I think Rick (5x CCIE) put it best in a company wide email earlier this afternoon  -

Please join me in congratulating Darrel in obtaining his Storage CCIE. There are only 24 double CCIES (RS/Storage) in the world, so he is probably about 1 of 15 or less in the world to hold all three.

What is everyone’s vote what is next in his career?  And, NO, you don’t have a say, Darrel

A) Service Provider

B) VOICE

C) CCDE

Thanks,

Rick Davis

ePlus, Senior Network Engineer

CCIE – Storage, Voice, Security, Service Provider, Routing and Switching (#5672)

Great job Darrel, everyone is really proud of you. and our apologies in advance to the wife for stealing you for choices A, B or C. (My vote is for C)

–Colin

Similar Posts:

• Updated CCIE numbers
• Cisco Certified Design Expert – CCDE – officially released by Cisco
• Passed CCDE written and Recertified my CCIE – Killed two birds with one stone
• About Colin McNamara
• CCIE Party 2008 Recap – Cisco Live Networkers 2008
• Are you a kick ass engineer looking to grow?

--Colin McNamara

Darrel Hinshaw – New Triple CCIE [Storage]!!!!!!!

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:

• Cisco Live 2009 – Networkers class schedule
• Cisco Certified Architect – Board examination above the CCIE and CCDE
• It’s on like Donkey Kong – CCDE practical registration is open
• Where is Colin ? Passing the VCP exam (VMware Certified Professional)
• About Colin McNamara
• Cisco Certified Design Expert – CCDE – officially released by Cisco

--Colin McNamara

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

This is the first step towards sitting for a practical examination that will hopefully be released this October. And, in response to Micheal Morris’s blog post – Yes Mike, I can pass the CCDE written.

The second big item on my todo list was to recertify my CCIE. Thankfully, Cisco counts the CCDE written towards my recertification requirements. I am waiting for the system to update, but I think this will set me up to be certified till June of 2011.

There is one interesting side effect of passing my CCDE written the week before networkers. I had originally planned on using the free exam at networkers as a “safety” exam in case I struck out on this attempt. Now of course, that is not necessary. Since I am already a CCIE, there isn’t much incentive to take a professional level exam.

So, after weighing my options, I have decided to take the CCIE Service Provider written. It covers much of the MPLS / IP Next Generation Networks material that I have been studying. I only have 7 days to prepare, so the odds are against me. However, with the heavy service provider focus in the CCDE blueprint, I have a feeling after I battle the CCDE practical I will be set to roll right into the CCIE Service Provider lab.Similar Posts:

• It’s on like Donkey Kong – CCDE practical registration is open
• CCDE Practical – Beta candidate deadline August 1 2008
• Cisco Certified Architect – Board examination above the CCIE and CCDE
• My experience taking the CCDE Practical Beta
• Cisco Certified Design Expert – CCDE – officially released by Cisco
• What does it take to pass the CCIE exam?

--Colin McNamara

Passed CCDE written and Recertified my CCIE – Killed two birds with one stone

1. Layer 2 Tunneling Protcol (V3) static and hairpin configuration example - my buddy Rick was nerding it out in the lab and sent a great configuration doc for L2TPv3 my way. L2TP(V3) is used to create a layer 2 psuedowire across layer 3 routed links. This is a great service provider tool that you can use in your own network, no MPLS needed .

2. SNIA Education – Fiber Channel Over Ethernet – There is a lot of buzz going around right now about Fiber Channel Over Ethernet (FCOE). There is also a lot of misunderstanding about the fundamentals of this architecture. This Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) does an outstanding job of covering FCOE at both at an architectural level, as well as going over low level messaging structures.

3. Trill (Rbridge) architecture – IETF internet draft – I think the last time I was this interested in an internet draft was when iSCSI was first being proposed in the IP Storage working group. Trill, in my opinion is basically a light weight version of MPLS / VPLS. It has as far as I can tell most of the advantages of this architecture, without some of the configuration and hardware requirement drawbacks. Fair warning, reading this document started a doc hunt that killed my Saturday.

4. Cisco’s Security Response to Sebastian Muniz’s IOS rootkit – Security is a very important aspect of network design. Sebastian’s IOS rootkit demonstration is going to force some customers who in the past have been “OK” with having older, possibly vulnerable IOS versions floating around to update their operational practices and start keeping their routers and switches operating systems as often as they do their servers. Thankfully, Cisco has been embracing technologies such as kernel virtual machines, in service software upgrades and more to lesson or remove the impacts of software upgrades.

5. Turning Wounded Warriors into Network Ninja’s – As a former Marine (well, always a Marine, formerly employed by the USMC) this program goes straight to the heart. Cisco is partnering with Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD, or Balboa Naval Hospital for us locals) to provide technical training to Marines and Sailors who have recieved service ending wounds in Afghanastan and Iraq.Similar Posts:

• Fibre Channel over Ethernet is taking off
• Cisco NX-OS 4.0 | Next Generation Internet Operating System
• Zone based IOS firewalls
• Nexus 5020 – Consolidated 10 Gig Ethernet and 4 Gig Fibre Channel
• Cisco is using Linux virtualization and 40 core CPU’s for its next generation routers
• Cisco Nexus 7000 DataCenter switch released – Welcome to DataCenter 3.0

--Colin McNamara

Link Round Up – L2TPv3 FCOE Trill Wounded Warriors

Legal implications of a breach

Losing control of personal data means means more then just replacing a tape in your backup rotation. Laws vary from state to state, however generally you are required to contact the identity holders who were breached, as well as fund some sort of remediation. This has huge implications on consumer confidence, and at the end of the day stock price of your company. In some cases, such as ChoicePoint a company can be completely decimated by a breach.

Data protection regulations

There are an ever increasing number of regulations that concern the control of sensitive data. These can vary from laws focused on patient data, to financial data, to personal identification data. The most most well known laws are HIPPA, GLBA, and Sarbanes Oxley (SOX). Past that there are laws that pop up every day at the state and municipality level that further increase the requirements and expense of dealing with a breach. In short, it is becoming an expensive and in some cases criminal offense to lose control of your sensitive.

What you can do to protect your backup tapes

First things first, putting a lock on that Iron Mountain box is just not good enough. You must assume that no matter what, a determined attacker will get physical access to your tapes. So many times companies thing that just because their data format is unique or proprietary that an attacker won’t be able to access it. The cold reality is that any format can be read, and yours is not that special.

The only way to be assured that your data is safe is to encrypt it with a complex cipher. In short, you need to treat your data the same way on tape as you would if it was sitting on a public ftp site (with anonymous access enabled). Luckily Cisco has a technology that allows you to encrypt and decrypt your data coming on and off tape. This technology is storage media encryption.

