With so few jobs currently available and so many people currently hoping to fill those jobs, standing out in an interview is of utmost importance. While jobs themselves are scarce, job advice is overly abundant. And with an influx of information comes an influx of confusion. What career counsel do you take, and what do you ignore?
There are a number of common misconceptions related to interview best practices, experts say. Kera Greene of the Career Counselors Consortium and executive coach Barbara Frankel offer tips below that can help you stand out from other interview subjects, avoid frequent pitfalls, and secure the job.
Myth #1: Be prepared with a list of questions to ask at the close of the interview.
There is some truth in this common piece of advice: You should always be prepared, and that usually includes developing questions related to the job. The myth here is that you must wait until it is "your turn" to speak.
By waiting until the interviewer asks you if you have any questions, "it becomes an interrogation instead of a conversation," says Greene.
Greene recommends that you think of an interview as a sales call. You are the product and you are selling yourself to the employer. "You can't be passive in a sales call or you aren't going to sell your product."
Frankel mimics Greene's comments. "It's a two-way street," she says. "I recommend asking a follow-up question at the tail end of your responses."
For example, Frankel says, if the interviewer says, "Tell me about yourself," you first respond to that question and complete your response with a question like, "Can you tell me more about the position?" The interview should be a dialogue.
Myth #2: Do not show weakness in an interview.
The reality is that it is OK to have flaws. In fact, almost every interviewer will ask you to name one. Typically job seekers are told to either avoid this question by providing a "good flaw." One such "good flaw" which is often recommends is: "I am too committed to my work." But, these kinds of responses will only hurt you.
"Every recruiter can see through that," Greene says of faux flaws.
Recruiters conduct interviews all day, every day. They've seen it all and can see through candidates who dodge questions. "They prefer to hire someone who is honest than someone who is obviously lying," Greene says.
And for those of you who claim to be flaw-free, think again. "Everybody has weaknesses," Frankel states. But one is enough. According to Frankel, supply your interviewer with one genuine flaw, explain how you are working to correct it, and then move on to a new question.
Myth #3: Be sure to point out all of your strengths and skills to the employer.
Of course, you want the interviewer to know why you are a valuable candidate, but a laundry list of your skills isn't going to win you any points. Inevitably, in an interview, you will be asked about your skills. What can go wrong in this scenario?
"You don't want to list a litany of strengths," Frankel says.
"What is typical is that they will say: 'I'm a good communicator,' 'I have excellent interpersonal skills,' 'I am responsible,'" Greene explains. "You have to give accomplishments. I need to know what did you accomplish when using these skills."
Frankel recommends doing a little groundwork before your interview so that you are best equipped to answer this question. She tells her clients to find out what the prospective job role consists of. "What makes an interview powerful is to give an example related to their particular needs or challenges that you have demonstrated in the past."
Provide three strengths, with examples. You will get much further with a handful of real strengths than with an unconvincing list of traits.
Myth #4: Let the employer know your salary expectations.
One of the trickiest questions to answer in an interview relates to salary. Money talk can be uncomfortable, but it doesn't have to be. The fact is you don't even have to answer when asked about desired salary.
According to the book "Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions That Will Get You The Job!" a perfect response would be: "I want to earn a salary that is commensurate with the contributions I can make. I am confident I can make a substantial contribution at your firm. What does your firm plan to pay for this position?"
Greene suggests a similar response: "I prefer to discuss the compensation package after you've decided that I'm the best candidate and we can sit down and negotiate the package."
Myth #5: The employer determines whether or not you get the job.
While yes, the employer must be the one to offer you the position, interviewees have more control than they often realize. According to both Greene and Frankel, candidates have a larger say in the final hiring decision than they think.
"They should call the interviewer or hiring manager and say: 'I'd really like to be part of the company,'" says Greene. "It can't hurt you. It can only help."
