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Showing posts from October, 2017

ISE 2.x Python API example EndPointGroup creation

Here is just a quick tidbit I tossed together for interfacing with the ISE 2.x API.n  Sadly, Parent Groups are not yet defined in the API.

#!/usr/bin/python3
import json, requests
from requests.auth import HTTPBasicAuth
#modify your values here
username = '<USERNAME>'
password = '<PASSWORD>'
fqdn = '<FQDN>'
name = '<GROUPNAME>'

description = '<DESCRIPTION>'
#actual script
url = 'https://' + fqdn + ':9060/ers/config/endpointgroup'
headers = {'Content-type': 'application/json', 'Accept': 'application/json'}
payload = {
        "EndPointGroup" : {
                "id" : "id",
                "name" : name,
                "description" : description,
                "systemDefined" : False
        }
}
resp = requests.post(url=url,
        data=json.dumps(payload),
        headers=headers,
        verify=False,
        auth=HTTPBasicAuth(username, password)
)
data = resp.text
if resp.status_code == 201:
        print('EndPointGroup ' + name + ' added!')
else:
        print('Status Code ' + str(resp.status_code))
        print(data)

Scheduled my CCIE Collab Lab for January 19th 2018

I don't normally post about myself, because really, I don't find my life important or fascinating.  However, on the scale of great accomplishments, I will be taking my CCIE lab soon.  After as much procrastination as possible, I will have to focus solely on studying.  Due to this, expect no updates until later in 2018!  See you then.  Feel free to leave a comment/request.


HP Proliant G7 (Old Server) madness and 10Gig NICs

I am just going to make a quick post after a long bit of sacrifice.  Should one every buy a new 10G NIC for their server in their CCIE lab, a couple of things you will want to know up front.

1)  What is the current firmware version on the card and does ESXi support it?
2)  What method does it require to upgrade the firmware, how will I go about doing this?

Once you have those out of the way, you may need some tools.  What I recommend for older cards is to use WinToUSB Enterprise with a version of Windows Server Evaluation that you can get from Microsoft's website.  You will need a 64GB thumbdrive as a lot of server hardware that is older will not boot from an external USB drive, but a thumbdrive will work.  Lastly, check your hardware's USB support prior to all this to ensure if you must flash it that it will work.  Otherwise you may need to slot the card in different hardware so you can flash it.

While there are methods using Linux to flash the firmware, I found those to be problematic if the drivers used .src.rpms or source based code that had to compile against the kernel due to differences in the original release and the packages now available.

Once you have all this done, you should be able to install the proper vib/driver in ESXi and get the host to recognize the card.  You can easily use a loopback plug to test your optics prior to wiring everything up and as always, make sure you clean your fiber ends prior to plugging them in to ensure you don't get dust into your transceivers!

CCIE Lab Licensing.... 6 month demo licensing FTW

So as many people know or aware, you can install CUCM and most nodes with demo licensing, and redeploy as needed for your labs.  However, Cisco offers 6 month demo licenses through their license management portal (which has steadily improved over the last few years).  Simply go to PLM, generate a license request and paste it into the port under the request demo license drop down.


You get 20 CUWL Pro for both Unity and CUCM.  Perfect for your CCIE Lab!

Using Cisco Jabber on a shared machine

While there are many ways to possibly solve the issue of a shared machine, one is to simply create a bat file that clears the current shared user's folder every time Cisco Jabber launches.  To do this you will need to use a text editor and input the following:

rmdir /s /q C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Cisco\
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Cisco Systems\Cisco Jabber\CiscoJabber.exe"


Save this as a .bat file and then create a shortcut to it.  Once you have done this, you can update the shortcut properties to change both the Icon and Run Minimized so the command prompt window does not open when running it.  This is a quick and dirty work around for using Cisco Jabber on a shared machine.