Is it just me?

[Tallgeese]

Or is the most lamebrained article on networking hosted right here on AT?

Don't forget: He's talking about IT/Enterprise Networking!

 

[reicherb]

I think I'll take all my servers down and just use them as workstations in a peer to peer environment.

After all why would I want to waste my money on BorderManager for proxy/firewall when I could just "purchase a $100 router and enable simultaneous internet access"

Wow. don't these get screened before they are posted?

 

[dexter333]

BorderManager is suck. At least the way they have it configured at my school (high school)

I wish Akamai would go back to unrestricted use of their servers. Free proxies to visit any site I wanted. No, not pr0n. 2600.com is NOT blocked but bored.com is. They don't even block pr0n sites anyways. Some of the dumbest stuff is blocked. Like babelfish.altavista.com.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< Like babelfish.altavista.com. >>



If they didnt block that you might do your homework



<< It is possible that administering this configuration may not be easy at times and it is certainly not going to give you the level of security that you may need in some situations. >>



That kills that idea for me.

 

[Mucman]

LOL, I read that article before I knew anything about networking outside of your own home LAN. I thought it was cool then because I could apply it to my house, but I could never even fathom applying that to our web-hosting environment! We would be the laughing stock of the net!

 

[Rainsford]

A company I used to work for tried just having a "business DSL" installed with the DSL router giving out IPs through DHCP. It didn't take very long for everyone to wise up and get a real business connection, two T1s. This company was under the IP limit of the router, but that didn't mean it worked well.

This is my theory about anything having to do with anything. You get what you pay for. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There is a reason some things cost more than other things. Hawking cheap solutions as a way for companies to save money won't work in the long run. If you want something that's crap that "should work just as well", that's fine. But I don't think anyone, especially anandtech, should be offering that as legitimate advice. Business is not a game, I can handle cheap service if I can't browse the web at home for a few hours every once in a while, but I would never advise a company to do the same.

 

[Rainsford]

And is it just me, or does a "super peer" sound an awful lot like a server that you also use as a workstation? Can anyone thing of why this might be a bad idea? If not, perhaps the book, "IT for complete morons" is in order.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< And is it just me, or does a "super peer" sound an awful lot like a server that you also use as a workstation? Can anyone thing of why this might be a bad idea? If not, perhaps the book, "IT for complete morons" is in order. >>



Its not just you. I dont have the necessary tools on my *HOME* servers for someone to use it as a decent workstation, unless you like lynx...

 

[ProviaFan]

It's not just you. While that model of networking works great for my home LAN, it would quickly break down even in a small business with only 10 PCs. Just think, would you want someone running MS Word or Internet Exploder on the company's web server? Stability would go to ....

 

[Garion]

Hmm. Let's see.. Nearly all MS desktop apps limit things to 10 concurrent connections.. The 11th guy that wants to use the accounting software is just SOL, I suppose..

Yes, this is a fairly terrible article that misses a lot of key problems that make this a totally unacceptable solution for a real enterprise. Little details like password management or file management/locating seem to slip right on by, although I didn't read it in enough detail to relal find out. One thing, however - Anand is taking a stab at providing the Enterprise IT readers some interesting material that is of use.

Instead of being quite so critical, how about some constructive feedback? Not necessarily on THIS article, but what you'd like to see and some suggested topics... In fact, I'll start.

I'd suggest some articies on:

• 
  Managing a Windows Webserver - hardening, clustering, etc.
  Layer 3+ switching
  Proper DMZ/Internet border design
  Enterprise networking on a shoestring - Good budget solutions for pressing business needs.
  Alternate last mile solutions
  Building and deploying GPO's with Windows 2000 Server
  Managing Internet access and use
  Structured cabling design
  Enterprise AntiVirus bulding blocks

Of course, Enterprise is kind of a fuzzy word. How big is an Enterprise? (And no Captain Kirk jokes, please). 100? 500? 1000 users? All of these topics could be scaled way up or way down, depending on the number of users. For 100 people and a few servers you don't need a multi-gigabit Layer3 switched backbone.

Anyhow, my two cents. Yes, it's not a great article, but always try to be constructive!

- G

 

[Tallgeese]

<< One thing, however - Anand is taking a stab at providing the Enterprise IT readers some interesting material that is of use. >>

Shoot, I think there is some pretty interesting material right here in this forum.