"Acing the Interview" encourages all candidates to conclude their interviews with one question: "'Based on our interview, do you have any concerns about my ability to do the job?' -- If the answer is yes, ask the interviewer to be explicit. Deal forthrightly with each concern."
Source :
By Karen Noonan, TradePub.com
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
This Week [01] Motivation
Ah Kau Story
Ah Kau is a guy who sells newspaper every morning next to your apartment, and you are one of his daily regular customers. Before dashing off to your office every day, you will go to his small stall and buy The Star newspaper. Wearing a newly pressed shirt, a tie, and a pair of Clarks shoes, you grab a copy of The Star, pay RM1.20 and exchange smiles with Ah Kau and greet him.
“Apa macam Ah Kau ini hari? Bisnes ada baik?”
The normal greeting like you do every day. Yes, Ah Kau doesn’t speak English. He speaks Chinese and knows a little bit of Malay. He speaks a little bit of Malay but with a very thick Chinese accent.
“Biasa saja! ini bisnes aa, kadang kadang baik, kadang kadang tada untung.”
“Biasalah hidup. Kadang kadang ok, kadang kadang tak ok.”
You give Ah Kau a pat on the back. You smile and walk away and get into your car. You start the engine and start driving to your office, a multinational semiconductor company located in a premier industrial area. You are a young and promising finance executive and the future looks bright for you.
A year goes by and things look pretty good on the track. You decide to marry your fiance and have your new wife moves in to your place. Both of you feel happy because you can save more money as the two of you will be sharing one apartment and can live as one.
Ah Kau is still selling the newspaper as usual. Sometimes in the morning your wife gets the newspaper from Ah Kau instead of you.
A year later a child comes along, and you decide to buy and move into a newly developed condominium just across the street. This place is bigger so it will be perfectly fit for the 3 of you. But since both of you are working, you decide to get a maid to take of the household and your kid.
By this time you’re offered a managerial job from another multinational; the remuneration package offered is much better in terms of the pay, contractual bonus, medical benefits, ESOS scheme and a few others which make it impossible for you to decline. So you join this company happily.
You get busier. You realize that you spend less and less time with your family. When your department is busy preparing for the next audit, your working hours become more and more ridiculous. Any internal issues arising in the office means you’ll be stuck in the office until 8 or 9 pm. Sometimes, during the weekend, you’ll spend your time in your office, buried under paper works and documentation’ s, instead of taking your family for a walk in the park.
One morning, on your way to get your copy of The Star, you realized that Ah Kau is no longer in his stall. So is his rundown motorbike. Instead, there’s another young Chinese guy at the stall.
“What happen to Ah Kau?” You ask out of curiosity.
“Oh, he is still around, but he is no longer taking care of this stall as he has opened up a new grocery shop down town. I am running this newspaper stall for him.”
“Ok.” you smile. You feel happy for Ah Kau. At last he manages to improve his life.
Your normal life continues.
A year passes by and at the end of your company’s fiscal year, you’re rewarded for your effort with a 5 months bonus pay-out by your employer. Wow. Now that is a very handsome reward. You feel your effort has been equally compensated.
To celebrate, you decide that it’s time to trade your 5-year old Proton Wira to the latest Honda Civic model. It won’t be much a problem to you to get a loan scheme from the bank as your pay slip will provide you an easy gateway to access financial help from any bank.
One day, the hardest reality of life hits you right on the face. The
company that you’ve been working for years announces that they’re moving their business to China for cost and competitive reason and has asked you to find a job somewhere else.
“What?” You scream out cold.
“I got a lot of liabilities on the card! Who’s gonna pay for my mortgage? My car? My credit card? My gym fees? My bills?” You yell like there’s no way out.
This is the first time you feel let down by your own employer. All your hard work seem to go up on the smoke. You feel sick. You now hate your company. On the way home, you stopped by at a mamak restaurant for a cup of teh tarik while pondering about your future.
Alone.
