count toward the CCNP.  The CCNP has a three-exam path and a four-exam path, and here are the four exam qualifications you must fulfill to become a CCNP with the four-exam path:

Current BSCI (642-801) or Revised BSCI (642-901)

Current BCMSN (642-811) or Revised BCMSN (642-812)

Current BCRAN (642-821) or New ISCW (642-825)

Current CIT (642-831) or New ONT (642-845)

If your choose the three-exam path, just replace the first two exams shown above with the current Composite exam (642-891) or revised Composite exam (642-892).  Cisco expects to release the revised Composite exam in November 2006.

Whether you choose to finish your CCNP in 2006, or start now and finish in 2007, hit those books!  Never let exam version changes slow your studies - the only way to progress is to move forward!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com).

 

For a copy of his FREE "How To Pass The CCNA" or "CCNP" ebook, visit the website and download your copies!  Daily exam questions and tutorials now available through RSS feed!

San Francisco Uses Weighed Student Formulas to Track School Needs

What Weighted Student Formulas Do

One of the primary features of the WSF is that it allows San Francisco Schools more flexibility than the previous system, called the "staffing ratios" model. Through staffing ratios, the central office basically directed school sites to spend the bulk of their resources in a particular way, through allocations of staff and a small supplies budget. This system gave schools little control over their financial resources. Under the WSF, each school site receives a budget denominated in dollars instead of positions and decides what staff and non-staff items to purchase with those dollars. Under this approach, each school has more room to design and use innovative instructional programs that match the specific characteristics and needs of its students, parents, and community. Central administration helps and monitors schools in a number of important ways, but it shares more decisions with principals and local school governance teams called School Site Councils--the people who are most familiar with what their schools need.

Resources are also distributed based on the specific needs of each SFUSD student. We all know that different students have different educational needs, which often mean educational services with different price tags. A student with special education needs or a student who does not speak English requires more than a native speaker of English with no special education needs. Some schools enroll students from family backgrounds with lower incomes who on average start school at a disadvantage compared to students from middle class or affluent families. The new formula reflects these needs by channeling funds to specific student characteristics such as grade level, special education needs, needs of English Language Learners (ELL's), and socioeconomic status.

Finally, the WSF distributes basic education resources more consistently on a per-pupil basis across schools, and all stakeholders are better able to see and understand how resources are allocated and spent in each school. Did you know how much each student at each school received under the old budget system? Did you know whether or not one school received a higher share of public resources than others? The WSF makes the largest part of the District's budget more transparent. The public can now see exactly why each school gets the resources it does and that the school is being treated like every other school in the District following a common set of principles.

What Do Schools Do

Schools' added responsibilities primarily involve developing their budgets and school academic plans. Each school's principal and School Site Council discuss their school's needs, challenges, and priorities and build its budget accordingly for the upcoming school year. They determine the number of each type of staff they need as well as their non-staff requirements. During the year, schools can revisit their original decisions by requesting budget transfers. This requires ongoing evaluation of how the original plan is working out. In short, giving schools more flexibility means more responsibility. But these are responsibilities that will build dialogue and awareness among more members of each school community - especially responsibilities to think creatively and in many cases to make different choices than the central administration may have made for them previously.

To make this initiative work, principals and site teams have needed training and technical assistance. School Site Council members have of course needed information on a number of questions -- about developing an academic achievement plan, financial management, how to include local teams in decision-making, or simply how to use the software to build their budgets. The District sees building the capacity of principals and School Site Councils as crucial to the successful implementation of a WSF and has offered training and vehicles for technical assistance through each step of the WSF process. Additional training and outreach to School Site Councils will continue to be provided and refined in the future.

Stacy Andell is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. Stacy has a nose for research and writes stimulating news and views on school issues. For more information on San Francisco schools visit http://www.schoolsk-12.com/California/San-Francisco/index.html

Inexpensive Salsa Dance Classes in San Francisco

Dance SF is the top salsa dance school that caters to the needs of aspiring salsa dancers.

Our classes are only $50 for a 4-week dance program taught by experienced salsa dance instructors. IF you are looking for a location near you in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out http://www.dancesf.com/home.htm.

Whether you are young or old we have salsa dance classes for everyone! But you shouldn't only use those moves in the dance studio. Why not go out to a local salsa dance club and show off those new moves! It's a great way to improve upon your newly acquired skill but it's also a great way to mingle and meet new people.

