Diary of a Network Geek

Well, that’s one rumor.

According to this article on ZDNet, Sun has been talking about acquiring Novell. Apparently, they’re after SuSE, in part because of IBM’s heavy involvement in that particular Linux distro. On the other hand, Sun was outbid by Novell when Novell bought SuSE last year. Hmm, interesting…
But, I don’t think it’s going to happen. First of all, why force a company to buy a company that you “want” just to turn around and pay more to get that same company that you were out-bid for? Not really logical, is it? Secondly, the article says that Sun chief operating officer Jonathan Schwartz was quoted as saying “…we’re considering all our options”. So, it may just be an “option”. You know, sort of like Oracle buying, oh, say, PeopleSoft was an “option”. An option that didn’t work out so well. At least, not yet.

Well, anyway, it sure is an interesting piece of news! I’ll be keeping an eye on this one.

My eyes are practically crossed!

I’ve been going around and around with the Novell ZENWorks Imaging boot CD Linux partition trying to get it to boot a laptop via a USB CD-ROM for the past two days! I guess the good news is that I’ve made progress.
For those of you who care, but don’t know, the ZENWorks imaging boot.iso was built with ISOLINUX/SYSLINUX, which are pretty close to the same thing. I know because I’ve practically rebuilt the whole damn Linux disk image it uses when it loads! So far, I’ve added the menuing system that I worked on last week and added support for the USB drives on a Dell laptop into two of the Novell default menu items. Oh, and I also set it to pull DHCP settings when it boots off the USB drives, too. I’ve been testing that on a Lexar Media 256 MB USB JumpDrive, BTW. And we made that happen with ISOLINUX. When I get it all worked out, I’ll burn a CD and we’ll make sure it runs from there, too. It’s been a real challenge, but it’s pretty cool to have a real technical challenge to work on for a change. Sometimes it’s frustrating since I’m doing this on my own laptop and that means I don’t have a regular system yet, but I figure that it’s “motivation”!

Anyway, when I get it all done, I’ll post all the scripts so that other folks and use them if they want.
Oh, yeah, I also installed Mozilla earlier this week. I “upgraded” my Netscape and found that I couldn’t send or reply to e-mail anymore! Damn! So, I went to the “source” so to speak and, so far, it’s been great. Mozilla is what Netscape is based on and you can’t hardly tell the difference, at least in the UI. (Which is a fancy way of saying that I like it and I’m very comfortable using it.) I highly reccomend it to you, especially if you’re looking for an IE replacement!!

I never thought they’d come in handy with Netware!

But, they sure have this week. I’ve been working on a project at my new job that centers around ZENWorks. See, we have a whole bunch of companies now, and they all have their own idea of how to run their portion of the network. Well, we’re trying to get it all unified under one vision, namely ours. Toward that end, we’re establishing a standard, of sorts, for workstation imaging. But, we want to stay flexible with it. As I wrote on Tuesday, we’ve got a fairly good menu system worked out with bash shell scripts and yesterday I figured out how to make the default ZENWorks Imaging Bootable CD TFTP the menu script over from the ZENWorks for Desktops server and load it. (The menu itself runs the standard commands for imaging, but strings several images together into one menu item.) And, from the title of this entry, you can guess where I did all that work. Yep, on a Linux workstation.
Thanks to ZENWorks CoolSolutions and this article, I was able to figure out how to uncompress the Linux image, mount it as a filesystem, change it, and put it all back. I used a shareware ISO editor to change the boot.iso to include the new image and the settings.txt file. Then, we burned that and, ka-pow! We’ve got a solution. I’m refining it today, but it works well enough now, in my opinion.

Man, I love my new job! Novell and Linux together make a great team!

Wherever it goes, it goes too fast!

I guess I should have anticipated being so overwhelmed by my new job, but I didn’t. I mean, I really, really love it, but I’m so tired now. I guess part of it is the stress of adapting to a new environment and digging all those old Novell skills out for use. Of course, that’s one of the nice things, too.
In the past week, I’ve learned a whole bunch about ZENWorks for Server and ZENWorks for Desktops, since that’s what we’re focusing on right now. We’ve got to get the desktop images worked out for the remote sites. And, we have to test the system I developed for letting the monkies in the field to roll the images out with a minimum of thinking. So, how did I do that, you ask? Well, gentle reader, I learned shell script. I found the basic source for a menu system on the web and tailored that to our needs. I got a little help from my co-worker on syntax for the ZENWorks portion, and I still have to test the TID I found on integrating it into the PXE boot system, but, the way I have it set up, it’s very easily updateable from a central location. See, I made a shell script that TFTPs the most current menu to the local machine then loads it. That way, we can send a very static disk image to Dell and our users in the field can simply choose their machine type from a menu to get the latest image! It’s pretty damn good for my first two weeks!
So, anyway, even though I’m tired and I work in a closet, I’m really digging this new job.

More soon. I promise!

A quicker way to read updates…

Or not, in my case. Okay, so the new job has kept me fairly busy and I haven’t been able to do as many updates as I used to do. The good news is that means that I’m working at work, not looking for ways to not seem bored! Yea!
But, I do feel the need to share little “tid bits” with loyal readers (or reader, as the case may be). So, as everyone knows I’m a total, die-hard, Novell geek. I love using everything Novell, including GroupWise. In fact, if I could, I’d use the GroupWise client at home! (Hey, at least I’d be safe from all the worms out there!!) Anyway, I saw on Novell’s Cool Solutions website that someone has created an RSS reader for GroupWise. How cool!

