Random Ideas

So, I keep running into ideas for new stories.  The most recent idea (and it’s an idea that I’ve had before, but the specifics have changed).  The first time I had the idea, I was exploring the Cult of the Damned in World of Warcraft.  Now, I’ve been playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the idea is necromancers.  Essentially, the idea is to take a group of friends.  Most end up becoming adventurers.  The last ends up becoming a necromancer.  The final result is one side versus the other.  But the main thought is the person getting drawn into necromancy through seduction and misrepresentation.  And by the time the person realizes necromancers are bad, they’ve gone too far and can’t go back. 

It’s a distinctly Christian idea in the post-Jesus US era that would create such an idea.  It’s easy to combine incorrect theology (unforgiveable sin) with flawed characters.  I think I realized in my writing, I needed to quit making characters Superman.  Too often, the people themselves only have externalized problems as opposed to real character flaws.  Taking those flaws and blowing them out of proportion makes for a more interesting character. 

In many ways, the world I think of is two different worlds.  One is midevil and fits somewhere between Berserk, Oblivion, and Skyrim.  The other is future modern and is closer to the worlds described by William Gibson and Neal Stephenson.  I’ve contemplated creating a giant, all encompassing arc that would merge the two worlds together in some fashion that would be interesting and epic.  But then I have to finish the other two stories I have half-finished.   Or I could just merge it all together in one and make something akin to Shadowrun.  Which I suppose would work pretty well if I didn’t make it too crazy.

New Computer, Old Computer

So, my wife replaced her computer with a Windows 8 machine this Christmas.  It was time for an upgrade for her, as the old computer was slow and clunky.  It also seems like the hard drive is beginning to go out.  It is aged and running Windows XP to boot.

So what do I do with an old but working computer?  Install Apache Tomcat and MySQL.  Seems like a good idea to me.  I’ve always contemplated large, data-minable information gathe­ring in a system.  Really, the goal of any good artificial intelligence is to understand end result and desire.  In order to do that, one must first have a collection of data to examine to determine motive.

Though I’m inclined to think there would be a disconnect between what people say their objectives are and what their actions are.  That disconnect is likely to cause many problems as the system anticipates based on action, not on thought.  From there, the subject would likely grow annoyed at the system because “it doesn’t do what I want”.  But in reality, it does.

I could be right, and I could be wrong.  Who knows.

On a separate note, I’m on track to finish the Active Directory book in the next three days or so.  My estimations say I’ll finish by January 5^th.  I think that’s because my average has been 13 pages every 2.4 days.  Which shows I haven’t quite developed the level of reading “habit” I want.  If I had developed that habit, the average would have been one day.  But it is not.  So the spreadsheet says I’m going to finish by January 5^th, even though I’m likely to finish by January 1^st.  Learn to measure everything, and then determine where reality meets desire. 

I’m anticipating a religious thoughts sometime this week.  Colossians 2:16-17 and 20-23 struck me very deeply in church this morning.  I think there’s something big in there.  I just have to spend a bit of time meditating on it.  I think I’ve been right a long time, I just couldn’t prove it.  And by prove, I mean quote specific Biblical passages in agreement with I think.

Decisions not made

I’ve been meaning to look into a book called The Lieutenant Don’t Know about a Marine motor transport lieutenant in Afghanistan.  Being cross trained in infantry (0311) and motor transport (3531) I understand a little bit about both.  I spent most of my time as motor-t.   If asked today, I’d say I have two MOS, and there’s a funny story behind all of that.  It might be a little funny (for a Marine) and it might be a little strange (to a person other than a Marine). 

Anyways, I was thinking about that statement.  The Lieutenant don’t know.  But I was thinking about it in terms of transition from military to civilian.  Because the two worlds are different and require different skillsets, the transition can be hard on many people.  One of the questions I’ve taken to asking former Marines why they are doing something, the statement is always the same.

Marine, why are we attacking this hill?

It’s a simple question, but shows the disparity of the officer/non-com look at the world.  The officer thinks of why.  The NCO comes up with the how.  The enlisted man performs the how.  As enlisted and NCO, we are always concerned with performing actions.  As a matter of fact, we get very good at performing actions.  Some are useful.  Some are pointless.  But we are very good at executing other peoples’ plans. 

I’ve seen many situations in which a Marine would be asked, “why are you doing that?” And the answer would be “because someone in charge of me told me to”.  I suppose that’s a perfectly good answer for a while. 

