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What have you learned lately?

TechGromit

I learned what to look for when a switch is having a spanning tree loop / broadcast storm. I was on travel and got a SMS message a distribution switch was down. I pinged the switch and it replied back, but after 10 or so pings it stopped responding, than after 30 or so failed pings the switch replied back. This behavior puzzled me, it wasn't enough time for a switch reboot. I was able to quickly log into the switch when it responded and pull the logs, but it really didn't tell me much other then the down stream switches were not responding. These switches have port channels set up on them, but without bpduguard. The onsite person has limited network troubleshooting abilities, they reported that two switches had failed and needed to be replaced.

Fortunately one of the more knowledgeable network guys was able to log onto the core routers and see that there was a spanning tree loop on the distribution switch, he was able to disable port channel on the router to the distribution switch and turn on bpduguard, shut down the fiber ports for all the switches on the distribution switch and enable them one of a time to identify which switch was the cause of the spanning tree loop. Ended up being a looped unmanaged Linksys switch on a downstream switch what was supposedly "broken"

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Comments

Ertaz

I've learned that my current company's expense process requires me to pay for SANs class up front and then get reimbursed later. Oh well, at least I ran it up on a rewards card.

tedjames

I learned how to set up a KVM switch at work. I ended up buying and installing a two-port KVM for my wife's laptop and desktop and then doing the same with my PCs with a four-port switch. Got four PCs (two laptops and two desktops) on a switch with dual monitors, sound, and USB device sharing (can print from any PC). I've also set up a homegroup for all four for file sharing. It's nice not having the extra monitors taking up space. It's been a great learning experience for me.

markulous

Deploying Office to a terminal server via a script. Bit of a PITA but got it done finally.

Lexluethar

Learned out to create a PowerShell script that polls computer resolutions based off an Excel spreadsheet. Column A has all computers in our environment, the script reads that value, polls the PC for all screen resolutions then prints the screen resolutions in Column A through F. Easy to poll screen resolution, difficult to loop that and print that data when a device has multiple monitors (at least for a PowerShell novice like myself).

Silly i know but our SharePoint Admin wanted to know the ratio of screen resolutions in our environment so they could create some websites that look 'best' to the most people.

UnixGuy

I learned that daily team meetings at 9:30am are absolutely useless.

tedjames

Hey! I used to work for Meeting Guy, too! And Meeting Lady. Meeting Lady used to call them at 7:30 AM. Drag!

UnixGuy wrote: »

I learned that daily team meetings at 9:30am are absolutely useless.

muneebkalathil

Learned Recovering Data from OSX, Reinstalling OSX Capitan and also learnd that Fixing a Windows /Linux Machine is More easier than an Apple system .. :huhu:.

the_Grinch

I learned the value of data analytics. Second time I've flagged something and within a month a problem has arisen. Yet I still get complaints about having to comply with an information request

Node Man

i've learned accessing switches &routers via a jumpbox is the way to go.

scaredoftests

Snapshots are your friend.

EV42TMAN

I learned how to set up Veeam with Cloud Connect for a multi tenant enthronement and deployed all of it. Just time for Veeam to announce all of their big changes tomorrow which will probably kill half of my design....

varelg

Network bonding and its modes. There's one at work, on a set-n-forget linux box plus it's an objective for RHCE.

NetworkNewb

Cooling off a computer with cold water does more harm than good.

dmoore44

That i'm definitely not an economist.

chrisone

I procrastinate

thomas_

I just learned that certain versions of Cisco IOS have an IOS shell that you can turn on which opens the door for some interesting possibilities.

OctalDump

How to do a password recovery on a Brocade Silkworm 200E.

That phone scammers that install remote access tools on your Mac don't do a lot to hide their tracks. And that Google, Apple, and Sophos seem to have given up on Mac OS X 10.6, making it very hard to secure for web use. Which sucks because Photoshop CS5 has 'issues' on 10.7 and higher, so you are left with "Do I want to pay more money for a newer version of Photoshop OR do I want to use the web?"

That the Emulex LightPulse LPe11002 needs tomfoolery to get to work with Vsphere 6, DESPITE being on the hardware compatibility list and meant to work "out of the box". Luckily someone else had figured out this problem, and where to get the necessary drivers.

A little less recent, but the Dell PowerEdge 7250 requires special software to be able to install any OS on to it, and that Dell no longer supplies this software because the 7250 is end of life.

ananth234

I am learning about Exchange Server these days.

Techytach

Learning C#. I know I said I was going to try python at one point, but something drew me to C#. So far I've learned to make a few simple applications like a calculator. I'll probably work on a simple app that connects to a dummy database next. Just so I can say I've worked with SQL.

v1ral

Learned how to unlock the built-in local admin account on all Windows machine's at work using Kali. Also learned how to setup a DMVPN network and route redistribution.

TechGromit

Spent a couple of days figuring out a crap whitelisting program called Lumension Endpoint Protection. Had to upgrade Symantec due to a security vulnerability, but a group of computers were protected by Lumension. With no training, a spotty directions, I was able to puzzle the program out enough to unblock policy, upgrade Symantec, Whitelist and apply blocking policy again. Anyone else ever deal with this Piece of S__t software before?

pevangel

I just learned that the voucher I received to take the JNCIA for free works with a JNCIP.

JustFred

Don't stick around too long if the job you were hired for turned out to be something totally different. Have it in writing

TheFORCE

I learned that a lot of our software is outdated and unpatched. Whixh makes my life busy since everything has to go through change control.

rob42

I’ve learned that not everyone that asks for help and advice, has the common decency to thank those that provide that help and advice.

Edit to add...

I've also learned that CPT is no substitute for a physical lab.