HP Procurve 2910al console pinout

Really HP? Why did you decide to stray away from the standard Cisco RJ-45 standard console cable? All other switches and routers, including HP Procurve 2500-series switches, Brocade, Juniper, and basically any enterprise network product can use a standard Cisco console cable. But HP 2910al switches are different!

andkorn.org is moving!

Big things are happening to andkorn.org. I am moving some stuff around, switching platforms, and hopefully importing all my old content into the new platform. Once the new site is live expect to see much more useful information! I will have more detailed information soon.

Brocade ICX6610 stack: swapping boot images

I ran into a small issue recently: I had a stack of two Brocade ICX6610's and they had two boot images:

 - FCXS07300a.bin (Switch Code)
 - FCXR07300a.bin (Router Code)

I wanted to swap the two and have the router code be primary. The issue is that I had a stack and the "flash rename" commands did not affect the secondary stack member. With "flash rename" I could move around flash images all I wanted on the primary member, but the secondary stayed the same. If I serial consoled into the secondary I could not modify its boot images to match.

RANCID with Brocade ICX6610

I was having a hell of a time configuring Rancid with the Brocade ICX series switches. As with most things, the solution is very simple - after about 10 attempts of doing it wrong. The right solution is always the last one you try!

Anyway, you just need to use the 'foundry' rancid scripts. I tried the ones listed here:
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/rancid/users/5454
But they didn't do it for me. The brocaderancid/brocadelogin scripts use these weird commands like chassisShow, fosConfig --show, and configShow. If your equipment has those commands then stop reading my post now and go read that email thread. if your switch does show version and show configuration, then read on!

Juniper SRX to Cisco Policy-Based IPsec VPN

If you have ever configured an IPsec VPN between a Cisco and a Juniper SRX you know it can be difficult. Actually, if you ever configured an IPsec VPN you know you can run into difficult problems.

In any case, when you configure a Policy-Based IPsec VPN between the two, with more than one network on each side, you will find you will need an extraordinary number of policies on the SRX in order to play nice with the Cisco. If the networks allow, use IP Address Aggregation. Doing this on both sides will greatly simplify your config. In some (most?) cases you will not be this lucky.

Stock Config of Juniper SRX240

This is the stock config (out of the box) of a Juniper SRX240. When clustering two SRX240's, you have to delete the ENTIRE config before issuing any cluster commands. After this you can go ahead and reconfig the SRX240's as you like.

Stacking Brocade ICX6610-48 Switches

I guess I'm stacking more switches now? First HP (H3C) and now Brocade. Luckily Brocade switches are easier to stack and also offer much better performance. Here we go!