It's Not the Firewall

Started by deanwebb, February 07, 2015, 05:29:02 PM

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deanwebb

February 07, 2015, 05:29:02 PM
http://youtu.be/QSqV72CPRkA

For you young 'uns out there, here's how to explain why it's not the firewall.

:awesome:
Take a baseball bat and trash all the routers, shout out "IT'S A NETWORK PROBLEM NOW, SUCKERS!" and then peel out of the parking lot in your Ferrari.
"The world could perish if people only worked on things that were easy to handle." -- Vladimir Savchenko
Вопросы есть? Вопросов нет! | BCEB: Belkin Certified Expert Baffler | "Plan B is Plan A with an element of panic." -- John Clarke
Accounting is architecture, remember that!
Air gaps are high-latency Internet connections.

Seittit

#1
February 08, 2015, 01:32:42 PM
I get to manage both network and firewall, so I have no one to blame but myself when *ish breaks

deanwebb

#2
February 08, 2015, 07:05:29 PM
Well, at least you'll wear the correct hat when you fix it. :mrgreen:
Take a baseball bat and trash all the routers, shout out "IT'S A NETWORK PROBLEM NOW, SUCKERS!" and then peel out of the parking lot in your Ferrari.
"The world could perish if people only worked on things that were easy to handle." -- Vladimir Savchenko
Вопросы есть? Вопросов нет! | BCEB: Belkin Certified Expert Baffler | "Plan B is Plan A with an element of panic." -- John Clarke
Accounting is architecture, remember that!
Air gaps are high-latency Internet connections.

Otanx

#3
February 09, 2015, 09:44:45 AM
On the whiteboard outside my cube is a game of "It wasn't the network" The rules are simple. Someone calls, and says the network is broken. Whoever on the team shows the problem was not the network gets a point. At the end of the game the person with the fewest points buys the team lunch. I am currently in last place mainly because I don't deal with day to day stuff very much. This contest ends on Valentines day so not much time to move up. We will then come up with a new contest. Maybe a log hunt game. Whoever finds and fixes the most network problems that were not reported by another group wins. I should be able to win that one.

-Otanx

config t

#4
March 01, 2015, 05:48:48 AM

Great video.

Quote from: Otanx on February 09, 2015, 09:44:45 AM
On the whiteboard outside my cube is a game of "It wasn't the network" The rules are simple. Someone calls, and says the network is broken. Whoever on the team shows the problem was not the network gets a point. At the end of the game the person with the fewest points buys the team lunch.

We are starting this when I get back from vacation haha.
:matrix:

Please don't mistake my experience for intelligence.

javentre

#5
March 01, 2015, 09:35:34 AM Last Edit: March 01, 2015, 09:47:33 AM by javentre
Having worked in a number of environments with less than honest and forthcoming coworkers, I understand why people blame the network and firewalls.

When FW rule/policy issues are magically fixed after people complain for the 100th time, and no one fesses up to making a change, it breeds a sub-optimal environment where you're even more silo'd and distrusting of other teams.

The same applies to maintenance that is performed, but isn't posted for other teams knowledge.  Then things go wrong at 9PM, you spend hours trying to figure out what changed, only to find out someone did maintenance (like a code upgrade) and it's been broken ever since.

Teams need to be forthcoming with all information, and not try to hoard over it like their job depends on it. 

Your job security comes from your competency, how well you work with others, and your attitude - not how well you hide stuff and cover up mistakes.
[url="http://networking.ventrefamily.com"]http://networking.ventrefamily.com[/url]

deanwebb

#6
March 02, 2015, 09:38:42 AM
Quote from: javentre on March 01, 2015, 09:35:34 AM
Your job security comes from your competency, how well you work with others, and your attitude - not how well you hide stuff and cover up mistakes.

ABSOLUTELY. Make a mistake, confess it immediately. Yes, you will be forever associated with the title of "The guy that ___________", but you keep your job. Besides, everyone else there is some other guy that _______________, so it's a rite of passage. Own those mistakes, learn from them, let others know if they're impacted, and your recovery will be complete.

Take a baseball bat and trash all the routers, shout out "IT'S A NETWORK PROBLEM NOW, SUCKERS!" and then peel out of the parking lot in your Ferrari.
"The world could perish if people only worked on things that were easy to handle." -- Vladimir Savchenko
Вопросы есть? Вопросов нет! | BCEB: Belkin Certified Expert Baffler | "Plan B is Plan A with an element of panic." -- John Clarke
Accounting is architecture, remember that!
Air gaps are high-latency Internet connections.

killabee

#7
March 02, 2015, 01:45:22 PM
How do you fix this problem? How do you change the culture?

It sounds like a leadership/management problem to me.

javentre

#8
March 02, 2015, 01:47:47 PM
IME:  It's generally systemic within that organizational unit, where MOST of them behave the same way and it breeds upon itself, and it's not fixable with the current staff.
[url="http://networking.ventrefamily.com"]http://networking.ventrefamily.com[/url]

config t

#9
March 03, 2015, 08:45:59 AM
Quote from: deanwebb on March 02, 2015, 09:38:42 AM
Quote from: javentre on March 01, 2015, 09:35:34 AM
Your job security comes from your competency, how well you work with others, and your attitude - not how well you hide stuff and cover up mistakes.

ABSOLUTELY. Make a mistake, confess it immediately. Yes, you will be forever associated with the title of "The guy that ___________", but you keep your job. Besides, everyone else there is some other guy that _______________, so it's a rite of passage. Own those mistakes, learn from them, let others know if they're impacted, and your recovery will be complete.

I second all of this and the other things javentre said. If you $#%! up, fess up. It happens.

Reminds me of the time someone at tier 3 decided to do maintenance on a server servicing dot1x without telling anyone and I had over 1000 workstations no longer authenticating for three hours. Never heard a word about it after the fact. Tier 3 networks swore up and down it was spanning tree and I must have had a link flap because even they had no idea it happened. Also, seriously? Spanning tree? A link flap?  :wall:

A simple heads up phone call would have been awesome.
:matrix:

Please don't mistake my experience for intelligence.

deanwebb

#10
March 03, 2015, 10:51:03 AM
And, to be honest, it's not the firewall. :)

:notthefirewall:

^ New smiley in the popups
Take a baseball bat and trash all the routers, shout out "IT'S A NETWORK PROBLEM NOW, SUCKERS!" and then peel out of the parking lot in your Ferrari.
"The world could perish if people only worked on things that were easy to handle." -- Vladimir Savchenko
Вопросы есть? Вопросов нет! | BCEB: Belkin Certified Expert Baffler | "Plan B is Plan A with an element of panic." -- John Clarke
Accounting is architecture, remember that!
Air gaps are high-latency Internet connections.

Fred

#11
March 12, 2015, 09:14:48 PM
We're rolling out firewalls in interior zones between servers, so in our case, right now, it usually is the firewall.

icecream-guy

#12
March 13, 2015, 09:23:34 AM
Quote from: Fred on March 12, 2015, 09:14:48 PM
We're rolling out firewalls in interior zones between servers, so in our case, right now, it usually is the firewall.

hopefully not Microsoft servers...
:professorcat:

My Moral Fibers have been cut.
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