At 7:10 PM -0400 4/19/02, Kevin Cullimore wrote: >I'm pretty far away from the "purchasing lab scenarios or the time to >practice them" point(so many printed words, only one lifetime), but one >frustrating theme permeating all of the vendor-endorsed training I've been >forced to attend (note: it was always the case that I would ask for training >during my first 6-12 months of exposure to a technology, get denied, and >then be required to attend the lowest possible level training a year later), >is that they offer one or two solutions to a given troubleshooting/design >problem. While they might come up with some acceptable reasons for their >solution, wouldn't it be better to provide scenarios where multiple >solutions exist for a given set of base requirements and the solutions >manual outlines all acceptable options, comparing & contrasting them with >one another, highlighting the merits of solutions that go above & beyond the >original motives according to generally accepted principles of network >design?
Unfortunately, there's a problem in network design training. No one vendor, even Cisco, makes every kind of component that could be relevant to a solution. We've all seen posts here that really turned out to be a Windows problem with a Windows solution, or perhaps could be done most efficiently with a smart DSU rather than IP load sharing, etc. To get this kind of broad view, you tend to be looking at books or vendor-independent training. There are several ways to approach this. I just pulled off my shelf "High Availability Networking with Cisco" by Vincent C. Jones. The title is slightly misleading, but it's a good book, because he does get into things such as power supply issues and how several server vendors handle multiple NICs for avoiding single points of failure. In my book, "WAN Survival Guide," I chose to be generally vendor independent, and did things like showing how some reliability problems might better be solved by adding server clusters than continuing to increase network reliability. One of the case studies is derived from a consulting client of mine who demanded they NEVER lose Internet connectivity, so I designed redundant routers, hooked to an AT&T dual ring SONET, and to another carrier with an MCI upstream, reached over a different physical facility. Unfortunately, when I visited their computer room, I found out they had one server. When I inquired what they would do if that went down while the network stayed up, they cheerfully responded, "oh, we have it backed up on tape." This really should have been one of those commercials that said "Backup server, $20,000. Look on the client's face when they realize their vulnerability, priceless. For everything else, there's Mastercard." In my upcoming "Building Service Provider Networks," I go through a variety of customer case studies. I picked the customers so they would have different requirements and thus different solutions, but in the discussion, I would point out alternatives. Unfortunately, publishers are finding people are only buying design books related to security, and essentially certification cram books. There's not nearly the market for design seminars as there was five years ago. I suppose the new generation of CEOs is concerned with getting the wrong answer quickly. -- "What Problem are you trying to solve?" ***send Cisco questions to the list, so all can benefit -- not directly to me*** ******************************************************************************** Howard C. Berkowitz [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chief Technology Officer, GettLab/Gett Communications http://www.gettlabs.com Technical Director, CertificationZone.com http://www.certificationzone.com "retired" Certified Cisco Systems Instructor (CID) #93005 Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=42042&t=41955 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
