The most common and sought after reasoning behind an upgrade to SNMP V3 is security. SNMP versions 1 and 2(c) transmit data between the SNMP server and the SNMP agent “in the clear”. This makes your infrastructure and corresponding infrastructure devices far more vulnerable to attack and or misuse. Weak SNMP provides attackers with low hanging fruit they sometimes need for improved attack vectors.

SNMP V3’s focus was to improve this security flaw. SNMP V3 adds authentication and privacy options to secure its communication between SNMP servers and SNMP agents.

SNMP V3 Security Models

The authentication (auth) and privacy (priv) options are grouped into security models.

• NoAuthPriv – no authentication and no privacy
• AuthNoPriv – authentication and no privacy
• AuthPriv – you guessed it – authentication and privacy

SNMP Groups

SNMP groups provide an access control policy to which users are added. The user will inherit the security model of the group. If the SNMP group “SEC3” has the AuthPriv security model, users assigned to it will inherit the AuthPriv security model.

SNMP Users

SNMP users are assigned a username, a group to which they belong, authentication password, encryption password, and associated algorithms to use.

Authentication algorithms are MD5 and SHA
Encryption algorithms are DES, 3DES, and AES (128,192,256)

SNMP Host

An SNMP host is the server to which SNMP notifications and traps are sent. SNMP V3 hosts require the SNMP server IP address and SNMP username. Each SNMP host can only have one username associated with it. The user credentials on the NMS (CiscoWorks, Solarwinds, etc.) must match the SNMP username credentials.

Configuring SNMP V3:
Note – the brackets <> are used to indicate a variable you assign a name to. I used these brackets to emphasize these important variables.

1. Enable SNMP
   snmp-server enable
2. Enable the SNMP traps (this will change depending on environment and business requirements). The following example enables all but this could be limited to a subset of traps.
   snmp-server enable traps all
3. Create the SNMP group
   Note the following meanings:
   auth indicates authention only
   noauth indicates no authentication or encryption
   priv indicates encryption and authentication
   snmp-server group  <GROUPNAME> v3 {auth | noauth | priv}
4. Create the SNMP user
   snmp-server user <USERNAME> <GROUPNAME> v3 encrypted auth md5 <AUTHENTICATION-PASSWORD> priv AES 128 <ENCRYPTION-KEY>
5. Create the SNMP Server host
   snmp-server host <INTERFACE-NAME> <HOSTNAME> version 3 <USERNAME>

Full Configuration Example for the Cisco ASA (Version 8.4)

snmp-server group SEC3 v3 priv

snmp-server user SNMPUSER3 SEC3GROUP v3 encrypted auth md5 thisshouldbeastrongpassword priv aes 128 thisshouldbeastrongencryptionkey

snmp-server host mgmt 10.20.30.10 version 3 SNMPUSER3

snmp-server enable traps snmp authentication linkup linkdown coldstart warmstart

snmp-server enable traps ipsec start stop

snmp-server enable traps remote-access session-threshold-exceeded

Full Configuration Example for the Cisco IOS

snmp-server view SNMPMGR iso included

snmp-server group SEC3GROUP v3 priv read SNMPMGR write SNMPMGR notify SNMPMGR

snmp-server user SNMPUSER3 SEC3GROUP v3 auth md5 thisshouldbeastrongpassword priv aes 128 thisshouldbeastrongencryptionkey

snmp-server enable traps config

Note – in IOS you won’t see the following line:
snmp-server user SNMPUSER3 SEC3GROUP v3 auth md5 thisshouldbeastrongpassword priv aes 128 thisshouldbeastrongencryptionkey

IOS hides the authentication password and encryption key from the “show run” and “show startup”.

More Information

Cisco Configuration Guide for ASA 8.4 and 8.6

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/asa/asa84/configuration/guide/monitor_snmp.html#wp1239780

Cisco Configuration Guide for ASA 8.4 and 8.6 PDF

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/asa/asa84/configuration/guide/monitor_snmp.pdf

Using SSLVPN technology, Cisco AnyConnect establishes a secure connection to your ASA5500 series firewall with ease. The network administrator bears the brunt of most of the work while end users just download Cisco AnyConnect from the Apple AppStore and configure a few settings.

