There are times I asked myself why did I take my CCNP R&S. Yes I will admit in the beginning it was so cool to have the highest certification at work then I added another one with VMWare. There’s going to be another one after I re-take my brocade certification and a lot more in the pipes by next year.

What good does that do for me though? Being honest with myself, I just realized it only proves I know how to study and prepare for an exam and that’s it. If I don’t apply this in real world scenarios, it would be useless. Its like spending two semesters taking up cookery and just end up making coffee at a coffee shop.

There’s this need in me to be out there. Don’t get me wrong, I love my profession as a teacher, students may not be as amazing as how most of them I expect them to be but its amazing. However, something in me is telling me, if I stay longer I will be stuck. I fear just like the people around me who has been there for more than a decade, comfortable and just plain stuck. Yes technology will change which in turn will force TAFE to change but its all going to be theoretical.

Getting my CCNP and my VCA would be useless if I don’t get out there and use it. Thank God there was HP, once in a while I get to apply my skills. The work may not be in a data center but at least its real not in a lab environment. If I am not out there I feel I am doing such an injustice to my students. Aside from being current with their certifications, I am beginning to believe that teachers as much as possible should be exposed to whatever is happening out there.

Maybe I am just being too idealistic, either that or I am thirsty for something more than a make believe scenarios.

Note: I am constantly putting myself out there in my quest getting that Network Engineer job. Currently working part-time as a Level 3 Contract ICT Engineer with HP and ITFM to balance me out.

In this simple virtual lab that I am setting up, I have installed a vyatta 5400 vrouter on vmplayer and a windows 7 client machine on another vm.

Configuration on the vyatta 5400 vRouter

• 2 ethernet interface, eth0 (dhcp client), eth1 (10.0.0.1/24). If you are running vmplayer, make sure that eth0 is set up as bridged and eth1 as host only vmnet3.
• dhcp server that will be handing out 99 IP addresses clients on the eth1 from the 10.0.0.0/24 network.
  • default gateway: 10.0.0.1
  • dns-server 61.9.211.33
  • start ip: 10.0.0.2 stop ip: 10.0.0.100
• PAT will also be configured so clients on the 10.0.0.0/24 network can access the internet

Configuration on the Windows 7 client machine

• ethernet set up as dhcp client on vmnet3

This lab assumes that you have successfully install vRouter on your virtual machine and not running off as a live CD.

• type configure > set interfaces ethernet eth0 address dhcp > commit > save
• to verify, type run show interfaces

• to configure the ip on eth1, make sure you are still on configuration mode: set interfaces ethernet eth1 address 10.0.0.1/24 > commit > save

To configure the vRouter as a DHCP server for the 10.0.0.0/24 network, do the following:

• from operational mode type: configure > set service dhcp-server shared-network-name <name> subnet <network/subnet>, press enter then type edit service dhcp-server shared-network-name <name> subnet <network/subnet>
  • in this scenario it would be: set service dhcp-server share-network-name my_pool subnet 10.0.0.0/24, enter then edit service dhcp-server share-network-name my_pool subnet 10.0.0.0/24.
• type set start 10.0.0.2 stop 10.0.0.100, enter
• type set default-router 10.0.0.1, enter. Remember this is the IP address on eth1.
• type set dns-server 61.9.211.33, enter. This is the IP address of my home router.
• optional: you can add a domain-name by typing: set domain-name delan.local, enter.
• commit
• save

At this point your Windows 7 PC should get an IP address from the vRouter.

Note: My apologies for the image above. It is showing an incorrect DNS Server address. It is supposed to be 61.9.211.33 or the DNS server’s IP address of your network.

Now lets perform NAT, Cisco would normally call it PAT for Brocade its Source NAT.

• let us set a nat rule by typing: edit nat source rule <no.>, in our scenario I typed in: set nat source rule 10, enter.
• then type: set source address <network/mask> -> set source address 10.0.0.0/24. enter
• then: set translation address <ip address of the interface facing the internet>, set translation address 192.168.0.11
• set outbound-interface <outbound interface>. set outbound-interface eth0
• commit and save

 

And viola!!! my windows 7 computer has now internet access…

Last Thursday I sat my Brocade Certified vRouter Certification exam. Drove almost an hour going to the Gold Coast, did my usual routine, got there almost an hour earlier, took the exam and the only difference this time is that I failed the exam in a screaming heap.

I will not make any excuses, I was way over my head with everything that I am doing and feeling a little cocky thinking that my CCNP knowledge will get me through it. Yes I did get a 100% on everything that maps to cisco but 0% on vendor specific questions. It was an exam where I was just clueless with my answers despite being multiple choice questions.

A few minutes ago I scheduled to take this exam one more time. I knew this day would come that I would fail an exam and all I have to do is to just take it again until I get. I am persistent, I will get my BCvRE and I will get that 3rd vendor logo on my resume.

the Road to BCvRE restarts today…