Data Center - Category - Fryguy's Blog

Meet the new ISR Series – ISR 4000 running IOS-XE

Fryguy — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 17:31:04 +0000

In June of 2013 Cisco released the newest member of the ISR family, the ISR4451-X router (Cisco – blog post). At that time it was the only model in the ISR44xx line, but today it now has some new siblings. Today, October 2, 2014, Cisco has introduced some companious, namely the ISR 4321, 4331, 4351, and 4431. The below graphic from Cisco that shows the new line and the performance characteristcs of each. You will note, for example, that the ISR4321 says 50–100 Mbps. The base version of the device will support 50 Mbps, but to move to 100 Mbps on that box you just need a software license. This will allow a network to grow with it needs without having to replace hardware, you will just have to add a license file. Back in the ISR G1/G2 days we need to sometime replace hardwre in order to gain additional performance, but that is not the case with the ISR 4000 series. Much of that comes thanks to Cisco using IOS-XE on these devices. A quick blurb IOS-XE from the previous link is :

Cisco Champion of Data Center

Fryguy — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 13:05:11 +0000

Some time ago, not sure how long ago, Cisco started a Cisco Champion program for people who are passionate about Cisco and active on social media ( twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, etc). I am glad to say that I and flattered and honored to be called a Cisco Champion Data Center.

Taking some words from the Champion site – http://www.cisco.com/web/about/facts_info/champions.html#~overview, , the Cisco Champion program is:

Passionate Experts, Global Champions for Change

What makes a Cisco Champion? Passion, plus a desire to share their perspectives with the community. There are Cisco Champions all over the world. They represent a variety of segments across the IT industry. And they offer their time to help others learn about Cisco and connect with Cisco in unique ways.

In addition to sharing their insights and expertise, Cisco Champions make a difference by:

Supporting their peers in social communities, forums, and networks
Sharing their relevant experiences and thoughts on Cisco blogs
Providing valuable feedback directly to Cisco
And more

Dell PowerEdge VRTX (Vertex)

Fryguy — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:30:48 +0000

While attending the Dell Enterprise Forum last week, Dell announced the PowerEdge VRTX. The first thing that came to mind when I saw this was the scene in Thor where Natalie Portmans say “Oh….My….God” (Youtube) So, what is this Dell PowerEdge VRTX that has me, and many others, all in a giddy? Well, it is server that can hold up to 4 blades, has an 8-port L2 gigabit switch, and can support up to 25 – 2.5in HDD (or 12 – 3.5in HDD) drives — that is the potential for 48TB of storage!! It can be configured in a tower (like pictured above) or in a rack and take up 5 RU of space. So what you have is a server that utilizes blades, hard-drives, and has 8–port L2 gig switch blade! Oh, best of all, this runs on 110v and is whisper quiet! Talk about perfect for a home lab – oh yeah!!!! The only bad part here, the street price is said to be less then $10k, bit out of home-lab money. But then again, when one thinks of all the hardware and storage that we have in our basements/closets/offices – that might be close to our pre-existing investment. Looking over my notes from the Dell Enterprise Forum where this device was announced, here is a quick bullet list of what I have:

Cisco Nexus Show Tech-Support – aka TAC-PAC

Fryguy — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:10:18 +0000

The inevitable TAC call and the request for a Show Tech to help with the support. Normally this is not a big problem on most systems, but if you ever try this on somehting like a Nexus 7000 – it takes a loooooong time and pulls well over 100 megs of information in that file. Capturing this output to a terminal is a test of patience (lets not mention console), or even if you redirect it to the bootflash it can still take some time. Then, there is getting a 100+ meg file copied from the bootflash to your computer, etc etc etc. I did do a quick post some time ago about using GZip to compress the file – you can find that post here.
But that is not what this post is about, this post is about a command called TAC-PAC. TAC-PAC seems to be a little known command to most people who have never run into a problem and had to pull a show tech of a N7K, of for that matter any NX-OS platform. I was able to confirm this command on Nexus 7000, 5000, and 1000 as well as the SAN MDS.
So, what is TAC-PAC? It is a single command that redirects the output of show tech-support details to a file, and then automatically compresses it for you. One command – nice and simple. The only thing that you will still have to do is pull the file via FTP or so.

CCIE Data Center Hardware Cost Estimate

Fryguy — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:20:36 +0000

That picture about describes the cost of the new CCIE Data Center Hardware. Keep in mind, that this is list price – and my best uneducated guess at what we will see on the lab in the terms of hardware and quantity. Regardless, I think I will nickname this new certification – The Million Dollar CCIE!

CCIE Data Center, its official.

