Instead of using Zterm though, I just fire up terminal and type in screen /dev/tty.usbserial 9600 which works flawlessly.

Cisco CCNP certification is about to become more valuable and more difficult! Cisco is making major changes to the CCNP certification program, retiring two exams (BCRAN and CIT) while updating two old friends, the BSCI and BCMSN exam.  Today, we'll take a look at the changes in the Building Converged Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks (BCMSN) exam.

According to Cisco's exam blueprint, there are some major additions with the introduction of the 642-812 exam.  Wireless access, security, and voice are all rapidly growing features and concerns in today's real-world networks, and Cisco is responding to that by adding all three of these topics to the CCNP BCMSN exam.  Cisco CCNP candidates should expect to be questioned on WLANs as well as wireless clients.

There were some security topics on the 642-811 BCMSN exam, port security and 802.1x among them.  The successful Cisco CCNP certification candidate will now be expected to know about the different network attacks that can take place at the data link layer of the OSI model, including DHCP Spoofing and VLAN Hopping.

There was also just a bit of voice material on the 642-811 BCMSN exam, but you'll have to know more voice to pass the 642-812 exam.   Voice VLANs, voice QoS, and IP Phone configuration are just some of the topics being added to the new BCMSN exam.

Cisco is obviously raising the bar with the new CCNP exams, and this certification is going to be harder to get than ever before.  That also makes it more valuable than ever before, and 2007 will be the best year yet in which to earn your CCNP certification.  Make your plans to earn this valuable Cisco certification, and then put that plan into action!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of over 100 free certification exam tutorials, including <A target="_new" href="http://www.thebryantadvantage.com/">Cisco CCNA certification test prep</a> articles. His exclusive <A target="_new" href="http://www.thebryantadvantage.com/UltimateCCNAStudyPackage.html">Cisco CCNA study guide and Cisco CCNA training </a> is also available!

Visit his blog and sign up for Cisco Certification Central, a daily newsletter packed with CCNA, Network+, Security+, A+, and CCNP certification exam practice questions! A free 7-part course, “How To Pass The CCNA”, is also available, and you can attend an in-person or online  <A target="_new" href="http://www.thebryantadvantage.com/CCNACCNPOnlineAndInPersonBootCamp.htm">CCNA boot camp</a> with The Bryant Advantage!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Bryant http://EzineArticles.com/?Cisco-CCNP-Certification-Training-:--The-New-CCNP-BCMSN-642-812-Exam&id=362097

One of the intriguing aspects of Cisco routers, especially for those new to routing, is how the router chooses which route is the best among those presented by routing protocols, manual configuration, and various other means. While route selection is much simpler than you might imagine, to understand it completely requires some knowledge about the way Cisco routers work.

Processes Involved

There are three processes involved in building and maintaining the routing table in a Cisco router:

• Various routing processes, which actually run a network (or routing) protocol, such as Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS), and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF).
• The routing table itself, which accepts information from the routing processes and also replies to requests for information from the forwarding process.
• The forwarding process, which requests information from the routing table to make a packet forwarding decision.

Let's examine the interaction between the routing protocols and the routing table to understand how the routing table is built.

Building the Routing Table

The main considerations while building the routing table are:

• Administrative distance - This is the measure of trustworthiness of the source of the route. If a router learns about a destination from more than one routing protocol, administrative distance is compared and the preference is given to the routes with lower administrative distance. In other words, it is the believability of the source of the route.
• Metrics - This is a measure used by the routing protocol to calculate the best path to a given destination, if it learns multiple paths to the same destination. Each routing protocol uses a different metric.
• Prefix length

As each routing process receives updates and other information, it chooses the best path to any given destination and attempts to install this path into the routing table. For instance, if EIGRP learns of a path toward 10.1.1.0/24, and decides this particular path is the best EIGRP path to this destination, it tries to install the path it has learned into the routing table.

