Computers and The Internet

Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Keeping Your CCNA Current

2006-09-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

Passing the CCNA exam and earning this coveted Cisco certification is an important step in your career, but it's not the end of your responsibilities as a CCNA! When you work with computer networks, you've got to be continually learning and staying up on the latest technologies and changes in the field. Part of this responsibility is keeping your CCNA current by meeting Cisco's recertification requirements.

Cisco requires CCNAs to recertify once every three years. While most CCNAs will move on to the CCNP in that time, if you choose not to you must meet certain requirements in order to keep your CCNA valid. Cisco does this to ensure that CCNAs keep their networking knowledge current, which in turn helps the CCNA certification valuable. And that's exactly what you want, since you worked so hard to earn your certification in the first place!

As of March 2006, there are five different options for recertifying as a CCNA. You can take and pass any of the following exams to renew your CCNA - the CCNA exam itself, the ICND exam, any 642 series exam, any Cisco Qualiied Specialist exam (except the Sales Specialist exams - those don't count!), or any CCIE Written Qualification exam.

With all these options, there's an option that's just right for you. Whether you just want to renew your CCNA or pursue a Specialist, CCNP, or CCIE certification, you can easily renew your CCNA along the way. Just don't forget that keeping up with Cisco's latest recertification requirements is your responsibility, and that's easy to do - just visit Cisco's "Learning And Events" section on their website. Cisco will tell you what you need to do to keep your certification, but it's up to you to keep up with certification program changes! Once your certification expires, it?s gone, so get in the habit of visiting Cisco?s website to make sure you?re up to date on important recertification requirements.

About The Author

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials! For my FREE "How To Pass The CCNA" or "CCNP" ebook, visit the website and download your copies. Pass your CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

Why We Play Games, Part 3

2006-09-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

by: Steve Hall

In part 2 of this series we took a look at Creative Expression and Escapism, two significant motivators of the common gamer. The week before that, we covered Challenge and Competition. This week we have a look at Socialization and try to tie it all together.

Social interaction is a subject on which we gamers take a fair bit of static from our non-gaming peers. Sometimes this is because they mistake differing priorities for introversion. Wanting to talk about the relative merits of the Western Plaguelands against Winterspring as a post 55 grinding location isn't really any different from wanting to talk about the strength of the Bill's secondary, its just that one of them is relevant to a somewhat narrow audience (give it time.) Sometimes, however, the criticism is merited. We tend to be somewhat socially awkward folk, in part because the hobbies in which we invest a sizeable amount of our time have rigid rules governing most interactions, making them poor training for the free wheeling reality of human discourse. For some gamers, the Social Interaction found in the gaming experience is a primary motivator.

Social activity in gaming occurs on many levels. At a very low level, gaming can be a reinforcer for existing social groups. Think of a group of friends getting together to play a board game or some Half Life. The social activity found in modern online games can be much broader in scope. MMORPGs, to which discussion of the current state of gaming always seems to gravitate, are essentially groups of people that already share some primary common link. The friendships formed through online cooperation and friendly competition can be one of the biggest draws of such games. Anyone who has ever stayed up later than they should because their guild needed them or because someone asked them to has experienced this. These online relationships are no less real, no less significant than their offline analogues. They are, however, different.

The interaction that takes place within a game is structured and often, online gamers see only part of one another. It is difficult for a group formed around a particular activity to bond as deeply as a group of friends that exists solely for the purpose of supporting one another. To avoid turning to diatribe on not forgetting your real loved ones we'll stop following that chain of thought. The important thing is that some game players are purely Socially Motivated. Such individuals thrive online, where other players can be met and interacted with. For these people, the heavier the social component of the game, the better. Interestingly, many games with a high degree of social complexity also have a large amount of the mathematical complexity that may drive away socially motivated gamers. In pure form, this type of gamer is seeking an experience that blurs the line between games and chat environment.

Challenge. Competition. Creation. Escape. Socialization. Five different motivators, all of which combine to make up the motivation of a particular gamer. We could add more, certainly, but these will do for now. So where do we go with this? I'm having to physically restrain myself from drawing a pentagonal map and plotting individual gamers on the five motivational axes. While it would look neat and might be an interesting topic for an esoteric role-playing text, it wouldn't get us anywhere.

A more useful tack, perhaps, is to think about what motivates us individually. Knowing yourself and what drives you can help you figure out what sort of games you should be playing and, more importantly, which will never give you anything but frustration. Understanding the motivations of others can give us insight that will better help us relate. Many arguments over what to do in online games arise because the different party members are motivated differently. A Creative and a Challenger aren't likely to crave the same activities from a night of dungeon delving. Nor are an Escapist and a Competitive going to even speak the same way about a game. For one, a game may be a world waiting for his immersion. For the other, a game is a matrix of numbers waiting to be solved and conquered. We all have a little of each in us and if we can understand what drives us we can both better interact with one another and increase the joy we find in gaming.

About The Author

Steve Hall is a writer for the GrandMatrix website. Download, play and rate full version PC games and puzzles for free. Choose from hundreds of titles, including classics, puzzles and strategy to the latest action, driving and RPG games at http://www.grandmatrix.com.

Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Directly Connected Serial Interfaces

2006-09-13T17:06:00.001-07:00

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

To pass the CCNA exam, you've got to master quite a few services and routing protocols that may be new to you. Between RIP, IGRP, EIGRP, OSPF, and switching, there are hundreds of details you've got to absorb! It's easy to spend all your time on those topics and not pay proper attention to "easier" technologies, and then all of a sudden on exam day you can't quite remember the details of those particular services.

One setup you've got to be more than familiar with is directly connecting serial interfaces on Cisco routers. This is also a valuable skill to have in your home lab, since it allows you to add segments to your network setup.

A Cisco serial interface is operating as a DTE by default. The problem is that when you take a cable and connect two routers directly by their serial interfaces (with a DTE/DCE cable, that is!), they're both waiting for the other to send them a clock rate. One of the interfaces must act as the DCE and that interface must send the clock rate.

If you can see the DTE/DCE cable, you can tell by looking which router has the DCE interface connected to it - the letters "DTE" or "DCE" will either be molded into the connector itself, or if it's an older cable there should be a little piece of tape on the cable that tells you what the interface type is. But what if you have no access to the cable, or there are other cables all around it and you can't see what type it is?

Run the command "show controller serial x", with x representing the interface number the cable's connected to. There will be quite a bit of output from this command, but the information you need is right at the top:

R1#show controller serial 1

HD unit 1, idb = 0x1DBFEC, driver structure at 0x1E35D0

buffer size 1524 HD unit 1, V.35 DTE cable

I left off the 16 or so rows of information that comes after this, but this is the information we need right now. If R1's got the DTE cable end, the other router should have the DCE end:

R3#show controller serial 1

HD unit 1, idb = 0x1C44E8, driver structure at 0x1CBAC8

buffer size 1524 HD unit 1, V.35 DCE cable

We know now that R3 needs to supply a clock rate to R1. There's a hint of a problem in just that little bit of command output - do you see what it is? Let's run show interface serial1 to get more information.

