MultiModule xDSL Tester

Just received recently a new toy for my test nook playplace yesterday. And this time it is the Sunset XDSL tester version 1. Its quite a good gadget with a rugged and dark look. It has separate modules for different test platforms which makes it flexible. I remember the test tool I used before when i was working with Alcatel Abu Dhabi, the Wavetek. Its one hell of a test unit, so rugged and compact yet filled with so much features and capabilities in a testing environment.

Well got to play with this one, my Boss were expecting a report in a week. Its quite one good toy, i think. This will save us time in analyzing and isolating field problems. Ill give you my feedback regarding this unit next year. So just keep in touch and keep visiting me for updates on new gadgets and equipments i play with everyday.

Kristian's Test Nook

Just spend my whole day, packing up the wireless radio i tested for a week. These are to be brought back to their respective suppliers next week. Hmmm, but still my table is as topsy turvy as yesterday...test table as they said. Just played with a Veo Wireless Observer and a Protech broadband router a minute ago. And the Wireless IP Camera is definitely cool! You can remotely control its movement through the Internet or on a LAN. Tried to put it in the cafeteria and shoot some pictures of ladies heheheh eating there, while i am inside the server room. Also, played with it by shooting pictures on my little nook here in the office.

These are my console stations, a 512MB DDR,80GB SATA, 64MB GeForce, Pentium 4 2.8Ghz CPU and 17" Silver Black Monitor courtesy of Dataworld. And an old ECS laptop which i borrowed from my Boss. Another HP Brio is hidden below the table also for testing.


These are the recent toys I played with. A level one VPN/Broadband Routers, Zyxel Prestige modems, Airspan AP and SU IDU,BATM Telco gateways and Welltech FXO. Hopefully there are more to come, so ill enjoy more playing here in my little test nook.



For a view, this is my nook, at the right side of the server room. Not really a good place but the reason i was here coz the wireless radio are at the rooftop. And the cables are in the right side window.

You may notice the modems hanging in the picture..those were my christmas decorations. Hehehehe it blinks like christmas lights especially when the server room lights were turn off. And those cables are my christmas tree.....

Hardware Review: Level One FBR-1417TX

Home or small office VPN anyone????...before i will try to discuss these new box i have here in the table, you might want to check its key features first.


Key features:

* Integrates with 4 ports Fast Ethernet switch: 10/100Mbps MDI/MDIX auto-sensing
* Provides 10/100Mps WAN interface to connect with DSL or cable modem for broadband Internet access
* Built-in one parallel port and one USB port for printer connection
* Browser-based interface configuration and management: OS independent, easy-to-use for consumer install
* Supports VPN server of IPSec, L2TP and PPTP
* Built-in NAT function: allow multiple PCs and devices to share one Internet connection
* Printer server supports Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP, Macintosh and Unix operation system
* Easy to upgrade: using Web or windows utility to upgrade firmware

Two new box was given to me for VPN test and configuration. Tried to read the manual though..even my colleagues kept saying its very easy. Its best to understand every word in it although we knew the procedure to make it run. Basically, my standard test setup consist of a Zyxel DSLAM connected to the Internet, two DSL CPE representing 2 different subscribers, a laptop and a PC.

VPN Features
Site to Site VPN
Yes its cool, its site to site VPN is very easy to configure, however it's NAT is by default disabled. It took me a day looking for a procedure how to enable it. Their email support is not that really helpful too. I upgrade its firmware, hoping to see the NAT option displayed in the menu. It turn out that the NAT option can only be seen when the WAN side is configured with a Static or Dynamic IP. Since i set it in a PPPoE, NAT option is not displayed. No wonder, our field technicians are having problems.

Built in VPN Server
Tested it and its ok, however number of remote clients who can connect is limited only to 5. But for a 5 branch office, this box is definitely a cheaper and effective alternative. Its PPTP and L2TP are good.

