Hard drive cloning!!

After cloning remember to activate boot partition because windows can not copy the active partition. You know that is the case if you put a cloned HDD and you are greeted with a BLACK SCREEN & a cursor with no other error messages.
So so embrassing that i failed to clone a new laptop hard drive and have it kicking. This is a someone holding a degree in computer science, a someone with a CCNA & CCNP certifications. Google cudnt give me a clue of where i was getting it wrong bt in any case google depends on your input. A client brought a Lenovo thinkpad laptop which was not booting. With these circumstances, i normally try to repair the booting, if it fails then i take out the HDD slave it, back-up data, boom i format and start a fresh install. The problem with this is that we had to re-install again all the other s/w which were on the old HDD.

My boss said we must clone the hard drive which i did using symantec ghost. After cloning the HDD i straight put it in the old laptop.It didnt work i was greeted with a BLACK screen with a cursor no-other error message. I was convinced it was a boot problem that i know and i needed to fix it with a windows 7 CD. Got my CD in the machine and i started the process of repairing. The system cudnt pick-up windows operating system and i was stuck. I googled a lot and i found a set of commands to fix the boot-up process. I went to the command prompt option & typed the commands.I helplessly starred @ the error " could not write to drive". Scratched around again thru my favourite freind google but cudnt get any clue. I phoned my boss and said its not booting -up.I felt so so embrassed bt i had to do it because the client wanted a working computer A.S.A.P.

This morning i am told the booting partition was not active!!!. That i knew, that i tried to FIX but the bloody windows could not write on the disk. To be frank I was a bit hesitant and that was my downfall cause i was afraid to messy things more yet we hd a limited time frame.So i am told, after cloning you have to activate boot partition. Having the right words to input into GOOGLE i found  this

To clone a partition, you can use any partitioning software that you want (Gparted, Acronis, Windows (though that will mean you cannot copy the active partition)).

For the bootloader part, install a windows installer disk, and run the following commands:

1. bootrec /rebuildbcd
2. bootsect /nt60 D: /force /mbr
3. Make sure the partition is set as active
   1. diskpart
   2. select
   3. select
   4. active

Running WhatsApp Messenger on your PC

Procedure

•  Whatsapp is a very popular IM mobile app, available for most devices OS (iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone) and now widely used worldwide as an SMS replacement (well, you can actually do way more than SMS).

•  Now, thanks to this app, you can run Android apps on your Windows desktop PC, so running  Whatsapp is very easy.

• Just download and install Bluestack app player on your PC and follow the instructions to install Whatsapp and all your favorite Android apps.

Note That

• If you use the same phone number,Whatsapp will no longer work on your mobile device while you are using it on your PC, so make sure to close it when you go mobile.

Pretty cool, ins’t it? Please let me know if it works well for you. Below is my story

There are still nearly five billion more dumbphone users than the 835 million smartphone users globally. I am a faithful FAN of a dumb phone. I owned my first mobile phone in 2005 a Nokia 1100, Enonet Buddie Line, number 091 886 435. It was very expensive to own a phone during those days in Zimbabwe. I was priviledged to be working in a bank then, so the lines were ordered straight from Econet. It was a status thing rather than a convinience or a necessity. A lot has changed since then and i have owned several other lines from MTN, Vodacom & MariTel (Mauritania) but something never changed. 

I have been using Nokia, Motorolla dumb phones and i have never owned a PHONE some of my freinds jokes.I am really the traditional kind of a guy who dont care about phones. I still believe the phone should be used for phone calls and SMS and thus it, to make it worse i believe in LANDLINES. I have annoyed lots of my freinds because i rarely phones or sms. It goes back to the fact i used to make calls on the landline a lot hence i struggle now to juice up my mobile phone. I know and i understand all the limitation of my dumb phone but i am still unmoved. The android OS has revolutionised the mobile phone world. It comes up with cool applications like WhatsApp, GPS, Nomondo application for sports lovers and many others. I love all these and i am officially tempted to throw away my dumb phone and move on with time. I am still in the evolution stage but one thing for sure i should catch up with the world. Boom!!, my fovourite word which comes from the team i support with Passion Arsenal F.C, famiriarly known as the GUNNERS hence Boom from the gun. 

