A CCIE Widow’s Request

CCIE # 5804 was one of the very few CCIEs in Alaska. I met him at Networkers in 2008 the month before his death. I did not find out about his passing until March of 2009 when a friend and co-worker sent me a message about him after seeing his picture on my blog. I had exchanged emails with him prior to Cisco Live 2008 so when we met I was pleased to make the acquaintance of one of only 4 CCIEs in Alaska that I knew of. After Cisco shut down the NASCAR Grille CCIE party, I hosted a bunch of CCIEs at the Hard Rock Café near there at Universal Studios Orlando. The band Modest Mouse was just finishing their last set for the night and we had a few beers together along with seven or eight other CCIEs. The other guys were from Holland, Texas and a few other places. But Dave and I talked a lot that evening and I am happy now, looking back that I had that chance.

At the end of August 2009 I received this email from Lee Gahm, Dave’s wife;

Dear Eman,
My name is Lee, I am Dave’s wife.  Tonight I spoke with his parents and they told me about what you had written and I looked it up.  I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to share your kind words about Dave.  The proudest day in his life was when he passed his CCIE test.  Actually we were all very proud.  Dave LOVED his job and by what I could tell he was very good at it.  I miss the middle of the night calls from his work..I never understood a single word he said but I was always impressed.  His trips to those conventions were always important to him.  He was proud to be a "techno geek". He was looking forward to the next CCIE gathering as he was going to speak.
I am not ready yet but I will be putting together a memory book for Abby.  I would be grateful if you and some of the others would share some of your memories or stories about Dave with me.  If you have any other pictures too, I would love to have them.  I know his parents would like to see them also.
He truly was doing something that he loved.  I was so fortunate to speak to him the night before and could hear the happiness in his voice.
Sincerely,
Lee

So I am posting this so that anyone who knew CCIE # 5804, Dave Gahm will share in photos or in writing their experiences with Dave. CCIEs have a way of influencing others across borders so I am happy to help Mrs. Gahm and Dave’s parents in gathering what I can through this medium Dave loved so much.

If you have anything you would like to share about Dave Gahm please respond to eman@ccieflyer.com

Thanks

Currently working on a non-technical article that involves CCIE and iPhone … let’s hope I finish it very soon to be submitted.
Study-wise, I am left again with almost stars in my eyes when reading on redistribution and multicast. Probably QoS too but the others are fine ;-). Let’s see what happens in the next few days.
I will be attending Narbik Kocharian’s CCIE R&S bootcamp from June 1 to June 5 2009. This bootcamp will be hosted by TrainPro Academy situated in Mid Valley Malaysia (their webpage is at http://www.trainpro.com.my/). I will be of course writing a review on the bootcamp after finished attending it as I believe a majority of my time which is from 0900hrs to 2100hrs will be listening to his lecture and catching some sleep in-between and not forgetting lunch or dinner to that matter! I will be staying in a hotel (rather strange to live currently in Malaysia and yet rent a hotel) since I figure that it would be a waste of time for me to actually spend time travelling back and forth to my house instead of spending time on labs ;-).
For those who doesn’t know Narbik, he is a router God. His method of teaching from what I have read and heard involves only the whiteboard or should I say blackboard with chalks. He has a built-in IOS in him and he spits out commands with their options before you can finish typing them! How cool is that??? I am waiting for Navett’s review on his bootcamp since he is taking it in April 2009. You can also find excellent reviews on Narbik’s bootcamp at CCIE Candidate’s webpage and also at EDFNetwork’s webpage (of course there are a few other really cool reviews as well but I seem to forgot since I am typing this by memory). For those who wants to go straight to Narbik’s bootcamp page, please visit http://www.micronicstraining.com/ccie-routing-switching-lab.html and you’ll get more information there. It even comes with hotel accomodation information ;-).

Go to source

For CCIE candidates who are going to attend Narbik bootcamp, Narbik will publish V2.0 of his famous workbook.  He will be here in Malaysia on 1 June to 5 June 2009.  I will update his class in my blog.

Below is Eman article about Narbik V2.0 workbook and his new workbook.