While you're at the club, party it up! The best way to improve is to dance with everybody, everywhere, anytime. You're just starting out? You're not expected to be Fred Astaire! Dance with as many people as you possibly can, and don't be afraid to ask that great dancer that you see in the club for a dance, or for some pointers. When asking people more advanced than yourself, be mindful of Salsa Etiquette for Beginners (which you'll learn in your Dance Class at www.dancesf.com). Even if you have a partner, don't only dance with them! It pays to learn to lead and follow from a variety of people, spread yourself around. You will learn FASTER!

While taking dance classes make sure you at least get out to a salsa dance club at least once a week (preferably more). Not only is it a blast to go out dancing, but in the beginning it can help reinforce those things you learn in class. Nothing is like some real world practice. It also helps you get used to the music which is played in the clubs, which by and large, is faster than what you will find in your typical salsa class! Check out Beginner Friendly Clubs listed on www.dancesf.com to find places to go out that are better bets for beginner dancers in the San Francisco Bay Area!

Evan Margolin is the president of DanceSF, the premiere salsa dancing academy in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn to dance at the studio or in your own home with his Learn to Salsa DVDs. Find out more by visiting http://www.DanceSF.com

Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: 10 ISIS Details You Must Know!

Earning your CCNP certification and passing the BSCI exam depends on knowing the details of many Cisco technologies, ISIS chief among them. To help you prepare for exam success, here's a list of ISIS terminology and basic concepts that will help you pass this tough exam. Enjoy!

ISIS Terms:

Domain: section of the network under common administrative control

Area: logical segment of the network composed of contiguous routers and their data links

Intermediate System: A router.

End System: A host device.

The four levels of ISIS routing:

Level 0: ES-IS routing in the same subnet.

Level 1: IS-IS routing in the same area.

Level 2: IS-IS routing in the same domain.

Level 3: Inter-domain routing performed by InterDomain Routing Protocol (IDRP).

ISIS Adjacency Possibilities:

L1: Can form adjacency with any L1 in the same area and any L1/L2 in the same area.

L2: Can form adjacency with any L2 in any area, and with an L1/L2 in any area.

L1/L2: Can form adjacency with any L1 in the same area, L1/L2 in any area, and L2 in any area.

A router interface's SNPA (Subnetwork Point Of Attachment) is its highest DLCI number if it's on a Frame network, and its MAC address if the interface is on an Ethernet segment.

ISIS Hello Types:

ESH: ES Hello - Sent by End Systems to discover a router.

ISH: IS Hello - Send by Intermediate Systems to announce their presence. End Systems listen for these.

IIH: IS-to-IS Hello - Send by one IS to be heard by another IS. These hellos makes IS-IS adjacencies possible.

Best of luck on your CCNP exams!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage , home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials! Pass the CCNP exam with Chris Bryant!

Cisco CCNA Certification Exam Tutorial: Keep Your Most Important Appointment

Imagine this. You have an appointment with a client to work on a server or router install. A few minutes before you're scheduled to be there, you decide there's something really good on TV you'd like to watch. Or you decide to go to the gym, or play a game, or do anything else except go see the client. Even if you weren't going to get fired for not showing up, it's certainly unfair to the client. You've got a professional obligation, and you should be there on time.

Now, what's this got to do with you becoming a CCNA or CCNP? Plenty. Because when it comes to your study time, you're the client. You owe it to yourself to show up. You would never blow off an appointment to meet a client to get some important work done.

First, though, you have to make that appointment with yourself! Schedule your CCNA / CCNP study time, and keep that appointment as you would with a client. Turn off the TV, your cell, your iPod, and everything else electronic that you carry around. Believe it or not, the world can survive with being in contact with you for an hour or so! You might even like it!

Getting certified isn't about how many hours, days, or weeks you spend studying. It's about how much quality time you put in. Be honest with yourself and realize that you're better off with 45 minutes of uninterrupted study as you would be with three hours of constantly interrupted study.

Don't blow off an appointment to yourself, either. Schedule the time, be there on time, get your study done, and you're one step closer to your CCNA and CCNP!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials! For my FREE "How To Pass The CCNA" or "CCNP" ebook, visit the website and download your copies. Get your CCNA study guide from The Bryant Advantage!

Cisco CCNP Certification / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Comparing IRDP And HSRP

To pass the BSCI exam, you need to know the difference between IRDP and HSRP. While they have the same basic function, the operation and configuration of each are totally different.

The aim of both is to allow hosts to quickly discover a standby router when the primary router fails. IRDP is commonly used by Windows DHCP clients and several Unix variations, but you do see it in Cisco routers as well. IRDP is defined in RFC 1256.