Cisco Storage Media Encryption (SME)

Cisco’s Storage Media Encryption (SME) technology allows for the seamless encryption of your data flows on and off your backup tapes using AES256 standard encryption. Whether you have VSANS segregating your data, a core / edge architecture, or Virtual Tape Libraries (VTL), you can use SME to protect your data at rest, removing the possibility of an attacker getting access to your critical data.

Storage Media Encryption works by leveraging a multifunction chipset available in the 18/4 module that comes default with the 9222i and is an option for the 9500 series director class SAN switches. Chipset has a couple functions, including line rate encryption of iSCSI and FCIP data streams at gigabit speeds, as well as line rate encryption of data as it streams your tape or virtual tape library’s (VTL).

Want to learn more ?

SAN and NAS, Oreilly Press – In the classic Oreilly style by W. Curtis Preston, this book is a great starting place to understanding the fundamentals of San and Nas architectures that many people are likely to face.

Storage Media Encryption for Cisco MDS SAN Switches – http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps8502/index.html . Cisco has lumped together a couple good data sheets here, though I may have to write a future article taking a deap dive on what really drives SME.Similar Posts:

• Identity aware networking using Cisco TrustSec
• Cisco Nexus 7000 DataCenter switch released – Welcome to DataCenter 3.0
• My CCIE Storage Shopping List
• Cisco is using Linux virtualization and 40 core CPU’s for its next generation routers
• Why was Storage Networking my first CCIE? And What did I do to prepare?
• How to succede in 2007 – By Tim O’Reilly

--Colin McNamara

Encrypting your backup tapes with Cisco Storage Media Encryption (SME)

IOS-XE is takes the best elements out of Internet Operating System (IOS) which has its roots in a closet at Stanford, and combines them with the most successful open source technology ever – Linux. Cisco is leveraging Linux virtualization technologies such as Kernel Based Virtual Machines to protect against operating system failures as well as to allow for In Service Software Upgrades (ISSU).

To really appreciate this, we first have to dive down into the overall architectural changes of the ASR1000. The largest change that Cisco has made was to implement separate forwarding and control planes. In the past, Cisco routers would have the processes responsible for forwarding traffic, and the processes responsible for configuring the router running on the same root operating system. The side effect of this is that if you want to upgrade the root operating system of your router, you are going to have interrupt the traffic flowing through it to do so, or have a physically separate route processor to take over while you rebooted. This is a big headache operationally, and effectively forced engineers to design in separate physical chassis to meet high uptime requirements.

What Cisco has done to address this, was to mirror changes made in their storage and carrier routing portfolios. Both of those product lines utilize the operating system to push commands into advanced processors that exist on the line cards themselves. The ASICS on the line cards are designed to work in a distributed fashion, so that production traffic never goes into up into the router processor (or sup engine). This in effect ensures that the control and forwarding planes can exist as independent elements.

If you look at the graphic above, you will notice 3 main zones. The upper zone is what we would normally describe as the control plane. This is where the higher level functions such as your routing processes, ssh daemons, snmp daemons, and shells live. In short, if you you configure or read something, you are going to do it here. The only time traffic flows through this plane is when you are doing a thing called process switching. keep in mind this is a rare occurrence and usually occurs because of an oversight in your network designs.

By separating the control and forwarding planes, this allows Cisco to basically run a management station on the router, that programs chip sets in the line cards on the fly. This in my opinion is where the true power of this architecture comes through. By separating the two functions the software engineers are free to utilize powerful open source technologies such as Kernel-based Virtual Machines, and the Linux kernel, while letting the integrated circuit engineers design blazing fast chips which allow full functionality at line rate.

What benefits should we receive from a virtualized control plane? First, in larger routing and switching chassis (including the top end of the ASR1000 line) you normally have physically redundant route processors (RP)/ supervisory engines(SUP). The operating systems on these RP’s synchronize many things, including configuration, process state, routing tables, security associations and much more. The primary reason for this, is if you have a failure in the active RP, you can failover to the standby RP without interrupting traffic flows.They also can be used to streamline the software upgrade process by only upgrading one RP at a time, and then gracefully transferring traffic to it. Once proper operation is verified, the backup RP can be brought up to the same code revision.In any production environment this is highly desirable, and helps immensely in the battle for five nines.

The ASR1000 takes the redundant RP concept seen in high end chassis, and allows you to implement redundant upgrades, as well as protection against software failure, with only one physical route processor. This is done by utilizing Linux kernel virtualization. Instead of running the control plane directly on the production hardware, a small kernel is inserted. Booting from that are two copies of IOS-XE. These run independently, and synchronize state and configurations just as if you had two physically separate route processors. What this means in operational English, is that where in the past, you would have to either have two devices, or a larger device with redundant RP’s to upgrade without disruption, you can now have that same ease of maintenance, in a much smaller (and at the end of the day, less total cost) package.

Below this is the forwarding plane.It plugs into to a high speed interconnected fabric which all line cards and RP’s are redundantly connected to. In the diagram above, this is the bottom level. Items in this plane include buffer memory, Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF) ASICS, and now the new QuantumFlow processor. This is normally where you would find your DCEF enabled line cards, fibre channel and Nexus7000 line cards, as well as the modules for the ASR1000 routers. When properly utilized, traffic should be relatively isolated to this tier, and function independently from the control plane.

The shining star of the ASR1000′s forwarding plane is a group of chips that is referred to as QuantumFlow. The QuantumFlow architecture itself merges Cisco’s strength in integrated circuit design, with its strengths in IOS software design. In the past, Cisco would design ASICS’s for specific functions, and then write commands down into them. This has worked very well, until they point that a new feature came out that couldn’t leverage the fixed configuration of an older ASIC. Your choice at that point was generally to process switch for that feature (which is slower, and honestly bad form), or upgrade your cards to the newer ASIC design. The QuantumFlow chipset approaches this problem from a new angle. The first chip in the set (Popeye) is designed to be field programmable in C, as well as no fixed internal pipelines. This combined with utilizing 40 cores running between 900 and 1200 megahertz allows the programmers to utilize parallel processing techniques to utilize an immense amount of processing power in real time.

To put things into perspective, remember when you got your first multi core laptop or desktop. You were able to say watch a DVD, as well as compile code at this same time, while continuing to have a responsive workstation. Now imagine what you could do with a 40 core processor. This is the kind of power that we are talking about. Now imagine, that not only is your workstation immensely powerful, but you could also offload common jobs such as running daily builds, or encoding videos to another machine (or in this case processor.

In the ASR1000 this processor is called Spinach (yellow are in the graphic above). And of course just like the cartoon, Popeye’s potential really comes to light when combined with Spinach. Spinach is a separate chip, that is used a a traffic manager. This chip handles queueing and quality of service, ensuring that the proper packets arrive at the proper time, as well as interconnecting with cryptographic offload engines so it can equally apply services to encrypted flows.

