アスパルテーム

アスパルテームは人工甘味料である。
まぁ食べ物や飲み物に甘さを加えるための調味料のようなもの。
砂糖の約200倍の甘さをもつといわれていて、少量で食べ物に「甘味」を与えることができるとされています。
そのうえなんとカロリー０。どういう仕組みかは不明ですが、砂糖をとれるのにダイエットになるとかなんとか。

なんかめちゃくちゃ大発見で未来的なものじゃないーと思いがちですが、
そんなうまい話はないわけで、
このアスパルテーム、体に大きな影響を与えてしまうことが分かっています。
というか研究者たちはよくそういっているようです。

Wrestlemania 30 Compile

My man, it's finally this week.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Randy Orton(c) vs. Batista vs. ????


The Winner enters the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Daniel Bryan vs. HHH



John Cena vs Bray Wyatt WrestleMania 30 Promo
John Cena's "Legacy" vs. Bray Wyatt's "Destruction"

"22-0?" or "21-1?"
The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar


The Shield vs. The New Age Outlaws & Kane 

CCNP Switch Passed!

My revenge was served cold well today after I finally passed CCNP switch on my second try!

Let me just say "Try as many practice exams as possible!"
Test is a test after all, what we are tested is based on what examiner wants us to know. And not all the knowledge we are required to know for the test is useful on actual operations. So getting used to as many as practice exams as possible will help you pass the test though it may not be helping you on your actual operation.

Below are free practice exam methods I have used for CCNP switch and found them useful.

a. Certprepare
http://www.certprepare.com/
Amazing. It has lots of practice sims and example questions.

b. GNS3 Labs | CCNP | CCNA Labs
http://commonerrors.blogspot.jp/search/label/CCNP%20labs
If you become excited looking through this web page, I suppose you are ready to go.
This page provides you with lots of lab questions.

c. Ping-T
http://ping-t.com/
If you are Japanese and network engineer, I guess you are already familiar with this astonishing page.
Though you need to subscribe and pay a decent amount to fully utilize this amazing page, it can help you get used to the actual test and provides you with questions and detailed descriptions.

---

Luckily I got a chance to take the test twice, I noticed most of the questions on the test are fixed. I mean they gave me the same lab questions and the same simulations as the first one on my second try. Here is the list.

1. VLAN, STP, VTP, Etherchannel Sim
2. dot1x and VACL Sim
3. VLAN routing and EIGRP
4. HSRP multiple questions Sim

---

If you are new to switch area or have forgot most of the things you had learned on CCNA (my case), I recommend to start up from watching the video of our teacher Eli, "Understanding Switches".

CCNP Switch Command list

My CCNP Switch command magic list

[Command List]

~ Configuring Access port

(config-if)# switchport mode access

(config-if)# switchport access vlan 10

~ Configuring Trunk port

(config-if)# swithcport mode trunk

(config-if)# switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

(config-if)# switchport trunk native vlan 10

(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,20,30

(config-if)# switchport trunk encapsulation isl

(config-if)# switchport nonegotiate

~ Checking vlan configuration

# show vlan

# show interface trunk

# show interface switchport

# show interfaces f0/1 switchport

~ Configuring VTP

(config)# vtp domain [name]

(config)# vtp password [pass]

(config)# vtp version 2

(config)# vtp mode server|client|transparent

(config)# vtp mode server|client|transparent

(config)# vtp pruning

(config-if)# switchport trunk pruning vlan 2-50

# show vtp status

~ Configuring Spanning-tree

(config)# spanning-tree stp|rstp|mstp

(config)# spanning-tree hello-time 5

(config)# spanning-tree forward-time 25

(config)# spanning-tree max-age 10

(config)# spanning-tree priority 12288

(config)# spanning-tree vlan 31-33,51-53 priority 4096

(config)# spanning-tree root primary|secondary

(config-if)# spanning-tree disable

(config-if)# spanning-tree vlan 2 port-priority 16

(config-if)# spanning-tree vlan 2 cost 14

# show spanning-tree

# show spanning-tree vlan 10

# show spanning-tree inconsistentports

~ Configuring Spanning-tree MST

(config)# spanning-tree mst configuration

(config-mst)# instance 1 vlan 10,20,30-40

(config-mst)# name ping-t

(config-mst)# resivion 0

(config-mst)# show pending

~ Configuring Spanning-tree toolkit

(config)# spanning-tree portfast default

(config-if)# spanning-tree portfast enable

(config)# spanning-tree portfast bpduguard

(config-if)# spanning-tree bpduguard enable

(config)# spanning-tree uplinkfast

(config)# spanning-tree backbonefast

(config-if)# spanning-tree guard root

(config)# spanning-tree loopguard default

(config-if)# spanning-tree guard loop

(config)# spanning-tree portfast bpdufilter default

(config-if)# spanning-tree bpdufilter enable

~ Configuring EtherChannel

(config)# interface range fastethernet 0/10 - 11

(config-if-range)# channel-protocol lacp|pagp

(config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode active|passive

(config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode desirable|auto|on

