Fragments

NIL awarded at Cisco Learning Partner Summit in Dubai

2010-12-08T13:57:30Z

At the annual Cisco Learning Partner Summit in Dubai last week, two awards were bestowed on NIL.

NIL Group was awarded `Cisco Learning Partner Channel – Cisco Relevance FY10`.

Cisco awarded NIL its extensive involvement with Cisco learning needs, including courseware development both official and derivative works, worldwide delivery of quality Cisco training, providing Cisco customers, channel partners and Cisco members with tailored Cisco learning solutions.

NIL Africa was awarded `Learning Partner Middle East and Africa FY10 Award for Innovation`.

NIL Africa has received this award as a recognition of NIL’s Data Centre enablement programme success with the region. Read more about NIL’s Data Centre Enablement Programme.

Use Your Routers as Traffic Generators

2010-07-07T12:31:54Z

While I was testing some new Remote Labs for a renewed CCNP curriculum (for a TSHOOT course, to be precise), I came across a very interesting but undocumented command that turns a router into a traffic generator. Even though this command was introduced awhile ago, in IOS version 11.2, please keep in mind that such activity heavily utilizes even a modern router’s CPUs, and its use should be avoided in production networks unless you’re performing stress tests. If you’re looking for a way to perform regular measures of bandwidth availability in your production network, look for a solution like Bandwidth Monitor.

For this demonstration, I’ll use two common Cisco 2800 series routers. One will be configured as a generator of traffic, while the other takes the role of the receiver.
First, let’s take a look how to configure the receiver. In privileged mode, enter the #ttcp command. Accept each suggested parameter value by pressing Enter, and your receiving side will be all set up.

Receiver#ttcp
transmit or receive [receive]:
perform tcp half close [n]:
receive buflen [8192]:
bufalign [16384]:
bufoffset [0]:
port [5001]:
sinkmode [y]:
rcvwndsize [4128]:
delayed ACK [y]:
show tcp information at end [n]:

ttcp-r: buflen=8192, align=16384/0, port=5001
rcvwndsize=4128, delayedack=yes tcp

Now log into the second router. Again using privileged mode, execute the #ttcp command. This time, specify transmit for the first option, followed by the target IP address of the receiver for the second option.

Sender#ttcp
transmit or receive [receive]: transmit
Target IP address: 172.31.1.2
perform tcp half close [n]:
send buflen [8192]:
send nbuf [2048]:
bufalign [16384]:
bufoffset [0]:
port [5001]:
sinkmode [y]:
buffering on writes [y]:
show tcp information at end [n]:

ttcp-t: buflen=8192, nbuf=2048, align=16384/0, port=5001 tcp -> 172.31.1.2
ttcp-t: connect (mss 1260, sndwnd 64260, rcvwnd 4128)

Once you’re finished with the configuration, traffic will start flowing. At the end of the data transfer you’ll see a report that looks similar to the following:

ttcp-t: 16777216 bytes in 14588 ms (14.588 real seconds) (~1123 kB/s) +++
ttcp-t: 2048 I/O calls

By default, the sender will send a little more than 16 megabytes of traffic. I was able to reach speeds of around 8 Mbps between two 2811 routers with the default settings. By increasing the parameter “receive window size” on the receiver, I was able to generate more than 16 Mbps of traffic, which should be enough to utilize most of today’s WAN connections to smaller remote locations.

You can also test throughput with TTCP between a router and a PC by using a simple, small TTCP tool on a workstation. It was developed primarily for the BSD operating system, but today you can also find a Windows port of TTCP.

What surprised me was the fact that, even when I used the PC as a generator of traffic and the router as a receiver, I was unable to achieve better speeds. The history of CPU utilization on the router revealed that receiving data and acknowledging segments is very process-intensive for a device like a router, which is meant not to receive traffic but rather to forward it.