At the end of the day, the most important question is not how fast something is, or how cool it is. The question is what can it do for me? By leveraging this new architecture the ASR1000 is now able to do line rate inspection of traffic using Network Based Application Recognition (NBAR), Support 128,000 queues for deep quality of service, secure and encrypt data using zone based firewalls and embedded crypto engines, segregate traffic using MPLS, integrate advanced voice and video functionality, as well as providing fulling Netflow v9 support for all of the above. It provides all of these services in an always on solution utilizing Linux virtualization, as well as leveraging an flexible chip set architecture that allows for field programmable improvements in the future.

My hope is that after reading this article that you are in a better to understand how Cisco is leveraging open source technology and integrated circuit designs to improve the foundation of the internet. In upcoming articles I will be discussing design scenarios utilizing this features in this product, as well as highlighting other areas where Cisco is embracing both open source technology, as well as open architectures that can properly leverage projects such as Linux, Ntop, Wireshark and more. If this article has you interested in learning more about some of the technologies mentioned today, then I encourage you to check out some of the links below, or shoot me and email to be highlighted in a future readers questions article.

Learn more about Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machines

Learn more about Cisco’s ASR1000

Learn more about Cisco QuantumFlowSimilar Posts:

• Cisco NX-OS 4.0 | Next Generation Internet Operating System
• Application Extension API notes – Cisco Live 2008
• Zone based IOS firewalls
• Arista Networks – Their approach to cloud networking
• Simplifying remote site security with Cisco’s new video surveillance modules on the ISR
• Altor Virtual Network Security Analyzer (VNSA) integrated with Cisco’s Nexus 1000v for VMware

--Colin McNamara

Cisco is using Linux virtualization and 40 core CPU’s for its next generation routers

Mike Writes -

“Hi Colin,
I’m an avid reader of your blog and had a question that I figured you could answer. I don’t have CCIE knowledge like I’m sure a lot of your readers do. I have worked for the same company for 6 years and during that time had been promoted into the Network Group where I was sent through class and earned my CCNA. The company I worked for decided to relocate across the country and so I have been looking for a new job. Finding a new job doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal but I noticed a lot of job descriptions are asking for BGP experience. We didn’t use BGP at my last job and I thought BGP is used primarily by ISPs for routing between Autonomous systems? If that is the case why do so many non-ISP companys list BGP experience in Networking job descriptions? What are they doing with it? Shouldn’t the ISP be doing the BGP routing for them?
Thanks!
-Mike”

Well Mike there are 3 primary reasons why a company would require (or want) BGP knowledge from its candidates.

Scenario 1. The company has an redundant Internet edge.

In this case lets call our company sample_company. Sample_company has its website hosted in a publicly facing DMZ and wants to make sure that its web servers are available in the case of an ISP failure. Normally in this case the company would request and Autonomous Systems Number (ASN) from ARIN and would get assigned a block of publicly routeable IP address’s (normally /24) that they can advertise. Sample_company would then peer with multiple ISP’s for example one connection to AT&T and the other to Sprint. Sample_company would advertise their ASN through both these ISP’s, and in the case of a failure of one of their ISP’s, the rest of the Internet would be able to calculate a path to sample_company’s web servers via the backup ISP.

Scenario 2. The company is utilizing MPLS for its WAN connectivity.

From a customer perspective MPLS is a private BGP based WAN where all edge devices connected to the MPLS provider utilize BGP to inject and learn routes. One note, some providers do support advertisement of routes via OSPF and even EIGRP now, but the most common scenario is to use BGP as your internal WAN protocol while running MPLS. One trend I am starting to notice, is that since companies are already using BGP on the MPLS WAN, they have started utilizing BGP as their primary routing protocol for their sites to avoid running multiple routing protocols and having to redistribute into BGP to cross the WAN.

Scenario 3. The company is using MPLS inside their data centers for segregation of business units.

In essence they are using the same tools and technologies that MPLS service providers are, however applying it inside of their data center and campus networks. In this case, BGP is the routing protocol necessary to carry the routes between the seperate MPLS VPN’s that are running inside the corporate data center. While this sounds pretty complicated, it actually simplifies many of the designs that you would normally implement to attain the same goals.

Learn more about BGP - Of course, there are many other reasons why you may see BGP on a job listing, but I think the previous covers the most common. If you are curious, and want to learn more about BGP I recommend buying Routing TCP/IP volume 2 by Jeff Doyle. This covers many great scenarios and configuration examples in EGP protocols. It is also written in plain English which can be a challenge with many technical books.

Learn more about MPLS in the enterprise - If you are feeling like learning about how you can implement MPLS inside of your own enterprise network then I would recommend buying Network Virtualization by Kumar Reddy and Victor Moreno. I was lucky enough to have Rick Davis translate the whole idea of utilizing MPLS in a campus environment into plain English for me a couple years back. From that point I was able to really expand my knowledge base and start asking the right questions from a firm foundational understanding of the technology. Kumar and Victors book took my understanding to the next level, showing how to incorporate many very cool features to make a MPLS network stand on its head if you want to. I can say (and actually have said to Kumar Reddy) that this book redefined my data center designs for large corporate and enterprise customers. I really recommend that you add this to your collection.Similar Posts:

• Simplifying your Data Center with Cisco’s Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender (FEX)
• Identity aware networking using Cisco TrustSec
• Challenges integrating VMware into Cisco networks
• Where is Colin ? Passing the VCP exam (VMware Certified Professional)
• Jayshree Ullal takes the helm of Arista Networks
• Arista Networks – Their approach to cloud networking

--Colin McNamara

Reader question – Why are corporations looking for BGP experience?

I was wrong, the Green Data Center is not about saving baby seals, it is about saving cold hard cash. Saving the world is just a nice side benefit.

That being said, saving cold hard cash is a very important discussion item in any IT Operations group as they are normally seen as a cost center. For them, a penny saved is literally a penny earned. Not only can you save money by not paying for power, but PG&E will actually has a budget to pay you NOT to use their power. Most people here this and get a puzzled look on their face. “why would the power company, who makes money on power, not want me to buy it from them?” The answer is that Californians use more power then PG&E can produce at peak times. When they have to buy it from another state it can cost them 10 times or more then they charge us. This is the reason why PG&E will pay you to use less. Each penny they give to the consumer for saving a watt, saves them 4 pennies (80% return on investment).

Great, PG&E saves money by giving it to me. How do I get this cash? Well there are a couple ways to get this.

1. Incentives for new buying new energy efficient servers
2. Rebates for moving to virtualized servers
3. Rebates and incentives for moving to thin client desktop systems
4. Audit teams for cooling and power if your Data Center is 10,000 square feet or more
5. Incentives for airflow control systems
6. Incentives for high efficiency UPS and power distribution systems
7. Technical services for cooling system evaluation (PG&E funded)

That is a pretty comprehensive list of how to get money from the power company, but you can save even more money buy not using the power in the first place. Not unsurprisingly this starts with the server.