A person i like pushed me to the edge she said, " hey can you come on WhatsApp so that we can chat an assumption that everyone owns a smart phone". I love the person, she is miles away and its damm expensive to make calls and to add to that i am not ready to buy a smart phone. I scrathed through all over to have WhatApp running on my Laptop. All in the name of love, impressing, to be seen as a technological savy person,  I finally got my WhatsApp running on my Laptop hence sharing it with you!!!.

My new world on WhatsUp on my Laptop running Windows 7. 

It worked for me and my first WhatsApp conservation and this how the interface looks like on the PC

Network Engineer Part 2: Introducing Trixbox

I am still battling to identify myself in the IT world especially my area of interest Network but it’s a fact that nothing else amazes and thrills me like networking. I thot in it I will find joy ‘n’ that final satisfaction will embrace me. Since stepping my feet in this world I am getting lost day by day, I am introduced to a hell lot of technologies which is overwhelming. To take you through my rough journey, I have been concentrating in network security.I was exposed to firewalls, the 802.1x protocol etc. Still in that aspect I had to work on Microsoft technologies not to mention wireless networks as well as cabling. Without much breadth, I was taken back to the basics of IT thus building a machine from scatch. I felt so ashamed to be 5 years into IT without building a single computer. The fact that I had little interest in computer hardware ‘n’ computer repairs its not enough to defend my shame. Even though the whole world will not understand, I don’t regret this & it still remains not my thing. Its also a fact I have now built 3 solid computers from scatch thus mounting the mother board, installing the processor, the Power supply unit, the fan, hard-drive, dvd rom ‘n’ connecting tha confusing distigusting wires. Its not something I can stand and boost about but @ least I can now identify myself in IT. When talking of this IT basics it was not even funny to climb in a dark ceiling doing network cabling. Maybe it was my I.T ignorance or it was mere incompetence that I ended frying a clients ADSL router. Believe me smoke came out ‘n’ I was virtually shaking as it was complete negligence. Miracurously the ADSL router worked.

Whatever you may think about me, I am still enthusiastic about my networking ‘n’ I am a proud CCNP for that sake. More-so, I did not spent 4 years of hard times @ college to obtain my precious Bsc Hons Computer Science or spend my hard earned rands to get my ambitious CCNA & CCNP certifications to assemble these beast –PCs- which has changed the world or to hop and step in dark hot ceilings pulling cables. I am hurting liking it because its bringing. much wealth of skills and horning my troubleshooting abilities.

I ended up getting lost but the fact of this article was to highlight the amazing field of networking and how its ending up confusing me. All the technologies I have been introduced so far I have felt in love with them and I now has a heart to follow each one of it.So where am I heading to and what am I upto. The answer I don’t f&*n know even myself. I am scheduled for EXINDA (www.exinda.com) training. Exinda is a new kid in the blog in networking specialising in Bandwidth management. After finishing the EXINDA training we will be introduced to the world of V-SATS. We have finished doing the IPBX training and i am still to have a grip on the technology. Wow, wow VOIP is taking the world by storm and I am burning inside to share my new acquired knowledge in this field. I was impressed to such an extend that it allowed me to see & study the CISCO way of implementing VOIP. Yes you guesed right, I have already finished studying the 12 chapters of CCNA VOICE. The next article will be based on the open source implementation of VOIP. I will introduce you to TRIXBOX and the basic way to configure it. Isn’t this amazing. This guide is not meant to be a detailed Manual for TRIXBOX, instead it is just a quick and dirty guide and a resource to assist you get started with minimum pain. I will as much as possible try to include references because I am basically as new as you. The only differences is that I probably knew it first than you or I am over-excited with my little knowledge which I wanna share. Check ya in the nxt SHOT.GUNS blazing!!!!!!

