Today I am going to be doing some testing on a clients network. They have been updating me on a slowdown they are experiencing during the busy times in the afternoon.
They have about 16 users, running on 23 machines. 2 switches and one router make up the hardware for the lan.
My first thought is that this is just normal traffic, and the lan is struggling to keep up. They have a need to transfer images, not big on their own, but large enough to cause a slowdown when every one is sending at the same time.
My focus is, of course, small business environments. I have been associated with larger interests on and off, but small business is where I like to be. Why? I think it has something to do with white boards, my uncharacteristic fear of them. I know that when there is a white board, there will most likely be strategic planning. And where there is strategic planning, there will be dough nuts. I need no more dough nuts, I feel like a dough nut as it is.
My clients trust my judgment and decision process. When I diagnose a problem, I consider the situation, then I take action to gather intelligence. When I build a network, I consider the requirements, then I take action. Many of my buddies in the suit and tie world worry about my exploits, and cajole me for having such bravado with holy and intrinsically unknown devices. They worry about network downtime and data loss, and the justification to their superiors if they can't back it up with a nifty flow chart. A flow chart is not going to save you, not even close. I would give a room full of flow charts, and graphs, and technical manuals, for one guy that new what the hell he was doing, and was not afraid to get his hands dirty.
I remember when I started working with SGI, and they rolled in 6 Onyx machines. If you have not seen an SGI machine like the Onyx, well they were big. Refrigerator big. Multiple risc processors, scsi, and millons of dollars that were not mine. I was afraid, made feeble by the huge machine. The representative that was helping to install all the equipment turned to me and said “be not afraid, it is just a computer”, and so it was. Once I got to the console of the box, and all the normal commands I was familiar with worked, my fears eased. IRIX was kind to me, and made me realize that I could handle pretty much whatever was tossed my way. After all, its only a computer.
Today the plan is to go in, and wait until the bell. I will be preparing a rather large file that I will trigger the machines on the network to download from the server as I monitor the traffic. Using tcpdump I will capture the packets that I can and see what I can on the line. I hope to bring this network to its knees, twitching and stuttering so I can watch it all happen. After I get enough data I can go in and prepare some flow routes or some such fix to prioritize the traffic to better suit my client. Could I do this at my last fortune 500 employer? Nope, not a chance. I would probably have to submit a work order, and more paperwork, and a slash dot 7 in triplicate, and wait a week, well you get the idea. So off I go into the unknown, man, I love my job.