Colin McNamara - CCIE 18233 , VCP, RHCE, GCIH, GEEK » photography

Certguard, Ethan Banks, Network World and Common Sense

colinmcnamara — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:22:19 +0000

Robert William of Certguard managed to create quite a stir in the networking corner of the blogosphere last week. Robert runs a company called Certguard, that builds databases of braindumps across the internet, and sells a “Trusted Seal of Approval” for training vendors that pass Certguards standards. Robert posted an article that demonized Ethan Banks (of ethanbanks.net) and effectively accused Ethan of using and promoting braindumps to gain CCIE status.

From Roberts article on networkworld

Ok, so Ethan doesn’t believe in violating the NDA that he had to sign umpteen times to get where he is now, but he’s promoting the use of Testking (a well known cheating tool) to “study” for his CCIE.

As a CCIE, I am obviously supportive of Cisco’s efforts to maintain the integrity of their (and my) certifications. And yes, Ethan was not exercising the best judgment by posting about Testking in a comment on his blog. Is that a reason to start a fire, and try to get his CCIE revoked? As a CCIE, my vote is a resounding no. While Ethan definately made a bonehead move, it does not change a couple things.

The CCIE written is just a gating exam, meant to limit the CCIE lab to individuals that have a chance (a notably slim chance) of passing the actual lab.
The CCIE exam, and its proctors are amazingly effective at weeding out cheaters. Yes, every once and a while a cheater manages to get through. But trust me, these guys get eaten alive when they look for employment.
Cisco has its own enforcement team and methods for finding cheaters, they have managed to keep Cisco certifications from devolving into the land of the MCSE. I think we should trust them to do their jobs, and more importantly trust their discretion.
Ethans site documented a very thorough preparation process as he walked the long road towards his CCIE. Sadly his site has been taken down, but in my opinion this shows that he put significant preparation in, and earned his number.

My take on things is that Ethan the target of a marketing scheme. From what I can see, Roberts efforts here are not focused on supporting Cisco’s certifications. It looks to me that he is trying to drum up traffic to his business. If you look at his products, there are $995 – $4,999 fee’s to become a “VIP site”. For your payment, you receive a seal of approval and a listing in the “VIP” area of his site.

Sadly, I have seen this scheme before in the photography world. Certain photographers have been known to set up review sites of other photographers. They build Google Page Rank (PR) on their site so they show up in searches relevant to their competition. Once they start showing up in those targeted searches they sell “VIP” listing or reviews. The photographers that pay up to become “VIP” members ensure that no bad reviews of their buisiness are put up on these sites.

Robert is running the same quasi extortion scheme, but for training vendors. I think this demonstrates a lack of integrity on Roberts part. There is no excuse for attempting to destroy Ethans name in order to make a few bucks. I refuse to condone his behavior and would hope that the editors at Network World feel the same and remove his blog from their site.

Ethan – If you read this, I hope you realize that me and others like me are on your side. You have obviously put stellar effort into both studying, and documenting your efforts. It is obvious to any reasonable person that you have earned the title of CCIE.Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Certguard, Ethan Banks, Network World and Common Sense

What do you do for fun?

colinmcnamara — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 01:10:53 +0000

One of the best parts of my job is that I get to meet new people almost ever day. Many of them have interesting ways of blowing off steam. Some build race cars, others build fish tanks, others like me enjoy photography. Josh Carley IT Director at a local Casino tops us all, he is the lead singer for a local San Diego rock band called FM Revolver. They headlined Saturday night at the Brick by Brick, putting on an amazing show. I was lucky enough be invited, and be allowed to shoot. Check out some of the pictures I took that night -

To see this in a full size window please click hereSimilar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

What do you do for fun?

Ashley stole my new Lense…

colinmcnamara — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 04:34:31 +0000

More making of…, originally uploaded by Ashley McNamara Photography.

I got bought a 15mm fisheye lense, and of course, Ashley can put it to much better use then me. This photo is of her friend Ingrid getting henna art done on her belly.

Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Ashley stole my new Lense…

About Colin McNamara

colinmcnamara — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 04:35:55 +0000

Colin McNamara is a seasoned professional with over 10 years experience with network technologies. Holding many certifications, including CCIE, VCP and RHCE, he specializes in enterprise network design, with a focus on converged data center technologies.