IRDP routers will multicast Hello messages that host devices hear. If a host hears from more than one IRDP router, it will choose one as its primary and will start using the other router if the primary it's chosen goes down.

HSRP is a Cisco-proprietary protocol that is designed for quick cutover to a secondary router if the primary fails, but the host devices don't "see" either the primary or secondary router. The hosts use a virtual router as their default gateway. This virtual router has its own IP and MAC address! All the while, the router chosen as the primary is actually the one doing the routing. If the primary router goes down, the secondary router quickly takes over with no major interruption to network services.

The HSRP routers communicate by multicasting updates to 224.0.0.2, and its through these hellos that the HSRP routers decide which router is primary and which is secondary. HSRP is defined in RFC 2281.

The configuration of each of these will be covered in a future tutorial. In the meantime, I urge you to read the RFCs mentioned in this article, and visit www.cisco.com/univercd to read about the configurations and options available for both of these vital protocols.

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNP and CCNA tutorials! For my FREE "How To Pass The CCNA" or "CCNP" ebook, visit the website and download your copies. Pass your CCNP exam with The Bryant Advantage!

Cisco CCNA Certification Exam Tutorial: DNS And The IP Name-server Command

DNS behaviors of a Cisco router are important topics for both the CCNA exam and real-world production networks, and you probably didn't know there were so many DNS details before you began studying for the exam! In this tutorial, we'll look at the ip name-server command and its proper usage.

When a command is mistyped on a Cisco router, the default behavior of the router is to attempt to resolve it via DNS. First, the router looks for an IP Host table on the local router to perform this resolution ? that?s what the ?translating? word in the output is referring to. If there?s no IP Host table or the IP Host table doesn?t contain an entry for what you typed, the router will send a broadcast in an attempt to resolve this name through a remote DNS server. To prevent this broadcast, enter the global command no ip domain-lookup. Of course, to use DNS to resolve hostnames, ip domain-lookup would have to be reenabled if it?s been turned off.

R2#contin

Translating "contin"...domain server (255.255.255.255)

% Unknown command or computer name, or unable to find computer address

A command is mistyped as ?contin?. The Cisco router?s default behavior is to resolve this entry locally via an IP Host table, which isn't present on the router. A broadcast is then sent out to find a DNS server to perform the name resolution. The DNS lookup attempt must time out before the configuration can continue.

R2#conf t

R2(config)#no ip domain-lookup

R2#contin

Translating "contin"

% Unknown command or computer name, or unable to find computer address

With ?no ip domain-lookup? configured, the router doesn?t attempt to find a remote DNS server. It sees there is no local resolution configured and almost immediately sends a message to the console that the name can?t be resolved.

R2#conf t

R2(config)#ip domain-lookup

R2(config)#ip name-server 10.1.1.1

R2#contin

Translating "contin"...domain server (10.1.1.1)

A DNS server is installed on the network with the IP address 10.1.1.1. DNS lookup is reenabled with the command ip domain-lookup, and the IP address of the DNS server is specified with the ip name-server command.

It's just that easy to tell a Cisco router exactly where the DNS server is!
Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com ), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, and The Ultimate CCNA and CCNP Study Packages. For a copy of his FREE "How To Pass The CCNA" or "CCNP" ebook, visit the website and download copies! Our new RSS feed gives you free Cisco questions daily!

Cisco CCNP/BSCI Exam Tutorial: Rip Update Packet Authentication

When you earned your CCNA, you thought you learned everything there is to know about RIP. Close, but not quite! There are some additional details you need to know to pass the BSCI exam and get one step closer to the CCNP exam, and one of those involves RIP update packet authentication.

You're familiar with some advantages of using RIPv2 over RIPv1, support for VLSM chief among them. But one advantage that you're not introduced to in your CCNA studies is the ability to configure routing update packet authentication.

You have two options, clear text and MD5. Clear text is just that - a clear text password that is visible by anyone who can pick a packet off the wire. If you're going to go to the trouble of configuring update authentication, you should use MD5. The MD stands for "Message Digest", and this is the algorithm that produces the hash value for the password that will be contained in the update packets.

Not only must the routers agree on the password, they must agree on the authentication method. If one router sends an MD5-hashed password to another router that is configured for clear-text authentication, the update will not be accepted. debug ip rip is a great command for troubleshooting authenticated updates.

R1, R2, and R3 are running RIP over a frame relay cloud. Here is how RIP authentication would be configured on these three routers.

