Registering ASP.NET for Office Web Apps Error

Here's a quick and dirty post for something that came up recently in the lab.  I was setting up an Office Web Apps server, and was getting the following error:

Can't create new Office Web Apps farm: The server must be joined to a domain.

Seeing this error message was a bit frustrating to say the least, because the server was indeed joined to a domain.  After a bunch of searching with Google, I finally came across the answer.  While setting up the server, I had installed IIS before .NET, so I needed to register ASP.NET.  The required bits in IIS were already installed, so it was just a matter of registration. This can be done with the following steps:

• Open an elevated command prompt or PowerShell console.
• execute the command start Microsoft.NET
• navigate to c:\windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
• execute the command asp_regiis.exe /i 
• execute the command iisreset or restart the server

Other things to check for when getting this error are to ensure that your server really is connected to a domain (and that the server account in AD is not broken) and that you have the correct DNS Server specified in the network settings.

SENSS Passed

Just a short post for this week, as I've done recently.  This exam has completely consumed my time lately.  Because I had yesterday off, I scheduled my second attempt at the SENSS and nailed it this time with a score of 910.  Exams are a lot easier when you know what you need to know, aren't they?  This isn't a knock against Cisco's exam topics, I just didn't have a good idea of just how deep I needed to know certain things that didn't seem like they'd be covered as heavily which lead me to spend a lot of time on things that weren't really covered very much.  It was my first failed Cisco exam, and quite a humbling experience. Either way now I have a much better idea idea of what I need to do moving forward in the CCNP Security.

Next up, I don't know yet.  I plan to take a couple days to recover from that experience and give some thought to which exam I want to tackle next.  While the SIMOS looks like it'll be a lot more fun as it's very heavy in cryptography and VPNs, the SISAS may be more practical as ISE reared it's head multiple times already in the SENSS, and I doubt it won't be in the other exams as well. Besides that, the SISAS is the only exam with a certification guide, so getting to see a little bit of structure in exam preparation may be of use.

Either way, it's not going to be the SITCS this time.  There's no way I'll be able to knock out v1.0 before December 16, and I'd prefer to wait a little bit and let the community hash out exactly what v1.5 is before attempting it.  There was a lot of butt-hurt early on for all 4 of these exams from the early attempts and I'd hate to join the ranks.

Also in the near future will be the CISSP, which is the capstone of my Masters Degree, and the Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2016 exam.  I haven't decided when I'll mix those two in yet either.  So for now I'll just be kicking the tires on Server 2016 and starting to tinker with ISE.  I've got a few SENSS related posts still in very rough form, so I'll probably get those presentable and post them here and there as well.

CCNA Question of the Week 4

This week, we had an open ended question that covers a lot of areas.  This is a take on a question that was asked during the phone screening for my first I.T. job.  As with all questions in this series, do not make assumptions, and do not answer a question that was not asked. Just answer the question as completely as your knowledge allows.

Your computer was just started and you just logged in and then loaded your favorite web browser.  No other actions have been taken on this computer and no other programs have been launched.  You type www.yahoo.com into the URL bar of the browser and press Enter.  Between now and when the page finishes loading, describe everything that happens in order for that page to load.

The Official CCNA Group Rules

Group Rules:
1.This is a network for the network associate. All legitimate things CCNA related, as well as most other I.T. topics may be discussed here.
2.Things that may not be discussed here include (but is not limited to): Brain-dumps, any other form of copyright infringement, any illegal activity, spam, politics, and personal attacks. It doesn’t matter if it’s legal where you live, Facebook is an American website. If you like a post, that is considered the same as if you posted it yourself.
3.If certguard.com says it’s a dump, then it’s a dump and this isn’t open to negotiation.
4.Do not post homework questions with the expectation that the answers will just be provided. We are willing to help if you don’t understand something, but this group isn’t here to just do it for you.
5.The admins, and only the admins, will decide and enforce the rules.
6.Not knowing is no excuse. You shouldn’t be posting anywhere on the Internet if you don’t know the rules. Violators of any rule are subject to immediate banning.
7. No new accounts. No offense to anyone, it's just that accounts newer than 30 days are where the majority of spam comes from. If you get turned away for this, feel free to try again later.
8. No one word answers. If you can't explain why the answer is d, then you don't need to be the 15th person saying d. Contribute something meaningful to the conversation.
9. Don't try to add people to the group. Nobody gets in without an admin's approval, and I do not approve anyone who did not join on their own.

