External Hard Disk Selection

Now I have more than 200 GB of data and i am falling short of space, therefore I decided to buy an external hard disk to cope up with increasing storage requirement.

At first i were considering to buy a simple hardisk with external kit but as it requires power from outside thus it is far away from the word PORTABLE. I researched on web and found a couple of good names including WD, seagate, LAcie and toshiba. I were unable to find a differentiators that compel me to buy that product. Lacie is rugged and thus shock proof but considerably costly. All coming with same 8 MB cahce and about 5400 RPM so i decided to go for seagate 320 GB(least price) but eventually end up with buying western digital due to seagate availability in market. Overall WD seems fine to me with 3 year limited and 1 year full warranty. Price is reasonable, i got it @ PKR 7200/=.

Brand	160 GB	250 GB	320 GB	500 GB	1 TB
LAcie	4700	6800	8600	10500	12800
Maxtor	4900
Western digital	4750	6500	7300	11700
Seagate		6300	7100
Toshiba	4850	6600	7500
Iomega		8450

looking and offcourse praying (: for longer life for the disk.

Cisco IOS Packaging

At first understanding Cisco IOS packaging is alone a complex thing. One should always make sure to do proper research before getting it, as many of the important features are available in higher versions. Feature like OSPF in switches is supported in IP services. BGP is supported in routers above IP Voice. The below image(taken from cisco.com) is pretty nice summary and good starting point.

Real World eXperienCe

Today I were engaged in a deployment for cisco 2821, The router was ordered with HSEC bundle which do comes with ADV IP SERVICES IOS along with VPN accleration card. By the passage of time i realize that how important the real world experience is. The deployment was simple I copy the old router configuration modified it and pasted it to new router. That's it !!!

Althogh i need to configure BGP multiohoming too. The customer has one wimax link nad other DSL, both from link DOT net and they want to ensure that automatic switch over to second link. I thought that i can just give two default route and change AD for both and that would work but the problem is that both link are terminating on Rj45 ethernet so either i have to use BGP or IP SLA monitor. I will explore it in depth to see what works better.

The REAL world notes:
1- When i booted the brand new router it enters in ROMMON mode and i were wondering why it happens and a mighty REBOOT makes the job for me and normalize every thing.

2- Somehow I lost user name after configuring router and fortuntely worldcall EVDO (USB internet) do the maigc for me. I Google for password reset 2800 and found
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps259/products_password_recovery09186a0080094675.shtml
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Press Break key on keyboard when reboor router.
In Rommon1 > Rebbot and give ansower no to every question
type # confreg 0x2142

Now saved config is ignored

type # copy start run
do the changes as needed and remember to do No shut on interfaces


#config-register 0x2102

#copy run start
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Thats all I enjoyed every bit of it, the network integration really makes me crazy no matter how small the deployment is, i enjoyed it. Last but not the least USB internet is a blessing for network engineer. Grab it if you can.............