Improve Your Presentations with Presenter View

2010-07-02T19:32:12Z

Whether you are delivering a pitch to potential customers or upper management, or you find yourself in front of a dozen students while lecturing in a Cisco course, there is a good chance that you’re using PowerPoint slides for your presentation. While your audience can normally observe the slide show on a large plasma TV or as a projected picture on a table or an empty wall, usually you’re the only one who is able to see your computer screen. Instead of displaying exactly the same content on your monitor as your audience sees, take advantage of having your own “private” screen, and display the relevant information you need as a speaker, rather than as a spectator.

What matters to you as a presenter? Certainly you’d like to know time information as well as what’s coming up on your next few slides; also very handy is the slide notes feature, which can work as a reminder — or sometimes even a lifesaver when your mind runs blank.

Everything you need as a presenter: time information, preview of the next few slides and slide notes.

It’s time to take a look at what you need to do in order to enable Presenter view. First you have to make sure that your additional screen extends your desktop instead of just cloning it. To extend your screen, right-click on your desktop while the second display device is connected, and choose Properties. Under the Settings tab you should see two screens. Select the second one and select the “Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor.” checkbox. If your screens aren’t cloned anymore, you have accomplished the first step.

The second step needs to be done in PowerPoint. If you’re using version 2007, click on the Slide Show tab in the ribbon and select the checkbox “Use Presenter View.” Above that option, you can also specify on which screen the presentation should be displayed, so that the screens will be in the desired order. After that, simply start your presentation as you normally do.

If you’re using PowerPoint XP or 2003, click on Slide Show > Set Up Show and then select the “Show Presenter View” checkbox. If you’re using OpenOffice.org Impress, you can download the presenter screen extension to enable the functionality.

I only wish that Cisco would not have abandoned slides in new Instructor Kits by introducing secured PDF files. Having such a great tool for presentations becomes useless if your content is locked into a different format and can be viewed and presented only as a document.

Improving WebEx VoIP audio quality

2010-06-07T12:37:22Z

In recent weeks, I have participated in a few WebEx conferences. While those organized by Cisco mostly relied on traditional telephone connections for audio delivery, others used an integrated VoIP solution, which has a more attractive price.
While good old telephony works pretty well no matter where you are or what you are doing, this is not always the case with voice-over-IP (VoIP) solutions, and WebEx is no exception.
It is pretty obvious that the host of the session needs a decent Internet connection to enable all participants to experience a satisfying level of quality. Things start to get more complicated when a few participants are having audio problems and cannot hear the presenter clearly, while other users don’t experience any audio problems. This was the case for Ivan Pepelnjak recently, while he was delivering one of his new seminars.

I started to look for a solution to audio problems after I attended a session via wireless connection and the audio quality was heavily affected by jitter and noise. With a little exploring, I found what I was seeking. Setting the voice buffer level enables users to sacrifice delay in order to reduce the jitter. Most of the sessions in which I participated were more or less one-way discussions, where one person was speaking most of the time. Increased delay in that case causes no significant obstacles in communication. On the other hand, reducing jitter greatly improves audio quality, allowing the audience to survive what would otherwise be an unbearable session.

In order to set the proper level of voice buffer while you are attending a WebEx conference over integrated VoIP, choose Audio-> Integrated VoIP-> Options… to find the voice buffer setting. If you are experiencing audio issues, increase buffer length by sliding the bar to the right.

Interestingly, even though the mentioned setting is easily accessible, I found no evidence of it in the WebEx Internet documentation or via Google on some other sites.

Last but not least, there is a chance that the host of the WebEx session may disable certain features and options for a particular session. For example, if you participate in a WebEx demo session , even though you can also use integrated VoIP, you may not be able to find the buffer setting.

Service Control Engine (SCE) Portal

2010-03-29T08:23:26Z

NIL has developed a policy management server that enables service providers using the Cisco Service Control Engine (SCE) to monitor and control subscribers and their quotas on SCE devices. For each subscriber, the policy management server maintains the quota amount and keeps track of quota usage. Each subscriber’s quota is maintained based on the subscriber’s assigned subscription plan (package). Periodically — for example, monthly or weekly — the quota can be replenished automatically, based on the service provider’s policy.

