Friday Freebie - Illustrations.co: Free, Customizable Illustrations for Designers and Developers

Illustrations.co is a user-friendly platform offering a wide collection of open-source vector illustrations that are free to use for personal and commercial projects. Designed with a modern and clean aesthetic, the site serves developers, designers, and marketers who need quick access to high-quality visual content without dealing with licensing headaches. The illustrations come in SVG and PNG formats, making them easy to integrate into websites, apps, presentations, and other creative work.

A standout feature of Illustrations.co is its simplicity and focus. Unlike some cluttered marketplaces or stock art platforms, this site is straightforward, emphasizing ease of download and immediate usability. Most illustrations are editable and compatible with vector graphic software like Adobe Illustrator and Figma, allowing users to tweak colors, shapes, and themes to fit their brand or style. The library covers various themes such as business, technology, health, and social media—making it versatile for a range of creative needs.

The platform promotes community engagement and open collaboration, encouraging creators to contribute their own illustrations under an open license model. This not only grows the resource pool but also supports a culture of creative sharing. For startups, educators, and developers on a tight budget, Illustrations.co is a valuable tool that helps elevate the visual quality of content while keeping costs down and workflows efficient.

Click on the image below to check it out

Validating Switch Trunk Ports With My NetAlly LinkRunner

 In any network environment, especially those with layered architectures and VLAN segmentation, properly configured switch trunk ports are essential for ensuring that traffic flows between switches without interruption. However, misconfigurations happen more often than many realize—whether due to human error, firmware updates, or changes in network topology. That’s why testing switch configurations isn't just a recommended practice—it's a necessary one to maintain a stable and secure network.

In this video, I demonstrate how I use a NetAlly LinkRunner to validate the configuration of a trunk port on a managed switch. The LinkRunner provides instant feedback on VLAN tagging, port status, and connectivity across layers 1 to 3. This helps confirm that the switch is properly tagging traffic and forwarding it as intended, ensuring that devices across VLANs can communicate without issues.

Relying solely on switch console output or network controller interfaces can be misleading. Configs may look correct on paper, but testing from the port level confirms real-world performance. The LinkRunner simplifies this by simulating a client device and offering visual confirmations of VLAN IDs, PoE status, and link speed. In this case, it revealed that the port was not passing all expected VLANs—something I wouldn’t have caught without hands-on testing.

Whether you’re onboarding new equipment, troubleshooting an outage, or verifying changes in your network, taking the time to test switch configurations with a dedicated tool like the LinkRunner gives you confidence that your infrastructure is behaving exactly as designed. It helps prevent downstream issues and provides documented proof that your network changes were verified in the field, not just in theory.

Friday Freebie - 500 hours of Cybrary & Space Summit Conference

 Cybrary has launched a significant initiative to address the global cybersecurity skills shortage by offering over 500 hours of premium training content for free through its "Cybrary Free Access" program. This move aims to bridge the gap between the high demand for cybersecurity professionals and the limited availability of accessible, high-quality training resources. The free content includes a range of courses, labs, and certification preparation materials designed to equip learners with the necessary skills to enter and advance in the cybersecurity field. (cybrary.it, cybrary.it)

The program caters to individuals at various stages of their cybersecurity careers. Beginners can benefit from foundational courses that introduce key concepts and practical skills, providing a clear starting point for those new to the industry. For those preparing for certifications, Cybrary offers access to industry-recognized certification prep courses, helping learners to not only pass exams but also understand the underlying principles required for real-world application. Advanced practitioners can explore specialized content, including courses on threat actor campaigns and common vulnerabilities, to stay updated on the latest threats and enhance their defensive strategies. (cybrary.it)

Cybrary's initiative addresses the challenges faced by aspiring and current cybersecurity professionals, such as the lack of affordable, comprehensive, and up-to-date training resources. By providing free access to a vast array of high-quality content, Cybrary empowers individuals to develop the skills needed to meet the evolving demands of the cybersecurity landscape. This effort not only supports personal career growth but also contributes to strengthening the overall cybersecurity workforce.

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Do Unmanaged Switches Break Trunk Ports? Lab Testing the Myth

 

There's a long-circulated myth in networking circles that plugging an unmanaged switch into a trunk port will "break" the network or disrupt VLAN configurations. To test this claim, I set up a lab environment using 2 #Ubiquiti EdgeSwitches configured with an active trunk port, a #TP-Link unmanaged switch, and my trusted #NetAlly LinkRunner to test connectivity. The goal was to see whether the unmanaged switch caused any real-world issues when connected to a trunk, or if this was just another piece of network folklore.

During testing, I connected the TP-Link unmanaged switch directly to an 802.1Q trunk port on the EdgeSwitch. Using the NetAlly LinkRunner, I monitored what VLANs were being received and whether DHCP responses were appropriately tagged. As expected, the unmanaged switch passed all traffic it received, treating the VLAN tags as opaque data. Devices behind the unmanaged switch only saw the native VLAN unless manually configured otherwise, but at no point did the switch “break” the trunk or interfere with tagged VLANs upstream. The trunk port continued functioning as designed, and VLAN isolation was preserved.

This test clearly demonstrates that unmanaged switches don’t inherently “break” trunk ports — they simply don’t interpret VLAN tags. The risk isn’t in network failure, but in misconfiguration or misunderstanding. If you plug a device expecting VLAN 88 into an unmanaged switch that's connected to a trunk with VLAN 1 as native, it won't behave as expected. But that's a design oversight, not a hardware failure. 

My test confirms: unmanaged switches won’t crash your trunk ports — they just need to be used wisely.

What Happens When IPs Run Out? Why You Should Test Your Network Gear to Find Out

Understanding how your network equipment behaves when it runs out of IP addresses is critical for preventing service disruptions. In a dynamic environment—especially one that uses DHCP—it's not uncommon to exhaust a pool of IPs due to misconfiguration, long lease times, or unexpected device growth. In this blog post, I share a video where I put my own equipment to the test, intentionally running out of available IPs and using both Wireshark and the device logs to observe what happens behind the scenes. The results offer valuable insight into how your tools respond under pressure—and where potential failure points might lie.

Wireshark is a powerful ally during this kind of testing. By capturing the packet exchange between devices trying to obtain an IP and the DHCP server’s responses (or lack thereof), you can see the exact sequence of discovery, request, or any failures. This helps identify whether clients simply stop trying, whether they send repeated requests, or whether the server gives any clues about what’s going wrong. In my test, Wireshark confirmed DHCP requests were being made but no responses were coming back once the pool was depleted—a clear indicator of exhausted resources.

Logs from the equipment itself provided a second layer of confirmation. My router log showed a DHCP message. Together, the packet data and device logs painted a full picture of what went wrong and how long it took to recover once addresses became available again. Testing like this helps network technicians preempt issues in real deployments and refine their monitoring and alerting setups. Don’t wait until a user reports connectivity problems—simulate them, study the response, and be ready.

some of the gear you see

NetAlly Linkrunner 

https://amzn.to/4ls8Rrh

Ubiquiti EdgeRouter 4 (ER-4)

https://amzn.to/4en9sIs

Ubiquiti EdgeSwitch 8, 8-Port Managed PoE+ Gigabit Switch

https://amzn.to/45HOYrK