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Inner Light
Jan 2, 2020



GnarlyCharlie4u posted:

Yo certs ain't no joke.
I've been at it for almost a week now trying to update our certs because there has been literally no documentation on it previously so I have to painstakingly comb through literally every product/service/server (not just the obvious public facing ones) to make sure that they are documented and not just updated.
It is pretty amazing the number of things that <just exist> which use certs and might not be given a second thought until they stop working for no immediately obvious reason.

Almost not worth pointing out, but just to be a jerk the quoted poster was talking about certifications, not SSL certificates :)

CNs and SANs are fun though

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GnarlyCharlie4u
Sep 23, 2007

I have an unhealthy obsession with motorcycles.

Proof

Inner Light posted:

Almost not worth pointing out, but just to be a jerk the quoted poster was talking about certifications, not SSL certificates :)

CNs and SANs are fun though

whoops I got wooshed because I was just in the other thread where they had brought up CA servers.

Tell me about it though. We've got 2 new SANs since last cert renewal (yeah our CA certs need renewed too) and they're both VERY fluid right now as we try to reorganize in anticipation of moving to a 4th SAN as well as EOL on our Netapp in September in addition to a total reconfiguration of our virtual environment since that little MAJOR outage last week. Of course some are split between domains / networks. Some are completely isolated but need to move, etc...

All of this is URGENT PRIORITY piled on top of all the other poo poo I need to get done like yesterday and nothing can budge and I'm not even allowed to work more than 40 hours so :shrug:

LochNessMonster
Feb 3, 2005

I need about three fitty


PKI is a solved issue. Just use a single *.domain.tld with an expiration date of 10 years on all severs. Never have to wonder what cert/keypair you have to use ever again. No more running your private CA’s or paying out of your rear end for thousands of certs. Management loves these kind or cost savings!

in case this wasn’t entirely obvious, don’t ever do any of these things. Ever.

devmd01
Mar 7, 2006

Elektronik
Supersonik
The CIO called me yesterday to thank me for all my work on a major project we’ve had going on the last year (that we pulled off flawlessly as a department), and gave me a very nice spot bonus. It’s nice to work for a company that recognizes good work.

BaseballPCHiker
Jan 16, 2006

LochNessMonster posted:

PKI is a solved issue. Just use a single *.domain.tld with an expiration date of 10 years on all severs. Never have to wonder what cert/keypair you have to use ever again. No more running your private CA’s or paying out of your rear end for thousands of certs. Management loves these kind or cost savings!

in case this wasn’t entirely obvious, don’t ever do any of these things. Ever.

I worked with an extremely lazy useless exchange admin at my last job who had setup a bunch of certs for exchange and just completely forgot that certs expired. The above was his answer to fix this problem in the future. Not you know, just setting reminders or any other sort of sane rational setup.

LochNessMonster
Feb 3, 2005

I need about three fitty


BaseballPCHiker posted:

I worked with an extremely lazy useless exchange admin at my last job who had setup a bunch of certs for exchange and just completely forgot that certs expired. The above was his answer to fix this problem in the future. Not you know, just setting reminders or any other sort of sane rational setup.

I hear you. Pretty happy that browsers are moving towards shorter cert ages which kinda forxes people to not be lazy about this.

Internet Explorer
Jun 1, 2005





I have been pushing Let's Encrypt wherever I can and then using PRTG to monitor certificate age. I've not had good luck with calendaring things in the past. Too much for most places to keep track of, too high a chance of human error.

The Fool
Oct 16, 2003


Internet Explorer posted:

I have been pushing Let's Encrypt wherever I can and then using PRTG to monitor certificate age. I've not had good luck with calendaring things in the past. Too much for most places to keep track of, too high a chance of human error.

One of my parting gifts to my old job was automating adfs cert renewal with let’s encrypt

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
Currently loving off of work to buy a car that fits my new salary budget.

Good thing they required 4 weeks notice, so productive right now.

bus hustler
Mar 14, 2019

Judge Schnoopy posted:

Currently loving off of work to buy a car that fits my new salary budget.