R1#conf t

R1(config)#key chain RIP

< The key chain can have any name. >

R1(config-keychain)#key 1

< Key chains can have multiple keys. Number them carefully when using multiples. >

R1(config-keychain-key)#key-string CISCO

< This is the text string the key will use for authentication. >

R1(config)#int s0

R1(config-if)#ip rip authentication mode text

< The interface will use clear-text mode. >

R1(config-if)#ip rip authentication key-chain RIP

< The interface is using key chain RIP, configured earlier. >

R2#conf t

R2(config)#key chain RIP

R2(config-keychain)#key 1

R2(config-keychain-key)#key-string CISCO

R2(config)#int s0.123

R2(config-subif)#ip rip authentication mode text

R2(config-subif)#ip rip authentication key-chain RIP

R3#conf t

R3(config)#key chain RIP

R3(config-keychain)#key 1

R3(config-keychain-key)#key-string CISCO

R3(config)#int s0.31

R3(config-subif)#ip rip authentication mode text

R3(config-subif)#ip rip authentication key-chain RIP

To use MD5 authentication rather than clear-text, simply replace the word "text" in the ip rip authentication mode command with md5.

Here's what a successfully authentication RIPv2 packet looks like, courtesy of debug ip rip. Clear-text authentication is in effect and the password is "cisco".

3d04h: RIP: received packet with text authentication cisco

3d04h: RIP: received v2 update from 150.1.1.3 on Ethernet0

3d04h: 100.0.0.0/8 via 0.0.0.0 in 1 hops

3d04h: 150.1.2.0/24 via 0.0.0.0 in 1 hops

Here's what it looks like when the remote device is set for MD5 authentication and the local router is set for clear-text. You'll also see this message if the password itself is incorrect.

3d04h: RIP: ignored v2 packet from 150.1.1.3 (invalid authentication)

"Debug ip rip" may be a simple command as compared to the debugs for other protocols. but it's also a very powerful debug. Start using debugs as early as possible in your Cisco studies to learn how router commands really work!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials! For my FREE "How To Pass The CCNA" or "CCNP" ebook, visit the website and download your copies. Pass your CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!

Cisco / MCSE Exam Study: Creating A Road Map To Success

Planning for success on the CCNA, CCNP, and other Cisco exams is much like taking a trip in your car. You've got to plan ahead, accept the occasional detour, and just keep on going until you get there. But what do you do before you get started?

Create a road map - for success.

If you were driving from one side of the country to another, you certainly wouldn't just get in your car and start driving, would you? No. You would plan the trip out ahead of time. What would happen if you just got in the car and started driving in the hope that you would someday arrive at your final destination? You would never get there, and you'd spend a lot of time wandering aimlessly.

Don't spend your study time and slow your progress by studying for a Cisco exam without planning the trip. Schedule your study time as you would an appointment with a client, and keep that appointment. Make sure that your study time is quality study - turn your TV, iPod, and cell off. If you hit a bump in the road and don't get your certification the first time you take the exam, regroup and create another plan. Study until you get to the point that on exam day, you know that you are already a CCNA or CCNP and you're just there at the testing center to make it official.

The journey to success is not a straight line. When you look at a chart that shows a company's financial progress, the line never goes straight up. there are some ups and downs, but the overall result is success. The path to your eventual career and certification exam success may not be a direct one, but the important part is to get started - and to get any journey started, you've got to create a road map for a successful arrival at your destination.

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNP and CCNA tutorials! For my FREE "How To Pass The CCNA" or "CCNP" ebook, visit the website and download your copies. Pass your CCNP exam with The Bryant Advantage!

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: Starting Over

When you're preparing for success on your CCNA or CCNP certification exams, sooner or later you're going to want to start totally from scratch on your Cisco routers and switches. It's easy enough to type "write erase" and "reload", but there are a few details you have to watch if you want your home lab or rack rental devices to act as though they just came out of the box.

The first step is indeed to run the command write erase, and then reload the router. You're going to be prompted with a question before the reload starts, though, and you have to give the right answer .... or your configuration will still be there when you reload!

First, you will be prompted to confirm the erase. Press to accept the default answer of "confirm".

R1#write erase

Erasing the nvram filesystem will remove all configuration files! Continue? [confirm]

[OK]

Erase of nvram: complete

With the startup configuration erased, it's time to reload the router. This is where the second prompt comes in:

R1#reload

System configuration has been modified. Save? [yes/no]: no

When a Cisco router prompts you with two answers to a question, you've got to type the answer in (or at least the first letter of it). Answer NO to this question and press when prompted to confirm the reload.