Group FAQ:
http://www.firewallninja.info/2016/07/the-official-ccna-group-faq.html

CCNA Question of the Week 2

In the following image, you'll see a network topology.  In this topology, the routers are running the RIP routing protocol.  As is traditional with these questions, I'm going to strip out all the irrelevant information.  We're not going to see any router configuration, IP addressing, or anything else that would distract from the question at hand.  The key thing we're going to focus on here is that there are 20 routers.  First, we'll start with a couple assumptions:

• The RIP routing protocol is configured correctly on every router.  
• Nothing in the routers configurations differ except for IP addresses and networks in the routing protocol.
• The IP addressing scheme is correctly subnetted, and the routers are addressed correctly on every interface.

So this week's question is, can the RIP protocol function correctly in this topology?  And for a couple follow up questions:  Why or why not?  Does it make a difference if we're running RIPv1 or RIPv2?

The first thing that probably comes to mind is that the RIP protocol has a maximum hop count.  Most CCNA students go here first when something of this nature comes up.   Now let's consider the difference between hop count, and the number of routers in the topology.  The hop count refers to the number of hops between two routers.  It says nothing about the number of routers in the topology.  

So Let's look at the two routers that are furthest apart, R1 and R20.  In this particular topology, there is no path from R1 to R20 that is more than 7 hops.  And if there a path that exceeded the maximum hop count, it would be ignored by the routing protocol, not having any effect on a different route that didn't exceed 15 hops.  

So the answer to the question is yes, this is a valid RIP topology.  Now two routers exceed 15 hops apart, so there is no part of the topology that is unreachable by any other portion of the topology.  PC1 can reach PC2.

And for the final follow up question, it doesn't matter if we're running RIPv1 or RIPv2.  Neither version of RIP will balk at a hop count of 7.

CCNA Question of the Week 1

Group member Donovan Bone posted this question in a discussion, and I thought that it would be a great "Question of the Week" for the group.  So a new thread was started for just it, and a lot of members attempted to answer the question. I didn't expect the majority to get it right, but only one got it right in the three hours I watched the replies.  Not surprisingly, the one person who answered correctly is the only one who actually labbed it up.  So here is the question.

The Official CCNA Group FAQ

I've been one of the admins of the group for a few years now, and there's a handful of questions that I see repeatedly posted.  I'm talking about the things that somebody asks at least once a week in the group.  So I've started compiling this FAQ for the group that can be posted as a response to any question that falls within this list.  As with many posts relating to the Facebook group, this will be a living document and material will be added, removed or modified as necessary.

If you haven't already read my post on how to ask better questions, maybe take a minute to look at that as well.

I'm New, What Should I be Reading?

In the CCNA group, an often posted question is "what books should I be reading?" or the less inspired "What is the best networking book?"  Well, it's never quite that simple.  What are you looking to learn?  Do you want to become proficient in networking in general, or are you looking to become proficient in Cisco related networking?  Yes, there is a difference.  Do you want to really learn how things work, or do you want to just pass your next certification exam? Again, there is indeed a difference.

I wrote out a long post replying to this recently, and thought I'd save the response here and elaborate a little more.  A little because it's a good topic, and a lot because I'm lazy and will just link this rather than answer again in the future.  If you want to hear the simple answer, go with the dozens of knuckleheads screaming out that Todd Lammle is all you need.  Just ignore their misspelling of his name.  But if you want to actually learn networking, then continue reading.

Netflow Collectors

One of the big topics currently in Cisco's security track is Netflow.  According to Cisco, "NetFlow provides valuable information about network users and applications, peak usage times, and traffic routing."  With all of it's known, and yet to be discovered uses, it's no doubt that NetFlow will continue to be a big part of Cisco's security exams for the foreseeable future, as well as potentially finding it's way into other tracks if it's not already there.

FreeCCNAWorkbook.com in Packet Tracer, Part 3

In two previous blog posts, which can be found here and here, I started going through the labs on the Free CCNA Workbook website and attempting to perform the labs in Packet Tracer.  My focus lately has been more on my own studies with my first attempt at the SENSS exam scheduled for next month, but with Cisco finally releasing Packet Tracer to the world (you no longer need to be a Cisco Network Academy student to legally download a copy), I've been wanting to revisit this topic.  So in this post I'm going to move on to Section 5, Configuring Wide Area Network Links.