Network Admin Life - Adding Another Switch

[@corstian_]

I hope you don’t have to stop making these videos. I do enjoy watching them

[@DDJJAAYY]

Nah fr I genuinely learn a lot watching his content

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I will only stop if ordered to. God bless!

[@JustAnotherGuyWithIdeas]

After a layoff and encountering more friction than anticipated landing a new internal networking role, your videos have been a great comfort to me during this time. Thank you for sharing and I hope that you can continue making them.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Having been through two of those layoffs I truly know the anxiety you have probably been going through. God was my comfort and I hope He is yours. However, if my videos help in anyway than I'll also give God the glory for that. God bless!

[@underthehall]

As an aspiring network admin I hope you don't stop your videos. I enjoy them.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I'll keep making videos as long as they let me and as long as there is interest. Go bless!

[@Master_Webby_One]

Dont stop the videos 😞 keep up the great work, and sharing how you overcome issues on your network!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thanks for that. God bless!

[@paulypaul111]

No one is hacking a network only armed with what you share in your videos. Makes and models is 1/20th of the info someone would need. Keep your OS’s up to date and you will be fine.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

And MFA as well. God bless!

[@28469]

It’s your channel mate you say what you want, good on ya. Much love from New Zealand

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Definitely will. Glad to see we have some Kiwi's out there! God bless!

[@saifemran4528]

Thank you for your honest videos!!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Glad you like them! I try to be honest. I'm not trying to sell anyone on this career. If someone decides this is what they want to do based on my videos, great! If they decide that this is NOT the career for them, great! God bless!

[@samjones4327]

Hey Grace & Peace 2 U brother! Thanks for another great networking closet video! I love it when you go into hardware mode, as Iron Man would say I always enjoy when we get to see the equipment in action! Thanks for the switch mounting tip too! Well you have a great and safe week and I'll see you in the next! God Bless you and your family! 🙏🏽

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thanks Sam, always good to hear from you. Yeah, I'll try to keep providing what I can in the videos. God bless!

[@satvisionsatvision]

love your videos, watch every week, keep up the good work and much love to you♥

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thank you for that, I appreciate it! God bless!

[@nightwing09x]

I love all of your videos they are great and informative! Bless you!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Glad you like them! God bless!

[@Jujukungfu]

As an IT professional in the entertainment sector, it's really interesting to see the challenges other industries face. Thank you for your videos sir

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Having worked in defense, banking, publishing, and now healthcare, it's amazing how much the job stays the same. God bless!

[@bradwilmot5066]

Some said the same "I know what kind of switches you use" to me once... I replied "Well, can you remind me? I've been awake too long, I've forgotten"... :-)

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Nice comeback. God bless!

[@kevorka3281]

I started studying for my CCNA. Can't wait to start my career.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

That's awesome. You can do it. Just keep after it. God bless!

[@captjack5169]

These videos are a service to the IT community, there are very few of In the Wild videos that actually show datacenter workings. This is a good idea. I recommend you continue, but ask the community for recommendations on security and make them if they seem necessary, above else ignore the haters.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

That's actually a great idea. God bless!

[@TheNightshadeian]

Knowing what brand of switches does not matter. I am sure the management vlan is not exposed to the Internet. so will not be able connect to it unless you are on the local lan. Also more than likely all logs are being sent to a sys log server and will alert when someone is trying to login to the switches. I would not worry about showing on videos. Keep up the videos 👍

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Exactly. The management VLAN is not even exposed to the internal network. God bless!

[@CAMOMONKEY513]

Keep up the great work! Enjoy your videos, your assessment of the nay sayers and those threatening the security of your infrastructure I say this, there’s a special place in hell for someone who wants to hack a healthcare provider.

[@geoffupton]

now THAT is exactly smack on!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I agree but there are MANY of them out there. Thank you God bless!

[@dermof]

Then I must be the second atheist that does not care, even likes it when you mention your believes, I think there is some wisdom in everything. So we all can learn something. I like your videos!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Network Admin Life: the channel with the coolest atheists on the Internet. If you don't mind, we'll pray for you anyway. God bless!