FIREWALL
Block sites according to domain and URL. Filter traffic according to port and IP Address. Well, whats cool is the schedule rule, which allows you to set specific time where you can run a specific rule. For example, internet browsing time is only 6pm to 7pm. Then port 80 will be blocked for the whole day and will be open only every 6pm to 7pm. Hmmm, a good one for staff who exploit their VPN connections with downloading of x rated files in the Net.

Have been tinkering with this gadget for a day now....better move on to the next one. Bye dude.

By the way, it is also a built in Printer Server. Printng a document from a PC in Davao to a printer in Cagayan de Oro through VPN is definitely cool huh!

Gearing up for our Christmas Party

Hmmmm...christmas is in the air and everyone so busy about everything. Parties, gifts and presentation were the words buzzing in every nook of this 4 story building. And i was thinking that all people thought that when your in IT department, youre a nerd, wearing eye glasses, talks like an alien from another planet since you speak of abbreviations and codes. Talks like an alien...that is weird..but i was never like that. So i told my colleagues in the office, its time that we show them what IT guys are really made of. So we agreed to do a song presentation. Basically, it would be a kind of an acoustic thing. Perhaps if everything would be ok, we will have a bass and a two acoustic guitars to accompany me. Hehehehe, so i would be singing after all. Another year and i am here singing again with another company.

However i miss also the people from the old company i was part before. Those people were really full of vigor and enthusiasm. We had a dance presentation that time, where i lead the technical department. Luckily, after may years (daw) we have garnered the 3rd place award. I miss the friends i have there too, sometimes there are people that are unforgettable, although they already have forgotten you.

Well got to go, i have to fine tune this voice packets coming out from my esophagus. Hopefully, QoS will work this time, prioritizing the good tones before the bad ones.

another DSL simulation test

Just planning the possible simulation test for our DSL services. Hmmm...each port will have multiple channels with different service levels and prioritization. It just like one big pipe with a number of small pipes inside. Now in that one port, i can allocate services for each channel and identifiy its prioritization. Okey, let me translate it to simpler words. A client with DSL can have internet, data and video services just using one modem and one port from our DSLAM. Voice and Video will have a separate pipes each and will always have the prioritization when transmitted. In this way, its just like voice and video will be running in a separate pipe but still they are part of a bigger pipe. Hmmmmm....Triple play as they say..With this kind of technology i can give you an internet access and at the same time can allow you have services which are locally accessed such as video server, game server or a voip server. Well, i have my two Zyxel Prestige P660R modems, Zyxel 1248 DSLAM, two patch cords, two Telco SIP gateways, two Level-One switches and a black-cased Pentium 4 PC with an 80gb SATA and 512mb memory in my table. Looks like i am ready for some heavy testing. Well i have to tell K0l0s0s that i have to tap in his Softswitch to make this work. Just another day....and Christmas is in the air. How i wish those people in the 4th floor would consider a Bonus earlier for the people below. hehehehehe.

What a Life!!!!....Its so hard

I was standing in front Ororama Superstore, and minutes have already passed and i am still wondering why and how did i spend my 1,000 pesos. With all the skyrocketing prices of goods now, i dont know how will i survive every day. Christmas is fast approaching, and im still thinking how would i buy that 150 pesos exchange gift for our christmas party. Life so hard nowadays....sometimes i would ask myself, how much more can i do to change everything. For the past years, i have always been working. And in that long time, i have prove to be at always at my best, in every company i was employed. I have been very hardworking and every one in my family knows that. But, why until now i am still having a hard time?....earning money that is almost not enough to sustain.

Yes, people may say that what i am doing is not enough...but i have been consistent in every way. I have been always ambitious and not stopping in improving my abilities and skill. Today i only have 30 pesos left in my pocket...and God, i have scratched my head enough to think where would i find money for tomorrow.

Win XP networking troubleshooting tips

Prob1: can ping public web sites but browser cannot display web pages
Reason: Possible DNS corruption or caching of negative DNS queries

1. Click on Start Menu, Click Run, type cmd
2. Type on DOS prompt "ipconfig /flushdns
3. Enter

If problem still persist, possible winsock dll corruption

1. Type on DOS prompt: "netsh winsock reset catalog"
2. Or you might want to reinstall it by typing "sfc /scannow" in the Run menu.
3. This will check the corrupted DLL and will restore it from XP CD installer.

