This is the best way you can practice and familiarize yourself with Cisco routers and IOS for people wanting to get started with Cisco products. I have used this tool in the past and found it to be very helpful. The intuitive graphics shows you the packet flow for the network you configure from scratch. Almost like the real thing. Perfect for setting up your virtual lab.

Packet Tracer 5.1 is the latest version of Cisco’s simulation software. The main objective of Packet Tracer is to serve as a support tool for the Cisco Academy. This tool is extremely useful for both students and teachers. Basically, Packet Tracerallows you to build a network with a range of simulated “real-life” equipment (Cisco equipment, of course), so different configuration options can be tested. You get a range of routers, switches, end-client systems and connections to build the simulated network. The operating systems of the routers and even some portions of PC’s are also simulated. This way, users can learn to configure routers and see the changes they make on the networks.

Teachers can even make an interactive test using the program, which can be graded immediately by the program. It is one of the most complete tools for network learning; however, it can also help simulate and assess equipment options for real networks. It is really a tool to have; however, in order to download it from the original site, you need a Cisco Academy account, but the program has a free license.

packettracer51_setupexe educational purposes only. download

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There have been many posts on the Internet explaining how EIGRP gets its composite metric. I’ve been running around searching for information and it seems that there are NOT that many people who seem to post this info. Here it is, the real calculation method for EIGRP metrics.

Everyone says EIGRP metric is based off bandwidth (BW) and delay (DLY), which are values determined “per-interface” as shown below in bold:

EIGRP Algorithm / Formula:
Composite Metric = 256 * ([K1 * BW + K2 * BW/(256-Load) + K3 * DLY] * [K5/(RELY + K4)])

Default EIGRP K-Values are K1=1, K2=0, K3=1, K4=0, K5=0.  To modify the or change the K values for calculation to include the other non-default variables you input the command below:

What they don’t really emphasize and its important for the formula!

The bandwidth (BW) and delay (DLY) values are based on a “scaled average”.

Bandwidth for EIGRP = (10⁷ / Interface Bandwidth)
Delay for EIGRP = (Interface Delay in usec / 10)

So the formula ends up being Metric = 256( (10,000,000/ BW) + (DELAY/10)).
To modify any EIGRP K-values to use more variables, enter command shown below:

CRNARVSDRR02(config-router)#metric weights ?
<0-8>  Type Of Service (Only TOS 0 supported)

CRNARVSDRR02(config-router)#metric weights 0 ?
<0-255>  K1

CRNARVSDRR02(config-router)#metric weights 0 1 ?
<0-255>  K2

CRNARVSDRR02(config-router)#metric weights 0 1 0 ?
<0-255>  K3

CRNARVSDRR02(config-router)#metric weights 0 1 0 1 ?
<0-255>  K4

CRNARVSDRR02(config-router)#metric weights 0 1 0 1 0 ?
<0-255>  K5

CRNARVSDRR02(config-router)#metric weights 0 1 0 1 0 0 ?
<cr>

CRNARVSDRR02(config-router)#metric weights 0 1 0 1 0 0

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CME - CLI Config
This is a sample CLI configuration for Call Manager Express (CME).

Please make sure to setup all of the local functionality of the CME before trying to setup the SIP Trunks.

When you are ready to setup the SIP trunks, the first thing you wll need to do is setup a translation rule. The translation rule will help you structure how outbound calls are dialed and sent to any 3rd Party SIP provider for trunking services. Read on…

Read more…

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This took me about 8-12 hours to figure out (considering I don’t really have voip experience), but I recently canceled one of my consulting contracts where I was using EasyVPN client on my home 2811 and terminated into one of my consulting client’s Cisco VPNc3000 concentrator for Call Manager 4.3 communication for my IP phones at home. Yes I was getting free phone service! Bad news, I was constantly on-call  

So since I am not consulting there anymore, I wasn’t able to get IP phone service anymore. My connection to their Cisco Call Manager box was about to be terminated… what do I do now I ask myself. I still want to use Cisco VoIP at home because I had a nice intercom and paging system so I didn’t have to scream for my girlfriend across the house to bring my food over to the office.  So I did some research and seen some things about low cost or even free SIP service.  I ended up going with a SIP provider from “voipvoip.com” because they were offering $6.95/month BYOD (bring your own device) which I had my trusty Cisco 2811 that included unlimited incoming minutes and 1.9 cents/minute outbound.  The KEY part I wanted was having simultaneous channels inbound and outbound so I can have conference bridges with my Cisco MeetingPlace Express server I will be setting up later.  I was allowed up to 2 channels incoming and 4 channels outgoing. Cool right?  So its a typical pay-as-you-go plan… I will start off with this and see how my monthly bills are later. 

Heres the problem…. as I was browsing the company support pages, I noticed there weren’t any configuration guides for CISCO. There was stuff for Asterisk, TrixBox, 3CX, and a few others such as SIP phones, etc.   Then I thought, no problem… I will google this and find some sample configurations to a 3rd party SIP proxy server with some sample dial-peer templates and Im good to go.   A few hours later, I discovered that (1) this sample config does not exist or (2) it is really difficult to find perhaps because not many people do this? or (3) I just really stink in googling.  I like to think it is #1 and #2.   

So here is my sample configuration that I have implemented to help those that are looking for or wanting a similar setup with Call Manager Express.
I am running CME 7.1 and am in process of setting up my Cisco Unity Express NM (NM-CUE) module with a Cisco MeetingPlace Express server. I will definitely write about that as I configure those in the weeks ahead.

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This option allows 6500/7600 to use hardware acceleration for WCCP packets in Layer 2. This method in theory allows you to utilize up to 3Gbps of traffic on a PFC2 card, perhaps even more with a PFC3B.

The device (eg: WAE or ACNS) needs to have layer 2 adjacency with the 6500 switch in order to take advantage of hardware redirection. If you do not have layer 2 direct adjacency, then most likely you will have to use the GRE tunneling method of WCCP to redirect transparently.

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