1st Semester Performance

Finally got all my grades! So far, so good... I got all 1's!!! =)

The following are subjects which I personally feel deserve some particular attention:

Most challenging subjects - gave me a really hard time like all of my classmates:

• Network Planning
• Service Provisioning
• Data Center Computing

Most interesting ones - these are areas which really grab my attention and curiosity:

• Network Planning
• Telecom and Internet Platforms
• IP Security in Heterogeneous Networks
• Linux Networks

Subjects I need to drill deeper in:
IP Security in Heterogenous Networks
Data Center Computing

As I went through the first semester, I looked at all my strengths and my interests. I think I would like to be in IT security. In cyberspace, heroes and villains also exist. And they will always be in a struggle, trying to outdo each other. Hence, I'm going to focus my thesis around the area of Web Applications security.

Prerequisites? Programming could be one. I guess it's time that I learn another language here in Austria aside from German.

End of My First Semester

Finally, my first semester ended! After4 months of struggle, pain, torture, peace and quiet arrive to give me a chance to recuperate my fighting spirit and gain back my energies. The semester didn't quite end all glorious and triumphant for me. Instead it ended rather quite painfully.

The load balancing exam hit my glass house with a solid brick and sent me crashing back to reality. All the 1's I earned so far, gave me a false sense of accomplishment and a consequential feeling of confidence. But this last exam just ripped my lovely cheerful painting to tiny little pieces. Looking back, it should have been easy. But I guess when you don't really use the Big IP software, 40 minutes of practical exam could be torture.

Although one final exam remains,  I don't have to go all the way to school. This one will be about network planning and telecommunications platforms. This was like having the CCNA course compressed to just about 6 3-hour sessions, and this already includes laboratory work. 

My instructor  thinks it won't be an easy exam, and so do all of my colleagues. I won't be taking my chances on this one. 

Let's see:

Command Line Interface;

Setting up console, telnet, and enable passwords for Router and Switches;

Setting up ip addresses for interfaces;

Static routing;

Dynamic routing;

VLANs and intra-vlan-routing;

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF);

Both versions of RIP;

Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP);

Domain Name System (DNS);

Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP);

Subnetting;

Classless Interdomain Routing (CIDR)/ Supernetting;

Variable Length Subnet Mask (VLSM);

Access Control Lists (ACL);

and Dijkstra algorith.

Looks like it's gonna be tough... 

But what would Hanzo do?