Suddenly you saw this new, shiny BMW 3 series being parked nearby. And to your surprise, it was Ah Kau. Yes, Ah Kau who used to sell newspapers nearby your old apartment.
“What happened to old Ah Kau?” You whisper to your self.
Ah Kau still recognizes you, and sit next to you, and shared his story.
To make it short, Ah Kau had accumulated his money from selling newspapers to open more stalls, one after another. Every new stall is run by his workers so that he focused on opening more and more stalls, which in turn give him more and more money.
Over the years, he had accumulated enough cash to open up new grocery store while at the same time buying more assets to grow his wealth. And his current wealth and success is achieved without any loan or financial help from banks and other financial institutions.
There you go. That’s the story. While Ah Kau is set to become financially free, you’re back to where you’re started before.
Ground zero .
Before leaving, Ah Kau gives you a familiar quote,
“Biasalah hidup. Kadang kadang ok, kadang kadang tak ok.”
He gives you a pat on the back and walks away.
In reality, if you’re observant enough, there are a lot of Ah Kau out there, that you will see every day and every where you go. The names are different, but inside them is every character of Ah Kau. They might be Uncle Dorai, Ah Chong, Pak Abu, Makcik Gemuk, Pak Man nasi lemak or others.
They look to be struggling on the surface, but if you look carefully and compare with you life, many of them are living with little or no liabilities. They ride an old kapcai bike. They live in an old rundown house. They don’t have credit card to swipe. They wear a 10-year old shirt and short. No new, shiny Toyota Harrier.
In short, their living means are far below than yours. But what you don’t realize is that many of them can save more money than yours, and over the years generate enough money to expand their business, or invest in properties. Their asset columns are much thicker than that of yours.
So the next time you see Ah Kau, never look down on them, and never underestimate them. Or else you’re up for a harsh reality lesson.
Ah Kau is a guy who sells newspaper every morning next to your apartment, and you are one of his daily regular customers. Before dashing off to your office every day, you will go to his small stall and buy The Star newspaper. Wearing a newly pressed shirt, a tie, and a pair of Clarks shoes, you grab a copy of The Star, pay RM1.20 and exchange smiles with Ah Kau and greet him.
“Apa macam Ah Kau ini hari? Bisnes ada baik?”
The normal greeting like you do every day. Yes, Ah Kau doesn’t speak English. He speaks Chinese and knows a little bit of Malay. He speaks a little bit of Malay but with a very thick Chinese accent.
“Biasa saja! ini bisnes aa, kadang kadang baik, kadang kadang tada untung.”
“Biasalah hidup. Kadang kadang ok, kadang kadang tak ok.”
You give Ah Kau a pat on the back. You smile and walk away and get into your car. You start the engine and start driving to your office, a multinational semiconductor company located in a premier industrial area. You are a young and promising finance executive and the future looks bright for you.
A year goes by and things look pretty good on the track. You decide to marry your fiance and have your new wife moves in to your place. Both of you feel happy because you can save more money as the two of you will be sharing one apartment and can live as one.
Ah Kau is still selling the newspaper as usual. Sometimes in the morning your wife gets the newspaper from Ah Kau instead of you.
A year later a child comes along, and you decide to buy and move into a newly developed condominium just across the street. This place is bigger so it will be perfectly fit for the 3 of you. But since both of you are working, you decide to get a maid to take of the household and your kid.
By this time you’re offered a managerial job from another multinational; the remuneration package offered is much better in terms of the pay, contractual bonus, medical benefits, ESOS scheme and a few others which make it impossible for you to decline. So you join this company happily.
You get busier. You realize that you spend less and less time with your family. When your department is busy preparing for the next audit, your working hours become more and more ridiculous. Any internal issues arising in the office means you’ll be stuck in the office until 8 or 9 pm. Sometimes, during the weekend, you’ll spend your time in your office, buried under paper works and documentation’ s, instead of taking your family for a walk in the park.
