They will have what we were promised, electricity too cheap to meter!

Useful IOS
router(config-if)#interface fastethernet 0
router(config-if)#ip address 192.168.0.1 255.255.255.0
% IP addresses may not be configured on L2 links.
router(config-if)#exit
router(config)#exit
on 877 etc use vlan instead of FE
no ping?
router-1#show int vlan 1
router-1#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
router(config)#no int vlan 1
router(config)#int vlan 1
router (config-if)#ip add 192.168.0.1 255.255.255.0
router(config-if)#shut
router(config-if)#do show ip int br
router(config-if)#no shut
router(config-if)#do ping 192.168.0.2
router#show dsl interface atm0
show controller vdsl 0/0/0
show interface dialer1
show ip arp
show diag
show controllers
show inventory
show caller
show arp

XDSL issues

SN Margin (AKA Signal to Noise Margin or Signal to Noise Ratio)
Relative strength of the DSL signal to Noise ratio. 6dB is generally the lowest dB manufactures specify in order for the modem to be able to synch. In some instances interleaving can help raise the noise margin to an acceptable level. Generally speaking, as overall bandwidth increases, your signal to noise ratio decreases. So a customer that upgrades from 1.5 to 6.0 service will typically see a corresponding decrease in the signal to noise ratio. The higher the number the better for this measurement.
6dB or below is bad and will experience no synch or intermittent synch problems
7dB-10dB is fair but does not leave much room for variances in conditions
11dB-20dB is good with no synch problems
20dB-28dB is excellent
29dB or above is outstanding

Line Attenuation
Measure of how much the signal has degraded between the DSLAM and the modem. Maximum signal loss recommendation is usually about 60dB. One of the biggest factors affecting line attenuation is distance from the DSLAM. Generally speaking, bigger distances mean higher attenuation. The lower the dB the better for this measurement.
20dB and below is outstanding
20dB-30dB is excellent
30dB-40dB is very good
40dB-50dB is good
50dB-60dB is poor and may experience connectivity issues
60dB or above is bad and will experience connectivity issues

TFTP a new IOS to flash

1. You must know the router password to use “enable” and get the Router# prompt.
2. You must have established bi-directional ping between laptop and cisco
3. You must have a blank, already named, already saved, notepad file open on laptop.
4. You must ensure you have copied the ENTIRE config correctly, accurately and fully.
5. Save the notepad file, then look through it CAREFULLY for errors or problems.
6. Watch out for passwords, administratively closed ports etc. Do this before proceeding.

0. See above

1. Connect CAT5 (cross ever for a router, straight for a switch or AP) between laptop and router (using 192.168.0.10 255.255.255.0 for laptop, don’t forget subnet mask)
a. Router> – type enable and press return
b. Router> – type show ip interface brief and press return and note which interface you have put the crossover CAT5 in to
c. Router# – type configure terminal and press return
d. Router(config)# – type interface FastEthernet ? and press return to get number
e. Router(config)# – type interface FastEthernet 0 and press return
f. Router(config-if)# – type ip address 192.168.0.1 255.255.255.0 and press return
g. Exit back to Router#
h. Router# – type show ip interface brief and press return to verify
i. Router# – type ping 192.168.0.10 and press return, do it twice to get 100%

2. Note router IP address, and laptop IP address, ping router from laptop, and laptop from router.

3. Start 3CDaemon and make sure CORRECT bin file is saved to laptop desktop
Right click file click properties and copy file name.

4. Router>
type show version and press return
Router uptime is 6 hours, 2 minutes
System returned to ROM by power-on
System image file is “flash:c1700-y7-mz.122-8.T5.bin”
Note down that the bin file is correct, and also note down the config being used.

5. Router>
type enable and press return

6. Router#
type show flash: and press return
there may be room to write the new flash before deleting the old one, or there may not, depending on this you may tftp the new and then delete the old, or delete the old and then tftp the new…. (might be an idea to save the old one to the laptop first with copy flash tftp)

7. Router#
type copy tftp flash and press return ( copy [source] [destination] )
Address or name of remote host []? Type laptop IP address and press return
Source filename[]? Right click to paste file name from step 3 above and press return
Destination filename[the name you just pasted] IF OVERWRITING press return
Accessing tftp://laptop IP/filename… !!!!!!!
You should already have checked the flash is large enough / empty enough to take this bin file…
check the verifying checksum at the end says OK

8. Router#
type show flash and press return
if you did not overwrite you need to delete the OLD bin file

a. Router#
type del flash: and press return
delete filename[]? Paste bin name to be deleted and press return
delete flash:filename? [confirm] and press return
i. The command erase flash: will also work IF NO OTHER FILES ARE STORED IN FLASH
ii. The command erase nvram will wipe the NVRAM, adios config…
iii. There is also the verify command, but do not always trust its output…

9. Router#
type show flash: and press return to confirm all tftp operations correct and complete.

10. Router#
type reload and press return, this will reboot the router!
System configuration has been modified. Save? y/n : type y and press return
Building configuration…
[OK]
Proceed with reload? [confirm] press return

11. Router reboots

12. Router>
type show version and press return to confirm the IOS has been updated.

13. Process completed.

if you can read and follow those step by step you’re 10% of the way there to becoming a real world cisco field engineer, because 99% of the time either the hardware is dying or some remote twat in mumbai has locked himself out after making “temporary” changes, OR the bloke who was there first and did the install did not do it properly and skipped shit like “no shut” on a dialer interface, or didn’t skip it, but didn’t write memory it, so the first time the router rebooted it lost it.

The photo shows me using masking tape on each fibre, and what I write on the masking tape is what port it is actually IN when I walked in, not what port it should be, ouught to be, might be, in that pic some of my masking tape labels don’t match the labels on the fibre itself, because someone else have swapped ports around in the juniper router and not remade the fibres with new labels…. that one could have taken down 12% of the UK if I had not made my own labels because “I didn’t need to, because the fibres were already labelled”… no cisco / juniper / etc training ever covers this shit, but this shit is 99% of what a field engineer does, you can be a crap one who is remote hands and eyes for the guys at the other end of the line, or you can be the good one who is remote hands and eyes and brain, in which case you’ll find that the guys at the other end of the line are often crap chancers and this is job 11 of 19 they are doing this shift and they don’t really care about anything except moving on to job 12

So no, don’t be impressed, don’t start talking about my level, the consequences for fucking up in a regional backbone NOC are greater than the consequences for fucking up in the local fast food store, but the principles are the same, the toys you use are the same, and the pay is the same 9 times out of 10

I’ve gone to site previously attended by hot shit CCNA/CCNP engineers, cisco 880 series wireless routers, they have done the config and the wifi ain’t working, because they forgot / didn’t know / didn’t think the wireless module was separate, so didn’t access it properly to paste the config for it

Access the Wireless Module – To access the wireless module type “service-module wlan-ap 0 session”
(Short text – Ser wl 0 sess) default passwords are Cisco Cisco to access the AP

I couldn’t craft a full cisco config from scratch on the fly if my life depended on it, if I could, I would not have been field engineer material, I’d be stuck in an office somewhere doing job 11 of 19 on my worklist this shift.