The only problem with this mindset is that eventually the person making the decisions gets killed.  So “because I was told” becomes the guy in charge.  Or the converse situation is the person leaves the military.  Then, the leadership position has swapped again.  The commanding officer might as well have gotten killed.  Now, the guy who answered “because I was told” now has to make decisions in their own life.  And they’ve never thought of the question “why should I attack this hill?”

And then, the blind begins to lead the blind.  The success in the military becomes a collection of potential failures and half measures.  All because the person never figured out where they wanted to be.

The problem really narrows down to what each individual needs to know.  The lieutenant needs to know the job of the private and the private needs to know the job of the lieutenant.  Everyone must be versed in every single other job.  Because eventually, you end up in charge.  

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

That is all.  Carry on with the plan of the day.

Christmas week

After a week of barely keeping up, I’m now eating lunch, wondering what to do.  There are so many possibilities that could be done.  What should one do with a good 45 minutes of free time (assuming it stays free).

About halfway through writing that sentence, my brain kicked back. 

“Sure, you have lots of possibilities.  But you haven’t done a darn thing that should be doing.” 

So, after listening to my brain I’m back to reading about Active Directory Group Policy configuration.  I think I only have a bit more than 100 pages left on that book before going towards a Security+ book.  From there, it’s on to the stuff that is where I’d want to be in couple of years.  Learning stuff is great, but it’s best to go towards learning stuff to accomplish a task.  And with this, there is a task at hand and a plan.  I’ve just got to slug through all the stuff that is necessary but boring. 

That being said, I’m probably going to try and finish both books during my vacation.  I’m taking a week off after Christmas, so hopefully I’ll be finished with both.  I might actually come back from the vacation with good ideas.  Maybe.  I already have an idea of what needs to be done, I just have to end up doing it. 

As a general thought, it’s hard to get setup to be out of the office for a week (or more).  Really, I’ll be gone for about 7 work days.  That’s just crazy for me.  The last time I took that much time off, I had just had my third child. 

Come to think of it, that was March.  Wow, does time fly.  

Monday morning, a week later

A mental conversation

“It would be cool if I could do that.” says part A

“What makes you think you can’t?” says part B.

“Uhhh…”

“Look,” says part B, explaining the situation to his younger, less intelligent sibling.  “You would know how to do that if you studied to do it.  You’ve already got a plan on how to figure all that out.  Now, you need to quit being a lazy bum and do the work.”

Yes, such conversations do run through my head on occasion.

I think it narrows down to knowing that your thinking controls your actions.  If thinking controls your actions, then you need to think in the proper manner.  Your brain has to understand that action needs to be done.  Your brain needs to get the occasional pep talk about what you have already planned to do.

I wrote that a week ago.  It didn’t ever go anywhere from there.  I’m willing to abandon it where it was. 

Last week was an incredibly off week.  This week is Christmas.  After that is vacation.  We’ll see what the future holds for me.  Right now, I think I’ll leave it with this.    

Friday post

On call can be one of the most hellish weeks.  Though finally moving to hourly, it can also be one of the most lucrative.  If I work my from 8a-5p with a one hour lunch break, I'll be up to 61.5 hours for the week.  I say lucrative, because 21 hours of overtime almost gets me to the point of a double paycheck.

After years of being on salary, I would not go back. Salary is sold on ridiculous lie.  The lie is the person on salary will get paid more even though they don't work 40 hours that week.  I'm not sure that ever happened in the time I was on salary.  It was always 45 hours plus.  So my hourly rate was tanking like a mad man every minute I stuck around.  Now, I feel like I'm being valued with my time.

When I was on salary, for three or four months I worked a week of 70 plus hours one a month.  If I were to do that now, the pay would be astronomical.   Since I've been keeping track this year, the most I've hit is 67.5 hours in a week.   And the pay check was awesome.

Introduction to Networks ch 6

Introduction to Networks Chapter 6

Quiz 

     How does the network layer use the MTU value?

     A) The MTU is passed to the network layer by the data link layer.

     What are 2 functions that are provided by the network layer?

     1) providing end devices with a unique network identifier

     2) directing data packets to destination hosts on other networks

     During the boot process, in what memory location will the router bootstrap program look for the IOS image if a TFTP server is not used?  

     A) flash

          

     When transporting data from real-time applications, such as streaming audio and video, which field in the IPv6 header can be used to inform the routers and switches to maintain the same path for the packets in the same conversation

     A) Flow Label

     Within a production network, what is the purpose of configuring a switch with a default gateway address?

     A) The default gateway address is used to forward packets originating from the switch to remote networks.