The router will then start the reload process. Since there is no startup configuration in NVRAM, the router will prompt you to enter setup mode. You should only answer yes if you have a lot of time on your hands, just want to see what setup mode is like, or practice CTRL-C to get out it! Otherwise, answer NO.

--- System Configuration Dialog ---

Would you like to enter the initial configuration dialog? [yes/no]: n

Would you like to terminate autoinstall? [yes]:y

You'll see quite a few messages after this relating to interface states, and finally you're back at the user exec prompt.

Router>

Now you're working with a router that's just like it was when it came out of the box!

For switches such as the 2950, the process is much the same, but you should delete the VLAN.DAT file before reloading the router. This file contains VLAN information and is kept in flash, so it will still be present after a reload.

switch1#write erase

Erasing the nvram filesystem will remove all files! Continue? [confirm]

[OK]

Erase of nvram: complete

switch1#delete vlan.dat

Delete filename [vlan.dat]?

Delete flash:vlan.dat? [confirm]

switch1#reload

Make sure to hit for the two questions regarding the deletion - if you answer "y" instead, the switch thinks you're trying to erase a file named "y"!

After the reload is complete, you'll be prompted to enter setup mode. As you did with the router, enter "N" and begin to configure the router from user exec mode. There's nothing like working with real equipment to prepare for your CCNA and CCNP success, and there's no better practice than configuring routers and switches from the very beginning!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.

For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, ?How To Pass The CCNA? and ?How To Pass The CCNP?, visit the website and download your free copies. You can now get a FREE CCNA and CCNP exam question sent to your email inbox every day! Get your CCNA certification with The Bryant Advantage!

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

Cisco CCNP / BSCI Tutorial: Comparing OSPF And ISIS Hellos

While studying to pass the BSCI exam and preparing to earn your CCNP certification, you'll quickly notice that while OSPF and ISIS are both link-state protocols, there are a lot of differences between the two. One major difference is the way the two protocols handle hello packets.

Hello packets are imperative to keeping OSPF and ISIS adjacencies alive. Since they are both link-state protocols, neither of them will send updates at any specified time. Hello packets are the only method by which routers running OSPF and ISIS can see that a neighboring router is still available.

OSPF gives us some great options when it comes to keeping routing table size down via the use of stub and total stub areas, but to OSPF, a hello packet is a hello packet. ISIS routers are capable of sending two different types of hellos - Level 1 and Level 2.

ISIS routers are classified as Level 1 (L1), Level 2 (L2), and Level 1-2 (L1-L2). By default, Cisco routers are L1-L2 routers; this means that every ISIS-enabled interface will send out both L1 and L2 hellos.

If one of the interfaces is forming only an L1 or L2 adjacency, there's no reason to send out hellos for the other adjacency type. For example, if R1 is forming an L1 adjacency with R2 via its ethernet0 interface, there is no reason to allow the router to transmit L2 hellos. To hardcode a router interface to send only L1 or L2 hellos, use the isis circuit-type command.

R1(config)#interface ethernet0

R1(config-if)#isis circuit-type level-1

Note: To configure this interface to send only L2 hellos, the full command is "isis circuit-type level-2-only", not just "level-2".

This configuration would prevent L2 hellos from being transmitted out ethernet0. While this does save router resources and prevents unnecessary bandwidth usage, there is also no way an L2 adjacency can be formed - so double-check your network topology before using this command!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials! For my FREE "How To Pass The CCNA" or "CCNP" ebook, visit the website and download your copies. Earn your CCNA certification with The Bryant Advantage!

Cisco Certification: The "Secret" Key To Getting Your CCNA And CCNP

Whether you're working on your CCNA or CCNP, Cisco certification exams are the most demanding computer certification exams in the IT field. Cisco exams are not a test of memorization, they're a test of your analytical skills. You'll need to look at configurations and console output and analyze them to identify problems and answer detailed questions. To pass these demanding exams, you've got to truly understand how Cisco routers and switches operate - and the key to doing so is right in front of you.

The debug command.

Of course, there is no single "debug" command. Using IOS Help, you can quickly see that there are hundreds of these debugs, and I want to mention immediately that you should never practice these commands on a production router. This is one major reason you need to get some hands-on experience with Cisco products in a home lab or rack rental. No software program or "simulator" is going to give you the debug practice you need.