This thread isn't a knock on AT or Anand (and I hope he doesn't take it that way). Rather, I'm just :Q at the bad quality of the article, since AT's articles are some of the most well-written and technically correct articles anywhere.

However, I'll call a spade a spade. And that article is so patently wrong, soft-pedaling how bad it is does more disservice (especially to folks who may not realize that fact)than criticizing it, IMHO.

That said, here are some articles I would like to see on AT (as long as they are up to AT's high standards of quality--and I'm being serious now).

* Securing WLANs
* Multicasting
* Intrusion Detection: Deployment and Management
* Load-balancing Techniques
* "Inheriting" A Network. (quickly and accurately "mapping" a network, "blind" t-shooting, etc.)
* 5 (or 10) "Soft" Skills Necessary To Succeed In IT (you demonstrate one below: compassion)
* Enterprise-level Backup Solutions (hardware and software)
* Help Desk and Desktop Management
* Getting Better Service and Support from Vendors

 

[Mucman]

Do any of you gurus in this forum have any writing ability? It would be awesome if you guys started some sort of "Diary of the network junky" style website! Spidey07 will write about co-workers thinking they are smart by attaching Linksys routers, ScottMac will stand and shake his head as people get fried while running cat5e between houses, n0cmonkey will just laugh at everyone who isn't using BSD, JackMDS can post links to helpful articles to newbies!

 

[ProviaFan]

<< Do any of you gurus in this forum have any writing ability? It would be awesome if you guys started some sort of "Diary of the network junky" style website! Spidey07 will write about co-workers thinking they are smart by attaching Linksys routers, ScottMac will stand and shake his head as people get fried while running cat5e between houses, n0cmonkey will just laugh at everyone who isn't using BSD, JackMDS can post links to helpful articles to newbies! >>


Hehe, good idea.

Anyway, I'm not the one to be writing a diary...my network diary goes basically like this:

A long time ago, I connected my two home computers with a Cat5e crossover cable.
Not long thereafter, I set up ICS on the main WinXP Pro box.
It's been working fine ever since.

 

[Woodchuck2000]

It's not just you...

I would like to see articles on most of the topics Garion suggested.

If there's sufficient demand, I'll write an FAQ on Win2K GPOs
I assume the topics in demand would include things such as structuring, inheritance and filtering with a little bit of troubleshooting on the side?

 

[powerMarkymark]

HEH! My brother LOVES head cheese!

 

[Garion]

I'd be willing to step up to the plate and write an article or two.. Depends if the powers-that-be are interested, I suppose.. TG, you volunteering, as well?

- G

 

[Tallgeese]

<< I'd be willing to step up to the plate and write an article or two.. Depends if the powers-that-be are interested, I suppose.. TG, you volunteering, as well? >>

Would only be fair for me to walk the walk, if I'm gonna talk the talk, eh?

Incidentally, my degrees are in English, not IT or CS.

 

[Tallgeese]

<< HEH! My brother LOVES head cheese! >>

Your brother is a SICK man.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<<

<< I'd be willing to step up to the plate and write an article or two.. Depends if the powers-that-be are interested, I suppose.. TG, you volunteering, as well? >>

Would only be fair for me to walk the walk, if I'm gonna talk the talk, eh?

Incidentally, my degrees are in English, not IT or CS. >>



Id be interrested in the articles mentioned by both Garion and TallGeese. No need for them to be on the main AT page either. They can stay in the Forums, or atleast be peer reviewed (kinda like an RFC ) right here in the forums before shipping them off to Anand (with permission of course). I would be interrested in writing one or whatever (the IDS article caught my eye) but I dont know enough about a specific subject to write a good article.

If nothing else, when we find good articles (no matter where they are), we can provide linkies for the others.

 

[dexter333]

<<

<< Like babelfish.altavista.com. >>



If they didnt block that you might do your homework

>>




Har har har........ when I was in French, I used babelfish like two or three times to do homework for me. Otherwise it was just more like a dictionary. Anyway, Ne parlez pas francais. (too lazy to find the accents and I don't remember it too well anyway.).

 

[n0cmonkey]

<<

<<

<< Like babelfish.altavista.com. >>



If they didnt block that you might do your homework

>>




Har har har........ when I was in French, I used babelfish like two or three times to do homework for me. Otherwise it was just more like a dictionary. Anyway, Ne parlez pas francais. (too lazy to find the accents and I don't remember it too well anyway.). >>



Ich sprechen French nicht! (Cant remember the German word for French )