Network Engineer

I took some time, developing myself. I worked hard to get my CCNA and CCNP certifications through self-study. I committed all myself towards this goal as the courses are very challenging and it costs quite a lot. I believed in myself and i defied all odds in attaining the certifications without any practical experience. I made use of various resources especially simulators in-order to get the hands on skills which are vital in passing these certification exams. I used gns3, Bossom, packetlife.net, packet-tracer. I have different views on each but overally i can say all were so helpful for me to attain my certification.

Having my certifications, i had every reason to seat down and start applying for jobs. High profile interviews followed and it was a messy. I was bitter to myself, i was angry at employers but my resume was very impressive with qualifications Bsc Computer Science, CCNA, CCNP, Post graduate diploma in computer forensics at a reputable institution University of Cape Town. Practical experience was missing 'n' it eroded all my confidence. I went to interviews at Business Connection, RSweb, Dimension Data and University of Cape Town. I was then getting a salary of 8 000rands and all these job opportunies had a salary of over 25 000rands. I guese you can now understand how shattering it was to loose these jobs. I got my CCNP certification in January and after more than 400 applications i finally got a job as a cisco engineer in a very easy way without the rigorous interviews i hate to the maximum.

I was offered the job with an impressive salary more than three times my current salary then.Ohhh you can imagine the excitement and happiness and the satisfaction of a worthwhile investment. The only worrying thing was that i was being thrown in the deep end of a high level project as a consultant at a reputable company deep in the desert. I was supposed to configure FIREWALLS,i never configured before, i was to configure windows server 2008 a strange world to me, i was supposed to configure WIRELESS ACCESS POINTS a nightmare in itself. I had pressure from all sides yet overally i had limited technical skills but with very good qualifications. I had a team of network gurus of my own i was confident will help me out but this did not help my situation. At one point i decided to resign when the pressure and stress overwhelmed me. My family and freinds kept on encouraging me to hold on 'n' i did. I was learning a hard way and the client was not amused by my fatalities.

When it became apparent to the client i was short of the experience they expected they sat and agreed to throw me out. I felt so bad but at the same time i had to face the realities. I was way below their expectation but i was happy i did try my best.I had sleepless nights googling, researching, using simulators to try to overcome my lack of experience.The virtual machine with ms 2008 server did wonders to me, several other blogsites on several topics helped me with ideas 'n' the technical skills i needed, and finally one lady who had vast experience at my client site understood well my situation and she guided me through-out my ordeal. I survived the chop, i had help from the Technical architect of the organisation to configure the firewalls.I learnt a lot though it was so so embrassing. I had my first chance to mount a switch, using a console cable to configure a switch,configuring firewalls & access points, Ms windows server 2008, NPS.I came out a different technical person from this project. There are still a lot of things which needs to be learnt. I feel i need a person to learn from and to guide me but as it stands i have to believe in the few technical knowledge and theory i have.I only and will only become confident of it if it works.Before it works i am not confident as i should be, i cant stand and defend it confidently infornt of a client.I am normally jittery and tend to listen more from the client though it should be vise versa. This is my networking journey, in whateva way i will conquer and i really appreciate the sharing of information as it saved my life.

I will keep sharing information and the little technical skills i now have and hopefully it will save someone from the same shame i was in.

Check you in the next article

Cisco Certifications: The 640-822 Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 2

Thank you again for taking your time to go through my posts. As promised in the previous blog i am going to discuss ICND part 2. This hands-on Authorized Cisco course builds on the foundation provided by ICND1 (Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices 1), providing a technical foundation for the rest of the Authorized Cisco curriculum. Whether your goal is to familiarize yourself with Cisco technology or to become a Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert, ICND1 and ICND2 are the place to start.

This course not only delivers essential information needed to pass the CCNA certification exams, but it also includes comprehensive hands-on reinforcement to ensure that you add skills and not just knowledge. If you are new to Cisco, ICND2 prepares you for the tasks you will face on the job. Its associated with the CCNA examination which i will discuss in the next coming blogs. It doesn’t matter which exam you start to write ICND 2 or ICND 1, as long as you have finished and passed the 2 exams you will get your CCNA certificate.