One morning, on your way to get your copy of The Star, you realized that Ah Kau is no longer in his stall. So is his rundown motorbike. Instead, there’s another young Chinese guy at the stall.
“What happen to Ah Kau?” You ask out of curiosity.
“Oh, he is still around, but he is no longer taking care of this stall as he has opened up a new grocery shop down town. I am running this newspaper stall for him.”
“Ok.” you smile. You feel happy for Ah Kau. At last he manages to improve his life.
Your normal life continues.
A year passes by and at the end of your company’s fiscal year, you’re rewarded for your effort with a 5 months bonus pay-out by your employer. Wow. Now that is a very handsome reward. You feel your effort has been equally compensated.
To celebrate, you decide that it’s time to trade your 5-year old Proton Wira to the latest Honda Civic model. It won’t be much a problem to you to get a loan scheme from the bank as your pay slip will provide you an easy gateway to access financial help from any bank.
One day, the hardest reality of life hits you right on the face. The
company that you’ve been working for years announces that they’re moving their business to China for cost and competitive reason and has asked you to find a job somewhere else.
“What?” You scream out cold.
“I got a lot of liabilities on the card! Who’s gonna pay for my mortgage? My car? My credit card? My gym fees? My bills?” You yell like there’s no way out.
This is the first time you feel let down by your own employer. All your hard work seem to go up on the smoke. You feel sick. You now hate your company. On the way home, you stopped by at a mamak restaurant for a cup of teh tarik while pondering about your future.
Alone.
Suddenly you saw this new, shiny BMW 3 series being parked nearby. And to your surprise, it was Ah Kau. Yes, Ah Kau who used to sell newspapers nearby your old apartment.
“What happened to old Ah Kau?” You whisper to your self.
Ah Kau still recognizes you, and sit next to you, and shared his story.
To make it short, Ah Kau had accumulated his money from selling newspapers to open more stalls, one after another. Every new stall is run by his workers so that he focused on opening more and more stalls, which in turn give him more and more money.
Over the years, he had accumulated enough cash to open up new grocery store while at the same time buying more assets to grow his wealth. And his current wealth and success is achieved without any loan or financial help from banks and other financial institutions.
There you go. That’s the story. While Ah Kau is set to become financially free, you’re back to where you’re started before.
Ground zero .
Before leaving, Ah Kau gives you a familiar quote,
“Biasalah hidup. Kadang kadang ok, kadang kadang tak ok.”
He gives you a pat on the back and walks away.
In reality, if you’re observant enough, there are a lot of Ah Kau out there, that you will see every day and every where you go. The names are different, but inside them is every character of Ah Kau. They might be Uncle Dorai, Ah Chong, Pak Abu, Makcik Gemuk, Pak Man nasi lemak or others.
They look to be struggling on the surface, but if you look carefully and compare with you life, many of them are living with little or no liabilities. They ride an old kapcai bike. They live in an old rundown house. They don’t have credit card to swipe. They wear a 10-year old shirt and short. No new, shiny Toyota Harrier.
In short, their living means are far below than yours. But what you don’t realize is that many of them can save more money than yours, and over the years generate enough money to expand their business, or invest in properties. Their asset columns are much thicker than that of yours.
So the next time you see Ah Kau, never look down on them, and never underestimate them. Or else you’re up for a harsh reality lesson.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
This Week [53] Motivation
------------------------------------------------------------
NO GUARANTEES (by Azizi Ali) - Taken from http://www.MillionairesPlanet.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
I spoke at a company in Malacca recently. We all had a great time, laughed and yes, learnt how to manage our money better. At the end of the talk, a significant number of the participants rushed to get some of the products we had for sale at the back of the seminar room. Most of them were eager to pick more information so they will become even better in managing their finances.
From the corner of my eyes, I noticed a young man in the crowd looking at my two books. He would pick them up, put them down and repeat the process a couple of time. Finally, he turned to me and asked, "Mr. Azizi, can you guarantee that I will become a millionaire if I buy your books?"