Chapter 6 Notes

routing - communication between networks

Network Layer

     Provides services to allow end devices to exchange data across the network

     -OSI Layer 3

     -4 basic processes

          -Addressing (end devices)

               end device with configured IP is called a host

          -Encapsulation

               Receives PDU from transport layer.  Adds header.   Now called a Packet

          -Routing - services to direct packets to a destination host on another network

               -each route the packet takes to reach the destination is called a hop

          -Deencapsulation - process of removing headers from lower layers

               

     Operates without knowing/caring of the data being carried

     Media/Path is irrelevant.  Satelite, wireless, cable modem, serial.. doesn't matter

Network Layer protocols

     IPv4

     IPv6

 Characteristics of IP protocols    

     -low overhead

     -connectionless

     -best effort (unreliable) 

     -media independant

     Connectionless - no dedicated end to end connection created before sending.  Kind of like mail.

          -send at any time

          -unaware of the state of the recipient

          -unaware if the receiver can understand the data 

          -no error correction

          -no guarantee packets will arrive in order

Best Effort Delivery

     can't recover from failed/corrupt packets

     bad packets are dropped

     trouble with transmission handled by upper layers if the layer desires

     

Media Independent

     Data link layer responsible for transmitting over media.

     maximum size packet that can be sent is the MTU (maxium transmission unit)

          -data link layer passes the MTU value up to the network layer

          -network layer uses information to determine packet size

          -breaks packets to  fit the MTU.   

          -Fragmentation is necessary to split packet size so it will fit on a device with a smaller MTU

IPv4 Packet

     -In use since 1983

     Packet has 2 parts

          1) IP header

               Significant portions of the header

               -Version - packet version.  Constant at 0100

               -Differentiated services (formerly Type of Service) - used for QoS.   1st 6 bits used by QoS.  last 2 bits used to prevent dropping

               -TTL (Time to Live) 8 bit value to limit the lifetime of the packet.  Reduced at each hop.   If hits 0, router discards packet and returns ICMP Time Exceeded message to the source IP address

               -Protocol - indicates data payload

               -Source IP address

               -Destination IP address

               

          2) Payload

          Remaining fields of the IPv4 header

          -Internet Header Length (IHL) - 4 bit value identifying the number of 32 bit words in the header

          -total length - defines entire packet size, including header and data

          -header checksum - used for error checking IP header.  If values do not match, packet is discarded

          If the packet is fragmented, other fields are used to keep track of the data

          -Identification - unique identifier of a fragment

          -flags - identifies how a packet is fragmented

          -fragment offset - identifies the order in which to place the packet when it arrives at the destination

          

IPv6 packet

     Limitations of IPv4

     -IP address depletion   - only 4 billion available IP addresses.  Quickly running out due to always-on connections

     -Internet Routing Table Expansion - more networks, more routes, more waiting

     -Lack of end-to-end connectivity - Troublesome when NAT and PAT are used.  

     Encapsulating

          -simplification of the IPv6 header

          IPv4 had 20 octets and 12 basic header fields

          IPv6 has 40 octets and 8 basic header fields

          advantages over IPv4

               -better routing efficiency for performance and forwarding rate

               -no requirement for processing checksums

               -simplified and more efficient extension header mechanisms

               -flow label field for per-flow processing with no need to dencapsulate to identify various traffic flows

          IPv6 packet header

               -Version- 4 bit binary.  Constantly set to 0110

               -Traffic Class - equivelant of the differentiaed services field

               -flow label     - used to inform routers and switches to maintain the same path for packet flow so that packets are not reordered

               -payload length

               -next header - equivelent of the IPv4 protocol field.  indicates data being carried

               -hop limit

               -source address

               -destination address

          IPv6 addresses

          -128 bit address

          -colons separate entries into a series of 16-bit hexadecimal blocks

          

Routing

     How a host routes

          Host forwarding decision

               hosts can send a packet to ...

               -itself

               -local host

               -remote host

               local host vs remote host is based on IP address and subnet mask comparison between sender and receiver

               devices beyond the local network segment referred to as remote hosts

     

         

          Default Gateway

               the device that routes traffic from the local network to devices on remote networks

               

               if a host is sending to remote network, it sends to default gateway

               default gateway maintains a routing table 

                    -data file in RAM that stores route information from directly connected networks

                    -also knows remote networks the device has learned

                    

               host must maintain a local routing table to ensure proper delivery

               hosts routing table typically contains of...

               -direct connection

               -local network route

               -local default route

               default route only used to connect outside of the local network

IPv4 routing

               

          If a host wants to send a packet inside the local network

          1) consult the IPv4 route table

          2) match the destination IP address and identify it as being in the same network

          3) send the packet using the local interface

          If a host wants to send a packet outside the local network

          1) consult the IPv4 route table

          2) find there is no exact match for the destination IP address

          3) choose the local default route to pick the forwarding location

          4)  send the packet to the gateway using the local interface

          

IPv6 routing

          

          View routing table in Windows with netstat -r or route print

          If - lists the interface numbers from the interface list

          metric - lists the cost of each route to a destination.  Lower numbers are preferred routes

          network destination - lists the reachable networks

          gateway  - lits the address used by local host to forward outside the network

     ::/0 - IPv6 equivalent of the local default route

     ::1/128  - IPv6 equivalent of the loop back address

     200::/32 - global unicast network prefix

      fe80::/64 local link network route address;  represents all computers in the local network

      ff00::/8     multicast address

     no broadcast addresses in IPv6

Router Routing Tables

     routers store information about 

          directly connected routes

          -known from interfaces physically plugged into the router

          

          remote routes

          -routes that come from other routers.  

          -manually configured  or dynamically configured through the device learning from other routers

          routing table of a router

          -destination network

          -metric associated with the destination

          -gateway to get to the destination

          show ip route

          when a packet arrives at the router, the router examines the routing table.  if the destination network matches a route in the routing table, the router forwards the packet to that route

          if multiple paths to the same location, then lowest metric wins

     directly connected routing table entries

          routers have 2 rotus after IP address is assigned

          

          route source: - how the route was learned

               C: directly connected

               L - local route

          Destination network and how reached

               identifies the address of the network and how a packet can reach the destination

          outgoing interface

               what interface is used to connect to that network

          routers generally have multiple interfaces configured

               common codes for remote networks

               -S: route was manually created by an admin.  Static route

               -D: learned dynamically using EIGRP

               -O: learned dynamically using OSPF

          remote network routing table entries

               route source- how the route was learned

               destination network - the address of the remote network

               administrative distance - trustworthiness of the route source

               metric - value assigned to reach the remote network.  Lower wins

               next hop - ip address of the next router to forward packets to

               route timestamp - when the route was last heard from

               outgoing interface - physical interface to forward a packet

          next hop address

               address of the device that will process the packet next.

          packets can not be forwarded by the router without a route for the destination network.

          if no route, packet is dropped

          router can be configured with a gateway of last resort if the destination is unknown

          

Routers - 

     a router is a computer

     

     branch - small business, medium business, teleworkes

     WAN - large business

     Service provider - large service providers

     router CPU and OS

     

     Router memory 

          RAM  -  store applications and process including

                    -IOS - copied during bootup

                    -running config

                    -ip routing table

                    -ARP cache

                    -packet buffer

                    routers use DRAM

                    volatile memory and requires continual power to maintain information

                    all content lost when powered down

          ROM

               used to store:

               -bootup instruction

               -basic diagnostic software

               -limited IOS

               firmware embedded on an integrated circuit inside the router

               doesn't lose contents when powered down 

          NVRAM

               used as permanent storage for the startup config file

               doesn't lose contents when powered off

          flash 

               used as permanent storage for IOS and system related fields

          router backplane

               has the following connections

               -console ports

               -aux port

               -LAN interfaces

               -Enhanced high-speed WAN interface card (EHWIC) slot

                    modular enhancement slot.  Different interface, different card

          connecting to a router

               routers interconnect many devices

               connections grouped into two categories

               

               management ports - used to configure/manage/troubleshoot.  not used for packet forwarding

               in-band router interfaces - LAN and WAN interfaces configured with IP addressing to carry traffic

               two interfaces can't belong to the same network

          

router bootup

     bootset files - loaded into RAM when booted

          -IOS image file

          -start config file

     

     router bootup process

          1) perform POST and load the bootstrap program

          2) locate and load the Cisco IOS software

          3) locate and load the startup config file or enter setup mode

          locating/loading config file

               can be saved in NVRAM. 

               if not, can be loaded from a TFTP server

               

         show version 

               CPU and amount of RAM

                    some versions write the amount of ram with XXXX/YYYY.   add those two numbers together

               has config register as 0x2102.    changing to other used for password recovery

          

        general config steps

             1)give hostname

             2) set passwords 

                    -enable

                    -console

                    -VTY

                    -use service password-encryption to encrypt password

               3) setup a banner motd

               4) exit config

               5) save configuration

        configuring interfaces

               1) conf t

               2) interface whatever

               3) ip address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy   where x is IP address, y is subnet mask

