Real world question.. what do you do when..

gouki2005

1-suddenly you are in your job and the internet fails and you "dear" co-workers start to yell.theres not internet do something..?

2- you are in a new job but the boss ask you to connect new equipment but you cant because theres not network diagram and the rack is like this http://www.americanteledata.com/images/kendallwallrack.jpg you dont have any space for new cables and the cables are a BIG mess so your new task is reorganize the rack but you dont have cables with labels or a diagram ???

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Comments

dead_p00l

1- If it's your responsibility to maintain internet connectivity but you're new enough in your position to not have the needed information then ask other coworkers or your boss for the needed information or their assistance.

2- Let your boss know what the requirements for the new equipment will be and what will be needed to make everything work. Also if there are no network diagrams then see if you have time to create these prior to adding equipment or if not then try to created them while adding equipment. Network diagrams can just be quick sketches on paper to get the basics down and can then be transferred into a Visio diagram or something similar.

okplaya

1. Troubleshoot. If the issue is within your network, fix it. If the issue is with the ISP, tell them to fix it.

2. A network diagram doesn't prevent the installation of new gear. Many diagrams aren't updated or don't exist. If you're implying that there is no space for cables as in no ports on the switch, then you'd need a new switch or need to free up a port that may not be in use. That rack is VERY small for any business. My home lab rack is bigger than that. Can't imagine how big of a mess you can make when the rack can only hold maybe 5 devices max.

Iristheangel

1) Don't panic. Take a breath. There are many different troubleshooting methodologies out there but remember the KISS rule first (Keep It Simple, Stupid). I like to mentally work my way up the OSI model. Physical - Are the wires connected? Are they getting a green light on the NIC? Is the switch getting a green light on the port? How about the router? I like doing this all the way up to Layer 7 if I have to.

2) Sucks to go in blind but use this as a positive opportunity. Take charge. Pull your boss aside, let him know the situation and offer to draw the diagrams for him. This will make you look like the hero of the day and like you're motivated to engage in projects on your own.

NetworkVeteran

gouki2005 wrote: »

1-suddenly you are in your job and the internet fails

I assume you mean the company's connection to the Internet? If it's my responsibility, fix it. If it can't be fixed asap, notify people of the situation, e.t.a, and workarounds. If it's not my responsibility, call IT and relocate to a coffee shop if needed to continue working.

and you "dear" co-workers start to yell.theres not internet do something..?

I can't remember anyone ever yelling at me at work.

Yelling indicates elevated stress levels and poor self-control, which is a business concern. My reaction would depend on whether they yelled at me (unacceptable) or the situation, how often they showed signs of high stress, and how our personal relationship was. But, likely some combination of trying to calm them down and later notifying management about the issue.

2- you are in a new job but the boss ask you to connect new equipment but you cant because theres not network diagram and the rack is like this http://www.americanteledata.com/images/kendallwallrack.jpg you dont have any space for new cables and the cables are a BIG mess so your new task is reorganize the rack but you dont have cables with labels or a diagram ???

Ask what the goal is and connect the equipment in a way that best achieves it. Make your own diagram, spreadsheet, or textfile itemizing the new topology.

sizeon

In real life you will always have fail-over device.

NetworkVeteran

sizeon wrote: »

In real life you will always have fail-over device.

sizeon, in real-life, that won't always work. I've seen construction crews dig in the wrong spot and take down both the active and failover connections (both ISPs unfortunately cabled through the same spot). I've seen a business large enough to have their own power station and generator still lose power to key devices under just the right perfect storm of conditions. And, of course, not all sites merit redundant connections. Hope for the best, (write a) plan for the worst.

