I’ve been trying to figure out if Cisco is offering something similar to the “comeback” promotion they were offering for Cisco certified folks who have let their certs lapse.

So I called Vue yesterday to find out. I was happy to hear that they are indeed offering a similar promotion called “Second Chance”.

hi all,
I’m back! sorta.. I’ve been waiting to see if anyone was able to find any new info on this “second shot” thing. Unfortunately, the graces didn’t come. But like my wife always tells me, when she notices that I don’t particularly enjoy the meal she just made (yeah, believe it or not my superwoman has bad days too! ), “If you want something done a certain way, do it yourself.” LOL

So I finally called PearsonVue to find out what the dealio. As it turns out, the “comeback” promotion is indeed targeted towards those who have let their certification lapse.

But don’t fret my little bebes, the nice lady on the other line did mention that there is also a “Second Chance” promotion for those taking any Cisco test the first time. She didn’t know the actual web page to direct me to but doing a little reverse-engineering (or not) of the http:// vue.com/cisco/comeback page being thrown around in the last few posts, I was able to get to http://vue.com/cisco/secondchance/ and there it was.

The only discrepancy from the info on that page and what she told me is how to re-schedule. On that page it said “Free exams may only be scheduled via the web.” but according to her I have to call them directly and give them the magic word “second chance”. To save you the extra leg work, the number is (877) 404-3926.

If anyone received a different (or more thorough) explanation, please do share. Anyhow, now I’m considering moving my test date one or two weeks earlier.

Click here to find the complete discussion.

I’m really tempted to move my test date up a week or two from my original scheduled exam on 6/28. My thinking is, there’s nothing to lose if I take it earlier and fail. Then I can retake it again on the original date and I would that much “informed” because the former would have served as a practice test. And if I happened to pass the first, even the better. Hmmm… Maybe.

Cone Zone… This page is currently undergoing cosmetic reconstruction as I’m experimenting with the best layout for the contents. I didn’t like the “squished” format that the previous template (Wordpress theme: Digg) limited me too. So far this is the best layout/design that I like, given the limited options I have with a free account.

I like the fact that the main column expands as you expand your browser. The previous one made the main column look too skinny when viewing on a fully expanded browser; giving me the impression of wasted space. This new one fills up all the spaces as you drag the browser size back and forth.

It’s kinda like how CIDR helps prevent the wasting of IP addresses by allocating just the right amount of addresses to fill the need.

Also, the spacing of the texts seems just right for my eyes. The only drawback I’ve seen so far is that it screws up some of the text alignment from how I’d like to see them laid out. It also mis-aligns my images. Also, I’m just not sure about the default size of the fonts. I’d like to see it a little bit bigger so I don’t have to squint when reading it. Maybe this one will let me tinker with the style sheet. We’ll see. I like it so far.

Static NAT Configuration

1. Configure interfaces on the inside part of the network using the ip nat inside interface subcommand.
2. Configure interfaces on the outside part of the network using the ip nat outside interface subcommand.
3. Configure stati mapping between the inside local address and the inside global address using the ip nat inside source static inside-local inside-global global configuratin command.

interface Ethernet0/0
ip address 10.1.1.3 255.255.255.0
ip nat inside

interface Serial0/0
ip address 200.1.1.251 255.255.255.0
ip nat outside

ip nat inside source static 10.1.1.2 200.1.1.2
ip nat inside source static 10.1.1.1 200.1.1.1

• The ip nat inside and ip nat outside interface subcommands tells the router which interface is in the “inside” part of the network and which one is “outside”.
• The ip nat inside source static command creates the mapping.
  • The keyword inside refers to hosts inside the network needs the mapping
  • The keyword source tells NAT to translate the source IP of packets hitting the inside interface.
  • The keyword static means the address entered in the command are to be statically created on the NAT table and will not be removed due to timeout expiration.
• In the example configuration above, there are two ip nat inside… commands because there are two hosts being mapped to two separate inside global addresses.

Dynamic NAT Configuration

• Dynamic NAT still requires you to configure the inside and outside interfaces, just like we do for static NAT.
• It uses IP ACLs to identify which private hosts need to be translated.
• It needs to create a pool of registered public IP addresses to allocate to the inside local addresses.

Guide to configuration:

1. Configure the ip nat inside interface.
2. Configure the ip nat outside interface.
3. Create the IP ACL to match packets coming into the inside interfaces for which NAT should be performed
4. Configure the pool of publicly registered IP addresses using the global configuration command:
   • ip nat pool name first-address last-address netmask subnet-mask
5. Enable dynamic NAT by referencing the ACL and pool with the global configuration command:
   • ip nat inside source list acl-number pool pool-name

interface Ethernet0/0
ip address 10.1.1.3 255.255.255.0
ip nat inside

interface Serial0/0
ip address 200.1.1.251 255.255.255.0
ip nat outside

ip nat pool fred 200.1.1.1 200.1.1.2 netmask 255.255.255.252
ip nat inside source list 1 pool fred

access-list 1 permit 10.1.1.2
access-list 1 permit 10.1.1.1

• In the above example, the ip nat pool command gives the name “fred” to the pool. It then defines the first and last ip address ranges, followed by the subnet mask – to check and make sure the address range is within the allowed range of numbers dictated by the subnet mask.
• The dynamic version of the ip nat inside source command references the ACL (list 1 command) that defines what inside local IP addresses is permitted for NATting and what pool (pool fred command) of numbers to use when matching inside local addresses to inside global addresses.
• Helpful troubleshooting and verification commands:
  • show ip nat statistics
  • show ip nat translations

NAT Overload (PAT) Configuration

• There are two variations of PAT configuration:
  1. Using a pool of inside global addresses for mapping the local hosts
  2. Using only one inside global IP address.
• Configuring PAT using a NAT pool:
  1. Use the same step as the dynamic NAT configuration, but appending the keyword overload at the end of the ip inside source list global command. For example:
     • ip nat inside source list 1 pool fred overload
• Configuring PAT using an an interface IP address as the sole inside global IP address:
  1. Configure the ip nat inside interface.
  2. Configure the ip nat outside interface.
  3. Configure the ACL to match the packets you want permitted to be NATted
  4. Configure the global configuration command:
     • ip nat source list acl-number interface interface-name/number overload

interface Ethernet 0/0
ip address 10.1.1.3 255.255.255.0
ip nat inside

interface Serial0/0
ip address 200.1.1.249 255.255.255.252
ip nat outside

ip nat inside source list 1 interface Serial0/0 overload

access-list 1 permit 10.1.1.2
access-list 1 permit 10.1.1.1

• The only thing that needs to be discussed in the example above is the ip nat inside source command. The list 1 parameter means the same thing as dynamic configuration – that is, it references the IP ACL previously defined in the configuration.
• interface serial 0/0 defines the only inside global IP address (the address configured on s0/0) that would be used to represent all the outgoing inside local addresses
• The overload parameter, the important part of this type of configuration, allows the router to perform the overload function.