Cisco has just announced that the CCNA 640-802 exam price is now $250, effective immediately!

Like getting the CCNA isn’t hard enough, now if you fail it, the cost, both financially and emotionally is a huge toll!

Well, let’s just make sure we pass our exams the first time….

Cheers!

Todd Lammle

Okay, Yes… The rumors abound suggesting our great Internet, as we know it today, is going the way of the Dodo. We could get on that boat and talk about the end of the Mayan calendar and the Nostradamus’s predictions too, or we can take a more sober approach and look at this issue not hysterically, but in an informed and logical way!

First, I’ll acknowledge the threat is real. Certain large corporations would love to become even larger and not only control our Internet access, but charge us for that “service” in the name of protecting our children from danger and impropriety and saving us adults from viruses and identity theft. Can’t happen you say? I’m telling you it can… Check out this little beauty that was, well, leaked from a supposed large, well, known marketing company about a month ago and is now making its way around the still free Internet (click the image to get the full-sized version):

As an analogy, think about way back when T.V. was free, and there was nothing you bought with that TV except, maybe an antenna. There were only a few channels on the air, though as time went on, more became available—for free. Now I pay somewhere around $130 a month now for HDTVs with satellite connections and a package of about 500 channels. Times have indeed changed… This was unfathomable 20, maybe even 10 years ago, and if I’m not mistaken, coming right up in 2009, there will be no longer be any free TV (analog signals) at all!

So what does this have to do with the Internet? A lot…Most people were getting onto the Internet in the mid 90’s, with many more going online into the late 90’s. Some people still weren’t on the Internet until the 2000s or so, but now, pretty much everyone is. Many of us absolutely need to be online simply to work. How did that happen? Well, let’s look at how this all progressed… First we paid the telephone co. for dial up, and then moved up to some broadband provider, and then, hmmmm… Now you can get one company to provide phone, video and data services…aha! Now we’re talking. Can you see where I’m going with this?

So, yes, theoretically, your Internet access could become controlled by your ISP and /or large corporations selling access packages at different levels/plans depending on your need/desire for access to get to various sites. But it may not turn out that we’re all doomed to this ugly fate. I’ll back the fact that the issue of preserving Net Neutrality is very real, but know that it’s has own league of Big Business behind preserving it! Google, for one, is developing free tools to enable big cable company’s customers to detect when their connections have been throttled, or when their access has been modified in any way. I’ll provide a link to an article detailing all this that came out June 15th in a bit, but for now, to quell your fears I want you to know that there’s a ton of effort happening right now to get laws passed that will block cable companies from this kind of censorship.

The F.C.C. itself has promised to take a serious look into charges that big-time cable and other large companies are planning to attempt an access heist on us. The article also mentions that in May there was a bill re-introduced to Congress asking to redraft the present U.S. Antitrust laws with language that would prevent network operators such as Comcast and AT&T from, I quote, “blocking, impairing, or discriminating against “lawful” Internet content, applications and services, or from charging extra fees for “prioritization or enhanced quality of service.” End quote.

So while plans for an access controlled, “pay per view” Internet may well be being laid, and the threat against Net Neutrality is definitely genuine, to me there’s a distinct possibility—even probability—that Net Neutrality will come out the winner! Check out the links below to the articles I mentioned and quoted and let me know what you think:

Google prepping broadband-monitoring tools
FCC: We’ll investigate Comcast-BitTorrent flap
Democrats revive another Net neutrality proposal

Cheers,
Todd

Repeat after me: “IPv6 is my friend”! And keep that up because it´s true! But I´m not going to formally introduce you to all its benefits just yet because going there would turn this blog into a full-fledged article. I´ll be going there really soon though, so stay tuned! For now, just know that IPv6 will be a hugely important part of your future, and let me continue my rave on why using Vista and Server 2008 are going to do great things for your networking career.

In my last post I discussed chimney and receive side scaling—stuff that new multiple processor servers are likely to come with. So now I want to move on to telling you about how the new stack provides optimization on both the receiving and sending sides for the hosts on your network. I´ll finish up by telling you why on earth all this Microsoft stuff I´ve been chattering about in these two posts is so very strangely important to you as a Cisco network admin! Here´s a couple good reasons:

Receive Window Auto-Tuning and Compound TCP (CTCP).

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• Receive window auto tuning optimized receiver-side throughput and upgrades the old TCP Windowing we used for receive flow control. This little beauty will allow us to have very large MTU´s.
• CTCP optimizes sender-side throughput and is most noticeable in high-latency, long round-trip time (RTT) networks (like wireless and cellular, or inter-continental links).

Receive Window Auto Tuning is enabled by default on both Vista and Server 2008 and CTCP is only enabled on Server 2008. Personally, at least right now, I see no reason not to enable CTCP on all your hosts, but Microsoft doesn´t advise doing this for some as yet unknown reason.

Okay, before I get to describing the good news part of all this Microsoft stuff, I need to explain something first: Receive Window Auto Tuning tries to send so much data so quickly that you can often watch network problems pop up as fast as noxious weeds. We´ve all heard multitudes howling about Vista creating wide variety of evils, so I´m pretty sure we´ll hear even more complaints as Server 2008 rolls out. But the thing is, it´s actually not Vista´s fault, or even Server 2008´s fault. Nope—it´s your fault! Why? Simple… You need to upgrade your network. This is the part I love about Vista and Server 2008, and it´s also the reason I´m writing a blog about Microsoft on my Cisco training web site! I see this as a true opportunity and so should you—an opportunity to get certified in these things so you will be poised, ready and able to cure the broken networks epidemic we´re about to experience!