Now, why am I so insistent that you use debugs? Because that's how you actually see what's going on. It's not enough to type a frame relay LMI command, you have to be able to see the LMIs being exchanged with "debug frame lmi". You don't want to just type a few network numbers in after enabling RIP, you want to see the routes being advertised along with their metrics with "debug ip rip". The list goes on and on.

By using debugs as part of your CCNA and CCNP studies, you're going beyond just memorizing commands and thinking you understand everything that's happening when you enter a command or two. You move to a higher level of understanding how routers, switches, and protocols work -- and that is the true goal of earning your CCNA and CCNP.

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com ), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, and The Ultimate CCNA and CCNP Study Packages. For a copy of his FREE "How To Pass The CCNA" or "CCNP" ebook, visit the website and download your copies

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Labs: Developing Troubleshooting Skills

CCNA / CCNP candidates are going to be drilled by Cisco when it comes to troubleshooting questions. You're going to have to be able to analyze configurations to see what the problem is (and if there is a problem in the first place), determine the meaning of different debug outputs, and show the ability not just to configure a router or switch, but troubleshoot one.

That's just as it should be, because CCNAs and CCNPs will find themselves doing a lot of troubleshooting in their careers. Troubleshooting isn't something that can just be learned from a book; you've got to have some experience working with routers and switches. The only real way to learn how to troubleshoot is to develop that ability while working on live equipment.

Of course, your company or client is going to take a very dim view of you developing this skill on their live network. So what can you do?

Assemble a Cisco home lab. When you start working with real Cisco equipment, you're doing yourself a lot of favors. First, you're going to be amazed at how well you retain information that will become second nature to you before exam day. But more importantly, both for the exam room and your career, you're developing invaluable troubleshooting skills.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying knowing the theory of how routers and switches work is unimportant. Quite the opposite - if you don't know networking theory, you're not going to become a CCNA or CCNP. But the ability to apply that knowledge is vital - and the only way you can get that is to work on real Cisco routers and switches. As for these "router simulators" on the market today, ask yourself this simple question: "When I walk into a server room, how many router simulators do I see?"

I often tell students that they'll do their best learning when they screw something up. I've had many a student tell me later that I was right - when they misconfigured frame relay, ISDN, or another CCNA / CCNP technology and then had to fix it themselves, it not only gave them the opportunity to apply their knowledge, but it gave them the confidence to know they could do it.

And you can't put a price on confidence - in the exam room or in the network center!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage , home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials! Pass the CCNA exam with Chris Bryant!

Cisco Certification: Selecting Cisco Products

Cisco Certification: Selecting Cisco Products

by: www.SemSim.com

You must understand the business requirements of the network before buying a product. Based on the requirements, you can select the appropriate Cisco products.

Today, WAN technologies most often take advantage of high-speed connections, such as T-1 and E-1. Additional WAN technologies exist, including Frame Relay, ISDN, and dial-up asynchronous connections. ISDN or dial-up is used if infrequent connection is made. If a connection is used for more than two to four hours, you should use a Frame Relay or a leased line.Based on the different services available through the service provider, you can select Cisco products that can fulfill your office requirements.

Selecting Hubs

Cisco has various hub products. You can select hubs according to the type of connection required. Higher-end hubs offer network management port and console connections, middle-end hubs offer both 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps auto-sensing connections, and the lower-end hubs offer only 10 Mbps connections. Examples of fast hub series of Cisco are Cisco Fh100, Cisco Fh200, Cisco Fh300, and Cisco Fh400. Examples of micro hub series are Cisco MH1500 and Cisco MH1528.

Selecting Routers

Routers are the most popular Cisco products. To select a router, you must first know the port density and the interface speed required based on the LAN or WAN technologies used. In addition, you must identify the capacity and performance requirements of your business. The cost of the router varies according to the features you select.

Selecting Switches

A switch can be used instead of a hub in newer networks. Most switches are configured to limit collision domains, which often provides a limited security feature because users will not be able to sniff traffic as easily as in a standard hub-based network. This feature can cause confusion when using a network sniffer to analyze traffic. It is possible, however, to analyze packets on a switched network by enabling mirroring on the switch, or by using a dedicated port that allows authorized users to view all network traffic. It is important to consider whether you need 10, 100, or 1000 Mbps for each desktop or to connect between switches. To select a switch, you must consider various issues, such as business requirements, requirements for inter-switch links and trunking, port density, and type of user interface.

Product Selection Criteria

When selecting the right products for any network environment, keep the following considerations in mind:

Will the device be used as a core device, distribution device, or access device?

Does the device provide the functions that your business requires?

