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Consulting
Tips & Tools |
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The information contained on these pages is intended to provide network consultants with some helpful tips and a few software tools that could make life easier. Many of the software tools are freeware, but it is your responsibility to comply with any restrictions set forth by the authors of any applications that are shareware. I will normally try to warn you if any of the downloads are more than 1MB with an indication as to how big the file is.
Please feel free to email any of your own personal favorites and I’ll add them to the list (giving credit of course).
Table of Contents
Taking Electronic Notes
This technique for taking notes was first inspired during my CCIE preparation (see my CCIE tips page). I found this method for taking notes so useful that it is my primary method for taking electronic notes, whether it is on a client site or in a technical training class. The primary advantage of taking notes this way is that it allows you to quickly capture lots of information (if you can type fairly well) and keep it highly organized.
There are 2 key components to this technique: 1) Use of the MS Word document map feature, and 2) A customized MS Word template used to create the notes file. Duke Meesuk of Mentor Technologies was the one who first showed me the document map feature while we were sitting through an internal teach of our ECP1 class. This feature allows you to quickly navigate any size Word document (see Diagram 1 below). It does this by listing, in outline form, all of the lines formatted as a ‘heading’ in the left column. Each heading level is a separate entry in the outline tree, which can be expanded or collapsed to show different amount of detail (see Diagram 2).
Since the document map feature is so closely tied to the heading levels, it makes sense to modify the default styles for each heading. This can be done from the Format | Style menu and then saved as a separate .dot file. Using this method you can create documents that use numbered paragraphs, for example. I supplied an example template designed to help create CCIE study notes, which you can download on my CCIE tips page.
Diagram 1 – Turn on Document Map feature
Once the document map feature is turned on as depicted above, the left column will display ALL levels by default. This can be changed as shown in the diagram below.
Diagram 2 – Example use of navigating document
It may be kind of hard to see, but in Diagram 2 you can see that there is an outline structure in the left column and the actual document in the right hand portion of the screen. The red arrow #1 is pointing to the dialog window that pops up after right-clicking in the document map area. From this dialog you can select how much detail to display by selecting what heading level to expand the tree.
Unfortunately, during the screen capture the floating tool bar referenced by red arrow #2 was grayed out. This box is actually the Formatting toolbar which I keep undocked and floating between the document map area and the actual document. The advantage of doing this is that the highlight tool is within easy reach to highlight certain sections of the document. Also, the arrow buttons used to promote/demote a line to the appropriate heading level are also kept close by so that it is easy to create a new section.
SNMP Tools
As a network consultant, you will often find yourself in ‘data collection’ mode in order to make some decisions about the client network. There are 2 great free tools for Windows platforms that I have found very useful during my various consultant projects. The first is a GUI based utility that is great for browsing the MIB tree and finding specific MIB variables to query. If you need to capture this same variable for a large number of devices, the second tool is the same set of binaries that the GUI is based on, but can be run from the command line. This allows you to create some very basic scripts to capture the data (yeah, if I knew PERL this would be a lot cleaner, but I haven’t added that to my skill set yet!) I am also aware of MRTG and its updates, but the focus here isn’t extended monitoring per se, but rather a one time data collection sweep. I am also assuming you will be running these utilities from your laptop which you probably don’t want to leave at the client site for an extended data collection via MRTG.
GETIF GUI Tool
This is FREEWARE
Download executable here (~1.4MB). For more info, please visit the web site of the developer (oops, it looks like the developer lost his site; while searching for it, I did find what looks like a very useful SNMP site here; please be aware that this site also provides a copy of the GETIF tool, but it is version 2.2 and I got version 2.3.1 directly from the developer and seems to run cleaner). One quick tip: To load vendor MIBs into this tool, simply copy the MIB files to the MIB folder where the application is installed. Then delete the .index file in the same directory and launch the application. This causes the GETIF tool to rebuild the MIB structure using the new MIBs.
Command Line Binaries
This is FREEWARE
These files are available here, along with all necessary documentation. If you use these binaries to sweep through large networks collecting SNMP data as I suggest, you will probably want to check out GREP for Windows below. This utility will allow you to further extract and manipulate the data, but if you’re familiar with the Unix grep tool you already know this.
