GUI or CLI – Choice is Yours

Tags

CLI or GUI, Fastlane Remote lab, IPexpert remote labs

When I did a practice lab session with a Fastlane Remote lab I noticed how slow the remote access system is . Literally you need to wait around 3-5 seconds when you click any button on a WLC GUI page to take action & refresh the page. As you know Autonomous AP GUI is very slow even your PC & AP on the same subnet, when you accessing it via remote access its become extremely slow.

In this practice lab, I checked packet path from my PC to this remote lab. I can see it traverse multiple hops (Melbourne, LosAngeles, Washinton, Paris, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Hamberg & finaly to remote lab). It is nearly 400ms one-way & would be nearly 800-900ms (nearly 1s) round trip delay.

Tracing route to remotelabs.flane.de [213.203.242.74]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     7 ms     8 ms     7 ms  10.79.0.1
  3     8 ms     9 ms    12 ms  meb4-ge2-0-5.gw.optusnet.com.au [198.142.160.97]
  4    25 ms    23 ms    25 ms  bla5-ge3-2.gw.optusnet.com.au [211.29.126.81]
  5   223 ms   300 ms   225 ms  203.208.191.5
  6   227 ms   229 ms   222 ms  xe-3-1-0.lax30.ip4.tinet.net [216.221.157.149]
  7   227 ms   227 ms   222 ms  xe-9-1-0.lax20.ip4.tinet.net [89.149.181.166]
  8   220 ms   243 ms   221 ms  xe-11-3-0.edge1.LosAngeles6.level3.net [4.68.62.1]
  9   396 ms   394 ms   394 ms  vlan90.csw4.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.69.144.254]
 10   395 ms   398 ms   400 ms  ae-93-93.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.69.137.45]
 11   391 ms   402 ms   407 ms  ae-12-12.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.69.132.82]
 12   384 ms   383 ms   384 ms  ae-81-81.csw3.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.134.138]
 13   397 ms   382 ms   380 ms  ae-82-82.ebr2.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.134.153]
 14   381 ms   391 ms   382 ms  ae-41-41.ebr2.Paris1.Level3.net [4.69.137.49]
 15   398 ms   398 ms   424 ms  ae-45-45.ebr1.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.143.133]
 16   425 ms   401 ms   405 ms  ae-91-91.csw4.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.140.14]
 17   390 ms   388 ms   386 ms  ae-93-93.ebr3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.163.13]
 18   401 ms   389 ms   387 ms  ae-47-47.ebr1.Dusseldorf1.Level3.net [4.69.143.173]
 19   398 ms   396 ms   394 ms  ae-4-4.car1.Hamburg1.Level3.net [4.69.133.181]
 20   392 ms   390 ms   391 ms  ve3001.core1-ham1.mesh.eu [213.203.213.86]
 21   376 ms   375 ms   376 ms  ve3001.core2-ham1.mesh.eu [213.203.213.87]
 22   383 ms   385 ms   377 ms  74.242.203.213.static.inetbone.net [213.203.242.74]
Trace complete.

In situation like this what is the fastest way to configure devices ? GUI or CLI ? There is no doubt, if you know CLI for Autonomous & WLC , you will be better off with time saving by using CLI. But certain systems (like ACS, WCS, DHCP server) you have to use GUI as it is the only method accessing those during this remote lab.

Why this is important to your wireless CCIE lab ? Based on your CCIE wireless lab location, your lab topology hardware may not be at the same location. For CCIE wireless we have only four lab locations ( RTP, San Jose – USA, Brussels- Belgium, Sydney- Australia). For me I know I have to work on a remote lab (I would assume either Europe or US) as I have booked my lab in Cisco Sydeny lab.

Based on this practice lab experience with fastlane lab, This is my strategy for going forward.

1. Autonomous AP – CLI (have to learn lot on this)
2. WLC – CLI & GUI (CLI as much as I can with repetitive tasks)
3. WCS,ACS – GUI (have to be patience even if it is slow)

If you practicing with your own lab, you won’t feel this pain & you will be uncomfortable to adjust to it during real CCIE lab exam. I would advice you to book a remote lab from any CCIE wireless rack provider (Fastlane or IPexpert at the moment) & be familiar with this sort of environment. That would help you to be more comfortable during the real CCIE lab exam.

72 Days left for me !!!!!

1. Learning CLI in Quick Time
2. Configuring Dynamic Interfaces on WLC
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