Ever come across a problem and say 'well There's yer' problem' and then realize it was something you did years ago?
Yesterday I spent some time troubleshooting a network connection.
What we have been trying to do, and have succeeded at doing, is to use 1 wireless access point, and give multiple SSID's.
What this means is that say you go into a starbucks, and join the free wireless there, it isn't really that secure and most people know not to do sensitive things on their computer there.
Well, the past 6 months people have been asking for more and more wireless access. Wireless here is really unpredictable because of all the metal in the roofing and walls.
Anyway, after a steep learning curve, yesterday I finall figured out how to make 2 wireless networks work over 1 wireless device.
It involves a configuration on the wireless device (we use Dlink WAPS because they are affordable, we'd prefer Cisco)
A configuration on the switch that device is connected to (multiple vlans)
A configuration in Microsoft NPS (aka Radius).
THAT was the tricky part.
So anyway after hours of making Radius policies and figuring out exactly which way traffic should go determined by which SSID they join and which login they use...
it was working... in all placed but 1.
So I sat down yesterday, it was quitting time, but I couldn't let it go. Why go home with questions in your head?
So I stayed and stayed.. and then... BING.. I had an idea.. and I looked and sure enough....
PAST CHAD.. Chad from 3 years ago, typed a command for security that was breaking what CURRENT CHAD was trying to do .
(picture above)
I was blocking out Vlan 10 with an allowed statement... on purpose.
Which I now wanted to UNDO. So I undid it.
I felt like going back to past CHAD and saying 'one day Chad, a technology will come along that you haven't heard of yet, and you will need to undo this command... I don't expect you to understand it now... but trust me.. enable Vlan 10.'
heheh, having a time machine would save me a lot of trouble. (-;
Anyway point is, I know I'm geeking out here, but the point is, it works now... and I will be deploying these WAPS across the entire center today!
Which means tomorrow a whole lot of people won't know how to connect to the wireless anymore which is why I created a video tutorial on how to join.
In fact, apparently my reputation for documenting things got all the way to the director who has asked me to join forces with him in an attempt to create a training curriculum for Papua New Guineans.
I'm pretty excited about that, and have been doing a lot of documentation and videos lately gearing up for that. We do a lot of training and there needs to be a lot of repetition in that training for PNG'ians to remember it. So video would be perfect for that repetition!
Anyway, I've been playing with it in my spare time for now because my manager while approving of the idea, doesn't like the time it takes to do video, which distracts from my other priorities. Still, I'm rather passionate about this so I don't mind it cutting into my after-hours time.
Here's my logic:
-If I fix a computer or a network, then the translator can keep on translating, the teacher can keep on teaching, the church leader can keep on discipling.
-If I train people to do things - then they can keep on doing their jobs even when I'm not available.
I'm all about enabling people to do their work God has called them to do. In the past I've found I get in high demand and it'd be nice to duplicate myself. Video training is the closest I've come to succeeding at self-duplication. (-;