Syslog for Windows
This is FREEWARE
This is a handy tool that duplicates the common syslog function available on Unix hosts. Having a Windows-based syslog utility allows you to log router, switch, and/or server events to your laptop for either testing in the lab or in a live customer network. For example, I recently used this utility on a customer site to log all commands entered via the console of all the backbone switches. This allowed me to track network changes (who/what) while I was attempting to analyze the network.
There is both a freeware and a commercial version of this utility. I have provided a copy of the freeware version, which I feel provides plenty of functionality. For the latest updates to the program visit the website for Kiwi Enterprises. You can download a copy of v6.1 here (~4MB).
GREP for Windows
This is FREEWARE
Another powerful utility from the Unix world is GREP. Tim Charron modified a Windows port of this tool to make a pretty useful version that allows searching through subdirectories. You can download a copy here, but please visit Tim’s website for the latest updates and a brief overview of the tool.
Some examples from Tim’s site include:
grep
-S "searchtext" *.txt
grep -S "searchtext"
\personal\files/*.txt
grep -S searchtext C:\*.*
dir
*.* /sub | grep -i DLL | more è requires v2.0d or higher
where the –S allows searching subdirectories. The “ ” around the searchtext allows you to search for items that include a space. The | is the common pipe or redirection symbol that allows you to redirect the output of the command to another command (like more).
As an example of using this tool in a network consulting environment, I offer my own sample command syntax. Consider the situation where you collected all 110 router configs from a client site and stored them in a directory called /clientX/router_configs and need to determine what extended IP access-lists are defined on each router. You can quickly extract this information with the following command:
grep “access-list 1[0-9][0-9]” \clientX\router_configs\*.* > ext-acl.txt
where the searchtext will match any access-list 100-199 (the range for extended IP access-lists). The “ > ext-acl.txt ” redirects the output to a text file that can be further manipulated or formatted. If for some reason each router config was in a separate directory (yuk! 110 subdirectories), simply add a “ –S” after the “grep” command to search all subdirectories. Note that just like their Unix counterparts, all the command line switches are case sensitive, so –s is not the same as –S. See the various readme files for more information regarding other switches.
Visual File Compare
This is FREEWARE
There are many different versions of a utility that will compare the contents of two files. I like the “File Compare Utility” because it is free and it keeps the 2 files synched while displaying them side by side. It also highlights the differences between each file and even allows you to merge the differences together into a new file which is displayed in a third pane in the bottom of the window. This utility is excellent for comparing 2 versions of the same router config to see what has changed. Download a copy here.
TFTP
This is FREEWARE
This doesn’t need much description, since most consultants use TFTP frequently. I’ll just mention that this is a fairly capable, free TFTP app that can even bind to different IP addresses on the fly. This can be handy on multihomed PCs or even when you are both attached via a NIC and through a dialup PPP connection. Download here.
TTCP
This is FREEWARE
Yet another port of a popular Unix tool, though this one was written by Chesapeake Network Solutions (what Mentor Technologies used to be called!). This tool is an excellent method for generating traffic across the network and especially for testing throughput. This is primarily based on the fact that the tool copies a defined buffer size directly from memory and transmits it to a configured receiver. Using this method has distinct advantages over less sophisticated throughput tests such as FTP (disk I/O performance is part of the measurement) and PINGs (ICMP/UDP traffic not handled the same as TCP).
I have used this tool several times on consultant projects, including a 7 page throughput analysis paper for a very large ATM network. At some point in the future I will probably write up a separate web page describing in more detail how I used this tool for the analysis (check in the Technologies section, the most likely place I’ll put it).
That being said, I must point out that this tool is definitely freeware. It used to be available from the main Mentor Technologies homepage but was removed because it could not be supported at all. I am making it available here because I think it is so useful, but please do not email or flame Mentor Technologies if you cannot get it to work or any support for it. You can email me if you have trouble and I’ll attempt to help you out.
The install can be a little tricky, but I am confident most network engineers will be able to figure it out after reading all the available docs. I seem to recall it was a little particular about the version of java runtime engine, so I have also provided a link to the version that it should work with. You can always get a more current free version and give it a try, but no guarantees. Since it is a port of the Unix ttcp tool in java, it should run on most any platform. I personally have only set it up on Win98 and NT. Good Luck!