R3#show int s1

Serial1 is up, line protocol is down

The line protocol is down because there is no clockrate being supplied by R3. If there has been, we would have seen that in the output of show controllers serial 1.

This is simple enough to fix, though! We'll use the command clockrate 56000 on R3's serial1 interface, and the line protocol will soon come up.

R3(config)#int s1

R3(config-if)#clockrate 56000

1w2d: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface Serial1, changed state to up

This is a simple concept, but there are a few details you must keep in mind! For a home lab configuration, you'll need a DTE/DCE cable to make this work. If you cannot see the cable connectors, run show controllers serial x to see if the router has the DTE or DCE end of the cable attached. On the interface with the DCE attached, use the clockrate command to bring the line protocol up. It's just that simple!

About The Author

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

Six Warning Signs: You Need A New Developer

2006-09-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

by: David Berube

I. Unreturned Phone Calls

Software development is an intellectual exercise, and you are half the team. If your developer isn't returning calls, then he's working blind at best.

II. Frequent Miscommunication

If he's taking calls, but doing the work wrong, then you need to rethink your relationship. Granted, everyone occasionally misunderstands - he can't read your mind or vice versa - but if it's a habit, then you need to either change how you communicate or change who you are communicating with.

III. Bugs cost you more than the software

You should be able to budget your projects accurately - if it costs more to get the software working then it does to write it, then your budget becomes a guess. Find a developer than can make price estimates and stick with them.

IV. Frequent system downtime.

Is your system down as often as it is up? You shouldn't be riding a productivity rollercoaster - when things break, your developer should fix them ASAP. If not, find a new one.

V. New features getting more expensive.

Are new features getting more expensive and taking longer? You might be building on a shaky foundation. If your current developer didn't create your software, and just maintains it, talk to him about writing a new codebase before continuing. If not, think about finding someone that can write maintainable software.

VI. It's not my fault!

If your developer won't take responsibility, then you need a new one. Responsibility is different from blame - he might or might not be responsible for any given bug. (Software breaks for lots of reasons - one of my clients had an electrician short an ethernet cable across a wall socket, destroying a critical server in the process.) A responsible developer, though, fixes the problems when the happen, even when the client is at fault.

About The Author

David Berube is a software developer, writer, and speaker. He's appeared in nationally distributed magazines like Dr Dobb's Journal and Linux Pro Magazine. He offers fixed price software projects, and estimates are free - you can contact him at (603)-485-9622 or at http://fastcustom.biz/.

djberube@fastcustom.biz

Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: OSPF Router Types

2006-09-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

When you're preparing to pass the BSCI exam on the way to the coveted Cisco CCNP certification, you can be quickly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of BGP and OSPF knowledge you must demonstrate a mastery of. One set of details that some BSCI and CCNP candidates underestimate are the differences between the OSPF router types.

An OSPF Internal router has one rule - it must have all its interfaces in a single area. It does not mean that area has to be Area 0.

An OSPF Backbone router is a router with at least a single area in the OSPF backbone area, Area 0. A router can be both an Internal and Backbone router if all its interfaces are in Area 0.

An Area Border Router has at least one interface in Area 0 and another interface in a non-backbone area. ABRs are also one of two router types that can perform OSPF route summarization. (To advertise a summary route from one OSPF area to another, use the area range command on the ABR.)

Finally, an ASBR is an OSPF router that is performing route redistribution by injecting routes from another source into the OSPF domain. This is the other OSPF router type that can perform route summarization; to summarize routes being redistributed into OSPF, use the summary-address command on the ASBR.

There are several commands you can use to determine the router types in a given OSPF area. The command "show ip ospf" will display quite a bit of information regarding the local router, and this includes whether that router is acting as an ABR or ASBR. To see the routes to the ABRs and ASBRs from the local router, run "show ip ospf border-routers".

About The Author

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

Want To Buy an Inkjet Cartridge? Read This for Tips

2006-09-13T17:02:00.001-07:00

by: Ismael D. Tabije

Since computers?PCs, laptops and notebooks--have now pervaded the entire ambit of our lives, maintaining all its attachments has also become very important. A printer is one of the most useful attachments as it is constantly utilized by the computer users. However, buying inkjet cartridges for your printer can be a daunting task. You really have to know how to choose the best inkjet cartridge so that you are not confused by the various choices.

Some people get stressed when the ink in their printer cartridge show signs of getting over but there is no need to fret over such issues. When you go to the market to buy an ink cartridge you should not get lured by low priced products or by any bargain deals which promise a lot of savings. In all probability such low-priced cartridges would be faulty and would harm your printer. You will spend much more in repair costs than what you would save.

The first step in selecting the best inkjet cartridge is to check the existing cartridge in your printer and then try to buy a cartridge of similar specifications. If you are unable to get the same type of cartridge in the market you should take the help of the following tips:

? The ink of generic cartridges can be harmful to your printer?s nozzles. So you should avoid using such cartridges.

? If you need the best quality of printing you should use the ink cartridges made by the same manufacturer as the printer. No doubt, these will be most expensive.

? The warranties of some printer manufacturers are not valid if ink cartridges made by a different manufacturer are used.

? It is advisable to check the page yield of the cartridge that you plan to buy.

The precautions needed to increase the life of the cartridge are: the cartridge should never be allowed to dry up fully as this will damage the printer to the extent that it will not be able to print even with a new cartridge, if one cartridge is out the other one should not be run to avoid damage to the jets and the cartridge should be shaken from side to side to utilize the balance amount of ink.

Now the question is from where can you buy the inkjet cartridges?

Buying online is the best place as it is time saving and less expensive. If you do not have the time to keep running to the store, spending time in buying and then returning back, you can save time by ordering online and the cartridge will be delivered to your home or office.

Moreover, if you buy at a store, the ink cartridge will be much more expensive than if you order online as the online vendors offer substantial discounts. Almost any type of ink cartridge can be bought online and that too at a discount.

If you buy refilled or recycled ink cartridges either from a store or from a website, you might save some money but the damage to your printer will prove costlier to repair. As such you should buy only genuine brands and that, too, from a supplier or website that gives a guarantee.

You might be able to save about sixty percent of the cost of an original ink cartridge if you buy a recycled or refilled cartridge but if you need good quality printing it is best to stick to the same company that made the printer that you are using.

If you follow the above tips, you will be able to choose the best cartridge from among the plethora of cartridges available in the market.

About The Author

The writer, Ismael D. Tabije, runs the website, http://www.bestlaptopnotebookdeal.com, where you can get tips for buying top laptop brands at cheap prices from reliable online merchants.

idtbusiness@yahoo.com

How to Create a CRM Data Capture Procedure Checklist

2006-09-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

by: Perry Norgarb

Fortunately one of the most common reasons cited for the high failure rate of CRM systems - poor data quality - is also one of the easiest to avoid.

Your CRM software is only as good as the information it contains. As the old programmers motto goes ?garbage in, garbage out?.

So how can you avoid incomplete, incorrect, irrelevant or out-of-date and generally unfit-for-use data from permeating your CRM software?

You need to gather your key CRM users, and together thrash out a DATA CAPTURE PROCEDURE document, defining the rules of use.

