2014 11 05 21 43 35

How to produce good documentation – Part 2 – Rack and Server Diagrams

Oh no, diagrams! But, but, I’m not creative!

So we covered the foundation an environment in part 1, which is that hated word, which is documentation,

But that means you need diagrams, which is something most people struggle with, especially using Visio.

You’re not alone, I was the same, my documentation in my early days was shocking, and then I took on a consultancy role, where I was implementing solutions and having to produce documentation for customer. I had a steep learning curve.

So I’m going to take you into the first steps on how to diagram your Racks and the servers in them.

Visio and your stencils

So your going to need Visio, preferably 2013, but 2010 will be fine. And you need stencils of the hardware you’re creating a diagram of.

The best place to get 90% of your Visio Stencils is VisioCafe.

For others that do not appear on there, its easy enough to just google the vendor name plus Visio ;).

Here’s the file for the Visio diagrams.

Creating a diagram of your rack

So this is something I do for most of my customers, creating a diagram of the rack, mainly to show the bits I’ve stuck in, and so the customer knows which server is which, and then can refer to the rest of the document for what that bit of kit does.

2014-11-05_19-52-45 Continue reading How to produce good documentation – Part 2 – Rack and Server Diagrams

CCNP SWITCH

Cisco CCNP 624-813 Switch Exam Experience

ccnp-switch-642-813

So I took and passed my CCNP Switch Exam on Monday morning. 934 out of 1000.

I’ve been meaning to do my CCNP for the past two and a half years, since I passed my CCNA, which doesn’t expire until April 2015, but will be renewed now due to the pass on switch exam.

As you may know, the current 642 CCNP series exams will be retired on 29th January, so I chose this as my hard deadline to pass the exam.

The training resources I used were

You can find my revision notes here.

Exam Experience

Continue reading Cisco CCNP 624-813 Switch Exam Experience

cisco ccnp

Cisco CCNP Training – Bootcamp Roundup

So this post is mainly a big round-up of the day by day posts I made of my CCNP bootcamp notes.

Here is a list by topics covered each day to make it easier for you to jump into.

There is no TSHOOT posts at the moment, as the idea of TSHOOT is covered in ROUTE and SWITCH, however I will post something to do with troubleshooting in the future.

The training resources I used were

For my fancy Visio Diagrams, please find them on dropbox here. (I only ask that credit is given where used, as these were created by myself.) Examples below;

Policy-Based RoutingBGP Topologies - Full mesh - MPLSGateway Load Balacing Protocol

Cisco CCNP Training Course – Day 1 – ROUTE
  • EIGRP
  • EIGRP Timers
  • EIGRP Troubleshooting
  • EIGRP Lab Topolopy

Continue reading Cisco CCNP Training – Bootcamp Roundup

VMware Update Manager

Using VMware Update Manager to automatically download HP Drivers to ESXi

I stumbled across this little gem of a post yesterday, I tried to use the WordPress reblog feature, but it’s not working, so thanks to Kalle who wrote it.

So I’m going to blog it using screenshots from an environment I’ve set it up on.

With HP, you need to use the customized ESXi image to ensure you have all the correct drivers installed so ESXi works properly, which includes that sometimes pesky HPSA driver.

VIB links updated for November 2015 changes to HP Enterprise

What you can do

So basically you can add in the HP Drivers repository into your VMware Update Manager configuration, meaning you can pull down the drivers specific to your HP ESXi hosts for installation.

Keeping your environment happy and up-to-date.

How to set it up

Continue reading Using VMware Update Manager to automatically download HP Drivers to ESXi

Cisco CCNP Training Course – Day 8 – SWITCH

So day 8 essentially was the last day of the bootcamp, with Day 9 + 10 being left for TSHOOT, of which there is very little documented, as its……. troubleshooting a broken system.

So Day 8, let’s get to it.

Here’s whats covered;

  • HSRP Continued…..
    • comparison between HSRP and VRRP
    • GLBP – Gateway Load Balancing Protocol
  • Port-Security
  • Private VLANs
  • AAA – Authentication, Authorization, Accounting
  • VLAN Access-List
  • DHCP Snooping
  • ARP Poisoning / Man in the Middle
  • IP Spoofing
  • Other security considerations
  • Logging
  • MLS-Mutli-Layer Switching
    • Process Switching
    • Fast Switching
    • CEF
  • Voice – IP Telephony
  • QoS – Quality of Service
    • Layer 2 – Class of Service
    • Layer 3 – IP Precedence (Old setting)
    • Layer 3 – DSCP – Sub Marking (New setting)
    • Configuration of QoS
  • And that’s all folks

Continue reading Cisco CCNP Training Course – Day 8 – SWITCH