Cannot Register for "Ask The Experts How to Improve Your PC's Performance"

I'm trying to register for this event, but everytime I click the Signing Up link it takes me to "HP Passport New User Registration". I enter my information, then it says I am already a user, try signing in. I am signed in, obviously since I'm posting this. Can anyone help as I would like to register for this event.
Thanks!
Susan
HP Pavilion a6300f PC
Windows Vista - Home Premium

Hi Susan,
You don't have to do anything to sign up for the event. Since you already are a member of the Forum, you wil be able to ask questions. Just be sure to sign into the Forum before you click on the link that will appear right before the chat event is going to start.
Let me know if you have any more questions.
Look forward to seeing you on June 1st.
Siobhan
I work for HP, supporting the HP Experts who volunteer their time and technical knowledge to help others.

Similar Messages

Ask The Experts How to Improve Your PC's Performance on June 1st at 3:30 pm PDT

Learn how to improve your PC 's performance on June 1st from 3:30 -4:30 pm PDT. We'll have a team of experts available to answer your questions.
When it comes to performance, your PC is similar to your car. Both need to be cared for to keep them running run well. But unlike your car, you don’t need to bring your PC into a shop for a tune up. You can easily do it yourself if you know the right steps to take. Our experts will answer your questions and provide tips on how to make your PC run better. Topics that may be covered in this real-time chat event include the following:
How to customize your PC to increase performance;
How to prolong your notebook’s battery life;
How to choose the right video card, power supply, or add the right amount of memory; or
How to use the tools built into your PC that can make it run better and fix common problems.
While you can attend this real-time chat event without signing up in advance, you must be a member of the HP Support Forums to ask questions. Signing up is easy and only takes a few moments, plus it will allow you to post questions or give answers on the Forums.
And it is all free!
So, come and learn how to get the most out of your PC. Please be sure to come on time as space is limited!
Message Edited by timhsu on 05-12-2009 05:33 PM
I work for HP, supporting the HP Experts who volunteer their time and technical knowledge to help others.
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Here is the transcript of the chat event on improving PC performance.
Please note that I have altered the transcript so that follow up questions are included in the logical order.
I am in the process of planning the next chat event. I would love to hear what topics would interest you, what day of the week and time is best for you, and if you think an hour is too long.
So, if you get a minute, please let me know.
I work for HP, supporting the HP Experts who volunteer their time and technical knowledge to help others.

How to manage the ATE_SEARCH_IDX-index in Ask the expert-application?

I'm currently looking at the Ask the expert(=Tom Kyte) application and I cannot figure out how to manage the Oracle Text-index "ATE_SEARCH_IDX" ON "ATE_SUBMITTED_QUESTIONS" ("ANSWER")
INDEXTYPE IS "CTXSYS"."CONTEXT".
In the Readme-file can be read:
"To customize search functionality, view the Oracle Text Index installation
script. You can change the interval that the index is synched and change
the fields that are used in the search."
I don't see the Oracle Text Index installation-script.
Can anyone give me the contents of the script or come up with an alternative?
Thanks,
Jan Willem

Thank you, Marco. I found it.
Still, the reason why I was looking for it was the fact that I asked myself a question, answered it and then tried to Search for it. I couldn't find my own question (and answer).
The only way I found to make it work was to manually rebuild the index on the answer-column in ATE_SUBMITTED_QUESTIONS. But I'm sure there's another way, because these are not the kind of things you'd like a customer (or myself) to do on a regular basis.
Can you give me another way to synchronize this index preferably managed from inside the database?

Ask the Expert: Service Delivery Manager for Cloud Web Security with Alex Chan

Welcome to the Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about the recommended practices for Cisco Cloud Web Security (CWS). Cisco Cloud Web Security (CWS) provides industry-leading security and control for the distributed enterprise, with Cisco expert Alex Chan.
October 27, 2014 through November 7, 2014.
Learn how users are protected everywhere and anytime, when using CWS through Cisco worldwide threat intelligence, advanced threat defense capabilities, and roaming user protection. Create a virtual space to learn and ask questions about best practice when implementing Cloud Web Security offerings for various customer requirements and environments. Alex will also answer questions about Easy ID, CWS as SAML Service Provider, Deployment Options (such as ASA, ISR, WSA, Workgroup based Connector and AnyConnect Web Security agent.
Remember to use the rating system to let Alex know if you have received an adequate response.
Because of the volume expected during this event, Ali might not be able to answer each question. Remember that you can continue the conversation on the Security community, sub-community shortly after the event. This event lasts through November 7, 2014. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other community members.

Cisco CWS platform is one of the Cisco products that maintain collaboration with Cisco PSIRT, and there are few security vulnerabilities related to CWS were being monitored by PSIRT, which you can find out more about in: http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/home.x#~blog.
Another Cisco entity known as "SenderBase" that is powered by Cisco Security Intelligence Operations (SIO) will provides a view into virus threat intelligence collected from CWS cloud traffics. For more information about "SenderBase", please visit this web site: http://www.senderbase.org