Colin is best known for providing designs that incorporate disparate technologies under a shared virtualized infrastructure. He is a proponent of both network virtualization and the utilization of service provider technologies inside enterprise networks to support the security delivery of Voice, Video, Storage and Real Time Application traffic over shared network infrastructure.

He currently works as an Enterprise Consulting Engineer, focusing on Advanced Technologies with Eplus Technology, a publicly traded technology employing 18 CCIE’s as principle consultants with 31 CCIE certifications between them.

He resides in the San Ramon (San Francisco Bay Area) , California with his Wife and two kids. And is active in multiple boards and organizations, including -

Cisco Partner Technology Advisory Board
Consortium of Internet Technology Experts

He can be contacted via information found on his CCIE Resume page . by contacting him via Linkedin or at colin@2cups.com

Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

About Colin McNamara

What should I do this thanksgiving break?

colinmcnamara — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 18:43:00 +0000

What should I do this thanksgiving break?

1. Write a host auditing application

Existing Features -
Generates XML configs based on specific command generation
Outputs to flat XML database
New Features -
Runs from central monitoring platform
Gathers host information first by shelling into boxes and gathering packages / processes
Verifies application application by NMAP of high number ports
Outputs into individual HTTP / XML formatted files
Creates index for easy host data access
Could run locally to create a host status page
Create nagios byhost config on output
Should I output through Apache, or a servlet…
Thoughts
This could go over really well
Would be fun to write
Could land me in scope creep hell

2. Update the Real Time System config generator

Existing Features-
Generates Content Switching configs from application data
Has a web interface for development access
Notifies help desk
New Features -
Create firewall definition files
Create nagios probe config
Integrate XML submission probe generation
Thoughts
Nice to have, but 90% of the functionality is already there

3. Update Nagios system config generator (nagiosuploader)

Existing Features-
Grabs system info when run locally
Posts configs to monitoring server for processing
New features
Host auditing to determine services monitored
Clean up error condition handling
Web interface for config generation
Thoughts
Having a web interface for users to fill out would lower my workload

4. Automate web application error reporting

Existing features -
None, well.. manually executed text processing on log files. I wouldn’t call that an application
New features -
Automation of customer / error code matrix grep statements
Output in XML / http format web page and email
Text only output in commented form <– text –> for command line mail clients
Thoughts -
Proves the point that certain people can be replaced by very small shell scripts (Unix humor)
Should be a big with with Client services
Could drive the application “digital dashboard”
Should be a fun to practice using AWK for formatting data in a standard output
Serious danger of scope creep
May be better implemented in a MySQL back-end

5. Do some personal growth items

Finish the Vmware image for the 7206 emulator and post to Vmware Technology Network for general use (delete IOS files before uploading)
Read some more of Long’s storage book
Write a sample chapter for Stay at Home Photography
Get GTK pod to run under my cmcnamar account, not root (I think the IPOD’s file system doesn’t like changing ownership or file attributes)
Redo the 2cups homepage
Clean the Garage……..
Copyright ©2008 | Colin McNamara | CCIE 18233 | All Rights Reserved”

http://www.2cups.com

“The difficult we do immediately, the impossible just takes a little longer.”Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

What should I do this thanksgiving break?

PHP / MySQL / FLASH website integration

colinmcnamara — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 21:27:00 +0000

First I have to say, check out the new Ashley McNamara Photography website at http://www.ashleymcnamara.com/

We had it designed by Bludomain.com. At first I was a little reticent about using them, but now I am very happy about the move. The interface for maintaining gallery’s is superior to how I was doing them before. In the past Ashley would bug me to update her pictures, and I would bug her to provide them in for proper format. Now she just logs onto a web interface and uploads her pictures, updates her content, and whaam.. the site is updated. All this happens without one honey do this. I say that is worth its price in gold

Once I saw this “seamless” interface I had to figure out how they are doing it. After a little pocking around their source code I found out that they were using PHP to pull information out of a MySQL database, and use that for dynamic content insertion into a flash template. From what I can tell, the first thing that happens is the base flash template loads. Each button shape is hard coded in flash, and an actionscript is bound to each button.
This actionscript runs a PHP web application that logs into a local MySQL database, selects from a table, creates an array, then runs a for loop to populate each submenu for items in each drop down.

The net net of this is that you can have a few default templates, and just populate unique configuration options a MySQL db. This simplifies the whole content management issue while still providing the Content Protection that flash gives you.

http://www.2cups.com

“The difficult we do immediately, the impossible just takes a little longer.”Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

PHP / MySQL / FLASH website integration