My first 50 certifications

I did my first (vocational) IT exam in 1999. This was after an annual appraisal from my (then) manager, who said “I’ve spoken to lots of people, and they’re all very impressed with your work. However, there’s no way for me to quantify your performance, so you don’t get a pay rise.” Based on that, …

Cisco Certified CyberOps Associate

Overview In November 2016, Cisco introduced “CCNA CyberOps”. This consisted of 2 exams: At this point, there were 10 associate level certifications: 9 versions of CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate), and also CCDA (Cisco Certified Design Associate). In February 2020, most of the associate exams were merged together into the new CCNA (200-301). The only …

CCNA R&S

Cisco have offered the CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) since 1998, but it’s been through a few variations over the years. They’ve changed the syllabus and the number of exams: Year Part 1 Part 2 Combined 1998 CCNA (640-407) 2000 CCNA (640-507) 2002 CCNA (640-607) 2003 INTRO (640-821) ICND (640-811) CCNA (640-801) 2007 ICND1 (640-822) …

Upgrading Cisco Unity Express

I recently upgraded an NME-CUE (Cisco Unity Express Enhanced Network Module) from version 3.2.1 to 8.6.7. This module was moving from a 3845 router (running CUCME 7.1) to a 3945 router (running CUCME 10.5), so these versions match the compatibility matrix. On the whole, this went fairly smoothly, but there are a couple of issues …

How to short-circuit a network…

Most modern networks use a star topology: each computer plugs into a separate port on a switch, either directly or via a patch panel, and larger networks will have multiple switches connected together. However, what happens if you plug both ends of a patch cable into the same switch? I’ve encountered this situation a couple …