Ask the Expert: Cisco TelePresence for the Enterprise

Welcome to the Cisco® Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about Cisco Telepresence® for the enterprise.
Cisco experts Jaret, Fernando, and Fred will be covering all Cisco TelePresence products. Topics include Cisco TelePresence endpoints and TelePresence infrastructure such as the Cisco TelePresence Video Communication Server (VCS), Cisco Expressway Series, Cisco Unified Communication Manager (CallManager), Cisco TelePresence Servers (MSE 8710, on Virtual Machine, etc.), MCU (MSE 8510, etc.), Cisco TelePresence Management Suite (TMS), and all other Cisco TelePresence related devices.
Jaret Osborne is an 8-year Cisco Advanced Services veteran. In his Advanced Services tour, Jaret has covered all aspects of Cisco Unified Communications and TelePresence products, including both enterprise and service provider verticals. Most recently Jaret has been working with global service providers supporting their Cisco TelePresence as a Service offerings while also incubating new cloud services at Cisco.
Fernando Rivas is a Cisco Advanced Services NCE, starting in the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC), 2007, on the Collaboration Technology Team mastering the Cisco Unified Communication technologies and specialized in call control CUCM,VCS) and conferencing (MeetingPlace, Telepresence). In 2011, he joined Cisco Advanced Services as a member of the Cisco Collaboration team and participated in several Cisco TelePresence and video-related technologies deployments. Currently he is a member of the Video Cloud Technology Team, supporting video exchanges in several and architecting new private video cloud solutions for large enterprises. Fernando holds a routing and switching CCIE® certification (22975).
Fred Mollenkopf is a Cisco Advanced Services Network consulting engineer working at Cisco for the last 7 years. Fred has led some of the largest Cisco Unified Communication and Collaboration deployments done for Cisco customers and partners. Over 15 years’ experience in data networking with a specialization in Cisco Unified Communications in 2004. Currently he is a member of the SP Video Advanced Services Team, supporting SP video exchanges and the Cisco Telepresence solutions. Fred maintains an active CCIE® in Voice (17521).
Remember to use the rating system to let Jaret, Fernando, and Fred know if you have received an adequate response.
Because of the volume expected during this event, Jaret, Fred, and Fernando might not be able to answer every question. Remember that you can continue the conversation in the Collaboration, Voice and Video Community, under the sub-community TelePresence, shortly after the event. This event lasts through August 15, 2014. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other Cisco Support Community members.

Tenaro,
Additionally here are the most common login issues. Unfortunately this includes items related to Presence implementation but I commented where we did not use these in our lab setup for CUCM Phone Capabilities only.
Login Issues
Problem:
Jabber Unable to Sign-in Through MRA
Solution
This can be caused by a number of things, a few of which are outlined below.
1. Collaboration Edge SRV record not created and/or port 8443 unreachable
For a jabber client to be able to login successfully using MRA, a specific collaboration edge SRV record must be created and accessible externally. When a jabber client is initially started it will make server DNS SRV queries:
_cisco-uds : this SRV record is used to determine if a CUCM server is available.
_cuplogin : this SRV record is used to determine if an IM&P server is available.
_collab-edge : this SRV record is used to determine if MRA is available.
If the jabber client is started and does not receive an SRV answer for _cisco-uds and _cuplogin, and does receive an answer for _collab-edge then it will use this answer to try to contact the Expressway-E listed in the SRV answer.
The _collab-edge SRV record should point to the FQDN of the Expressway-E using port 8443. If the _collab-edge SRV is not created, or is not externally available, or if it is available, but port 8443 is not reachable, then the jabber client will fail to login.
2.  Unacceptable or No Available Certificate on VCS Expressway
After the jabber client has received an answer for _collab-edge, it will then contact the expressway using TLS over port 8443 to try to retrieve the certificate from the expressway to setup TLS for communication between the jabber client and the expressway.
If the Expressway does not have a valid signed certificate that contains either the FQDN or domain of the Expressway, then this will fail and the jabber client will fail to login.
If this is occurring, the you should use the CSR tool on the Expressway, which will automatically include the FQDN of the expressway as a Subject Alternative Name.
MRA requires secure communication between the Expressway-C and Expressway-E, and between the Expressway-E and external endpoints.
Expressway-C Server Certificate Requirements:
The Chat Node Aliases configured on the IM&P servers. This is required if you are doing XMPP federation. The Expressway-C should automatically include these in the CSR provided that an IM&P server has already been discovered on the Expressway-C.
The names in FQDN format of all Phone Security Profiles in CUCM configured for TLS and used on devices configured for MRA. This allows for secure communication between the CUCM and Expressway-C for the devices using those Phone Security Profiles.
Expressway-E Server Certificate Requirements:
All domains configured for Unified Communications. This includes the domain of the Expressway-E and C, e-mail address domain configured for Jabber, and any presence domains.
The Chat Node Aliases configured on the IM&P servers. This is required if you are doing XMPP federation.
The MRA Deployment guide describes this in greater detail on pages 17-18. (http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/expressway/config_guide/X8-1/Mobile-Remote-Ac...
Note: In our lab for testing Phone Capabilities only, we did not include the Chat Node Aliases in the certificate as we were not using IM&P.
3.  No UDS Servers Found in Edge Config
After the Jabber client successfully establishes a secure connection with the Expressway-E, it will ask for its edge config. This edge config will contain the SRV records for _cuplogin and _cisco-uds. If these SRV records are not returned in the edge config, then the jabber client will not be able to proceed with trying to login.
To fix this, make sure that _cisco-uds and _cuplogin SRV records are created internally and resolvable by the Expressway-C
More information on the DNS SRV records can be found on page 10 of the MRA deployment guide for X8.1.1 (http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/expressway/config_guide/X8-1/Mobile-Remote-Access-via-Expressway-Deployment-Guide-X8-1-1.pdf)
Note: In our lab for testing Phone Capabilities only, we did not include the DNS SRV for _cuplogin.
4.  The Expressway-C logs will indicate the following error: XCP_JABBERD Detail="Unable to connect to host '%IP%', port 7400:(111) Connection refused"
If Expressway-E NIC is incorrectly configured, this can cause the XCP server to not be updated. If the Expressway-E meets the following criteria, then you will likely have this issue:
Using a single NIC
Advanced Networking Option Key is installed
Use Dual Network Interfaces option is set to “Yes”
To correct this problem, change the “Use Dual Network Interfaces” option to “No”
The reason this is a problem is because the Expressway-E will be listening for the XCP session on the wrong network interface, which will cause the connection to fail/timeout. The Expressway-E listens on TCP port 7400 for the XCP session. You can verify this by using the netstat command from the VCS as root.
Note: We used a Dual Network Interface Expressway for testing but were not using XCP, so this was not applicable to us.
5.  VCE-E Server hostname/domain name does not match what is configured in the _collab-edge SRV.
If the Expressway-E Server hostname/domain name does not match what was received in the _collab-edge SRV answer, the jabber client will not be able to communicate to the Expressway-E. The Jabber client uses the xmppEdgeServer/Address element in the get_edge_config response to establish the XMPP connection to the Expressway-E.
This is an example of what the xmppEdgeServer/Address would look like in the get_edge_config response from the Expressway-E to the Jabber client:
<xmppEdgeServer>
<server>
<address>ott-vcse1.vcx.cisco.com</address>
<tlsPort>5222</tlsPort>
</server>
</xmppEdgeServer>
To avoid this, make sure that the _collab-edge SRV record matches the Expressway-E hostname/domain name. Enhancement CSCuo83458 has been filed for this.
Note: This was one of our issues when we first setup. We adjusted our Expressway-E to insure the below:
System > Administration > System Name this was the FQDN
System > DNS > System Host Name was the host portion of the FQDN
System > DNS > Domain Name was the domain portion of the FQDN
System > Clustering > Cluster Name (FQDN for Provisioning) was the FQDN
6. Unable to log into certain IM&P servers. VCS logs say "No realm found for host cups-example.domain.com, check connect auth configuration"
From the Expressway-E, go to Configuration -> Unified Communications -> IM&P Servers. Open each server and click "Save" again. Not sure exactly why this happens.
Note: This was N/A to our test and can be ignored with Phone Capabilities only.
Thanks
Fred