Good thing they required 4 weeks notice, so productive right now.


:hfive: Notice period buds. Took another nap today, going in tomorrow and friday though. :)

Spring Heeled Jack
Feb 25, 2007

If you can read this you can read
Second and last interview today, a few guys on the team asked me some questions. Mostly character fit type stuff over technical quizzing.

They said I will know their decision by Friday. Let’s hope I can go into the weekend knowing I can give my 2 weeks on Monday, and more importantly not have to deal with ‘introducing myself’ to another interviewer again for a long while.

EDIT: Recruiter said the offer came in last night, so it’s mine if I want it. Pending official offer letter and checks in their end, I’m good go to!

Spring Heeled Jack fucked around with this message at 14:57 on Apr 8, 2021

The Iron Rose
May 12, 2012

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:
I have 6 hours of meetings today, and one of them went very very well! Big conversation on where we want to take the infrastructure/security teams, as we’ve been flying without much direction for about three years. Maybe 15-20 engineers and I really shone. Was a nice reminder that, oh yeah, I am all that hot poo poo and more. Especially since I’m the only one save the eng manager who actually understood that our purpose was to help the company make money.

Anyways the meeting went an hour overlong with 90% of the attendees sticking around due to their interest in the convo which I think is usually a good thing!

i am a moron
Nov 12, 2020

"I think if there’s one thing we can all agree on it’s that Penn State and Michigan both suck and are garbage and it’s hilarious Michigan fans are freaking out thinking this is their natty window when they can’t even beat a B12 team in the playoffs lmao"

The Iron Rose posted:

Was a nice reminder that, oh yeah, I am all that hot poo poo and more.

:hmmyes:

This is a good feeling and super motivating. I’ve been feeling unmoored for a long time now, asked my boss (been working with him for ~2 months) for some feedback yesterday and he told me he was getting amazing feedback from my peers and his bosses. Ive been quarter assing at best so I still got it. Then we talked about the team lead position they might be creating and he mentioned I’d be a perfect fit. I might get to do all the leadership stuff I like with 0 management responsibility. It’s all turning up i am a moron.

Internet Explorer
Jun 1, 2005





Anyone using Cohesity for backups? If so, how do you like it?

SyNack Sassimov
May 4, 2006

Let the robot win.
            --Captain James T. Vader


i am a moron posted:

:hmmyes:

This is a good feeling and super motivating. I’ve been feeling unmoored for a long time now, asked my boss (been working with him for ~2 months) for some feedback yesterday and he told me he was getting amazing feedback from my peers and his bosses. Ive been quarter assing at best so I still got it. Then we talked about the team lead position they might be creating and he mentioned I’d be a perfect fit. I might get to do all the leadership stuff I like with 0 management responsibility. It’s all turning up i am a moron.

Hey man, we all believe in you and think you can get from 1/4 moron to full moron. Believe in yourself and all moronic things are possible!

i am a moron
Nov 12, 2020

"I think if there’s one thing we can all agree on it’s that Penn State and Michigan both suck and are garbage and it’s hilarious Michigan fans are freaking out thinking this is their natty window when they can’t even beat a B12 team in the playoffs lmao"
*wipes tear from my eye* thank you, that was beautiful

bus hustler
Mar 14, 2019

As I'm leaving it's been interesting having some people give very heartfelt, "drat, you really transformed this place," speeches when they hear I'm leaving since overall I got very, very little feedback from the organization & none from leadership.

Can't really say it's ego stroking, I've always been confident in my work & none of these people really ever tried to make my life easier or advocate for me/my team.

Paladine_PSoT
Jan 2, 2010

If you have a problem Yo, I'll solve it

Sickening posted:

I am all for being careful but this entire statement is absurd. This must be some Euro nonsense because there is zero chance this is happening in the US. If you are 100% remote AND you are getting your work done, who could give a flying gently caress?

Oldquoting this because i'm a few pages behind, but if I had employees and one of them took a random risk with company IP by going to a different country with different data sovereignty laws I'd be pretty pissed.