First thing you can do, is virtualize, virtualize, and virtualize some more. For most people this means VMware. For others this may mean Xen, or Microsofts virtualization product. Whatever flavor you chose, the key message is to consolidate from many servers to few. A server sitting “idle” still pulls 50% of its max current. Now, howe many servers do you have that are just sitting there? My guess is a large amount. By virtualizing these servers, you allow them to be stacked onto high performance server that can be run at a higher utilization. This lowers the over all power utilization for your DataCenter. Another side benefit is that ever watt that you remove from a server, you get another watt removed from your cooling.

These same virtualization techniques can also be applied to your network devices, which account for 6 to 12 percent of your datacenters power draw.

Ask yourself a few questions

• ” Do I need 4 different firewall clusters?”. It is likely that these are leftovers from organic growth, and that you could consolidate them into virtual firewalls on a more efficient chassis (ASA comes to mind).
• ” Do I need to maintain physically separate infrastructure?”. There are technologies like MPLS, VFR-Lite, Virtual Switching and more that allow you to consolidate onto a shared network infrastructure, taking a service provider approach to providing transport in your network.
• ” Am I running old inefficient gear?”. Power supplies have increased in efficiency over the last few years. There may be a good return on investment for you to upgrade.
• ” Can I consolidate into larger chassis?”. Ask the question, which is more efficient – a closet full of 3560′s or a 4507? There is efficiency in scaling out.

I hope that reading this has caused you to ask some questions, and maybe look at the larger impact of your network operations on both the ecosystem and your operational expenses. With these questions in hand, you might want to talk to PG&E and your Cisco / HP parter about going “Green” in the data center.Similar Posts:

• Is your network ready for Cloud Computing with Virtual Infrastructure 4?
• Cisco’s Cloud Computing Offering
• Usability features in Cisco’s Nexus 7000
• Cisco introduces the C-Series Rack Servers
• New features in VMware 3.1
• Simplifying remote site security with Cisco’s new video surveillance modules on the ISR

--Colin McNamara

Moving towards a Green Data Center – Truth behind the hype

GoDaddy, one of the nations largest registrars and hosting providers is distributing bloated and possibly insecure code that will cause the average user to more then double their hosting costs. In the pages below you will learn exactly what GoDaddy is doing to your server, how their support staff will try to upsell you, and the steps you need to take to ensure proper operation of your Virtual Dedicated Server.

Background

One of my new years resolutions this year was to consolidate hosting accounts into one virtual server (hosted). I had my domains, and my old hosting with Godaddy already so it was a no brainer to try out one of GoDaddys VDS (Virtual Dedicated Servers).

I went with their 29.99 a month package, with Centos5, unlimited domains, 10Gb disk, and 256 MB of memory. This should be perfectly fine for hosting a couple MySql driven sites, and a couple gallery instances. Let me emphasise this is only handling 4 active domains, two of which only have static HTML.

Provisioning was a breeze, from order to shell account only took 4 hours. I was provided with shell access, pre-configured yum repositories, and this web control panel – simple control panel, or TurboPanel (seems to have two different names). I was able to pop into GoDaddy’s control panel interface with a direct link from their server manager console, and was setting up domains in no time. (Let me throw this caveat out though, don’t buy this product for your mom’s hosting…. the documentation is horrible, and by horrible I mean non-existant).

So I get my server all set up a couple weeks ago, transfer all my files from 2 Cups Solutions and set up my new www.colinmcnamara.com site. Things go just fine, I changed over to wordpress as a CMS and am totally thrilled. My applications and email are working perfectly. Plus, I have a shell account at GoDaddy which is a very handy thing to have as a network engineer. Things are going so well, that I give my buddy Rick a Christmas present and get ricksdavis.com and el-cinco.net for him, and host it on my GoDaddy VDS.I go ahead and purchase the domain through godaddy’s domain manager. This is obviously GoDaddy’s core competency, and goes flawlessly as usual. Next step, I go into the Turbo Panel web interface. Let me give you a little background on TurboPanel. This is the “free” equivalent “to plesk or cpanel. It is actually ok for automating your domain provisioning, though if you are a normal skill level user, I would recommend paying the extra 9.99 a month for Cpanel.

Server Error

I open up my TurboPanel interface and go to provision ricksdavis.com into the domain manager. It comes back with the least descriptive error I have ever received.

Server Error
We are sorry, the system has encountered an error while processing your request.

Home

If you continue to receive this error, please contact your system administrator.

Your URL: /domain/edit.do

Error details:

CommandFailedException: Unable to get min/max uids
at c.g.t.f.systems.user.LinuxUserSubsystem.loadUids:825
at c.g.t.f.systems.user.LinuxUserSubsystem.getMinUid:780
at c.g.t.f.systems.user.LinuxUserSubsystem.loadUserInfo:670
at c.g.t.f.systems.user.LinuxUserSubsystem.getUserInfo:646
at c.g.t.w.actions.domain.ActionDomainEdit.process:84
at c.g.t.w.actions.AbstractSpringAction.execute:118
…
at c.g.t.w.filters.AuthorizedResourceFilter.doFilter:38
…
at c.g.t.w.filters.RequestPopulationFilter.doFilter:117
…

This is the most descriptive error ever right? it tells you what is wrong, has a link to the support system, and gives you actionable information…. I would say a resounding NO. This is a classic example of why friends don’t let friends program in Java. When I got this error last night, I was scratching my head. As an engineer, the first thing I will look at is the last change to the system. Coincidentally I had installed awstats two nights before, and looking at my change logs, I saw that I had upgraded my perl version. So, with no fast response to the support email from GoDaddy I chose to put in a server re provision request (fully automated) and restore from my backups. That process took about an hour, but afterwards I was back online with no errors. Eureka! I found it (I thought). I provisioned Rick’s domain, wordpress, gallery2 etc and then went to bed.

GoDaddy Support Response

Fast forward to this morning, and I finally recieve an email reply from godaddy support. The email is pasted below-

(I have replaced the agents name with John Doe. Tech support is a hard job and I see no reason to highlight him specifically)

Before re-provisioning the server, I went ahead and tried the old three finger salute (reboot) the error still existed. So even if this email would have came to me on time, it would not have helped.

But that is besides the point. lets dig into the solution

The agent suggested the following fix -

Restart tomcat – which I was NOT using for any of my web applications (not an ejb guy)

/etc/init.d/tomcat55 restart

Restart TurboPanel (or simple control panel now – they haven’t updated their init scripts)

/etc/init.d/turbopanel restart

GoDaddy tried to upsell me, instead of fixing their code

He gives the standard, run less stuff on your server speech (remember, I only have 4 domains on this server)

Now here is the kicker – To remedy this issue long-term, you could either setup a server with 512mb RAM, or upgrade to a Dedicated server.

What the heck is with that? I should not need an upgrade with only 4 domains on a server. Especially when in the setup the default Cpanel implies support of 30 domains. Is this Tech Support or a Sales Call?

But, since my server was working fine I don’t pay much attention to the email and move on with my life.