Let’s get started with the necessary requirements.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

• AnyConnect is designed specifically for Apple iOS 4 (4.1+) (And now version 5)

• Apple iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4

• Apple iPod touch (second, third, and fourth generations)

• Apple iPad support available after Apple iOS 4.2 – November 2010 release

I have confirmed Cisco AnyConnect works well on iPad2 and iTouch running the new iOS version 5.

Connectivity has been tested and verified with Cisco ASA5500 Series 8.3 and 8.4 code using RADIUS authentication.

You must have AnyConnect for Mobile licenses installed on the Cisco ASA5500 series firewall for each active mobile node. Note that if you are running ASA failover the license propagates to the failover unit. Here’s an example of the “show version” on a Cisco ASA5510. Note the bolded line.

Licensed features for this platform:

Maximum Physical Interfaces    : Unlimited      perpetual
Maximum VLANs                  : 100            perpetual
Inside Hosts                   : Unlimited      perpetual
Failover                       : Active/Active  perpetual
VPN-DES                        : Enabled        perpetual
VPN-3DES-AES                   : Enabled        perpetual
Security Contexts              : 2              perpetual
GTP/GPRS                       : Disabled       perpetual
SSL VPN Peers                  : 2              perpetual
Total VPN Peers                : 250            perpetual
Shared License                 : Disabled       perpetual
AnyConnect for Mobile          : Enabled        perpetual
AnyConnect for Cisco VPN Phone : Disabled       perpetual
AnyConnect Essentials          : Disabled       perpetual
Advanced Endpoint Assessment   : Disabled       perpetual
UC Phone Proxy Sessions        : 2              perpetual
Total UC Proxy Sessions        : 2              perpetual
Botnet Traffic Filter          : Disabled       perpetual
Intercompany Media Engine      : Disabled       perpetual

This platform has an ASA 5510 Security Plus license.

INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION

Go to the AppStore and search for “cisco anyconnect”. For example, from the iTunes store I perform a search for “cisco anyconnect”

You should find the following options: My screenshots show DOWNLOADED since I’ve already downloaded them. If you haven’t downloaded them they will display FREE.

Download and install the iPhone version for your iPhone or iTouch. Download and install the iPad version for your iPad.

Once you have the AnyConnect app installed ensure you also have the following:

• 3G/4G or WiFi access to the Internet. The AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client runs over an SSL connection to your Cisco ASA5500 series security appliance.
• Server URL or IP address (portal.yourdomain.com for example)
• Username and password configured for remote access

You can now begin the configuration process.

Tap the AnyConnect Icon from your touch screen.

Tap “OK” When asked to enable this software.

Tap “Add VPN Connection” to create a new connection. The following screen will open.

Enter a description. For example “My Work Network”

Enter a server address. For example “portal.yourdomain.com”.

Select if you want Network Roaming ON or OFF. Choosing ON tells the AnyConnect client to try to establish a connection until it succeeds. I personally find this “always on” feature very helpful if I’m roaming from a 3G connection to a WiFi or the 3G connection is lost for a moment.

Select if you want Use Certificates ON or OFF. For the purpose of this article we will use OFF since we are using RADIUS only. Certificates do offer improved security but also require a more complex configuration.

When done tap Save.

Now it’s time to launch the connection. To do this swipe the AnyConnect VPN from OFF to ON. This will automatically launch your new connection you created.

Once connected, the AnyConnect App will show you statistics about your connection. You can close the screen and launch your network application(s).

A very common use is Windows Remote Desktop connectivity to servers and or workstations. I use Jaadu or Jump Desktop. Both work well. With the plethora of apps in the AppStore you are bound to find one that meets your needs. The Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client definitely does its part to securely get you connected.

If you need assistance setting up a Cisco Secure Mobility Solution for your business contact Miocon. We have over 15 years of Cisco firewall and security experience.

Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Solution:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns1049/index.html

iPad User Guide for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/vpn_client/anyconnect/anyconnect24/ios4.2-user/guide/ipad-ugac-ios4.2.html

Jaadu RDP:
http://www.jaadurdp.com/

Jump Desktop:
http://jumpdesktop.com/

wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin-1.570-1.noarch.rpm

Then run the command :

rpm -U webmin-1.570-1.noarch.rpm

The rest of the install will be done automatically. The administration username is set to root and the password to your current root password. You should now be able to login to Webmin at the URL http://<YOUR-IP-OR-HOSTNAME>:10000.

You will more than likely need to open up port 10000 so modify iptables with the following:

-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 10000 -j ACCEPT

I just use vi since I’m used to it but you can use your editor of choice.

vi /etc/sysconfig/iptables

Typically SSH is open so I just insert the access list entry below it.

Example of iptables (very basic):

# Firewall configuration written by system-config-firewall
# Manual customization of this file is not recommended.
*filter
:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
-A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 10000 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited
-A FORWARD -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited
COMMIT

Restart the iptables (firewall) services with the following command:

/etc/init.d/iptables restart

Example Output

# /etc/init.d/iptables restart

iptables: Flushing firewall rules:                         [  OK  ]
iptables: Setting chains to policy ACCEPT: filter          [  OK  ]
iptables: Unloading modules:                               [  OK  ]
iptables: Applying firewall rules:                         [  OK  ]

#

If you launch a connection to the URL http://<YOUR-IP-OR-HOSTNAME>:10000 you should see the Webmin login page. Enter the default root username and root credentials.

Additional Information:

Webmin website
http://www.webmin.com

iptables website:
http://www.netfilter.org/

Create Virtual Machine in Microsoft Hyper-V

1. Select your Virtual Host. Right click it then click New then Virtual Machine….
2. Click Next at the Before you Begin (if you haven’t disabled this screen).
3. Create a Name for your RHEL virtual machine and choose a location to store it.
4. Select the memory allocation.
5. Select a network connection that provides access to the Internet. Note that the Network Adapter will not work until after the Linux Integration Components are installed. As mentioned shortly you will get network access through the Legacy Network Adapter.
6. Name the VHD file, confirm the location, and size.
7. Select install an operating system from a boot CD/DVD and choose image file. (assuming install from ISO)
8. Finish
9. Upon virtual machine completion and before powering on the virtual machine to begin the install go into the virtual machine settings and select “Add Hardware” then select “Legacy Network Adapter”. Make sure to choose your connected network that has Internet access. You will need this for Red Hat Network (RHN) registration and yum updates should you decide to update your system. This can be removed later after you confirm your Network Adapter is working.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 Installation

1. Connect to the console of the virtual machine you just created then power it on.
2. Press Enter to select “Install or upgrade an existing system”.
3. Choose whether or not you want to perform a media check. It’s always best to test to ensure your ISO or media source isn’t corrupt. I didn’t look into this at all but sometimes after the media check is performed you have to restart the install process. Seemed the restart was quicker than investigating why.
4. At the Splash screen for RHEL press Enter for “Next”.
5. Select your Language then press Enter for “Next”.
6. Select your keyboard then press Enter for “Next”.
7. Select the Basic Storage Devices then press Enter for “Next”.
8. When you receive the Storage Device Warning select “Yes, Discard any data” then press Enter. This assumes a new virtual machine with no data on it.
9. Assign a host name to this RHEL server. At this screen make sure to select “Configure Network” since the Legacy Network Adapter will be used for network access. Select “Edit” to modify System eth0. Ensure the connection is enabled so it’s active at boot. Do this by selecting “Connect Automatically”. By default IPv4 DHCP is enabled. Apply your changes, select “Close”, then press Enter to proceed.
10. Select the time zone then press Enter for “Next”.
11. Set the root password then press Enter for “Next”.
12. Select “Use All Space” then press Enter for “Next”.
13. Select Write changes to disk.
14. Choose Basic Server installation then tab down to “Customize Now”. We will want to customize the software installed. Press Enter for “Next”.
15. Select Desktops in the left pane. Then in the right pane select Desktop and Graphical Administration Tools.
16. Reboot at the end of installation.

