worklife — My EtherealMind

Peter Tattam Created Trumpet Winsock and Got Very Little: Let’s Set Things Right

9th March 2011 By Greg Ferro 1 Comment

Once upon a time, TCP/IP was not the preferred networking protocol for any operating system. Then Peter Tattam released a shareware version of TCP/IP stack that worked on MS Windows ™. I spent many hours making Windows TCP/IP work properlyand using Trumpet Winsock to get connected to the Internet for the first time in 1992. In my opinion, his shareware is a key factor in getting the Internet started by delivering a working IP protocol stack.

And yet, very few people ever paid for the software.

Filed Under: Blog, Opinion Tagged With: worklife

How To: Certification and Pay Rises

8th March 2011 By Greg Ferro 3 Comments

One issue that often gets asked is whether you should ask for a pay rise after you have passed a certification exam. Let’s say that you have just passed your latest certification exam, and you feel that you now have greater value and skills so it’s time to talk about a pay rise with your boss. Here is a key tip.

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Tagged With: certification, worklife

Help: Got Questions for the NICs / RIRs About IPv6 ?

6th February 2011 By Greg Ferro 2 Comments

Slightly off topic, but I’m working with Skeeve Stevens to get some interviews setup for PacketPusherswith people from the various Network Information Centre (NICs) while they are at APNIC 31. I think there are lots of questions about public / Internet IPv6 and some early discussion of the issues would be useful, especially focussing on [...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: ipv6, worklife

The IPocalyse Is Nigh – Forced Allocation of IPv4 to RIRs Next Week ?

19th January 2011 By Greg Ferro 4 Comments

The whisper is that the last two /8 IP address ranges were today allocated. Since there were seven pools of /8 addresses, this means that we are witnessing the start of the IPocalypse. What’s Happened ? Some time ago, Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) established the final process as the IPv4 address pool is exhausted. [...]

Filed Under: Blog, Opinion Tagged With: ipocalypse, ipv6, worklife

Perception Is Reality, Design, and Hacking the Presentation

18th January 2011 By Greg Ferro 4 Comments

Looking closely at how your ‘design’ your responses to information request so that you can get better outcomes in problem situations at work.

Filed Under: Blessay, Blog, Musing Tagged With: worklife

Sales Is a Not a ‘Game’ Or a ‘War’

7th January 2011 By Greg Ferro 6 Comments

It’s common among certain companies for their sales people and engineers to talk about ‘winning’ or ‘beating’ their competition, or ‘slamming’ their counterparts. I want to take a minute to point out how puerile this is, and how offensive it is to be a customer to this type of high school thinking.

Filed Under: Blog, Opinion Tagged With: Opinion, worklife

EtherealMinds Eleven Rules of Design Documentation

16th November 2010 By Greg Ferro 22 Comments

How do I prepare, develop and write Designs ? I use these eleven handy rules of Design Documentation that I have worked out over the last fifteen years.

Filed Under: Blog, Design, Featured Tagged With: Design, diagramming, Opinion, worklife

The Case for Network Emulators

24th October 2010 By Greg Ferro 14 Comments

It’s time to start demanding that vendors make their emulators available to their customers so that we can save money, improve customer value, and increase the Networking Market.

Filed Under: Blessay, Blog, Rant Tagged With: Cisco, Dynamips, Operation, Opinion, Rant, worklife

EtherealMind Career Advice and Tips for the Networking Industry

19th October 2010 By Greg Ferro 18 Comments

Many people have asked for career advice on living and working in the Networking Industry. I’ve covered this many times, in many articles and I’m kind of tired of the whole issue. So here are my final comments on managing your career, keeping a balanced viewpoint and getting on with whatever life you choose to lead.

Filed Under: Blessay, Blog, Featured, Opinion Tagged With: career, worklife

Cisco Press Textbooks – PDF, DRM Free and Usable on the iPad, Kindle Etc.

28th September 2010 By Greg Ferro 14 Comments

Cisco Press textbooks are available in PDF format from O’Reilly but don’t buy them from Cisco Press website because the Adobe DRM will cause you pain and problems.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Blog, study, worklife