Does the device have adequate number of ports and the right mix of interfaces as required by your business?

Do you have to pay a lot for installing the device or can it be easily installed?

Can the device be centrally managed from an SNMP Management station or do you have to physically access the device to manage it?

Is the migration path easy?

How well does the device handle redundancy requirements?

Do you have to change your existing infrastructure, such as cabling or existing devices, to install the new device?

You may use the Cisco website http://www.cisco.com to gather more information to select products based on your requirements.

SemSim.com provides training resources for Cisco certification exams: CCIE, CCNP, CCNA, CCDP, CCDA. It offers FREE learning resources to students such as study guides and router simulation labs. For more information visit: http://www.SemSim.com : Making Cisco cetification easy! support@semsim.com

Cisco Certification: Becoming A Truly Valuable CCNA

I've been active in the Cisco Certification track for four years, working my way from the CCNA to the coveted Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert title, and during that time I've conducted job interviews and casual conversations with hundreds of CCNAs and CCNA candidates.

The CCNA is an exciting beginning to your Cisco career, but just having the certification simply isn't enough. A recruiter or interviewer isn't going to be impressed just with the cert; you've got to have some real-world knowledge to back it up.

I've been down that road myself, and sat on both sides of the CCNA job interview table. With that in mind, I'd like to offer to you some tips on becoming a truly valuable and employable CCNA.

Get some hands-on experience. I know the trap well; you can't get experience until you get a CCNA, and you can't get a CCNA without real experience. Well, actually, you can, but do you want to?

Working on simulators is fine to a certain extent, but don't make the classic mistake of depending on them. I've seen plenty of CCNAs who were put in front of a set of routers and really didn't know what to do or how to put together a simple configuration, and had NO idea how to begin troubleshooting. Simulators fail to help you develop the analytical and logical skills that you must have to be an effective troubleshooter.

There are CCNA classes that offer you the chance to work with industry experts on real Cisco equipment. Beyond that, you can put together your own CCNA rack for less than $500 by buying used routers. Some people think that's a lot of money, but this is the foundation of your career. Treat it that way. The work you do now is the most important work you'll ever do. Do it on real Cisco equipment. The skills I learned as a CCNA helped me all the way up to the CCIE.

Besides, after you get your CCNA (and after that, hopefully you'll choose to pursue the CCNP), you can always get some of your money back by selling the equipment. The hands-on experience you gain this way is invaluable.

(Ill also soon be offering remote equipment access for CCNAs and CCNPs. Watch for it!)

Know binary math. Do NOT go the easy route of memorizing a subnet mask chart for the CCNA exam. I know some people brag about being able to pass the CCNA exam without really understanding binary math. I've seen those people on the other side of the interview table, and they're not laughing when I ask them to do a subnetting question. They're not laughing when they can't explain or create a VLSM scheme. That chart does nothing to help you understand what's going on.

If you can add and know the difference between a one and a zero, you can do binary math. Don't let the name intimidate you. Become a REAL CCNA -- learn binary math !

Run "show" and "debug" commands. No commands help you truly understand how things work in a Cisco network than show and debug commands. As you progress through the Cisco certification ranks, you'll be glad you started using these at the CCNA level.

Do you need to know these commands for the exam? Probably not. Do you need them to be successul in the real world? Absolutely.

The Cisco certification track has been great to me, and it can boost your career as well, whether you stop at the CCNA, CCNP, or go all the way to the CCIE. It's the skills you develop today that will truly make you a networking engineer. Don't take shortcuts or get the attitude of "just passing the exam".

It's what you achieve after the exam that counts, and it's the work you put in before passing the exam that makes those achievements possible.

Good luck !

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage. The Bryant Advantage's website offers FREE ebooks and tutorials for the CCNA and CCNP exams, FREE subscriptions to "Cisco Certification Central", and sells the best CCNA and CCNP prep courses and books on the market today. Visit his site at www.thebryantadvantage.com today!

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

Cisco Certification: The Cisco Three-Layered Hierarchical Model

Cisco Certification: The Cisco Three-Layered Hierarchical Model

 by: www.SemSim.com

Cisco has defined a hierarchical model known as the hierarchical internetworking model. This model simplifies the task of building a reliable, scalable, and less expensive hierarchical internetwork because rather than focusing on packet construction, it focuses on the three functional areas, or layers, of your network:

Core layer: This layer is considered the backbone of the network and includes the high-end switches and high-speed cables such as fiber cables. This layer of the network does not route traffic at the LAN. In addition, no packet manipulation is done by devices in this layer. Rather, this layer is concerned with speed and ensures reliable delivery of packets.

Distribution layer: This layer includes LAN-based routers and layer 3 switches. This layer ensures that packets are properly routed between subnets and VLANs in your enterprise. This layer is also called the Workgroup layer.

Access layer: This layer includes hubs and switches. This layer is also called the desktop layer because it focuses on connecting client nodes, such as workstations to the network. This layer ensures that packets are delivered to end user computers.

Figure INT.2.1 displays the three layers of the Cisco hierarchical model.

When you implement these layers, each layer might comprise more than two devices or a single device might function across multiple layers.The benefits of the Cisco hierarchical model include:

High Performance: You can design high performance networks, where only certain layers are susceptible to congestion.

Efficient management & troubleshooting: Allows you to efficiently organize network management and isolate causes of network trouble.

Policy creation: You can easily create policies and specify filters and rules.

Scalability: You can grow the network easily by dividing your network into functional areas.

Behavior prediction: When planning or managing a network, the model allows you determine what will happen to the network when new stresses are placed on it.

Core Layer

The core layer is responsible for fast and reliable transportation of data across a network. The core layer is often known as the backbone or foundation network because all other layers rely upon it. Its purpose is to reduce the latency time in the delivery of packets. The factors to be considered while designing devices to be used in the core layer are:

High data transfer rate: Speed is important at the core layer. One way that core networks enable high data transfer rates is through load sharing, where traffic can travel through multiple network connections.

Low latency period: The core layer typically uses high-speed low latency circuits which only forward packets and do not enforcing policy.

High reliability: Multiple data paths ensure high network fault tolerance; if one path experiences a problem, then the device can quickly discover a new route.

At the core layer, efficiency is the key term. Fewer and faster systems create a more efficient backbone. There are various equipments available for the core layer. Examples of core layer Cisco equipment include:

Cisco switches such as 7000, 7200, 7500, and 12000 (for WAN use)

Catalyst switches such as 6000, 5000, and 4000 (for LAN use)

T-1 and E-1 lines, Frame relay connections, ATM networks, Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS)

Distribution Layer

The distribution layer is responsible for routing. It also provides policy-based network connectivity, including:

Packet filtering (firewalling): Processes packets and regulates the transmission of packets based on its source and destination information to create network borders.

QoS: The router or layer 3 switches can read packets and prioritize delivery, based on policies you set.

Access Layer Aggregation Point: The layer serves the aggregation point for the desktop layer switches.

Control Broadcast and Multicast: The layer serves as the boundary for broadcast and multicast domains.

Application Gateways: The layer allows you to create protocol gateways to and from different network architectures.

The distribution layer also performs queuing and provides packet manipulation of the network traffic.

It is at this layer where you begin to exert control over network transmissions, including what comes in and what goes out of the network. You will also limit and create broadcast domains, create virtual LANs, if necessary, and conduct various management tasks, including obtaining route summaries. In a route summary, you consolidate traffic from many subnets into a core network connection. In Cisco routers, the command to obtain a routing summary is:

show ip route summary

You can practice viewing routing information using a free CCNA exam router simulator available from SemSim.com. You can also determine how routers update each other's routing tables by choosing specific routing protocols.

Examples of Cisco-specific distribution layer equipment include 2600,4000, 4500 series routers

Access Layer

The access layer contains devices that allow workgroups and users to use the services provided by the distribution and core layers. In the access layer, you have the ability to expand or contract collision domains using a repeater, hub, or standard switch. In regards to the access layer, a switch is not a high-powered device, such as those found at the core layer.

Rather, a switch is an advanced version of a hub.

A collision domain describes a portion of an Ethernet network at layer 1 of the OSI model where any communication sent by a node can be sensed by any other node on the network. This is different from a broadcast domain which describes any part of a network at layer 2 or 3 of the OSI model where a node can broadcast to any node on the network.

At the access layer, you can:

Enable MAC address filtering: It is possible to program a switch to allow only certain systems to access the connected LANs.

Create separate collision domains: A switch can create separate collision domains for each connected node to improve performance.

Share bandwidth: You can allow the same network connection to handle all data.

Handle switch bandwidth: You can move data from one network to another to perform load balancing

SemSim.com provides training resources for Cisco certification exams: CCIE, CCNP, CCNA, CCDP, CCDA. It offers FREE learning resources to students such as study guides and router simulation labs. For more information visit: http://www.SemSim.com : Making Cisco cetification easy! support@semsim.co