Post Installation Tasks

1. At bootup you’ll be prompted with a series of tools you can execute to simplify post-installation settings. Select RHN Register. Registering your RHEL server will allow you to get critical updates, etc. Select Next. Enter your RHN credentials then Next. At system profile if everything looks good then Next. Next at Packages. Next to Send Profile. At Revew system select OK then Finish.
2. Select Quit at the Tools menu.
3. After a few moments you will find yourself at the RHEL login.

Installing Linux Integration Components v3.1

1. Now it’s time to install the Linux Integrated Components from Microsoft. You can download them here http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26837. You will need version 3.1 since previous versions will not work with the kernel in RHEL 6. Download this to a location you can access in the next step.
2. From your RHEL virtual machine console in Hyper-V select File then Settings. Select the DVD Drive under IDE Controller 1 then select the “Linux IC v3.0.iso” file you just downloaded. Click OK.
3. Run the following commands from the RHEL command line now that the ISO is mounted in Hyper-V:
   1. mount /dev/cdrom /media

For 64-bit version of RHEL run these two commands

rpm –ivh /media/x86_64/kmod-microsoft-hyper-v-rhel6-60.1.x86_64.rpm
rpm –ivh /media/x86_64/microsoft-hyper-v-rhel6-60.1.x86_64.rpm
reboot

For 32-bit versions of RHEL run these two commands

rpm –ivh /media/x86/kmod-microsoft-hyper-v-rhel6-60.1.i686.rpm
rpm –ivh /media/x86/microsoft-hyper-v-rhel6-60.1.i686.rpm
reboot

Special Notes

You may notice that you can no longer mount a cdrom after running the RPM installs. There’s some fine text in the Linux Integration Services v3 Read Me.pdf file that can be downloaded here – http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26837

To mount an ISO file in the virtual machine, the following command must be run before executing the mount command:

# insmod /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/ata/ata_piix.ko

Alternatively, copy the ISO file into the virtual machine and mount it using the -o loop option.

You can use the BlackBerry® Groups feature of BlackBerry® Messenger to create or join a group of people that you want to stay connected with, such as family, friends, or co-workers.

You can share pictures, lists, and appointments with the members of your group. You can also chat with members and comment on shared items. A group can contain up to 30 members and can include members who are not part of your BlackBerry Messenger contacts.

The groups that you belong to are listed on the contact list screen of BlackBerry Messenger. You can also add a shortcut icon for the group to the Home screen of your BlackBerry device so that you can quickly access the group.

Depending on your wireless service provider or organization, this feature might not be supported.

Setting up groups is easy and any time you need to collaborate with multiple team members I highly recommend setting one (or more) up.

Here’s how:

1.            On the Home screen or in the Instant Messaging folder, click the BBM icon.

2.            On the contact list screen, press the Menu key.

3.            Click Create New Group.

4.            Name the group appropriately (Spaces are accepted)

5.            Type the group description

6.            Click Create Group.

Instructions for inviting contacts to join your group are available from the BlackBerry Help Center.

Common Uses:

Here are some examples of the many ways to use groups:

• Emergency Response teams
• Information Technology support teams
• Sales teams
• Small businesses (all employees)
• Field Technicians
• Engineering groups
• Business units or departments
• Collaboration groups

More Information:

Blackberry Group Basics
http://docs.blackberry.com/en/smartphone_users/deliverables/13195/Group_basics_title_841303_11.jsp

Managing Group Members
http://docs.blackberry.com/en/smartphone_users/deliverables/13195/Members_title_881182_11.jsp

*When evaluating an individual there are many things to observe. For this article I’m going to skip over the long list a human resources expert would give you and focus on certifications only.

