Large projects have a tendency to incorporate scope creep almost by inheritance. The small details of one of the many facets of the project are easily overlooked. In this example, the small details that didn't get planned turned out to be the entire network of a new building.

The Cisco IOS actually offers 16 different privilege levels. David Davis discusses these different levels and introduces you to the main commands you'll need to configure these privileges.

Becoming proficient with the Cisco IOS means learning some essential commands. This quick reference describes 10 commands you'll need to rely on when handling various configuration and troubleshooting tasks.

David Davis introduces the Archive command in Cisco, which you can configure to log all commands on your router. If you need to back up to a previous configuration, or see what went wrong after a change, the Archive command will help you find your way.

David Davis describes the fundamentals of router security through a list of his top five best practices. He has also hand-picked resources that will give you further details on properly securing your routers.

Inventorying your routers' serial numbers is an important activity that every network administrator needs to be able to do -- both to keep track of what you have and to properly register for support and maintenance from Cisco Systems. How do you collect these numbers without physically going to each and every router in your organization? Here's how to determine those serial numbers remotely.

Did you know your Cisco router could send you an e-mail? Until recently, I would have said that it wasn't possible, but today, I'll show you how to do it. And we won't stop there: I'll tell you where to find some other scripts that you can use on your Cisco router.

While you may not have a network as large or as critical as YouTube to manage, unexpected network downtime or lost network traffic is never a good thing. That's why you should understand what a black hole route is, how it can help you -- and how it could hurt you.

Once you're ready to make the jump to a more sophisticated switch, what do you need to know? Let's answer some of the most frequently asked questions and explore the basic configuration of Cisco IOS switches.

With a simulator, there are always missing commands and programming errors, and it can never really be as complete as the real IOS. However, because an emulator runs the IOS, you get every feature that the real IOS has.

On February 18, 2008, the “Analog to Digital Transition” FCC directive will go into effect. This means that all of the telephone companies will shut down their analog wireless services. The ruling was based on the determination by the FCC that the operating costs accrued by keeping the analog services working were not beneficial to ...

All Cisco routers have two special types of lines, and many Cisco routers have a third. What are these lines, and how do you configure them? These are things that every network admin should know.

A TechRepublic reader recently e-mailed me to ask about limiting the bandwidth on a Cisco Catalyst switch port. In fact, there are a number of uses for this configuration. Let's take a closer look.

Networking pioneer 3Com, the dominant player prior to being supplanted by Cisco Systems, has been acquired by a private equity firm in a $2.2 billion cash deal.

When working with the Cisco IOS, it’s very important to know your TCP and UDP port numbers. This is especially true when creating IOS access control lists (ACLs). Let’s take a closer look. What’s a port number? Most of you likely know what port numbers are, but here’s a brief overview just in case: Port ...