[@walkman1269]

aaaannnddd........... That's why I don't use power tools to mount things in a rack. You'll wallow the heads out and other power tools will be required to remove the screw. Haha just pulling your leg. Grace and peace to you brother! Keep it up.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Okay, confession time, (no I'm not catholic but I'll confess anyway). I have twisted screw heads off with that very impact driver. Because I was in a hurry and not paying attention to what the screw was trying to tell me. God bless!

[@walkman1269]

@@NetworkAdminLife I'll admit I spent a good 30 minutes with vice grips a couple of weeks ago trying to remove a UPS. Whoever installed it didn't care if it ever came out. The hole in the center was completely round. I was so frustrated. It was a 2200VA UPS too. Very heavy!

[@shawnw1979]

AMEN!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

God bless brother!

[@Naters305ytg]

You are working my dream job and it is cool to see. I am currently about 3 years into help desk and I think it is about time to move on to something else. Hoping I can be a Network Admin eventually.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Keep studying and looking for opportunities to help out the network staff where you work. I wish our help desk would become more involved. God bless!

[@drooplug]

An impact driver is too powerful for what you're doing. I suggest using a regular drill or an electric screwdriver. With machine screws, I have found that running the drill in reverse first until you feel the end of the threads click past each other, helps to prevent cross threading when you run it forward. I also start it slow until I am certain the threads are properly engaged.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Per my above confession you are correct. But it's more compact that my regular drill motor that doesn't have impact built in. I may have twisted screw heads right off with this thing when I wasn't paying attention to what the screw was trying to tell me. God bless!

[@samdumt]

I really enjoy your videos man!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I really appreciate that! God bless!

[@OwenC1]

Really hope you cleaned those fibers and ports. Didn't see one bit of cleaning supply around.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I have heard the collective wisdom of the fiber guys out there and I have ordered a fiber cleaner. God bless!

[@OwenC1]

@@NetworkAdminLife Getting a scope too I hope? Scope lets you inspect the ferrule or the port to see dirt. Proper cleaning procedure is using a cletop to clean the ferrule and scope. Then clean the port with a plunger and scope that. Then connect the two really fast. Because critical levels of dirt can accumulate on the ferrule in a matter of seconds even in a clean data center environment. Also i may be insane since I work on 400G channel ROADM systems with high power RAMAN amps. You might be totally fine just raw dogging your fiber for short runs.

[@senseijay51]

The screw trick. I just showed someone that the other day. They were amazed. I felt like such a gray beard after 35 years... 😅

[@NetworkAdminLife]

*sigh* I remember when my beard was reddish brown. And it is a good trick isn't it? God bless!

[@BlockchainShango]

Good afternoon. Mentioning Jesus is fine. Anyone who cannot respect the views of others isn’t anyone “I” would work overly hard to accommodate. Thanks for uploading the videos.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thank you for that. God bless!

[@Chadspeedy]

Your videos are awesome and I do not think you are saying too much about your network 😊

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I appreciate that! God bless!

[@FredYduciel]

Amen! Thanks a lot Sir.... following up from South Africa as I'm busy studying my Network+ that after failing on my first Attempt two months ago... Any advice will be appreciated.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Just keep at it. It took me years of self-study to get where I am. The resources available back then are nothing compared to what you have today. Keep studying and you'll get it eventually. God bless!

[@FredYduciel]

Amen 🙏

[@jttech44]

I used to use an old dewalt 12v drill for this job, but, it stopped holding a charge, so, I got myself one of those Denali cordless screwdrivers and I've gotta say, the experience is much improved, and it's real real cheap. Little guy has some grunt to it, and it charges over USB-C, so, no charger nonsense to deal with. Also comes with every bit known to man, so, no screw left unturned! I sometimes wish I'd get my hands dirty more often...

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Okay, dirty little secret. I know I shouldn't use an impact drill for these screws. Unfortunately, our facility engineers do not. Sometimes they mount the switches for me. With... you guessed it, impact drills. Electric screwdrivers won't back those bad boys out once facilities puts them in. :-) God bless!