               4) description blah

               5) no shutdown

               6) exit config

               7) save

        verify interface configuration

               show ip interface brief

               show ip route

               show interfaces

               show ip interface

default gateway on a switch

     1) interface blah

     2) ip address xxx yyy  (x is IP, y is subnet)

     3) no shutdown

     4) ip default-gateway xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx   (x is IP address)

     

     IP address on a switch is only used to mange the switch

     if you want it accessible from anywhere, it needs a default gateway

Learning and marginalizing

It’s often great theory that gets me to go do certain things.  The end result seems something attainable and desirable.  Often times, I’m not wrong.  But what I’m going against now is both desirable and exceptionally time consuming.  I know what I want.  I’ve wanted it since I first started learning to program back in 1997 or 1998.  Even though the end seems in sight, it’s still a long way to go.  Maybe that’s why I keep playing “it’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll”.   As far as songs go, that one is incredibly accurate. 

I don’t think before I ever contemplated a path towards achievement.  I know I didn’t in my twenties.  Now, in my thirties I have an idea of where I want to go.  I guess the interesting thing is that despite all the technological changes that have taken place in the last 15 years or so, the process towards achievement hasn’t changed.  I suppose some things never do, despite all the achievements.

Really, what I learned out of going through the CCNA material is this: despite technological achievement in learning, it’s still a lot of work.  Despite being able to memorize more or learn more, learning is still a lot of work.  And if you want to learn a decent amount of material, you will be putting in a lot of work.  There is no other option.  There is no easy way.  I can’t remember if it was Star Wars or some version of Star Trek that had students standing in learning bubbles, practicing material and waving their hands like manic crazies.  That might be the future, but such a situation is years away.

I’ve heard frequently about the greatness of technological input and the “race to the top”.  It’s the idea that students are growing smarter and smarter every generation.  The last generation won’t be able to keep up with the learning achievement of the next generation.  But there’s something inherently missing from all of those discussions.  I don’t know what it is, but it’s probably the same thing inherently wrong with the “race to the bottom”.  I find the duality strange that people can discuss both possibilities (students getting dumber and dumber, and students getting smarter and smarter) in the same breath.  So which is it? 

Or are we simply dealing with outliers?  I think that is more likely scenario.  The seconds option is one that I like to think is true.  American society has marginalized male achievement, so after being told for years that our achievements don’t mean anything the average male has given up.  It’s not that female achievement is less or less desirable.  It’s that we’ve spent a lot of time marginalizing specific groups and telling them their work is useless.  So that group is leaving the race, and dropping into things that are easy for them. 

Once again, me talking about thing things I have no empirical research on.  But it makes sense to me.  

Insurance

So, it’s an on-call week.  Generally that means everyone and their dog decides I need to work on some special project for them.  It can make me feel good that I have the interest of so many, but really.  Can’t it all wait until next week when I’m back to peace and patience and not neck deep in a thousand different people yelling at me to fix things yesterday?

Enough of that train of thought.

It’s that time of year for insurance, and it’s strange that I think I’m finally properly insured, or at least close to where I should be.  I’ve got car, renters, health, life, short term disability, and long term disability.  Which makes for expensive bills but decently mitigated risk.  It seems stupid, but I think I’m finally covered to the point where I should be.  Is it expensive?  You bet.  But it’s worth it. 

Do I really want to contemplate to contemplate what would happen if I fell off a ladder and was injured and couldn’t work?  Not really, but I don’t want to be homeless, either.  Sure, it’s expensive but you should deal with getting all of the above if you can.  I reduce a bit of the cost by raising deductibles and elimination periods.  I generally keep two weeks in vacation and cash in the bank, so an elimination period of two weeks is easy on short-term disability. 

Maybe Nial Ferguson was right. Either that, or I need to quit reading so many books.  

But it's hard to not read so many books when it becomes easy to pick and choose the parts that mean a lot and fit together.  I think most of the books I've read in the last two or three years have changed my perspective in some way.   Mostly for the better.  Or at least I'd like to think so.

Google Earth, and other thoughts

I was flipping through Google Earth today, looking at various things.  I remember reading about Chiba from William Gibson, but the images didn’t strike me as what I thought it would be.  I guess street view provides a way at looking at things far away that you normally wouldn’t ever see.  For some reason, Tokyo didn’t strike me as what I thought Tokyo would be.  I don’t know why. 

After not seeing what I wanted to see there, I went and looked at Hong Kong.  I think my mental picture of Japan has always been tied to Hong Kong and Kowloon Walled City.  I think that is what I expected to see.  I’ve been obsessed with urban density for a while, but I don’t think I’ve ever looked at Google Earth and examined areas that seem to be densely populated. 