I’m sorry I missed a “fun” link yesterday.

Yesterday was my last day at Loomis, Fargo & Company. It was a bitter-sweet day, I have to admit. I’m glad to be moving on to something that I think will be a much, much better job for me, but I’m really going to miss a lot of the people I used to work with there. It’s sort of ironic, really, that I’m going to miss this place, because when I started, I never planned on staying very long. I always saw this as a place-holder, or stepping-stone, to somewhere else on my way to a better job. It was just something to pay the mortgage while I waited for the market to recover. Well, the market still hasn’t quite recovered, but it’s getting better and I’ve spent about 18 months treading water.
Okay, that’s not quite true. I did learn a lot more about Linux and I got my CompTIA Linux+ certification. I also updated my CNE (Certified Novell Engineer) to version 6.x. I haven’t quite completed my CompTIA Security+ certification, but that’s been mainly due to the upheaval of changing jobs. After I settle in, I’ll start working on that again and bang it out. It is, after all, a single test that will certify me for life. And, of course, I also learned more about Unix in general and the Veritas backup program on Sun Solaris in particular. All of which has been very, very cool.
But, one of the things I was “promised” was that I would be working on more Windows 2000 servers. The plan was to be replacing all the 35+ Novell servers with Win2K servers at all the branches. Well, that never happened due to budgeting problems and a CIO that didn’t understand why remote sites needed servers. (Yeah, I know, I can’t believe it either!) So, what that meant was I did a lot of backup administration and played nursemaid to a bunch of old, cranky Novell Netware servers. Not a great “resume builder”, is it? Well, I didn’t think it was a great use of my CNE either. So, when the rumors of outsourcing started, I started paying closer attention to the job-list e-mails that I got. And, well, the rest is history.
So, I found myself another job, but I also managed to place a friend of mine from the “old days” at Harbor at this position. He’d been out of work for 15 months. It was a pain that I knew all too well and I was very happy to help out a fellow CNE who was down on his luck. Also, this guy used to report to me so I knew he could do the job. It was a really good fit. And, in 90 days, I get a kickback from the recruiter, so it’s all good!

I’m really going to miss working with a great bunch of people, but I really look forward to meeting some new friends and working in a new, challenging environment that will really use my skills.

Hooray!

Well, I suppose I should wait to see if this article on AustralianIT is correct, or not, but Novell is expecting their Linux market to grow. I certainly hope so!
First, not only do I love Novell, but I love Linux, too! Okay, sure, I really dig the Netware kernel because it’s stable as all get out, but Linux is, too, so it’s a logical step. And, it gives Novell some more marketing leverage in shops that they might not have gotten a foothold into before! Remember, ZenWorks isn’t just for Netware anymore. You can run that on Win2K and, soon, Linux as well as the Netware kernel.
And, yeah, I have to admit, I’m biased because I’ve been Novell certified since 1994. (Well, I’ve been certified since 1993, but I’ve been a CNE, or Certified Novell Engineer, since 1994.) Well, here’s hoping it’s a growing trend!

Sort of….

Okay, not really. I know I’m their “only candidate” and I know they’re talking to my head hunters, but that’s it. I’m fairly certain that the guy I’d be reporting to wants to hire me. We hit it off fairly well and he seems like a good guy. (He also has red hair like my current good boss. Coincidence?) So…
So, that must mean that it’s coming down to the “doh, re, mi”. The “cabbage”. The “green”. In short, MONEY. And, isn’t that always the way? I’ve actually tried three times now to get hired on at this company, because they’re a growing, dynamic, stable company that believes in technology and it all comes down to a few thousand dollars. The hell of it is, I’d work for less, if I could. I really would. The job is that good, at least on paper. But, honestly, I’ve given them my rock-bottom, “I’m starvin’ here!” price. God, I hope it’s low enough.

The real ugly part of it all is that now I find myself thinking,”What else could I possibly bring to the table to make me worth it?”. Like 10+ years of hard-core, hands-on experience with Novell isn’t enough, right? Like teaching myself PERL and Linux isn’t evidence of my ability to get in to it and figure it out? Like my years of supervisory experience doesn’t count for something? (Okay, maybe that actually doesn’t. I hated being a supervisor…)
Well, I do tend to play it low-key in interviews. I tend to not tout myself too much, lest I get in too far over my head. Besides, it’s the Scotty Factor. If I can surprise them the first week or two, I usually find that I quickly develop the reputation for being a miracle worker. You get more interesting projects when people think of you as the miracle worker.
So, here I am, to keyed up to do anything useful, questioning my own value as an IT worker, blogging to take the edge off.

God I want this job so bad I could vomit.

Hey, I just got a t-shirt from Novell!

I went to check the mail after doing that last entry and found a t-shirt from the Cool Solutions people at Novell. Apparently, they give out t-shirts now, when you give them something to use on their site. So, I had e-mailed them a tip, which they used, and they sent me a t-shirt. A purple t-shirt, I might add. There are six other colors and they promise not to send me the same color twice. So, I guess I need to give them six more good ideas….
Gotta’ get ’em all!

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!