Java Runtime Engine 1.02 (~2MB)
Networking Tools
This is a COMMERCIAL PRODUCT ($37.50 US)
When I purchased “WS_Ping Pro v2.1”, it was only $24.00 and I have definitely gotten my money’s worth. Since then, version 2.3 has come out and the price has gone up to $37.50. You can purchase and read more about this tool at the IPSwitch website. The tools I use the most (see screen shot below) are the ping, traceroute, lookup (you can even do a full zone transfer!), and scan (kind of hacker-ish since it does stealthy, half-open connections).
Printing
I know what you’re thinking: “why the heck do I need Wayne to tell me how to print?!” Well, I trust you print just fine when you are at home or in the office. The information below is simply a timesaver and a way to reduce the weight of your laptop bag (read on).
Most consultant projects will require you to print something out at the client site sooner or later. As highly paid network consultants (stop laughing!), we do not need to be wasting our time trying to figure out how to print or waiting for the client’s IT staff to setup an account so we can print. The answer is quite simple: LPR/LPD printing, which is very easy to do with Windows NT.
[Slight tangent: If you have a Windows-based laptop (vs. Unix, which would be great but not as common), hopefully it is running NT instead of 95 or 98! Why? Because not only does if have native support for TCP/IP printing (aka LPR/LPD), but it has other advantages like: changing IP addresses--static or dynamic--on the fly with no reboot; being able to immediately lock your desktop whenever you step away; etc. End Tangent]
Most clients label their printers with the assigned IP address, and if not a simple configuration page is easy enough to obtain. If you have the Microsoft TCP/IP Printing Service installed, simply add a port using the IP of the printer and the appropriate queue name. The latter setting is what brings me to the Time Saving Tip:
|
Printer
Type |
Queue
Name |
|
HP
LaserJet |
(almost
always blank) |
|
Canon
ImageRunner |
PRINT |
|
Xerox
DocuCenter |
LP |
|
|
|
This table will grow as I discover others, but this initial list covers a large number of printers you’re likely to run into. Unfortunately, these queue names do not print out on standard configuration pages and are often buried in the docs.
Finally, since consultants normally pack in anything and everything they need to the client site, reducing the amount of stuff you have to carry is a great tip. To that end, the Weight Reduction Tip is printing anything you can double-sided. This is the other advantage of seeking out the Canon or Xerox type printer/copiers. Since these devices almost always allow you to print duplex (2-sided) directly, you can cut the size of your printouts in half! I normally set the document defaults for such printers to have it print 2-sided automatically. That’s it! Remember: Trees In, Books Out!
Search and Replace
This is FREEWARE
A pretty basic tool, but very handy GUI-based method of searching and replacing information in TEXT files. The tool can search entire directories recursively (with a nice warning about the danger of doing so) and even make backup copies. It is called Search and Replace 98, but it runs on 95/98/NT. Check it out! Download.
Hex/Bin/Dec Cheat Sheet
Here is a cheat sheet to help you quickly convert hexadecimal, decimal, and binary numbers. This was put together by Trey McMahon and Debbie Becker (thanks also to Charlie Mann who initially told me about the tool; all Mentor Technologies Instructors) and has been quite popular in our ICND class.
Download the MS Word Document.
Visio Stencil for Cisco Generic Icons
Here is my latest copy of a Visio Stencil sheet (.vss) of the Cisco generic icons. The icons are commonly referred to as “hockey puck” icons and come from the Powerpoint collection of marketing icons available at the Cisco website. This is useful when simply documenting the logical or functional network design, as opposed to a detailed wiring diagrams or rack elevations that require to-scale icon representation of each product. You can create your own version by opening a new (or existing) stencil sheet file and copying the PPT icons to the stencil. [NOTE: It has been my experience that Cisco adds new generic product icons to the PPT file and does not maintain its own copy of a generic icon Visio stencil; at least not one that’s available to the public] Download my latest version of the Visio stencil here.
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Copyright 2001 |
Last Updated 1-Aug-01 |