Occasionally while we are working on our daily grind we make friends with the people we deal with professionally. I have developed a strong respect for Narbik and I think we will become better friends as we work together to spread the gospel on CCIEs as a career track. I have discovered that Narbik travels to many more places than I do and my intention is to try and catch up to him. As far as individuals go who offer training internationally in support of preparing CCIEs not just for the lab but for life, he leads the pack. I was on the phone with him this past week. I was catching up with him and he shared a little secret with me. So I decided to tell everyone about it! I can keep secrets so don’t think I am a gab or anything but I am making him talk. So here are the notes from my interview with him.

Q: Narbik you have just returned to the USA from travels abroad. You have been working on a project you call Version two. What is version two?

A: Version 2.0 is by far the most complete and relevant work book and boot camp. We combined the existing “Advanced CCIE R&S Work Book” and “Boot Camp” work book (Which is what the students get when they attend our boot camp) and sell it as the new version 2.0. This will help students that can NOT attend the boot camp.

Currently 68 percent of our students that take our boot camp and our recommendations pass on their first attempt, the students can now purchase the new “Advanced CCIE R&S Work Book version 2.0” and they should have similar success.

BUT as far as the NEW boot camp 2.0, well I have added unbelievable amount of material to the new boot camp 2.0 work book and lectures. The idea is that if I add everything possible to my lectures and the new boot camp work book, then, what can they ask? They can NOT come up with a new command for the lab exam?

Q: So you have decided to launch Version Two with a guarantee I have never heard of in the industry. 80%?

A: Yes I know, look……this is what the students get when they attend our boot camps:

FREE retake:

more

16 Vista MUI Pack for 32-bit Edition

Have anyone of you eager to install MUI Pack into Vista and after all the finding and searching in the internet to find the solution but still in vain? Well, I have just made my second attempt successfully in installing a Chinese MUI Pack into a Windows Vista Ultimate, and I have the urge and need to share with you, readers! Well, all that you have to do is to download the 16 MUI Packs of different language of your choice. Listed here are the list of the MUI Packs and link to download from.

 

Chinese (PRC) Download

Chinese (Hong Kong SAR) Download

English Download

Italian Download

Spanish Download

Swedish Download

Japanese Download

Portuguese(Brazil) Download

Norwegian Download

Dutch Download

Finnish Download

French Download

Russian Download

German Download

Danish Download

Korean Download

After the intended file has been downloaded, run that file with administrator credential as you right click the file and click “Run As Administrator(A)”. Let the file finish running and it may take around 15 minutes or more depending on the speed of your machine. After the installation you have to restart your machine.

Once you have restarted and you can go to Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Keyboard and Languages > Display Language. You will be able to see that there is a drop down menu in this section. The default Language will be selected. Scroll down and select the language you have just downloaded and installed and logoff your user. Now logon again and …

BINGO!!!!!

you will start to see the MUI Pack is installed and menus are all displayed in the language you desired.

Setting IP Address Configuration using Netsh command?

Have anyone ever had the frustration that setting an IP Address to the computer seems to be rather tedious? Or have anyone thought off setting IP Address using command prompt or batch file while makes life a lot better? Well, Netsh is the command prompt which available to configure for Interfaces, DHCP, RRAS(Routing and Remote Access Service), Routing, WINS and etc.

With Netsh tool, you can direct the context commands you enter to the appropriate helper, and the helper then carries out the command. To display a list of sub contexts, and command that can be used in a context, type the context name followed by a space and a “?” at the netsh> command prompt. For example, to display a list of sub contexts of DHCP, just type “dhcp ?” at the netsh> command prompt and press ENTER.

