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Admin Network Technologies

The IT Dective Agency: someone stole my switch port

Intro

A complex environment produces some too-strange-to-be-true type of issues. Yesterday was one of those days. Let me try to set this up like a script from a play.

The setting

A non-descript server room somewhere in the greater New York City area.

The equipment

A generic security appliance we’ll call ThousandEyes PX, just to make up a name.

Cisco Nexus 7K plus a FEX

The players

Dr John – the protagonist

PCT – a generic network vendor

Florence Ranjard – an admin of ThousandEyes PX in France

Shake Abel – a server room resource in PA

Cloud Johnson – someone in Request Management

Bill Otto – a network guy at heart, forced to deal with his now vendor-managed network via ITIL

The processes

ITIL – look it up

Scene 1

An email from Dr John….

Hi Bill,

Thanks.

Well that’s messed up, as they say. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it for myself. Someone, “stole” our port and assigned it to a different device on a different vlan – despite the fact that it was in active use!

I guess I will try to “steal” it back, assuming I can find the IT Catalog article, or maybe with the help of Cloud.

Fortunately I have console access to the Fireeye. I artificially introduced traffic, which I see reflected in the port statistics. So I know the ThousandEyes is still connected to this port, despite the wrong vlan and description.

Regards,

Dr John

Scene 2

One Week earlier

Siting at home due to Covid, Florence realizes she can no longer access the management port of her group’s ThousandEyes security appliance located in another continent. She beings to investigate and even contacts the vendor…

Scene 3

This exciting script is to be contiued, hopefully

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