Fast forward an hour, and I am show Rick how to access all the features of his new site, and I figure that I need to change an email account on his domain to forward to his old account. Fine, this should take two minutes. I log onto the TurboPanel interface to put the email forward in.. and there it, a big useless error screen. What the heck is with that?

So this time I actually read the email, and try the fix. Results = nothing. GoDaddy offers shell access so I log in, run top and filter for %memory used. Low and behold, there is only 8142 bytes of memory free, and a Java process owned by root is using 300Mb of virtual memory, and 132Mb of real memory, and Tomcat is using 115Mb of virtual memory and 86Mb of real memory.

Let me translate this into English – Godaddy’s control panel application was using 218 Megabytes of the 256 Megabytes of memory I had purchased. That left me with 34 Megabytes of memory . Let me clarify this, I had paid for a virtual server with 256Mb of ram, up to 1000Mb bursted (which I think is their code for swap). I am only running 4 domains on this server, and two pop3 email servers. This should not be a problem.So what is the cause of the problem? I can sum it up, crappy Java programming. Someone decided to write this program in Java (probably easier to outsource) instead of optimising it to run on lean systems. Their code effectively takes up all the available memory. And on top of that, they are are running a webserver process as root… yes as root. It is like asking for your server to get hacked.

Now, that I am done ranting, let me highlight how to fix this problem.

If you are on Windows use the following procedure to get shell access to your GoDaddy VDS -

• you will want to download a ssh client called putty – Download Here
• Copy this file to your desktop, double click putty.exe , and you should see something like this -

• In the host name field I have www.yourdomain.com . replace yourdomain with your domain name.
• Click on the open button on the bottom right, and a shell should pop up, along with a warning that looks like this (you can click OK to the warning)

• Now skip past the linux section

If you are running Linux or Unix start here -

• Open up a command line terminal
• ssh using your godaddy simple control panel username example -

ssh your-godaddy-control-panel-username@www.yourdomain.com

• If this is your first time connecting to this server, you will be prompted to accept an unkown ssh key into known_hosts, choose yes to accept

Both Windows, Linux and Unix Continue Here –

• Enter your the password you use to access your GoDaddy Simple Control Panel Interface
• You will be presented with what looks like a DOS window, this is called a secure shell terminal. Type in the username you use to access your Godaddy Simple Control Panel and then hit enter

• Now type in the password that you use to access your Simple Control Panel Interface and hit enter

• Congratulations, if you see the window below you are now shelled into your virtual dedicated server.

Change to the Root user

• Now that you are shelled into a Linux device you need to escalate your privileges to get administrator level access. In the Unix world this user is known as Root. You can change to this user, and get full system privileges by using the following command.

su – root

• You will be presented with a password prompt, enter in the same password that you have used to log into your Simple Control Panel Interface
• You are now root, be careful with what command you enter under this user, as you can do some damage if you are careless

Clean out your servers memory

• Most recent Redhat direvatives (including Centos) utilize a tool called yum to add and remove packages. This is also true with your linux servers at GoDaddy.
• you need to install a tool called memhog, it is part of a package called numactl that is normally used to assign specific process’s to specific cpu’s in a multi-core system. We will be using it today to fix GoDaddy’s memory hogging application

yum install numactl

• choose yes to all the prompts, and numactl will automatically be downloaded and installed on your server

Stop GoDaddy Simple Control Panel, and Tomcat, and tell them not to start automatically when your server restarts.

• Tomcat is a special type of webserver for Java based applications. Godaddy uses it to run their control panel interface. 99.99999 percent of users will not need to use Tomcat. If you do need to use Tomcat then you are a technical user and will know what to do.
• In Linux, server applications are called daemons. The are executed by init scripts. We will use these scripts to turn off these server applications
• Turn off the TurboPanel daemon ( this is the process that runs your simple control panel web interface

/etc/init.d/turbopanel stop

• Next we need to turn off Tomcat

/etc/init.d/tomcat55 stop

• Now that we have these services turned off, we need to make sure that they don’t come back when we reboot the server. We can do this by using the chkconfig command.
• Stop the Simple Control Panel Interface from starting automatically by executing the following command

chkconfig turbopanel off

• Stop the Tomcat server from starting automatically by executing the following command

chkconfig tomcat55 off

Clean the mess GoDaddy made of your servers memory

• A couple steps back we installed numactl. The executable we wanted out of this package is memhog. Issue the following command to take your memory back. This command will overwrite 200 megabytes of your memory, allowing the rest of your applications to get access to that memory.

memhog 200m

• This will Clear out the memory that GoDaddy’s application took over, and allow the rest of your daemons to run fine.

Great, my server is running better now. But I want to use my Simple Control Panel Interface. How do I do that?

• Easy, all you need to do is temporarily start the turbopanel daemon. When you are done making changes, you can turn it off again

/etc/init.d/tomcat55 start

/etc/init.d/turbopanel start

• When you are done, don’t forget to turn it off

/etc/init.d/turbopanel stop

/etc/init.d/tomcat55 stop

*** UPDATE *** *** UPDATE ***

I managed to stay with Godaddy and use their Virtual Dedicated Servers for 12 months. However I have moved to a new hosting provider (rimuhosting) in the spring of 2009. My last straw with GoDaddy occurred when I noticed that even with my memory utilization under control my applications were performing poorly. I shelled into verify and found that the virtual disk I/O was severly limited.

Performance issues –

Simple command to determine directory size on GoDaddy VPS

[root@ip-72-167-15-128 home]# time du -hs
1.3G    .
real    0m49.013s
user    0m0.011s
sys    0m0.062s

Simple command to determine directory size on Rimuhosting VPS
[root@colinmcnamara home]# time du -hs
1.3G    .
real    0m0.343s
user    0m0.050s
sys    0m0.290s

Translated into english, it took 49 seconds to execute a simple command on my GoDaddy server, and it too 0.34 seconds (under 1 second) to execute the same command on my virtual server at Rimuhosting.

On top of that, I was paying $32 dollars a month to GoDaddy for a server with 256 megs of ram as well as a FTP backup account. When I created my short list of hosts, I noticed that I was not getting the best deal by staying with GoDaddy.

Pricing at Rimuhosting

• Virtual Dedicated Server 190 Megabytes RAM – $19.95
• Virtual Dedicated Server 400 Megabytes RAM – $29.95
• Virtual Dedicated Server 900 Megabytes RAM – $39.95
• Virtual Dedicated Server 1150+ Megabytes RAM – $49.95

One thing you may notice, is that for the same price as the base GoDaddy VDS ($29.95) you get 400 Megabytes of RAM instead of 256. (and they won’t put on a memory sucking turbopanel app) On top of that, things that I had to pay extra for at GoDaddy such as backup space, backup mail relays, and DNS service came bundled for free.