Rakurai

I agree with network Veteran, in real life situations, no matter how much planning and redundancy you may have there can always be problems that takes everything down. I have a story about that from my work center (didn't happen while I was working) but can't tell it because of the nature and sensitivity of the location.

kurosaki00

In my work we just ignore people
I mean, we do work to reestablish it, but unless is not a supervisor or top guy/girl from another dpt saying I need this or a workaround for this
we just ignore them
Literally in like 15 minutes after internet goes out, people come to US, like the most basic workers from another dpt
is it going to take too long?
Should I go home and work from home?

Really?
After a while we just ignore them

neotesla

1) Don't panic. Take a breath. There are many different troubleshooting methodologies out there but remember the KISS rule first (Keep It Simple, Stupid). I like to mentally work my way up the OSI model. Physical - Are the wires connected? Are they getting a green light on the NIC? Is the switch getting a green light on the port? How about the router? I like doing this all the way up to Layer 7 if I have to.

Great response. I'll try to remember this for the future (and for the job interviews too - they tend to ask questions like that).

dontstop

1.

Yep Iristheangel is spot on the money, Always work up the stack Physical to Application (if you cannot quickly determine the problem i.e. Bob is working on Router X which gives us Internet connectivity).

I normally have a method of spending 5 minutes to quickly see if i can isolate the problem at any level then after that time i will start a bottom up approach going through my typical tests. Another important point is be methodical, if Manager Greg comes up and says have you tried Z but Z is at the end of the list don't break your concentration or go off on a wild goose chase trying to solve his recommendation. Have faith in the process and don't deviate, otherwise you might end up spending time working on something when the next step you would have taken could have been the solution.

Oh and don't forget, Monitoring is King! If you have something like Nagios setup you should typically know what/where/when something fails and be onto it as soon as you can. Working "on" the problem, not working on "finding" where the problem is.

2.

If the rack looked like:

The first thing i would say (if your confident) is that the rack is sloppy and messy and really needs to be remediated, This is normally a big effort if everything is not labeled or people have done trick/kludgy work that makes it hard to determine what something is doing.

Tidy up all the cables, shorten those that are too long, Label everything up the wazoo, Force your boss to buy a good label-maker that does laminated cable wraps. Do this is any environment your in home, school, large enterprise. Generally there are 2 reasons you will need a label and they are the 3 times you cannot afford to be tracing cables (an outage, installing new kit or removing old kit) unplug the wrong kit and well you know

Hope this helps

NetworkVeteran

I wanted to add that, in many ways, customer management during an outage is as important as the outage itself. An active Internet connection is not a core business service for most companies; it's there's to support other business services. Keeping customers up-to-date about the estimated duration of the outage and possible workarounds will enable them to make better decisions about how to best fulfill those core business services during the outage.

Also, there's a difference between the actual experience and the perceived experience. Many people will look more highly on an IT team with a 4-hour outage where they felt they were valued, understood, and their needs met as best as possible... than with an IT team with a 3-hour outage who ignores them or is less than honest in their assessments.

There's often a sales component to out roles, and this week I accomplished something my more technically astute competitor did not--a good relationship with a new customer.

mohamedshajid

Iristheangel wrote: »

1) Don't panic. Take a breath. There are many different troubleshooting methodologies out there but remember the KISS rule first (Keep It Simple, Stupid). I like to mentally work my way up the OSI model. Physical - Are the wires connected? Are they getting a green light on the NIC? Is the switch getting a green light on the port? How about the router? I like doing this all the way up to Layer 7 if I have to.

2) Sucks to go in blind but use this as a positive opportunity. Take charge. Pull your boss aside, let him know the situation and offer to draw the diagrams for him. This will make you look like the hero of the day and like you're motivated to engage in projects on your own.

This is a very great response. But in unique method that's the correct response if Internet is not working maybe problem with the switch/router anything else so this situation is nervous, then follow the squad of OSI Application layer to Physical layer, let check everything works fine or nor. If works fine it should be every cable, pins voltage tcp udp based on OSI So there are no need to check the hardware of switch or anything else if you found any problem firstly you have to pull up the OSI layer to your mind.

Am i ryt