Spring Heeled Jack
Feb 25, 2007

If you can read this you can read
I’m putting in my two weeks tomorrow morning, it will certainly be interesting to see what kind of reaction I get from my coworkers.

I can’t help but feel guilty for moving on but their bus factor on Azure stuff is myself and myself alone.

And I’m finally hitting the 6-figures club. Which is a lot considering I was making $40k stressing myself to death at a poo poo-rear end MSP a little over 5 years ago.

Internet Explorer
Jun 1, 2005





Don't feel bad for one second. You were clearly very underpaid. Congrats!

Shartweek
Feb 15, 2003

D O E S N O T E X I S T

Spring Heeled Jack posted:

I’m putting in my two weeks tomorrow morning, it will certainly be interesting to see what kind of reaction I get from my coworkers.

I can’t help but feel guilty for moving on but their bus factor on Azure stuff is myself and myself alone.

And I’m finally hitting the 6-figures club. Which is a lot considering I was making $40k stressing myself to death at a poo poo-rear end MSP a little over 5 years ago.

MSPs are the worst, and I'm still working for one. I was offered a position elsewhere and called my boss to quit a few weeks ago and was gaslit into staying now that I've spent some time thinking about it. Good on you for moving on.

Spring Heeled Jack
Feb 25, 2007

If you can read this you can read

Coolnezzz posted:

MSPs are the worst, and I'm still working for one. I was offered a position elsewhere and called my boss to quit a few weeks ago and was gaslit into staying now that I've spent some time thinking about it. Good on you for moving on.

When I was at the MSP it was a really bad time for everyone. The owners were verbally abusive not to me, but to some of the other guys. Small family owned business are literally scum of the earth if you’re not in the family.

My current job really opened my eyes as to what was possible at a decent company, but it’s kinda worn off and stuff has changed for the worse over my 5 years here. Now they’re talking about returning to the office which I have no interest in doing.

New job, I just accepted the offer and my manager is asking me what sort of stuff I need. I got a screaming laptop, huge monitors, and a full office worth of kit headed my way. They even offered a desk and chair which I probably would have taken if I didn’t just buy some new ones.

CLAM DOWN
Feb 13, 2007




Spring Heeled Jack posted:

I’m putting in my two weeks tomorrow morning, it will certainly be interesting to see what kind of reaction I get from my coworkers.

I can’t help but feel guilty for moving on but their bus factor on Azure stuff is myself and myself alone.

And I’m finally hitting the 6-figures club. Which is a lot considering I was making $40k stressing myself to death at a poo poo-rear end MSP a little over 5 years ago.

I was about the same. 5 years from my starting gig at 53k to the 6 figure club. Congrats!

Phuzun
Jul 4, 2007

I just left an MSP as well. A truly awful small family thing. I was looking to leave before covid happened and the interview processes got halted. So stuck it out while I arranged myself as wfh the entire time. They went on living and traveling like nothing is happening, at least a quarter of the 30 person business caught covid. Did the "we care" image while never enforcing masks, distancing, or any other precaution. But I was wfh, so let them be idiots. Then the election happened and the follow-up insurrection, which they fully supported and spread the "Antifa just making us look bad" crap. Told them I wouldn't work another day for them until they explained that position and was let go.

Got a higher paying position with a real job title, top tier healthcare plan, and a few other financial benefits. gently caress family owned business, especially MSPs.

Gort
Aug 18, 2003

Good day what ho cup of tea
What is it about MSPs that make them so consistently bad to work for?

Thanks Ants
May 21, 2004

#essereFerrari


They do work for companies that don't see the value in having an IT team that is integrated with the rest of the organisation, which means their clients shop on price, which means they all look to put in low bids and then try and make it up on extra services. The whole business model is based on commoditizing an offering that should really be bespoke for each client, based on using whatever services have good margin and can integrate with the RMM platform the MSP has chosen, rather than picking the right solution for the client each time. The need to compete on price means getting as much 'value' as possible out of employees, so a combination of overwork and underpay.

The business model doesn't allow room for providing good service and working conditions, because anybody that tries will get undercut, and all the clients are price sensitive.

