Boy Singkit da Techie and Piktyur laber

New Equipments

2007-08-12T04:01:00.000+08:00

New Gears...

2 pc one mouse and keyboard

2007-03-08T17:26:00.000+08:00

Before, I used to have 2 keyboards and 2 mouse on my desk. I do network administration so I have to keep many windows open. Good thing I came across Synergy!

Synergy makes it convenient to have only one set of keyboard and mouse, but I can traverse to the other PC and monitor via IP.

Good thing about Synergy is it's free and GPL'd too!

More information and download here.

Philippines new Internet Exchange!

2007-01-29T20:26:00.000+08:00

Philippine OpenIX will be the newest addition to Internet Exchanges here in the Philippine networking world.

Here are some details about this IX.

-Carrier-neutral IPv4 and IPv6 Multilateral Peering Exchange
-Non-profit Membership-based
-Open to all
-Layer 2 Exchange (supports 10/100/1000Base T interconnect)
-BGP Peering (member needs own ASN)
-Managed and operated by DOST-ASTI(research agency)
-Location at Innove MK2 Data Center (former Ayalaport), Pasay Road Extension, Makati City
-Supported by CICT, PHNOG, Innove, Cisco and PCH
-First come, first connect policy

More information can be found at
http://www.phopenix.net/

We are hoping that it would inevitably spur the growth of local content, local hosting and local traffic. This would mean better experience, more stable and cheaper since local traffic wouldn't pass through expensive upstreams. This is going to be a distant dream, but I hope someday we'll be something like South Korea.

Babelgum

2007-01-29T20:12:00.000+08:00

Just joined the Babelgum beta testing for having a TV-like experience on your computer.

So far, there are only a small amount of content available for viewing, quality is ok but could be better specially on full-screen.

The Life of a NOC Engineer

2006-11-20T20:17:00.000+08:00

Cisco and Juniper

2006-11-20T20:14:00.000+08:00

Running Cisco Catalyst?

2006-08-29T21:10:00.000+08:00

We've stumbled upon a concern on our Cisco Catalyst 3750's and you may face the same dilemma too in the future especially on large networks. Cisco's 3750 has 12k mac-address support, yes based on the data sheet. This is not turned on by default, by default, maximum number of mac-address that you can have on a stack is 6k. Why is this?

Read on about SDM, Cisco's Switching Database Manager for the pro's and con's of each SDM template

Click here!

Segway on another topic!

Another SDM, the Cisco Security Device Manager makes you control security aspects of your router or switch using a web utility, not my taste though. But you might like it. It's free by the way.

Download it here
http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/sdm

Or try it out first with this live demo
Click here!

Ciao!

VPLS

2006-08-29T21:07:00.000+08:00

If you are a network administrator, get ready to know VPLS

http://vpls.org/vpls_technical_overview.shtml

If Ethernet over MPLS is point to point, VPLS is multipoint and more. I am starting to like the flexibility of VPLS when I implement solutions for connectivity.

BBS

2006-07-15T07:09:00.000+08:00

Something flew into my mind and thought if there are still some BBS's here in the Philippines today, and guess what, there still are!

I started out BBS when DOS was still the OS of the future hehe, running Windows 3.1 back then was expensive, because everything is expensive (the ram, the harddisk, the processor) even the pirated copy of Windows 95 OSR2 costs 800 pesos! damn!

When I bought my first 486dx2 pc, i also bought a 28.8 creative external modem, the fastest back then was 33.6kbps. Since there's no internet or it is very very expensive, I'll login to BBS or Bulletin Board Systems. Definition here. Here, I would download files, games, read mails (board only mails or fidonet/interboard mails). Since most will only let you login once a day and for only 30mins, you'll have to hop around BBS's. I used to hop around Livewire Manila, Hollywood BBS, The Filebank BBS, Cool Call BBS etc.

It is also the BBS where I got my very first email, if i may recall it was @filebankbbs.znn.com hrmm can't recall. It was were I first got an international electronic mail when my friend who went to China emailed me, being a newbie that I was, I was so excited hahaha.

So many stories about BBS's here in Metro Manila but can't tell them all here. Haay, from the long list of Joel Mique, now it's down to a small file, only a few lines left. Most "techie" nowadays may haven't even heard or have used a BBS, but then again, there's the internet already. Maybe BBS's are just for us sentimentals. Maybe you could login to a BBS here someday.

