Now, I’m pretty good when it comes to networking, routing, etc., but I’ve never worked in a Cisco shop. Consequently, I can’t configure or troubleshoot my way out of a paper bag if a Cisco device stands between me and freedom. I always have to have some help just remembering the basics. Luckily, there are tons of great resources out there, and this one from The Network Administrator seems like a pretty good place to start. Cisco Router Tips Top 10 ’show’ Commands list the basics for getting the goods out of a Cisco router. It’s not a tutorial on configuring a Cisco, but it does list a pile of useful commands for getting information about how a router is configured, and what might be going on with it (assuming you are troubleshooting some sort of a problem). Good stuff.

Cisco Router Tips Top 10 ’show’ Commands

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Snort is a relatively decent Intrusion Detection/Prevention system, although it can be a bit of a pig sometimes (pun intended). While poking around on their site a while ago, I discovered this article on how to make your own low cost passive tap. This has come in handy on several occasions, and while it isn’t the perfect solution (e.g. captures only half duplex traffic), it can make things easier when you need to get some packets off the wire.

Construction and Use of a Passive Ethernet Tap

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It used to be that every time I was at a colo and needed to connect to the serial port on a downed system, I always seemed to have left the correct serial cable back at the office. Then I found this article and gave the 5-in-1 Network Admin’s cable a permanent home in my bag.
This article by Mike Ossmann appeared in the first Article of Make Magazine. It is one of my favorites, as it taught me how to build an ethernet cable, a crossover ethernet cable, a modem cable, a null modem cable, and a Cisco console cable all in one. Every network admin should have one of these in his/her bag.

the 5-in-1 network admin’s cable

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