Ask the Expert: Integrating Cisco Identity Service Engine (ISE) 1.2 for BYOD

With Eric Yu and Todd Pula
Welcome to the Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about integrating Cisco ISE 1.2 for BYOD with experts Eric Yu and Todd Pula.
Cisco Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is an end-to-end architecture that orchestrates the integration of Cisco's mobile and security architectures to various third-party components. The session takes a deep dive into the available tools and methodologies for troubleshooting the Cisco BYOD solution to identify root causes for problems that stem from mobile device manager integration, Microsoft Active Directory and certificate authority services, and Cisco Enterprise Mobility integration to the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE).
Todd and Eric recently delivered a technical workshop that helps network designers and network engineers understand integration of the various Cisco BYOD components by taking a deep dive to analyze best practice configurations and time-saving troubleshooting methodologies. The content consisted of common troubleshooting scenarios in which TAC engineers help customers address operational challenges as seen in real Cisco BYOD deployments.
Eric Yu is a technical leader at Cisco responsible for supporting our leading-edge borderless network solutions. He has 10 years of experience in the telecommunications industry designing data and voice networks. Previous to his current role, he worked as a network consulting engineer for Cisco Advance Services, responsible for designing and implementing Cisco Unified Communications for Fortune 500 enterprises. Before joining Cisco, he worked at Verizon Business as an integration engineer responsible for developing a managed services solution for Cisco Unified Communications. Eric holds CCIE certification in routing and switching no. 14590 and has two patents pending related to Cisco's medianet.
Todd Pula is a member of the TAC Security and NMS Technical Leadership team supporting the ISE and intrusion prevention system (IPS) product lines. Todd has 15 years of experience in the networking and information security industries, with 6 years of experience working in Cisco's TAC organization. Previous to his current role, Todd was a TAC team lead providing focused technical support on Cisco's wide array of VPN products. Before joining Cisco, he worked at Stanley Black & Decker as a network engineer responsible for the design, configuration, and support of an expansive global network infrastructure. Todd holds his CCIE in routing and switching no. 19383 and an MS degree in IT from Capella University.
Remember to use the rating system to let Eric and Todd know if you have received an adequate response.
Because of the volume expected during this event, Eric and Todd might not be able to answer every question. Remember that you can continue the conversation in the Security community, subcommunity AAA, Identity and NAC, shortly after the event. This event lasts through November 15, 2013. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other Cisco Support Community members.

Hi Antonio,
Many great questions to start this series. For the situation that you are observing with your FlexConnect configuration, is the problem 100% reproducible or is it intermittent? Does the problem happen for one WLAN but not another? As it stands today, the CoA-Ack needs to be initiated by the management interface. This limitation is documented in bug CSCuj42870. I have provided a link for your reference below. If the problem happens 100% of the time, the two configuration areas that I would check first include:
On the WLC, navigate to Security > RADIUS > Authentication. Click on the server index number for the associated ISE node. On the edit screen, verify that the Support for RFC 3576 option is enabled.
On the WLC, navigate to the WLANs tab and click on the WLAN ID for the WLAN in question. On the edit screen, navigate to Security > AAA and make sure the Radius Server Overwrite interface is unchecked. When this option is checked, the WLC will attemp to send client authentication requests and the CoA-Ack/Nak via the dynamic interface assigned to the WLAN vs. the management interface. Because of the below referenced bug, all RADIUS packets except the CoA-Ack/Nak will actually be transmitted via the dynamic interface. As a general rule of thumb, if using the Radius NAC option on a WLAN, you should not configure the Radius Server Overwrite interface feature.
Bug Info: https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/CSCuj42870
For your second question, you raise a very valid point which I am going to turn into a documentation enhancement request. We don't currently have a document that lists the possible supplicant provisioning wizard errors that may be encountered. Please feel free to post specific errors that you have questions about in this chat and we will try to get you answers. For most Android devices, the wizard log file can be found at /sdcards/downloads/spw.log.
As for product roadmap questions, we won't be able to discuss this here due to NDA. Both are popular asks from the field so it will be interesting to see what the product marketing team comes up with for the next iterration of ISE.
Related Info:
Wireless BYOD for FlexConnect Deployment Guide