# show etherchannel

# show etherchannel summary

~ Checking CEF and Adjacency table

# show ip cef

# show adjacency|adjacency detail

~ Multilayer Switching Configuring

(config)# vlan 21,22

(config)# interface vlan 21

(config-if)# ip address 192.168.20.1 255.255.255.240

(config)# interface vlan 22

(config-if)# ip address 192.168.20.97 255.255.255.240

(config)# interface Fa0/1

(config-if)# switchport mode access

(config-if)# switchport access vlan 21

(config-if)# switchport autostate exclude

(config-if)# no switchport|switchport

(config)# ip routing

~ Router “Router-on-a-Stick” Configuring

R1(config-if)# interface gigabitethernet0/1.1

R1(config-subif)# encapsulation dot1q 1 native

R1(config-subif)# ip address 192.168.0.1 255.255.255.0

R1(config-subif)# interface gigabitethernet0/1.2

R1(config-subif)# encapsulation dot1q 2

R1(config-subif)# ip address 192.168.2.1 255.255.255.0

~ FHRP configuring commands

~ HSRP configuring commands

CatA(config)# interface Vlan 1

CatA(config-if)# ip address 192.168.1.100 255.255.255.0

CatA(config-if)# standby 1 ip 192.168.1.200

CatA(config-if)# standby 1 priority 200

CatA(config-if)# standby 1 track gigabitEthernet 0/1 100

CatB(config)# interface Vlan 1

CatB(config-if)# ip address 192.168.1.101 255.255.255.0

CatB(config-if)# standby 1 ip 192.168.1.200

CatB (config-if)# standby 1 priority 150

CatB(config-if)# standby 1 track gigabitEthernet 0/1 80

# show standby

# show standby brief

~ Configuring VACL commands

Deny packets of “Src: host 192.168.2.2 - Dst: 192.168.2.0/24 - Vlan 2”

(config)# ip access-list extended ping-t

(config-ext-nacl)# permit ip host 192.168.2.2 192.168.2.0 0.0.0.255

(config)# vlan access-map roue 10

(config-access-map)# match ip address ping-t

(config-access-map)# action drop

(config)# vlan access-map roue 20

(config-access-map)# action forward

(config)# vlan filter roué vlan-list 2

~ Configuring DHCP snooping

(config)# ip dhcp snooping

(config)# ip dhcp snoopinp vlan 5

(config-if)# ip dhcp snooping trust|

# show ip dhcp snooping

~ Configuring DAI (Dynamic ARP Inspection)

(config)# ip arp inspection vlan 20

(config-if)# ip arp inspection trust

~ Configuring port-security

(config-if)# switchport mode access

(config-if)# switchport port-security

(config-if)# switchport port-security maximum 5

(config-if)# switchport port-security mac-address aaaa.aaaa.aaaa

(config-if)# switchport port-security mac-address sticky

(config-if)# switchport port-security violation shutdown|restrict|protect

# show port-security

# show port-security address

(config-if)# ip verify source

~ Private VLAN Configuration

(config)#

~ AAA IEEE802.1x Configuration

(config)# aaa new-model

(config)# radius-server host 192.168.100.1 key abc777

(config)# aaa authentication dot1x default group radius

(config)# dot1x system-auth-control

(config)# interface FastEthernet 0/1

(config-if)# switchport mode access

(config-if)# dot1x port-control auto|force-authorized|force-unauthorized

CCNP Switch - Failed

I will not forgive you cisco...
If you have time inventing new routers and switches, give some focuses on revising your garbage test and learn some grammars. Anyway, simply put I failed at CCNP Switch today, and this article features good links on CCNP Switch.

Surprisingly some of them were actual questions I faced on the test.