It makes me think about old wives tales, and other things that we supposedly “know” but aren’t based on any sort of fact.  The tale this year said the winter was supposed to be a “hard” winter.  Thinking about the verbage, I don’t know what that even means.  Maybe a “hard” winter is a long, cold winter?  I don’t know.  It’s hard to describe.  But what we’ve experienced so far does not jive with conventional wisdom.  Short-sleeve weather in December just isn’t normal in this part of the country.  I really expected to be wearing my thermal underwear every day last week, but that wasn’t the case. 

The other thing that I think of is the effectiveness of predictions.  You can predict anything you want, but if you aren’t accurate, then your predictions are worthless. If the predictions don’t match reality, then there’s no point in the prediction.  I’ve often thought of that in regards to global warming, but then I’ve also never seen anyone check the efficacy of predictions made 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago.  Surely people made predictions back then.  I’m inclined to think (based on the equations being chaotic equations) that 5 years is just about the upper maximum of accurate predictions.  But I have no scientific evidence to back that up. 

Jurassic Park talked about chaos theory a lot, without ever accurately defining it.  In chaos theory, the outputs of one equation become the inputs of the next equation.  Because of the nature of the inputs and the possibilities of slight variations, the outputs can vary widely.  For weather, it’s generally accurate to 5 days.  If the time period is any longer, variation causes the predictions to be negatively correlated to accuracy.  In layman’s terms, don’t believe a forecast more than 5 days out.  

Today's Post

I probably should have written this before 10:30 PM the night before.  But then there's that wants to relax and not do anything once I get home.  It's difficult fighting that mental part of oneself, though I'm pretty sure that 's an absolute to succeed in life.  I guess it becomes of a problem of fighting what you think everyone else is doing versus what you happen to be doing.  The underlying influence of media tells us that we should work 40 hours, and then go home and spend time with the kids.  After spending time with the kids, we should kick back, relax, and do nothing and watch TV.  

But that's not what many of the people who have been wildly successful have done.  You never hear the benefits of hard work and long hours.  It's always a race to the relaxation and to do as little as possible.

Which makes me wonder: what happened to the stories of people with ambitions?  Have they just been written off and stored away?

How is it in a land where opportunity abounds over every hill and through every door are people told "it can't be done"?

More things I should probably know: SNMPv1/2 and SNMPv3

In the category of more things I should know (AKA I hate printers).  

Printers are often built off Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).  SNMP could have been a great thing.  It allowed a lot of different things to be done remotely, and was great for the system administrator miles away from the site.

Then people realized that SNMP version 1 and 2 have no real way to be secured.  None.  There is no way to create secure SNMPv1/2.  So the only thing to do is turn it off on the printer.  After you turn off SNMP v1/2 on the printer, your printer goes offline and now you can't print.

The Windows troubleshooter tells you the printer is powered off.  You moan.  You groan.  You Google things.

Anyways, the answer is in turning off SNMP on the device.   Note this problem only applies to network printers.  USB printers don't have this issue because they have a direct connection.

In Windows 7, navigate to devices and printers.
Right click the offending printer.
Printer properties.
Ports tab
Find the check marked tab, and hit configure port.

See that lovely SNMP Status Enabled check mark?   Get rid of it.  

Ok until you are out of all the messages, and magically your offending printer spits out 85 sheets of paper because someone hit the print 30 times, thinking they hadn't hit the button.

Now that you've solved the Windows problem, it's back to the printer.

So, the printer companies occasionally make software to check on their printers and get meter readings.  Larger companies lease printers and charge monthly and for printing more than an allocated amount.  Or they charge by the page.  For those companies to make and collect their money, they have a tendency to use SNMP to get readings from each printer.  Compare the beginning from the ending, and you have pages used.  

Simple.

But SNMP v1/2 aren't secure so you have to find how to turn on SNMPv3 on the printer.  That's usually a matter of finding some sort of web interface and then setting up the read and read/write strings.  That usually varies by printer manufacturer.  

So what about Windows?  Windows doesn't support SNMPv3, and Microsoft is removing SNMP support in future versions of Windows.  If you really like SNMPv3, and can't live without it you have to find your own SNMP tool.

I find SNMP interesting, but the inability to secure it properly and the need to get 3rd party support to get it working properly tells me the easiest thing to do is turn it off and get rid of it.

FYI, SNMPv1/2 vulnerabilities are considered bad ones and will cause a failure in internal PCI compliance scans.