Ask the Expert : Initial Set Up and LAN Connectivity for Cisco UCS Servers

Welcome to the Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about related to the initial setup of UCS C & B Series which include LAN connectivity from the UCS perspective with Cisco subject matter expert Kenny Perez.
In particularly, Kenny will cover topics such as: ESXi/Windows installations, RAID configurations (best practices for good performance and configuration), VLAN/Jumbo Frames configuration for B series and C series servers, Pools/Policies/Upgrades/Templates/Troubleshooting Tips for blade and rack servers, Fabric Interconnects configuration, general compatibility of Hardware/Software/drivers amongst other topics
Kenny Perez is a technical leader in Cisco Technical Assistance Center, where he works in Server Virtualization support team. His main job consists of supporting customers to implement and manage Cisco UCS B series and C series. He has background in computing, networking, and Vmware ESXi and has 3+ years of experience support UCS servers and is VCP certified.
Remember to use the rating system to let Kenny know if he has given you an adequate response.
This event lasts through October 10th, 2014. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other Cisco Support Community members.

Hi,
Actually we have UCS 6248 fabric interconnect - first twelve ports are enabled and same in Cisco UCS Manager.
But when more port will be active by expansion module then UCSM can manage that too or need any other licence for UCSM too?

Do we have a package App like " Ask the expert" updated for Apex 4.2?

I;m looking for a sample application like " Ask the expert" which was there in OBE some time back. The old package imported into apex 4.2 but the text search etc is not working for any new questions asked etc hence wanted to know if an upgraded version is available or why some function would not work?
is text search/intermedia search disabled in Apex 4.2?

They got rid of all of the packaged applications several months ago. For a while they said they'd bring the popular ones back. Then they changed their mind and said the packaged apps would become part of a cloud service somehow. Don't know where it stands right now, I stopped checking.
The given reason why the apps were removed is because they did not match the new best-practices Apex security standards. I know that the 4.1 upgrade broke a bunch of my pages because of the new session state restrictions. Possibly this is what broke Ask The Expert. I've never used it, so couldn't make an educated guess.

Thanks for the HP "ASK THE EXPERTS"

I have to say it was wonderful to have the opportunity to ask the experts questions and to have them promptly addressed. My question, for example, received not one helpful response, not two, or even three, but absolutely NOT AT ALL. It was so wonderful to get such attention and help.

Welcome to the HP Consumer Support Community. This is a peer-to-peer community for customers to connect and share solutions regarding their HP products. If you have additional or direct feedback for HP about their products or services, please use the link below.
http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/wwcontact_us.html
Or, you may have a better response at the forums for business support, if you'd like to give them a try:
http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-Support-Forums/ct-p/business-support
If you have other questions and concerns, please feel free to send me a private message.
Thank you.
Clicking the "Kudos star" to the left is a great way to say thanks!
When your problem has been solved, accept the solution by clicking the "Accept as Solution" button to help other members in the future!
Rules of Participation

ASK THE EXPERTS - Update on 802.11n with Fred Niehaus

Welcome to the Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to get an update on 802.11n with Cisco expert Fred Niehaus. Fred is a Technical Marketing Engineer for the Wireless Networking Business Unit at Cisco, where he is responsible for developing and marketing enterprise wireless solutions using Cisco Aironet and Airespace wireless LAN products. In addition to his participation in major deployments, Fred has served as technical editor for several Cisco Press books including the "Cisco 802.11 Wireless Networking Reference Guide" and "The Business Case for Enterprise-Class Wireless LANs." Prior to joining Cisco with the acquisition of Aironet, Fred was a support engineer for Telxon Corporation, supporting some of the very first wireless implementations for major corporate customers. Fred has been in the data communications and networking industry for more than 20 years and holds a Radio Amateur (Ham) License "N8CPI."
Remember to use the rating system to let Fred know if you have received an adequate response.
Fred might not be able to answer each question due to the volume expected during this event. Remember that you can continue the conversation on the Other Mobility Subjects discussion forum shortly after the event. This event lasts through March 25, 2011. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other community members.

So there are two parts of this question, the latter part I cannot address as it is a future question. Cisco does not comment on products that have not been released or on the strategy of next generation products.
That said, Cisco was first to market with an 802.11n Access Point and well (we didn't all go on vacation after we did that)
So let's talk a little about spatial streams in general and how it relates to what customers are doing today.
The Cisco 1040, 1140, 1250, 1260 and 3500 Series Access Points are all two spatial streams (2SS).
As of the time of this writing, a critical mass of 3SS and 4SS compatible clients have yet to be deployed, and the vast majority of WiFi clients that will be deployed over the next 18 months will be 1SS and 2SS clients.
The higher SS clients are likely only show up in some higher end notebooks -- Why? well it is a given that smartphones and tablets are likely to continue to be 1SS and in some rare cases 2SS.
This is because additional radios used in this technology consume battery life, add to the physical size of the device and increase the cost. Also many devices leverage the same single antenna for cellular as well as WiFi. Therefore, it is my opinion that 3SS Access Points provide little if any performance benefit for smartphones or tablets in the enterprise today, and any real throughput gain is likely to occur with high end notebooks in close proximity to the Access Point and those are rolling out very slowly and we are monitoring this.
Now we get to my favorite part of this.. I get to ask myself a question and then answer it..
So Fred are you saying that there is no value in 3SS and 4SS?
Of course not, 3SS performs similar to 2SS beyond a short distance, and with any multi-SS product RF interference must be addressed to capture the performance benefits of higher SS Access Points. Actual throughput in any WiFi environment is highly dependent on the presence of interferers and obstacles.
Without the ability to mitigate the impact of interference, 3SS solutions will "downshift" to 2SS of 1SS and lose all the performance benefits anyway IMHO.
I don't want to sound like a commercial, but you really do need Cisco cleanair technology in the AP and Cisco innovations deliver more and will go beyond the simple 3SS aspects of the 802.11n standard.
IMHO it's more about CleanAir, good RF system design, and what we put into the AP with regard to performance "in the environment" and not what is on some spec sheet today.
For more on Cisco CleanAir see the following URL http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns1070/index.html
Fred