I smiled at him. I wished that I could tell him yes but I knew that the answer was no. Not because the books were not good - they are excellent - but because of him. The reality is that there is only one person who can make him rich. And that one person is not me. It's not his manager, not the CEO of his company, not the finance minister and not even the prime minister. That person is him.
Folks, the only person in the world who can make you rich is you. The only person in the world who can make you smart, brilliant or successful is you. The only person in the world who can make you achieve all your goals and dreams is you. The rest of us - elders, parents, teachers, educators and leaders - can only share knowledge, ideas and wisdom. But if you do nothing with that knowledge, you will remain where you are, facing the same problems day in day out until the maker comes a-calling.
Coming back to our story and the young man; he just put the books down and faded into the darkness of the night. I will probably never see him again so I wished him well. But I know where he will end up - broke, angry and wishing for a second chance at life when he is 65.
Folks, the reality is this - there are no guarantees in life.
The moment we are born, there is no guarantee that we will live to a ripe old age. When we go to school, there is no guarantee that we will graduate. When we go to work, there is no guarantee that we will keep the job for life. When we get married, there is no guarantee that we will stay married for life. And when we invest, there is no guarantee that we will make more money.
So I'll say it again, folks, there are no guarantees in life. The faster you accept that, the better.
Because the ones who will create waves are the ones who are willing to put their necks on the block. The ones who achieve lofty heights are the ones who are willing to climb - even though they are scared of heights. Those who want to play it safe (read guarantees) will wind up working for those who are willing to live dangerously.
There's an old joke that I'm sure you've read and heard many times before. But because the point is still valid, I'll retell it one more time: there are three types of men. The first type makes things happen; the second type see things happen; and the last type stand there with his mouth wide open, "Huh! What happened?".
Incidentally, the first groups of men who make things happen never ask for guarantees. They just go ahead and do what is needed to be done.
So no, I cannot guarantee that you will become a millionaire by reading my books. Neither can Thomas J. Stanley, Robert G. Allen or Robert Kiyosaki for that matter. What we can do is increase your chances of achieving what it is that you want. We do this by educating, training, guiding, mentoring and coaching. That is why we publish books, conducts seminars, training and coaching sessions.
Now I'm not saying that one must read my books or come to my seminars. Read all the books and go to as many seminars as you can - you will learn from each one of them.
There are thousands of great books out there written by marvelous authors - Steven Covey, Anthony Robbins and Deepak Chopra to name but just three. Let's not forget Malaysia's own - Rajen Devadason, Billi Lim, Lilian Too and ehm, ehm, a certain Azizi Ali. There are also world class speakers and trainers in Malaysia - Dato Lawrence Chan leads the pack. So read, listen and learn. Get better. Grow.
Because once the knowledge is in your hands, you don't need any guarantees.
NO GUARANTEES (by Azizi Ali) - Taken from http://www.MillionairesPlanet.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
I spoke at a company in Malacca recently. We all had a great time, laughed and yes, learnt how to manage our money better. At the end of the talk, a significant number of the participants rushed to get some of the products we had for sale at the back of the seminar room. Most of them were eager to pick more information so they will become even better in managing their finances.
From the corner of my eyes, I noticed a young man in the crowd looking at my two books. He would pick them up, put them down and repeat the process a couple of time. Finally, he turned to me and asked, "Mr. Azizi, can you guarantee that I will become a millionaire if I buy your books?"
I smiled at him. I wished that I could tell him yes but I knew that the answer was no. Not because the books were not good - they are excellent - but because of him. The reality is that there is only one person who can make him rich. And that one person is not me. It's not his manager, not the CEO of his company, not the finance minister and not even the prime minister. That person is him.