[@jttech44]

@@NetworkAdminLife Probably more of a vibration concern which is.... not a huge concern for switches. Using one with a live disk array in the rack, well, that's gonna be a problem, maybe.

[@knightjocke]

Interesting mounting the switch that far out from the rack, it did look like there was enough space behind since they were mounted that way in the other rack? But the extreme switches looks nice with a lot of screw holes for adjusting the mounting depth

[@NetworkAdminLife]

This is one of the universal switches that Extreme sells and it is a bit more back-heavy than the existing switches. I mounted those to look "pretty" and line up nicely with the patch panels. These mounting ears are cheap pot metal and I just didn't trust them not to bend under the weight of the switch. So yeah, I mounted it a little more forward on the rack. Time will tell. God bless!

[@bobanmilisavljevic420]

🙏

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Should I thank you or do you need prayer? God bless!

[@bobanmilisavljevic420]

@@NetworkAdminLife I'm just thankful for videos like yours. I typed a whole thing about it but then just erased it and sent 🙏 instead

[@bryanmcniel]

If I'm not mistaken, that looks like a complimentary Riverbed screwdriver. Got one myself.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Good eye! The Riverbed name and logo have long since worn off as I'm sure they have on yours. Yep, we used Riverbed extensively at my last job. God bless!

[@jonathankeenan80]

Greetings from Jonathan. I don't know if you're allowed to discuss this. But, how many vlans does a typical hospital have? I know there's at least voice, data, and management vlans.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I don't know. I've only ever worked at this hospital. We have more VLANs here than at any other job I've had though. That's because the segregated the VLANs by network closet. So one floor of the hospital can have multiple VLANs just for user data. Then phones in other multiple VLANS. Then we have some specialized applications that get their own VLAN. It adds up quick. We have well over 150 VLANs. God bless!

[@OnTheRocks71]

I learned everything there is to know about hacking from the hit 1995 film "Hackers". You cannot stop me.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I don't think I would mind being hacked by Angelina Jolie. Would certainly take the sting out of it. God bless!

[@xXSilentSniper]

I just wanted to make sure I understand. But is the end user plugging into a network jack which is terminated for Ethernet and then the other side is fiber which travels to the fiber patch panel?

[@NetworkAdminLife]

The network jacks at the end user location are ethernet jacks and extend the switch port to the user's location. The switch itself is connected via fiber back to the network core switches. This is how it works in many institutions. God bless!

[@LogicalNiko]

Hopefully your security officer doesn't mind. Ideally your security department should take the stance that obscurity should not be anywhere in the top line of defense. I understand folks that do have to safeguard that stuff to appease various individuals, but I've always respected the security folks who will openly tell you what their infrastructure consists of. If you are following standards and going through the process knowing the make and model of the hardware should make no difference whatsoever. In fact, when a mistake does happen, I also like to publish those lessons learned in a general format because there is a community out there that will benefit from the years I spent learning what not to do. On a completely unrelated note, I think I had those glasses frames, or a very nearly identical set from Zenni a few years ago. Good set, served me well and are still my backup set.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Our SO has really added some amazing layers of security just in the last few months. We're in a pretty good posture now. 90th percentile at least. God bless!

[@rikachiu]

This atheist enjoys your content 🥰 That being said, anyone commenting those threats are just script kiddies. They are all bark.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

That's awesome, thanks for that. And as long as you don't mind, God bless!

[@rikachiu]

Of course not. You seem like an actual Christian and truly mean what you say! I appreciate it! I wish you all the best as well 🎉

[@PE4Doers]

I look forward to you praising our Lord 😊

[@NetworkAdminLife]

How could I possibly stop! Soli Deo gloria! God bless!

[@ajax9302]

how do you like working with Extreme vs the Junipers and Cisco's of the world?

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I like Extreme because it's what I'm used to. I liked ProCurve back when I used that. Never really been much of a Cisco guy. I know, I'm an odd duck. God bless!

[@cdinnetz]

Script kitties will be script kitties. Start doing some blurring if you are worried about it. You keep on being you and doing you. GOD BLESS.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thanks for the tips! God bless!