The router decides whether or not to install the routes presented by the routing processes based on the administrative distance of the route in question. If this path has the lowest administrative distance to this destination (when compared to the other routes in the table), it's installed in the routing table. If this route isn't the route with the best administrative distance, then the route is rejected.

To understand this better, let's look at an example. Assume a router has four routing processes running: EIGRP, OSPF, RIP, and IGRP. Now, all four of these processes have learned of various routes to the 192.168.24.0/24 network, and each has chosen its best path to that network through its internal metrics and processes.

Each of these four processes attempts to install their route toward 192.168.24.0/24 into the routing table. The routing processes are each assigned an administrative distance, which is used to decide which route to install.

Since the internal EIGRP route has the best administrative distance (the smaller the administrative distance, the higher the preference), it's installed in the routing table.

Backup Routes

What do the other protocols, RIP, IGRP, and OSPF, do with the routes that weren't installed? What if the most preferred route, learned from EIGRP, fails? Cisco IOS® Software uses two approaches to solve this problem: The first is to have each routing process attempt to install its best routes periodically. If the most preferred route fails, the next best route (according to administrative distance) succeeds on the next attempt. The other solution is for the routing protocol that failed to install its route in the table to hang on to the route, and tell the routing table process to report if the best path fails.

For protocols that don't have their own routing information tables, such as IGRP, the first method is used. Every time IGRP receives an update about a route, it attempts to install the updated information in the routing table. If there's already a route to this same destination in the routing table, the installation attempt fails.

For protocols that have their own database of routing information, such as EIGRP, IS-IS, OSPF, BGP, and RIP, a backup route is registered when the initial attempt to install the route fails. If the route installed in the routing table fails for some reason, the routing table maintenance process calls each routing protocol process that has registered a backup route, and asks them to reinstall the route in the routing table. If there are multiple protocols with registered backup routes, the preferred route is chosen based on administrative distance.

Adjusting the Administrative Distance

The default administrative distance might not always be right for your network; you may want to adjust them so that RIP routes are preferred over IGRP routes, for instance. Before explaining how to adjust the administrative distances, we need to look at the implications of changing the administrative distance.

Changing the administrative distance on routing protocols can be very dangerous! Changing the default distances can actually lead to routing loops and other oddities in your network. We recommend you change administrative distance with caution, and only after you have thought through what you want to achieve, and all the consequences of your actions.

For entire protocols, changing the distance is relatively easy; simply configure the distance using the distance command in the routing process sub-configuration mode. You can also change the distance for routes learned from one source only in some protocols, and you can change the distance on just some routes.

For static routes, you can change the distance of each route by entering a distance after the ip route command:

ip route network subnet mask next hop distance

You can't change the administrative distance for all the static routes at once.

How Metrics Determine the Route Selection Process

Routes are chosen and built in the routing table based on the routing protocol's administrative distance. The routes learned from the routing protocol with the lowest administrative distance are installed in the routing table. If there are multiple paths to the same destination from a single routing protocol, then the multiple paths would have the same administrative distance and the best path is selected based on the metrics. Metrics are values associated with specific routes, ranking them from most preferred to least preferred. The parameters used to determine the metrics differ for different routing protocols. The path with the lowest metric is selected as the optimal path and installed in the routing table. If there are multiple paths to the same destination with equal metrics, load balancing is done on these equal cost paths. For more information on load balancing see How Does Load Balancing Work?

Prefix Lengths

Let's look at another scenario to see how the router handles another common situation: varying prefix lengths. Assume, again, that a router has four routing processes running on it, and each process has received these routes:

• EIGRP (internal): 192.168.32.0/26
• RIP: 192.168.32.0/24
• OSPF: 192.168.32.0/19

Which of these routes will be installed in the routing table? Since EIGRP internal routes have the best administrative distance, it's tempting to assume the first one will be installed. However, since each of these routes has a different prefix length (subnet mask), they're considered different destinations, and they will all be installed in the routing table.

Let's see how the forwarding engine uses the information from the routing table to make forwarding decisions.

Making Forwarding Decisions

Let's look at the three routes we just installed in the routing table, and see how they look on the router.

router# show ip route
     ....
     D   192.168.32.0/26 [90/25789217] via 10.1.1.1
     R   192.168.32.0/24 [120/4] via 10.1.1.2
     O   192.168.32.0/19 [110/229840] via 10.1.1.3
     ....

If a packet arrives on a router interface destined for 192.168.32.1, which route would the router choose? It depends on the prefix length, or the number of bits set in the subnet mask. Longer prefixes are always preferred over shorter ones when forwarding a packet.

In this case, a packet destined to 192.168.32.1 is directed toward 10.1.1.1, because 192.168.32.1 falls within the 192.168.32.0/26 network (192.168.32.0 to 192.168.32.63). It also falls within the other two routes available, but the 192.168.32.0/26 has the longest prefix within the routing table (26 bits verses 24 or 19 bits).

Likewise, if a packet destined for 192.168.32.100 arrives on one of the router's interfaces, it's forwarded to 10.1.1.2, because 192.168.32.100 doesn't fall within 192.168.32.0/26 (192.168.32.0 through 192.168.32.63), but it does fall within the 192.168.32.0/24 destination (192.168.32.0 through 192.168.32.255). Again, it also falls into the range covered by 192.168.32.0/19, but 192.168.32.0/24 has a longer prefix length.

IP Classless

Where the ip classless configuration command falls within the routing and forwarding processes is often confusing. In reality, IP classless only affects the operation of the forwarding processes in IOS; it doesn't affect the way the routing table is built. If IP classless isn't configured (using the no ip classless command), the router won't forward packets to supernets. As an example, let's again place three routes in the routing table and route packets through the router.

Note: If the supernet or default route is learned via IS-IS or OSPF, the no ip classless configuration command is ignored. In this case, packet switching behavior works as though ip classless were configured.

router# show ip route
....
     172.30.0.0/16 is variably  subnetted, 2 subnets, 2 masks
D        172.30.32.0/20 [90/4879540] via  10.1.1.2
D       172.30.32.0/24  [90/25789217] via 10.1.1.1
S*   0.0.0.0/0 [1/0] via 10.1.1.3

Remembering that the 172.30.32.0/24 network includes the addresses 172.30.32.0 through 172.30.32.255, and the 172.30.32.0/20 network includes the addresses 172.30.32.0 through 172.30.47.255, we can then try switching three packets through this routing table and see what the results are.

• A packet destined to 172.30.32.1 is forwarded to 10.1.1.1, since this is the longest prefix match.
• A packet destined to 172.30.33.1 is forwarded to 10.1.1.2, since this is the longest prefix match.
• A packet destined to 192.168.10.1 is forwarded to 10.1.1.3; since this network doesn't exist in the routing table, this packet is forwarded to the default route.
• A packet destined to 172.30.254.1 is dropped.

The surprising answer out of these four is the last packet, which is dropped. It's dropped because its destination, 172.30.254.1, is within a known major network, 172.30.0.0/16, but the router doesn't know about this particular subnet within that major network.

This is the essence of classful routing: If one part of a major network is known, but the subnet toward which the packet is destined within that major network is unknown, the packet is dropped.

The most confusing aspect of this rule is that the router only uses the default route if the destination major network doesn't exist in the routing table at all.

This can cause problems in a network where a remote site, with one connection back to the rest of the network, is running no routing protocols, as illustrated.

The remote site router is configured like this:

interface Serial 0
     ip address 10.1.2.2 255.255.255.0
   !
   interface Ethernet 0
     ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
   !
   ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.1.2.1
   !
   no ip classless

With this configuration, the hosts at the remote site can reach destinations on the Internet (through the 10.x.x.x cloud), but not destinations within the 10.x.x.x cloud, which is the corporate network. Because the remote router knows about some part of the 10.0.0.0/8 network, the two directly connected subnets, and no other subnet of 10.x.x.x, it assumes these other subnets don't exist and drops any packets destined for them. Traffic destined to the Internet, however, doesn't ever have a destination in the 10.x.x.x range of addresses, and is therefore correctly routed through the default route.