Folks, the only person in the world who can make you rich is you. The only person in the world who can make you smart, brilliant or successful is you. The only person in the world who can make you achieve all your goals and dreams is you. The rest of us - elders, parents, teachers, educators and leaders - can only share knowledge, ideas and wisdom. But if you do nothing with that knowledge, you will remain where you are, facing the same problems day in day out until the maker comes a-calling.
Coming back to our story and the young man; he just put the books down and faded into the darkness of the night. I will probably never see him again so I wished him well. But I know where he will end up - broke, angry and wishing for a second chance at life when he is 65.
Folks, the reality is this - there are no guarantees in life.
The moment we are born, there is no guarantee that we will live to a ripe old age. When we go to school, there is no guarantee that we will graduate. When we go to work, there is no guarantee that we will keep the job for life. When we get married, there is no guarantee that we will stay married for life. And when we invest, there is no guarantee that we will make more money.
So I'll say it again, folks, there are no guarantees in life. The faster you accept that, the better.
Because the ones who will create waves are the ones who are willing to put their necks on the block. The ones who achieve lofty heights are the ones who are willing to climb - even though they are scared of heights. Those who want to play it safe (read guarantees) will wind up working for those who are willing to live dangerously.
There's an old joke that I'm sure you've read and heard many times before. But because the point is still valid, I'll retell it one more time: there are three types of men. The first type makes things happen; the second type see things happen; and the last type stand there with his mouth wide open, "Huh! What happened?".
Incidentally, the first groups of men who make things happen never ask for guarantees. They just go ahead and do what is needed to be done.
So no, I cannot guarantee that you will become a millionaire by reading my books. Neither can Thomas J. Stanley, Robert G. Allen or Robert Kiyosaki for that matter. What we can do is increase your chances of achieving what it is that you want. We do this by educating, training, guiding, mentoring and coaching. That is why we publish books, conducts seminars, training and coaching sessions.
Now I'm not saying that one must read my books or come to my seminars. Read all the books and go to as many seminars as you can - you will learn from each one of them.
There are thousands of great books out there written by marvelous authors - Steven Covey, Anthony Robbins and Deepak Chopra to name but just three. Let's not forget Malaysia's own - Rajen Devadason, Billi Lim, Lilian Too and ehm, ehm, a certain Azizi Ali. There are also world class speakers and trainers in Malaysia - Dato Lawrence Chan leads the pack. So read, listen and learn. Get better. Grow.
Because once the knowledge is in your hands, you don't need any guarantees.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Cisco PIX - Top Ten Tips for Managing Your Firewall
This article discusses the Top ten tips that you can implement to best manage and fine tune your firewall. The purpose of this article is to get the best performance out of your firewall and increased security to your network.
1. Use the latest version of the OS software available for your particular firewall. Install the latest patches and if possible/applicable, the latest software version available.
2. Use a stealth Rule at the top of the rule base.
What is a stealth rule? A stealth rule is a rule which disallows any communication to the firewall itself from unauthorized networks/hosts. It is a rule to protect the firewall itself from attacks.
3. Place the most commonly used or accessed rules on the top of the rule base. When a packet reaches a firewall it gets checked against the rulebase of the firewall from top down. Once it matches a rule, it is either accepted, denied or acted upon depending on what the action defined is. So it is best to place the most accessed rules on top of the rule base so that it need not get matched against all the rules in rule base. This would decrease load on the firewall.
4. Keep the rulebase as simple as possible. Do not allow access to anything and everything. Give access only if it is needed or required.
5. Use object groups where possible and combine similar rules into one rule. This would keep the rule base short and simple and thus reduce the load on the firewall.
6. If your network is using VPN, then give preference to use AES 128 where ever possible. Some firewalls like the popular Checkpoint Firewall, recommend AES 128 over 3DES and AES 256, in terms of firewall load and performance issues. Check with your firewall manufacturer which encryption would provide best performance on the given make, taking into consideration that security is also one of your main priorities.
