Last day at BT, and we have already been off on a flying start. A quick lab on the routers again doing some PPP work (this is the underlying technology of internet connections) then we dove into Frame Relays and moved swiftly onto ISDN.

Whats interesting is that what we are covering here, is becoming obsolete very fast, Frame Relay’s and ISDN have been overtaken by the wonderful ADSL and because of that theres a chance that in the short future it wont be found in businesses except for minor incidences.
I might have to ask a favour of one of our BT contacts for a censored copy of a config from one of the MVpn routers we have which has ISDN Backup 🙂 in the course of finding out more about how they set it up

On another note the good weather came back yesterday, but being overcast today sucks. 

So after this I get to return to work tomorrow, spend a few months working on cisco equipment then go do the exam (which is held here, how convenient!) and get to slap CCNA on the end of my name 🙂

Now to cram the rest of this book in before the end of today, im certain i’ve started forgetting stuff just to get this all in! 😛

I hate cisco, specifically Access Control Lists (ACL) that they encoded into switches and routers.

We have been working on ACL’s most of the day, first doing theory and some practical on it, and im sure most of the people in the class are suffering “burn out” since it took forever and most people still hadnt got their head around it to get it working.

I think Flash has a mean streak…

Now we are banging away at NAT now, and surprise surprise… ACL’s crop up again  ACL’s are like that ditty old aunt you have in the family that nobody wants to deal with, yet for some reason every christmas she’s there and you cant seem to get rid of her.

I wonder if Ming has a ditty old aunt… 🙂

I swear, when you go on training there is a chance you will be living off coffee (or tea) while your here.

Im drinking up to 5 cups a day now!
The good thing is we get freshly baked scones every morning for the half 10 break, which is a nice change from coffee… oh wait we drink coffee with them 😮

The only time I dont drink coffee, is during lunch.. thankfully.
but I do get a bottle of coke 🙂

Me? Caffiene freak? never 😛

 

Finally gotten enough time here to sit down and update, Day 5 at BT and its just after Lunch here so quick break from cisco commands.

Last night it was reported that Larne’s got a new Mayor, the SDLP person (name evades me)… my first thoughts was “Oh crap, that’s Larne doomed” then I realised, the last 8 mayors didnt do much for Larne anyway, who knows maybe he might be able to turn the town around in the short time he is in that seat 🙂

Looks like its the end of the sunny period now, we’re destined for cloudy skys, the impending threat of rain, and the wonder of when the next week of sunlight will come about.

Anyhow, back to regarding the Course.  I previously mentioned that we would be doing everything Virtually, well thats somewhat untrue.. We do have a router and switch to play about with, Its just that its located in another country!  So we are plagued with the occasional dropped connection, or slow responses because we have to use the same internet access as BT Enterprise House. 

Thanks to Damien at work for putting a smile on my face with the following cartoon 🙂 you will need to click on it since resizing it sucks horribly.
(Image was removed for some unexplained reason)
I so needed coffee this morning it wasnt funny, but after three cups, and half a bottle of coke I now feel a bit more healthy 🙂

Quick addition to the site now that im back at home. (it feels far later than 7pm )

Starting to feel a bit “overloaded” with all the information that’s being thrown around, Im guessing 7 days worth of cisco course will put a strain on concentration but im only on day 4!.  Having a slight problem remembering parts of the data packet make-up! but then i’ve probably stored that away for when i really need it (aka. never!)

I have been fiddling about lately tho with Ethereal on my small network, partually to get more understanding on packets and to see exactly what my small network does, all due to this course and hopefully using this at work to study our network once I get back so i can see if theres any wierd trends.

Its also good that we are getting loads of sunshine these days, makes you feel far better if you spend 20 minutes out in the sun instead of sitting in a stuffy office.. now all we need is this “breeze” to calm down and it could be enjoyable again!