For businesses, the task of network and IT infrastructure monitoring remains highly important. A company cannot afford to ignore the security and performance of its network and IT resources. Nagios remains one of the most popular solutions for IT infrastructure monitoring today. An entire suite of software allows businesses to take control and have visibility […]
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A Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) Port on a network switch is an Ethernet Interface which has been designed to allow a small module (which contains a connector and small circuit board) to be inserted into the switch. This device is called an SFP Module. There are different types of SFP modules and SFP ports, […]
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All Cisco ASA firewall models from 5510 and higher (including the newer generation of 5500-X appliances), include an extra dedicated Ethernet interface for management. In this article we will provide a basic example of configuring network settings to the dedicated management interface and also SSH access in order to connect to the appliance through the […]
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At its core, Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is a type of Network Access Control Solution that uses policy-based decision making to determine if a device is allowed access to the network and, if allowed, what level of access this device is given. Cisco ISE is a complex and feature packed Security Application that controls […]
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Meraki is a Cloud-Managed IT company based in San Francisco, California which was purchased by Cisco Systems in December 2012. Cisco Meraki provides networking products which are configured and managed through a cloud-based web portal. These products include MX Security Appliances, MS Network Switches, MR Wireless Access Points, MV Wireless Cameras and more recently, IOT […]
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A VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) is a fundamental concept in TCP/IP computer networks and every professional in this field must have a deep understanding of this technology. In networking, VLANs are implemented and configured on Ethernet Switches and they work at OSI Layer 2. They are a method to logically separate Layer 2 Ethernet […]
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The following article describes how to configure Access Control Lists (ACL) on Cisco ASA 5500 and 5500-X firewalls. An ACL is the central configuration feature to enforce security rules in your network so it is an important concept to learn. The Cisco ASA 5500 is the successor Cisco firewall model series which followed the successful […]
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“Packet Routing” is the primary operation in TCP/IP networks that establishes communication from a source device located on one network to a destination device located on another network. Image Credit Within the OSI model, routing is a Layer 3 process which groups Internet Protocol (IP) data into Packets that are put inside of Frames (Layer […]
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A computer network is made up of software and hardware components that allow one device to communicate with another. Hardware provides the set of instructions that utilizes the networking equipment for data transmission, whereas software specifies the sequence of commands (communication protocol) that uses the hardware equipment for data transmission. A basic data transfer is […]
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In recent years Cisco have been focused on building their cloud and software defined networking portfolio through the acquisition of smaller companies such as Viptela and OpenDNS among others. In this article we will focus on Cisco Umbrella, explain what it is, discuss how it can protect your network etc. A Brief History of Cisco […]
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The ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance) is a network security product that is a part of Cisco’s Advanced Network Firewall portfolio. A network Firewall is a hardware or software device that sits usually at the edge of a network and provides security by allowing or denying traffic based upon a set of pre-configured rules. In large […]
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The OSPF (Open Short Path First) dynamic routing protocol is probably the most popular and most used IGP routing protocol in TCP/IP networks. Because OSPF is supported by all networking vendors, it does not have the restrictions of proprietary protocols like Cisco EIGRP for example (in terms of multi-vendor environments etc). The new Cisco CCNA […]
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The following articles have been embraced by our readers because they offer valuable information about various networking topics: 1) Basic Cisco Router Configuration Step-By-Step This article discusses the 7 most important and most basic steps to follow for configuring any Cisco Router. Specifically, you will learn the following: Configure Access Passwords. Configure a Hostname. Configure […]
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