As posted >here<, I get the feeling I need to be au fait with networks.

My boss is happy to show me where everything is and roughly how everything works but I am going to need advice on how to run things. This will be instead of them hiring a technician (which will be more expensive and need to be called out every day probably)!

So is there a way/site/book that will bring me up to scratch on these things?
What questions should I be asking or what info should I be finding out about beforehand? Essentially, if you had to come and sort out any network issues here, what information would you need?

I guess I'll be coming back to this thread and asking more questions in future. I'm not a total numbnuts - I can set up a wireless connection between three computers to use a printer connected to the router, but I think this is going to be a whole load more complicated!

To be honest, I'd probably recommend something like buying a copy of 'TCP/IP for dummies' as a starting point. Everything behind the curtain is pretty much TCP/IP these days. Also it's worth actually reading the manuals for any network kit you'll have to deal with - ADSL/cable routers and the like. A significant amount of network problems are to do with such kit being misconfigured, and the manuals are rarely that technical. Once you can figure out how to configure a PC with a correct IP address, switch the router firewall on and open and close ports on it (and maybe forward those ports to specific systems internally) that's probably the biggest chunk of the stuff you'd ever need to do covered.

To be honest, these days unless you're doing complicated stuff involving QoS or tunnelling - which you most likely won't be - most 'non enterprise' network admin is a doddle compared to how it used to be ('when I were a lad... fields.. kids today... etc').

Jon

what kit is it?
how many computers?
whats the current system, what is the network used for?

otherwise, try finding a cheap CCNA course

Definitely start with an inventory. If you have things with "riverbed" or "netapp" written on them, you will probably need a bigger book than if it all has "netgear" or "dlink".

I personally wouldn't recommend CCNA for a starter - it teaches you how to calculate a netmask in your head (the world's least useful skill), but forgets to mention what a netmask actually does (leading to some epic trouble-shoot fails). A network+ book or a general TCP/IP primer would be better IMO.

Also make sure you know what exactly needs to work all the time (do you have hosted Exchange, or is there a dusty box sitting under a pile of doormats and jam jars that is going to one day ruin your life).

And also find out what support resources you have - it's likely you have some sort of outsourced IT company or at least a local contractor to call on unless you have a very rudimentary network. What stuff are they contracted to do already, what stuff do they charge for on top of that, and what do they prevent you from doing?

The waffle is right - can't say what you need to know without knowing what you're responsible for.

Your first task is definitely to do an inventory. You need to know what you have, what servers, what switches, what routers and who provides you with what services. Ideally, draw a pretty picture with IP addresses and contact numbers on. Stick it on your wall. I'm serious - I have one on mine.

The Internet is down - which router is that, and who is your provider? Is it just a single ADSL line on a cheap Netgear, or a managed Cisco with an SLA and a 24 hour hotline?

The email is down - is it an SBS server in a cupboard, or are you "in the cloud" or is it a good old fashioned no-backups pop from the ISP set up over a decade ago?

99% of business effecting problems have nothing to do with technical stuff. They're to do with having the right phone number.

99% of adds / moves / changes have nothing to do with networking skills. It's all down to what software systems your company uses.

As far as I can tell, it's all done by the current boss. There is no outside contract hire! We're out in the sticks too.

Was already planning on drawing diagrams. The switches seem to be stuck in a closet that's used for hanging clothes! Fire hazard IMO but there you go.

Over the next few months, I plan to garner all the info and will report back for further advice.

Okay so I got to see the nerve centre today. I took a brief pic and vaguely understand what's going on.




From a quick top-of the-head count, there are around 22 computers in the entire building, all hooked up to this via data point wall sockets. There are around 25 telephones too. I've been told that the inner lot of connections (pink) run to the telephone sockets. The outer set of connections on both sides go to the data wall sockets. The two horizontal boxes are switch boxes. The small box on the right hand side is connected to two security cameras, which can be accessed from any computer via a web log-in. The cable bundle to the top left goes to a raid 5 configured server running Windows Server (I think).

All of the telephone and datapoint sockets are labelled at the wall with their numbers and correspond to the number labelling on the big box.

I plan to create a network map as there isn't one - more for my own purposes.

What else do I need to know? Along with macros in the other thread, my brain is being frazzled by IT stuff. Worse still, I used to know some of this stuff but forgot about it because I never used it.

I'm not being funny but whoever left... that... looking like... that... needs a smack.

I know. Complete mess ain't it? As stated, it's in the back of the cloakroom. Apparently in the seven years of it operating like this, it's never melted down!

You do realise that you've jinxed it just as you're about to take over?

Probably. Which is why I need all the help I can get, so any advice appreciated.

Actually that's most likely the structured cabling. One cat5 cable going from the patch panel to each socket around the building.

The Siemens box underneath is the phone system, and the two little boxes to the left are 4 lines of ISDN2. Not sure, maybe there's a couple more slightly hidden giving you 8 lines. The larger box to the left is a box-con 301 terminating CAT3 cabling. This may be mostly legacy, or you may have phones running through it. Looks like a couple of "normal" phone sockets there, possibly the internet is on one of them. Is that middle box on top a router? I can't tell from the picture, but it might be something like an SDSL circuit rather than normal ADSL.

For the stuff in that picture, you need to know:

Who provides your phone lines and what number to call if they go down.
Who maintains the phone system and who to call if it goes down or you need adds / moves / changes
Who provides the internet, who to call if it goes down and also whether it's a managed service with an SLA. If it's not a managed service, you need to identify the router and get the login details for it.

For the stuff not in the picture:

What servers you have. Physically where they are and what services run on them.
What services you run externally. Potentially almost anything could be "in the cloud". These days, even some quite large companies don't bother with their own mail server for example.
Who's responsible for what, and how to contact them.

It's not an unusually untidy patch panel, although it is the first time I've seen them mounted vertically! Over time, cables get changed and it gets messy. There's actually nothing worse than a patch panel that's been tidied by some anal retard to the point where it's so tight you can't re-patch one cable without practically ripping the entire lot to pieces, possibly shutting down half the company in the process.

Ah! Thanks. There are four siemens/BT boxes, two to the right of the ones you can see and slightly down.

Here's an unedited pic:



Are you able to annotate it for please, so I have some idea of what's what?

There's only one server AFAIK. Everything is on it - all patient records etc. One program (the one giving me issues with form creation) needs a link to its HQ to operate and if that's down, the notes can't be accessed. Otherwise everything else is in-house. Some programs can access other places eg connect to hospital system to order x-rays but no one except my boss uses this.

Will definitely check though.

That picture is a little clearer - looks like the phone system actually says Samsung.
At work right now, but I'll annotate tonight.

Okay so I went took down some details of what I could see.

There are seven small boxes on the left side (four in the pic, three further down that are hanging rather than affixed!). Six of them are lit and the seventh isn't. They state "BT" and "ISDNe".

The top horizontal box: SMC EZ switch 10/100
The second horizontal box doesn't seem to have any markings on the back.
The third horizontal box: HP Precurve Switch 2124 or 2129 or Z124 or Z129 (I can't read my writing!)
The big box with the cables: Pressac - the sockets are labelled 1->96
The bottom box: Samsung DCS Compact II.