Changing passwords... and Eclipse

Want to figure out how much you know about a system? Change a password.  Sounds stupid, but automation is often setup under a single user account.  In a large company (I’m hoping) you find that only one password affects one process.  In a small company you will run into craziness.  But I would encourage you to change passwords, even ones where you don’t have a great deal of information on what happens when the password changes.

If anything, it becomes a good time to write documentation.  Let’s face it, you are supposed to have documentation on everything you do anyways.  Password changes are no different.  If you have built the infrastructure properly, then a password change should only effect one device or service.  That may seem like a lot of passwords.  It is.  But if you aren’t willing to put effort into security, you won’t have any.  

Moving on…

And Eclipsing we will go…  I took my final today, and I don’t have any site upgrades planned until January, so I think it’s time to get the mobile apps I have built in head tested and running.  That means breaking several things I would normally use at work.  But I suppose that will have to work.

The marshmallow study

My wife and I had a discussion while driving around looking at early Christmas lights yesterday.  I think it’s the same discussion we have every year.  We generally start in one of the more expensive neighborhoods, and then wander into other areas we know have lights.  The houses in the neighborhood start at about $500,000 and go up from there.  You can get a lot of house for $500,000 in my area. 

The discussion centered on the question “should I be ashamed to want a $500,000 house?”  The answer should be an emphatic no.  As long as you haven’t cheated anyone to get the money, you can buy whatever you want.  But the thought still persists.  I think it’s because of several underlying problems.

First, people preach the wrong form of Christianity.  They preach a form where Christians should never have any fun, enjoy life, and should be just barely surviving because they give everything they have away.   It’s hard to discuss how off and wrong this is, but it’s something that perseveres.  If you listen to the Bible, and really believe it, then you should really dig into the effects of sin versus a sinless life.  Jesus led a sinless life, so would have all the benefits of a sinless life.  The Old Testament has a lot of those.  Basic end result is this: Jesus wasn’t broke.  He was rich.  If Jesus really lived a sinless life, and you really believe the Bible is true, then Jesus was rich. 

The thought that Jesus was rich changes a lot of the dynamic of Christianity.  I could go farther on that one, but Larry Hutton does a better job at that discussion.

The 2^nd part of the discussion is what was taught in public schools.  Tying into that is how the media presents wealth.  I’ll start with public schools.  I was a child of the 1980s.  Even when things were booming at their best, there was no love lost of capitalism.  I would say it was boarder line socialism.  But the problem was it is a bunch of socialists trying to teach kids how to thrive in a capitalist society.  It just doesn’t work.  Schools never teach about honest businessmen and women sacrificing hours of their day to grow a business.  It’s always about the giant, evil corporation that is out to destroy the world.  The discussion of finance and money is always bad.  It’s always about how evil and greedy the rich are. 

On the path to becoming rich, I think rich people are quite possibly the most misunderstood group of humans in the world.  Quite possibly because they all think in a very distinct way.  And that distinct way is generally the same.  It narrows to down to live below your means, work hard, and then work some more, and sacrifice what doesn’t matter to get what does. 

But that is a message that is universally ignored, and never taught.   There was a marshmallow study of small children.  The child was given a marshmallow, and told if the marshmallow was still in the room when the person came back in 5 minutes, the child would get two marshmallows.  Those children that successfully waited 5 minutes and received their 2^nd marshmallow were statistically significantly better off than everyone else that took the marshmallow. 

So why do we always teach children to take the marshmallow?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

or...  slapsgiving...

Introduction to Networks (non-technical)

Rather than post my typical notes from a CCNA course, I figured I'd post a non-technical description of how networks "work".  I'm going to preface this by saying this is "allegory" of TCI/IP layer 3.  This is not intended to be definitive.  

So...

You have built a company.  It's a great company.  But no one can ever find your physical location.  You live on a drab, grey, boring street.  Did I mention grey? I meant every single building is nothing but grey concrete, and the streets are bleached grey.  It is grey as far as the eye can see.

So, being the great business leader you are, you go out and buy a bucket of purple paint.  Now, purple paint is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  And because it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, it costs an arm and a leg.  To get the shade of purple you want, you buy one can of paint.  It covers the outside of the door well, but nothing else.

So, from the outside your door looks purple.  But that paint is so darn expensive, you only paint the outside.  The inside of the door is still brown.

So, a customer comes to visit.

You tell him to drive down the grey street until you see a purple door.  He find your location in minutes.  It's easy.

Back in your office, you have a discussion, and he thinks he is going to buy from you.  But he needs to talk to a few people to determine how much he wants to buy.  And he forgot how to get out of the building.

