Diary of a Network Geek

Or is that “blues”?

Well, I got a call from the headhunter today. No offer yet. Still, I’ve been told that I’m realy their only candidate anymore, so I’m not worried.
What was worrisome, however, was the fact that the headhunter kept pushing me to see how low I would go on salary. Apparently, I’m a little bit more expensive than the client wanted to pay. On the other hand, how many CNEs with 10+ years of hands-on experience, who also happen to be Linux+ certified, can there be floating around Houston? How many of them, assuming that there are more than one, have broken NDS, on purpose, and recovered it? Twice? What is that worth? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow….
The truly hard thing is that I’d really, really like to take this job. But, I just can’t afford another pay cut. We’re living at the bare minimum as it is. Another cut and someone around here has to stop eating! (Of course, I could stand to loose another 15 pounds, or so….)

Well, based on the way things were sounding, I did some follow up on two other jobs that had come my way. We’ll see if anything turns up there. And, on the “plus side”, they still haven’t set a date for outsourcing, so I’m ahead of the game. If I can just find a good job that pays at least what I’m making now, before the outsourcing starts, I’ll be a happy network geek!

Prospects look good!

The company is Oceaneering International and the job itself looks great. I’d be one of two guys rolling out a world-wide network solution using Novell products. And they’re using pretty much everything: Netware, Groupwise, Zen for Desktops, Zen for Servers, you name it. This is the big-time. The slowest links they have are fractional T1, but that should be enough to use RSync to synchronize data back to the corporate office for backups. Which is the plan. So, unlike the current gig, there’d be no chasing after users at remote sites to change tapes! They also have Linux and are looking to do more with Linux. They also seem to be pretty good about training and certification. I talked with one guy there who was telling me that they reimburse for books.
Also, the benefits look great. They match 100% of the first 6% on 401k contributions. They have a vision plan, which matters to a family of glasses wearing freaks like us. And, if I’m reading the benefits description right, I’d get three weeks vacation after the first year. So, the benefits are pretty damn good.
Perhaps more importantly, the guys that I’ve met so far seem pretty easy to get along with. They’re really easy going and always cutting up, so I think I’d fit in quite well. Oh, and one of them has a full beard, so I asked if I could grow mine back. Yes. Yes, I could rebeard myself. Huzzah!

The only thing now is for them to actually make an offer. And, if they will offer enough for me to live on… In the interview they tried to low-ball me. Frankly, as much as I love the job, I just cannot take another pay cut.
So, I guess the good news is there’s been a law firm sniffing around for a Groupwise admin…. Not my favorite pidgeon-hole, but it’s better than being outsourced! So, we’ll see how it goes.
I’ll post updates!

Well, I’ve done it now!

Okay, so I’ve been messing around with PERL for Netware and I came up with at least one thing that I thought was useful. I call it “dfmail.pl”, which is short of DiskFreeE-Mail. It’s a simple little script that will check the available space on all the volumes of a server and e-mail the results to the user of your choice. You will have to edit the script to set the e-mail address, but otherwise, it should run okay. Oh, I tested it on Netware 5.1 servers, with the latest service pack, so I have no idea how well it will work on Netware 6. If anyone tries it, let me know!

Download DFMail.ZIP

you have a moat!

I’ve been working on my CompTIA Security+ certification using, in part, the Security+ Exam Cram 2 book to study for it. And, on page 227, under the Organizational Security section, they say:

The last physical barrier is a moat. Moats surround part or all of a facility and are excellent physical barriers because they have a low profile and are not as obtrusive as fencing. In this instance, the consideration would be the depth and width. As with all physical barriers, the moat must be well maintained.

No, I am not kidding. The book actually suggests that a moat is a physical defence. I can just see trying to sell this to my boss now.
“Uh, Joe? I feel our revised security plan really needs a moat.”
“Did you say ‘a moat’?”
“Yep, it’s right there in the Security+ cirriculum. A moat, Joe.”
“A moat.”
“With alligators, if you think we can manage to get them through the budget.”

Oh, God help me. What am I doing in this business? If it weren’t so damn funny, it’d make me cry.

Jack Messman opens LinuxWorld.

Well, based on this story from WiredNews, Novell is really serious about their commitment to Linux. Jack Messman, who is the CEO of Novell, said that we need more OpenSource projects and applications. I really think his opening the biggest Linux show in the country show just how much Novell has committed to Linux. They’re really betting on the fact that enterprise computing is looking for a more robust, more stable, system than we’ve gotten used to recently. Certainly, I’d like a system that has fewer crashes and more uptime than most of the Windows servers I’ve worked on! And, Unix, which is still what runs the Internet, no matter what Micro$oft would like you to believe, is the most stable OS that I’ve ever worked on, Netware included. So, it seems like a good match for Novell. A series of products that integrate Novell’s easy-to-use tools and Linux’s stability seems like a good idea. At least, I think it’s the right move, obviously since I got my Linux+ certification. I just hope the rest of the IT world sees it our way!