Some links:

Terminate 5 - http://www.terminate.com/download.htm This is what I use to connect to BBS's and prolly host a BBS for my friends to download files from my PC via xmodem protocol.

Bluewave <-> QWK Offline mail reader http://www.juge.com/bbs/Dos.2.Html

Check out some BBS in Metro Manila - http://www.livewire.com.ph/philbbs/

at
atz
atl1 <- silence the modem speaker so parents wouldn't know you're still awake hehe
atdt5788212
ath

Why I hate Windows

2006-07-15T02:01:00.000+08:00

Imagine yourself working late at night, working overtime. Then you'll be bugged by this message

Who cares about that font, for it to be considered as a critical update, shees, and windows is telling me I might have to reboot my computer for the update to take effect.

Windows crap!

What Is VRRP?

2006-07-15T01:43:00.000+08:00

VRRP stands for Virtual Router Redunduncy Protocol, in the Cisco world, it's counterpart is the HSRP or Hot Standby Routing Protocol. I was addicted to HSRP, not knowing that it's Cisco only. Now, we'll standardize all redunduncy to VRRP so that we'll be vendor independent.

VRRP's configuration is much like HSRP's and based on my test, can go hand in hand with each other for a smoother transition.

Router A
interface gigabitethernet0/1
ip address x.x.x.3 x.x.x.x
vrrp 100 description Virtual IP for AccessNet
authentication text blah
vrrp 100 ip x.x.x.1
vrrp 100 priority 200
vrrp 100 preempt

Router B
interface gigabitethernet0/1
ip address x.x.x.4 x.x.x.x
vrrp 100 description Virtual IP for AccessNet
authentication text blah
vrrp 100 ip x.x.x.1
vrrp 100 priority 210
vrrp 100 preempt

The higher the priority value, the most prioritized and will be Master, the other will be on standby.

One lesson learned, if there's an IETF standard version, use it!

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3768.txt

SWIDB Limit?

2006-07-15T01:34:00.000+08:00

Got this error:

%INTERFACE_API-1-NOMORESWIDB: No more SWIDB can be allocated, maximum allowed 20050
-Traceback= 6076CE60 6076D630 60C192BC 60C19428 60C197F0 60C1C0A0 60C1A434 60C1AD90 60C1BD38 60C1F2CC

I now have 20049 IDB's running because of unterminated/not properly closed virtual-access interfaces. Sheesh, there's no mention of any of this in the Cisco bug database for Cisco 7200's

According to Cisco's semi robotic Error Message Decoder

1. %INTERFACE_API-1-NOMORESWIDB: No more SWIDB can be allocated, maximum allowed [dec]
No more interfaces can be created because the maximum number of SWIDB allowed for this platform has been reached.

Recommended Action: Copy the error message exactly as it appears on the console or in the system log, contact your Cisco technical support representative, and provide the representative with the gathered information.
Related documents- No specific documents apply to this error message.

Funny thing, looks like this Error Message Decoder doubles as a Sales Agent for Cisco TAC.

Don't use c7200-is-mz.123-9c.bin IOS to avoid this kind of scalability error.

My new language

2006-06-06T20:48:00.000+08:00

From tomorrow's training afterwards, I'll be learning a new language, the ShadeTree language to run my new toy.

protocols {
ospf {
rib-group ospf-multicast;
area 0.0.0.0 {
interface ge-u0/1.0;
interface ge-u0/2.0;
interface ge-u0/3.0 {
passive;
}
interface lo0.0 {
passive;
}
}
}
}

New learning curve for me, a new challenge!

IPv6 Day

2006-06-06T12:06:00.000+08:00

Today June 6, 2006 is IPv6 Day, it's the day were the IPv6 3FFE:: will be phased out and all IPv6 address space given for the 6bone should be shifted to IANA.

Let's start IPv6!

More info here

LOST

2006-05-31T16:51:00.000+08:00

Am a very big fan of Lost, been watching every episode every week since the start. I watch it while the hotcake is still hot. Well season 2 just ended and a long wait again till season 3. If you don't want to download it via torrents, well watch it streaming over the internet at www.abc.com together with latest episodes of Desperate Housewives, Alias and Commander in Chief. Happy watching!

