Cisco Systems is a huge company that has shaped the face of communication and networking in organizations since 1984. There is almost no organization that doesn’t have at least one of Cisco’s equipment like their Cisco routers, switches, security managers, load balance appliances, VOIP, etc…

I chose this article to go over three of its services, the FTP, VPN, and Terminal Server. I will describe those services, some configurations, and other valuable information.

Cisco FTP – Every router has its own CLI (Command Line Interface), set of commands that let a developer/user configure the device. The software is used on most of the Cisco Devices is called an IOS (Internetwork Operating System) – that is included in Cisco’s routing, switching, internetworking and telecommunications functions.

It seemed that the Cisco FTP service wasn’t a successful feature being used within Cisco devices, and eventually, it has been removed from Cisco’s devices and Cisco created software FTP servers that are mostly used on the Windows operating systems.
There was a notion that the Cisco IOS FTP feature was a hacker backdoor, and became a security hazard since the “startup-

config” file of the Cisco devices was accessible by unauthorized users, and Cisco offered to remove the FTP feature from their IOS to prevent that from happening.

Enable FTP server in Cisco IOS:
To enable the FTP server in the Cisco IOS, use the Ftp-Server Enable configuration command and then setting the Ftp-Server topdir directory command which sets the top-level FTP directory (like Flash). The users and passwords are being configured in the local user-name user/password configuration commands.

Some Examples:

• This Article shows some Cisco PIX Advanced features and attacks guards. (FTP mode passive).
• How to test Cisco IOS FTP Server Multiple Vulnerabilities. Cisco IOS Ftp service is being exploited by hackers, even to the point of DOS (Denial-of-Service).

Cisco Terminal Server – We can configure a Cisco router as a terminal server. This will enable us to reach any of the other Cisco routers on the network, in case we need to configure each and every one of them from one external station. Also, the Cisco terminal server ability enables us to reach other servers on the network, for maintenance from a distance.

You can read another more technical way for “Configuring a Cisco router as a terminal server”. Cisco terminal server devices are the 2509 and 2511 models and the configuration, in general, enable each line to get a specific port, so you can access the end device directly using the proper port number.

Some other links:

• Connecting via a Cisco Terminal Server
• Cisco IOS SSH Terminal Server
• Cisco Terminal Server with ‘Menu’ command
• Configuring Terminal Operating Characteristics for Dial-In Sessions

Cisco VPN server – There are two sides of the Cisco VPN, the first one is the Cisco VPN server, the second one is the Cisco VPN client (mostly installed on Windows OS some on MAC OS).

The Cisco server-side requires only enabling VPN access and setting the users and password (without getting into specifics). Then you can use the Cisco VPN client to get the login credentials. You place the correct user and password and you’re in, getting the access privileges that were defined for you (what is allowed to access and what is not allowed).

• Cisco VPN Client – link2
• http://www1.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/
• Configuring a Cisco VPN concentrator as a remote-access VPN server
• Cisco Router as a Remote VPN Server using SDM – Link2
• Connect to a Cisco VPN server from Mac OS Snow Leopard
• How-To: Connect to a Cisco VPN with vpnc – From Linux

I hope this will give you some grasp on these Cisco features, and how to set things up.

The Microsoft Office suite for the windows operating system was launched first in 1990 and started to form the way we (the windows OS (operating system) users) were using computerized office applications either for our office needs or for home use. The office suite was giving us a range of tools that enabled us to fulfill any of our needs, from writing documents, letters using the Microsoft WORD, e-mails using the Microsoft OUTLOOK,  making complicated calculations using the Microsoft EXCEL, making presentations using the easy tools of the Microsoft POWERPOINT. Those basic applications have created the source of the Microsoft office suite.

Those Microsoft Office suite tools where having easy to use ways of creating our letters, forms, presentations etc… by using special designs, many font options, special characters, you could change the way the text was presented, there where design toolbars, that eased the way we could easily change and design our documents. All of the office suite where designed almost the same, in the basics of the text format changes, while every single application had its own suitable toolbars, that was matching that specific application’s needs.

The office suites were improving as time passed, as the demand for other application tools has risen. The additional office tools where the OUTLOOK, ACCESS (A client database), Spell-checker functions for all of the office applications, PUBLISHER, ONE NOTE, INFO PATH, VISIO, PROJECT, SHARE POINT DESIGNER, those additional applications has covered better the need of the different office purposes and needs.

Microsoft has lately developed an office suite “OFFICE 2008” for the Macintosh (MAC OS X) computer and operating systems. This office suite was including the basic core programs that were on the Office 2004 for MAC that includes Entourage, Excel, Word and PowerPoint. The Office 2008 supports the new Office Open XML format, which is the default format that this suite uses as the XML formats have become a common format as our main tools have migrated to be used by a browser (Internet Browser).

We all enjoy the excellent applications of the Microsoft office suite, those tools make us more efficient, they enable us to contact each other, share their tools and information from one to the other. They are more flexible and suitable for our modern age, and for the way we share and synchronize our information with different applications and devices like hand-helds, and mobile phones. We can all enjoy those excellent tools and be more creative.