Before delving into the value of certifications I’d like to first offer up my opinion on the current state of technical certifications. Over the past 15 years technical certification tests haven’t changed much. Candidates report to a testing center and after proving their identity sit at a computer and take a 60-100 question test. The biggest advancement in 15 years is the use of “simulators” within the test engine. Simulators offer up a much more hands-on testing of skills compared to the very old style multiple choice questions. The biggest problem with certification exams like this is the massive explosion of testing material geared towards simply memorizing all the answers. Candidates can purchase their particular test and memorize all the answers. It’s important to keep in mind that these methods aren’t supported or sponsored by the vendor responsible for the certifications but rather originate from oversees testing centers in Pakistan, etc. who basically record all the test engine output, package it in a usable format, and then sell them for $60-125 per test. Ultimately this leads to what’s called “papering” a certification test. Papering a test simply means you passed the certification without actually obtaining the knowledge to have passed “legitimately”.

Although the above methodology is questionable I will say that the same resources do come in handy for candidates wanting to confirm they truly know the material. I personally wish more vendors would create top-level certifications similar to the Cisco CCIE and Juniper equivalent. These two top-level certifications provide a proctored lab exam where candidates must prove they know material. Given their own network equipment and a lab book with design requirements candidates must design a solution according to specifications set forth in the lab book. There is no way to “paper” a test like this and it does prove a candidate knows what they are doing as it pertains to a certification checklist. It does not however prove that the engineer is “good” at what they do. It only proves they know what they are doing. Being “good” at what they do will always be left to personal qualities, references, experience, and the interview process.

My point for explaining this is as follows. A certification will only be as good as the candidate who holds it. I know CCNA-level engineers who are far smarter and knowledgeable than a CCNP. I know some people who have no Cisco certifications but they could hang with Cisco CCIEs. So after I’ve just said all this you may be wondering how I value a certification if the certification is only as good as the beholder.

I value certifications as more of a personality gauge than I do a technical gauge. An individual with legitimate (not paper) certifications prove several things to me:

• The candidate has a strong desire to prove what they know
• They seek recognition
• They value achievement milestones
• They value structured learning
• They are taking an active effort to improve themselves
• They want to grow as a person and engineer

When I receive a resume from a candidate with 15 years of experience and no certifications it’s a big negative and very often the resume goes straight to the trash. It’s not to say they aren’t a good engineer but they often end up lacking one or more of the above qualities. All too often I hear them complain that “I don’t need them”. This is code for “I’m too good for certifications”, or “I’m afraid I could fail at certifications when somebody who knows half as much has them”. Some candidates might have worked in the private sector and never had a “need” for them. One could argue they lack the qualities mentioned above as well. As a mentor I always suggest the achievement of certifications on any candidates behalf.

If you come across a candidate with no certifications always ask why they don’t have them. Sometimes life just happens and candidates don’t have the money for it or they have a family and kids. Obstacles like this make it very difficult to work on certifications. But even with these obstacles certifications are obtainable. Just look at what single moms do in a day and ask yourself if you don’t have the time.  

In conclusion I’ll say that there are a lot of really good people without certifications and there are a lot of less talented people with lots of certifications. But, when it comes time to evaluate between two good candidates the one with the certifications most often has the edge. Good personal qualities are a lot harder to find in a candidate than technical skills. So for anybody out there looking for a job and growing your career my advice to you is to get those certs. Remember when you were told to eat all your food because people were starving in some foreign land? Well now you have people in foreign lands starving for your job and it could be you looking for food.

So let’s start with the bad and wrap up with the good. Note that I’m not going to delve into technical review details. This is all about usability from an end user (me) perspective.

The Bad

The Blackberry Bold 9900 has some quirky default configurations. First, “auto answer from holster” is enabled. I don’t know how many people want to answer their phone blindly but I doubt there are many. I can’t find a single person who doesn’t want to see who is calling them before answering these days. Luckily this is easily disabled by going to Options – Call Management – In-call Settings. Change “Auto Answer Calls” to Never.

The depth of applications isn’t as deep as the iPhone or Android – but it’s getting much better. However, for business applications I don’t have any problems finding applications for Blackberry that you won’t find for Android and iPhone, such as great encryption software. Once again, if looking for games go get a phone designed for gaming.

Here’s my biggest gripe. And this gripe isn’t even related to actual phone use but rather the charging design. All my previous Bolds could be holstered and have the charger plugged into the wall. The 9900 has to be unholstered or slightly pulled out of the holster to charge it. This is a very annoying quirk because your Blackberry and its holster are made for each other (you Blackberry users know what I mean) and taking them apart to charge them just isn’t a natural thing.