Bellow are a list of context and its explanation over it;

/dhcp – Changes Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol context

/ras – Changes the Remote Access Server (RAS) context

/routing – Changes the routing context

/wins – Changes the Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) context

“?” can be a very good friend of you, it will show the context with appropriate helper. Well, how are you able to assign IP Address quickly and if you are a slow typist? Well, this is normally what I will do, I will save the netsh command into a notepad and then save the file as a “.bat”, batch file. Thus, when I was to use it, I will just double click the appropriate file. Some examples below;

netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" dhcp
netsh interface ip set dns "Local Area Connection" dhcp

Save this two lines into the notepad, and save the file accordingly. This file when executed will assign the Interface with the name “Local Area Connection” to obtain IP Address automatically and start to contact the DHCP server. Besides, it also able to set the DNS option to be assigned with IP Address automatically. Another example below;

netsh interface ip set address “Local Area Connection” static 10.1.1.29 255.255.255.0 10.1.1.235 1
netsh interface ip set dns "Local Area Connection" static 10.1.1.2 primary
netsh interface ip add dns "Local Area Connection" 10.1.1.3 2

The above example when executed will then assign the static IP Address of 10.1.1.29 with the subnet prefix /24(255.255.255.0) to the interface name Local Area Connection with the gateway of 10.1.1.235 and the last number at the end of the command is the metric of the gateway. Also, the netsh command can assign Primary DNS and Alternate DNS to the interface too!

Guys, enjoy the Netsh command! Hope this pieces of information is benefiting you!

A high quality flash on installation of OpenVPN.

install-openvpn

 

How Slipstreaming Service Pack 2?

Note: All images are hosted with ImageShack.

• This guide will allow you to successfully install Service Pack 2 on the original (gold) code of Microsoft Windows XP.
• The version of Windows you have purchased/downloaded does not matter as far as slipstreaming (they’re all the same anyway).

Things you need:
• Microsoft Windows XP
• Service Pack 2:

URL http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165b076b-aaa9-443d-84f0-73cf11fdcdf8/WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe

• Windows XP Boot sector:

http://www.neowin.net/downloads/xpboot.bin

• Nero Burning Rom (find it on SoD)

Step One

Insert the Microsoft Windows XP CD into your CD-ROM drive, and create a new folder on your hard-drive labeled "CD".

Copy all of the files from the Windows XP CD to the "CD" folder.

Step Two

Download Service Pack 2 and place it within the root of your hard-drive.
Ex: C:\ D:\ etc..

Step Three

Go to Start -> Run and type in "F:\WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe -s:F:\CD" (depending on where you put the folder)

The actual command is -s:drive:\folder

Step Four

The Service Pack 2 updater will automatically slipstream Service Pack 2 into your "CD" folder.

Step Five

If you browse back to the CD folder, you’ll notice that new folders and files appeared from the SP2 update. At this point, you can include any software you wish onto this CD, but make sure that the size of the folder does not exceed the media you are burning on. If you’re not sure, a regular CD is 700 megabytes.

Step Six

Go to Start and Search for files and folders. Go to all files and folders, and type in "wpa.dbl". This is the activation file for your current installed version of XP. Make a copy of the file and paste it into your CD folder.

Step Seven

Open up Nero Smartstart, and click on the icon that looks like two people. This turns the program into "professional mode". Search for create a bootable CD. Click on it, and make sure that your settings agree with the following picture; also make sure that you downloaded the Windows XP boot sector.

Step Eight

Continue onto the next tab, and make sure that your settings agree with the picture:

Step Nine

In this step, you can label your CD whatever the hell you want. I recommend WXPSP2_EN.

Step Ten

Go to "new" and locate your CD folder. Drag all of the files in the CD folder to the compilation window on the right, and nero will calculate how much disk space was used. If it exceeds 700 MB, get rid of some programs that you added to the CD. If you didn’t add anything; just push burn.

Step Eleven

Make sure that your settings check with the picture:

Step Twelve

Just push burn, and that’s it! Congratulations, you just made a bootable Win XP CD with SP2 slipstreamed!

1. Connect PC to the console port

2. Reboot the switch

3. Press “mode” button on the switch

4. Initialize the flash file system

    switch: flash_init

5. Load any helper files

    switch: load_helper

6. Display the contents of flash memory. Should identify a file named config.text

    switch: dir flash:

7. Rename the configuration file (config.text) to other file name because switch will only recognize the file named config.text as the configuration file. If no such file exists, the switch will treat it as a “clean” switch with no configuration

    switch: rename flash: config.text flash:config.text.old

8. Reboot the switch

    switch: boot

5. Enter “No” when user is asked to enter the initial configuration dialog

6. Rename the configuration file back to the original file name and save it to the running configuration once user has entered into the privilege mode in order to retrieve back the original configuration.

    switch>en

    switch# rename flash:config.text.old flash:config.text

    switch# copy flash:config.text system:running-config

7. Change all the necessary password(s) and save the configuration

Error Reporting in Windows XP Annoying?