---

CCNP Switch – Planning Topics
http://dhucaby.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/ccnp-switch-planning-topics/

CCNP, SWITCH
SWITCH – Epic Fail
http://aconaway.com/2010/05/06/switch-epic-fail/

SWITCH 642-813 Exam Information & Practice Tests
http://www.how2pass.com/ccnp/switch_642-813.htm

Spanning Tree Lab Sim
http://www.certprepare.com/spanning-tree-lab-sim

AAAdot1x Lab Sim
http://www.certprepare.com/aaadot1x-lab-sim

MLS and EIGRP Sim
http://www.certprepare.com/mls-and-eigrp-sim

CCNP Questions 27
http://www.ccnpswitch.org/ccnp/braindumps-642-813-dumps/cisco-ccnp-642-813-exam-questions-27.html

5 things you need to know about Ehou maki

Ehou Maki (恵方巻き) is a type of sushi roll whose name means "lucky direction roll". As a Japanese, it's really natural for us to buy one when it gets February 3rd (or some pre-order it at a shop beforehand). We can buy it everywhere like a supermarket, convenience store or even at a place like kiosk! But hey, all humans may wonder, why do we eat it? Who the hell decide "the lucky direction?" Why sushi roll, not sandwich? and why on this date when we call Setsu-bun(節分)? Let's find out...

1. Who the hell decide “the lucky direction?”

　This “lucky direction” is determined based on where “the god of happiness” called Toshitoku-jin(歳徳神) is located and it changes every year. Huh so, who can see which direction this god of happiness is? – It’s based on what we call Oriental Zodiac.

乙か庚の年（when the last number of year is 0 or 5）→庚の方位(west-southwest)

丙か辛の年（when the last number of year is 1 or 6）→丙の方位(south-southeast)

丁か壬の年（when the last number of year is 2 or 7）→壬の方位(north-northwest)

戊か癸の年（when the last number of year is 3 or 8）→丙の方位(south-southeast)

甲か己の年（when the last number of year is 4 or 9）→甲の方位(east-northeast)

　So it’s not like the god changes from places to places, the direction is rather “calculated” based on the old fortune telling kinda system.

2. Why it has to be this thick big sushi roll?

　This seems to be “depends on where we live” thing. Some eat big thick sushi roll, some eat thin sushi roll. However, the reason why it has to be sushi roll is because they need to put some ingredients inside something. You must have noticed there are lots of ingredients rolled up inside it and they all are believed to bring lucks. Since it sounds nicer to have all lucks “at one bite,” they put all ingredients together inside a sushi roll and MUNCH MUNCH!

3. Why we are not allowed to talk while eating it?

　Not to allow your happiness to go away from your body. So it’s simple, if you want to have more happiness then shut up and eat it. That is what they say at least.

4. When did we start doing this kind of non-sense?

　The origin of this Ehou-maki roll can be tracked back to Edo-period when people in a town in Osaka started eating a sushi roll with 7 ingredients which represent all Seven Deities of Good Fortune(七福神). And they were eating it by heading the “happy direction” where the god of happiness is. Everything is FOR GOOD LUCK.

However, the main reason why we do eat this roll these days is all thanks to a marketing policy of 7/11(convenience store). It’s said to have become popular after a convenience store in Hiroshima started selling the lucky direction roll in 1989.

5. Why on February 3^rd?

　You will see the reason if you know the meaning of this “Setsubun”(節分) thing. It literally means "seasonal division." And the new season was felt to be a time when the spirit world became close to the physical world. Therefore there are lots of things have been done on the day before the season to be changed into another one.

【Referrence】

60秒でわかる恵方巻講座 by Google+

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1H3k24AQ04

恵方巻きの方角の決め方は？法則を覚えてあなたも即答！

http://deradera.jp/3001.html

Ehoumaki (ehou maki): Lucky long sushi roll for Setsubun no hi

http://justhungry.com/ehou-maki-lucky-long-sushi-roll-setsubun-no-hi

STAP (stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency) cells

Stem cells can transform into any tissue and are already being trialed for healing the eye, heart and brain. The latest development, published in the journal Nature, could make the technology cheaper, faster and safer.

The human body is built of a lot of kinds of cells, each with a specific role - nerve cell, liver cell, muscle cell – and for each cell, the role is determined and cannot be changed. However, stem cells can become any other type of cell, and they have become a major field of research in medicine for their potential to regenerate the body.

So what makes a heart cell different from a liver cell? The two cells express different sets of genes. Likewise, a stem cell turns on specific sets of genes to differentiate into another cell. For this reason, it has been thought to be impossible to reprogram a differentiated cell and revert it back to a stem cell.

　However, in January 2014, a female Japanese researcher made it happen.

---

[Who discovered?]

Dr Haruko Obokata, a 30-yrs-old woman researcher from the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology in Japan.

Dr Haruko Obokata explains how she nearly gave up on the project
when fellow researchers didn't believe what she had found
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25917270

---

[How could they find this?]
[How is it different from older discoveries?]