The Good

The 9900 boots so much faster than previous versions. I can remember waiting over 5 minutes for the Bold to boot and it would drive me crazy. Now it boots in less than a minute and it’s noticeably much faster.

The balance between touch screen and keyboard is perfect. My fingers flow between either as I learn which method is faster. The flexibility to choose between either is actually quite usable. Prior to this I thought it seemed overly redundant but after using it for a few weeks it’s a well-balanced feature. This phone deserves an accolade just for the keyboard itself. When typing on this keyboard I can type paragraphs at a time with ease without having to use abbreviated words over and over. This is great when you need to compose a professional email without chopped up, misspelled words. Hands down the built in keyboard is far better than any touchscreen keyboard on the Android or iPhone. The disadvantage to such an easy to use and reliable keyboard however, is you sacrifice screen real estate. The screen real estate is smaller than an iPhone but the screen quality is just as good. The screen is beautiful.

The phone itself is rock solid and almost feels ruggedized. When I first pulled the battery to test usability I was quite impressed. I didn’t feel like I was going to break the battery cover like other phones. The size of the phone is thinner but slightly larger (wider) than previous and fits great in the hand. This comes in handy for single handed Blackberry Messaging, texting, email, etc.

Installing applications is easy with Blackberry App World. No problems there. Using T-Mobile’s 4G network I’ve been able to download applications quickly and easily.

I haven’t had any trouble with dropped calls. That’s not to say I haven’t had them but nothing outside of normal dropped calls while traveling long distances roaming from tower to tower. Calling reliability has been excellent.

Internet speeds are noticeably faster. One complaint I’ve always had with the Blackberry was slow Internet performance. Although it’s greatly improved it’s still not where I would like to see it – but no complaints so far.

Blackberry devices have always had great battery life. The 9900 continues with that tradition but I’m guessing because of the additional horsepower and better screen as well as touch screen technology the battery life has taken a bit of a hit. On a very heavy day of phone call usage I do find myself approaching low battery levels in “the red”. Granted this was a lot of talk time but with previous versions I never got in the red after a full day’s use. The standby battery life continues to impress. When holstered I can go weeks without charging.

The built-in 5 megapixel camera takes great pictures for a phone. I do hear complaints from many people about how disappointing a 5 megapixels camera is when other phones have 10 megapixels but come on…. It’s a phone! I’m not buying my phone so I can be a photographer or take high quality home movies. I’ve got work to do on my phone. Once again, for me it’s a rock solid business class phone. And besides, for non-professional pictures and video recording it works great. My on the fly videos turn out great. If I want to take HD quality pictures and video I’ll break out my digital camera which was designed for such things.

On top of all these other features, businesses can much more affordably utilize Blackberry Enterprise features.  You can now get the free Blackberry Enterprise Express server to keep your workforce productive at a very low cost while providing excellent security features to your phones. For example, one of our client’s employees lost their phone in Paris. With a few mouse clicks we wiped the phone remotely. With a few mouse clicks her new phone was added to the server and she was “in sync” again. Blackberry offers wonderful business class tools.

The End Result

The Blackberry Bold 9900 is a great business class phone that offers many of the features that take the edge off “business only”. It’s rugged and dependable while providing usability that is fluid to the end user making it easy to use and navigate – especially with one hand. The navigation is top of class and far surpasses iPhone and Android. It’s the best phone I’ve ever had thus far but no phone is perfect so aside from some of the quirks I’m giving it 4.75 out of 5 stars. I would have given it 5 out of 5 if it weren’t for the battery charging issue with the holster.

More Information

Blackberry Bold 9900/9930 (United States)
http://us.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberrybold.jsp

T-Mobile (Please don’t let the AT&T disaster go through)
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/cell-phone-detail.aspx?cell-phone=BlackBerry-Bold-9900-4G-Black

Here’s how you find those hidden messages for Blackberry OS versions 5, 6, and 7. Note that 5 is slightly different from versions 6 and 7. I’ll display version 5 first.