Spell out:

? Who has what rights to the system; who can Create, Insert, Modify or Delete records, assuming your software supports all these functions? Forward this information to your system administrator to action.

? Decide on a procedure to check for any duplicates before creating a record. Depending on what ?de-duping? or ?data scrubbing? features your system has, this might require some simple searches before starting a new record.

? Do you allow abbreviations or acronyms? For example: IBM, or I.B.M, or International Business Machines Inc. or Incorporated and so on. A policy on ensuring consistency of input will help to avoid duplications in future.

? Are records going to be created in Upper and Lower case and when are CAPS acceptable?

? By when do you expect records, notes and so on to be created or updated? Same day, on return to the office?

? Check to see whether your Postal Services have specific requirements. Ensure your data meets these criteria.

? Is the primary address of clients to be created as a postal or a physical address?

? Make sure everyone checks spellings if they are unsure and do not trust spellchecker! When in doubt, ask the client ? they?ll respect that. Is it Clark with an ?e?; Shawn, Sean or Shaun? One certain way to get your mail binned is to spell someone?s name incorrectly.

? Also confirm the kind of corporation e.g. LLC, Inc, PTY Ltd. and so on.

? Make rules for creating new profiles or User Definable Fields (UDF) (or whatever your specific CRM software calls them.) Place a lot of emphasis on this. Every time a new UDF is needed, it should first be approved. Otherwise duplicates will permeate your database e.g. Lead Source: Yellow Pages, YP, yelo pages.

? Ensure that email addresses are put in correctly. Basic but common mistake!

? Set up procedures, if not supported by your software, of how to create records from inbound emails.

? If applicable, are you going to use Mandatory/Forced fields?

You might as well address the issue of Backups while you are about it.

? Who is the responsible person for backing up your databases/s? Who covers for them when they are absent or unavailable?

? How frequently are backups to be done? Diarise!

? How are backups done e.g. by the Grandfather, Father, Son method.

? Ensure backups are made on good quality CD?s or whatever format you are using. It?s no good doing a backup, then finding on attempting a Restore that it doesn?t work! It is also a good idea to copy backups onto more than one data format.

? Where are the backups to be stored?

? Are the backups secure? This is important for both security and practical reasons.

Once your Data Capture Procedure Document is finished, get everyone to sign it off as READ! As standard practice, ensure that document is handed to all new employees at your company.

Refer back to this document for possible revision every three months or so.

Try this: select a couple of records - both good and bad - every week, to put on the overhead at staff meetings. Make sure you don?t unduly embarrass anybody but watch this become the light-relief highlight of your meetings! People learn best when having fun!

What if your database is in one unholy mess?

Has the rot set in so deeply that your database needs a complete overhaul? Turn this seemingly insurmountable task into an opportunity to you. This is an excellent excuse to re-establish contact with your clients and let them know you care. You can always put lapses down to data crashes but tell them you have fixed the problem!

Importantly, help your staff understand what you need from the data to facilitate more accurate marketing and reporting and hence the success of your business and their careers.

By creating a sense of pride and ownership in the company database, you are nurturing the essential process of buy-in, necessary for the success of your CRM initiative. Don?t compromise this critical tool by allowing your CRM software to be infected by inferior data.

About The Author

Perry Norgarb has specialized in Small Business CRM and Sales Automation solutions for the last 16 years.

Contact him or find out more about CRM, Contact Management and other Sales Tracking software tips and solutions for small businesses at: http://www.smallbizcrm.com.

You are free to re-publish this article as long as this bio box and copyright remain intact and links live. © 10 February, 2006.

Flash USB Drives: Backup Easily, Conveniently And Securely

2006-09-13T17:01:00.001-07:00

by: Yuri Filimonov

Tired of switching CD/DVD discs while backing up? Flash USB drives to the rescue!

If you already backup often, you are doing the most you can to secure your files against accidental file deletion and recovery, file damage and what not. Also, you may be considering making your backups as easy and painless as possible. So what may be a remedy to this issue?

Naturally, you need to consider several backup media and select the one suitting your needs and requirements. Among all, CD, DVD and flash USB drives are considered.

You may as well use CD to backup, but you will either need to dump CD-R discs often, or insert a CD-/+RW discs often to make another backup. Someone else can also misplace your backup CD disc or overwrite your backup data with other information. Moreover, a CD only admits about 700Mb of data, which may not be convenient. Nor is storing multiple CDs of your backup copy.

The same can be said about backing up to DVD. Of course, a DVD admits from 4.7Gb to about 18.6Gb of data, but is it really convenient backing up to DVD? An external hard disk drive or a flash USB drive will be speedier, more reliable and easier overall.

Here is when a flash USB drive comes handy. It not only allows faster data copying than CD or DVD, but can also admit from 256Mb to 4Gb of data (or maybe more). Moreover, you can take the USB drive with you anywhere you go and transfer the data between distant computers without resolving to FTP backup. Of course, one of the drawbacks of a flash USB backup is that the drive is only limited to about 100 000 writings, while another slight disadvantage (or an advantage, if you put it nicely) is that the device is so small you can easily misplace it.

About The Author

Yuri Filimonov has been an insider of the backup industry for a few years, allowing him to share insight on various backup issues, both in his articles and his website at http://www.fairbackup.com.

Cisco / MCSE Exam Study: Creating A Road Map To Success

2006-09-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

Planning for success on the CCNA, CCNP, and other Cisco exams is much like taking a trip in your car. You've got to plan ahead, accept the occasional detour, and just keep on going until you get there. But what do you do before you get started?

Create a road map - for success.

If you were driving from one side of the country to another, you certainly wouldn't just get in your car and start driving, would you? No. You would plan the trip out ahead of time. What would happen if you just got in the car and started driving in the hope that you would someday arrive at your final destination? You would never get there, and you'd spend a lot of time wandering aimlessly.

Don't spend your study time and slow your progress by studying for a Cisco exam without planning the trip. Schedule your study time as you would an appointment with a client, and keep that appointment. Make sure that your study time is quality study - turn your TV, iPod, and cell off. If you hit a bump in the road and don't get your certification the first time you take the exam, regroup and create another plan. Study until you get to the point that on exam day, you know that you are already a CCNA or CCNP and you?re just there at the testing center to make it official.

The journey to success is not a straight line. When you look at a chart that shows a company's financial progress, the line never goes straight up. there are some ups and downs, but the overall result is success. The path to your eventual career and certification exam success may not be a direct one, but the important part is to get started - and to get any journey started, you've got to create a road map for a successful arrival at your destination.

About The Author

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

A Parent's Guide to Online Gaming, Part 1

2006-09-13T17:00:00.001-07:00

by: Steve Hall

The internet touches every aspect of your children?s lives. Where you might look up an unknown word in a dictionary, your kids are more likely to use dictionary.com. Where you use the telephone, they use instant messenger. An even greater difference can be found in how they play games. Where the games of their parent?s generation may have involved a board, cards, or at their most sophisticated a console system, the games your children play on the net can be far more complex. They mine gold, spread empires, fight dragons and aliens alone or with tens, hundreds, even thousands of their fellow gamers. All of this makes for a confusing mish mash of names, places, jargon and lingo that can leave you with no idea what your kids are actually doing and a vague feeling of uneasiness that some part of it might not be good for them.