Ask the Expert: Cisco Unified Computing System Director

With Andrew Nam
Welcome to the Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) Director with Cisco expert Andrew Nam.
Cisco UCS Director was designed to operationally integrate bare-metal and virtual data center infrastructure resources to address complex, time-consuming, manual, and compartmentalized management processes. These processes burden IT organizations, preventing them from achieving business agility and efficiency. Cisco expert Andrew Nam will provide an update on installation, configuration, and troubleshooting VM provisioning process using Cisco UCS Director.
Andrew Nam is a data center solution engineer in the DC Solution team in Sydney, Australia, responsible for orchestrating the end-to-end solution support of Cisco Data Centre solutions, including Cisco UCS, Cisco Nexus architecture, VBlock/FlexPod, VDI/VXI, and cloud solutions. His areas of expertise include routing and switching, load balancer, WAN optimization, VPN, and firewalls. Andrew has worked for Cisco for more than 13 years and has 15 years of experience in the networking industry. He graduated from New South Wales University in Australia with a mechanical/manufacturing engineering degree and holds R&S CCIE 9586, VMware VPC5, and Citrix CCA - Xendesktop5 certifications.
Remember to use the rating system to let Andrew know if you have received an adequate response.
Andrew might not be able to answer each question due to the volume expected during this event. Remember that you can continue the conversation in Data Center community, sub-community, Unified Computing discussion forum shortly after the event. This event lasts through January 17, 2014. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other community members.

Hi James
This Ask the Expert session may not be the right place to show you all the essential steps for how the workflow can be related to task library to achieve your initial setup flow chart, and onboarding a new client.
However, I can briefly walktthrough "Client blade Provisioning" task so it might give some idea and how you can go about.
Assumption : the infrastructure used in the following examples consists of:
- Vmware VCenter
- Cisco UCS
- NetApp ONTAP controlled storage
To be able to provision Cisco UCS blade server in automated fashion, you need to create and define the below UCS entities beforehand.
- Create UCS Organisation
- Create UUID Pool
- Create MAC Address Pool
- Create WWNN Pool
- Create WWPN Pool
- Create vHBA Templates
- Create vNIC Templates
- Create UCS Policy vHBAs
- Create UCS Policy vNICs
- Create Storage Policy
- Create Network Policy
- Create SAN Boot Policy
- Create LAN Boot Policy
Once you create all the policy above, you are good to set up a workflow container for the client blade provisoining.
1. Create UCS Service Profile
- Add a ‘Create UCS Service Profile’ workflow task and select ‘Map to User Input’ for ‘Service Profile Name’. Select the ‘Service Profile Name’ dropdown as created when the workflow container was created.
- ‘Create UCS Service Profile’ inputs. Ensure that Storage_Policy, Network_Policy, Boot_Policy_LAN and Boot_Policy_SAN entries are correct.
- Once this is done , you can move to SAN zoning.
2. Configure SAN Zoning
- In this step, a new workflow task will be created in order to configure SAN zoning. Rather than use a specific user input for this task, output variables from the previous ‘Create UCS Service Profile’ workflow task will be used as input items for this task.
- Open the workflow and search for the workflow task ‘configure san zoning’. Drag the storage workflow task into the work area and map the following user inputs.
Create Flexible Volume
- Create a ‘Create Flexible Volume’ workflow task in order to build a NetApp flexible volume and provision it for the required size.
- Once again, reconfigure the workflow such that the success criteria from the ‘Configure SAN Zoning’ workflow task proceeds to ‘Create Flexible Volume’.
Create LUN
- Using the NetApp ONTAP ‘Create LUN’ workflow task, create a LUN located within the volume created during the previous step. In order to do this, map the Volume Name user input to the output from the previous ‘Create Flexible Volume’ workflow task.
- Next, enter the LUN details, ensuring that the configured size is less than that of the volume created in the previous step.
- As before, re-map the workflow designer flow so that the successful output of the Create Flexible Volume workflow task flows into this task.
3. Create Initiator Group
- Create a ‘Create Initiator Group’ workflow task in order to build a NetApp ONTAP Initiator Group. Map the ‘Filer Identity Name’ attribute to the OUTPUT_FILER_IDENTITY output variable as supplied by the ‘Create NetApp Flexible Volume’ workflow task as created earlier in this workflow.
- Once again, modify the the workflow designer flow so that the successful output from ‘Create LUN’ flows into ‘Create Initiator Group’
4. Add Initiator to Initiator Group
- Create an ‘Add Initiator to Initiator Group’ workflow task and map the ‘Initiator Group Name’ entry to the OUTPUT_IGROUP_IDENTITY output variable from the ‘Create NetApp Initiator Group’ workflow task and map the ‘Initiator Name’ entry to the SP_VHBA1 output variable from the ‘Create UCS Service Profile’ workflow task created earlier in this flow.
- Repeat this task for in order to add initiator name entry for SP_VHBA2. Once done, re-map the successful output from the two Create Initiator Group workflow tasks so that they flow into each other as follows:
- Move onto the next step in order to map the created LUN to the initiator group.
And the rest of steps are fairly similar to above. Create a Workflow and map the User Input Mappings".
5. Map LUN to Initiator Group
6. Modify UCS Boot Policy LUN ID
7. Select UCS Server
8. Associate UCS Service Profile
9. Power On UCS Server
10. Modify UCS Service Profile Boot Policy
11. Add VLAN to Service Policy
12. Disassociate UCS Service Profile
13. Wait for Specified Duration
14. Associate UCS Service Profile
15. Power On UCS Server
16. Register Host with VCenter
regards
Andrew