I made the choice to move to Rimuhosting, and the service has been superior to GoDaddy in every single way. If you get sick of GoDaddy like I did, you might want to check Rimuhosting out, I think you’ll like them.Similar Posts:

• What should I do this thanksgiving break?
• Zone based IOS firewalls
• Routers can email you when they go down
• New features in VMware 3.1
• Cisco NX-OS 4.0 | Next Generation Internet Operating System
• Identity aware networking using Cisco TrustSec

--Colin McNamara

Why GoDaddy Linux Virtual Dedicated Hosting Sucks & How to Fix It

For the engineering perspective on this, the CCDE is equivalent  to the CCIE. However, the CCDE is focused on design and architecture rather then implementation. Where the CCIE (R&S, Voice, Security, Service Provider, Storage) is focused on implementation, the CCDE is focused more on the pre-sales design and architecture efforts. I am personally looking forward to the lab being released, as it provides a certification to validate the skill set needed to be an sales engineer on Enterprise accounts, or to be a network architect at an Enterprise corporation.

It is funny how small a world it is. Eplus (the company I work for) CEO – Phil Norton was quoted on Cisco’s press release -

“Certifications provide a stamp of approval that validates the quality of our organization’s employees,” said Phil Norton, chairman, CEO and president of ePlus. “The CCDE isn’t about operations; it’s about recognizing the value of network designers and honoring their core skills that provide a real value to our business and our customers.”

My gut feel when I first got invited to the CCDE beta program was that this will become a requirement for the Channel. I think Phil’s statement cements that gut feel into a reality. Obtaining a CCDE will become similar to the CCIE – a check box that you must attain to work with the top VAR’s out there. This makes me extremely grateful that I was lucky enough to be invited into the beta group to be allowed first crack at this gem of a certification.Similar Posts:

• It’s on like Donkey Kong – CCDE practical registration is open
• CCDE Practical – Beta candidate deadline August 1 2008
• Cisco Certified Architect – Board examination above the CCIE and CCDE
• Are you a kick ass engineer looking to grow?
• Challenges integrating VMware into Cisco networks
• About Colin McNamara

--Colin McNamara

Cisco Certified Design Expert – CCDE – officially released by Cisco

CERTIFICATIONS / ACCREDITATIONS HELD

• CCIE – Cisco Systems Internetwork Expert #18233
• VCP – VMware Certified Professional
• CDCUCSS – Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist
• VSP – VMware Sales Professional
• VTSP – VMware Technical Sales Professional
• TSS – Cisco Technical Solutions Specialist, Data Center
• GCIH – GIAC Certified Incident Handler
• CCVP – Cisco Certified Voice Professional
• CSNSSS – Cisco Storage Networking Solutions Support Specialist
• CSNSDS – Cisco Storage Network Solutions Design Specialist
• CADCNSS – Cisco Advanced Data Center Networking Infrastructure Support Specialist
• CCIE Storage Networking
• RHCE v4/5 – Redhat Certified Engineer #804006368822511
• RHCT v4/5 – Redhat Certified Technician #804006368822511
• EMCPA – EMC Proven Professional Associate – Information Storage and Management
• NSCA – Netscaler Certified Administrator #2005072
• NACE – Network Appliance Certified Expert #12912
• NACP – Network Appliance Certified Professional #12017 – Data Protection
• NACP – Network Appliance Certified Professional #11985 – Storage Area Network
• NACP – Network Appliance Certified Professional #12911 – High Availability

Retired Certifications

• Cisco Qualified Specialist – IP Telephony Support
• Cisco Qualified Specialist – IP Telephony Design
• Cisco Qualified Specialist – IP Telephony Operations
• Cisco Wireless LAN Design Specialist
• Cisco Wireless LAN Support Specialist

PROTOCOL PROFICIENCY

EIGRP, OSPF, RIP, BGP, MPLS,  Spanning Tree, Rapid Spanning Tree, VPC, VSS, VDC, TRILL, Fabric Path, OTV ATM, RTP, SIP, H.323, LWAPP, RADIUS, TACACS+, Ethernet, Fibre Channel, iSCSI, NFS FCIP, FCP, FSPF, NDMP 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, RBE, ISDN, SNMP

Virtualization , Parallel and High Performance Compute Platforms

VMware ESX, Kernel Virtual Machine, Xen, Platform LSF, Sun Grid Engine, Hadoop

VOICE and VOICE OVER IP

CallManager, Unity, ICS7750, PBX Trunking, SRST, Active Directory Integration, Extended Services, Call Detail Recording, Automated Attendant, Extension, Mobility, Asterisk, Callware and VSR VM.

HARDWARE

Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) 6100, 2100, 5100, Nexus 7000, Nexus 5000, Nexus 2000 and Nexus 1000v switches, Catalyst 1900-6509 switches, 1600-7500 series routers, Cisco PIX firewalls, Cisco Load Balancers, Cisco

MDS , F5 Load Balancers, Netscreen / Juniper Firewalls, Cisco VPN3000 VPN concentrators, Cisco ASA Adaptive Security Appliances, Nortel Contivity VPN Concentrators,  Aironet Access Points and Bridges, Airespace LWAPP

concentrators. 3com TotalConnect racks, Ascend dial concentrators, Netscaler Load balancers, SSL accelerators, SSL VPN concentrators. Brocade Silkworm, HP Eva Storage

NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Nagios, Cacti, NTOP, IPswitch What’s Up Gold, BIG Brother, Spectrum Network Management, Kiwi Syslog,, MRTG , HP OpenView, Cisco Secure Intrusion Detection system,

Cisco Network Based Application Recognition, Snort IDS, Netscreen Firewall Manager, Unified Compute System Manager

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Redhat, Suse and Ubuntu Linux, Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows XP, NT4.0, BSD, Solaris, OSX

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS

Consulting, Valued Added Reseller, Large Enterprise, Startup, Banking, Service Provider, Software Development, Manufacturing, Military

EMPLOYMENT

6/11 -  Present , Nexus IS

Director, Data Center Practice

Responsible for got to market strategy for Nexus IS, a national Cisco DVAR.

Accomplishments

• TBD

1/07 – 6/11, ePlus Technology

Consulting Systems Engineer – Data Center (10/08 – 6/11)

Transformed ePlus western region from a #3 and #2 ranked voice and campus partner to the #1 ranked Data Center partner in Northern California

Accomplishments

• Changed regional sales focus from technology silo’s to solutions based selling covering network, systems, storage and applications under one umbrella
• Developed and deployed go to market strategy for Cisco’s Unified Computing System resulting in significant competitive advantage in the western United States.
• Deployed the first Nexus 7000/5000/2000 architecture into production securing competitive advantage across multiple verticals.

• Increased Data Center revenues year over year in the worst economy in a century.
• Attracted and retained top industry talent.
• Leveraged unique technology positioning to win multiple key global clients.
• Partnered with business units inside of Cisco, resulting in key product enhancements as well as increased revenue for both ePlus and Cisco.
• Passed multiple certifications resulting in ePlus being able to sell and install EMC Vblock.