In addition to this, a lot of MSPs seem to be owned/managed by someone who started as a one-man operation in the early 2000s and then brought on extra people as the workload grew. They've not kept their tech skills up-to-date in the fifteen years since they moved into management, but still insist on having final approval on everything.

Thanks Ants fucked around with this message at 10:38 on Apr 9, 2021

BaseballPCHiker
Jan 16, 2006

MSPs are literally the worst. Do the impossible on zero budget, with zero time, all while getting harassed by your owners/bosses. Its a complete and total dumpster fire.

Spend no more than a year in the MSP salt mines, get some wide ranging experience, and get the hell out. Remember the "best" MSPs tend to have the best sales people, not the best tech.

I have never been more miserable in my life than for the year I worked at an MSP.

Sepist
Dec 26, 2005

FUCK BITCHES, ROUTE PACKETS

Gravy Boat 2k
Try working for ISP level1/level2 tech support, everything else is paradise compared to it. There were days I just hoped I got hit by a car and died before making it to work. I'll take my time at MSPs over that any day.

LochNessMonster
Feb 3, 2005

I need about three fitty


Sepist posted:

Try working for ISP level1/level2 tech support, everything else is paradise compared to it. There were days I just hoped I got hit by a car and died before making it to work. I'll take my time at MSPs over that any day.

I didn't find ISP first/second line to be that bad. Yeah, almost every single person calling you knows nothing about computers or networking and half of them will yell at you for breaking their internet but it was relatively stress free. It also lets you develop your social skills and explaining technical issues in a way even the biggest dummy would understand.

The down side it's boring as gently caress and after a month or 2-3 you've ran into 99% of all issues you'll possibly encounter.

1st/2nd line for printer/scanner support was literal hell on Win 95/ME though.

Spring Heeled Jack
Feb 25, 2007

If you can read this you can read
Wow so after calling my manager to put in my two week notice and him half-heartedly trying to convince me to say, he told me that he was also planning on putting in his two weeks notice today. He’s been at the company for 19 years.

So that would leave our Jr. Sysadmin and two help desk team members on the technical side supporting all of our sites and services, dev teams, etc.

Gonna be an interesting two weeks!

Sepist
Dec 26, 2005

FUCK BITCHES, ROUTE PACKETS

Gravy Boat 2k

LochNessMonster posted:

I didn't find ISP first/second line to be that bad. Yeah, almost every single person calling you knows nothing about computers or networking and half of them will yell at you for breaking their internet but it was relatively stress free. It also lets you develop your social skills and explaining technical issues in a way even the biggest dummy would understand.

The down side it's boring as gently caress and after a month or 2-3 you've ran into 99% of all issues you'll possibly encounter.

1st/2nd line for printer/scanner support was literal hell on Win 95/ME though.

Lucky I guess. Maybe just people in the NY metro area are completely dehumanizing to people they aren't in face to face contact with where that is not the norm everywhere.

Thanks Ants
May 21, 2004

#essereFerrari


Spring Heeled Jack posted:

Wow so after calling my manager to put in my two week notice and him half-heartedly trying to convince me to say, he told me that he was also planning on putting in his two weeks notice today. He’s been at the company for 19 years.

So that would leave our Jr. Sysadmin and two help desk team members on the technical side supporting all of our sites and services, dev teams, etc.

Gonna be an interesting two weeks!

:justpost:

BaseballPCHiker
Jan 16, 2006

Spring Heeled Jack posted:

Wow so after calling my manager to put in my two week notice and him half-heartedly trying to convince me to say, he told me that he was also planning on putting in his two weeks notice today. He’s been at the company for 19 years.

So that would leave our Jr. Sysadmin and two help desk team members on the technical side supporting all of our sites and services, dev teams, etc.

Gonna be an interesting two weeks!

EVERYONE, thinks that some key people leaving will make some huge unalterable change at their employer. I'm not saying its impossible, but I've literally never seen it.

My last job our director who started the org from the ground up 30 years ago left. So much institutional knowledge left with him that was never documented anywhere. And things just kept on ticking. Some issues popped up here and there, new processes were developed, alternatives and workarounds made, and it was business as usual.