Say you´re not surprisingly having problems with your network going up/down, application unreliability, on-line storage problems, and other disturbingly weird issues after you installed Vista. Steel your nerves and resist the temptation to revert back to XP—it´s not your solution. Yes, you can temporarily disable receive window auto tuning, but remember, if you do this, you´re pretty much satisfied with saying “I have a network issue that I can solve temporarily by disabling receive window auto tuning—viola!” You don´t want to do this permanently because it´s total denial, (which is unhealthy), and worse, it prevents you from accessing and enjoying all the bennies that new networking stack has waiting for you! Instead, roll up your sleeves, toss out the crate of tissues and: Upgrade your network to gigabit links for your hosts and switch ports as well as all your router interfaces add ten gig links and TOE cards with RSS capability for your servers, then watch your network rock the house! Oh, and don´t forget to take a (gracious) bow and accept that promotion! The new networking stack can optimally make use of all this bandwidth wealth. The older stack just didn´t have what it takes—it just was not smart enough to understand how to take advantage of it. Interestingly, this means bottlenecks will no longer clog at our hosts and servers, but on our network interfaces and routers instead.

I was in the U.K. last week and came across some fascinating facts: I read that there simply are “not enough certified network individuals with enough network experience and so, it´s estimated that by 2012, the Internet in the U.K. cannot exist as it currently does. For the U.S. that time frame is only slightly extended to 2015”. So basically, in order to keep enjoying our precious internet, we have no choice but to fully embrace the new networking stack and we need to get our networks upgraded, and do so ASAP! Sure, you can disable most of the features to make your networks work temporarily, but call me odd—is it really a solution if it means losing a proven 40 to 400% increase in throughput on your network when with a just few adjustments you´re good to go with the new networking stack instead? Do you really think that you can force your company to stay with XP forever? Sheesh… I remember many companies telling me that they would never consider using wireless networks! HA! That´s laughable today, although sure, I do know some super-high security networks that still don´t allow wireless, but can you imagine a network that exists completely without it? Probably not—at least very rarely and they´re definitely not the norm. In 5 years, it´ll be the same situation regarding IPv6 and Windows 7, due out in 2010 (which means 2011).

So to sum things up, take my advice and make sure you understand how to configure a Cisco router and switch, how to upgrade your network ports to gigabit, and how to implement TOE boards with receive side scaling support on your servers. Get Cisco certified and start planning this migration/network upgrade now; it could save your job!

Oh… Just this one last thought: The top ten jobs of 2015 haven´t even been created yet, and in as little as five years, you´ll be running products on your network that are now just a twinkle in their inventor´s eye! Where and how successfully you´ll fit into this future directly and completely correlates to how well you position yourself for these changes now! Stay current—stay ahead, and best of luck to you.

Cheers!

Side note:
To disable Receive Window Auto-Tuning: netsh interfacetcp set global autotuning level-disabled
To enable CTCP on Vista: netsh interface tcp set global congestionprovider=ctcp

This new entry-level certification has been dubbed Cisco Certified Entry Network Technician (CCENT).

Why is this so important? Well, because the CCNA exam—especially the new CCNA announced today—is now extremely hard, that´s why! So basically, it´s CCENT to the rescue. It gives unsuspecting network professionals the opportunity to take a much easier stepping stone-like approach to getting that all-important CCNA certification instead of trying to gulp all the information in a one week class, or by reading a book.

Yes, it´s true—the GlobalNet Training bootcamp approach works really well for most people that have networking experience, but for those people trying to become network professionals with no prior experience whatsoever, diving straight into the sometimes overwhelming and unforgiving depths of the CCNA is a pretty formidable challenge! The CCNA course/exam just isn´t the entry level program of days past, so the new CCENT certification is a terrific introduction—it´s the answer for inexperienced people who want a much more user-friendly, (read, possible), way to break into the internetworking profession!

Okay—here´s what Cisco has to say about this new entry certification:

• Optional step toward CCNA or all other Certification Programs
• Certifies Practical Skills
• Tangible first step to CCNA
• Assesses aptitude & competence for working with Cisco Networking Devices and Software

Oh, and by the way, Cisco has done a bit of research that just so happens to confirm the fact that there´s some serious interest among employers for a certification that covers entry level IT skills that mitigates and reduces the risk inherent when hiring employees with little or no previous networking experience.

Note: This new entry level certification exam is not a prerequisite to obtaining your CCNA.

• ICND1 640-822
• ICND2 640-816
• CCNA Composite 640-802

In order to obtain your CCNA you can take and pass the ICND1 and ICND2 exams at $125 bucks a piece, or try your hand at the CCNA Composite 640-802 exam at $150.

This is the same approach Cisco has been using for years—you either take two relatively easier tests, or one super hard test.

I always recommend the one test approach because, well, no one, including Cisco, has proved that the two-test approach is actually easier. So why go there?

Anyway, since the new exam won´t be released for another month, this could all change very soon. But no worries—I´ll give you the dirt on all of this somewhere around August 1st, as soon as I get back from Networkers.

And, it´s also good to know that if you´re still are studying for the old exam(s), you haven´t wasted your time/effort/cash, because you get until November of 2007 to take them.

A really cool thing I like about the new exam is that it covers all the new cutting edge stuff—no more of that ISDN crap! Here´s a short list of the new technologies covered:

• Secure Device Manager
• Virtual Private Networks
• IPv6 (my favorite!)
• 2960 Switches
• Cisco Network Assistant
• Advanced EIGRP and OSPF
• Introduction to Wireless networks
• More security
• Lots of troubleshooting

Should be a hoot…

In the meantime, come on over to www.globalnettraining.com and get yourself signed up for the newest courses using the latest and greatest gear.

And, don´t forget to nick a copy of my latest CCNA Composite 640-802 Study guide from Sybex because it truly is, far and away, the best book I´ve written to date—I´m so happy with how this book turned out!