TCPmag.com
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August 8, 2006
Editor: Dan Hong (dhong 101com.com)
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THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:
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IN THIS ISSUE OF TCPmag.com:
1. Q&A: Cures for the Common Traffic Congestion
2. What's New on TCPMag.com
3. Interesting Employment in Florida, Texas and North
Carolina
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1. Q&A: Cures for the Common Traffic Congestion
Send your toughest Cisco technical questions to editortcpmag.com
with the subject line "Attn: Scott."
-----------------------------
Scott,
I have two questions:
1.) To secure IP traffic across a frame-relay network, is
the use of a
generic IP tunnel the best option for a Cisco network?
2.) With the frame-relay command "show frame-relay
pvc," what
information (besides the active, deleted or inactive PVC)
would be most
helpful in troubleshooting a congestion problem? And between
FECN and
BECN parameters, which is the most informative and why?
-- Randy
-----------------------------
Randy,
Keep in mind that Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) is not
designed
as a security protocol. It is, by definition, a GENERIC
encapsulation
method. So while you may be adding to the complexity of the
way a
packet looks like, you're not particularly adding to the
security of
your link.
The best advice would be to really enact some sort of a
security
protocol. Namely, something like IPSec would do well. You
could run
this in either tunnel or transport mode. Now, you may need
to increase
the level of IOS software on your routers to support the
crypto image,
but that would actually be security in action!
Your second question is more about congestion management.
Obviously the
"show frame-relay pvc" command you point out is
most often used for the
simple status messages of active, inactive or deleted per
PVC, or
Private Virtual Circuit. In addition, the command displays
the number
of packets and bytes both inbound and outbound to each PVC.
This
command will also tell you things like the number of FECN or
BECN
packets inbound or outbound per PVC. The number of packets
can indicate
where problems are occurring within your frame-relay
network.
Since the FECN and BECN are simply a single bit each within
the frame-
relay frames, there isn't a lot of detailed information to
be had.
After receiving some, it'll take some ongoing monitoring of
the
frequency and quantity of each received.
Remember that FECN stands for Forward Explicit Congestion
Notification
and is designed simply as a signaling method to
"expect delays" in
receiving data. A BECN (Backward Explicit Congestion
Notification), on
the other hand, is a signaling method to "back off
your current
transmission rate" in sending data.
You may be able to figure out the scope of a problem in your
network
depending on the topology of your network and how many of
which ECN
type are seen where. To determine the level of congestion
occurring,
try commands like "show traffic-shape" or
"show traffic-shape queue."
Unfortunately, there's no single command that can paint a
perfect
network-wide picture of where congestion is occurring.
For some more information, check out:
* International Telecommunication Union's I.370
specification (Frame
Relay Congestion Methods):
http://www.itu.int
* NetHeaven's "Types of Network Tunnels":
http://www.
netheaven.com/TunnelTypes.html
* CyberGuard's "GRE Over IPSec" PDF:
http://tinyurl.com/epoka
Hope that helps!
-- Scott
Scott Morris, quadruple CCIE, JNCIE and all-around
Uber-Geek, can often
be seen traveling around the world consulting and delivering
CCIE
training. He has recently stepped up as VP of Curriculum
Development
for IPexpert and will oversee a new consulting practice. For
more
information on him check out http://www.ipexpert.com.
Send your questions for this column to editortcpmag.com
with the subject line "Attn: Scott."
Miss a Q&A? Go online to http://tcpmag.com/qanda/
To comment on this Q&A, go to:
http://tcpmag.com/qanda/article.asp?EditorialsID=361#po
st
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2. What's New on TCPmag.com
POP QUIZ: Cisco Exam #642-811: BCMSN Exam (Whizlabs, set 2)
Test your knowledge of advanced Spanning Tree concepts,
VLANs, inter-
VLAN routing and multicasting for your CCNP and CCDP with
these 10
sample questions.
http://tcpmag.com/popquiz/article.asp?editorialsid=87
NEWS: Cisco Eyes Call Center Prize
Cisco Systems Inc. might not be as long in the tooth as some
of its
competitors in the enterprise contact center market, but
industry
watchers nevertheless like its odds -- thanks in part to the
changing
nature of the contact center market itself.
http://tcpmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=1078
NEWS: IMS: The Trendsetting Acronym Du Jour
Chances are, you don't know all that much about IMS -- or
IP Multimedia
Subsystem (not the Information Management System of
mainframe yore) --
but there's an odds-on chance you'll need to know a lot
more about it
someday soon.
http://tcpmag.com/news/article.asp?editorialsid=1079
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3. Interesting Employment in Florida, Texas and North
Carolina
Job postings courtesy of Monster.com.
GE, Network Architect
Position Type: Full-time
Location: Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida
Salary: Not given
Experience: 7+ years
Desired Education: B.S. in Computer Science/Information
Systems or
related discipline, CCNA, CCDA, CCDP, CCNP
Essential Functions (Responsibilities):
* Lead technical role to own, architect and implement
network
infrastructure enhancements and solutions for GE Security.
Work
closely with Security business teams to optimize their
network
architecture for cost savings and performance improvements
in
cooperation with GIS and the GE shared networking teams.
Emphasis on
achieving optimum synergy for a shared infrastructure.
* Own and manage all network problems and incidents to
ensure problem
resolution within agreed service levels.
* Extend the shared GE network teams to resolve issues in a
matrix
environment.
* Manage projects to meet cost, schedule and resource
constraints
including the development of those project parameters.
* Drive post-incident reviews and deliver accurate and
timely root-
cause analysis to prevent recurrence.
To learn more, visit:
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-----------------------------
First American Corp., Corporate Voice Engineer
Position Type: Full-time
Location: Dallas, Texas
Salary: Not given
Experience: 2 years
Desired Education: Bachelor's degree or relevant
experience, CCNA, CCNP,
CIPT
The Corporate Voice Engineer works closely with various
business units
to develop a secure, functional Cisco IP telephony
enterprise solution.
Specific duties and responsibilities include:
* Primarily responsible for maintaining day-to-day
operations and
providing support.
* Responsible for assisting in the development of the
overall voice
strategy, design, upgrade, deployment, retirement and
troubleshooting
of components that make up the client telephony
infrastructure.
* Other areas of responsibility include MACs, telephony
server
maintenance, design, installation and configuration of
Cisco
CallManager in a clustered solution; Cisco Unity Voice
Mail/Unified
Messaging design and configuration; Cisco IPCC design,
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and maintenance.
To learn more, visit:
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-----------------------------
Bank of America, Security Analyst
Position Type: Full-time
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Salary: Not given
Experience: Not given
Desired Education: CCNA, CISSP, MCSE
Individual will be part of a team that performs
vulnerability testing
and assessment (ethical hacking) of applications and other
environments. Team focus is on innovative automated
solutions.
Position is available in Charlotte, NC; Dallas, TX or
Albany, NY.
To learn more, visit:
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