1/07 – 6/11, ePlus Technology

Senior Systems Engineer (1/07 – 10/08)

Accelerate Technical Sales, design and implement network, storage, voice and systems solutions for ePlus Southern California customers.

Accomplishments

• Changed regional sales focus from technology silo’s to solutions based selling covering network, systems, storage and applications under one umbrella.
• Established a trend of Advanced Technology account wins.
• Accelerated ePlus’s southern California sales by providing high-end engineering support.
• Integrated MPLS service provider designs into cutting edge Enterprise and Casino Gaming solutions.
• Filled PM and lead network engineer roles for large publicly traded company data center migrations.
• Created modular Cisco design / quote format and menu based hardware and services options to address rapidly changing customer needs.

9/05 – 1/07 ID Analytics

Lead Network Engineer

Lead team of four engineers, Define network and application integration architecture for large SaaS (financial cloud) analytics deployment , Leverage networking technology to increase security and availability, and decrease development and product deployment timelines

Accomplishments

• Led team of engineers responsible for all Production and Back Office systems in 2 offices and 3 datacenters
• Designed and Implemented ID Analytics Phase2 datacenter, processing 1.8 million financial transactions daily.
• Designed and Implemented Contents Switching and SSL offloading solution, enabled non-disruptive scaling of core products
• Integrated ID Analytics product with the largest card processors in the world – Equifax, Visa, TransUnion, etc.
• Designed and integrated centralized Fiber Channel and ISCSI SAN solution, increasing application speed and decreasing production database refresh times from 4 weeks to 1 week.
• Managed and maintained over 130 terabytes of storage
• Created lights out server imaging and deployment solution for remote datacenters
• Deployed and integrated monitoring solutions utilizing open source technology
• Created user emulation probes for real time application monitoring and trending of production systems
• Worked with development and Analytics to create structured Development and QA environments
• Spearheaded project to change Analytics / Informatics environment from “unix for workgroups” to high performance computing environment (HPC)
• Provide structured documentation to US Government and Corporate auditors
• Utilized project management skills for international rollouts

2/04 – 8/2005 Openwave Systems
Senior Network Engineer, Strategic Design and Integration Group
Provide technical leadership, Define network architecture, Establish standards and technical vision. Responsible for researching, developing, and architecting technical solutions to business needs.

Accomplishments

• Designed Openwave’s new Pacific Datacenter Networks, with 900 production, and 2000 development servers.
• Designed Openwave’s Pacific Shores Campus Networks, and Showcase Datacenter.
• Responsible for hardware acquisition budget of 1.7 million dollars
• Established ISCSI IP based SAN infrastructure with DR components in 4 major datacenters worldwide
• Promoted from the ranks, moving from running our VOIP phone systems, to Network team lead, to Senior Network Engineer in the Strategic Design and Integration team.
• Active and engaged member of multiple boards covering design review, change control, and security
• Negotiated with Cisco and SBC regarding datacenter purchases saving $906,000 off list price.
• Renegotiated Cisco support saving Openwave nearly $600,000 over our three year term
• Established improved data center controls, allowing Openwave to pass Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) audits
• Wrote and ran multiple RFP, RFQ, and RFI’s
• Utilized project management skills for international rollouts
• Managed, Piloted, and Installed new wireless systems for our Customer Briefing Center
• Responsible for 6 VOIP clusters around the world
• Recipient of multiple awards recognizing dedication and quality work.
• Attended continuing training for security management (CISSP)

2/03 – 1/04 USMC Reservist activated in support of Operation Enduring Freedom
Information Services Coordinator
Implement and maintain Tactical Data Networks, Provide consulting services to hosting units. Maintain Microsoft Exchange servers in both tactical and garrison environments. Perform security audits and remediation. Train support personnel.

Accomplishments

• Performed Disaster recovery of routed ATM LANE environment for Marine Corps Air Station Yuma enabling over 3000 users to resume work (awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for that event)
• Performed security audit and created a security and performance remediation plan for MCAS Yuma
• Provided project management and security audit skills to 3^rd Marine Air Wing Yuma server support teams, managed server security audit, security remediation, and SMS rollout.
• Designed and implemented Nagios network monitoring system at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.
• Implemented Norton Antivirus server for MWSS 473
• Provided training on to data teams from MWSS 473, MCAS Yuma Station IT, and 3^rd Marine Air Wing Yuma server teams.

12/02 – 2/04 2 Cups Solutions, Pleasanton , Ca
Principal Consultant
Founded 2 Cups Solutions to provide cutting edge Voice, Data, Wireless and Security services to clients in the San Francisco bay and Fresno areas.

Accomplishments

• Implemented WAN failover solution at two City of Hayward fire stations.
• Implemented email and web solution for Express Mobile Notary.
• Developed and implemented business plan focusing on State and Local Government contracts.

2/02 – 12/02 ExtraTeam, Pleasanton , Ca
Senior Systems Engineer
Design, Installation, Configuration and Maintenance of network systems consisting of Cisco CallManager, Unity, Cisco Secure ACS, LEAP secured wireless, Aironet, Cisco routers and switches, PIX firewalls, and VPN3000 concentrators. Integrating all systems with Active Directory. Performed VOIP feasibility studies. Managed the entire business cycle including sales, design, installation, training and maintenance.

Accomplishments

• Integrated CallManager voice system with Active Directory
• Recovered a failed CallManager implementation at Phase 2 Strategies (PR firm for Logitech). Implemented CallManager with up to date hardware and software, upgraded Unity up to reasonably current levels. Brought up remote office in Phoenix utilizing SRST.
• Implemented City wide wireless network integrated with active directory for the City of Hayward
• Implemented VPN Concentrators in conjunction with multiple levels of firewalls for City of Hayward and Hayward PD to meet CLETS requirements.
• Implemented network configuration management system responsible for the city of Hayward.
• Implemented new wan for Livermore Pleasanton Fire department moving fire stations from isdn to T1 and Gigabit fiber lines in conjunction with moving the location for the network core.
• Designed and implemented IPSEC based wan for Universal life resources, allowing nationwide secure remote office connectivity while minimizing wan connection costs.
• Designed CallManager based VOIP system for a 27 site school district
• Provided emergency support to Fire and Police agencies across the bay area
• Performed security remediation for a large bay area company
• Participated in large switched network cutover from 7500 to a 6509 with flex-wan modules for Stanislaus County.
• Achieved technical certifications for ExtraTeam to become certified under both the Wireless and IP Telephony revised specifications.

7/01 – 2/02 Infobond Inc. Burlingame , Ca
Network Engineer

Responsible for engineering duties in a leadership role. Integrated legacy PBX’s using VOIP technology. Used Quality of service to ensure VOIP service levels. Support legacy voice over IP and voice over Frame Relay technologies. Upgrade from legacy voice integrations to state of the art VOIP integrations. Create project plans and act on them.