What You'll Learn in ICND part 2

• Review how to configure and troubleshoot a switch and router in a small network environment
• Expand the switched network from a small to medium network environment
• Dangers of redundant switching
• Spanning Tree
• Concepts of VLANs and trunking
• Implementing VLSM
• Configure, verify, and troubleshoot OSPF
• Configure, verify, and troubleshoot EIGRP
• Determine when to use access control lists (ACLs)
• Configure, verify, and troubleshoot ACLs
• Configure NAT and PAT
• IPv6 addressing
• Configure PPP, CHAP, and PAP
• Frame Relay operation
• VPN solutions

Exam Number:	640-822 ICND2
Associated Certifications:	CCND and CCNA
Duration:	90 minutes (40-50 questions)
Exam Cost :	Zar 894
Click Here to Register:	Pearson VUE
Exam Policies:	Read current policies and requirements

Exam Topics
The following topics are general guidelines for the content likely to be included on the Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 2 exam. However, other related topics may also appear on any specific delivery of the exam. In order to better reflect the contents of the exam and for clarity purposes, the guidelines below may change at any time without notice.

Configure, verify and troubleshoot a switch with VLANs and interswitch communications
• Describe enhanced switching technologies (including: VTP, RSTP, VLAN, PVSTP, 802.1q)
• Describe how VLANs create logically separate networks and the need for routing between them
• Configure, verify, and troubleshoot VLANs
• Configure, verify, and troubleshoot trunking on Cisco switches
• Configure, verify, and troubleshoot interVLAN routing
• Configure, verify, and troubleshoot VTP
• Configure, verify, and troubleshoot RSTP operation
• Interpret the output of various show and debug commands to verify the operational status of a Cisco switched network
• Implement basic switch security (including: port security, unassigned ports, trunk access, etc.)

Implement an IP addressing scheme and IP Services to meet network requirements in a medium-size Enterprise branch office network
• Calculate and apply a VLSM IP addressing design to a network
• Determine the appropriate classless addressing scheme using VLSM and summarization to satisfy addressing requirements in a LAN/WAN environment
• Describe the technological requirements for running IPv6 (including: protocols, dual stack, tunneling, etc)
• Describe IPv6 addresses
• Identify and correct common problems associated with IP addressing and host configurations

Configure and troubleshoot basic operation and routing on Cisco devices
• Compare and contrast methods of routing and routing protocols
• Configure, verify and troubleshoot OSPF
• Configure, verify and troubleshoot EIGRP
• Verify configuration and connectivity using ping, traceroute, and telnet or SSH
• Troubleshoot routing implementation issues
• Verify router hardware and software operation using SHOW & DEBUG commands
• Implement basic router security

Implement, verify, and troubleshoot NAT and ACLs in a medium-size Enterprise branch office network
• Describe the purpose and types of access control lists
• Configure and apply access control lists based on network filtering requirements
• Configure and apply an access control list to limit telnet and SSH access to the router
• Verify and monitor ACL's in a network environment
• Troubleshoot ACL implementation issues
• Explain the basic operation of NAT
• Configure Network Address Translation for given network requirements using CLI
• Troubleshoot NAT implementation issues

Implement and verify WAN links
• Configure and verify Frame Relay on Cisco routers
• Troubleshoot WAN implementation issues
• Describe VPN technology (including: importance, benefits, role, impact, components)
• Configure and vary PPP connection between Cisco routers

After successfully completing your ICND 1 & ICND 2 you then get the highly sought after certification CCNA. Getting this certification might open up bright opportunities for you. Having discussed in detailed the composition of the syllabuses of ICND 1 & 2 its time to have a look at the resources you can use inorder to achieve your CCNA through the ICND 1 & 2 route. I will include a number of websites you can visit to meet and mingle with other like minded folks in the cyber world and discuss ways and tricks to tackle the Cisco Exams BEAST. I will include the name of books you must have, some tutorial videos you can use and mostly important my experience in taking these exams. I am looking forward to share the possible plan of action you can take to make your Cisco certification adventure a memorable, exciting, rewarding one. Meet you in the next blog, i hope you found all the information helpful.