Still Routing Around

I've had a bunch of life changes this year but I'm still here and getting back into the swing of things. I've been primary planning, designing, and implementing LAN technologies the past 18 months. SDN is really starting to take off and I want to ride on the coat tails of it along with data center design.

I'm back to studying CCNP R&S again and it's a lot easier to dig into it with the network experience I've gained compared to my first attempt 4 years ago. I'm only about 1/4th through the FLG Routebook but I plan on keeping a steady past. Network projects and after hours maintenance is a huge killer on persistence along with general life.

My immediate goals have changed a lot but the end goal is to own a business of my own of some sort. I've tried a lot of difference things and experienced a lot of different failures but I plan on pushing on and just work smarter and harder.

Local Route Group is for Winners

There's still a lot for me to learn when it comes to digit manipulation and simplifying dial plans. Last week I read up on local route groups along with practicing it in my lab. It vastly cuts down on the amount of partitions and CSS's needed. As to not copyright this link provides a better explanation:

Local Route Groups

This is something I may keep in my back pocket when we get around to changing the dial-plan configuration on our CUCM.

I have a feeling once I get to CIPT2 and Globalization it may change the way I ever design a dial-plan from scratch.

Voice Lab Fully Functional

It took a lot longer than expected due to life in general; but my voice lab is fully functional. With the current career shift I'll probably be finishing the CIPT1 test and then going back to Routing and Switching. Then after that I'll be moving towards the design certs as my role is now focused on network implementation and design.

I rolled out a few new networks already with my team which includes planning, designing, and implementation. This includes VoIP, wireless, and security so I've been learning a ton. I'm filling all the gaps that's been missing since I was thrown into mainly VoIP from the start.

Anyways I knocked out a lot today:

1. Configured Extension Mobility on my CUCM Servers
2. Created Extension Mobility profiles and logged the users in
3. Re-provisioned HQ PRI to use only 3 channels
4. Configured Partitions and CSS's
5. Configured Route Groups, Lists, and Patterns for both the HQ and Branch site
6. Created Translation Patterns for DID's
7. Configured correct Dial-Peers on PSTN router and Branch Router (HQ Router uses MGCP)
8. Created Corporate GPO on Domain Controller (wanted to relax the default security settings)

Here's a picture of the route patterns I created:

Here's a picture of me testing out a call using a DID: