[149977] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Common operational misconceptions
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mario Eirea)
Fri Feb 17 09:58:34 2012
From: Mario Eirea <meirea@charterschoolit.com>
To: Leo Bicknell <bicknell@ufp.org>, "nanog@nanog.org" <nanog@nanog.org>
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:57:37 +0000
In-Reply-To: <20120217142927.GA70102@ussenterprise.ufp.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
+1=0A=
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Mario Eirea=0A=
________________________________________=0A=
From: Leo Bicknell [bicknell@ufp.org]=0A=
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 9:29 AM=0A=
To: nanog@nanog.org=0A=
Subject: Re: Common operational misconceptions=0A=
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In a message written on Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 08:50:11PM -1000, Paul Graydon=
wrote:=0A=
> At the same time, it's shocking how many network people I come across=0A=
> with no real grasp of even what OSI means by each layer, even if it's=0A=
> only in theory. Just having a grasp of that makes all the world of=0A=
> difference when it comes to troubleshooting. Start at layer 1 and work=
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> upwards (unless you're able to make appropriate intuitive leaps.) Is it=
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> physically connected? Are the link lights flashing? Can traffic route to=
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> it, etc. etc.=0A=
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I wouldn't call it a "misconception", but I want to echo Paul's=0A=
comment. I would venture over 90% of the engineers I work with=0A=
have no idea how to troubleshoot properly. Thinking back to my own=0A=
education, I don't recall anyone in highschool or college attempting=0A=
to teach troubleshooting skills. Most classes teach you how to=0A=
build things, not deal with them when they are broken.=0A=
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The basic skills are probably obvious to someone who might design=0A=
course material if they sat down and thought about how to teach=0A=
troubleshooting. However, there is one area that may not be obvious.=0A=
There's also a group management problem. Many times troubleshooting=0A=
is done with multiple folks on the phone (say, customer, ISP and=0A=
vendor). Not only do you have to know how to troubleshoot, but how=0A=
to get everyone on the same page so every possible cause isn't=0A=
tested 3 times.=0A=
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I think all college level courses should include a "break/fix"=0A=
exercise/module after learning how to build something, and much of that=0A=
should be done in a group enviornment.=0A=
=0A=
--=0A=
Leo Bicknell - bicknell@ufp.org - CCIE 3440=0A=
PGP keys at http://www.ufp.org/~bicknell/=0A=
