Category Archives: Networking

Cisco VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP)

VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) is a Cisco proprietary protocol that reduces administration in a switched network. When you configure a new VLAN on one VTP server, the VLAN is distributed through all switches in the domain. This prevents you from … Continue reading

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Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is used by IP devices to locate the hardware addresses of other devices on the local network. RFC 826 introduced ARP as a method for IP devices to locate other IP devices on the same local … Continue reading

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Cisco – Spanning VLANs across Switches via Trunking

In this lab I use two Cisco WS-C2960-24TT [IOS 12.2(25)FX] switches to demonstrate how to span VLANs across switches via 802.1q trunking. I avoid using VTP by using “VTP transparent mode”; as a result, I have to configure the VLANs … Continue reading

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Recover from a Forgotten Console Password on Dell Force10 E-Series Switches

In this lab I will use a Dell Force10 E600i chassis [FTOS 8.3.1.1] to demonstrate how to recover if you forget your console password. The first thing to do to prepare for this lab is to log on through the … Continue reading

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Creating a LAG between an ESXi vSwitch and a Physical Switch

In this lab I am going to create a LAG (Link Aggregation Group) between an ESXi vSwitch and a physical switch. You can use Cisco, Force10 Dell, Juniper, or any other manufacturer for the physical switch. Depending on the switch … Continue reading

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Open Virtualization Format – VMs in transit

The Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF) describes a format for the packaging and distribution of virtual machines (VMs). It is touted as open, secure, and portable. OVF can be seen as a packaging format for software appliances. I see it … Continue reading

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Setup your Apple MacBook Pro with VMware ESXi on top of Fusion

I have been messing around with VMware ESXi on my Apple MacBook Pro laptop for a while now. Actually, I have installed ESXi on top of VMware Fusion. Further, I networked everything together so my Apple MacBook Pro can communicate … Continue reading

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How to Stack Dell Force10 S60 Switches

In this lab I use two Dell Force10 S60 switches [FTOS 8.3.3.4] to demonstrate how to stack two S60 switches together. By stacking the switches you can increase port density and manage the switches together as if it were one … Continue reading

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Load Balancing with EIGRP

RIP, RIPv2, IGRP, EIGRP and OSPF are all routing protocols that support equal cost load balancing but IGRP and EIGRP can also support unequal cost load balancing. However, unlike IGRP, EIGRP supports VLSM (Variable Length Subnet Masking). Below I use … Continue reading

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Setup Telnet Access on Cisco Switches

This quick lab assumes you already have an IP address for telnet assigned on the Cisco switch. Once that is setup and you are able to ping the IP address, you can setup telnet access on the Cisco switch with … Continue reading

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