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Posted: Jan. 14 2005,06:24 |
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| Quote (yttrium @ Jan. 13 2005,12:48) | |
"The user base should not accept poor service and design from software, hardware and configuration."
Have you considered the costs associated with having the best of everything in regards to the IT environment? One single piece of equipment can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more. IT staff can only do what they can with what they have. If you want to complain, then provide an alternative. But provide one that is reasonable and adheres to standards. Standards are there for a reason also. So is procedure and process. Keep those things in mind if you want to take over the IT department.
"Isn't that one of the reasons why Linux is so popular and diverse? (Someone doesn't like how things are working/behaving so they rewrite the code to add the capability or imrovement)."
Yes, to a point. However, if you think a redesign of infrastructure is in order, perhaps you should learn what the infrastructure and all of it's components are and what they do. It is apples to oranges to compare writing code based on another code to improve upon it, vs. redesigning the way IT technology currently operates in a given environment.
"BTW, I have suggested (tactfully) to our IT staff that maybe it would be a good idea to set up company-wide centrally managed email lists. It's been a looong while since then."
Perhaps they are waiting on the funds to do just that. Perhaps those with the money can not comprehend why he/she should spend the company's money so you will be happy about your email and have even more resources to email all your freinds. Also, it is a good thing that every IT department doesn't do what the client's want them to. Otherwise, everyone would have an OC12 ATM connection to their PC that goes straight to their favorite online shopping palace. They probably just ignored you, as they should.
"As with most places (I suspect), the user base just gives up complaining. This reduces the efficiency of the organization overall."
Most company's (including small one's like the one you mention) can not afford to bow to every employee's whim, especially when those individuals complaining do not have the expertise needed to suggest appropriate means of resolution. All the non-legitimate complaing also reduces the efficiency of the organization.
"I'll have to think a little more on the hardware. Will require processor, of course, but still intriguing. Might generally be easier using wireless."
A wireless solution is not solving the other issues. Wireles is also not as easy as physical connections if done correctly with appropriate security and installation. It would be 'neater,' but not practical. Wireless is also considered a security risk. Any one with a few hours and some old cheap/free hardware can access the WEP key's for the regular run of the mill wireless solutions. You get what you pay for. The higher end hardare, not for consumers, is much better but still not risk free. Physical connections in controlled environments is the way to go. That's why IT departments do it that way.
"I thought it would have been obvious from my post that our IT department does not seem to be able to provide multi-platform management now."
Money. Money. And, Money. Those three words will prevent any department from supporting any multi-platfrom, from diving boards to data. Most IT people know more than one platform, becasue most like what they do, but that does not mean that the corporate big dogs will pay for it. It's not cheap. Besides, multi-platform in a more detailed sense, is already being done there according to your posts. You just don't recognize it.
"We had slow DNS service on the half of the virtual private network that the engineers were on last week. Internet pages were taking *minutes* to access (each page). The frustration level was palpable."
Was it due to a malfunction of the DNS server? Or was the ISP experiencing issues? How many people were accessing eBay or steaming audio from SHOUTcast, etc? Perhaps the firewall was busy blocking traffic to places that should not be visited whilst folks are at work, or the syslog server was getting full and screaming that it's memory was low as well? It is very easy to pick up on terms that you've heard thrown around and use them for blame. The behind the scenes action is generally not know by the clients, and for good reason.
"The IT staff didn't have a clue that their network was not servicing the user base until I went to them and demonstrated it. Turns out that they were all configured on the *other* VPN."
Usually, it is the clients perception that is the issue. You may well have had an actual issue, I would not discount that. However, if VPN's are setup, they are done so for a reason, especially when one department is 'quarantined' off from another. Why do they want to keep you separte from them? That answer would probably clue you in.
"The idea was to set up an email reflector and manage the mailing lists. That provides a single-point in the email process chain. That impacts the security model less than the various viruses that come around, infect machines and then start blasting emails out."
Do you know where 99% of viruses come from that effect an internal environment? Email. Do you know what the average *business* usage of email is? 20%. That means that companies are paying for 80% of your electronic jokes and pictures, not to mention spam and other undesireable taxes on IT resources due to people not using common sense about where they post their email address or how many discount coupons they sign up for using their company email. If they could use 80% less email server services and 80% less bandwidth, they could probabloy hire more IT staff and equipment.
"And we'd demonstrate a creative way to manage a mailing list with few resources required."
I thought you didn't want the IT people to know about it? Again, things are done the way they are for a reason. That does not mean you need to like it, you just need to accept it.
"As for hardware, how about something like this commercial product:?"
This, again, demonstrates the need for education. I see you are excited and persistent. Those are great qualities and I admire them. Use them to educate yourself on the various hardware platforms and standards that would promote your goal. Use them to learn about the various network topology standards and transport mechanisms in order allow your hardware to communicate efficently and properly.
What you are seeking to do has already been done. Not trying to burst your bubble, but it has been done properly. There are many ways to accomplish this task without re-inventing the wheel. It should be done right the first time, and with a qualified and experienced IT staff to do it. It seems that the vast client base seems to think poorly of their IT department. If the clients actually knew what the IT staff has to do in order to try to keep the peace in the network environment alone, the clients would have a better undestanding of the misconceptions and how the clients themselves are usually the cause of IT budget issues and problems in the infrastructue. Otherwise, you wouldn't need an IT staff because things would work and no one would be trying to usurp control and messing around with things they have clue about.
One more thought, don't go playing around with assigning your own IP addresses. In my experience, anyone who causes a conflict like that get's an ACL with their name on it.
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