Configuring ip classless on the remote router resolves this problem by allowing the router to ignore the classful boundaries of the networks in its routing table and simply route to the longest prefix match it can find.

Summary

In summary, making a forwarding decision actually consists of three sets of processes: the routing protocols, the routing table, and the actual process which makes a forwarding decision and switches packets. These three sets of processes are illustrated, along with their relationship, below.

The longest prefix match always wins among the routes actually installed in the routing table, while the routing protocol with the lowest administrative distance always wins when installing routes into the routing table.

Still studying for my CCNP and came across this site for configs when using Dynamips:

www.getconfigs.com

Ya está para descargar el Packet Tracer 5. La nueva versión del simulador de Cisco cuenta con varias mejores y una gran cantidad de bugs resueltos.

Entre las mejoras del Packet Tracer 5 encontramos:

• Soporte para Windows (2000, XP, Vista) y Linux (Ubuntuy Fedora).
• Permite configuraciones multiusuario y colaborativas en tiempo real.
• Soporte para IPv6, OSPF multiárea, redistribución de rutas, RSTP, SSH y Switchs multicapa.

Soporta los siguientes protocolos:

• HTTP, Telnet, SSH, TFTP, DHCP y DNS.
• TCP/UDP, IPv4, IPv6, ICMPv4 e ICMPv6.
• RIP, EIGRP, OSPF Multiárea, enrutamiento estático y redistribución de rutas.
• Ethernet 802.3 y 802.11, HDLC, Frame Relay y PPP.
• ARP, CDP, STP, RSTP, 802.1q, VTP, DTP y PAgP.

Nuevas recursos, actividades y demostraciones:

• OSPF, IPv6, SSH, RSTP, Frame Relay, VLAN's, Spanning Tree, etc.

Nota: No soporta IGRP y los archivos hechos con Packet Tracer 5 no son compatibles con las versiones anteriores, pero estas si con el 5.

Descargar Packet Tracer 5 en Español para Windows (solo - 26 MB)

CCNA Wireless recognizes the critical importance of professionals supporting wireless LANS including Networking Associates/Administrators, Wireless Support Specialists and WLAN project managers.
The CCNA Wireless Certification validates candidate's skills in the configuration, implementation and support of wireless LANs, specifically those networks using Cisco equipment. Students completing the recommended Cisco training are provided with information and practice activities to prepare them for, configuring, monitoring and troubleshooting basic tasks of a Cisco WLAN in SMB and Enterprise networks. Employers will be able to validate their staff have the skills needed for basic wireless networking on a Cisco WLAN in SMB and enterprise networks after completing certification.

Exam: 640-721 IUWNE     Implementing Cisco Unified Wireless Networking Essentials (IUWNE)

Let's test your knowledge of important Cisco certification exam topics such as static default routes, access lists, and more!

CCENT Certification:

What command will create a default static route with a next-hop IP address of 30.1.1.1?

Answer: ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 30.1.1.1

We could also specify the local exit interface at the end of that command.

CCNA Certification:

In a Cisco ACL, what can be replaced with the word "any"?

A. A subnet mask of 255.255.255.255.

B. A subnet mask of 0.0.0.0.

C. A wildcard mask of 255.255.255.255.

D. A wildcard mask of 0.0.0.0.

Answer: C.

CCNP Certification / BSCI Exam:

The command summary-address is designed for use on what OSPF router type(s)?

A. ASBRs

B. ABRs

C. Backbone routers

D. Total stub routers

E. Stub routers

Answer: A. The command "summary-address" is designed for use only on an ASBR. This command is used to summarize routes that are being redistributed into OSPF.

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam:

A Cisco switchport is configured with Root Guard. A superior BPDU is received on that port. What will happen?