I'd love to hear a counter example because I've never seen it.

i am a moron
Nov 12, 2020

"I think if there’s one thing we can all agree on it’s that Penn State and Michigan both suck and are garbage and it’s hilarious Michigan fans are freaking out thinking this is their natty window when they can’t even beat a B12 team in the playoffs lmao"
At my last place all my reports resigned after I did and it cost the company millions of dollars this year because they couldn’t find any backfills and they lost all the accounts. The entire practice just ceased to exist

Edit: my old boss apparently told the last resignee ‘I’m totally hosed now’ :lol:

i am a moron fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Apr 9, 2021

BaseballPCHiker
Jan 16, 2006

Welp there you go I guess. Didnt take long to prove me wrong.

Was it an MSP out of curiosity or a tech company?

i am a moron
Nov 12, 2020

"I think if there’s one thing we can all agree on it’s that Penn State and Michigan both suck and are garbage and it’s hilarious Michigan fans are freaking out thinking this is their natty window when they can’t even beat a B12 team in the playoffs lmao"
Consulting, so combo of staff aug/fixed bid/t&m projects. They had to get out of a bunch of RFPs too so the opportunity cost might be even higher.

Edit: for added hilarity all the resignations happened within the span of three weeks

TheParadigm
Dec 10, 2009

Jesus. How badly did they gently caress you all over that everyone bailed at once? What was the catalyst?

Spring Heeled Jack
Feb 25, 2007

If you can read this you can read
In no way do I think that our leaving is going to make thing grind to a halt, but the bulk of our VMware, Azure, and k8s knowledge is heading out the door.

They can probably bring in a local MSP we’ve worked with before to tide them over while they find replacements, but it’s still gonna be rough.

i am a moron
Nov 12, 2020

"I think if there’s one thing we can all agree on it’s that Penn State and Michigan both suck and are garbage and it’s hilarious Michigan fans are freaking out thinking this is their natty window when they can’t even beat a B12 team in the playoffs lmao"

TheParadigm posted:

Jesus. How badly did they gently caress you all over that everyone bailed at once? What was the catalyst?

We got acquired by a company that was complete poo poo called CGI. Bunch of Canadian corporate buttholes who were asking us to fill out 30 page risk assessments for ALL cloud projects and had a median age of about 65 which seemed very weird for a technical consulting company. Was not a fit for the cool Cloud club I had built with some amazing folks and they all left for way better opportunities because our time to build something awesome was over

Edit: and to be clear when I say ‘millions’ I literally mean $2mm or so. But our division was doing $30mm/year so it was a big hit because we were operating on some noice margins

i am a moron fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Apr 9, 2021

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The Iron Rose
May 12, 2012

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:
Had my performance review today. Got a “successful” out of four, which while not bad certainly isn’t as stellar as a result as I’m used to. Still, when I asked for feedback it was presented as a remarkable achievement given that a year ago I was doing user tickets, setting up desks and monitors and today I’m redoing our monitoring and observability as a SRE. Asked for feedback on how to get be exceptional next time, and the answer was to keep doing exactly what I’m doing now and just spend more time in the role. Lots of praise, literally no critiques or specific items to work on.

So overall a disappointing result but the no criticism + keep up the good work thing makes it not bad (or so I tell myself to keep the anxiety at bay). So this is me normalizing posting mediocre things that happen vs doing that social media thing of presenting a perfect life I guess.

Apparently there were some doubters in engineering management that I could do the role before I joined due to my age/experience and those worries have been apparently been “conclusively dispelled”. Not entirely sure how I feel about that but I guess I’m glad that they’ve accepted me.

Anyways, it’s a Friday, and I’m oncall, and we’ve got some noisy rear end mysql alerts, and our much delayed percona 8 upgrade is happening this weekend :negative:

Oh well, was nice having a good nights sleep while it lasted.


E: lol just got paged for a critical alert that a MySQL host was down cuz the DBA teams are doing maintenance and restarts. Love noisy alerts that are scarcely relevant.

The Iron Rose fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Apr 9, 2021

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