Colin McNamara - CCIE 18233 , VCP, RHCE, GCIH, GEEK » cisco live

Heading home – Cisco Live 2008

colinmcnamara — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:18:15 +0000

Sunday morning twenty two coworkers and I got off various planes bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to attack a week of learning, networking and having a great time. After a week of classes, and entertaining till 2:00 am each night, we look more like the walking dead.

Of course, it was all worth it. Some people see networkers as primarily an opportunity to prepare for a certification. Others got to learn something completely new. Some even go just for the world of solutions and the various booth babes. What I value the most is the opportunity to see old friends, and make new ones, to sit down with someone you have just met and have a half hour conversation on distribution / access layer technologies, or just throw some darts. No matter what, the goal is to connect, learn and collaborate with my peers. This year, I can say that these goals have been achieved. See you next year at the Moscone Center in San Francisco at Cisco Live Networkers 2008.Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Heading home – Cisco Live 2008

No one told me there would be a monsoon – Cisco Live Networkers 2008

colinmcnamara — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:52:16 +0000

Walking out of the convention hall this afternoon we were met with some crazy rain. Luckily I was able to catch some on my Flip Video.

CCIE Party 2008 Recap – Cisco Live Networkers 2008

colinmcnamara — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:16:50 +0000

Yesterday evening, a scary realization came to me as I was heading to the CCIE party at the Nascar Bar and Grille. The realization was, that in this ratty shuttle van, there was 26 CCIE certifications, and if we crashed we would take out a significant portion of the engineering leadership in our billion dollar company..

Luckily we made it to the party without dying, ePlus is safe for the time being. It was nice to have Cisco show appriciation to their biggest chearleaders, and even better to run into your peers and share a drink.

The venue was nice, though I am sure in retrospect that the organizers now now that if you pack hundreds of nerds in a room with video games and beer, there is bound to be a line. The party itself did seem to die out pretty quickly, but I do have to thank the folks at Cisco for taking the time to put the vent together for us.

Next year, Cisco is on its home turf. I think I’ll be the first to put my vote into the suggestion box. My vote is for Conference Room “G” . Where ever it does end up, lets look forward to seeing each other again next year.Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

CCIE Party 2008 Recap – Cisco Live Networkers 2008

Application Extension API notes – Cisco Live 2008

colinmcnamara — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:46:41 +0000

The AXP is a open platform for the Integrated Services Router (ISR) that enables you to program in-house, custom applications that leverage packet level interfaces with the ISR platform. You can choose to install either a daughtercard (AIM-102) or a network module platform.

Where would you use these ?

You want your custom application to be able to react, and act on network specific information. Integrating both at a very close level. Fundamentally your application can dynamically reconfigure your router in reaction to network events.

You want to remove common services such as AAA, Syslog, DHCP, etc, IVR apps, Unified communication apps all at the branch office in the ISR. If there is a failure, your router can dynamically reconfigure around that.

AXP architecture

Base Cisco Linux os, IOS CLI, Virtual Instances, C++, Perl, Java, OSGI, Bash. Fundementally this is very similar to a fedora core 4 systems doing paravirtualization.

API Fun – What can it do

You can query and change both the router and the network module
Leverage Embedded Event Manager (EEM) to trigger events on changes, and react to network events.
Network Packet monitoring .. Sniff, Sniff, Sniff

My Questions –

How do I automate network updates, similar to YUM?
Is Cisco using KVM for paravirtualization?

Cisco Nexus NX-OS and DCNM XML API’s – Cisco Live 2008

colinmcnamara — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:46:33 +0000

Since I am at Cisco Live Networks all week, and I take notes anyways, i thought I would share them with you.

NX-OS / DCNM XML API Fundamental Technology

Netconf – platform for secure communication of XML data between DCNM / NX-OS and mgmt station.

XML, using clear text tags, creates a self describing API. This is necessary because of the confusion and unneccessary complexity inherent in the current SNMP MIB based structure commonly in place today.