Hey, let’s start the New Year off right!

With fear over our jobs in the current market! WooHOO!
Here are two stories about the trend in out sourcing geek jobs. Neither paint a pretty picture. They’re both on Business Week Online.
First, we have a fun little article about how India is corporate IT’s “silent partner”. Hmm, not sure how “silent” they are, and they’re no partner of mine, frankly. I detest this trend in outsourcing, especially over-seas. Why do we let other countries profit from what we invented? Especially at the sacrifice of our own jobs?
Well, this second article, on the rise of India might explain part of it. So, India send their best and brightest over to the States to get PhD.’s, then welcome them home and court US business. Hmm… So, why aren’t we focusing more on science and technology in education in our schools? Why aren’t we encouraging our own kids to do what these foregin kids are doing? Any professional “educators” out there want to take a stab at that? Oh, wait, that’s not their job is it…..

Okay, boyz and grrls, it’s time to take charge of your profession. We need to do more with less and be more aggressive and creative than our foregin competitors or we’re all going to be out on the street. Look at your resumes right now. No, really, go ahead. I’ll wait…
Now, are those the skills that are going to keep you competitive for the next three years? No? Then you better bust open a book and start working on the Next Big Thing. (Hey, when you figure that out, let me know, will ‘ya?)

No, really, an actual gift.

Back in October, you may recall, I wrote about updating my Novell certification. Well, Monday night I got a package from Novell. At first, I thought it was going to be some kind of “Welcome Aboard” kit like they’ve sent in the past. Basically, just a bunch of product literature and ID cards and such. But, this was different. They sent me an actual thank you gift for updating my CNE to version 6. In fact, there was a letter in the box telling me precisely that.
Now, the “gift” itself isn’t that great. It was one of those single-strap, “Metrosexual”-style backpacks, with Novell logos strategically placed all over it. But, it was the idea that they sent me something as a reward for sticking with them during hard times in the tech world. That’s a pretty big shift in thinking from Novell, and every one else who has a certification program. It used to be that they pretty well expected the certification candidate to kiss their butt, even after we put in the work to get the cert. But, now, there seems to be a different attitude, which I welcome.

So, I may not actually use their “gift”, but I appreciate the sentiment behind it.
Thanks, Novell!

Wow, this has generated a lot of buzz!

The Linux news sites are burning up with talk about what this will mean to Linux, SUSE, KDE, Gnome, and Novell. The traffic on this is just HUGE. Personally, I think it’ll be good for everyone involved. People aren’t too familiar with Novell, so they don’t know just how good a company it is. I was suprised at how many people didn’t realize that Novell has an enormous cash reserve. These are some pretty frugal guys. And, they’ve always had good products with minimal bugs. So, while I sit here wearing the Gnome “hoof” on my shirt, I smile at the thought of Novell revitalizing themselves with Linux, even if it means that they’ll be supporting the KDE interface.
But, what do I know about this stuff? I mean, I’ve only been Novell certified for over TEN YEARS and been running Linux, in one form or another, for at least four years. Take a look at what the folks at News Forge have to say about it. Or, if you’d like another, more “mainstream” source, check out the article on ZDNet Australia. I think they’ll both back up what I’ve been saying. (I know that ZDNet Australia confirms what I’ve been saying about the CNE for years.)

WOW!

It looks like I did a good thing by getting my Linux+ cert and then also updateing my CNE to version 6. This announcement from Novell came out yesterday afternoon about how Novell is buying the well known German Linux distro packager SUSE. Cool.
Of course, there are some hard-core Linux people who are afraid of another SCO scam, but, based on what I’ve seen of Novell, I doubt that will happen. More likely they’ll just become more like RedHat. Of course, considering RedHat’s new support policy, that may not be the best thing. Still, it’s nice to see Linux grow up and enter the enterprise big-time. And, hopefully, this will keep Novell competitive. Hell, I just hope it keeps them alive!
In any case, I’m sure this will be all over the geek news, so I’ll keep an eye on it.

I passed my test this time!

So, now, I’m fully certified to work on Netware 6. What a shame that the place I work at now won’t be doing that. *sigh* The worst thing is that I’ve been a CNE since 1993 and now, after ten years of certification, when my next CCR rolls around, I’ll have to decide if it’s worth updating. It always has been so far because I’ve always worked with Netware, but now… Well, frankly, there’s less and less Netware out there, compared to, say, Linux and Windows. I don’t know that I’ll keep working with Netware anymore. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but there’s just not a big market for it anymore. Or, at least, there’s not a big market for Certified Netware Engineers anymore. Heck, I get more calls for my Citrix experience than my Netware certification!
Ah, well, at least I passed this time, so I shouldn’t have to worry about it for a couple of years. Next up, though, is Security+. Then, maybe, CISSP, or, heaven forbid, a Microsoft certification.