Archive for August 2011
Basic Configuration Tutorial For the Cisco ASA 5505 Firewall
The Cisco ASA 5505 Firewall is the smallest model in the new 5500 Cisco series of hardware appliances. Although this model is suitable for small businesses, branch offices or even home use, its firewall security capabilities are the same as the biggest models (5510, 5520, 5540 etc). The Adaptive Security technology of the ASA firewalls offers solid and reliable firewall protection, advanced application aware security, denial of service attack protection and much more. Moreover, the performance of the ASA 5505 appliance supports 150Mbps firewall throughput and 4000 firewall connections per second, which is more than enough for small networks.
In this article I will explain the basic configuration steps needed to setup a Cisco 5505 ASA firewall for connecting a small network to the Internet. We assume that our ISP has assigned us a static public IP address (e.g 200.200.200.1 as an example) and that our internal network range is 192.168.1.0/24. We will use Port Address Translation (PAT) to translate our internal IP addresses to the public address of the outside interface. The difference of the 5505 model from the bigger ASA models is that it has an 8-port 10/100 switch which acts as Layer 2 only. That is, you can not configure the physical ports as Layer 3 ports, rather you have to create interface Vlans and assign the Layer 2 interfaces in each VLAN. By default, interface Ethernet0/0 is assigned to VLAN 2 and it’s the outside interface (the one which connects to the Internet), and the other 7 interfaces (Ethernet0/1 to 0/7) are assigned by default to VLAN 1 and are used for connecting to the internal network. Let’s see the basic configuration setup of the most important steps that you need to configure.
Step1: Configure the internal interface vlan
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ASA5505(config)# interface Vlan 1
ASA5505(config-if)# nameif inside
ASA5505(config-if)# security-level 100
ASA5505(config-if)# ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
ASA5505(config-if)# no shut
Step 2: Configure the external interface vlan (connected to Internet)
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ASA5505(config)# interface Vlan 2
ASA5505(config-if)# nameif outside
ASA5505(config-if)# security-level 0
ASA5505(config-if)# ip address 200.200.200.1 255.255.255.0
ASA5505(config-if)# no shut
Step 3: Assign Ethernet 0/0 to Vlan 2
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ASA5505(config)# interface Ethernet0/0
ASA5505(config-if)# switchport access vlan 2
ASA5505(config-if)# no shut
Step 4: Enable the rest interfaces with no shut
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ASA5505(config)# interface Ethernet0/1
ASA5505(config-if)# no shut
Do the same for Ethernet0/1 to 0/7.
Step 5: Configure PAT on the outside interface
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ASA5505(config)# global (outside) 1 interface
ASA5505(config)# nat (inside) 1 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
Step 6: Configure default route towards the ISP (assume default gateway is 200.200.200.2
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ASA5505(config)# route outside 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 200.200.200.2 1
The above steps are the absolutely necessary steps you need to configure for making the appliance operational. Of course there are much more configuration details that you need to implement in order to enhance the security and functionality of your appliance, such as Access Control Lists, Static NAT, DHCP, DMZ zones, authentication etc.
Visit my website in my resource box below for more information about Cisco products and solutions. You can also learn how to configure any Cisco ASA 5500 Firewall Here.
FedEx Careers Are a Gateway to Endless Opportunity
So you’re saying to yourself, “Why would people be interested FedEx Careers?” What’s so great about working for a company that delivers stuff?” “Do I have to drive one of those trucks?” Well if that’s your only impression of who and what FedEx Express is then you really don’t know what you’re missing with FedEx careers. First and foremost FedEx is part of a collection of companies that make up a $30 billion corporation operating around the world. FedEx Express is the largest of these companies offering commerce and supply solutions and providing express delivery service to more than 200 countries worldwide. Do you think a company this large would only offer opportunities as part of their FedEx careers program for just truck drivers?
FedEx Careers is an Investment for Success
Because the company is so large and diverse, opportunities aren’t just available in the United States. In fact there are opportunities to have a career at FedEx at a variety of locations around the globe. And even more, for those who chose FedEx careers for their future, they choose a chance to invest long term in a company that shows no signs of slowing down. As the company grows and succeeds so will you. With a U.S. Postal Service that is becoming less and less practical and postal rates and stamps continually increasing, more and more people and businesses are choosing FedEx for their delivery solution. The company doesn’t just deliver packages either. It provides effective affordable tools and supply solutions that often times can save a company thousands of dollars when compared with how they were shipping their products before.
The People Make the Company with FedEx Careers
Behind all of their success and innovation lies the heart and soul of the company, the people. The movers and shakers, the folks who work tirelessly behind the scenes and yes even the delivery drivers. The people behind FedEx have devoted their time and energy because they believe in this company and because the company has provided them with a way to grow and improve without having to leave FedEx. With FedEx careers you have chances to move up in your position as well as learn a new skill and perhaps even work in a foreign country where you may have always wanted to visit. A company that is so diverse and far reaching makes it easy for anyone interested in a professional career with FedEx to see that there is more than one way to grow professionally.
So before you dismiss them as the company that just “delivers stuff”, spend a little more time getting to know about them and take a look at some of the FedEx careers that might interest you.