In addition to the policy management server, NIL offers a self-care portal that gives subscribers control over their own quota management:

Subscribers who exceed the assigned quota amount before the end of the automatic replenishment period are redirected to the self-care portal, where they are offered the opportunity to increase the quota by purchasing additional quota.
At any time, subscribers can view the remaining amount of quota for the active subscription plan.
To transfer data at greater speeds temporarily, subscribers can turn on high-speed functionality by using a turbo button, which grants greater transfer speed for a certain amount of data. After the granted amount is spent, the system automatically returns the subscriber to the original subscription plan.
Subscribers can change their subscription plans by purchasing a different plan.

The portal has been already introduced to public on Cisco Networkers in Barcelona in January 2010. For any details on SCE portal please contact us at info@nil.com or call +386 1 4746 500.

Trends in Service Provider Networking – virtual classroom

2010-03-23T11:16:34Z

Have you recognized the opportunities as well as the challenges that emerged as the Service Provider networks had transitioned from traditional TDM environment into IP-only? The 2-hour presentation, organized in April and June, explains the transformation process and addresses the business shifts that followed. Choose a date and attend any WebEx session in next months.

Virtual classroom will be led by Ivan Pepelnjak, CCIE and author of highly successful MPLS books published by Cisco press and Service Provider courses now offered by Cisco Systems.

Check also NIL training schedule for other courses.

FREE WebEx sessions

2010-02-12T13:36:19Z

Two workshops from Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) and Cisco Nexus Product Family are being organized in March 2010. If you are interested in attending any of them, read the details and register. All you need is a computer and an internet connection.

The workshops will be led by Mitja Robas, the lead developer of Cisco Data Center and Cisco Unified Computing System courses. Welcome to join us at these interesting presentations.

Check also newest courses from Nexus area (NIL Cisco Nexus 5000, Nexus 2000, and Nexus 1000v Implementation, NIL Cisco Nexus 5000 and Nexus 2000 Implementation) or choose among courses in schedule.

First-Mile Wireless: Which (G)eneration?

2010-01-08T13:56:19Z

The jungle of acronyms – from 2G (GSM, GPRS, EDGE) through 3G (UMTS) toward 4G (LTE), interleaved with Wi-Fi, WiMAX and similar terms – makes both potential users and specifically service providers offering first-mile wireless service rather uncomfortable. The January IP Corner article provides an overview of first-mile wireless technologies, their benefits and drawbacks, focusing on future trends in access, driven by the Video over Mobile Wireless environment.

NIL Adds Unified Computing System (UCS) Training to Complete its Data Center Learning Solutions

2009-12-22T14:38:09Z

NIL is proud to announce that it is among the first Learning Partners in the world to deliver the complete Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) training. NIL actively participated in the development of this training and has recently been approved for the Cisco UCS Special Practice program, which recognizes NIL’s capabilities in the area of UCS and the Data Center in particular.

NIL’s expertise in the Data Center and virtualization was recognized in development of the Data Center Unified Computing Design (DCUCD) course, which supports the new Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Design Specialist certification. NIL also offers the Data Center Unified Computing Implementation (DCUCI) course, which supports the new Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist certification.

The knowledge gained by attending NIL’s DCUCD and DCUCI courses enables learners to design and implement scalable, reliable and intelligent Data Center Virtualization solutions based on the Cisco UCS system, along with other Cisco Data Center products, server virtualization software and server operating systems.

Learners will benefit from NIL experts who have almost a decade of experience with virtualization, data center infrastructure, storage and unified computing. NIL’s proven expertise has resulted in its being one of the first Cisco Authorized Technology Provider (ATP) partners for UCS in the region. NIL has been actively involved in the development of related learning solutions for Cisco; the Data Center Unified Computing Design (DCUCD) and the Data Center Network Infrastructure 1 (DCNI-1) courses were developed by NIL experts.

IPcorner technical articles

2009-12-04T08:03:00Z

For those who don’t follow NIL’s monthly published technical articles, just a short reminder. Tilen Mlakar in november article focuses on security measures of the unified communications traffic, network components and end points where the applications or their parts reside. For all data center engineers, Jaroslav Rajic in december article analyses the advantages and limitations of two distinct approaches of designing the Data Center interconnect.