Ask the Expert: Hierarchical Network Design, Includes Core, Distribution, and Access

Welcome to the Cisco® Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about hierarchical network design.
Recommending a network topology is required for meeting a customer's corporate network design needs in their business and technical goals and often consists of many interrelated components. The hierarchical design made this easier like "divide and conquer" the job and develop the design in layers.
Network design experts have developed the hierarchical network design model to help to develop a topology in discrete layers. Each layer can be focused on specific functions, to select the right systems and features for the layer.
A typical hierarchical topology is
A core layer of high-end routers and switches that are optimized for availability and performance.
A distribution layer of routers and switches that implement policies.
An access layer that connects users via lower-end switches and wireless access points.
Ahmad Manzoor is a Senior Pre-Sales Engineer at AGCN, Pakistan. He has more than 10 years of experience in first-rate management, commercial and technical skills in the field of data communication and services lifecycle—from solution design through sales pitch, designing RFPs, architecture, and solution—all with the goal toward winning projects (creating win/win situations) of obsolete solutions. Ahmad also has vast experience in designing end-to-end data centers, from building infrastructure design to data communication and network Infrastructure design. He has worked for several large companies in Pakistan and United Arab Emirates markets; for example, National Engineer, WATEEN Telecom, Emircom, Infotech, Global Solutions, NETS International, Al-Aberah, and AGCN, also known as Getronics, Pakistan.
Remember to use the rating system to let Ahmad know if he has given you an adequate response.
Because of the volume expected during this event, Ahmad might not be able to answer every question. Remember that you can continue the conversation in the Solutions and Architectures under the sub-community Data Center & Virtualization, shortly after the event. This event lasts through August 15, 2014. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other Cisco Support Community members.

Dear Leo,
We are discussing the following without any product line, discussing the concept of hierarchical design, which will help you to take decision which model is better for you Two Layer or Three Layer hierarchical model.
Two-Layer Hierarchy
In many networks, you need only two layers to fulfill all of the layer functions—core and aggregation
Only one zone exists within the core, and many zones are in the aggregation layer. Examine each of the layer functions to see where it occurs in a two-layer design:
Traffic forwarding—Ideally, all interzone traffic forwarding occurs in the core. Traffic flows from each zone within the aggregation layer up the hierarchy into the network core and then back down the hierarchy into other aggregation zones.
Aggregation—Aggregation occurs along the core/aggregation layer border, allowing only interzone traffic to pass between the aggregation and core layers. This also provides an edge for traffic engineering services to be deployed along.
Routing policy—Routing policy is deployed along the edge of the core and the aggregation layers, generally as routes are advertised from the aggregation layer into the core.
User attachment—User devices and servers are attached to zones within the aggregation layer. This separation of end devices into the aggregation permits the separation of traffic between traffic through a link and traffic to a link, or device. Typically, it is best not to mix transit and destination traffic in the same area of the network.
Controlling traffic admittance—Traffic admittance control always occurs where user and server devices are attached to the network, which is in the aggregation layer. You can also place traffic admittance controls at the aggregation points exiting from the aggregation layer into the core of the network, but this is not common.
You can see, then, how dividing the network into layers enables you to make each layer specialized and to hide information between the layers. For instance, the traffic admittance policy implemented along the edge of the aggregation layer is entirely hidden from the network core.
You also use the core/aggregation layer edge to hide information about the topology of routing zones from each other, through summarization. Each zone within the aggregation layer should have minimal routing information, possibly just how to make it to the network core through a default route, and no information about the topology of the network core. At the same time, the zones within the aggregation layer should summarize their reachability information into as few routing advertisements as possible at their edge with the core and hide their topology information from the network core.
Three-Layer Hierarchy
A three-layer hierarchy divides these same responsibilities through zones in three vertical network layers,
Traffic Forwarding—As with a two-layer hierarchy, all interzone traffic within a three- layer hierarchy should flow up the hierarchy, through the layers, and back down the hierarchy.
Aggregation—A three-layer hierarchy has two aggregation points:
At the edge of the access layer going into the distribution layer
At the edge of the distribution layer going into the core
At the edge of the access layer, you aggregate traffic in two places: within each access zone and flowing into the distribution layer. In the same way, you aggregate interzone traffic at the distribution layer and traffic leaving the distribution layer toward the network core. The distribution layer and core are ideal places to deploy traffic engineering within a network.
Routing policy—The routing policy is deployed within the distribution layer in a three- layer design and along the distribution/core edge. You can also deploy routing policies along the access/distribution edge, particularly route and topology summarization, to hide information from other zones that are attached to the same distribution layer zone.
User attachment—User devices and servers are attached to zones within the access layer. This separation of end devices into the access layer permits the separation of traffic between traffic through a link and traffic to a link, or device. Typically, you do not want to mix transit and destination traffic in the same area of the network.
Controlling traffic admittance—Traffic admittance control always occurs where user and server devices are attached to the network, which is in the access layer. You can also place traffic admittance controls at the aggregation points along the aggregation/core edge.
As you can see, the concepts that are applied to two- and three-layer designs are similar, but you have more application points in a three-layer design.
Now the confusion takes place in our minds where do we use Two Layer and where the Three layer hierarchical model.
Now we are discussing that How Many Layers to Use in Network Design?
Which network design is better: two layers or three layers? As with almost all things in network design, it all depends. Examine some of the following factors involved in deciding whether to build a two- or three-layer network:
Network geography—Networks that cover a smaller geographic space, such as a single campus or a small number of interconnected campuses, tend to work well as two-layer designs. Networks spanning large geographic areas, such as a country, continent, or even the entire globe, often work better as three layer designs.
Network topology depth—Networks with a compressed, or flattened, topology tend to work better as two-layer hierarchies. For instance, service provider networks cover large geographic areas, but reducing number of hops through the network is critical in providing the services they sell; therefore, they are often built on a two-layer design. Networks with substantial depth in their topologies, however, tend to work better as three-layer designs.
Network topology design—Highly meshed networks, with many requirements for interzone traffic flows, tend to work better as two-layer designs. Simplifying the hierarchy to two levels tends to focus the design elements into meshier zones. Networks that focus traffic flows on well-placed distributed resources, or centralized resources, such as a network with a large number of remote sites connecting to a number of centralized Data Centers, tend to work better as three-layer designs.
Policy implementation—If policies of a network tend to focus on traffic engineering, two-layer designs tend to work better. Networks that attempt to limit access to resources attached to the network and other types of policies tend to work better as three-layer designs.
Again, however, these are simple rules of thumb. No definitive way exists to decide whether a network should have two or three layers. Likewise, you cannot point to a single factor and say, “Because of this, the network we are working on should have three layers instead of two.”
I hope that this helps you to understand the purposes of Two Layer & Three layer Hierarchical Model.
Best regards,
Ahmad Manzoor