 

To disable the feature in Windows XP which tries to send a report to Microsoft every time a program crashes you will have to do this:

*************************************************************************

Open Control Panel
Click on Performance and Maintenance.
Click on System.
Then click on the Advanced tab
Click on the error reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
Select Disable error reporting.
Click OK
Click OK

*************************************************************************

SHORTCUTS?

Getting used to using your keyboard exclusively and leaving your mouse behind will make you much more efficient at performing any task on any Windows system. I use the most of the following keyboard shortcuts very often daily:

Windows key + R = Run menu

This is usually followed by:

cmd = Command Prompt

iexplore + "web address" = Internet Explorer

compmgmt.msc = Computer Management

dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management

dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management

services.msc = Services

eventvwr = Event Viewer

dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers

dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services

Windows key + E = Explorer

ALT + Tab = Switch between windows

ALT, Space, X = Maximize window

CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager

Windows key + Break = System properties

Windows key + F = Search

Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows

CTRL + C = copy

CTRL + X = cut

CTRL + V = paste

Also don’t forget about the "Right-click" key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you’ve opened up any program.

Keyboard Shortcuts

[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications

[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter

[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu

[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)

[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window

[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document

Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word

Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph

[F1] Open Help for active application

Windows+M Minimize all open windows

Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows

Windows+F1 Open Windows Help

Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons

Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box

Accessibility shortcuts

Right SHIFT for eight seconds…….. Switch FilterKeys on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN……. Switch High Contrast on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK……. Switch MouseKeys on and off.

SHIFT……. five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.

NUM LOCK…… for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.

Explorer shortcuts

END……. Display the bottom of the active window.

HOME……. Display the top of the active window.

NUM LOCK+ASTERISK……. on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN……. on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN……. on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.

LEFT ARROW…… Collapse current selection if it’s expanded, or select parent folder.

RIGHT ARROW……. Display current selection if it’s collapsed, or select first subfolder.

Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run

devmgmt.msc = Device Manager

msinfo32 = System Information

cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup

ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)

mmc = Microsoft Management Console

excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)

msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)

powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)

winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)

frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)

notepad = Notepad

wordpad = WordPad

calc = Calculator

msmsgs = Windows Messenger

mspaint = Microsoft Paint

wmplayer = Windows Media Player

rstrui = System Restore

netscp6 = Netscape 6.x

netscp = Netscape 7.x

netscape = Netscape 4.x

waol = America Online

control = Opens the Control Panel

control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog

Internet browser

type in your address "google", then press [Right CTRL] and [Enter]

add www. and .com to word and go to it

For Windows XP:

Copy. CTRL+C

Cut. CTRL+X

Paste. CTRL+V

Undo. CTRL+Z

Delete. DELETE

Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE

Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item

Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item

Rename selected item. F2

Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW

Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW

Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW

Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW

Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys

Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys

Select all. CTRL+A

Search for a file or folder. F3

View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER

Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4

Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR

Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4

Switch between open items. ALT+TAB

Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC

Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6

Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4

Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10

Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR

Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC

Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name

Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10

Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW

Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW

Refresh the active window. F5

View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE

Cancel the current task. ESC

SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.

Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:

Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB

Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB

Move forward through options. TAB

Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB

Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter

Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER

Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR

Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys

Display Help. F1

Display the items in the active list. F4

Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE

If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

Display or hide the Start menu. WIN Key

Display the System Properties dialog box. WIN Key+BREAK

Show the desktop. WIN Key+D

Minimize all windows. WIN Key+M

Restores minimized windows. WIN Key+Shift+M

Open My Computer. WIN Key+E

Search for a file or folder. WIN Key+F

Search for computers. CTRL+WIN Key+F

Display Windows Help. WIN Key+F1

Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. WIN Key+ L

Open the Run dialog box. WIN Key+R

Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U