What?s appropriate for your kids is a decision only you can make. How much violence they are exposed to, how much time they spend in front of a screen and how much contact they have with the faceless strangers so common to the net are all questions you must grapple with and, in the end, decide for your family. While we can?t help you make these rough decisions, we can certainly help you get the information you need to understand your children?s hobbies better, both to make informed judgments about what they should and should not be doing, and to help you reach into another part of their lives that may have previously seemed like something of a puzzle box.

The Easy Stuff

The simplest type of online game is the sort of Flash or Java driven game that you generally see running inside your web browser. This type of game tends to be relatively simple compared to the stand alone games discussed later. Common examples include Bejeweled, Zuma, and Diner Dash. These games are almost universally single player and have none of the sort of violent or mature content that keeps parents up at night. Were they movies, they would be G Rated, with perhaps the occasional game stretching to PG. If this is the type of game your kids are into then first, be relieved. Then, try the game out. Many of these games can be very enjoyable for even the most casual of players. Some, such as Bookworm, even have genuine educational content. These games can be as much an opportunity for bonding and learning as throwing around a baseball in the backyard, and have the added bonus of being much easier to get your kids to sit down with you and play.

FPSs: Finding Something to Shoot.

FPS stands for First Person Shooter. They are First Person in the same since that a story might be. That is, the player sees the world through the eyes of a single character and interacts with the game environment as though he were that character. Shooter comes from the primary goal of most such games, the shooting of whatever happens to be the bad guy. FPS games are among some of the most popular online. Common examples include Doom, Battlefield:1942, and the X-Box game Halo. From a parental perspective, these games can be cause for concern. They vary widely in the amount of realism, degree of violence, language, and general attitude. The only way to get a good idea of the content issues is to watch the particular game. If your kids don?t want you watching while they play, then fire up the game yourself sometime when they aren?t around. There is a sizeable variation in how violent and how personal FPS content can be from game to game. The single player portion of Halo, for example, has players fighting against alien invaders with largely energy weapons and a minimum of realistic human suffering. In contrast, WWII themed games tend to go out of their way to show realistic violence. Given the subject matter, this is appropriate for the game, but may not be for your kids. Online play presents a potentially greater concern. The goal of online FPS games is almost always killing other players. While some games do have various modes where this is a secondary goal, all of them give the player a gun and encourage him to use it on characters representing other people.

Simulated gore and the use of violence against others to achieve goals may be things you don?t want your kids exposed to. Again, these are your decisions to make, but we encourage you to make them with as much information as possible. Talk to your kids. Find out what they think, in their words, is going on in the game. Make sure they see the line between what happens in the game and what happens in the real world, between what it?s okay to simulate and what it?s okay to do. The answers may surprise you. If your children understand the differences, see real violence as deplorable and simulated violence as part of the game then FPS games, even online ones, can be a perfectly healthy way to have fun and let off steam. In the end, it falls on you to make sure that what your child gets out of the game is good for him or her.

Next time, we?ll talk about RTS and MMORPG, the two other common types of commercial online game and touch on the twin demons of addiction and predation.

About The Author

How to Get a Good Deal on a Hard Drive

2006-09-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

by: Mac McClellan

Computer equipment is one of the hardest things to buy if you are not at least somewhat competent in the market. Many people are willing to take advantage of someone who doesn?t have a clue what he or she need. Take the MarketPro Shows for example. Many different vendors frequent the shows in order to sell their wares, and on one occasion, this writer thought the Motherboard had gone on my computer, but I was also interested in upgrading my hard drive as well. One vendor quoted a price of approximately $350 to replace the Mother Board and include a hard drive of 2 Gb It seemed like a good deal at the time until shopping in various computer stores showed that a whole system with an 80 Gb hard drive could be purchased for not much more than that. Interesting thought, isn?t it? Why is a person going to pay $350 to get 2 Gb of hard drive memory when for approximately $599, one can get a tower with an 80 Gb hard drive, 512K of RAM, a keyboard, and sometimes even a printer depending on the sale that is being offered at the time.

How do you know where you?re getting a good deal on a hard drive? One of the things that you don?t want to do is take the first deal that interests you because you think it sounds ?good.? Unless you are a computer whiz who knows the prices and specifications of every product in the local area, you need to check around. Find out exactly what it is that you want and get some prices. While you are doing this, do not let anyone think that you are interested in buying at that time because they will attempt to convince you that if you don?t buy your hard drive that day, you will pay much more money for it and not get the same quality. You want to do all of your research before you make your final decision and know that in the end you have made the most informed decision of all.

When it is suggested that you check around, that doesn?t mean just the stores in your area because often times, an Internet search will yield you a much better price, but this means you will have to know exactly what it is that you want right down to the size of the hard drive and speed of the processor. Even EBay is a good source of value-priced hard drives, but you must be able to read into the seller?s profile, meaning that you do not attempt to place a bid if the seller has a private profile. Again, you must read the description in detail because if you are looking for a new hard drive, you must look at the complete description. Even if your hard drive has taken a nosedive, give yourself an opportunity to look for a good deal instead of simply taking the first one that sounds like a good deal because you?re desperate. This has not yet been mentioned, but one of the most important things about a hard drive is know the potential that it can crash and being sure to have all of your important information backed up so that it?s just a matter of reloading it when you replace the hard drive. Lastly, be sure to keep your virus protection up to date because one of the biggest causes of hard drive crashes is a virus.

Of course most of the work has already been done for you at http://harddriveusa.com. At Hard Drive USA you can find great resources on hard drives and the best deals on hard drives.

About The Author

Mac McClellan is the webmaster for Hard Drive USA http://harddriveusa.com, a useful site for information and resources on hard drives.

The Power Of Online Auctions As Traffic Generators

2006-09-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

by: Brian Sakamoto

There are thousands of online auctions on the internet. People love them because they can usually find great bargains. If you have an online business, you can use them to increase traffic to your web site.

You could create an electronic book or report that relates to your online business, then auction it off at an online auction. You could increase traffic to your web site by placing an ad for your web site in the electronic publication. Some online auctions will even allow you to link directly to your web site.

Electronic publications won't cost you anything to ship. You could send them via e-mail or allow people to download the electronic publication from your web site. You can also auction them off for a lower price. When they visit your web site you could offer them a higher priced product.

You could also get traffic from people who don't bid or don't get the winning bid. You could direct them to your web site to download and read a free sample of the ebook or report before they bid. If they want more detailed information about the ebook or report, you could also direct them to your web site.

You can also get traffic to your web site by auctioning a physical product. Print your web site advertisement on a flyer or brochure then insert it into each product package you ship.

Before you start auctioning any product at an online auction, read the terms and conditions. Some auctions may not allow the auctioning of electronic products or directly linking to your web site where you have other products for sale.

About The Author

Brian Sakamoto is a wbmaster of http://www.theaffiliate-business.com and http://www.marketingonlinepro.com. Also a partner of http://www.marketingonlinepro.com/ezinead.html.

