Need some advice on learning networking

[BillyCarpenter]

I am currently assigned to a client with 1800+ devices in different branches across the county. All devices' IP addresses are assigned by DHCP servers. Such a pain to manage since we are rebuilding a fleet management software. You have to specify which ports are required since the firewalls are controlled by the security team.
I was then forced to simulate the scenario in my own virtual lab along with PFSENSE as a firewall to simulate port traffic and blocking.

I was thinking if I could go back and do it all over again that going into IT as a career may be the way to go. I honestly do love learning about it. BUT - do I really want to be responsible for an organization's huge network. One little mistake could lead to havoc and shit rolls down hill.

[slimslob]

I keep hearing how unreliable DHCP is and not to use it, but, like in your scenario, what if there are a thousand(s) devices on the network? I can't imagine having to physically assign a dedicated address to all of 'em. So, I'm thinking there must be some way to make DHCP reliable. I could be wrong.

The only real problem I ever really had with DHCP was when the DHCP function on a server shut itself down over night. Things that were on fixed IP addresses or had been on all night worked fine. Computers that had been shut off over night could not access the internet or any of the servers or printers. I got called out because in the stock yard office some people could not print. I took me all of 5 minutes to determine that DHCP wasn't working. I called the receptionist and asked her to have their IT call me. She called me back and told me the IT was too busy trying to determine which router was down. 5 minutes their IT supervisor in Seattle called me, the receptionist had called him when the local IT wouldn't take time to talk to me. I told him the problem and 10 minutes later the DHCP was back up.

[keithxxiii]

15 years ago a dad of my friend who's a doctor advised me if I had interest in IT, treat it as a hobby and not make it as a career.
Or you'll be the receiving end of user's lack of common sense.
Oh well, 15 years has passed.. and I enjoy laughing out with my colleagues after attending a call, "It's a PICNIC - Problem In Chair Not In Computer"

[BillyCarpenter]

The only real problem I ever really had with DHCP was when the DHCP function on a server shut itself down over night. Things that were on fixed IP addresses or had been on all night worked fine. Computers that had been shut off over night could not access the internet or any of the servers or printers. I got called out because in the stock yard office some people could not print. I took me all of 5 minutes to determine that DHCP wasn't working. I called the receptionist and asked her to have their IT call me. She called me back and told me the IT was too busy trying to determine which router was down. 5 minutes their IT supervisor in Seattle called me, the receptionist had called him when the local IT wouldn't take time to talk to me. I told him the problem and 10 minutes later the DHCP was back up.

Slim,

Thanks for sharing. I love reading about these real world situations. One thing I'm noticing is that in the world of networking there are different ways to accomplish the task at hand but there are trade-offs with all of 'em. The option you pick is gonna be dependent on the network environment.

Does that make any sense?

[bsm2]

Slim,

Thanks for sharing. I love reading about these real world situations. One thing I'm noticing is that in the world of networking there are different ways to accomplish the task at hand but there are trade-offs with all of 'em. The option you pick is gonna be dependent on the network environment.

Does that make any sense?

Copier should ALWAYS be a Static Ip address unless there IT tells you something different.

Just learn loading drivers and configuration and if you can smb ftp scanning and setup of scan to email.

Thats enough to keep you busy.
Basic troubleshooting tools would be a laptop cables and switch so you can islosate the copier to print to it.

[BillyCarpenter]

Copier should ALWAYS be a Static Ip address unless there IT tells you something different.

Just learn loading drivers and configuration and if you can smb ftp scanning and setup of scan to email.

Thats enough to keep you busy.
Basic troubleshooting tools would be a laptop cables and switch so you can islosate the copier to print to it.

Perhaps you're right. But I don't like being in the dark when I'm on the job. To me, and I may be alone, but it's scary when I don't know exactly what's going on. In any event, I've never gotten myself in trouble for knowing too much about something but I've gotten into plenty of trouble when I didn't know enough. The journey continues....

[slimslob]

15 years ago a dad of my friend who's a doctor advised me if I had interest in IT, treat it as a hobby and not make it as a career.
Or you'll be the receiving end of user's lack of common sense.
Oh well, 15 years has passed.. and I enjoy laughing out with my colleagues after attending a call, "It's a PICNIC - Problem In Chair Not In Computer"

A sign I saw on the door to a State Farm insurance regional data processing center IT department "The problem exist between the keyboard and the back of the chair."

[slimslob]

Copier should ALWAYS be a Static Ip address unless there IT tells you something different.

Just learn loading drivers and configuration and if you can smb ftp scanning and setup of scan to email.

Thats enough to keep you busy.
Basic troubleshooting tools would be a laptop cables and switch so you can islosate the copier to print to it.

Most IT departments of large corporations that I have worked with either provide me with the IP address to use or if they say to use DHCP then they want me to provide them with that address so they can reserve it. Once they reserve it they usually want to then change it to fixed using the same address.

[BillyCarpenter]

I found something that I think is interesting and useful.


Lets say you want to print by hostname and you're using Windows. This also works for Linux but lets stick to windows. And lets say you can't reslove the hostname in your DNS server...for whatever reason. There is a workaround. You can go to the host file in windows and resolve the IP address to the hostname of the copier. So, if DNS fails, your computer will look in there. I like it. The link to the video is found below. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Resolving Hostnames on a LAN in Windows or Linux - YouTube

[slimslob]

I found something that I think is interesting and useful.


Lets say you want to print by hostname and you're using Windows. This also works for Linux but lets stick to windows. And lets say you can't reslove the hostname in your DNS server...for whatever reason. There is a workaround. You can go to the host file in windows and resolve the IP address to the hostname of the copier. So, if DNS fails, your computer will look in there. I like it. The link to the video is found below. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Resolving Hostnames on a LAN in Windows or Linux - YouTube

A couple of problems. If for some reason the subnet get changed, the IP address you enter into the host file may no longer be valid. If the target device is on DHCP it will have been changed or the computer and the target device may no longer be within the same subnet mask range.

An entry in the host or hosts file depending on OS actually takes precedence over DNS results. If an entry is found in the hosts file your browser goes directly to that address. It can be used to resolve frequently used web pages more quickly. More frequently it is used to block unwanted websites. Example 127.0.0.1 known.unwanted.site will block that site. Instead your browser will connect to the blank local host 127.0.0.1 By blocking certain adware sites can actually speed up the loading of many websites and unlike ad blockers is totally invisible to the website you are loading. How To Block Websites On Windows Using The Hosts File