　In making STAP cells, body cells can "be reset" or reverted back to a stem cell just by applying strong stimuli. Such transformation is known to occur in plants, but the team’s researchers have shown that animal cells possess the same ability.

In her research, Dr Haruko Obokata let body cells pass through a very narrow pipe. And she miraculously discovered that some body cells have turned into stem-cell-like-state.

That was when she thought cells can be reverted back to a stem cell by applying stimuli somehow. So she soaked some cells in acid and half-killed them in order to apply some stimuli. Then 20-30mins later, cells have changed and reset.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000987502

In their previous researches, they all reprogrammed body cell into stem cell by using something else. For example, Yamanaka’s IPS cell’s, they used a virus to deliver four stem cell factors into skin cells, causing the differentiated stem cells to go into an embryonic-stem-cell-like state. This simply means, we put something from outer world into body cell and created a system to “reset the cell.”

But in STAP cells’ case, we put body cells into an environment where these body cells get stressed. Then, these stressed body cells lose its function as a body cell and turns back into a state of stem cell. In this case, we force body cell to “reset itself.”

---

[How we can utilize this technology]

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/stem-cell5.htm

Once scientists can create differentiated cells from stem cells, then there are many possibilities for their use, such as drug testing and cell-based therapies. Added in the future...

---

[Referrence]

Stem cell 'major discovery' claimed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25917270

STAP cell discovery overturns common beliefs in biology

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000987502

Passed CCNP Route

Hooray! I have finally passed CCNP Route test(642-902J). Phww I barely kept my promise to take it by the end of January.
Anyway I’d like to hereby write down about my record of taking CCNP Route.

【Test Details】
Test Date Time: January 28th 2014 15:30-17:30
Test Duration: 120mins
Questions: 50 questions
Study period: 1 and a half month from Dec 13th 2013 to Jan 28th 2014



【5 Things you would want to know before taking the test】

1. Focus on 3 major routing protocols, and then you would pass.

　This is my ultimate thought after passing the test. CCNP Route includes 3 major routing protocols (OSPF, EIGRP, BGP), route redistributing and path controlling, IPv6 and Internet connection etc…
My opinion is you may skip Internet part and Ipv6 part since Cisco will not ask you the details on these parts. If you are so confident enough on routing protocols and redistributing, you are ready to go. ※Note: this is when your goal is just to pass the test asap because your company requires you to do so.

2. Scenario questions are always the same?

　This may be the case only applies to Japanese version of the test. But it seems like scenario questions in CCNP Route test are somewhat determined. Many of my friends recently took the test and all said they faced the same scenario questions.
Besides, the points in CCNP Route are easy to be guessed. After all, what are asked to answer in a test are actual problems we network engineer or our ancestors have faced before. Below is the list of frequently asked scenario questions.

・OSPF-EIGRP Redistribute
(there are OSPF area and EIGRP area, two area cannot communicate each other. Use redistribute to fix it as keeping the redundancy.)

・OSPF isolated Area 0 outage
(an outage occurred within OSPF area 0, and then some routers lost their routes a lot!! How can we fix it though another area?)

・IP Policy packet distribution
(A site has two ISP paths to choose. They want only html packets to go to ISP1 not ISP2, use PBR to make it happen.)

・EIGRP stub + summary
(There are R1 and R2 and R3. They communicate with EIGRP. Someone botched the setting and no more connections between them. What happened and how to fix it?)


3. You are allowed to use Tab-key and ? key

　This is the most important thing I wished I would have known before taking the test. You can use “Tab-key” auto-fill-in system, and “?” during the test! That’s something!
I thought, of course because this is something we call TEST, we would not be allowed to use these fancy commands and be asked to put all commands in my mind. Cisco thinks more realistically than I thought it does.

　If you are working with actual Cisco devices, you will never be banned to use these fancy and nice helps like Tab and ?. However, LPIC Lv1 asks you to memorize all the basic commands with their brutal options. Unrealistic.
So you can stop memorizing the commands with your flip card.

4. If you think they will not ask something, they would not.

　Just as its title says, they actually didn’t ask any questions on routing protocols’ authentication, IP SLA, DHCP and IP helper address. They are actually useful skills which come in handy in some ways but I sensed just as many other CCNP holders did, these topics cannot be the face of the test.

5. If there is a list on your textbook, memorize it completely.

　Opposite advice from the previous article. There are lots of “lists” on my CCNP Route textbook like OSPF neighbor status, OSFP and EIGPR packets types, OSPF LSA types, how BGP chooses the best path, IPv6 address types. If a list is shown on your textbook, memorize it all.

Please feel free to comment and share your opinions!