7. Keep logging to a minimum. Example: If you have a couple of busy web servers, then logging each and every http connection might bring in addition load onto the firewall and also fill up the log server quickly.
8. Try to implement High Availability if your budget would allow that. This would reduce the down time of your network considerably. If a firewall is down it would mean that pretty much most of your operations are down. If High Availability is implemented, then even if the primary were to fail, the secondary would take over. Firewall Clustering is something which can provide your firewall both redundancy and load sharing. Check with the manufacturer if it is available.
9. If there are too many VPN connections that need to connect to your network, then try to get a dedicated VPN device. How many connections are too many connections? Check the firewall manufacturer’s manual. Another way of doing it is checking the load on the firewall – memory, cpu utilization etc.
10. End your rule base with a clean up rule or a ANY ANY DENY rule. Try to also log this rule. This would assist you in analyzing the dropped connections in case you ever attacked or even while simple troubleshooting.
Note: The intention of this article is to help you manage your firewall. Check your Firewall manufacturer’s instruction manual to confirm if the tips given here would be applicable to the particular make/model.
FEEDBACK: Please feel free to leave your feedback good and bad. Best effort would be made to make this article as helpful as possible.
Referring from :
http://www.secmanager.com
1. Use the latest version of the OS software available for your particular firewall. Install the latest patches and if possible/applicable, the latest software version available.
2. Use a stealth Rule at the top of the rule base.
What is a stealth rule? A stealth rule is a rule which disallows any communication to the firewall itself from unauthorized networks/hosts. It is a rule to protect the firewall itself from attacks.
3. Place the most commonly used or accessed rules on the top of the rule base. When a packet reaches a firewall it gets checked against the rulebase of the firewall from top down. Once it matches a rule, it is either accepted, denied or acted upon depending on what the action defined is. So it is best to place the most accessed rules on top of the rule base so that it need not get matched against all the rules in rule base. This would decrease load on the firewall.
4. Keep the rulebase as simple as possible. Do not allow access to anything and everything. Give access only if it is needed or required.
5. Use object groups where possible and combine similar rules into one rule. This would keep the rule base short and simple and thus reduce the load on the firewall.
6. If your network is using VPN, then give preference to use AES 128 where ever possible. Some firewalls like the popular Checkpoint Firewall, recommend AES 128 over 3DES and AES 256, in terms of firewall load and performance issues. Check with your firewall manufacturer which encryption would provide best performance on the given make, taking into consideration that security is also one of your main priorities.
7. Keep logging to a minimum. Example: If you have a couple of busy web servers, then logging each and every http connection might bring in addition load onto the firewall and also fill up the log server quickly.
8. Try to implement High Availability if your budget would allow that. This would reduce the down time of your network considerably. If a firewall is down it would mean that pretty much most of your operations are down. If High Availability is implemented, then even if the primary were to fail, the secondary would take over. Firewall Clustering is something which can provide your firewall both redundancy and load sharing. Check with the manufacturer if it is available.
9. If there are too many VPN connections that need to connect to your network, then try to get a dedicated VPN device. How many connections are too many connections? Check the firewall manufacturer’s manual. Another way of doing it is checking the load on the firewall – memory, cpu utilization etc.
10. End your rule base with a clean up rule or a ANY ANY DENY rule. Try to also log this rule. This would assist you in analyzing the dropped connections in case you ever attacked or even while simple troubleshooting.
Note: The intention of this article is to help you manage your firewall. Check your Firewall manufacturer’s instruction manual to confirm if the tips given here would be applicable to the particular make/model.
FEEDBACK: Please feel free to leave your feedback good and bad. Best effort would be made to make this article as helpful as possible.
