VPNot

November 9, 2004 3:32 am General

Remember when I got transfered? Fortunately I took enforced holidays before getting too tangled up in the mess. Almost 2 weeks later, I’m still tangled. I think I probably only lost 2 days of mail in the transfer, so that’s not such a big deal. But when it comes to VPN, it is.

When I set up the network in the new house, things didn’t go according to plan. First of all, I couldn’t IRC and it was easy to figure out that it was due to the firewall. First problem; easy solution – disable the firewall until I have more time to look at it. Secondly, my VPN connection wouldn’t work. Initially I thought it was because I still didn’t have a user account, but when I checked in with sun.net things went okay, and I was able to log in with my handy encryption card.

I logged a service desk request, thinking that it was a relatively straightforward problem. I was using exactly the same router configuration locally and nothing had changed at my end since the previous weeks that I was happily using my VPN connection. I even tried another router, and got Laca to test it on his Solaris box down in Dunedin. No show. I’m 99.999% sure the problem isn’t my end, and figure it’s just a case of adding a simple user id to the VPN database, if such a thing exists.

Being in New Zealand doesn’t help, when your service desk has been offshored to India. It has been a frustrating 2 days – with a huge lack of understanding and communication that has eventually resulted in my service desk request being closed because Linux [and JDS] ironically hasn’t been supported. Hello? Alarm Bells?

To top that all off, I’m now faced with following it up myself – The HR department in Australia seems like likely first bet, after the service desk girl suggested I get in touch with both the JDS helpdesk and some JDS FAQ. Do you know who I am lady? I think I made her cry. What’s more, in the transfer my Irish corporate calling card has also been cancelled so now more long distance calls without having to worry about expensing them. Sigh.

I’m sure there’s a morale to the story here, but right now I’m a pretty unhappy camper. Sun is built full of technically gifted engineers who know what they’re talking about and I’m embarassed to think there are other people in the field who are facing this kind of frustration on a daily basis.

How much am I worth to Sun an hour? Let’s say $100 as a random figure. Having missed 2 days before I went on holiday, and now 2 days after coming back, that’s 32 hours @ $3,200. I’d like that in my next paycheck if you just waste it!!

[Apologies for the rant, it’s just been a frustrating day]

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