Ask the Expert: Cisco UCS Troubleshooting Boot from SAN with FC and iSCSI

Welcome to this Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about Cisco UCS Troubleshooting Boot from SAN with FC and iSCSI with Vishal Mehta and Manuel Velasco.
The current industry trend is to use SAN (FC/FCoE/iSCSI) for booting operating systems instead of using local storage.
Boot from SAN offers many benefits, including:
Server without local storage can run cooler and use the extra space for other components.
Redeployment of servers caused by hardware failures becomes easier with boot from SAN servers.
SAN storage allows the administrator to use storage more efficiently.
Boot from SAN offers reliability because the user can access the boot disk through multiple paths, which protects the disk from being a single point of failure.
Cisco UCS takes away much of the complexity with its service profiles and associated boot policies to make boot from SAN deployment an easy task.
Vishal Mehta is a customer support engineer for Cisco’s Data Center Server Virtualization TAC team based in San Jose, California. He has been working in the TAC for the past three years with a primary focus on data center technologies such as Cisco Nexus 5000, Cisco UCS, Cisco Nexus 1000v, and virtualization. He has presented at Cisco Live in Orlando 2013 and will present at Cisco Live Milan 2014 (BRKCOM-3003, BRKDCT-3444, and LABDCT-2333). He holds a master’s degree from Rutgers University in electrical and computer engineering and has CCIE certification (number 37139) in routing and switching and service provider.
Manuel Velasco is a customer support engineer for Cisco’s Data Center Server Virtualization TAC team based in San Jose, California. He has been working in the TAC for the past three years with a primary focus on data center technologies such as Cisco UCS, Cisco Nexus 1000v, and virtualization. Manuel holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) and VMware VCP and CCNA certifications.
Remember to use the rating system to let Vishal and Manuel know if you have received an adequate response.
Because of the volume expected during this event, our experts might not be able to answer every question. Remember that you can continue the conversation in the Data Center community, under subcommunity Unified Computing, shortly after the event. This event lasts through April 25, 2014. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other Cisco Support Community members.

Hello Evan
Thank you for asking this question. Most common TAC cases that we have seen on Boot-from-SAN failures are due to misconfiguration.
So our methodology is to verify configuration and troubleshoot from server to storage switches to storage array.
Before diving into troubleshooting, make sure there is clear understanding of this topology. This is very vital with any troubleshooting scenario. Know what devices you have and how they are connected, how many paths are connected, Switch/NPV mode and so on.
Always try to troubleshoot one path at a time and verify that the setup is in complaint with the SW/HW interop matrix tested by Cisco.
Step 1: Check at server
a. make sure to have uniform firmware version across all components of UCS
b. Verify if VSAN is created and FC uplinks are configured correctly. VSANs/FCoE-vlan should be unique per fabric
c. Verify at service profile level for configuration of vHBAs - vHBA per Fabric should have unique VSAN number
Note down the WWPN of your vhba. This will be needed in step 2 for zoning on the SAN switch and step 3 for LUN masking on the storage array.
d. verify if Boot Policy of the service profile is configured to Boot From SAN - the Boot Order and its parameters such as Lun ID and WWN are extremely important
e. finally at UCS CLI - verify the flogi of vHBAs (for NPV mode, command is (from nxos) – show npv flogi-table)
Step 2: Check at Storage Switch
a. Verify the mode (by default UCS is in FC end-host mode, so storage switch has to be in NPIV mode; unless UCS is in FC Switch mode)
b. Verify the switch port connecting to UCS is UP as an F-Port and is configured for correct VSAN
c. Check if both the initiator (Server) and the target (Storage) are logged into the fabric switch (command for MDS/N5k - show flogi database vsan X)
d. Once confirmed that initiator and target devices are logged into the fabric, query the name server to see if they have registered themselves correctly. (command - show fcns database vsan X)
e. Most important configuration to check on Storage Switch is the zoning
Zoning is basically access control for our initiator to targets. Most common design is to configure one zone per initiator and target.
Zoning will require you to configure a zone, put that zone into your current zonset, then ACTIVATE it. (command - show zoneset active vsan X)
Step 3: Check at Storage Array
When the Storage array logs into the SAN fabric, it queries the name server to see which devices it can communicate.
LUN masking is crucial step on Storage Array which gives particular host (server) access to specific LUN
Assuming that both the storage and initiator have FLOGI’d into the fabric and the zoning is correct (as per Step 1 & 2)
Following needs to be verified at Storage Array level
a. Are the wwpn of the initiators (vhba of the hosts) visible on the storage array?
b. If above is yes then Is LUN Masking applied?
c. What LUN number is presented to the host - this is the number that we see in Lun ID on the 'Boot Order' of Step 1
Below document has details and troubleshooting outputs:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/servers-unified-computing/ucs-b-series-blade-servers/115764-ucs-san-tshoot-00.html
Hope this answers your question.
Thanks,
Vishal