Version 5

Try a soft reset first. Here’s how if you don’t know already. If that doesn’t work continue.

1. From the home screen go to your Messages folder
2. Select the BlackBerry menu key.
3. Then select search

You will want to fill in the search criteria to be as broad as possible.  Set it as the following:

• Services = All Services
• Folder = All Folders
• Show = Unopened Only
• Type = All
• Then select search.

This method will show all unread messages on your phone in any folder. From here you can take action on these messages as you normally would.

Version 6 and 7

Try a soft reset first. Here’s how if you don’t know already. If that doesn’t work continue.

1. From the home screen go to your messages folder
2. Select the BlackBerry menu key.
3. Then select search
4. Scroll to the right and select “Change Criteria” (The magnifying glass)
5. Select Advanced Search

You will want to fill in the search criteria to be as broad as possible.  Set it as the following:

• Services = All Services
• Folder = All Folders
• Show = Unread Only
• Type = All
• Then select search.

 This method will show all unread messages on your phone in any folder. From here you can take action on these messages as you normally would.

I hope you find this post helpful.

The same types of resets apply to Blackberry devices. You can perform a soft reset or a hard reset. Be sure not to confuse a soft or hard reset with a “factory reset”. A factory reset in Blackberry is considered a security wipe and is beyond the scope of this post. When having troubles with your phone you should always perform a soft reset first. If that doesn’t work then perform a hard reset. Luckily smartphones are designed to survive through hard resets much more than a PC but because there are not so literally millions of moving parts it’s always best to avoid them.

To perform a soft reset on a Blackberry 9900 perform the following. Note that this same soft reset applies to most Blackberry devices manufactured in the past 5 years. So this will work on older Bolds, Curves, etc.

From the Blackberry keypad press “alt”, “Right Shift (Caps key aA)”, and “del” all at the same time.

The phone should “reboot”.

To perform a hard reset, just pull the back cover off while taking great care not to break it. Then pull the battery, wait 30 seconds or so (I never do), and put the battery back in.

More Information

http://www.blackberry.com/support

The Cisco Unified Communications Manager Call Park feature allows a phone user to place a call on hold so it can be retrieved from another phone in the Cisco Unified Communications Manager system/cluster (assuming proper call routing). While on an active call, a phone user can “Park” the call to a Call Park extension by pressing the Park softkey or the Call Park button. This of course depends on the type of phone in use. Another phone user can pick up the parked call by dialing the Call Park extension used to place the call on park.

A usage example would be a phone call coming in to the operator. The operator answers the call and the caller asks to have a party paged over the intercom system. The operator presses the Park softkey and the call park number assigned displays on the phone screen (9201, for example). The operator pages “Bob you have a call parked on 9201”. Bob hears the page over the intercom system and dials 9201 to retrieve the call.  

 The configuration is rather simple but don’t let its simplicity fool you. As with all aspects of configuring a phone system, there are still things you need to consider.

 Configuring Call Park

 From Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) go to Call Routing then Call Park. Determine how many call park extensions you need. Note that a single directory number or a range of directory numbers can be configured as call park extension numbers but a wildcard format is used so you can add ranges in quantities of 10 or 100. Ensure that a unique call park range is configured on each CUCM in the cluster to ensure redundancy. In this example we will use ranges of 10 in a CUCM cluster of two servers (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

1. Configure the Call Park Number/Range. I’m using 920X in this example. This will provide 10 call park numbers starting at 9200 through 9209.
2. Configure a description.
3. Assign to a partition. Note that if you need to prevent classes of users from parking calls or restrict parking, assign the call park numbers to a partition then place that partition in corresponding calling search space (CSS). For example, you may not want courtesy phones to have call park functionality so you will need to make sure they don’t have the call park partition in their CSS.
4. Assign the CUCM. Ensure, once again, that you assign a unique range for each CUCM.

 That’s it. The end result for two CUCMs would look something like this (Figure 2).

 Figure 2. (Click for larger view)

More Information

 http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/admin/8_6_1/ccmfeat/fscallpk.html