Fryguy — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:14:24 +0000

Recently Cisco officially announces the CCIE Data Center on their The Cisco Learning Network website – LINK. This certification track has been long rumored – probably for about 1-2 years now some of us have been waiting for the announcement.
A complete list of the written exam topics in PDF format can be found here – LINK. The Beta exam of the written will be available at Cisco Live San Diego this year if you are interested in taking it during the event, if not – you can take the beta beginning May 1 through June 14 at a cost of $50. If you pass the beta, you will recertify your existing CCIE (like any CCIE level written will) and you will be qualified to take the lab (same deal). My advice on this would be to not take it at Live, you get a free test – use the coupon wisely. If you want to take this test at Cisco Live, invest the $50. If you would rather wait for the go-live of the exam, that will be September 3, 2012.

CCIE Data Center Written Number – 350-080

Fryguy — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:33:43 +0000

As you all are probably aware, I have been keeping an eye out for info on the CCIE Data Center track. I came across some more information and just wanted to take a moment and share it with you.
If you head on over to the Cisco Page on Certification Exams – http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/le11/learning_all_certification_exams_list.html and look around you will notice that CCIE Data Center is listed with MISSING LINK under the numbers 350-080 as well as a MISSING LINK to the CCIE Data Center Lab exam information. At least now we know what test to take, alas it is not on Pearson Vue site – yet. I might give this one a shot at Cisco Live US this year.

OpenFlow and SDN from the Symposiom

Fryguy — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:02:43 +0000

On October 26th I attended the OpenFlow Symposium in San Jose, CA hosted by Packet Pushers and TechFieldDay at the DoubleTree San Jose. The purpose of this symposium was to help gain more exposure to OpenFlow as well as discuss what some of the major players see and feel about the technology. In attendance was representatives from Big Switch Networks, Brocade, Cisco, Google, Juniper, NEC, and Yahoo!. They each were allowed to present their views and feelings and then the panel was opened up for discussion and questions.
My take was that Google and Yahoo! are big into this technology as they have the most to gain from it. They run warehouse size data centers all over the world, and this type of technology has a huge benefit to them as it means they can develop their own controllers and control merchant silicon, thus releasing them from relying on other vendors network hardware to support their data center. Not only that, but they can help prioritize and track individual flows based on what the user is doing. For example – a person who is placing items in their carts and heading to checkout can have a higher priority flow over someone just looking around. The speed to finish the transaction is important to them, not to mention they can also secure that traffic in the network differently then a person who is just looking.

CatOS and IOS

Fryguy — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:05:06 +0000

Ahh, Catalyst OS – old skool Layer 2. There is a dwindling number of engineer who have seen this code, let alone have ever used this code and understand it. Since I am about to convert some of the CatOS switches at work to IOS, I figured I would share some of the basics and joys of CatOS with you. Ok, perhaps I am just reminiscing a bit here – but if this can help just one person, then all is good – right?
So, what is this thing called CatOS one might ask. Well, in short it is Cisco OS that is Layer 2 only; there are no routed interfaces, no IP addresses on interfaces (well, there is SC0) or IPs for VLANS – just L2 VLANS and Ports. When a Catalyst switch is running CatOS for Layer 2 it is called Hybrid mode – if the switch is running IOS for Layer 2 and Layer 3, it is called Native mode. CatOS dates back to 1993 when Cisco acquired Crescendo Communications in 1993 and the Catalyst line – its first foray into Switching – and because of the wide acceptance of XDi/CatOS, the OS has lived on for many years. As the Catalyst line moved forward from the 5000, to the 5500, and now the 6500 – CatOS has survived. It is only recently ( Dec 2010 ) that Cisco is no longer fixing and producing CatOS code, and CatOS code will finally go End-Of-Support in December of 2014.

Future Nexus 7000 Line Cards (Sup2/ASA/NAM/WAN)

Fryguy — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:09:42 +0000

Let me preface this post with a quick word – all the information presented here is pure speculation with a little bit of evidence to back up my speculation. By no means is any of this a guarantee nor a near-time release for any of these modules. This is me just presenting the information that I am able to find and sharing it with you. Now, I am excited for some of this – and it definitely shows where the Nexus 7000 is going – so I hope that this type of information can help keep you informed on where this platform is going. The future looks bright.

While I was doing the research on the track names for the Nexus line cards I came across a few things. Things that we have all either assumed or have heard rumors of, but I guess now we know what is coming in the future for the Nexus 7000. First this is a listing for Silverstone – Supervisor 2 module, a little curious for sure.

The second thing that I came across was a bit more interesting to me – its a Service Module – N7K-SVC-APP-HW-1 – named after the Indian God, Agni. What is curious is that Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods (modules), so it is aptly named. I am guessing that this will be a 2-port module (Agni has 2-heads) similar to what the WS-X6582-2PA adapter is to the 6500. @matthewnorwood just also suggested perhaps this is an Application Load Balancer similar to the ACE30 on the Cat6k, I actually think that might be a more realistic option.(continued)