ASK THE EXPERT - DIAL ON DEMAND ROUTING AND POINT TO POINT PROTOCOL

Welcome to the Cisco Networking Professionals Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn more about DDR and PPP on leased and dial line.with Cisco experts Tejal Patel. Tejal is a customer support engineer at the Technical Assistance Center (TAC) at Cisco Systems, Inc. He joined Cisco in July 1999. His current responsibilities include troubleshooting complex issues, training, and authoring documentation. His areas of expertise are Telco Signaling, Configuration and Troubleshooting of Access Servers, AAA etc. Tejal is CCIE # 6619 for ISP Dial. He continually shares his expertise by speaking at the Access Design Clinic at Networkers to discuss and resolve the design related technical issues. Tejal holds a Bachelor Degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Poona University, India. Prior to joining Cisco, Tejal was a Test Engineer at Leemah Datacom Inc. where he was responsible for functional testing of Network Access Server and RADIUS server.
Remember to use the rating system to let Tejal know if you have received an adequate response.
Tejal might not be able to answer each question due to the volume expected during this event. Our moderators will post many of the unanswered questions in other discussion forums shortly after the event. This event lasts through December 24, 2009. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other community members.

the problem is that when I pass the test of GSM 3g to Edge on my card HWIC-3G-GSM, the card does not register any service and I lose the signal, which is to reboot the router, when in 2g edge, my question if a nurse is how they make the change manually from 3g to 2g and vice versa without rebooting the router, and if there indicam I should do, because the output of command takes place when the transition from GSM to edge show cell 0/1/0 is (this the output when entry to edge):
routerA#show cell 0/1/0 net
Current Service Status = No service, Service Error = None
Current Service = Combined
Packet Service = None
Packet Session Status = Active
Current Roaming Status = Home
Network Selection Mode = Automatic
Country = HND, Network = CELTEL
Mobile Country Code (MCC) = 708
Mobile Network Code (MNC) = 2
Location Area Code (LAC) = 1001
Routing Area Code (RAC) = 255
Cell ID = 0
Primary Scrambling Code = 0
PLMN Selection = Automatic
and this is in gsm:
routerA#show cell 0/1/0 net
Current Service Status = Normal, Service Error = None
Current Service = Combined
Packet Service = HSDPA (Attached)
Packet Session Status = Active
Current Roaming Status = Home
Network Selection Mode = Automatic
Country = HND, Network = CELTEL
Mobile Country Code (MCC) = 708
Mobile Network Code (MNC) = 2
Location Area Code (LAC) = 1001
Routing Area Code (RAC) = 1
Cell ID = 11041
Primary Scrambling Code = 484
PLMN Selection = Automatic
Registered PLMN = CELTEL , Abbreviated = CELTEL
Service Provider = TIGO
that I do need your help, please

ASK THE EXPERTS : Wireless Teleworking Solutions with Bruce Tiff

with Bruce Tiff
Welcome to the Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn about the Cisco OfficeExtend 600 Series Solution that comprises the Cisco Aironet® 600 Series OfficeExtend Access Points, Cisco wireless controllers and the Cisco Wireless Control System with Cisco expert Bruce Tiff. Bruce Tiff is a Product Marketing Manager for the Wireless Networking Business Unit (WNBU) at Cisco, where he is responsible for developing and marketing Enterprise Indoor & Teleworking Access Points (AP). Bruce joined Cisco in 2008 in the Broadband Wireless Business Unit (BWBU) where he served as the Product Manager for the WiMAX Broadband Wireless Access CPE product line.
Remember to use the rating system to let Bruce know if you have received an adequate response.
Bruce might not be able to answer each question due to the volume expected during this event. Remember that you can continue the conversation on the shortly after the event. This event lasts through July 1st, 2011. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other community members.

Hey Bruce,
I have a question about the map editor in the WCS software, after uploading a map image (blueprint) I go into the editor to start adding objects (such as walls and doors) but when I look at my map the right hand side of the building is cut off about 30ft too soon. The map appears correctly in the heatmap and planning mode pages but not in the editor. This happens to about 50% of the maps that I upload. Some are cut off in the editor while others upload just fine.
This could be related to my second part of my question: after adding walls on some of the maps that are showing up properly (no cut off) I save, generate the heatmap and exit. I look at the heatmap and it was not lining up with how I drew my walls, so I went back into the editor and all of my objects seem to have an incorrect scale to the building drawing. the upper left corner is lined up properly but as you move down and right the lines get more and more skewed from where they were originally drawn! This is very annoying and I cannot find any way to fix this. I have remade entire maps (hundreds of objects) and it screws it up every time!
Am I doing something wrong in the process or is this a 'feature' ?
EDIT: We are running version 7.0.164.0

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