Posted on 04/16/2013 1:42:32 PM PDT by dangerdoc
Question for network guys.
I needed another LAN connection, and there are no more installed at my site. I called the lan guy, they told me I needed to call out of state to the corporate headquarter to get an order and I can expect it in 6 weeks. I mentioned getting buying a switch and using it while we are waiting and he about had a cow. He said I could bring down the entire corporate network.
Is this even posible? If it is, what is to keep somebody from wandering around with a LAN switch and randomly bringing down networks at any unsecure LAN plug?
Then use a hub (/s)
What ya got to lose?
Thrift shops!
In my former job, this is the point where the sysadmins apply the LART[1].
We had some weasel hang a linux box off an open CAT5 connection and then started assigining random IP addresses to the thing.
First users’ prints spewed into oblivion. An hour later the helpdesk got dozens of calls because people couldn’t log in. Half an hour after that, thousands of web pages vanished. Sysadmins really hate finding random equipment attached to the network.
Lucky for you, your sysadmin was never a BOFH.
Hope this helps,
P.
[1] If you have to ask...
You shouldn’t have access to the LAN infrastructure in the first place. If you plugged a lan switch into your local desktop port, it would either work or it wouldn’t, depending on if it’s MAC address/IP restricted.
Recently, I dealt with a user whose IT nickname was "Veruca" (if you've seen Willy Wonka, you know the character. If not, google is your friend....). I was removing an old server from the data center when I ran into her in the hall.
She asked, "What's that?". Inwardly wincing, I said "An old server, we're removing it and putting it in storage."
She said, "Well, is it more powerful than the desktop that I have? It's certainly BIGGER!" "I suppose so."
She said, "Well, I want it. If it's faster, I want it. And don't give me an argument like last time, or I'm going to Alan!" Alan is the CIO, he knows that we refer to her as "Veruca", and why. She's gone over my head so many times that I need a lifejacket to go into her office....
Fair enough. I set up the server in her office that evening after she left (she doesn't like us working on her stuff during the day because she does IMPORTANT things, and my time after 5:00 isn't important...), and emailed her asking to schedule a time to move all of her data over to the new equipment. I also turned the server on, and set the BIOS so that it couldn't be powered off, unless it was unplugged.
At this point, it should be noted that the server in question is about the size of a small file cabinet, and runs loud enough to make normal conversation difficult, if not impossible.
Strangely enough, she decided not to keep it. Took me a couple of days to get around to picking it up, though. :-)
Users like "Veruca" are the exception, not the norm. Thankfully. But they keep us from working with the people that we'd really like to see and help, like yourself. ;-)
Good luck with your IT guys!
Thrift shops!
Right next to the pressure cookers.
What you need is your own 4G wireless internet hotspot... that way you can run your own pirate WIFI network and bypass all that corporate network baloney. No reason to let your eBay’in be dependent on those IT jackboots. </big-grin>
The better the network the more likely it will cause a shutdown. The most likely result would be your port being turned off. It would be poor topological design to interconnect managed switches with unmanned switches. Depending on the level of security on your network it could trigger an attack alert that could cause a forced shutdown of your network. Just in case while most smoke from electronic failures tends to white in nature. This is not a good sign. Networks devices run on smoke and tiny mirrors and once the smoke is let out you can’t get it back in and the device fails.
Dunno ‘bout that, but my daughter’s iPad can hog the entire bandwidth of the wireless router, all by itself.
Geez, I hate Apple.
What does he know that you obviously don't?
Promotions and hero status were given to people who bucked the norm and did what they had to do...
Today is your day, seize it and rejoice!
I hear tell in the whispering winds that it is a close relative of the Clue-by-Four... ;-)
Yeah - that’s the ticket. I could build the hub right into the pressure cooker. Talk about a weapon of mass destruction!
Once I walked past their Cube Farm and there was an old Solaris propped up against the door, holding it open. Yup, a Sun Doorstop.
(And, sad to say, I didn’t need google to know the character.)
I’d have taken a sadistic pleasure in setting her up with her shiny new ‘puter. Pity she wouldn’t keep it. Meanwhile, I need to get my guy to fix the mounts in a Solaris 10 server because I have megabytes where I need 10’s of gigabytes. {sigh} Everything I have is “legacy” (three HPUX machines, two with 10.20) and the guy’s scared to death of me because I’m always coming to him asking for a fix I know is going to suck. I can’t replace them because 1) the software won’t run on Linux and 2) they are controllers, driving parametric testers. They’re Agilent, so even the resistors are proprietary.
I wonder why my #34 got pulled?
I also manage SAN storage. I'm Sympathetic to both you, and your admin.
Your admin, because the standard response to "How much room do you need?" is "Well, I'll take everything you have." Installation guidelines are never, ever right, either.... Last one I dealt with was "200 GB", for an app that might have needed a gig or two at the most. IT guys likely write the specs. :-)
And, I'm sympathetic to you, because your admin, after hearing this same story 10 dozen times, is like..."Suuuuuure, you need 50 GB. I'll give you 64 K, get back to me when it's filled up."
I've done this way too long. Hope that my kids don't choose IT as a career.
You should call your IT guy. Put in a ticket.
If I can figure out what bucket to put it in. These IT guys have banned me for asking them stuff, so I’m a little gun shy. I wonder shat it was that got them mad at me (again).
Yes, it can. You should definitely listen to your IT guy.
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