Barcelona!

I have been having so much fun at the Networkers conference in Barcelona since Monday that I have not got round to blogging anything yet. So, just to take the lead from stretch, here is my schedule:

Monday 26th January:

• 09:00-18:00 : 802.1X deployment in a campus LAN (all day session)
• 18:15-19:45 : BoF Myths and Realities of self-managing networks

Tuesday 27th January:

• 08:30-09:45 : Keynote address from John Chambers
• 10:15-12:15 : Multilayer Campus Architectures and Design Principles
• 12:30-14:00 : Understanding Network Management using the ITIL Methodology and Framework
• 14:30-15:45 : Talk by Prof. Brian Cox about the Large Hadron Collider
• 16:15-18:15 : Advanced Cisco Catalyst Virtual Switching System

Wednesday 28th January

• 08:30-10:30 : QoS Decomposed
• 11:00-11:45 : Cisco on Cisco : Inside Cisco IT
• 12:00-12:45 : Leveraging VSS for Data Center Interconnect
• 13:30-15:00 : Data Center Virtualization Overview / Concepts
• 15:30-17:30 : 13 Smart Ways to Configure Your Cisco IOS Network Elements
• 19:30 onwards : The Networkers Party !!!

Thursday 29th January

• 08:30-10:30 : Advanced New Developments in BGP
• 13:30-15:30 : Advanced Enterprise Campus Design : Leveraging VSS

Friday 30th January

• 13:40 : flying home !!

So, what do I think of it so far, as I sit here in the CCIE wireless lounge with my cup of coffee?  Well, I think I have had an object lesson in preparation.  I always enjoy the Networkers tutorials, but I am sure I would have got more ot of them if I had been better prepared, particularly for the 802.1X techtorial on Monday.  Proper preparation for such an event would have had two distinct benefits:

1. Preparation opens the mind to receive the new information.  If I don’t prepare the neuron pathways well, then I understand the talk as I hear it, but I don’t retain enough of the information.  The information just does not make the transition from hippocampus to grey matter.
2. Preparation provides a foundation on which any new information can be built.  If I spend the entire talk refreshing my existing knowledge, I cannot concentrate on adding the new stuff.

That’s it for now.  In 20 minutes I am in to “Cisco on Cisco”.  I think stretch is booked in for that session too, so I hope I identify him.

Starting a new blog – LX2KD

While I was studying for my CCIE, I found blogging was a really useful way to journal my studies.  The advantages over pen-and-paper are enormous: it is searchable, it creates social bridges with like-minded peopl, it imposes discipline, etc.

But networking is not the only thing I do that would benefit from a journal .. oh, no.  Amateur radio is another.  It wouldn’t be fair to mix my amateur radio activities with my networking stuff.  So I am starting a new blog thread: the “LX2KD / G4AZO”.

So anyone who is interested, see you over the other side. (But allow me a day or two to get started please.)

Now where was I?

Well, it’s about 6 months since I last posted anything on my blog, and it’s about time I re-activated it.  I’ve not been completely idle over the six months, but I have been doing things that don’t really relate to CCIE: scouts (Telstar troop), amateur radio (LX2KD / G4AZO), music (guitar), swimming, etc.  Not even my computer/network related activities have been directly CCIE related.

I got an e-mail from Wael Osama the other day with a pointer to a blog called “Networkers Online”.  This confused me at first because it has the same name as the Cisco conference.  But in fact this is a very interesting and competent coöperative blog, written by several engineers.  See my blogroll for the link.

BTW, talking of Networkers, I shall be going to the Cisco Networkers conference in Barcelona on the last week in January.  I have booked in for the 802.1X techtorial, which should be interesting as it is a subject I do not get to use on a daily basis yet.  Are any of my readers going?

So, we have a New Year, and a resolution to blog a bit more often.  A very Happy New Year to all my readers.