Selecting a CRM Solution for Your Small Business

2006-09-13T16:58:00.001-07:00

by: Perry Norgarb

Your buddy at the barbecue tells you how the new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software which they recently installed at their company has revolutionized their business.

He waxes lyrical about no more sales leads slipping through the cracks; a much higher close rate on sales inquiries; more precise and cost effective marketing campaigns; improved productivity and customer service levels; vastly improved reporting and so on.

Great! Sounds just like what the doctor ordered for your company. You have been getting by using Microsoft Outlook to manage your database of sales prospects, follow-ups, notes, profiles etc. but it's starting to prove woefully inadequate.

Only problem is his business is in an entirely different industry sector to yours, with a much bigger IT budget to boot. Their CRM solution seems like an unattainable dream for your small business.

So now what? A quick search for CRM on Google returns 26,600,000 results! Whoa! So you narrow your search query to Small Business CRM only to get 6,260,000 results. You then put "Small Business CRM" in quotation marks which yields 29,300 results. But now the fun really starts..

You realise there are hundreds of CRM, Contact Management, Sales Force Automation and other Sales Tracking software tools to choose from. Each of these tools sports a dizzying array of features, some of which won't apply to your business.

To confuse matters even further, you see some of these applications are Web Based CRM (sometimes referred to as Hosted or Online CRM), or Open Source CRM. Others are the more conventional CRM software tools you may be already familiar with.

Yet others are embedded within Microsoft Outlook, but adding CRM functionality. A great solution for small businesses that already use MS Outlook.

Many CRM packages now cater for certain industries. That is, these software solutions may have been customized, or had specific add-on's developed, for specific industries. One of these tailored solutions might be suitable for your small business.

Which of these CRM apps should you download to evaluate? How should you evaluate them?

Many at this point realize that they need a more thorough evaluation of their requirements to enable them to put together a Request For Information (RFI) or Request For Proposal (RFP). This will be of tremendous benefit if they decide to call on the services of a CRM consultant to fast track the important decision of selecting and implementing a tailored CRM solution suitable for smaller businesses.

This should be your kicking-off point. Sit down with all your staff and co-operatively draw up a list of all your specifications. Keep it broad - you can always narrow down the options later. And be sure to involve your staff - ensure everyone has an opportunity to contribute.

From this informed position you are far more able to choose the correct CRM solution for your small business, and will see marked improvements in productivity levels and sales. After all what has not been measured, remains undefined. What is undefined cannot be improved. There are specific criteria that you and your CRM consultant need to fulfil. Build your wish list, meld it with reality and build it into your business.

About The Author

Perry Norgarb has specialized in Small Business CRM solutions for the last 16 years.

Contact him or find out more about CRM, Contact Management and other Sales Tracking software tips and solutions for small businesses at: http://www.smallbizcrm.com.

You are free to re-publish this article as long as this bio box and copyright remain intact and links live. © 10 February, 2006.

Never Have to Buy a New Internet

2006-09-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

by: Allan T. Price

When I was a kid we replaced one set of encyclopedias with a newer set of the same type and brand. When the new ones arrived the whole family unpacked them and sat around comparing the two editions. The new ones were crisp and clean, without finger smudges and worn covers, and a different color. When it came to the articles inside, we found that lions hadn?t changed at all in the ten years between editions, but the map of Europe was very different. We were all happy to have up-to-date reference materials, ignoring the fact that these too would become out-of-date just like the last set before it.

That ?new? set of books is still on the shelf, now decades old. Recently, when some friends of mine and I were playing a DVD trivia game, we were looking up some of the answers in those encyclopedias and others on the Internet. It struck me that every book I own is, to at least a small degree, out of date. However, the Internet is constantly being updated. The latest advice on treating snake bite is added, as are the most recent facts about actors and writers. The NASA site (www.nasa.gov/) has the most modern facts about other planets, and up-to-date pictures of them. In fact, I?ve been told NASA sometimes shoots live web casts, so we can see other planets at almost the same moment as the NASA scientists.

I like books, but I?m using the Internet more and more. Knowing I am reading the latest information is comforting. It is ludicrous to even suggest giving ?this Internet? to charity and having to buy a new one.

About The Author

By Allan T. Price

http://www.m6.net

Allan T. Price is a creative writer working at M6.Net: ?The web-hosting company for humans.? M6.Net is working hard to help humanity experience the power and freedom to develop their own part of the Internet, to share their information and connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: Leading Zero Compression

2006-09-13T16:57:00.001-07:00

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

The BSCI exam and CCNP certification requires that you be well versed in the basics of IP Version 6, or IPv6. If you're new to IPv6, you'll quickly learn that it's not exactly just two more octets slapped onto an IPv4 address! IPv6 addresses are quite long, but there are two ways to acceptably shorten IPv6 address expression. To pass the BSCI exam, become a CCNP, and get that all-important understanding of IPv6, you've got to understand these different methods of expressing an IPv6 address. My last IPv6 tutorial discussed zero compression; today we'll take a look at leading zero compression.

Leading zero compression allows us to drop the leading zeroes from every field in the address. Where we could only use zero compression once in an IPv6 address expression, leading zero compression can be used as often as is appropriate. The key with leading zero compression is that there must be at least one number left in each field, even if that remaining number is a zero.

You sometimes see books or websites refer to leading zero compression as "dropping zeroes and replacing them with a colon", but that explanation can be a little confusing, since the blocks are separated with a colon to begin with. You're not really replacing the leading zeroes, you're dropping them.

Let's look at an example of leading zero compression. Taking the address 1234:0000:1234:0000:1234:0000:1234:0123, we have four different fields that have leading zeroes. The address could be written out as it is, or drop the leading zeroes.

Original format: 1234:0000:1234:0000:1234:0000:0123:1234

With leading zero compression: 1234:0:1234:0:1234:0:123:1234

There's no problem with using zero compression and leading zero compression in the same address, as shown here:

Original format: 1111:0000:0000:1234:0011:0022:0033:0044

With zero and leading zero compression: 1111::1234:11:22:33:44

Zero compression uses the double-colon to replace the second and third block of numbers, which were all zeroes; leading zero compression replaced the "00" at the beginning of each of the last four blocks. Just be careful and take your time with both zero compression and leading zero compression and you'll do well on the exam and in the real world. The keys to success here are remembering that you can only use zero compression once in a single address, and that while leading zero compression can be used as often as needed, at least one number must remain in each field, even if that number is a zero.

About The Author

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNP and CCNA tutorials! For my FREE "How To Pass The CCNA" or "CCNP" ebook, visit the website and download your copies. Pass your CCNP exam with The Bryant Advantage!

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

Starting Your Computer Career: More Questions To Ask A Tech School Before Writing The Check

2006-09-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

If the school offers a placement service, ask to talk to the people working in that department and ask them how they go about placing graduates. Most schools offer a list of companies that they've placed students with. Get this list and start calling some of these companies. Ask to speak to their HR department, and ask them for their opinion of the school. Even if they don't say a lot, their tone of voice can speak volumes.