"Oh, just go out the purple door", you tell your customer.

The man spends 45 minutes wandering your halls, and finally finds you.   He curses you out, cancelling all potential business.  You are at a complete loss.  The customer can't find the purple door.

The one thing you forgot is that doors have two sides.  One side that is visible from the street, and one side that is only visible from the inside of the building.  You painted your street door purple.  It's easy to find.  But your exit door on your building?  Still just as brown as it ever was.  So telling someone to go find a purple door is an exercise in futility.

You have to name the door based off which side  you happen to be looking at.

Even though both talk about the same thing, it's a matter of which side of the door you are on.  And you have to have your discussion based on which side of the door you can see.

Ramblings that get longer

As it always does, my mind seems to be skipping back towards the ideas of Cyberpunk.  I’ve been a fan of the worlds created by various artists and authors for years.  Maybe that’s why I went into computers.  Doubtful, but it seems like a good answer.  Perhaps there’s some sort of draw to a world that is altogether completely overwhelming and interconnected.  Or maybe I’m just fascinated by urban density.  I’ve visited a few large cities, but they never strike me as dense until you reach certain parts of them.  All are strangely built up to a point, and then everything falls off.  The quicker people can get away from the density, the better they like it.  I can’t blame them.  It’s dead silent where I live, and as long as I don’t look towards the one street light on my block, I can see stars as far as the eye can see. 

It really makes me wonder.  One of the things I realize is the current education system will not keep up with the rate of growth.  One size fits all does not fit all.  Eventually, there’s going to be a separation of students.  There has to be to maintain technological ability and skill.  I was reading something earlier about the creation and production of virtual machines to segment individual computers for personal use.  It would be much like running VMWare for servers, but instead running it on desktops.  You’d have multiple virtual machines running throughout your computer, with each having a separate purpose.  Depending on what you were trying to do, you would create multiple virtual machines across your desktop.  With the ever present threat of virus and malware, it seems the only logical thing to do. 

Unfortunately, people like me would have to maintain those environments and would have to understand what was going on.  And some people are just technologically inept.  They have no interest or use in technology, much less a desire to learn it and learn how it works.  I often wonder what would have happened if I had learned and developed the skills I have now in my 20s instead of my 30s.  Would another decade of information have made that much difference in my future growth?  What about 20 years?  What if I had spent time learning this information in my teens?  Who would have taught a young kid the ins and outs of systems?  Could it be we will be slowly moving towards the archology models described by William Gibson?  In them, he describes people growing up in company towns and being taught company thoughts, with the idea of developing the best and brightest to become leaders in the company.

Gibson never really talks about the inside development thought much.  He only talks about “stealing talent”.  Perhaps the average person is just too simple and really doesn’t make a good story.  It’s only in the breakaway that people become interesting.  So what does it eventually become?  A collection of corporation-states all building great cities to develop the talent?  Or is it the artificial intelligence world where humans are essentially out of work because robots can handle most services like Dredd?  Both are possibilities.  

Monday Ramblings

Here are some ramblings for Monday.

The subcontract work fell through.  I spent about 45 minutes on the phone explaining how TCP/IP layer 3 works, and finally got them to know what they needed to know.  I guess a broad knowledge of networking helps a lot when working in an industry that is increasingly network based.  It doesn't help that most networking issues happen at layer 1.  The issue there was a layer 3 addressing issue.  Pictures don't help some people.

After messing with my current reading chart, I determined it will take me (on average) until January 17th to finish the next book.  Strange what a few excel formulas can do.  It's almost magical.   The formula here happens to be

(today's date + (estimated remaining sessions * average days between reading))

estimated remaining sessions = (total pages - current page ) / average increase in page count

So, by close to February I'll be back into an old Security+ book, Some time after that, I'll be into the book on Physics.  Progress, as it were, is happening.  After starting over with the Active Directory book, I'm about 12.7% complete with my reading goal.  That doesn't seem like much, but it more progress than I've made in years.  

It's hard to remember that progress only happens when it is intentional.  Rambling through life will not get you where you want to go.  Make a plan, and go there.  That's the only way to get to the end of the path.  And if that path takes reading 5,200 pages, then so be it.  At least you've got a plan, which is a lot more than most people have.

Finals are next Monday, so I'll finish up Introduction to Networking then and be free for a few weeks.  Fighting issues with the next class, but we'll see what happens with that.  The issue is a supply/demand problem.  The next class filled up in three days.  Every other class doesn't have the people as the one section I want to take.  Lovely stuff.