Inspiration – where does it come from and how do you get it when you want it? This age-old question highlights a problem that plagues those whose life work revolved around ideas, and new concepts, themes, or subject matter.

Take writing for example, if you don’t have ideas, then what do you write about? Of course, life happenings, news articles, and world events supply subjects for a lot that is written. If, however, you do not deal with “news” per se, then where do you stand? Well, ideas are there, all around you, and in everything you do. For example, your family, people you know, or mere brief encounters are food for thought and can produce a myriad of ideas and suggestions for topics. Talking to people, reading a magazine, or a newspaper will light up a little bulb that may produce a time-worthy article, or even your next novel. Even the simple act of taking a walk allows you the pleasure of opening up a storehouse of possibilities. In essence, everything you do is a possibility – every person you meet, every activity you engage in, and even doing absolutely nothing will inspire, enlighten and give you a storehouse of ideas. So, what is the catch to your cornucopia of subject matter. You must be open to them. You must quiet your mind, your worries, your everyday problems, and let the ideas flow in. Take the time daily and open your mind, heart, and even your soul to the vast enlightenments that are a part of each and every day. In reality, there is never a day that is closed to new ideas, insights, or perspectives.

No matter what your personal or business life has in store for you each day, don’t limit yourself to these “daily occurrences.” If you don’t train yourself to take notice of everything around you, a lack of ideas will soon be the malady of the day. Just think of it – there is wonder in the warmth of sunshine, a million stories in a big city train station, and a poem is just resting in the beauty of nature. Thoughts do have one bad habit though. They will not come to you if you are not receptive. They don’t open your mind for you – they just stroll in if the door is open.

So put out that welcome mat – and let everyday life supply you with its wonder and its magic supply of ideas. You can pick and choose, but don’t let a day go by that life itself is not allowed entry. If you do close the door, you will never know what great literary achievements could have surfaced on the day you decided you were too busy to bother.
Take each day as a new adventure, a clean slate, a storehouse of knowledge and wisdom.
ENJOY!
©Arleen M. Kaptur 2002 June 1

About the Author

Arleen Kaptur has written numerous articles, cookbooks, and the novel:
SEARCHING FOR AUSTIN JAMES
Websites:
http://www.arleenssite.com
http://www.Arleens-RusticLiving.com
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rusticliving
http://topica.com/lists/simpleliving

Introduction To ISDN, Part III: Configuring PPP PAP Authentication

Now we know how the ISDN link comes up (interesting traffic), and some scenarios that might cause the link to stay up, we need to look at ISDN authentication schemes. The two methods Cisco certification candidates must be familiar with are PAP and CHAP.

Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) sends the username and password over the ISDN link in clear-text. Sending any passwords over any WAN link in clear-text is generally a bad idea, but it’s important to know you have this option.

Regarding both PAP and CHAP, it’s a common misunderstanding that each side must authenticate the other. PAP and CHAP both support bidirectional and unidirectional authentication; that is, R1 can authenticate R2 without R2 necessarily authenticating R1. It’s more common to use unidirectional authentication in a lab environment than a production network, but keep in mind that bidirectional authentication is an option, not a requirement.

The configurations of PAP and CHAP do have their similarities. For both, you’ll configure a username/password combination in global configuration mode. Newcomers to ISDN sometimes put the local router name in for the username; remember that the remote router name is the username.

The only real advantage of PAP over CHAP comes in the password configuration. Since PAP actually sends the password as a whole over the link, the two routers can send different passwords during authentication. The operation of CHAP requires that both routers use the same password, and we’ll see why in tomorrow’s article.

Under the BRI interface, you’ll enter encapsulation ppp and ppp authentication pap. So far, your authentication scheme looks like this:

username R2 password CCNA

Int bri0

PAP requires an extra command at this point. The ppp pap sent-username command is required under the interface, indicating the username and password this router will be sending to the remote router.

Int bri0

I always encourage CCNA and CCNP candidates to use as many debugs as possible when working in their lab, since these commands show us how things work. For any PPP authentication, always run debug ppp negotiation before sending interesting traffic to trigger the call. Watching exactly how PAP and CHAP work give you a much better understanding of what’s going on “behind the command”, and makes you a stronger candidate and a stronger networking engineer.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at CHAP, and why routers cannot use the same password on both ends of the link.

Keep studying!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. Video courses and training, binary and subnetting help, and corporate training are also available. Pass the CCNA exam with Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933!