In the past computer networking was the reserve of office places and businesses utilizing computer systems and shared software for completing demanding workload tasks. However, since the introduction of the PC to the home, primarily in the form of the desktop computer, the need for home networking has become an almost everyday necessity. No Longer […]
Study Plan for Cisco CCNA and CCNP exams
For whatever target we plan to conquer, there must be a plan in place in order to achieve our goals. Whether you are in the process of studying towards your CCNA/CCNP exams or whether you are just starting to think about taking those exams, you need to have a plan for success. If you are […]
Cisco ASA 1000V Cloud Firewall
The cloud technology is spreading like wild fire all over the world. And like everything else in technology, unfortunately security is the last thing that vendors consider while developing technology. The same happened with the cloud. At the beginning, nobody thought about security in the virtual cloud. After several security weaknesses have been identified related […]
VLAN access-map (VACL) Example Configuration on Cisco Switch
In this post I will discuss Vlan access control lists (VACL), also called VLAN access Map or VLAN Map. A VLAN Access-map allows us to filter incoming and outgoing traffic in a switch Vlan. VLAN access-map configuration is very similar to the Route-map configuration. A Vlan access-map is placed on the whole Vlan, which means […]
The Most Important Cisco Certification (Pyramid)
The picture on the left illustrates the Cisco Certification Pyramid. If you are familiar with the pyramids of Egypt, you must know by now that they have stood the test of time, withstanding harsh climate conditions for thousands of years. When we are looking at a pyramid, instinctively we look at the tip first, and […]
How can we allow whole traffic in ASA from inside to outside
This is a question that I get from time to time in my work environment either from colleagues or customers. I will show you a couple of ways to do this. In ASA, for traffic to pass through interfaces, several conditions must be met. Since we are talking here for inside and outside interfaces, this […]
Troubleshooting Skills and Training are Essential in Networking
One of the most important skills that a network engineer must learn and develop is troubleshooting. I have designed, configured and managed hundreds of networking projects. Its very rare to configure a network (especially complex ones) and have everything running as expected from the first shot. Most of the times a lot of troubleshooting activity […]
Cisco ASA Identity Firewall
What is Cisco ASA Identity Firewall? Traditionally, Cisco ASA policies and rules are enforced mainly using an Access Control List (ACL) which allows or denies access to certain network resources based on the source/destination IP addresses and port numbers. For example, lets say we want source IP 10.1.1.1 to be able to access server with […]
Series of Steps to Forward a packet in a Cisco ASA Firewall
A normal Layer3 Routing device, when receiving a packet on one of its ingress interfaces, first checks the destination IP address of the packet and then consults its routing table in order to forward the packet to the proper outgoing interface. This is the most basic operation of a router. A stateful firewall (like the […]
Cisco Switching Products
Cisco Systems Inc. supports a broad range of local area network (LAN) switching architecture technologies and platforms. The general minimal requirements that the Cisco switching platforms are designed to address include the following: High-performance switched Ethernet, capable of delivering 100 Mbps and 1Gbps to the desktop, and 1Gbps or 10Gbps uplinks. Quality of Service (QoS) […]
Configuring EasyVPN Between Cisco Routers
Basically Cisco Easy VPN is usually used for Cisco easy VPN Client termination. In this post however, let’s consider the configuration of Cisco Easy VPN between two Cisco routers. Just keep in mind that an EasyVPN scenario involves a Server and Remote Clients. The basic configuration is performed on the Server and the configuration done […]
Site to Site VPN between Cisco ASA and Router
In this post we will configure Site-to-Site IPSEC VPN between a Cisco IOS Router and ASA Firewall. ASA configuration is not much different from Cisco IOS with regards to IPSEC VPN since the fundamental concepts are the same. Let’s start our LAB example and we’ll see how it’s done. Consider the following diagram. The first […]
Cisco ASA Active/Active Failover Configuration Example
The Cisco ASA failover configuration requires two identical security appliances connected to each other through a dedicated failover link and, optionally, a stateful failover link. The health of the active interfaces and units is monitored to determine if specific failover conditions are met. If those conditions are met, failover occurs. In case of Active/Active configuration […]