Howard's Blog | Something about Network Engineering and Photography

Cycling is healthy

Posted on 03/07/2012 | Leave a comment

I have started cycling since Jan, 2012. I have ridden over 1500km so far ever since I started cycling. Friends who haven’t seen me for a few months said that I look thinner than before. My skin looks better and my face looks younger. Also, I found that my dummy fat has reduced a lot as well. At a point, I had to wear 32″ waist size jeans,and I am now back on 30″. My weight has also gone from 72kg down to 68kg now. I think the best proof is the blood presuress reading. My blood presuress always sat at a boader level which classified between a normal high and high (128/89 – 131/92). After 6 months of riding, my blood presuress has dropped to a ideal/normal level (114/74).

Want to get some health benifits from cycling? join our Causal Cycling Group on Facebook! Contact me for more details!

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Posted in Transport

Tagged bicycle, cycling is healthy, health sport

Wireless, Voice, Data Center, Security…Which area should I be heading to?

Posted on 26/06/2012 | Leave a comment

I finally got my CCIE Certificate in Routing and Switch last year. After getting the CCIE, it brought me into a new company in less than a month. CCIE is a dream of a lot of Engineers. However, once I get the CCIE Routing and Switching, I found that it is not enough to make me survive in the IT industry.

Netowrk nowadays is not only about routers and switches. It also contains a lot of different components. From all the projects I have done in my new job, a proper Corporate Network are made up of the following components/technologies:
– Cisco indoor Wireless Access Points
– Cisco Wireless Controller
– ASA Firewall
– Checkpoint Firewall
– Sourcefire IPS
– VMware Servers
– Cisco Nexus Series Switch

After looking at the above list, you will realise that most of them are NOT related to routing and switching. You will not get the knowleadge from studying CCIE R & S. Of course, I don’t find CCIE is helpful on above area at all.

Now, I need to think about to get more CCIE in different area to cover myself.

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Posted in Network Engineering

Tagged Checkpoint, Cisco CCIE, Data Center, Secuirty, Sourcefire

Zone Base Firewall is not hard at all

Posted on 04/06/2012 | 1 comment

Cisco has released a Zone Base Firewall in the new Routers. If you have purchase a security license for your router, you can enable the firewall function.
The Zone Base Firewall works differently to the traditional ASA. You can define different interface to different zones. Then setup zone-pairs to define what traffic is allowed between those pairs.
I knew nothing about Cisco zone base firewall until recently I have to help a client to migrate an old PIX into zone base firewall on a new 3900 series router. There were 6 physical interfaces and 12 sub-interfaces (using dot1q trunking) on the routers. As the client required to have a highly secured environment, as a result I have to assign a zone for different interfaces.
If you have worked on Cisco VoIP, you will be familiar with the class based QoS. The way to setup zone base firewall is very similar to setup Class Based Policy for QoS.

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Posted in Network Engineering

Tagged Cisco, Cisco Firewall on Router, Cisco Router Firewall, Cisco Zone Base Firewall, Zone Base Firewall

Ride a bike to work? Yeah I did that finally

Posted on 12/05/2012 | Leave a comment

According to this http://www.sydneymedia.com.au/html/5047-record-number-of-trips-on-sydneys-cycleways.asp, the number of people ride a bike to work is increasing!

I am one of them now. I found that riding to work is good in a few ways:
1. It saves me $$$ on gym membership. I am actually doing exercise on the way to work and on my way home.
2. It saves me $$$ on car space, petrol and toll.
3. Even I have a car space in North Sydney, It is 15 minutes walking distance away from the office. Riding a bike to work, I can park in the basement and get to the office by a lift. No walking distance!

With more and more cycleways built in Sydney, I am sure more and more people will ride to work. I think I am lucky that where I work provide shower facilities.

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Posted in Transport

Tagged Ride bicycle to work, ride in sydney, Ride to work

Registered the first fundraising event

Posted on 19/04/2012 | Leave a comment

I was searching for cycling event online and I came across a fundraising event – Ride to Riverstone 2012. This is a fundraising event for Childhood Cancer Research Foundation.

I have just registered and I will be doing the 80km ride. Please support the event by donate some money or register as a volunteer on the date. This will be my first cycling fundraising event.

More information can be found Ride to Riverstone

Please contact me if you wish to donate to support my ride.

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Posted in Transport

Tagged fundraising, ride to riverstone 2012, ride2riverstone

Cycling in Sydney

Posted on 17/04/2012 | 1 comment

Just before I picked up cycling again, I think I haven’t been cycling for over 12 years ever since I have moved to Sydney.

I remembered when I was going to High School in Hong Kong, I used to go cycling nearly every weekend with my classmates. A group of 4 rent a bicycle at Tai Wai and then headed north to Sha Tin and sometimes even Fan Ling.

Back in those days, we did that for fun. It is not for training or excerise, just a day out have fun with mates. Hong Kong off road cycleways were well established already back in that time, it was safe and no need to worry too much about cars.

I have never riden on a bicycle ever since I have arrived Sydney. Reasons are :
1. I don’t have a bike and I don’t know where to rent one.
2. I didn’t realise there are off road bike path around.

So ended up I didn’t have a chance to get back into cycling. Until recently, a friend who moved into Ermington started cycling nearly every weekends. I was interested on cycling, so I asked him where is safe to ride, and he told me there is cycleway around right next to Parramatta River and Sydney Olypmic Park. The cycleway is just right next to his home!

After knowing this, I went to buy my 1st bike in Australia and it was a Cannondale Quick 3 flat bar hybrid bike. I went with him do a few Laps in the cycleway (mixed with a short section of quiet street). And now I am addicted into cycling and I have upgrade my bike to a dropped bar roadie.

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Posted in Transport

Tagged riding in Sydney

Photos from Tasmania Business Trip

Posted on 04/04/2012 | Leave a comment

I have brought my camera with me during last month business trip to Tasmania. I went to a few beautiful place in Tasmania – Mt Field National Park, Mt Wellington, Scotts Peak Dam, Lake Peddy, Lake Gordon, Lake Gordon Dam, etc.

I have updated my photo blog on http://photo.howardtang.com with some of the photos I took while I was in Tasmania. Welcome to make comments to the photo and rate them 🙂

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Posted in Photography

Tagged Tasmania photos update

Found a cool Bike Rack for CT200H

Posted on 26/03/2012 | 2 comments

I have been looking for a bike rack for my car (Lexus CT200h). Unfortunately, there is not a factory option for bike rack in Australia. So I have too look for other options.

A friend of mine have installed a roof rack on a CT200h, he can put his bike on top of CT200h. but loading the bike up on the roof of the car is not something I want to do.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Transport

Tagged Bike Rack for CT200h, CT200h bike rack, Lexus CT200h Bike Rack, Saris Bike Rack on CT200h, Saris Gran Fondo, Saris Gran Fondo on CT200h

Some small change to my Blog

Posted on 17/03/2012 | Leave a comment

I have renamed the category “Automative” to “Transport”. The reason I am doing this is because I don’t have much to write about “Automative” but I will be writing more stuff about cycling…

Considered opening a new category, but I rather to put them under the same group transport. A car is to take me frm A to B, a bicycle is just the same (with no pollution at all).

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Posted in Transport

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