MRTG for high speed interfaces

2006-05-10T17:33:00.000+08:00

If you have > 100Mbit/s interfaces, for graphs to work properly, you have to use 64bit counters and to do that place this command when you do cfgmaker

--snmp-options=:::::2

RTFM at http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/doc/index.en.html

Top 5 Freeware tools for Cisco Network Administrators

2006-05-10T17:12:00.000+08:00

Well an excerpt from the Q1 Cisco Packet Magazine

1. Putty for SSH access (putty.nl)
2. PumpKIN TFTP server (http://kin.klever.net/pumpkin)
3. Kiwi Syslog server (kiwisyslog.com)
4. Nmap Network scanner (nmap.com)
5. Protocol Analyzer or Network Analyzer (www.ethereal.com)

My take and what I use

TFTP Server?
1. Solarwinds TFTP Server (www.solarwinds.net)
2. 3COM TFTP Server (www.3com.com)

Console Access?
1. minicom in linux/unix
2. SecureCRT (www.vandyke.com)

Scratch paper?
1. Windows notepad
2. UltraEdit for blazing fast search and replace (www.ultraedit.com)

SIP SoftPhone?
1. Xten (www.xten.com)

New Toy

2006-05-10T16:56:00.000+08:00

Got a new toy as a replacement for my 300D system. Taking it for a test drive at UP Museum on Saturday for a Beauty seminar/shoot.

Hurricane Electric TB is down?

2006-05-03T21:40:00.000+08:00

It appears that www.tunnelbroker.net is really down anyway. I've tried rebuilding and recreating the tunnel but to no avail. Now my BGP to them is not working and I can't tunnel through them anymore.

Tried tunneling to www.as8758.net but it sucks at almost 500ms latency, no default /64 IPv6 address space and no BGP read-only sessions.

Using the old HE method, you'll configure as so:

ifconfig gif0 create
ifconfig gif0 tunnel x.x.x.x 212.25.25.23
ifconfig gif0 inet6 2001:08e0:abcd::27e 2001:08e0:abcd::27d prefixlen 128
route -n add -inet6 default 2001:08e0:abcd::27d
ifconfig gif0 up

It works but it sucks.

zebra# traceroute6 www.6bone.net
traceroute6 to 6bone.net (2001:5c0:0:2::24) from 2001:8e0:abcd::27e, 64 hops max, 12 byte packets
1 2001:8e0:abcd::27d 343.678 ms 345.133 ms 345.000 ms
2 e0-0-300.zelja.zh.ipv6.as8758.net 347.566 ms 346.496 ms 343.009 ms
3 2001:7f8:c:8235:194:42:48:75 345.575 ms 344.804 ms 371.430 ms
4 ip-1-3-0-2.sltnxj2.inet6.tele.dk 583.184 ms 591.488 ms 587.080 ms
5 fe0-0.100M.sltnxx1.inet6.tele.dk 589.022 ms 584.015 ms 573.705 ms
6 sl-bb1v6-bru-t-19.sprintv6.net 583.616 ms 583.696 ms 576.803 ms
7 sl-bb1v6-nyc-t-1002.sprintv6.net 578.810 ms 602.737 ms 600.802 ms
8 3ffe:2900:2001:5::2 610.784 ms 599.003 ms 604.576 ms
9 classical.hexago.com 585.289 ms 587.305 ms 597.570 ms

Disclaimer!

2006-05-02T18:23:00.000+08:00

The following posts doesn't reflect the views of my employer and is solely my personal opinions on things techie. Configurations stated here are of my own, it may not work for you and I don't guarantee it will. Comprende?!

Starting out IPv6 and the world of NGN

2006-05-02T18:06:00.000+08:00

With all the hype of IPv6, I decided I'll start out with this technology and do some tests inside our lab machines.

With my following posts, I'll be using this blog as a scratchpad for my dealings with IPv6 in both FreeBSD, Zebra and Cisco.

I'll start out with our assigned IPv6 address space from APNIC which I secured last April 20. Officially our network is 2404:00D0::/32.

To start-out with your IPv6 information, you can browse through the following links.

http://www.ipv6.org
http://www.cisco.com/ipv6
http://www.ipv6style.jp/en/index.shtml
http://www.tunnelbroker.net