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Is it possible to build a voice lab without actual hardware? The answer is yes and no. You can build a very good lab using GNS3 and VMWare but it is not possible to build a complete lab. The underlying emulation engine for GNS3 (dynamips) does not support digital signal processors (dsps) or voice cards.

Over the next few months, I will show you how to build a very good lab without any hardware. If you want a more complete lab, you will need to obtain at least one router with dsps and voice cards. I have a 2611XM router with DSPs, a vic-2fxs card, a vic-2fxo card and an ATA-186.

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While configuring SRST and testing different scenarios, I came across an issue where I couldn’t make conference calls. Specific task asked to allow a maximum of 2 conference calls during SRST. Here is what my configuration looked like:

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I was browsing videos on brainbump.net last Friday and noticed a different take on a tutorial I did regarding automatic configuration backups with the ‘archive’ command.  While watching the video, I learned a new trick.  The file name in the ‘path’ command may contain two different variables.

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This evening I attended a VLecture on “troubleshooting on the CCIE Voice Lab”. Class was instructed by Vik Malhi of IPexpert and was very informative. Vik went over some of the common issues that candidates run into as well as ways to troubleshoot those issues.

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This past weekend began working through workbook Vol 1 and was able to get a lot of good studying in. Section one is Basic Campus Design. Most of the tasks asked were things I have worked on over the past several months and really have no issues with. Configuring proper vlans, dot1q trunks, Microsoft DHCP, IOS DHCP, NTP on routers, switches, and callmanagers, auto-register phones to callamanager, and register CME phones. I was able to complete all required tasks in a fairly quick amount of time.

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This is part two of my gns3 switching tutorial series. In part 1, you learned how to use a 16 port network module (NM-16ESW) to simulate many features of a Cisco switch. In this tutorial, you will learn how to configure vlans on the switch and how to route between vlans with a ‘router on a stick’ configuration.

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In this tutorial, you will learn how to build a Cisco switching lab … even though GNS3 cannot emulate a Cisco switch. I will show you how to use an NM-16ESW network module in a 3640 router to emulate a switching environment.

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A fast and easy way to test your SRST configuration without taking down the WAN interface, is to add a static route to null 0 for any ip packets coming from the network the Callmanagers are on.

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When I arrived home from work last Thursday, I was excited to see that my IPexpert Blended Learning Solution package had arrived! Eager to take a look,

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First, I would like to say thank you Josh for the introduction and for giving me the opportunity to write and share my experiences with all of the Blindhog readers as I prepare for the CCIE Voice Lab Exam.  I have always been a fan of Blindhog and am very excited about being able to contribute! (more…)