> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kurt Buff [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Monday, February 07, 2011 10:54
> To: NT System Admin Issues
> Subject: Re: OT: desktop network switches
>
> On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 09:39, Ben Schorr <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Indeed – we’ve been down that road ourselves a time or two. I’m not
> > sure you’ve dealt with a difficult infrastructure environment until
> > you’ve had to provided data and telecom on a battleship (yes, really).
> > Running 200 feet of cable to the nearest managed switch -- which may
> > involve drilling new punch-thru holes in steel (and occasionally
> > armored) bulkheads -- in that environment is not something we undertake
> > lightly (or cheaply).
>
> That's not business, that's military, and it's a completely different world.
> And,
> because of that, using unmanaged small switches is even more of a sin there.
Actually, no, we're civilian contractors working on a decommissioned ship that
is now a memorial.
We've had similar experiences, though not quite that extreme, in manufacturing
and warehousing environments, though. In one case running additional cable was
going to require drilling through a concrete wall and the staffers in the new
office started work an hour before we got the phone call that they'd even been
hired.
> Again, as a temporary measure, I don't have much of a problem with it.
> The catch is that it really must be *temporary*. All too often they are not,
> and
> become embedded in the environment, and forgotten for just long enough to
> be a big problem, when someone creates that layer
> 2 loop, or the switch goes beserk.
Sometimes "Temporary" turns into "Permanent" when the guy who signs the budget
requests doesn't agree that there's a need to replace the temporary switch
("Which is working just fine, isn't it?") with an expensive managed one. Too
often those guys are accountants and not IT people and while they're redlining
the budget replacing stuff that's working now isn't often on their list of
priorities. Especially when they think their aunt has a Spanning Tree in the
backyard by the patio.
Luckily not every company is like that and as the economy gradually improves so
does their willingness to loosen the purse strings on the advice of IT. But
it's still the rare environment, at least in my experience, where IT has the
final say on what gear is getting replaced. We've spent many an hour standing
in the CFO's doorway with our metaphorical hats in our hand.
In a perfect world we'd have only knowledgeable and patient users, honest
vendors, generous CFOs and complete budget authority. In most real
environments we have few, if any, of those things.
My $.02. Keep the change.
Ben M. Schorr
Chief Executive Officer
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Roland Schorr & Tower
www.rolandschorr.com
[email protected]
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