A. Nothing.

B. The port goes into root-inconsistent state.

C. The port goes into err-disabled state.

D. The port goes into blocking state.

Answer: B. When a superior BPDU is received on a port protected with Root Guard, the port will be placed into root-inconsistent state. This will prevent a switch found off that port from becoming the root bridge.

CCNP Certification / ISCW Exam:

Short answer: What IP protocol number does ESP use?

Answer: ESP uses IP protocol number 50.

CCNP Certification / ONT Exam:

Which of the following phrases does NOT apply to WPA2?

A. dynamically generated keys

B. encryption

C. intrusion detection

D. one-way authentication

Answer: D. WPA2 uses mutual authentication, not one-way authentication.

Look for more free Cisco certification exam training questions on this same website!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free <A target="_new" href="http://www.thebryantadvantage.com/CCNPTrainingStore.htm">CCNP</a> and  <A target="_new" href="http://www.thebryantadvantage.com/">CCNA</a> tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.

You can also visit his blog, which is updated several times daily with new Cisco certification articles, free tutorials, and daily CCNA / CCNP exam questions!

A free 7-part course, "How To Pass The CCNA", is also available.

Earn your <A target="_new" href="http://www.thebryantadvantage.com/UltimateCCNAStudyPackage.html">CCNA certification</a> with The Bryant Advantage!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Bryant http://EzineArticles.com/?Cisco-CCNA,-CCENT,-and-CCNP-Practice-Questions---Static-Default-Routes,-Wildcard-Masks,-And-More&id=1121153

From the basics of router hardware to configuring and troubleshooting BGP, let's test your knowledge of Cisco certification exam topics!

CCENT Certification:

You've just run the show interface ethernet0 command and you see the interface is "administratively down". What causes that?

Answer: The interface is shut down. Just run no shutdown on the interface to open it.  When the interface shows as simply "down", that indicates an issue with the cable, or more likely the interface on the other end of the connection is not open.

The interface can be physically up and logically down, and that's indicated by the output of show interface displaying the message "serialx is up, line protocol is down".  If the line protocol is down, that indicates the lack of a keep alive or a timing issue, such as a missing clockrate command.

CCNA Certification:

What's the broadcast address for a frame?

Answer: The all-Fs MAC address, ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff (or FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF, as there's no difference between upper and lower case in hexadecimal numbering.)

CCNP Certification / BSCI Exam:

What port number does BGP use to create and maintain adjacencies?

Answer: TCP port 179. Don't block that one with an ACL! :)

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam:

What's the maximum number of physical channels that can be placed into an Etherchannel?

Answer: Eight.

CCNP Certification / ONT Exam:

What's the full command for doubling the capacity of the default queue when Priority Queuing is in use?

Answer: Assuming we're using list 1:

priority-list 1 queue-limit 20 40 120 80.

From left to right, we're defining the limit for the high, medium, normal, and low-priority queues. The default queue is the normal-priority queue, and the default capacity for that queue is 60 packets. Even though we're only changing one value, the IOS will make us list a value for all four queues.

Look for more Cisco certification exam questions on this same website!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free <A target="_new" href="http://www.thebryantadvantage.com/CCNPTrainingStore.htm">CCNP</a> and  <A target="_new" href="http://www.thebryantadvantage.com/">CCNA</a> tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.

You can also visit his blog, which is updated several times daily with new Cisco certification articles, free tutorials, and daily CCNA / CCNP exam questions!

A free 7-part course, "How To Pass The CCNA", is also available.

Earn your
<A target="_new" href="http://www.thebryantadvantage.com/UltimateCCNAStudyPackage.html">CCNA certification</a> with The Bryant Advantage!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Bryant [http://ezinearticles.com/?Cisco-CCNA,-CCNP,-and-CCNET-Practice-Questions---Etherchannels,-BGP,-Queuing,-And-More!&id=1122850 ]http://EzineArticles.com/?Cisco-CCNA,-CCNP,-and-CCNET-Practice-Questions---Etherchannels,-BGP,-Queuing,-And-More!&id=1122850