Ask to meet some of their teachers, and don't be afraid to ask them how long they've taught at that particular school. If the average teacher has been there a while, that's a good sign. If there seems to be quite a bit of turnover at the school, that's not as good a sign.

Another key area is the availability of the computer labs during class and after the class is over. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that getting hands-on experience with the various software and hardware you'll be working with in the field is the #1 way to get ahead - just reading books won't do it. If you're taking a router class, does the school have real routers for you to work on? If you're taking a PC repair class, are there plenty of PCs for everyone in your class to work on, or do you have to share?

You want classes that offer hands-on experience during class, and you should be able to get into the computer labs after class. You may not be able to use the labs at night if the school offers night classes, but again I speak from experience - the time you spend in the computer labs after class is just as valuable as the time you spend in class. Make sure the labs will be available after class - and then get in there and work!

About The Author

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Static VLANs

2006-09-13T16:56:00.001-07:00

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

BCMSN exam success and earning your CCNP certification requires you to add to your knowledge of VLAN configuration. When you studied for your CCNA exam, you learned how to place ports into a VLAN and what the purpose of VLANs was, but you may not be aware that there are two types of VLAN membership. To pass the BCMSN exam, you must know the details of both types.

In this tutorial, we'll take a look at the VLAN type you are most familiar with, the "static VLAN". As you know, VLANs are a great way to create smaller broadcast domains in your network. Host devices connected to a port belonging to one VLAN will receive broadcasts and multicasts only if they were originated by another host in that same VLAN. The drawback is that without the help of a Layer 3 switch or a router, inter-VLAN communication cannot occur.

The actual configuration of a static VLAN is simple enough. In this example, by placing switch ports 0/1 and 0/2 into VLAN 12, the only broadcasts and multicasts hosts connected to those ports will receive are the ones transmitted by ports in VLAN 12.

SW1(config)#int fast 0/1

SW1(config-if)#switchport mode access

SW1(config-if)#switchport access vlan 12

% Access VLAN does not exist. Creating vlan 12

SW1(config-if)#int fast 0/2

SW1(config-if)#switchport mode access

SW1(config-if)#switchport access vlan 12

One of the many things I love about Cisco switches and routers is that if you have forgotten to do something, the Cisco device is generally going to remind you or in this case actually do it for you. I placed port 0/1 into a VLAN that did not yet exist, so the switch created it for me!

There are two commands needed to place a port into a VLAN. By default, these ports are running in dynamic desirable trunking mode, meaning that the port is actively attempting to form a trunk with a remote switch in order to send traffic between the two switches. The problem is that a trunk port belongs to all VLANs by default, and we want to put this port into a single VLAN only. To do so, we run the switchport mode access command to make the port an access port, and access ports belong to one and only one VLAN. After doing that, we placed the port into VLAN 12 with the switchport access vlan 12 command. Running the switchport mode access command effectively turns trunking off on that port.

The hosts are unaware of VLANs; they simply assume the VLAN membership of the port they're connected to. But that's not quite the case with dynamic VLANs, which we'll examine in the next part of this BCMSN tutorial.

About The Author

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Prefix Notation

2006-09-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

When you're preparing to pass the CCNA exam and earn this coveted Cisco certification, you've got to be totally prepared for the many kinds of binary and subnetting questions Cisco may throw at you. You also have to be familiar with the different manners in which a subnet mask can be expressed, as in the following:

255.255.255.0

/24

Believe it or not, those two values are exactly the same. The first mask is written out in the more familiar dotted decimal format, and you know by looking at those first three octets that every bit is set to "1", since the maximum value of such an octet is 255.

The second value represents the exact same mask, only this value is expressed in prefix notation. This particular value would be pronounced "slash twenty-four", and the 24 represents the number of consecutive ones that are set in the subnet mask.

Those of us who hate to type numbers are particularly appreciative of this, since it means you'll have to type a lot less numbers to represent a subnet mask. In addition, it's a lot easier to discuss masks in prefix notation than dotted decimal. ("I thought about using a two-fifty-five two-fifty-five two-fifty-five zero mask ,but then decided to use a two-fifty-five two-fifty-five two-fifty-five one-twenty-eight mask...")

Be sure you're comfortable with prefix notation before taking your CCNA exam. As with Cisco documentation, you'll most likely see masks expressed in both dotted decimal and prefix notation, and you've got to be ready to use the both as well!

About The Author

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

Link Relevance

2006-09-13T16:55:00.001-07:00

by: David Andrew Smith

We are constantly being told by SEO experts and the Search Engines that the importance of a link is determined by its page rank and relevance to our own web sites. Consequently when developing a linking strategy we should only be concerned with relevant links. That is other web sites which have some connection to our own. For example I run a web site devoted to providing a variety of cleaning services to commercial clients throughout the UK, so a relevant site would be a cleaning machine supplier or a cleaning chemicals supplier. Not other cleaning companies for the obvious reason they are our direct competitors.

Now this sounds simple and straightforward and if we did this we would end up linking to about twenty sites. This number is not in any way sufficient for us to compete with our competitors who have many hundreds and in some cases thousands of links recognised by the search engines.

How does Google determine relevance? I would suggest that it is a completely random process. If I look at my own back links which Google are registering then many are relevant in terms of the definition above, but many are not. None of our suppliers who provide us with a back link and incidentally have high page ranks form part of this list and yet they are highly relevant? It may be that these form part of Google?s count but they choose for one reason or another not to divulge these. It remains a mystery.

How does a mathematical formula work out relevance? If I back link to my customers who are a very divers group to me they are relevant but apparently not to Google. We have many back links from construction and building companies because we carry out builders cleans for them. Yet these are seemingly not deemed to be relevant but a mortgage company is? Builders and construction firms are mentioned several times on the web site and so a relevant connection should be able to be made.

If I look at the back links of my major competitors then the situation becomes even more confusing. Very few would appear on the surface to be of any relevance at all but who am I to judge? I do not have inside knowledge of the workings of these companies and their possible connections.

To me the whole process seems completely arbitrary and I will continue developing links to sites that I consider relevant. If Google paid attention to its own advice in only developing links to relevant sites then presumably it would only link to other search engines?

It is an easy statement to make for Google and SEO experts, ?only develop links to relevant sites? but the reality is that they have no way of knowing what is truly relevant and what is not. Consequently my advice is to continue developing your links to websites that you consider of some relevance either to you or surfers who come across your site and continue to be astonished at what Google considers to be relevant!

About The Author

David Andrew Smith is the owner of a company which provides cleaning services http://www.wesparkle.co.uk to clients across the UK.

Stealing Passwords And Other Juicy Googlebits

2006-09-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

by: David Andrew

Disclaimer: Before we even start, I'd like to let my readers know that I am a full-time information security professional. I do not condone the theft of anyone's personal information including passwords, social security numbers, credit card numbers, etc. Moreover, I condemn such acts as morally and ethically wrong. The purpose and goal of this article is not to assist people with criminal or nefarious intentions, but rather to educate about the type of information that can be easily found with a web browser and a search engine, and by extension, the type of information that should and should not be submitted to web sites.