Webservices API = SOAP/XML over HTTPS.

Netconf/XML on NX-OS capabilities.

Must be run over SSH
Maximum of eight concurrent NetConf Sessions per nexus virtual device context.
Every single CLI capabilities is assigned a XML tag

JMS is supported in DCNM as wel as NETCONF

Native integration with IBM Message Queue

I’ll be at Cisco Live 2008 (networkers) in Orlando all week

colinmcnamara — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:54:29 +0000

It’s that time of year again, time to meet, drink, collaborate and learn. It’s time for Networkers (officially Cisco Live 2008). For some of us that means taking detailed notes all week long, for others it means almost getting arrested for climbing the totem pole outside of the house of blues (you know who you are). For all of us, it is a time to connect with old friends, share new ideas, and make new friends in the process.

In that spirit, my schedule is listed below. If you are in the area, it would be great if you would stop by and say hello.
“6/23/08″ “11:00 AM”"Certification Exam – Certification Exam”
“6/23/08″ “1:30 PM”"BRKCCT-1001 – Contact Center Welcome Session: Focusing on the Experience”
“6/23/08″ “5:00 PM”"WoS Reception 1 – Welcome Reception in World of Solutions”
“6/24/08″ “8:00 AM”"certification focus group – certification focus group”
“6/24/08″ “9:00 AM”"BRKITI-1031 – Cisco Data Center 3.0 Strategy and Business Impact”
“6/24/08″ “10:00 AM”"GENKEY-1001 – Keynote and Welcome Address with John Chambers”
“6/24/08″ “12:00 PM”"ITIPCS-1015 – NetQoS: Getting the Most from Cisco WAN / Application Acceleration Technologies”
“6/24/08″ “1:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1221 – Applying Cisco’s Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) and DCNM APIs to Emerging Data Center Infrastructure”
“6/24/08″ “2:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1001 – Cisco Application eXtension Platform”
“6/24/08″ “3:00 PM”"GENSSN-1001 – Super Session: The Power of Collaboration Panel”
“6/24/08″ “4:00 PM”"BRKSEC-3007 – Solving Security Challenges with Embedded Event Manager”
“6/24/08″ “7:00 PM”"BRKAGG-2001 – Multiservice Edge Architectures and Solutions for Service Providers”
“6/25/08″ “6:00 PM”"CCIE Appriciation – CCIE Appreciation part – Nascar Grill”
“6/25/08″ “9:00 AM”"BRKDEV-1111 – Location Based Services using Cisco Location API”
“6/25/08″ “10:00 AM”"GENKEY-1002 – Cisco Technology Keynote with Padmasree Warrior”
“6/25/08″ “12:00 PM”"ITIPCS-1019 – Fluke Networks: General Parts Uses Embedded IOS Technologies to Successfully Manage Inventory at Retail Locations:
“6/25/08″ “1:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1051 – ANA Technical Session and Demo”
“6/25/08″ “3:00 PM”"GENSSN-1002 – Super Session: The Data Center–Evolution and Transformation:”
“6/25/08″ “4:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1131 – Customer Voice Portal Application Development”
“6/25/08″ “8:00 PM”"Customer Event – Customer Appreciation Event”
“6/26/08″ “9:00 AM”"BRKITI-1034 – Realize Business Goals through Network Architecture Solutions”
“6/26/08″ “10:00 AM”"GENKEY-1003 – Closing Keynote Address and Guest Speaker, Ben Stein, Actor/Writer/Columnist”
“6/26/08″ “1:00 PM”"BRKCCIE-3003 – CCDE: The Cisco Certified Design Expert”
“6/26/08″ “3:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1171 – Managing Network Performance using the New IOS Data Collection Services”
“6/26/08″ “4:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1181 – Configuration and Provisioning using IOS XML API”Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

I’ll be at Cisco Live 2008 (networkers) in Orlando all week