Azahar Technologies

If you've ever wanted to upgrade, or simply replace the router that Telefónica provides with their standard ADSL service, then you need to know the standard settings to configure your new router. So here they are:

PPPoE VPI: 8 VCI: 32 Encapsulation: LLC/SNAP username: adslppp@telefonicanetpa password: adslppp DNS: 80.58.0.33 and 80.58.32.97

I spent a bit of time today working on the SRX routers getting the ADSL interfaces to work with a UK ISP, so I thought I would share the working configuration on here. This configuration should work with most ISPs in the UK that us PPPoA, although a few may use different VPI/VCI settings.

It's been a while since I posted anything up, and even came across a few draft posts I had been working on. It has been a very busy few months at work, and this week I seemed to spend a lot of time working on Juniper SRX security routers for one reason or another.   In doing so, I wanted to share some excellent resources that Juniper provides for these great little boxes. They helped me out this week!

Juniper SRX knowledgebase Configuration examples and troubleshooting

SRX & J-Series Site-to-Site VPN Configuration Tool

Anybody who has used computers for any length of time, has had to deal with a document in an incompatible format. Somebody has sent you a file that you cannot open, or you need to read something you had written 10 years ago, with a program that has since disappeared and whose proprietary format is unknown.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to have an open, standard file format for exchanging editable documents, without being locked in to a single software application? This is where the Open Document Format comes in.

The Open Document Format was created by the OASIS consortium based on the original specifications by Sun Microsystems and their OpenOffice.org application. The ODF format has been freely created in open debate, publicly documented and since widely accepted as a standard. The objective of the open format is to guarantee long-term access to data without any technical or legal barriers.

The ODF has a number of different formats for documents:

Open Document Text (.odt) 

Open Document Spreadsheet (.ods)

Open Document Presentation (.odp)

Open Document Drawing (.odg)

Open Document Formula (.odf)

Government Adoption

The fact that ODF is now an ISO standard is important for national governments as they are required to accept communications in ISO-approved formats. Many public sector organisations have followed suit and adopted the standard including the World Trade Organisation, NATO and the European Union member states.

Applications

A number of applications, both free and commercial, are available that can use ODF:

Microsoft Office

Google Docs

LibreOffice

Apache Open Office

This week I had to upgrade both the DRAM and the Compact Flash on a Juniper J2320 router. Normally used to configuring and building the larger MX routers, this was the first time I got my hands on one of the smaller J-series routers.

The DRAM upgrade was straightforward - pop the lid open and insert the new memory strip. But the new CF supplied by Juniper was blank and needed to be formatted and JUNOS loaded before you use it. The Juniper support guide only details how to remove and install the CF, not format it. However I found a very quick and easy way:

Inset the new CF card into the rear CF slot of the router. 

On the CLI, type the following command:

   request system snapshot partition media removable-compact-flash

This will prepare (format) the new CF and copy the JUNOS and config across from the internal CF. This process took about 5 mins to complete.

The DNS cache on a computer stores the IP addresses of network locations, both public (Internet) and private. Once an IP address for any network location (e.g. a website) is learned, then a typical computer will remember that address for 24 hours. To force a computer to re-learn IP address and DNS information, its cache needs to clear. This can be done using the following methods:

Windows

Open the Start menu.

Go to Run. If you do not see the Run command in Vista, search for "run" in the Search bar.

In the Run text box, type: ipconfig /flushdns

Press Enter or Return, and the DNS cache will be cleared.

Mac

Open the Terminal application.

Type: dscacheutil -flushcache

Press Enter or Return, and the DNS cache will be cleared.

Linux  

To flush the DNS cache in Linux, you need to restart the nscd daemon. 

Open a terminal window.

Type /etc/rc.d/init.d/nscd restart in your terminal.