Testing Connectivity
Testing the connectivity is something that basically came up for me with the CCIE labs to verify the end-to-end connectivity in the Lab. But the more and the bigger networks I implement the more its a thing I like to do before I really install them (actually I configure them 99% of the time in our lab). In the end it will not verify that everything works correct but it gives me a good level of confidence before installing the devices on site.
Which thing to use to test heavily depends on the platform and the IOS version. There are two options to test I know of:
- TCL Scripts
- Switch Macros
Switch macros are for switches and TCL Scripts should nowadays work on every router with a kinda up to date IOS Image (for more informations on which IOS and feature set to use klick here). I personally prefer the TCL Scripts over the switch macros and am quite happy that the Cat3k switches with an IOS version of 12.2(40)SE and above are now TCL enabled too. But to have the article complete I’ll show on how to do the ping tests with switch macros too.
About
Im a network engineer working for an international medical company based in Basel, Switzerland. I began my professional life in 2000 after 4 years of an IT apprenticeship. I started as the Network Management System responsible with quite a lot other of other tasks inside the Cisco networking field. In 2005 I changed to my current employer where I changed my field of knowledge from part NMS part Networking to full time Networking. I also started to educate myself deeper into networking. After passing the CCNA and CCNP exams I wanted to go further with my education and took the CCIE R&S track instead of doing a school with lots of stuff Im not interested in 
I started the CCIE journey in August 2007 with the first of 5 workshops at the Cisco Network Academy in Rapperswil and passed the CCIE in Brussels at 07th of May 2008.
During that time I wrote a lot of documents to keep the stuff I learned and I thought it might be an idea to make it public so it might help other people on their path through the Cisco Certifications. I hope this site gets useful not only for CCIE candidates but also for other networking professionals on their search for knowledge.
If you have any questions or want to contact me, please drop me a line to pashtuk at gmail.com