[@Mike-sg4bt]

People are just stupid now days I enjoy your videos and I hope you keep making them have you ever thought about being a teacher for advanced networking. I think you would be very good at doing that.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I'm not real good at teaching, though I'm a pretty good documenter. God bless!

[@ZappyRedstone]

Plz, I am help desk but want to move up to a similar role. What certifications and experience are needed? I do not have much opertunity to practical hands on with the more advanced stuff at work.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Start with a Network+ certification. See if you even like this stuff. Your company must have a networking staff, see if you can help them from time to time. I like it when the Help Desk at my job wants to learn. But when it comes time to learn, they really don't want to. Good luck and God bless!

[@ZappyRedstone]

@@NetworkAdminLife Absolutely. I actually was able to get my network plus. I like to bug my networking team with questions and things like that. I am their hands and feet for our site since they are located overseas.

[@changwang7596]

I enjoy the videos :(

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thank you! I'll continue on as long as I can. God bless!

[@matoschristopher]

Your doing a good job. Knowing the switch you use isn’t an issue. I’m not seeking anything on your videos that exposes anything you shouldn’t. I’m sure you have logging in place with alerts for rogue devices. On my network at work I have any MAC address that is not approved disable the port and alert me. We’re a Cisco shop. Have never used Extreme. I’m guessing you may have that as well.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Since our new security officer came on board our security posture is much better than what it was. He's implemented some pretty cool tech. Which, he probably won't talk about. God bless!

[@Murph9000]

Try not to give in to the trolls. Showing the hardware should never be a significant security problem; if your security depends on the attackers not knowing what gear you have, you have some much more fundamental issues with security. As long as you keep the network rooms locked and have decent security and monitoring of your Internet & WAN gateways, you should generally be good.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

That's kind of what I have always thought. I mean, there are only so many networking vendors we could be using. And what's the old Internet adage? Don't feed the trolls. God bless!

[@garrettmandujano2996]

Alright, this is the guy I want to be

[@NetworkAdminLife]

What? You want to be short, fat, and losing your hair? LoL! Seriously, thank you for the compliment. God bless!

[@yihadsamir1368]

damm man i follow you because u show and teach your problemas and we learn from your problems but anyways is not like you enter a button and all your network is hacked they need more info is not like someone tomorrow will hack your network by just one click those bunch of ppl saying that are just script kiddo.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Don't worry, the videos won't stop (unless my job depends on it). God bless!

[@Mr_P]

People who immediately think about attacks when they see a "vulnerability" in your videos are just sad. If there is a obvious flaw that someone who is deep into the material knows about, the decent thing is to DM you with a suggestion.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I completely agree and if you ever see a vulnerability in my videos, please, please, please let me know. God bless!

[@Chris-hy6jy]

Exactly why you don't use an electric screwdriver. You're much more likely to cross-thread the screws.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Yeah, and sometimes when I'm in a hurry the hammer drill makes sure those cross-threaded screws bottom out. Usually not but you guys all caught me this time. God bless!

[@KLNYC]

is that Juniper?

[@NetworkAdminLife]

No sir. God bless!

[@mitchmahan2036]

Despite having conflicting beliefs then you, I'm not here to judge someone else just here to learn from your wisdom as a networking professional as well.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

It's okay to believe differently. I wish everyone believed as I did but it's not my place either in the world, or in my faith to force my believes on anyone. But I won't hide my beliefs either. I'm just here to testify to what I believe to be true. And I'm glad you enjoy the videos! God bless!

[@mikeperry2814]

It's called "cross-threading"" a screw!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I know right? Can you believe I also built two full-sized airplanes too? I was a little more careful with those, however. God bless!

[@peppigue]

apropos extreme switches, can anyone confirm if it's safe to edit the vlan description on a live device? my more experienced colleague is confused by extremeos config, we have mostly cisco and aruba. have a device which uses 75% of ram on vlan info...

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Just changing a VLAN name will not hurt anything. As long as you don't change the tagging on the VLAN. The name is for you, the tags are for the switch. God bless!

[@the_expidition427]

I'm not sure how anyone would hack the network easily without knowing the configurations

[@NetworkAdminLife]

There are a lot of smart people out there with no morals. Never underestimate them. God bless!

