Current frustration...

deanwebb · January 30, 2020, 08:14:13 AM

Yeah... sales always seems to think it can get away with underselling services. Then the customer has a higher risk of not renewing because the company failed to deliver on what it promised.

Otanx · January 30, 2020, 11:41:00 AM

Last few days have been fun. Leadership has been out from DC. They are trying to take care of some of the folks who were impacted. I have heard three different rumors on why the contract was revoked last minute. All sound plausible. Now back to work for another year. Then we get to do this all again.

-Otanx

config t · January 31, 2020, 12:31:36 AM

Quote from: Otanx on January 30, 2020, 11:41:00 AM
Last few days have been fun. Leadership has been out from DC. They are trying to take care of some of the folks who were impacted. I have heard three different rumors on why the contract was revoked last minute. All sound plausible. Now back to work for another year. Then we get to do this all again.

-Otanx

Steady as she goes!

Quote from: ristau5741 on January 30, 2020, 06:04:11 AM

you telling me, last contract turnover the new win thought they could do the job of 5 with 2.. they only put out 2 offers, now in our second year, we are up to 7.

My PM said that the group that bids contracts are not bean counters, their job is to win the contract, and it's up to finance to figure out how to make a profit.

That's precisely why I'm having to keep my customer's network on life support while I tend to my other duties. Sometimes I am busier than a two-pecker billygoat but I will be working with these guys for the next 2-3 years so I don't mind building up the goodwill now.

In this case they still had the slot but they bid the contract so low that they couldn't afford to fulfill the requirement. They BS'd about hiring a network guy several times over the last two months but I think they actually did this time. They alternate between calling it a Network Engineer, Network Architect, and Network Engineer Support.

I don't care what they call it as long as he knows how to config t and doesn't just sit around. There is a ton of work to do.

icecream-guy · January 31, 2020, 05:48:13 AM

Quote from: config t on January 31, 2020, 12:31:36 AM
I am busier than a two-pecker billygoat

LOL, that better than, "feeling like an octopus and getting pulled in 8 different directions at once".

deanwebb · January 31, 2020, 09:17:54 AM

Quote from: ristau5741 on January 31, 2020, 05:48:13 AM
Quote from: config t on January 31, 2020, 12:31:36 AM
I am busier than a two-pecker billygoat

LOL, that better than, "feeling like an octopus and getting pulled in 8 different directions at once".

They got me goin' nine ways to Sunday!

config t · February 05, 2020, 11:46:52 PM

Another contractor who knows without a doubt that his devices aren't causing the problem and won't even log in to look at log files or configurations. This time it's a VTC bridge.

Why do people behave this way? Is it to conceal incompetence? Laziness? Arrogance? I need answers

icecream-guy · February 06, 2020, 05:55:19 AM

Quote from: config t on February 05, 2020, 11:46:52 PM
Another contractor who knows without a doubt that his devices aren't causing the problem and won't even log in to look at log files or configurations. This time it's a VTC bridge.

Why do people behave this way? Is it to conceal incompetence? Laziness? Arrogance? I need answers

that ain't right, we _always_ have to look into everything, to prove it is not us, otherwise the finger gets pointed directly at us.
so rule everything else out, and then go back to the contractor and point that finger.

deanwebb · February 06, 2020, 10:12:57 AM

Could very well be incompetence. The less he looks at stuff, the less chance he has of being shown up as a paper tiger.

Otanx · May 06, 2020, 05:07:30 PM

Minor frustration, but if you use the management interface on Cisco IOS you can't use the default "tacacs+" group for authentication. The management port is in a VRF, and so you have to define a new aaa group and then tell that group to use that VRF. You can not change the default "tacacs+" group to use a VRF. 99.9% of my gear is in-band, and it just works. For our lab we are linking it to auth and couldn't get it to work. We use the management port so we can access the lab from prod, but still keep it separate. Now either my lab has a one off authentication configuration, or I need to update production to use aaa groups.

-Otanx

icecream-guy · May 07, 2020, 08:13:08 AM

If I remember correctly from my MPLS studies, the preference would be to have the management in the global routing table and all the customer data in VRF

Otanx · May 07, 2020, 08:55:08 AM

Quote from: ristau5741 on May 07, 2020, 08:13:08 AM
If I remember correctly from my MPLS studies, the preference would be to have the management in the global routing table and all the customer data in VRF

That is how I would normally do it. However, Cisco doesn't let you take the management interface out of the "Mgmt-vrf". So if you use the physical management port on the device you are stuck using that VRF for management along with all the other things that go with it. I also found out about "vrf-also" on the VTY ACL command.

-Otanx

config t · May 22, 2020, 12:42:49 AM

Most of my frustration about having stuff piled on me when the engineer left is gone. It happened again this week when the operations chief left. At this rate I'm going to be the last man standing soon. That's pretty much how deployed environments work though. In a year or two when everyone has rotated out and it's all new folks I will be the old hand.

We finally got a new guy about 2 months ago. FNG isn't green but he's still timid so I like to throw operations stuff at him and give him opportunities to take the lead on things. I don't let him flounder though, if I see him struggling I jump in and help out.

I think it came down to recognizing the opportunity. Instead of being pigeon-holed into one role I get to do everything. WAN, LAN, FW, tactical networks and project work. By the time I move on I will be a much more well-rounded network professional.

I still get paid the same though.

deanwebb · May 22, 2020, 10:26:43 AM

Meanwhile, I'm dealing with a customer canceling meetings next week, so I'm dealing with major bench time. Sigh.

Otanx · May 28, 2020, 01:02:26 PM

If a subnet is setup for DHCP, and you are told it is using DHCP, and are given directions on how to use DHCP, and given directions on creating reservations in DHCP even if your system can't do DHCP, and you just set a static IP on a system without putting it in DHCP because DHCP is too much work. I will stomp on your system when I try to deploy a new system. I will not be sorry. I will send out an IT wide email explaining why setting DHCP reservations for static IPs when that IP is inside a DHCP scope is important, and use your system as an example.

That is all. I feel better now.

-Otanx

deanwebb · May 28, 2020, 02:21:42 PM

Quote from: Otanx on May 28, 2020, 01:02:26 PM
If a subnet is setup for DHCP, and you are told it is using DHCP, and are given directions on how to use DHCP, and given directions on creating reservations in DHCP even if your system can't do DHCP, and you just set a static IP on a system without putting it in DHCP because DHCP is too much work. I will stomp on your system when I try to deploy a new system. I will not be sorry. I will send out an IT wide email explaining why setting DHCP reservations for static IPs when that IP is inside a DHCP scope is important, and use your system as an example.

That is all. I feel better now.

-Otanx

But I use DHCP or whatever you're talking about! The instructions said I'd get an IP address from the router!