Accomplishments

• Cut over evergreen lines shipping terminal from legacy 3com equipment to VOIP enabled Cisco routers and switches. Accomplished all work during Union stand downs.
• Contracted to Openwave, Inc. to run Remote Access while the engineer was on leave. Ran Remote Access for 5 weeks, resolving DSL RLAN issues and IPSec issues, while reducing trouble ticket backload to manageable levels. Assisted other engineers when needed.
• Implemented Cisco 6509’s to replace aging core network of a Benchmark Capital (bay area investment firm).
• Diagnosed and resolved VOIP issues that were stopping call center rollouts for Embarcadero Systems (a large bay area shipping company).

03/00 – 7/01 Knapp Publishing Corporation, San Ramon, Ca
Network Systems Administrator

Responsible for day-to-day operations of e-commerce data center, and wide area networks Performed DNS changes for both internal and external networks. Designed, piloted, and implemented network changes. Installation configuration and maintenance of NT, and Windows 2k file, print, and web servers

Accomplishments

• Improved service levels from 90% to 99.99%, enhanced security and increased bandwidth were benefits derived from implementing a state-of-the-art web hosting data center
• Implemented a network monitoring system to document, report, and notify of network status.
• Designed and implemented ISDN failover of Frame-Relay Network.
• Designed, piloted, and implemented network changes.
• Replaced NT servers with Linux based servers, integrated with the Windows network

01/98 – 03/00 DKA Computers Inc. Clovis, Ca
Manager Information Services (01/99 – 03/00 )

Ran day to day operations of a large valley ISP. Worked with systems manufacturing to bundle client software with all new PC’s. Partnered with local ISP’s to provide access numbers across the valley.

Accomplishments

• Managed web development, and professional services
• Moved web hosting from IIS on Windows NT to APACHE on Linux based servers, drastically increasing site availability
• Produced a forms based web application to configure custom systems online.
• Designed and implemented an IPSec based WAN connecting 3 stores point of sales systems.
• Managed corporate office and data center relocation project.

Senior PC Service Technician (01/98 – 01/99)

Provide on call service. Staff PC help desk. Provide direct customer systems support while maximizing company revenues. Configured all servers ordered from manufacturing.

Accomplishments

• Responsible for all day to day service activities for a 13 million dollar company. Management of 4 team members. Directly responsible for customer satisfaction
• Implemented hard drive imaging system, decreasing both warranty costs and turnaround time
• Installed and configured SCO Unix reservation system for National Park service, Kings Canyon
• Deploy Citrix Winframe Systems, Windows NT 4.0 Systems
• Designed, implemented inventory tracking database, reducing required stock on hand by $40,000

MILITARY

1996 – 2004 UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE
Have held U.S. Government security clearance – Secret

EDUCATION

Ongoing professional education

Sans CISSP + Track

University of Oklahoma extension – Fire Science

Cisco Networking AcademySimilar Posts:

• What does it take to pass the CCIE exam?
• I’ll be at Cisco Live 2008 (networkers) in Orlando all week
• About Colin McNamara
• Cisco Certified Design Expert – CCDE – officially released by Cisco
• Challenges integrating VMware into Cisco networks
• Darrel Hinshaw – New Triple CCIE [Storage]!!!!!!!

--Colin McNamara

Resume – Colin McNamara, CCIE #18233

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 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 has left ePlus Technology
• Cool new features in 12.4(15)T
• Are you a kick ass engineer looking to grow?
• Resume – Colin McNamara, CCIE #18233
• I’ll be at Cisco Live 2008 (networkers) in Orlando all week
• Cisco NX-OS 4.0 | Next Generation Internet Operating System

--Colin McNamara

About Colin McNamara

Though CCIEs are members of an exclusive group, they can be found in countries on every continent. Use the map and tables below to discover your peers around the world.

Americas EMEA Pacific Rim Africa Asia Cana Europe Middle East Pacific Islands South America United States

Total of Worldwide CCIEs:		15658 (last updated 11.14.2007)
Total of Routing and Switching CCIEs:		14329
Total of Security CCIEs:		1207
Total of Service Provider CCIEs:		650
Total of Storage Networking CCIEs:		99
Total of Voice CCIEs:		601

Multiple Certifications:

Copyright ©2008 | Colin McNamara | CCIE 18233 | All Rights Reserved”

Colin McNamara
CCIE #18233

http://www.2cups.com

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

• Darrel Hinshaw – New Triple CCIE [Storage]!!!!!!!
• What does it take to pass the CCIE exam?
• About Colin McNamara
• Cool new features in 12.4(15)T
• And it begins again – On the road to my CCIE in Storage
• Passed CCDE written and Recertified my CCIE – Killed two birds with one stone

--Colin McNamara

Updated CCIE numbers

This highlights a pretty fundamental trend. Vendors imbed search functionality inside their own apps, or at least they attempt to. But god forbid you want to search across multiple applications or repositories.

In the past the solution was to expose a http interface into your repository, then use a spider to index said interface. This presents one problem – documents placed into repositories have horribly non-descriptive url’s. So as I am running my intranet search I hope and pray that someone put descriptive comments that are indexed by the spider. Sadly, I rarely have luck.

That highlights the second problem. Users are horrible about populating metadata within their documents. I am as guilty as anybody. I have been known to publish files with a less then descriptive name, and then leave my metadata blank. Recently however, I have improved my behavior. This behavior modification was brought on by using M$ SharePoint. Its basically a wiki front end to a SQL database, which is good and bad. What it does do good is encourage end users like me to utilize metadata for organizational structures instead of the classic folder method. It seems that as time goes on, metadata becomes more and more important in data classification. And it seems like both end users and large sites are catching on.

One thing I have noticed, is that pretty much every content provider is publishing their information via RSS feeds. It is about freaking time. Now end users just like me can have all their favorite information sources presented to them in one aggregated view.

This tactic is being used on the large user sites, because that is exactly what they want. If they make it easy for end users to get to content, they sell more product / show adds. This same tactic seems valid for corporate intranets. I can see an RSS feed of a project site you are working on, or coworkers site. Communicating status without adding to meeting burdens. Or to expand on that idea, RSS feeds doing keyword searches for patterns that you are interested in. I think there is true value is gathering information relevant to your job, without working to hard to do it.

This would be quite an accomplishment. Classically corporate apps seem to be architected to focus on capturing files and data. And on the flipside, they are pretty bad at expressing said information outside or themselves. You might call it a black hole of corporate data. So by combining RSS output of disparate corporate applications, with a RSS spider engine you should be able to get a nice summary pushed from disparate applications with links to extended metadata contained in these feeds. Maybe now I can find that file…

–Colin McNamara
Copyright ©2008 | Colin McNamara | CCIE 18233 | All Rights Reserved”

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--Colin McNamara

RSS feeds – an intranet aggregation solution?