Referring from :
http://www.secmanager.com
Cisco PIX - Useful Commands
Useful Commands:
show config
show blocks
show checksum
show conn
show cpu usage
show history
show memory
show processes
show routing
show running-config
show startup-config
show tech-support
show tcpstat
show traffic
show uauth/clear uauth
show version
show xlate/clear xlate
show config
show blocks
show checksum
show conn
show cpu usage
show history
show memory
show processes
show routing
show running-config
show startup-config
show tech-support
show tcpstat
show traffic
show uauth/clear uauth
show version
show xlate/clear xlate
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Cisco PIX - Commands Supported in CLI
Command Mode | Command | Command Description |
User Mode | enable | To change the mode from User to Enable mode. |
| help | Displays the help description in the Modes. | |
| exit | To log out from the CLI client. | |
| logout | To log out from the CLI client. | |
| show clock | To show the clock time of the CLI agent in the network. | |
| show history | To display the History of the connected terminal. | |
| show snmp | To show the SNMP status of the device in the network. | |
| show version | To show the version of the device. | |
| Enable Mode | clock set | Sets the Clock with Date and Time in the firewall device |
| configure terminal | Change the mode to Configuration Mode | |
| disable | Change the mode to user mode from Enable mode. | |
| ping | Send echo messages | |
| show access-list | Displays the access-list configurations | |
| show blocks | To show the system buffer usage | |
| show conn | To show the number of connections in use | |
| show failover | To show the failover status | |
| show memory | To show the free memory available | |
| show nameif | To show the current names and security levels of each interface | |
| show clock | Display clock time of the CLI agent in the network. | |
| show history | Displays the History of the connected terminal. | |
| show version | Displays the IOS Version and its details of the CLI agent. | |
Config Mode | access-group | Binds the access list to the inside interface. |
| access-list | Creates the standard access list entry | |
| access-list | Creates the standard access list entry | |
| exit | Change the mode from Configuration to Enable mode. | |
| hostname | Updates the given value as the host name. | |
| snmp-server enable traps | Enables all the supported trap types | |
| snmp-server host [host-addr] [community-string] | To specify the recipients of the SNMP notification operatio | |
| route | Set the inside/outside default route to the router attached to the Internet. | |
| no | To remove a specific access-list | |
| no snmp-server enable traps | Disables all the supported trap types | |
| no snmp-server host | Removes a specific recipient of the SNMP notification operation |
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
MySQL - Change Root Password
How do I change MySQL root password under Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and UNIX like operating system over ssh / telnet session?
Setting up mysql password is one of the essential tasks. By default root user is MySQL admin account. Please note that the Linux / UNIX login root account for your operating system and MySQL root are different. They are separate and nothing to do with each other (indeed some admin removes root account and setup admin as mysql super user).
1) Login to mysql server, type following command at shell prompt:
Setting up mysql password is one of the essential tasks. By default root user is MySQL admin account. Please note that the Linux / UNIX login root account for your operating system and MySQL root are different. They are separate and nothing to do with each other (indeed some admin removes root account and setup admin as mysql super user).
mysqladmin command to change root password
If you have never set a root password for MySQL, the server does not require a password at all for connecting as root. To setup root password for first time, use mysqladmin command at shell prompt as follows:$ mysqladmin -u root password NEWPASSWORDHowever, if you want to change (or update) a root password, then you need to use following command
$ mysqladmin -u root -p'oldpassword' password newpassFor example, If old password is abc, and set new password to 123456, enter:
$ mysqladmin -u root -p'abc' password '123456'
keep note = no spacebar between -p'abc'
Change MySQL password for other user
To change a normal user password you need to type (let us assume you would like to change password for vivek):$ mysqladmin -u vivek -p oldpassword password newpass
Changing MySQL root user password using MySQL sql command
This is another method. MySQL stores username and passwords in user table inside MySQL database. You can directly update password using the following method to update or change password for user vivek:1) Login to mysql server, type following command at shell prompt:
$ mysql -u root -p2) Use mysql database (type command at mysql> prompt):
mysql> use mysql;3) Change password for user vivek:
mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD("NEWPASSWORD") where User='vivek';4) Reload privileges:mysql> flush privileges; mysql> quit
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