By now we all know of Google's dominance in the search industry. Although Yahoo and Microsoft remain competitors, neither one of their search engines are as mature as Google's. And beyond the "big three", you're hard pressed to find any search engine worth using anymore. GYM (Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft) have all but eliminated the smaller players in search--including former giants like Altavista, Lycos, and Excite. But even amongst the big three, Google is far ahead of the pack. In fact, Google's indexing prowess and relevancy ratings have become so good that many information security professionals now use Google as a key part to their vulnerability assessment and penetration testing services. Security professionals know that the first step in performing a successful assessment is to gather intelligence about the target. This is known as the "footprinting" or "profiling" phase of the security engagement. And what better way to profile your target than to leverage the power of the world's greatest search engine? By simply using search queries (aka Just Google It, one can quickly locate sensitive and quasi-sensitive company information including domain names, subdomains, network address ranges, mail servers, FTP servers, whois contact information, even e-mail addresses. And the kicker is that all of the above can potentially be found about a target without sending even a single packet to the target's network. In an effort to better automate the footprinting phase using Google, some in the security industry have even written software that will go out and perform various search queries on the target inan effort to obtain an accurate profile. Of particular interest is Foundstone's SiteDigger and BiDiBLAH by Sensepost. SiteDigger will look for vulnerabilities, configuration problems, and other "interesting security nuggets" by searching Google's cache. Like SiteDigger, BiDiBLAH also uses a Google API license key to query the search engine for various keywords in an effort to determine a target's subdomains. Incidentally, BiDiBLAH is an all-around excellent free tool for professional penetration testers.

Now finding company web sites, domain names, and even e-mail addresses is one thing. But stealing people's eBay passwords? Credit card numbers? All by doing a few Google searches? Yes. And unfortunately not only is this possible, it's often simple to carry out. "But how can you search for someone's password if you don't know what it is"? Good question! The answer, of course, is you do not. Since the unique element is unknown, you need to search on a known, common element. Allow me to further explain.

By its very nature, software contains fingerprints--bits of information that uniquely identify and differentiate that software. For example, when you connect to a Microsoft IIS server, that web server will reply with its server string ("Microsoft-IIS/6.0", for example). Even tiny components of a software application will leave fingerprints. For example, McAfee VirusScan 8.0.0 has a small component called Access Protection which acts as a very simple firewall. But the log file for this component can be easily spotted because of a common, known element that is shared across all instances of that log. Now because this log file does not contain highly sensitive information such as passwords (it actually does contain disk path information though), the risk is not substantial if someone's log file found its away into the wrong hands. But what about other application log files that have common, known elements? How about configuration files? Spreadsheets? Accounting software? I think you get the point. Searching Google for these known application fingerprints will inevitably bring up "interesting" results. By the way, there are entire web sites devoted to sole purpose of sharing Google queries that will result in juicy googlebits such as passwords, social security numbersand yes, credit card numbers. And although I won't list any of those sites here, they are not hard to find (hint: use Google!).

Incidentally, one of the things that makes these queries possible is Google's support of advanced operators. Google supports a growing number of these operators which help narrow down the output and generally provide a more specific result set. Using Google's advanced operators, you can even limit a searches to a specific domain or even filetype. For example, the following query searches registry files looking specifically for a text string beginning with "Username" and the word "putty" (PuTTY is a free implementation of telnet and SSH for the Windows and Unix platforms):

ext:reg "username=*" putty

If successful, the query would result in a list of username to machine mappings for folks who use puTTY. Armed with this useful information, an attacker could then possibly launch a brute-force password guessing attack against the target (assuming the. target's firewall allowed for inbound SSH connectivity). As you can see, coming up with searches that reveal Googlebits is mostly an excercise of the imagination.

As stated on their corporate website, Google's mission is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful". So far, I'd say Google is doing an excellent job in fulfilling their mission statement. Are you upset that Google's database contains sensitive personal information such as credit card numbers? Me too. And though I won't give Google a complete pass, the primary parties at fault here are web site operators and web users (you and me). If you operate a Web site, please don't leave config files, log files, and other files that contain sensitive information sitting on your web server! And if you enjoy the many services the web has to offer, please understand that any information you send to a web site has the potential to show up in a Google search. I can't tell you how many forum posts I've stumbled on during a Google search that contained things like cell phone numbers, driver's license numbers, and even social security numbers.

You have been warned.

About The Author

David Andrew is an Information Security Professional specializing in vulnerability assessment and malware analysis. He is the primary operator and owner of Security Tricks, an online resource devoted to computer security and spyware help. If you would like to contact David for interviews or other inquiries, please e-mail him at daveATsecuritytricks.com. If you are interested in learning more about computer security, please subscribe to our free newsletter.

This article may be reprinted or published for free with the condition that the author and site information below is retained.

The Right Amount Of Computer Time

2006-09-13T16:54:00.001-07:00

by: Steve Hall

In a country that settles each night in front of the television, it just seems strange that more and more people are finding the allure of the computer screen sometimes more important. There is no doubt that children do as their parents do. They enjoy exploring the vast world of the Internet. They are excited to get that new computer game. But, how much time in front of the computer screen is the right amount of time?

There is no doubt going to be a number of people that come out and say that children are spending far too much time in front of the computer. They may end up telling us that their eyes will go back or something. Regardless of what they will say, we know now that it is important to limit the amount of time children use the computer. We know this because we know that it just makes sense that children who play on the computer too much loose the physical aspects of life along with the elements of pretend play that actually teach them quite a bit.

As parents, it is up to us to limit what the child is doing. It is up to us to provide for them something worthwhile to do while they are on the web as well. In this, we mean that you, Mom or Dad, need to commit to knowing which games they are playing and which websites they plan to visit. Here's a great way to limit what they are actually doing.

Instead of allowing them to surf and end up on some bad website out there, go ahead and download a game or two for them. Games that are available on the web are fun, but when the parent gets to do the picking, they can be fun and educational at the same time. Does your child need math help? Then go ahead and give them a fun math game that teaches what they need in an easy to get along with manner. This can be done for a number of subjects like spelling, science, history and language. By giving them a computer game like these, they can make their computer time, well, worth it in your eyes.

You would be surprised by how many parents simply say, "Yes, you can play on the internet." Many of them do not know what their child is doing let alone know that he or she is playing an educational game! Yeah right! Most kids are going to find and play a game that interests them with flashing colors and graphics. That doesn't mean that they won't like games that don't provide this element. But, the websites they tend to visit are full of advertisements that lure them in. Your job is to point them in the right direction.

So, back to our question; how much is the right amount of time for computer time for your child? Well, inside that question is the word, "your" and that means that it is at your discretion that you should consider their need. Balance their day with physical, emotional, pretend and all those other important educational elements then add in a little time for computer play. Believe it or not, they are building skills that they will need later in life too.

About The Author

How To Succeed At Computer Training School

2006-09-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

One of the best decisions you can ever make is to attend a computer training school. As I've written in several other articles, you have to ask the right questions before writing a check or taking out a student loan, but when you find the right school you are indeed on your way to a successful career.

