I Can Has IPv6?

A few months ago, I got my JNCIA-M certification. I had built a small lab on my Dynamips server using Olive. What is Olive? Here is a quote from JuniperClue:

Olive is also the codename name given to JUNOS software running on an PC rather than a Juniper router. A common misconception is that Olive is some sort of “special software”, but it is actually ordinary JUNOS software running on a PC of similar specifications to a Routing Engine, with no forwarding hardware (or PFE) attached. If you took a Routing Engine out of a Juniper router and booted it in a blade server chassis, it would effectively be an Olive.

To get my lab up and running, I basically mashed together instructions both from the Olive page of the JuniperClue wiki, as well as nemith & sartan’s combined effort on the Internetworkpro.org wiki. I rewrote my version specifically to use FreeBSD as the host OS, as that is what I use on my Dynamips server. So, let’s get started…

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Today I was chatting on IRC with some colleagues, and we were trying to come up with the best way to roll back to the startup-config without a reboot. This would be useful in situations where you are working remotely and may potentially lose access to the device you are configuring.

The best method I came up with was to use the Kron command:

kron occurrence RELOAD-CONFIG in x oneshot
policy-list RELOAD-CONFIG
!
kron policy-list RELOAD-CONFIG
cli configure replace nvram:startup-config force
!

Where x is the number of minutes before the configuration refresh.

Very nice when you can’t afford the downtime of having your device reboot, especially a device like a 6500 that just seems to take for ever to come back up fully.

Edit:

I decided to try to see if I could run it using one command. TCL could be used, but honestly… TCL for 4 lines? That’s just… silly. So instead I used a combination of macros and aliases:

switch#
switch#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
switch(config)#macro name refresh_config
Enter macro commands one per line. End with the character '@'.
kron occ CFG in 2 oneshot
policy-list CFG
kron policy-list CFG
cli configure replace nvram:startup-config force
@
switch(config)#alias configure ref macro global apply refresh_config
switch(config)#do sh run | i ipv6
switch(config)#ref
Kron: Policy Accepted, Policy CFG needs to be configured
switch(config)#ipv6 unicast-routing
switch(config)#end
switch#sh
00:40:26: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by conso
switch#sh run | i ipv6
ipv6 unicast-routing
switch#sh kron sch
Kron Occurrence Schedule
CFG inactive, will run once in 0 days 00:01:22

switch#sh kron sch
Kron Occurrence Schedule
CFG inactive, will run once in 0 days 00:00:58

switch#sh kron sch
Kron Occurrence Schedule
CFG inactive, will run once in 0 days 00:00:24

switch#sh kron sch
Kron Occurrence Schedule
CFG inactive, will run once in 0 days 00:00:05

switch#
00:42:16: Rollback:Acquired Configuration lock.
switch#sh kron sch
Kron Occurrence Schedule

switch#sh run | i ipv6
switch#

Just as convoluted, and just as pointless. But it IS do-able. But again, for 4 lines, it’s not worth the effort.

I’m still alive and kicking… working on IEWB vol. 1 labs at the moment. CCIE Lab is in 5 months today, and I’m really not so sure I’m where I need to be. Can I do it in 5 months? I still have 2 months to decide whether I need to reschedule, so I suppose I’ll do one of the mock labs in a month and a half and see how I do.

Today at 2:00pm, I took the CCIE Routing & Switching Written exam. I PASSED!

Here are the results:

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Tomorrow at 3pm is my CCIE written exam. Am I ready? I’m not sure. I’m nervous and I’m really worried about it. I did a lot of the practice questions from the CD, and I got many of them wrong. However, in my experience, those questions are often far more nit-picky than the real thing.

Looking at the blueprint, I’m not sure I’m ready:

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I just wanted to give a shout out to my buddy Heather, who passed her CCNA exam on July 31, 2008. She sure seemed to have all the topics nailed down, as she could answer just about anything I’d quiz her on. I knew she could do it!

Welcome to my website. Yes, I know I’m just adding to the unnecessary pile of CCIE blogs out there, but at the same time, I realize the usefulness of collecting my thoughts, study notes, etc. and keeping it all in one place.

This isnt a blog meant to draw a ton of traffic, by any means. It’s more for me, than you. If you find something useful here, leave a comment.