Diary of a Network Geek

Is Novell dying?

I’ve heard a lot of people say that Novell and Netware are on the way out. Of course, I’ve been hearing that since 1995 and they’re still around, so there’s no telling. But, I have to admit, this last time I was out of work it sure took a long time to find a job. Sure, the economy is hurting, especially in Houston, but I’m a CNE with ten years experience. I’ve been a supervisor for several years, though I’m not supervising anyone at the moment. And, still, even with that, and all the other varied experience on my resume, it still took a year to find a job.
So, how is Novell doing? Look at the charts. Not a great picture, is it? But, compare them to Sun, for instance. Now, it doesn’t seem quite as bad, does it? And, I’d say that Sun is an “up and comer” still, or again, depending on your point of view. In any case, Sun doesn’t seem like they’re going away any time soon, and I’d say Novell has kept pace with them, at least. So, how much danger is Novell really in?
They’re advertising everywhere at the moment, including Yahoo, TechTV, Slashdot and the SciFi Channel. And, I know that it’s registered with me, but I’m already a Novell Geek.
They continue to win awards. But, then, Microsoft’s popularity never had anything to do with awards. Windows is a pretty ubiquitous OS, but it’s fairly buggy and insecure, no matter what Microsoft says about their “security initiatives”. And, of course, history is littered with “better” products that never made it very far. Like the Tucker, for instance.

In any case, I’m not comfortable keeping all my eggs in one certification basket anymore. So, I’m studying for my Linux+ cert and next I’ll work on Security+, then my CCNA. Wish me luck!

“Aieee! Mozilla!”

Wondering where I’ve been lately? Well, in part, I’ve been working hard to fit into the new gig. Luckily, that seems to be working because they’re talking about making me full time. That would be very cool.
Also, I’ve been working on the web services end of an Open Source project called Ogham. It’s going to be a Campaign Manager for role-playing games, which is something that I’ve been getting back into lately.

But, one of the things that is beyond my control that’s kept me all tied up is Mozilla mail. In the space of about two weeks, it ate several of my e-mail folders, including my Inbox. Grrrr. Bad Mozilla! It was kind of embarassing to ask my Mother to send me the same e-mail three times before I got it into my Palm. Of course, maybe word will get around and I’ll stop being the family helpdesk!
What really hurt about this, though, was that I had all kinds of e-mail from various groups I’m in that’s hard to replace. Oh, for some of it, I can go to the Yahoo!Groups website and read it, but it’s not as convenient as having it on my PC. Some of these are step-by-step directions on how to do things. Like how to trim huge sections of maps down to smaller, more usable maps in Campaign Cartographer. There was also some contact info in there that I may, or may not, have in any address books. (So, if you think I need to get in touch with you, e-mail me. If you need my e-mail address, there’s a whole different problem!)

Anyway, I’m hoping that as things stabilize after the holidays, I’ll be able to make more regular updates to my blogs. Of course, that all assumes that someone is actually reading this drek.

Happy Holidays!

Hey guess where I’m writing this from? Yep, I’m back in Baton Rouge! Yahoo! Only this time, I flew. No more of that driving across the swamp at night. Blech!
Things were going fairly well Monday. I got to start correcting the NDS (that’s Novell Directory Services, for you neophytes) synchronization issues that we’re still having thanks to Mother, our primary NDS Replica server, going South on me. Of course, just about every change I want to make takes about two hours to replicate out. Now, I *know* that I’ve explained that to the Supreme Commander, but he still doesn’t seem to “get” it. He’s a really Big Picture sort of guy and doesn’t understand *any* of the details of what I do. The joys of working for a former programmer. That’s all they truly understand or think matters. The rest is just magic that should happen instantly. *sigh* Of course, the fact that our building lost power didn’t help much. Thankfully, I’ve got my Palm IIIc! I just whipped that out and started playing Space Trader. Ah, what fun.
Then, on Tuesday, I started on that again. Until the Baton Rouge server dropped off the network. It still was up, but it stopped communicating with the rest of the network. The Cisco router was fine, so I knew it wasn’t the WAN connection, but it just wouldn’t see the network. So we rebooted it. Oh, boy, was that a mistake. It never came up right. Eventually, we got to a point where all we could get was an “Invalid Partition Table” error. So, it’s off to the airport for me. Leaving my poor sick wife to deal with getting our daughter from school and taking care of our leaking pond. Oh, joy.
Well, I got there and started fumbling around with stuff, but didn’t get very far. Then, I noticed that we had been trying to use Windows 95 utilities on a DOS 6.22 formatted partition! Damn, no wonder we weren’t getting anywhere! So, that started us root around for a DOS bootable disk. We finally found one and I was able to FDISK and FORMAT the old Primary drive and copy everything from the DOS partition of the mirror. Then, while eating my oyster po’boy, we rebooted and *shazam*! The server starts to come up. The next thing we know, it’s already started running the backup. So, since all looked well, we called it a night. Now I’m waiting for everyone to get caught up so I can clean up the hardware and get the server back up, hopefully for good. Or at least until they move, when I hope they’ll upgrade to real hardware. You know, something brand-name, like Compaq or Dell or even HP. I hate having to figure out clones. Then, I’ll try to get an earlier flight back to Houston and just enjoy a night at home. Maybe even snuggle with the wife on the couch while we watch Star Trek. Voyager’s still in reruns! ; }

Well, I finally got my cable run. Of course, I stepped through my ceiling first. *sigh*
Everything was going okay Saturday with my cable runs. I got the pull string through and got cable feeding up into the closet in the library/server room, but then it got hung up. So, it was up into the attic I went. Well, I found the first snag and got that cleared. Then, I queued up the cables (one phone line and two network cables) to go down the other side of the topmost attic. I climbed down and start to pull it, but it got snagged again. *sigh* So, back up into the attic. The heat was so oppressive that I could hardly breathe. I was pouring sweat faster than I could drink water. I was tired from my little trip to Baton Rouge. And, I slipped. I was stepping carefully from one rafter to another and then to the one-by-six that spanned that side of the attic and my foot slipped off and through the ceiling. *sigh* Well, at least I didn’t fall *all* the way through! And, the hole did make a convenient breathing hole when I got too hot.
Anyway, I finished running those two network lines and the phone line without a hitch. Then, I used the pull string to get the next two network connections with minimal problems. I also managed to pull two network lines down to the master bedroom, though I had to finish that on Sunday because the drill needed a recharge. I used the same pull string for the two connections to our daughter’s room, but when I went to put it down the wall, I found an AC conduit blocking my way. I also had to contend with a 110v line that was a little too close to where I wanted my connection. So, I ended up drilling the hole in the top-plate on the wrong side of the stud from where I cut the hole in the drywall. *sigh* Looks like another patch job. At least this one’s not as big as the ceiling!
And, with that, I decided to stop running cables for now. I’ve got connections everywhere I need them. Truthfully, I doubt that I’ll actually use the ones in our bedroom, but it’s the idea of it. So, now I just have to punch them all down and hook up the jacks. Then, test them to make sure they work. Yahoo. After that, I’ll do up a whole section of “what I learned while running cable” for the poor saps who still think they want to do this. My advice? *Pay* someone else to do it!