There's a big difference between attending a tech school and excelling at the classes, though. Whether you just "float through" the school or really work hard is totally up to you. From my personal experience at such a school, I'd like to offer you one simple tip that will quadruple your chances of success at the school and in the job market.

Get there early and stay late.

When I attended a tech school years ago, I admit I was surprised that most of my classmates had what I call the "junior high school" mentality - they would get there late and leave as soon as class is over. Guess what? You're no longer in junior high. You're attending this school to create a career for yourself. Get to class early, get some extra study and work in while you're waiting for class to start, and then stay after class!

The most important part of your computer school studies is getting hands-on experience with the technologies that you're learning. If you're taking a Cisco class, you need to work with a router or switch as often as you can. If you're learning a software program, you need to work with that program in the school's labs as much as possible. Reading books alone will not teach you everything you need to know. The best time to get extra work in is after class. You may not be able to work in the computer labs at night if the school offers night classes, but odds are there are very few people in there during the afternoon. You need to be one of those people.

Doing only what is required of you is not the path to excellence. You need to go beyond the requirements of the school and invest the extra time and effort into your career. I speak from experience - there is no field in the world that rewards individual effort more than the IT field. Develop the habit of going "above and beyond" today, and this will pay huge dividends for you in the future.

About The Author

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Lab Tutorial: Cabling Your Access Server

2006-09-13T16:48:00.000-07:00

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

A Cisco home lab is an invaluable study tool when you're preparing for CCNA and CCNP exam success. Once you've gotten a couple of routers and switches, you'll quickly get tired of moving that blue console cable every time you want to configure a different device. The solution to this problem is purchasing and configuring an access server (AS).

For those of you new to access servers, note that these are not white boxes running Microsoft operating systems. These are Cisco routers that allow you to connect to all the routers and switches in your home lab without moving a cable. You can physically or logically connect to the access server and work with all your devices from there.

When you're pricing access servers, please remember that you do NOT need an expensive AS. Right now on ebay there are access servers costing up to $5000 - this is NOT what you want to buy. What you're looking for is something like a 2509 or 2511, which is going to run you anywhere from $100 - $200. It's money well spent, because once you get an AS, you'll really wonder how you ever did without it.

The only additional hardware you need is the cable that will physically connect your AS to the other routers and switches in your home lab. The cable you need is called an octal cable, so named because one end of this cable is actually eight ends, all terminated with a numbered RJ-45 connector.

The large end of the cable is going to be connected to the AS itself. The cable will connect to a port on the AS that will have "async 1-8" directly above the physical port. It is this port that makes an AS different from other Cisco routers.

Once you've got your AS and this cable, you're ready to configure your AS. Connect the cable to the AS as described above, and then you will connect one of the RJ-45 connectors to the console port of each one of your routers and switches. Make sure to note the number that's on the cable itself right below the connector, because that's very important. In the next part of this home lab tutorial, I'll tell you exactly how to configure your access server for best results, along with a few troubleshooting tips.

About The Author

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: IP Version 6 Zero Compression

2006-09-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

BSCI exam success is all part of becoming a CCNP, and part of that success is now learning the basics of IP Version 6, or IPv6. One of the most difficult parts of learning IPv6 concepts is the radically different addressing scheme that IPv6 uses as compared to IPv4. Just look at these sample addresses:

Typical IPv4 address: 129.14.12.200

Typical IPv6 address: 1029:9183:81AE:0000:0000:0AC1:2143:019B

As you can see, IPv6 isn't exactly just tacking two more octets onto an IPv4 address!

I haven't met too many networkers who really like typing, particularly numbers. You'll be happy to know there are some rules that will shorten those addresses a bit, and it's a very good idea to be fluent with these rules for your exam.

You remember from your CCNA studies that there's no difference between an upper-case letter and lower-case letter in hexadecimal. That's one of three basic rules you need to know when working with IPv6 addressing. The other factors deal with all the zeroes you'll run into in IPv6 addresses! One of these rules is the rule of zero compression.

The rule of zero compression states that if an address contains consecutive fields of zeroes, they can be expressed with two colons. It doesn't matter if you have two fields or eight, you can simply type two colons and that will represent all of them. The key here is that you can only do this once in an IPv6 address. This is referred to as zero compression. Here's an example:

Original format: 1234:1234:0000:0000:0000:0000:3456:3434

Using zero compression: 1234:1234::3456:3434

Again, you must remember that you can only do this once in an IPv6 address expression.

What if there are zeroes in the address that don't quite fit this rule? The next part of our IPv6 tutorial will deal with leading zero compression, another tool you can use to shorten these long, long addresses!

About The Author

chris@thebryantadvantage.com

Public Relations and the Internet

2006-09-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

by: Bernice Ly

Although the field of public relations is quite new, it is seen to be pivotal to many companies when coordinating advertising and marketing campaigns. Public relations, which is often defined as ?The art or science of establishing and promoting a favorable relationship with the public? (Answers.com 2006, p: 1) has been increasing in popularity, especially now with the Internet being used as a tool for communication in modern society.

Frequent usage of the Internet has allowed consumers to communicate and access products and services from companies more easily. For example, Jerry Fireman states, ?Public relations can be cost effective because the media?rather than the marketer?takes on the expense of delivering the information to the intended recipient.? (Fireman 2006, p: 1). Hence, by advertising on the Internet and promoting good relationships with clients, public relation officers are now able to achieve access to a wider market with a lower expenditure rate. Furthermore, the Internet has viewers from different nations and cultural beliefs; therefore, the scope of campaigns for modern public relation officers has increased.

Secondly, the technology of the Internet has increased the attractiveness and effectiveness of public relations. For example, public relations originated from Newspapers and News reports; however, communication can now take the form of interactive visual graphics as well as creative websites and short multimedia presentations. Techniques that are used by public relation consultants are varied, hence creativity and the impact of the statement on the website is very important in modern communication and public relations. Public relations in contemporary society is now inter-connected with understanding the discourse and the changes of supply and demand in the market, however, it is also about effective corporate ethics used to enhance the status of a company, and to provide effective long-term relationships with clients.

Although some academics would argue that public relations have become advertisement-based focusing mainly on persuading consumers to purchase a product, the effectiveness of these advertising and marketing techniques have also greatly enhanced the needs of the consumer market. The advantages of utilizing public relations on the Internet have also benefited people who may not have otherwise have had access to the advertising of these products due to their lifestyle or the location of their home. The Internet has indeed connected the wants and demands of consumers to the supply and services of the producers. Although the value and importance of the Internet is highly contentious and can be interpreted differently by separate discourses, most societies would agree that the Internet has established a prominent role in the globalization process, resulting in public relations and communication increases.

References:

Answers.com (2006) Definition of Public Relations: http://www.answers.com/

Fireman, Jerry (2006) Successful PR: ?It?s all about understanding the media.? http://www.marketingprofs.com/login/signup.asp?source=/5/fireman7.asp

About The Author

Bernice Ly

http://www.m6.net

Bernice Ly is an academic writer working at M6.Net: ?The web-hosting company for humans.? M6.Net is working hard to help humanity experience the power and freedom to develop their own part of the Internet, to share their information and connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime.