Page 107 of 139 FirstFirst ... 757979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117 ... LastLast
Results 1,061 to 1,070 of 1384
  1. #1061
    Service Manager 10,000+ Posts
    Need some advice on learning networking

    BillyCarpenter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Location
    Long Beach, Mississippi
    Posts
    13,375
    Rep Power
    448

    Re: Need some advice on learning networking

    You can officially have me locked up in the loony bin. This frame relay circuit has blown my mind totally.


    We've all heard of "arp", right?

    Well, have you ever heard of "inverse arp" ?

    What about a "dlce" ?

    Oh my!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Growth is found only in adversity.

  2. #1062
    Service Manager 10,000+ Posts
    Need some advice on learning networking

    BillyCarpenter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Location
    Long Beach, Mississippi
    Posts
    13,375
    Rep Power
    448

    Re: Need some advice on learning networking

    Frame Switching is a technology from the 1990's and that's where they should have left it. To understand networking, we must learn to dissect protocols. Having a thorough understanding of protocols is the key to troubleshooting a problem. And Frame Switching is no different. I had to learn the protocol before I could understand it. The only difference is that this protocol was more complex than any other that I've covered. It took a long time to learn and I'm still foggy in a couple of areas.

    I want to drive the point home about protocols. Let's apply this to the copier world. Take SMB for example. Do we understand this protocol? Can we effectively troubleshoot a SMB problem without understanding it? I once looked at SMB on Wireshark and I was able to get the total picture of how it works. Well, it's no different in a production network. The only difference is that we're dealing with MANY more protocols and each one must be learned if we're gonna pass the CCNA exam.

    I think when I'm done with CCNA that I'm gonna get certified on WireShark. That seems like the logical next step in my journey.
    Growth is found only in adversity.

  3. #1063
    Service Manager 2,500+ Posts rthonpm's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Pennsyltucky
    Posts
    2,790
    Rep Power
    108

    Re: Need some advice on learning networking

    You may say that some protocols should have stayed back in the 90's, but you would be HORRIFIED at what you'll find in many networks. There are still piles of dead and ancient protocols and methods still in use whether through inertia or a lack of knowledge of just what is on the network so ancient settings and protocols get kept 'just so nothing breaks'.

    Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

  4. #1064
    Service Manager 10,000+ Posts
    Need some advice on learning networking

    BillyCarpenter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Location
    Long Beach, Mississippi
    Posts
    13,375
    Rep Power
    448

    Re: Need some advice on learning networking

    Quote Originally Posted by rthonpm View Post
    You may say that some protocols should have stayed back in the 90's, but you would be HORRIFIED at what you'll find in many networks. There are still piles of dead and ancient protocols and methods still in use whether through inertia or a lack of knowledge of just what is on the network so ancient settings and protocols get kept 'just so nothing breaks'.

    Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk
    First of all, I feel for you having to work on that crap. But you bring up something that I haven't given much thought to. I bet there are a lot of companies out there that hang on to their old technology because they don't wan to pay to upgrade and, in my experience, a lot of people just don't like change and they'll limp along for as long as possible.
    Growth is found only in adversity.

  5. #1065
    Retired 10,000+ Posts
    Need some advice on learning networking

    slimslob's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Bakersfield, CA
    Posts
    34,132
    Rep Power
    989

    Re: Need some advice on learning networking

    Quote Originally Posted by BillyCarpenter View Post
    First of all, I feel for you having to work on that crap. But you bring up something that I haven't given much thought to. I bet there are a lot of companies out there that hang on to their old technology because they don't wan to pay to upgrade and, in my experience, a lot of people just don't like change and they'll limp along for as long as possible.
    Just remember that the Command Prompt which is still need to run some trouble shooting is a hold over from DOS.

  6. #1066
    Service Manager 10,000+ Posts
    Need some advice on learning networking

    BillyCarpenter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Location
    Long Beach, Mississippi
    Posts
    13,375
    Rep Power
    448

    Re: Need some advice on learning networking

    Quote Originally Posted by slimslob View Post
    Just remember that the Command Prompt which is still need to run some trouble shooting is a hold over from DOS.

    True that. There's not a day that goes by that I don't use ping. Another one high on that list is traceroute.
    Growth is found only in adversity.

  7. #1067
    Service Manager 2,500+ Posts rthonpm's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Pennsyltucky
    Posts
    2,790
    Rep Power
    108

    Re: Need some advice on learning networking

    Quote Originally Posted by slimslob View Post
    Just remember that the Command Prompt which is still need to run some trouble shooting is a hold over from DOS.
    It's more than that. For all intents and purposes, it *is* the OS. The GUI on top is just an abstraction layer that just runs the CLI commands in the background whilst giving you something to look at.

    While many of the DOS commands are there, the NT version of it was a complete re-write as opposed to a bolt-on of new features. Even that is starting to go away in the Windows world as PowerShell becomes the default CLI, though most of the old commands are set as aliases for the respective cmdlet in PowerShell.

    Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

  8. #1068
    Service Manager 2,500+ Posts rthonpm's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Pennsyltucky
    Posts
    2,790
    Rep Power
    108

    Re: Need some advice on learning networking

    Quote Originally Posted by BillyCarpenter View Post
    First of all, I feel for you having to work on that crap. But you bring up something that I haven't given much thought to. I bet there are a lot of companies out there that hang on to their old technology because they don't wan to pay to upgrade and, in my experience, a lot of people just don't like change and they'll limp along for as long as possible.
    It's often not that companies don't want to upgrade as much as other factors. In the size of company we support (1-300 staff) it often comes down to a mix of the following:

    1. There's no accurate inventory of just what's on the network, or documentation of how things communicate: upgrades happen but someone recalls an issue from years past where something broke because something was turned off, so it's better to just keep that old protocol turned on, or find a way to bridge it through custom configs or adapaters.

    Often this is done for equipment that's long gone or for compatibility with software and systems that have been upgraded and no longer need the workarounds. The biggest drain on my time with any customer is documentation: without knowing what's where, what it's for, and what it does, you can't have a good handle on your needs, deficiencies, or metrics of performance.

    2. Something mission critical to the operation is too expensive to replace. You'll see this in industrial, medical, and scientific areas: anywhere there's some sort of validation that's required on the output. Vendors spend piles validating their equipment on a particular OS, with a particular configuration, or even on specific hardware. Anything outside of that is a deviation that they won't support. The lifecycle of this equipment is generally measured in decades, and the validation process is expensive for the vendor so once they get certified, they sell that configuration for as long as they can. The vendor has to pass that cost on and the replacement machines can easily be six figures.

    I've had vendors still supporting things like cell counters that boot from floppy disks running Windows 3.1 because they're validated for some types of tests that newer equipment can't meet. I've also seen instances where the original vendor has been sold, with the buyer then being bought by someone else, who then splits that company into smaller ones that then sell off the patents to someone else, but still get stuck with supporting the in-place equipment due to existing support contracts. All of this leads to needing all sorts of workarounds if the equipment needs some degree of connectivity.

    3. The company itself has changed hands, spun off, or just happened to buy up someone else's second hand equipment to get started. This is close to situation 1, except that this is more of a case of people using equipment they're already familiar with as a starting point.



    Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

  9. #1069
    Service Manager 10,000+ Posts
    Need some advice on learning networking

    BillyCarpenter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Location
    Long Beach, Mississippi
    Posts
    13,375
    Rep Power
    448

    Re: Need some advice on learning networking

    I wish I could do a better job of explaining some of the cool stuff that you can do with routers & switches. It's not so much the end result that I love (although it's very cool) but rather the interworkings of the protocol that creates the magic.


    I've talked about the Hot Standby Routing Protocol before but I want to try to explain it in hopes that you can see the genius in it.


    Let's review the basic default gateway that we're all familiar with. When we ping an address that not our our LAN then our PC knows to automatically send the packet to our default gateway.

    If for some reason our router goes down, then we can't reach the internet.


    Here's the genius of the Hot Standby Routing Protocol (HSRP).

    Here's the topology:

    hsrp.jpg


    As you can see, now we have two routers and 2 default gateways. Of course, our computer can only use 1 default gateway. So, what's the point of having 2 gateways?

    Here's how it work.

    We enable HSRP and it creates a virtual router that will route traffic to both routers but not at the same time. One of the routers will be the priority router and it will be our default gateway, but if it goes down, then the other router will become the default gateway.

    PS - The virtual router will have it's own IP and Mac address and we use the IP address of the virtual router on our PC.


    Did that make any sense at all?
    Growth is found only in adversity.

  10. #1070
    Service Manager 10,000+ Posts
    Need some advice on learning networking

    BillyCarpenter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Location
    Long Beach, Mississippi
    Posts
    13,375
    Rep Power
    448

    Re: Need some advice on learning networking

    I find myself in a strange situation on my journey to getting CCNA certified. I'm 50% done with the course and I need to learn the other 50% but, unfortunately, knowing a protocol/subject isn't enough to pass the test.

    I have purchased 5 practice exams that were written to closely mimic the real test. Here's the challenge....


    The questions are written in such a way that it's designed to throw you off. Very tricky. I'm not saying this is a bad thing but it does force me to learn a lot of terms that I'm not readily familiar with. And it has forced me to review EVERYthing that I previously covered. It's very fucking time consuming. On the positive side, a thorough review has been helpful for anything that I may have missed the first time around.

    Because of this course, I will never look at a switch or router the same way again. My ignorance was bliss.
    Growth is found only in adversity.

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Get the Android App
click or scan for the Copytechnet Mobile App

-= -= -= -= -=


IDrive Remote Backup

Lunarpages Internet Solutions

Advertise on Copytechnet

Your Link Here