Perfect Solution for the Issue – My Laptop Does Not Boot Or Notebook Does Not Start
How to fix – My laptop does not boot or start
This is the most common issue experienced by most of the laptop users.
You may name the above issue in different ways such as blank screen on my notebook, no display in my laptop, notebook does not boot, laptop will not start, laptop does not turn on, no power in laptop or no post in my laptop.
The above issue is likely to occur when one of these happens:
A/C adapter does not function
Problem with RAM
Battery does not work
Hard disk failure
Corrupted System files
Display drivers not functioning properly
Finally, malfunctioning of display card
Troubleshooting
You can troubleshoot the issue or repair the laptop by following the below steps:
1. Check the display
You can check if the issue is with the display of your notebook LCD or TFT display. You can do this by connecting external display and if you are able to get display on external display device then it is confirmed that it is the LCD or the TFT display that has to be repaired.
Sometimes the corrupted display drivers might be the cause for the problem of not getting the display on your notebook or displaying blank screen on your laptop.
We can try to resolve the issue by updating or reinstalling the display drivers and you will have to check the website of your notebook manufacturer for the updated display drivers and if the latest version of display drivers are available then please update the drivers by installing them or update the same from Device Manager (Right click My Computer and select Properties and select Hardware tab and click on the option Device Manager). You can update the drivers by expanding the display adapters and right clicking on Intel Chipset Family and selecting the option “Update drivers”.
You can sometimes fix the issue by reinstalling the drivers. You can reinstall the display drivers in different ways, such as you can install the drivers from the Operating System CD or Recovery discs that come with your notebook or from the recovery partition present in the system.
Even check with the manufacturer website if there is any latest BIOS available for your notebook model, please update even your BIOS.
Be Cautious while updating BIOS as if not updated properly or if you downgrade the BIOS or install a lower version of it, then this will make your laptop to not work for ever and also the BIOS for 32bit system differs from that of 64bit.
If there is no display even on external monitor then the issue is with the graphic adapter malfunction of your notebook and needs to be replaced.
2. Checking the A/C adapter
(Ensure that the power outlet you are using is in working condition)
Remove the A/C adapter which is connected to the notebook.
Detach the external devices (quick dock, surge connector, etc) attached to notebook.
Now, remove the battery from the notebook.
Press the power slider or the power button for 25 – 35 seconds to discharge the static charges that might have stored in the laptop.
(With the prolonged usage of the laptop, some static charges tend to stay in the notebook and these static charges do not allow the laptop to function normally.)
You can now reattach the A/C adapter. (We are running the laptop only on A/C power and not using the battery)
Turn on the notebook.
If the laptop does not turn on now, check the power LED of the laptop.
If the LED is off or there is no light coming out, then the problem is mostly with the A/C adapter which is not working.
3. Testing the Battery
Again, the procedure remains almost the same as that of A/C adapter with only few slight changes.
1. Take out the AC Adapter.
2. Disconnecting the external devices attached to notebook.
3. Remove the Battery.
4. Press the Power button for about 25 – 35 seconds to remove any static charges.
5. Reset the battery (We are running the laptop now only with the battery and not using the A/C adapter in this case).
6. Turn on the notebook and check if it powers up.
If the notebook does not power on, then the problem is with the battery. We can try to fix the issue by performing battery calibration.
Procedure to calibrate your laptop:
Shut down your notebook
Connect the A/C adapter and charge the laptop until the battery is completely charged. Some laptops do not show any color after it is charged completely while the other notebooks show green or other color.
Restart your notebook now.
Press F8 or other key to boot into safe mode.
Now disconnect the A/C power and allow your battery to discharge completely until notebook turns off. This completes the process of battery calibration for the laptop.
4. Check the RAM
If there is light or LED is on but if the laptop does not turn on try by removing and reinstalling the RAM.
This procedure has to be done safely and gently.
While checking for the cause of the problem, use only RAM that came with your laptop and if you have installed a RAM that you have brought it separately please remove it as this will let us know where the exact problem lies since if you are using a RAM that is not compatible with the notebook, you may across these type of issues.
Note: To remove RAM or battery from your notebook, follow the steps in the manuals of your laptop model as the steps differ for each model.
Also you may experience booting or no boot issues with your notebook when you have installed a memory module (RAM) that is incompatible with your laptop computer. Inserting a RAM each of same capacity instead of a single RAM of high capacity would resolve the issue if you are upgrading your RAM.
5. Testing the hard disk
You may also try removing and reinstalling the hard disk as crashed hard disk can be one of the reasons for the notebook to turn on. We even have “hard disk self – test” option in certain notebooks where these process tests if the hard disk is working or if it does not.
6. Corrupted System files
Laptop may not turn on properly or boot into windows if the system files are corrupted, the best way to fix this issue would be reinstall the operating system using Recovery discs or performing Startup Repair.
You can find the steps for resolving the laptop does not start issue in HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Gateway notebooks from the below web link:
Troubleshoot boot issue in laptops
Thank you for visiting my article “my laptop does not boot or my notebook does not start”.