[@PE4Doers]

I wouldn't listen to the criticism about knowing what equipment you have. I work as a Computer Systems (what the 'cool' kids call 'Cyber') Security Professional, and anyone who has ever studied that security should know - There is no 'Security through Security'. They should get a copy of the ISO-27001 Computer Security Standard and check your yourselves. Security is ONLY achieved through proper knowledge of the specific technologies and diligence. There is even a question or two on the CISSP Certification exam about that, and the fallacy of depending on what 'you think is' obscurity.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I'll take your word for it but a humble request, if you see me revealing something that you wouldn't, call me on it. God bless!

[@swaterman08]

I need help, New Network setup. We have 2x Fortinet 200F Firewalls in HA, x2 Meraki MS-425s, x2 Meraki MS-390-24 and multiple stacks of MS-250-48s for the access devices. We also have 96 port Dell SOn switch for Servers. How would you uplink them together? I like the idea of going Dual 10Gbe from each Firewall into each MS425 via SFP+, then from the MS-425's to the Dell Switch via dual 40Gbe uplinks. And then use the Dell Switch to uplink to our MS-390's and MS-250s Our network company is doing some weird stuff with Qsfp breaking out to x4 10Gbe to uplink to the access switches.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Hard to advise without a diagram and please don't post a link to one! But I would say, try to provide as much circuit redundancy as you can. Look at your network and try to find the single points of failure and provide redundancy there. Provide geographic diversity if possible too. Even if it's just in separate rooms and separate electrical circuits. Good luck on the design and God bless!

[@kkpdk]

You haven't posted anything you shouldn't. On the other extreme (ha!), if you try to go for security by obscurity, you won't get the message from other greybeard (yes, yes, you shave.. Doesn't make you any less a greybeard) alerting you to something. I get a lot of heads-up messages from my network, two of which have saved me from compromise.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thanks. I sure hope I haven't said too much. I'm going to be VERY careful in the future about what I reveal. God bless!

[@SpaceLifeMo]

You should the law enforcement involved just in case

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Involve them how? Oh, you mean on the veiled threats? I'll leave that to our security officer. He's already got some ideas. God bless!

[@MarkHall-cf6ji]

im the cool atheist

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Ha! That's awesome. Well, I respect your right not to believe as I do. Thank you for being cool. And God bless anyways!

[@geoffupton]

well tbh i dont believe in religion at all, but i am definitely not going to stop ANYONE having their own beliefs and all that! 😁 as to security probs, naa your fine, other folks use that hardware/software too.... you never show ip's or passwords so your secure!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thank you for being reasonable. Some folks are just not. And as far as security I think I've been pretty good about it but Imay have to be a bit more obscure in future videos. God bless!

[@fred290e]

Your not providing enough specific information. Just apply latest firmware, keep up to date with your ACLs, use complex passwords, lockout policies and only allow SSH connectivity from Management VLANs or specific Servers, use seperate AD Credentials for Admin and User, when possible. Use 2FA or Hardware Tokens.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Yes indeed. Those are very good methods to secure a network. We may have some or all of those. ;-) God bless!

[@Zetharion1]

I am that one atheist that doesn't care lol. Yeah I think people that comment on these videos to not show anything ever may be the "gatekeeping" type that don't want any knowledge of real world application to be released. Anyone that really knows what they are doing can figure out what equipment the county uses rather easily.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Like I said in an earlier comment, Network Admin Life has the coolest atheists on the Internet. And your options are either Cisco, which is what 99% of the world uses, and then Extreme. The linux of networking. God bless!

[@alexanderg9106]

I think been sensitive what you show in your videos is good, but I don't think it will help if you don't make them any more. A scriptkiddy is always out there and also enough automated scans. Security by ovuscation it always the worst. ;)

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thanks for your perspective! God bless!

[@ximalas]

I only care about how you do things. The why's and certainly the what for's are of no interest to me.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Duly noted. Ignore the parts you don't like. God bless!

[@MoneyMarcMes]

They are all Trolls.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Yes they are. I'm trying to remember the old saying, "Don't feed the trolls." God bless!