Prob2: cannot ping even modem is connected
1. assuming cables are already checked and anti spyware is run.
2. Reinstall TCP IP
3. Click START, Click RUN and type cmd, then type at DOS prompt "netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt"
4. You have to set the IP again if it has a static IP.

See you on next tip...im having fever lately.

working at a very young age

i was riding on a jeep near the carmen bridge , when a wet, rugged looking kid alighted towards the front seat. He is probably, 8 to 10 years old and he is carrying a wooden box filled with cigarettes and candies. It was already 6 pm and raining hard. He was so wet, yet still managed to smile when the driver ask for a cigarette stick. What a kid....he is supposed to be in school not on the streets selling cigarettes. I can still remember when i was in the same age. I was a grade 3 student in a public elementary school. I sell candies and the locally cocunut made "tira-tira" to my seatmates during classes. And on saturday and sunday, i roamed around Nazareth and Macasandig selling the cacao chocolate "tableya". It makes me smile when i remember that i used to sell my goods first to the girls who has a crush on me in the room. You know, elementary days were quite full of childish infatuations...so i take advantage of it. Sometimes, the girl i visited would cry to her mother begging her to buy my "tableya", just to impress me in one way. Hmmmm...it really make me smile. Im not so much a good looking but there were quite a few girls that appreciates me that time unlike when i was in college (smile!)....Also there was quite a situation when one of the girl's mother did not pay her dues, and i have to visit them everyday asking for the payment. The girl was too embarassed then that she will not come out when im there...i was grade 4, she was grade 3.

However, inspite i was already selling that time, it never occured to me to stop going to school. I was determined to finish my education. That time i always think that the only thing that can make me rich was to become an engineer. I cling to that belief surviving every hardship i experienced in the way. And now i am an engineer..but still not rich....hehehe perhaps theres a time for everything under heaven. I just believe that i have to go on..and never stop until my last breathe.

Sometimes when i see these working street kids, i would think that if only i am a millionare i would build a school exclusively for less fortunate kids only. I was a working student before and it was really hard then. Going to school in the morning and working until dawn. Worse,i was taking up electronics engineering at regular schedules in MPSC. So during class, i really sleep because of stress. Reason why ladies doesnt like me that much before..i was so thin and groggy at all times...hmmm or im just not really good looking hehehe. Perhaps i have to admit na lang.

Well, to end this narrative story of mine, i just want to tell everyone that perhaps education is expensive nowadays, it is the only way we can survive with a little comfort perhaps in this wild world. Work if you want to, but never stop going to school, it is the only next big step you can take apart from working on the streets all morning.

Hardware Review 2: Wireless Radio

One of my favorite BWA radio Airspan AS4030 capable of up to 45mbps data rate and operating at frequency at 3.5ghz frequency. The equipemnt is quite good especially with it's built in bandwidth management which allows using of service flows with corresponding priority. Which means, you can allocate fixed bandwidth for each traffic and identify the priority of each one. Streaming traffic such as voice will have the first priority and a fixed bandwidth in the pipe to allow trouble free voice communication. The coolest part is that it has 8 built in E1 ports which you can use for TDM channels. Well, with this ports, we can extend the PSTN services to a nearby remote location wiothout the need for E1 converters. It is more of a TDMoIP technology, which allows TDM over IP.

Another WiFi radio is the russian made Infinet Wireless Router. Imagine a router, bandwidth manager, VOIP gatekeeper, vpn endpoint and QoS all in one. So much features inside that i doubt if it is capable of long distance range. I heard it has an amplified version which has a built in amplifier inside the radio. But tried to test it, and its performance on voice stream was excellent. Even the response to streaming traffic, is much higher compared to other radio. Definitely an all in one wifi radio in the market.