Passed the CompTIA CloudNetX Certification

Last July 2024, I participated in the CompTIA CloudNetX Certification Beta Exam (CNX-001)and today I received my results and I passed!. As of Feb 2025, the exam is not yet available for purchase and is expected to be open by next month (Q1 2025).

Comptia recommends A minimum of ten years of experience in the IT field and five years of experience in a network architect role, with experience in the hybrid cloud environment. Network+, Security+, and Cloud+ or equivalent experience. As per the exam description,
The CompTIA CloudNetX certification exam will certify the successful candidate has the knowledge and skills required to:

Analyze business requirements to design and configure secure network architecture for on-premises and cloud environments.
Analyze requirements to design for network security, availability, Zero Trust, and identity and access management technologies.
Apply and configure concepts and tools related to network monitoring and performance, automation, and scripting.
Troubleshoot network issues related to connectivity, performance, access, and security.
Perform network operation and maintenance.

From my beta exam experience, the questions were scenario-based and genuinely require extensive experience with networking and security (both cloud and on-premises). To answer these questions, a candidate must possess a clear understanding of fundamental networking and design concepts, along with their corresponding business requirements. Additionally, they must possess the skills to analyse and recommend architectural designs, hybrid topologies, and Zero Trust principles.
The exam also included questions on various network tools and commands, as well as automation techniques, monitoring methods, and interpreting output.
In summary, without practical real-world experience, passing the exam is extremely challenging.

Comptia link : https://www.comptia.org/certifications/cloudnetx

Download Microsoft Office 2019 offline installer.

When you do malware analysis of documents or office files, it is important to have Microsoft Office installed in your Lab machine. I am using flare VM and it doesn't comes with MS Office. Since Microsoft is promoting Microsoft 365 over the offline version, finding the offline installer is not that easy. Here is the list of genuine Microsoft links to download the office .img files. Download Microsoft Office 2019 Professional Plus : https://officecdn.microsoft.com/db/492350F6-3A01-4F97-B9C0-C7C6DDF67D60/media/en-US/ProPlus2019Retail.img Download Microsoft Office 2019 Professional : https://officecdn.microsoft.com/db/492350F6-3A01-4F97-B9C0-C7C6DDF67D60/media/en-US/Professional2019Retail.img Download Microsoft Office 2019 Home and Business : https://officecdn.microsoft.com/db/492350F6-3A01-4F97-B9C0-C7C6DDF67D60/media/en-US/HomeBusiness2019Retail.img Download Microsoft Office 2019 Home and Student : https://officecdn.microsoft.com/db/492350F6-3A01-4F97-B9C0-C7C6DDF67D60/media/en-U...

RUST error: linker `link.exe` not found

While compiling Rust program in a windows environment, you may encounter the error : linker `link.exe` not found. This is because of the absence of the C++ build tools in your machine. For compiling Rust programs successfully, one of the prerequisites is the installation of the Build Tools for Visual Studio 2019. Download the Visual Studio 2019 Build tools from the Microsoft website. After the download, while installing the Build tools, make sure that you install the required components (highlighted in Yellow) This will download around 1.2GB of required files. Once everything is successfully installed, reboot and re-run your rust program and it will compile successfully. Read More on RUST Hello World Rust Program : Code explained RUST Cargo Package Manager Explained Data Representation in Rust.

Cisco ASA: Disable SSLv3 and configure TLSv1.2.

For configuring TLS v1.2, the ASA should run software version 9.3(2) or later. In earlier versions of ASA, TLS 1.2 is not supported.If you are running the old version, it's time to upgrade. But before that i will show you the config prior to the change. I am running ASA version 9.6.1 Now ,set the server-version to tlsv1.2, though ASA supports version tlsv1.1, its always better to configure the connection to more secure. Server here in the sense, the ASA will be act as the server and the client will connect to the ASA. #ssl server-version tlsv1.2 set the client-version to tlsv1.2, if required. #ssl client-version tlsv1.2 ssl cipher command in ASA offers 5 predefined security levels and an additional custom level. #ssl cipher tlsv1.2 high we can see the setting of each cipher levels using #show ssl cipher command. Now set the DH group to 24, which is the strongest offered as of now in the AS...

How to Install Netmiko on Windows?

Netmiko, developed by kirk Byers is an open source python library based on Paramiko which simplifies SSH management to network devices and is primarily used for network automation tasks. Installing Netmiko in linux is a matter o f one single command but if you need to use Netmiko in your Windows PC, follow this process. 1) Install the latest version of Python. 2) Install Anaconda, which is an opensource distribution platform that you can install in Windows and other OS's (https://www.anaconda.com/download/) 3) From the Anaconda Shell, run “ conda install paramiko ”. 4) From the Anaconda Shell, run “ pip install scp ”. 5) Now Install the Git for Windows. (https://www.git-scm.com/downloads) . Git is required for downloading and cloning all the Netmiko library files from Github. 6) From Git Bash window, Clone Netmiko using the following command git clone https://github.com/ktbyers/netmiko&#8221 7) Onc...

Recovery Procedure: Alcatel-Lucent Omni-Switch not booting AOS: Going to Mini-boot prompt.

Problem: Switch not booting AOS; Going to Mini-boot prompt. Model: Alcatel-Lucent OS6850 [Note:The same procedure might be applicable for different models of Omni-Switches, However, for this illustration, i have used OS-6850 ] Reason: This problem may occurs due to corrupt AOS image files or misconfigured boot parameters. Hence switch cannot boot the images properly and will go to Mini-boot prompt. Work Around: [Note: This zmodem procedure consumes a lot to time to finish the process.] 1.) Power off your OS6850 2.) When you switched it back on, stop it before the Miniboot (there is some counter counting down from 4). Press Enter to break. 3.) You will have the following prompt " => " 4.) Enter " setenv baudrate 115200 ”. Increasing baudrate helps to increase the data transfer speed using zmodem. 5.) Enter " saveenv " 6.) Enter " boot " 7.) The switch should run now in baud rate 115200 (so you have to change your clients ter...

[FIX] yt_dlp.utils.DownloadError: ERROR: You have requested merging of multiple formats but ffmpeg is not installed

[ISSUE] While running your python code or while executing a job : yt_dlp.utils.DownloadError: ERROR: You have requested merging of multiple formats but ffmpeg is not installed [CAUSE] Your code is unable to find ffmpeg installed in your system. [FIX] Install ffmpeg in your system. 1) Download ffmpeg package from Git or already compiled executable from the official website . 2) Once downloaded, extract the zip file and place it in your desired location. eg: C:\ 3) Now add the ffmpeg bin directory location in the user environment variable path. In the User variables section. Select Path and click on New. Click on New and add the path. Now compile your code and it should work. For the python code to download YouTube playlist, visit https://github.com/jaacostan/YTDL

[FIX] Can't locate Net/SNMP.pm in @INC (you may need to install the Net::SNMP module)

I was trying to use the snmpenum.pl in my lab and encountered this error. Can't locate Net/SNMP.pm in @INC (you may need to install the Net::SNMP module) I searched over the internet for the fix , but couldn't able to find something direct. However, going through some of the stackoverflow pages, i fixed it and is explained below. 1) First install the required packages related to snmp utilities. sudo apt-get install libsnmp-perl 2) Install the SNMP module for perl. perl -MCPAN -e 'install Net::SNMP' That's it. And i was able to run the script.