David and Goliath

I often feel that working in IT is like being a (hopefully benevolent) Goliath that is often undone by the humblest of Davids. The big systems and projects often hinge upon one tiny detail. This is single-point-of-failure territory.

Today’s rant is about Dell computers. For our PCs, that is all we buy at my company, with the concept being that there will be consistency to their management. To some degree this is true. But what bugs the crap out of me is their video connections (yes, I know, we get to ‘choose’ our video card when building a system, so in large part this rant goes out to those video manufacturers… however, much like the totalitarian empire of WalMart, I would hope Dell has some say about the components its vendors provide…).

We have nice flat panel LCD monitors throughout our company. No one is left using CRTs. And these are current devices, not holdovers from years back… so why is it that I have to jump through so many hoops to connect a new Dell box to an existing monitor… even an existing DELL monitor?

Doing a quick peek at the back of a new PC, I’ll note that the video connector is DVI, so I’ll grab the (supposedly) appropriate cables and set to work – soon to find out that the connections LOOK similar but do not at all connect together.

It is obvious that the DVI spec is more than just a single connection type. Since I don’t have endless hours to worry about this or even care (IT admin with a life, who figured?), I never knew exactly why until having this happen again yesterday and deciding to look it up. Turns out there are three DVI specs: DVI-A, DVI-D, and DVI-I. I am sure everyone in the world knew this but me. Sorry. But WTF? Are there three types of PLUGS for USB? No. How is it that VGA, albeit rudimentary, has existed as a connector for so long?

It’s like the BBC (BBC-1, BBC-2, etc.)… Clever naming of things whose purpose is clear to those who CHOSE the names, but essentially to no one else.

So now we get these new PCs and they have randomly-chosen DVI or quasi-DVI connectors (some are unlike any DVI I have seen, so I will simply call those DVI-X!!! To the EXTREME!), and the end result is me buying a bunch of little stupid connectors to mate whatever connection type we have with whatever video cable we have. Efficient? Doubtful. Obnoxious? YOU BET! So, it turns out that the Belkins of the world are the Davids with the power to destroy the Goliaths.

ByTor: I hear you laughing.

Fun with Firewall

OMG the support team finally figured out the tiny tiny tiny little issue that my firewall had with its security license and fixed it! HOORAY!

Essentially, the vendor would get a request from my firewall about our specific company key and respond “no, thanks.” So, basically Moe bonked Larry on the head, while spinning around with a ladder to clock Curly, then Curly’s head slammed into the keyboard and hit the Enter key, allowing our company to be back in action.

Woo Woo Woo! Computers are fun!

Next up = continuing with a PC setup that has been languishing now for weeks because of this stupid issue.

Does it make it any better than I waste more time writing about these problems on this blog? Certainly a debatable point.

Maybe you are not using the same Internet I am using?

Last night, the continuing issues with firewall licenses had me working with ech support on the problem from my house. I VPN over the Internet to my workstation at the office and made changes as needed.

I also mentioned to staff that I was working on the firewall, so staff was not alarmed when the Internet went down and didn’t come back… until this morning when I got a sort of casual ‘hey, you gonna turn that back on?’ message…

Well, how would I know their Internet connection was down – I was connected to the office via VPN OVER THE FREAKIN INTERNET… so obviously we CAN connect. Mayhap our firewall needs a name. It is potentially more devious than even ByTor, and clearly not using the same Internet I am using. And I can clearly cannot choose the wine in front of me.

Brought to you by the Letter T

Quick note: Here is how you can tell if I am posting from work or from home. The letter T.

If Ts are appearing as they normally should, then it is pretty safe to say I am posting from work.

If no, and he leer ” doesn’ appear like i is supposed o, ha’s because my freaking supid lapop a home has a problem wih he leer ”. Basard.

No port in a storm

I feel like these posts are becoming more and more just gripes with no solution, but since the point of this blog is a) for me to vent, and b) for me to point out how “simple” tasks are so frequently rendered difficult by our friends the computers around us, here goes…

Today, a workstation called GhostRider on our network broke up with a printer called BeanNorth.

I didn’t even know they were dating, but apparently BeanNorth was fooling around with some of the other workstations, GhostRider found out and that’s that.

Now, if you try to print – even a test page – from GhostRider, it fails. Nothing else has changed and the ports and IPs are all the same.

So now poor BeanNorth is just sitting there, begging for attention. The other workstations are trying their best, but only GhostRider can make it right again. And she won’t budge. For BeanNorth, the IP might be the same, but there is no port in this storm.