>Folks, is it really necessary to pounce on someone for asking an occasional
>"simple" question? Okay, so CSU/DSUs are basic networking gear. But guess
>what: *none* of the CCNA material I studied ever went into any great detail
>on what exactly this thing was or did, and coming from the technical
>training side of the house never dealt with one until very recently.
Gad, you're bringing back memories. My original background is in
software development (mainframe and laboratory instrumentation), and
then networking. I became involved in networking when there was far
more separation between the carrier and data sides--as in remembering
the 1975 AT&T consent decree, and finding ways, before that, to get
onto the line side of carrier-provided modems. While I wouldn't
have called myself a phone phreak, I was quite aggressive about
getting well-informed about carrier internals.
Perhaps in the late 70s or early 80s, I attended the startup meeting
of the ANSI T1Q1 working group on performance specification. Prior to
that, I had worked on several pure data performance specification
efforts in the US government, ANSI, and CCITT. T1Q1 worked on both
data and voice, and, at the first meeting, I provoked the director of
standards for United Telecom. Said director, who looked rather like
Santa Claus, thundered at me "who are you, data person, to tell me
how my voice networks should behave? Can you even define tip and
ring?"
With a sigh, I responded, "Yes, Peter. I know what tip and ring are.
I even know what sleeve is."
Not good enough. "Do you know what a hybrid is? Define it!"
I replied with a definition of a hybrid, and said, "By the way,
Peter...what do you think is the major cause of time-variant phase
intercept distortion with QAM modems over L carrier facilities?"
That quieted him.
So I speak telco and data, but not particularly server. I'm not much
on desktop hardware--the flow control with which I am dealing at the
moment is being sure I have fully clotted after cutting my hand last
night on the USB board I was trying to install in my PowerMac G3.
"Trying" is the operative word -- while the Mac will come up, USB
doesn't appear to work and I managed to put in an RFI shield such
that it blocks the CD-ROM slot. Now, I'm debating whether to go
through the humiliation of the computer shop...and I wanted to
install more RAM as well.
I have an Epson printer that isn't working because I can't seem to
get the paper guide to snap in.
But, to balance these inadequacies, I do spend time in my day job
thinking about routing, etc., on OC-768 interfaces (i.e., 40 Gbps). I
get into the guts of the fundamental problems with BGP, OSPF, and
ISIS and how to make them better or how to replace them. My skills
are in architecture, design, and deployment, not support.
In the last couple of days, someone was bringing up the "need" to be
MS certified, and how it was "simple" to configure routers and
switches. Again, perspective is everything. I could get the highest
MS certification and it would be no particular job help to me, where
it's far more important to be able to design the routing and
switching for a tier 1 ISP.
But that doesn't stop me from feeling I should be looking to swap
support for certification/theory training!
>Other
>examples: I have no idea what a "punch-down block" or a "patch panel" is.
>Maybe I've dealt with them before and would know if someone said "*That* is
>a patch panel," but the fact is that most of the CC** materials only focus
>on the routers and switches, and not so much on the peripheral yet essential
>devices.
Good point on punchdown blocks. I know what they are, when to specify
which type, but I'm not very good about installing them. In my
basement, I have assorted 66 blocks on the wall, but an absolute
rat's nest of cabling to them. I can quite properly specify cable
plant, but don't count on me to install it. Just as there can be
intuition about how much bandwidth to give an ISP BGP link, there is
intuition and experience about how much slack to give a wire before
punching it down.
In the specific Cisco context, remember that Cisco doesn't make
wiring products or CSU/DSU hardware, so their material won't
emphasize it. In the real world, this can be a problem when there are
nuances of interconnecting Cisco gear to these non-Cisco
infrastructure items.
>
>So, in other words, back off when someone asks a question you think is
>"beneath" you or this group. Just don't answer if you don't want to. But
>there are lots of valid, basic questions out there that yes, even CCNP/IE
>candidates would like answers to. It would be a shame if they felt they
>weren't "allowed" to ask those questions here.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Bradley J. Wilson
>Who, despite being a CCNA, CCDA, MCSE, CNX-A, NNCSS, MCT and CTT, does not
>know what a punch-down block is. Sue me.
I thought the being sued department was mine? Something to do with
168 mysterious violations....or were these the number of Communists
that Joe McCarthy claimed were in the State Department...or the
number of votes in some Florida county for someone.
>
>Zhiping,
>
>If u know the basic of networking , u can answer this question !!??
>I found it difficult for CCNP candidate to ask this question.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Zhiping Li" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Newsgroups: groupstudy.cisco
>Sent: Friday, December 22, 2000 12:37 PM
>Subject: what is a CSU/DSU?
>
>
>> Hi,ciscoer:
>>
>> when I study cisco ccnp,
>> I always find CSU/DSU,
>> what are them?
>> what are their use?
>> Are they some kind of MODEM?
> > thanks .
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