Cisco eBooks, Done Dirt Cheap

Ok, so the AC/DC hack doesn't quite work but it gets the desired message across.

I was scanning through my Twitter feed the other day and came upon a "Follow" that I'd forgotten about:  @CiscoeBookDeal.  It boils down to this:  If you are on a Cisco certification track, or you value network technology texts written by certified (and battle-tested) experts for the VERY reasonable price of $USD10 then you should become familiar with this service in whatever way suits you best.

How to Calculate TCP throughput for long distance WAN links

How to Calculate TCP throughput for long distance WAN links

[Link tweeted by @kiwibrew]

The linked post is a few years old (2008) but interesting, especially if you're getting started in networking and having discussions with your peers about the speed at which a file of a given size might expect to be transferred across a network (WAN specifically), given a couple of known throughput parameters.

Make what you will of the WAAS "subtle" marketing - he is a Cisco employee, in all fairness. That being said, it's still interesting and educational to get a peek into how some of the functionality used in WAN Acceleration works.

Well known TCP and UDP ports used by Apple software products

Well known TCP and UDP ports used by Apple software products (Apple KnowledgeBase) [Link via @x0prahWinfr3yx]

Excellent, though not necessarily comprehensive list of network ports used by Apple services. Apple states on this page that the list is periodically updated but is not intended to be representative of all network ports used by all Apple services/applications.

Still, it's a great place to start if you're looking for network security information regarding Apple products. Follow that up with some judicious use of Wireshark and you're in business.


And, just for good measure since we're talking about securing Apple (Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6) devices, this is a good companion article:  About the Application Firewall

Cisco IOS Interior Routing Protocol Poster

Posters - Packet Life

An excellent resource very kindly offered for free (PDF) by the author. While you're there check out the articles. It's very much worth your time.

An Employability Quandary

My Scenario:

I recently moved from the Sunshine Coast (Queensland, Australia) to Melbourne, also in Australia, but a capital city rather than a regional location.  The reasons for the move are various, including proximity to a thriving Arts culture and a more cosmopolitan milieu.  As a bonus, I took for granted that it would also offer much more to me from a career perspective, though this wasn't one of the primary motivating forces behind the relocation.  And there I find the quandary...

The First, Hopefully Of Many

Here I am (we are) at the beginning.  I've not written for the web before and I have a tendency to be a bit wordy at times.  Sorry.  I'll work on that.  I read a number of blogs regularly (check out the Blogroll 'My Reading List' for some more good reading) and even contribute, via comments, to some of them; but I've never published one myself. Until now.


As the Description suggests, the purpose for this blog is to help me remember the things that I learn - primarily about network engineering and related subjects - along my career and certification path.  I'm very happy if my learning also helps others to learn, after all a different perspective can often help clarify an otherwise muddy topic.