I delete most of my posts after a month or so to keep my blog manageable and to organize my reblogs. You have my permission to reblog whatever deleted post I made. It wouldn't be on the internet if I wasn't okay with it getting shared.
I have started my own website where I am organizing resources I've made over the years (and also compiling stuff like recipes and recommendations).
I am also now livestreaming a couple times a week, come hang out on Wednesday nights to get something done and Saturday mornings to look at computers and ask tech questions. All streams will involve rambling stories and Tiny Bastard.
Here are some of the major resources I've made and some of my sideblogs in case you're looking for something that I reblogged, plus my answers to the tech questions I get most frequently:
First of all, here's the death book.
Here's the guide on how to write a research paper.
Here's the de-Googling pamphlet.
Guide on how to talk to people (including helpful commentary from others!)
HERE'S THE LINK TO 2025 California Fire Resources.
I'm also uploading this stuff at archive.org now.
Want to learn how to draw? check @beginningdrawing !
Why I don't go to defcon anymore (tw: sexual assault/harassment)
Are you looking for a good price on computers? Check out @okay-computer.
@compusever - tech and internet stuff.
@how-to-do-activism - how-to's and information about activism and anarchy and stuff.
@depressionbootcamp - mental health and ADHD stuff.
@adultieradults - how-tos and advice that I've posted.
@but-i-eated-it - gluten-free recipes and cooking adventures.
@politicalmissdemeanor - political shit.
@fellow-ny - gender euphoria.
@punkpuns - a comic I used to make.
@pitmusic - my punk band.
@traum-fieber - my black metal band.
@blankie-wanky - cool blankets and fiber projects, mostly by other people.
@ms-demeanor-art-blog - my art stuff.
@ive-got-a-parasite - venom fanblog.
@yelling-about-college - documenting college life and college strategies; kind of a studyblr?
There are more but those are the ones that I want to share the most mixed in with the ones that people want to see the most.
2026 Specs for buying a computer
How to make a computer meaningfully faster
Basic computer shit:
Basics of encryption and safe internet traffic.
Protonmail for email
Cryptpad.fr to replace gdocs, LibreOffice if you want a free desktop office suite
Windows security is probably fine for your AV but if you want more or have a Mac use Sophos free edition (if you're using linux there is no helpful advice I can give you, you probably know more than I do about it)
Here's a good resource on piracy (not written by me)
Here's a great post of coding resources by @shinelikethunder
My preferred browser is Firefox with privacybadger, decentraleyes, https everywhere, multi-account containers, ublock origin, and auto tab discard (sleeps inactive tabs to save RAM). I also have the wayback machine extension because archiving is good. Duckduckgo is my default browser in firefox.
Bitwarden for password management (free version is great, but $10 a year also gets you 1GB of encrypted file attachments)
If I have to use a chromium browser for some reason I use Opera
If you need to check if your email or password data has been leaked, the site you can check on is haveibeenpwned.com
Okay so my actual assigned-by-my-boss potentially revenue generating job for today was supposed to be updating a simple quote and sending it to the client.
LSF - Another server room but with a different name
PSA - Software that includes client management and hardware management tools, plus ticket tracking and history
RMM - Software that includes remote management tools
Documentation Platform (DP) - software that hosts documentation about client passwords and other information
IP address - location of a device on a network
Serial Number - Unique hardware ID, in this case it must be noted that the manufacturer serial number includes the device production date.
There are seven UPSs, SR1-UPS, SR2-UPS, SR3-UPS, SR4-UPS, SR5-UPS, SR6-UPS, and LSF-UPS. The names should, in theory, correspond to the Server Rooms they are placed in and the documentation in the PSA, RMM, and Documentation platform should match.
We need to quote replacement batteries for any devices that are reaching about three years of age.
We don't have a documented inventory of UPSs for this client (bad). SR6-UPS, SR2-UPS, and LSF-UPS are not visible in our RMM or on the network, but have records on the PSA and the DP.
We have been attempting to define a "source of truth" for our equipment (this has been a very big part of my job recently due to lifecycle management) and the way this is SUPPOSED to work is that the RMM gathers information from a device, which syncs with the PSA to create a Configuration Item (CI), which syncs with the DP to create a record. The PSA is supposed to be the source of truth, because it can be updated from muliple RMMs but we can manually create CIs if we have to.
The PSA can *only* be updated via the RMM if something called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is enabled on the devices. It has, historically, not been standard for us to enable SNMP on most devices.
Because we weren't able to see everything about these devices via the RMM, I sent a tech to the site to find all of these a few months ago.
Immediate, instantaneous problem: the first UPS is showing an assigned name that doesn't match any of the other devices, and is displaying two serial numbers. One serial number indicates that the device was manufactured in 2017 and the other indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
This is NOT the device I'd sent the tech to document - the device I'd sent the tech to document was not connected to the network.
The device that has two serial numbers is supposed to be LSF-UPS. Instead the device shows "NND-1" as its description.
The device not connected to the network is SR6-UPS, it appears to be functional and plugged in but does not have SNMP enabled. It is also nine years old at a minimum, and (according to the tickets in our PSA) had the battery replaced in 2020. This is, as far as I know, the only actual device that is in the network that was manufactured in 2017.
The next device is SR2-UPS, which is not showing as connected to the network in our RMM, but is visible from other management devices.
The tech takes photos of:
The serial number
The product number
The MAC address
The IP Address
He does not photograph each of these identifiers for each machine. It's sort of a grab bag of what he documented for each one.
The tech documents spotty information on SR1-6 and LSF-UPS.
I find this information unsatisfactory. I go to the manufacturer management portal and export the list of devices we've got registered on the portal. That list includes:
SR1-SR5 UPS.
It does not include LSF-UPS
It DOES include Stand-55 UPS. Which I do not have documented by the tech.
Neat. It also says that SR2 and Stand-55 have lost connection, but provides IP addresses for all devices and also has location descriptions for most devices.
The RMM has no serial numbers. It has only one MAC address. It has IP addresses that don't match the IPs from the photos or from the vendor.
It is showing two devices offline, they are not the same two devices that the vendor showed as offline. Some of the devices that show as last connected a year ago in the RMM show online from the vendor.
My ears start ringing.
The RMM shows one device created in 2015. The vendor serial number from that device indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
I require documentation. I go to the documentation platform.
The documentation platform has twelve configuration items labeled as UPSs.
Each item has a linked server room and a unique identifier that is synced from our PSA.
The document for LSF has a note that it was edited in 2018. The serial number for LSF indicates that it was manufactured in 2022. The ticket I have for installing it is from 2023.
The document for another device has no name, in place of the name is an IP address that doesn't match any of the other IPs that I've collected thus far.
The documentation platform has three ID documents for S1-UPS, each of them has a different unique ID (which is supposed to correspond to the unique ID from our PSA). One of the unique IDs includes the vendor MAC address of the device with the same name as part of the unique ID. All three documents have different create dates, on of which is from 2017. The vendor serial number indicates this UPS was manufactured in 2023. The document from six years before the hardware was manufactured is the only one that lists a physical location.
I need to check the documentation platform against the PSA, so I have to search the unique IDs in the PSA.
Okay so apparently the reason that the UPS had two serials in the photos that had two different create dates is because apparently from 2015 until 2023 we've been using hand-me-down NIC cards in new hardware (even when the cards are past support age).
But also: for some reason SR2-UPS and the UPS that has just an IP address for a name are the same device and the of the 6 IPs associated with these two records only one matches the IP that's the document name.
Also sometimes Server Room 6 is known as SR6, and sometimes it's known as NPP6, and sometimes it's known as SR NPP, and sometimes it's known as the Loft.
So I'm specifically trying to find solid documentation on a piece of hardware that has a minimum of 4 different names and is cobbled together from hand me down hardware using CIs that are only distinguishable by 40-character IDs because we replace hardware with hardware that we name in exactly the same way and nobody prior to me seems to have understood what the fuck a serial number is.
I spent seven hours on this and it's for a quote that will generate less than $300 of profit. And I haven't even unfucked the documentation yet, I've just documented HOW it is fucked.
In case it's not clear, this also means that the PSA, which is supposed to be our "source of truth" that I've spent the last two months organizing my work around is fundamentally untrustworthy in a way that is unfixable without a lot of exceptionally tedious work.
Everything at work is turning over a rock and looking at all the weird bugs under it and being told to ignore the bugs because you have to go back to sorting sand.
Okay so my actual assigned-by-my-boss potentially revenue generating job for today was supposed to be updating a simple quote and sending it to the client.
LSF - Another server room but with a different name
PSA - Software that includes client management and hardware management tools, plus ticket tracking and history
RMM - Software that includes remote management tools
Documentation Platform (DP) - software that hosts documentation about client passwords and other information
IP address - location of a device on a network
Serial Number - Unique hardware ID, in this case it must be noted that the manufacturer serial number includes the device production date.
There are seven UPSs, SR1-UPS, SR2-UPS, SR3-UPS, SR4-UPS, SR5-UPS, SR6-UPS, and LSF-UPS. The names should, in theory, correspond to the Server Rooms they are placed in and the documentation in the PSA, RMM, and Documentation platform should match.
We need to quote replacement batteries for any devices that are reaching about three years of age.
We don't have a documented inventory of UPSs for this client (bad). SR6-UPS, SR2-UPS, and LSF-UPS are not visible in our RMM or on the network, but have records on the PSA and the DP.
We have been attempting to define a "source of truth" for our equipment (this has been a very big part of my job recently due to lifecycle management) and the way this is SUPPOSED to work is that the RMM gathers information from a device, which syncs with the PSA to create a Configuration Item (CI), which syncs with the DP to create a record. The PSA is supposed to be the source of truth, because it can be updated from muliple RMMs but we can manually create CIs if we have to.
The PSA can *only* be updated via the RMM if something called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is enabled on the devices. It has, historically, not been standard for us to enable SNMP on most devices.
Because we weren't able to see everything about these devices via the RMM, I sent a tech to the site to find all of these a few months ago.
Immediate, instantaneous problem: the first UPS is showing an assigned name that doesn't match any of the other devices, and is displaying two serial numbers. One serial number indicates that the device was manufactured in 2017 and the other indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
This is NOT the device I'd sent the tech to document - the device I'd sent the tech to document was not connected to the network.
The device that has two serial numbers is supposed to be LSF-UPS. Instead the device shows "NND-1" as its description.
The device not connected to the network is SR6-UPS, it appears to be functional and plugged in but does not have SNMP enabled. It is also nine years old at a minimum, and (according to the tickets in our PSA) had the battery replaced in 2020. This is, as far as I know, the only actual device that is in the network that was manufactured in 2017.
The next device is SR2-UPS, which is not showing as connected to the network in our RMM, but is visible from other management devices.
The tech takes photos of:
The serial number
The product number
The MAC address
The IP Address
He does not photograph each of these identifiers for each machine. It's sort of a grab bag of what he documented for each one.
The tech documents spotty information on SR1-6 and LSF-UPS.
I find this information unsatisfactory. I go to the manufacturer management portal and export the list of devices we've got registered on the portal. That list includes:
SR1-SR5 UPS.
It does not include LSF-UPS
It DOES include Stand-55 UPS. Which I do not have documented by the tech.
Neat. It also says that SR2 and Stand-55 have lost connection, but provides IP addresses for all devices and also has location descriptions for most devices.
The RMM has no serial numbers. It has only one MAC address. It has IP addresses that don't match the IPs from the photos or from the vendor.
It is showing two devices offline, they are not the same two devices that the vendor showed as offline. Some of the devices that show as last connected a year ago in the RMM show online from the vendor.
My ears start ringing.
The RMM shows one device created in 2015. The vendor serial number from that device indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
I require documentation. I go to the documentation platform.
The documentation platform has twelve configuration items labeled as UPSs.
Each item has a linked server room and a unique identifier that is synced from our PSA.
The document for LSF has a note that it was edited in 2018. The serial number for LSF indicates that it was manufactured in 2022. The ticket I have for installing it is from 2023.
The document for another device has no name, in place of the name is an IP address that doesn't match any of the other IPs that I've collected thus far.
The documentation platform has three ID documents for S1-UPS, each of them has a different unique ID (which is supposed to correspond to the unique ID from our PSA). One of the unique IDs includes the vendor MAC address of the device with the same name as part of the unique ID. All three documents have different create dates, on of which is from 2017. The vendor serial number indicates this UPS was manufactured in 2023. The document from six years before the hardware was manufactured is the only one that lists a physical location.
I need to check the documentation platform against the PSA, so I have to search the unique IDs in the PSA.
Okay so apparently the reason that the UPS had two serials in the photos that had two different create dates is because apparently from 2015 until 2023 we've been using hand-me-down NIC cards in new hardware (even when the cards are past support age).
But also: for some reason SR2-UPS and the UPS that has just an IP address for a name are the same device and the of the 6 IPs associated with these two records only one matches the IP that's the document name.
Also sometimes Server Room 6 is known as SR6, and sometimes it's known as NPP6, and sometimes it's known as SR NPP, and sometimes it's known as the Loft.
So I'm specifically trying to find solid documentation on a piece of hardware that has a minimum of 4 different names and is cobbled together from hand me down hardware using CIs that are only distinguishable by 40-character IDs because we replace hardware with hardware that we name in exactly the same way and nobody prior to me seems to have understood what the fuck a serial number is.
I spent seven hours on this and it's for a quote that will generate less than $300 of profit. And I haven't even unfucked the documentation yet, I've just documented HOW it is fucked.
Okay so my actual assigned-by-my-boss potentially revenue generating job for today was supposed to be updating a simple quote and sending it to the client.
LSF - Another server room but with a different name
PSA - Software that includes client management and hardware management tools, plus ticket tracking and history
RMM - Software that includes remote management tools
Documentation Platform (DP) - software that hosts documentation about client passwords and other information
IP address - location of a device on a network
Serial Number - Unique hardware ID, in this case it must be noted that the manufacturer serial number includes the device production date.
There are seven UPSs, SR1-UPS, SR2-UPS, SR3-UPS, SR4-UPS, SR5-UPS, SR6-UPS, and LSF-UPS. The names should, in theory, correspond to the Server Rooms they are placed in and the documentation in the PSA, RMM, and Documentation platform should match.
We need to quote replacement batteries for any devices that are reaching about three years of age.
We don't have a documented inventory of UPSs for this client (bad). SR6-UPS, SR2-UPS, and LSF-UPS are not visible in our RMM or on the network, but have records on the PSA and the DP.
We have been attempting to define a "source of truth" for our equipment (this has been a very big part of my job recently due to lifecycle management) and the way this is SUPPOSED to work is that the RMM gathers information from a device, which syncs with the PSA to create a Configuration Item (CI), which syncs with the DP to create a record. The PSA is supposed to be the source of truth, because it can be updated from muliple RMMs but we can manually create CIs if we have to.
The PSA can *only* be updated via the RMM if something called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is enabled on the devices. It has, historically, not been standard for us to enable SNMP on most devices.
Because we weren't able to see everything about these devices via the RMM, I sent a tech to the site to find all of these a few months ago.
Immediate, instantaneous problem: the first UPS is showing an assigned name that doesn't match any of the other devices, and is displaying two serial numbers. One serial number indicates that the device was manufactured in 2017 and the other indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
This is NOT the device I'd sent the tech to document - the device I'd sent the tech to document was not connected to the network.
The device that has two serial numbers is supposed to be LSF-UPS. Instead the device shows "NND-1" as its description.
The device not connected to the network is SR6-UPS, it appears to be functional and plugged in but does not have SNMP enabled. It is also nine years old at a minimum, and (according to the tickets in our PSA) had the battery replaced in 2020. This is, as far as I know, the only actual device that is in the network that was manufactured in 2017.
The next device is SR2-UPS, which is not showing as connected to the network in our RMM, but is visible from other management devices.
The tech takes photos of:
The serial number
The product number
The MAC address
The IP Address
He does not photograph each of these identifiers for each machine. It's sort of a grab bag of what he documented for each one.
The tech documents spotty information on SR1-6 and LSF-UPS.
I find this information unsatisfactory. I go to the manufacturer management portal and export the list of devices we've got registered on the portal. That list includes:
SR1-SR5 UPS.
It does not include LSF-UPS
It DOES include Stand-55 UPS. Which I do not have documented by the tech.
Neat. It also says that SR2 and Stand-55 have lost connection, but provides IP addresses for all devices and also has location descriptions for most devices.
The RMM has no serial numbers. It has only one MAC address. It has IP addresses that don't match the IPs from the photos or from the vendor.
It is showing two devices offline, they are not the same two devices that the vendor showed as offline. Some of the devices that show as last connected a year ago in the RMM show online from the vendor.
My ears start ringing.
The RMM shows one device created in 2015. The vendor serial number from that device indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
I require documentation. I go to the documentation platform.
The documentation platform has twelve configuration items labeled as UPSs.
Each item has a linked server room and a unique identifier that is synced from our PSA.
The document for LSF has a note that it was edited in 2018. The serial number for LSF indicates that it was manufactured in 2022. The ticket I have for installing it is from 2023.
The document for another device has no name, in place of the name is an IP address that doesn't match any of the other IPs that I've collected thus far.
The documentation platform has three ID documents for S1-UPS, each of them has a different unique ID (which is supposed to correspond to the unique ID from our PSA). One of the unique IDs includes the vendor MAC address of the device with the same name as part of the unique ID. All three documents have different create dates, on of which is from 2017. The vendor serial number indicates this UPS was manufactured in 2023. The document from six years before the hardware was manufactured is the only one that lists a physical location.
I need to check the documentation platform against the PSA, so I have to search the unique IDs in the PSA.
Okay so apparently the reason that the UPS had two serials in the photos that had two different create dates is because apparently from 2015 until 2023 we've been using hand-me-down NIC cards in new hardware (even when the cards are past support age).
But also: for some reason SR2-UPS and the UPS that has just an IP address for a name are the same device and the of the 6 IPs associated with these two records only one matches the IP that's the document name.
Also sometimes Server Room 6 is known as SR6, and sometimes it's known as NPP6, and sometimes it's known as SR NPP, and sometimes it's known as the Loft.
So I'm specifically trying to find solid documentation on a piece of hardware that has a minimum of 4 different names and is cobbled together from hand me down hardware using CIs that are only distinguishable by 40-character IDs because we replace hardware with hardware that we name in exactly the same way and nobody prior to me seems to have understood what the fuck a serial number is.
Okay so my actual assigned-by-my-boss potentially revenue generating job for today was supposed to be updating a simple quote and sending it to the client.
LSF - Another server room but with a different name
PSA - Software that includes client management and hardware management tools, plus ticket tracking and history
RMM - Software that includes remote management tools
Documentation Platform (DP) - software that hosts documentation about client passwords and other information
IP address - location of a device on a network
Serial Number - Unique hardware ID, in this case it must be noted that the manufacturer serial number includes the device production date.
There are seven UPSs, SR1-UPS, SR2-UPS, SR3-UPS, SR4-UPS, SR5-UPS, SR6-UPS, and LSF-UPS. The names should, in theory, correspond to the Server Rooms they are placed in and the documentation in the PSA, RMM, and Documentation platform should match.
We need to quote replacement batteries for any devices that are reaching about three years of age.
We don't have a documented inventory of UPSs for this client (bad). SR6-UPS, SR2-UPS, and LSF-UPS are not visible in our RMM or on the network, but have records on the PSA and the DP.
We have been attempting to define a "source of truth" for our equipment (this has been a very big part of my job recently due to lifecycle management) and the way this is SUPPOSED to work is that the RMM gathers information from a device, which syncs with the PSA to create a Configuration Item (CI), which syncs with the DP to create a record. The PSA is supposed to be the source of truth, because it can be updated from muliple RMMs but we can manually create CIs if we have to.
The PSA can *only* be updated via the RMM if something called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is enabled on the devices. It has, historically, not been standard for us to enable SNMP on most devices.
Because we weren't able to see everything about these devices via the RMM, I sent a tech to the site to find all of these a few months ago.
Immediate, instantaneous problem: the first UPS is showing an assigned name that doesn't match any of the other devices, and is displaying two serial numbers. One serial number indicates that the device was manufactured in 2017 and the other indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
This is NOT the device I'd sent the tech to document - the device I'd sent the tech to document was not connected to the network.
The device that has two serial numbers is supposed to be LSF-UPS. Instead the device shows "NND-1" as its description.
The device not connected to the network is SR6-UPS, it appears to be functional and plugged in but does not have SNMP enabled. It is also nine years old at a minimum, and (according to the tickets in our PSA) had the battery replaced in 2020. This is, as far as I know, the only actual device that is in the network that was manufactured in 2017.
The next device is SR2-UPS, which is not showing as connected to the network in our RMM, but is visible from other management devices.
The tech takes photos of:
The serial number
The product number
The MAC address
The IP Address
He does not photograph each of these identifiers for each machine. It's sort of a grab bag of what he documented for each one.
The tech documents spotty information on SR1-6 and LSF-UPS.
I find this information unsatisfactory. I go to the manufacturer management portal and export the list of devices we've got registered on the portal. That list includes:
SR1-SR5 UPS.
It does not include LSF-UPS
It DOES include Stand-55 UPS. Which I do not have documented by the tech.
Neat. It also says that SR2 and Stand-55 have lost connection, but provides IP addresses for all devices and also has location descriptions for most devices.
The RMM has no serial numbers. It has only one MAC address. It has IP addresses that don't match the IPs from the photos or from the vendor.
It is showing two devices offline, they are not the same two devices that the vendor showed as offline. Some of the devices that show as last connected a year ago in the RMM show online from the vendor.
My ears start ringing.
The RMM shows one device created in 2015. The vendor serial number from that device indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
I require documentation. I go to the documentation platform.
The documentation platform has twelve configuration items labeled as UPSs.
Each item has a linked server room and a unique identifier that is synced from our PSA.
The document for LSF has a note that it was edited in 2018. The serial number for LSF indicates that it was manufactured in 2022. The ticket I have for installing it is from 2023.
The document for another device has no name, in place of the name is an IP address that doesn't match any of the other IPs that I've collected thus far.
The documentation platform has three ID documents for S1-UPS, each of them has a different unique ID (which is supposed to correspond to the unique ID from our PSA). One of the unique IDs includes the vendor MAC address of the device with the same name as part of the unique ID. All three documents have different create dates, on of which is from 2017. The vendor serial number indicates this UPS was manufactured in 2023. The document from six years before the hardware was manufactured is the only one that lists a physical location.
I need to check the documentation platform against the PSA, so I have to search the unique IDs in the PSA.
Okay so apparently the reason that the UPS had two serials in the photos that had two different create dates is because apparently from 2015 until 2023 we've been using hand-me-down NIC cards in new hardware (even when the cards are past support age).
But also: for some reason SR2-UPS and the UPS that has just an IP address for a name are the same device and the of the 6 IPs associated with these two records only one matches the IP that's the document name.
Okay so my actual assigned-by-my-boss potentially revenue generating job for today was supposed to be updating a simple quote and sending it to the client.
LSF - Another server room but with a different name
PSA - Software that includes client management and hardware management tools, plus ticket tracking and history
RMM - Software that includes remote management tools
Documentation Platform (DP) - software that hosts documentation about client passwords and other information
IP address - location of a device on a network
Serial Number - Unique hardware ID, in this case it must be noted that the manufacturer serial number includes the device production date.
There are seven UPSs, SR1-UPS, SR2-UPS, SR3-UPS, SR4-UPS, SR5-UPS, SR6-UPS, and LSF-UPS. The names should, in theory, correspond to the Server Rooms they are placed in and the documentation in the PSA, RMM, and Documentation platform should match.
We need to quote replacement batteries for any devices that are reaching about three years of age.
We don't have a documented inventory of UPSs for this client (bad). SR6-UPS, SR2-UPS, and LSF-UPS are not visible in our RMM or on the network, but have records on the PSA and the DP.
We have been attempting to define a "source of truth" for our equipment (this has been a very big part of my job recently due to lifecycle management) and the way this is SUPPOSED to work is that the RMM gathers information from a device, which syncs with the PSA to create a Configuration Item (CI), which syncs with the DP to create a record. The PSA is supposed to be the source of truth, because it can be updated from muliple RMMs but we can manually create CIs if we have to.
The PSA can *only* be updated via the RMM if something called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is enabled on the devices. It has, historically, not been standard for us to enable SNMP on most devices.
Because we weren't able to see everything about these devices via the RMM, I sent a tech to the site to find all of these a few months ago.
Immediate, instantaneous problem: the first UPS is showing an assigned name that doesn't match any of the other devices, and is displaying two serial numbers. One serial number indicates that the device was manufactured in 2017 and the other indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
This is NOT the device I'd sent the tech to document - the device I'd sent the tech to document was not connected to the network.
The device that has two serial numbers is supposed to be LSF-UPS. Instead the device shows "NND-1" as its description.
The device not connected to the network is SR6-UPS, it appears to be functional and plugged in but does not have SNMP enabled. It is also nine years old at a minimum, and (according to the tickets in our PSA) had the battery replaced in 2020. This is, as far as I know, the only actual device that is in the network that was manufactured in 2017.
The next device is SR2-UPS, which is not showing as connected to the network in our RMM, but is visible from other management devices.
The tech takes photos of:
The serial number
The product number
The MAC address
The IP Address
He does not photograph each of these identifiers for each machine. It's sort of a grab bag of what he documented for each one.
The tech documents spotty information on SR1-6 and LSF-UPS.
I find this information unsatisfactory. I go to the manufacturer management portal and export the list of devices we've got registered on the portal. That list includes:
SR1-SR5 UPS.
It does not include LSF-UPS
It DOES include Stand-55 UPS. Which I do not have documented by the tech.
Neat. It also says that SR2 and Stand-55 have lost connection, but provides IP addresses for all devices and also has location descriptions for most devices.
The RMM has no serial numbers. It has only one MAC address. It has IP addresses that don't match the IPs from the photos or from the vendor.
It is showing two devices offline, they are not the same two devices that the vendor showed as offline. Some of the devices that show as last connected a year ago in the RMM show online from the vendor.
My ears start ringing.
The RMM shows one device created in 2015. The vendor serial number from that device indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
I require documentation. I go to the documentation platform.
The documentation platform has twelve configuration items labeled as UPSs.
Each item has a linked server room and a unique identifier that is synced from our PSA.
The document for LSF has a note that it was edited in 2018. The serial number for LSF indicates that it was manufactured in 2022. The ticket I have for installing it is from 2023.
The document for another device has no name, in place of the name is an IP address that doesn't match any of the other IPs that I've collected thus far.
The documentation platform has three ID documents for S1-UPS, each of them has a different unique ID (which is supposed to correspond to the unique ID from our PSA). One of the unique IDs includes the vendor MAC address of the device with the same name as part of the unique ID. All three documents have different create dates, on of which is from 2017. The vendor serial number indicates this UPS was manufactured in 2023. The document from six years before the hardware was manufactured is the only one that lists a physical location.
I need to check the documentation platform against the PSA, so I have to search the unique IDs in the PSA.
Okay so apparently the reason that the UPS had two serials in the photos that had two different create dates is because apparently from 2015 until 2023 we've been using hand-me-down NIC cards in new hardware (even when the cards are past support age).
But also: for some reason SR2-UPS and the UPS that has just an IP address for a name are the same device and the of the 6 IPs associated with these two records only one matches the IP that's the document name.
Okay so my actual assigned-by-my-boss potentially revenue generating job for today was supposed to be updating a simple quote and sending it to the client.
LSF - Another server room but with a different name
PSA - Software that includes client management and hardware management tools, plus ticket tracking and history
RMM - Software that includes remote management tools
Documentation Platform (DP) - software that hosts documentation about client passwords and other information
IP address - location of a device on a network
Serial Number - Unique hardware ID, in this case it must be noted that the manufacturer serial number includes the device production date.
There are seven UPSs, SR1-UPS, SR2-UPS, SR3-UPS, SR4-UPS, SR5-UPS, SR6-UPS, and LSF-UPS. The names should, in theory, correspond to the Server Rooms they are placed in and the documentation in the PSA, RMM, and Documentation platform should match.
We need to quote replacement batteries for any devices that are reaching about three years of age.
We don't have a documented inventory of UPSs for this client (bad). SR6-UPS, SR2-UPS, and LSF-UPS are not visible in our RMM or on the network, but have records on the PSA and the DP.
We have been attempting to define a "source of truth" for our equipment (this has been a very big part of my job recently due to lifecycle management) and the way this is SUPPOSED to work is that the RMM gathers information from a device, which syncs with the PSA to create a Configuration Item (CI), which syncs with the DP to create a record. The PSA is supposed to be the source of truth, because it can be updated from muliple RMMs but we can manually create CIs if we have to.
The PSA can *only* be updated via the RMM if something called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is enabled on the devices. It has, historically, not been standard for us to enable SNMP on most devices.
Because we weren't able to see everything about these devices via the RMM, I sent a tech to the site to find all of these a few months ago.
Immediate, instantaneous problem: the first UPS is showing an assigned name that doesn't match any of the other devices, and is displaying two serial numbers. One serial number indicates that the device was manufactured in 2017 and the other indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
This is NOT the device I'd sent the tech to document - the device I'd sent the tech to document was not connected to the network.
The device that has two serial numbers is supposed to be LSF-UPS. Instead the device shows "NND-1" as its description.
The device not connected to the network is SR6-UPS, it appears to be functional and plugged in but does not have SNMP enabled. It is also nine years old at a minimum, and (according to the tickets in our PSA) had the battery replaced in 2020. This is, as far as I know, the only actual device that is in the network that was manufactured in 2017.
The next device is SR2-UPS, which is not showing as connected to the network in our RMM, but is visible from other management devices.
The tech takes photos of:
The serial number
The product number
The MAC address
The IP Address
He does not photograph each of these identifiers for each machine. It's sort of a grab bag of what he documented for each one.
The tech documents spotty information on SR1-6 and LSF-UPS.
I find this information unsatisfactory. I go to the manufacturer management portal and export the list of devices we've got registered on the portal. That list includes:
SR1-SR5 UPS.
It does not include LSF-UPS
It DOES include Stand-55 UPS. Which I do not have documented by the tech.
Neat. It also says that SR2 and Stand-55 have lost connection, but provides IP addresses for all devices and also has location descriptions for most devices.
The RMM has no serial numbers. It has only one MAC address. It has IP addresses that don't match the IPs from the photos or from the vendor.
It is showing two devices offline, they are not the same two devices that the vendor showed as offline. Some of the devices that show as last connected a year ago in the RMM show online from the vendor.
My ears start ringing.
The RMM shows one device created in 2015. The vendor serial number from that device indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
I require documentation. I go to the documentation platform.
The documentation platform has twelve configuration items labeled as UPSs.
Each item has a linked server room and a unique identifier that is synced from our PSA.
The document for LSF has a note that it was edited in 2018. The serial number for LSF indicates that it was manufactured in 2022. The ticket I have for installing it is from 2023.
The document for another device has no name, in place of the name is an IP address that doesn't match any of the other IPs that I've collected thus far.
The documentation platform has three ID documents for S1-UPS, each of them has a different unique ID (which is supposed to correspond to the unique ID from our PSA). One of the unique IDs includes the vendor MAC address of the device with the same name as part of the unique ID. All three documents have different create dates, on of which is from 2017. The vendor serial number indicates this UPS was manufactured in 2023. The document from six years before the hardware was manufactured is the only one that lists a physical location.
I need to check the documentation platform against the PSA, so I have to search the unique IDs in the PSA.
Okay so apparently the reason that the UPS had two serials in the photos that had two different create dates is because apparently from 2015 until 2023 we've been using hand-me-down NIC cards in new hardware (even when the cards are past support age).
But also: for some reason SR2-UPS and the UPS that has just an IP address for a name are the same device and the of the 6 IPs associated with these two records only one matches the IP that's the document name.
Okay so my actual assigned-by-my-boss potentially revenue generating job for today was supposed to be updating a simple quote and sending it to the client.
LSF - Another server room but with a different name
PSA - Software that includes client management and hardware management tools, plus ticket tracking and history
RMM - Software that includes remote management tools
Documentation Platform (DP) - software that hosts documentation about client passwords and other information
IP address - location of a device on a network
Serial Number - Unique hardware ID, in this case it must be noted that the manufacturer serial number includes the device production date.
There are seven UPSs, SR1-UPS, SR2-UPS, SR3-UPS, SR4-UPS, SR5-UPS, SR6-UPS, and LSF-UPS. The names should, in theory, correspond to the Server Rooms they are placed in and the documentation in the PSA, RMM, and Documentation platform should match.
We need to quote replacement batteries for any devices that are reaching about three years of age.
We don't have a documented inventory of UPSs for this client (bad). SR6-UPS, SR2-UPS, and LSF-UPS are not visible in our RMM or on the network, but have records on the PSA and the DP.
We have been attempting to define a "source of truth" for our equipment (this has been a very big part of my job recently due to lifecycle management) and the way this is SUPPOSED to work is that the RMM gathers information from a device, which syncs with the PSA to create a Configuration Item (CI), which syncs with the DP to create a record. The PSA is supposed to be the source of truth, because it can be updated from muliple RMMs but we can manually create CIs if we have to.
The PSA can *only* be updated via the RMM if something called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is enabled on the devices. It has, historically, not been standard for us to enable SNMP on most devices.
Because we weren't able to see everything about these devices via the RMM, I sent a tech to the site to find all of these a few months ago.
Immediate, instantaneous problem: the first UPS is showing an assigned name that doesn't match any of the other devices, and is displaying two serial numbers. One serial number indicates that the device was manufactured in 2017 and the other indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
This is NOT the device I'd sent the tech to document - the device I'd sent the tech to document was not connected to the network.
The device that has two serial numbers is supposed to be LSF-UPS. Instead the device shows "NND-1" as its description.
The device not connected to the network is SR6-UPS, it appears to be functional and plugged in but does not have SNMP enabled. It is also nine years old at a minimum, and (according to the tickets in our PSA) had the battery replaced in 2020. This is, as far as I know, the only actual device that is in the network that was manufactured in 2017.
The next device is SR2-UPS, which is not showing as connected to the network in our RMM, but is visible from other management devices.
The tech takes photos of:
The serial number
The product number
The MAC address
The IP Address
He does not photograph each of these identifiers for each machine. It's sort of a grab bag of what he documented for each one.
The tech documents spotty information on SR1-6 and LSF-UPS.
I find this information unsatisfactory. I go to the manufacturer management portal and export the list of devices we've got registered on the portal. That list includes:
SR1-SR5 UPS.
It does not include LSF-UPS
It DOES include Stand-55 UPS. Which I do not have documented by the tech.
Neat. It also says that SR2 and Stand-55 have lost connection, but provides IP addresses for all devices and also has location descriptions for most devices.
The RMM has no serial numbers. It has only one MAC address. It has IP addresses that don't match the IPs from the photos or from the vendor.
It is showing two devices offline, they are not the same two devices that the vendor showed as offline. Some of the devices that show as last connected a year ago in the RMM show online from the vendor.
My ears start ringing.
The RMM shows one device created in 2015. The vendor serial number from that device indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
I require documentation. I go to the documentation platform.
The documentation platform has twelve configuration items labeled as UPSs.
Each item has a linked server room and a unique identifier that is synced from our PSA.
The document for LSF has a note that it was edited in 2018. The serial number for LSF indicates that it was manufactured in 2022. The ticket I have for installing it is from 2023.
The document for another device has no name, in place of the name is an IP address that doesn't match any of the other IPs that I've collected thus far.
The documentation platform has three ID documents for S1-UPS, each of them has a different unique ID (which is supposed to correspond to the unique ID from our PSA). One of the unique IDs includes the vendor MAC address of the device with the same name as part of the unique ID. All three documents have different create dates, on of which is from 2017. The vendor serial number indicates this UPS was manufactured in 2023. The document from six years before the hardware was manufactured is the only one that lists a physical location.
I need to check the documentation platform against the PSA, so I have to search the unique IDs in the PSA.
Okay so my actual assigned-by-my-boss potentially revenue generating job for today was supposed to be updating a simple quote and sending it to the client.
LSF - Another server room but with a different name
PSA - Software that includes client management and hardware management tools, plus ticket tracking and history
RMM - Software that includes remote management tools
Documentation Platform (DP) - software that hosts documentation about client passwords and other information
IP address - location of a device on a network
Serial Number - Unique hardware ID, in this case it must be noted that the manufacturer serial number includes the device production date.
There are seven UPSs, SR1-UPS, SR2-UPS, SR3-UPS, SR4-UPS, SR5-UPS, SR6-UPS, and LSF-UPS. The names should, in theory, correspond to the Server Rooms they are placed in and the documentation in the PSA, RMM, and Documentation platform should match.
We need to quote replacement batteries for any devices that are reaching about three years of age.
We don't have a documented inventory of UPSs for this client (bad). SR6-UPS, SR2-UPS, and LSF-UPS are not visible in our RMM or on the network, but have records on the PSA and the DP.
We have been attempting to define a "source of truth" for our equipment (this has been a very big part of my job recently due to lifecycle management) and the way this is SUPPOSED to work is that the RMM gathers information from a device, which syncs with the PSA to create a Configuration Item (CI), which syncs with the DP to create a record. The PSA is supposed to be the source of truth, because it can be updated from muliple RMMs but we can manually create CIs if we have to.
The PSA can *only* be updated via the RMM if something called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is enabled on the devices. It has, historically, not been standard for us to enable SNMP on most devices.
Because we weren't able to see everything about these devices via the RMM, I sent a tech to the site to find all of these a few months ago.
Immediate, instantaneous problem: the first UPS is showing an assigned name that doesn't match any of the other devices, and is displaying two serial numbers. One serial number indicates that the device was manufactured in 2017 and the other indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
This is NOT the device I'd sent the tech to document - the device I'd sent the tech to document was not connected to the network.
The device that has two serial numbers is supposed to be LSF-UPS. Instead the device shows "NND-1" as its description.
The device not connected to the network is SR6-UPS, it appears to be functional and plugged in but does not have SNMP enabled. It is also nine years old at a minimum, and (according to the tickets in our PSA) had the battery replaced in 2020. This is, as far as I know, the only actual device that is in the network that was manufactured in 2017.
The next device is SR2-UPS, which is not showing as connected to the network in our RMM, but is visible from other management devices.
The tech takes photos of:
The serial number
The product number
The MAC address
The IP Address
He does not photograph each of these identifiers for each machine. It's sort of a grab bag of what he documented for each one.
The tech documents spotty information on SR1-6 and LSF-UPS.
I find this information unsatisfactory. I go to the manufacturer management portal and export the list of devices we've got registered on the portal. That list includes:
SR1-SR5 UPS.
It does not include LSF-UPS
It DOES include Stand-55 UPS. Which I do not have documented by the tech.
Neat. It also says that SR2 and Stand-55 have lost connection, but provides IP addresses for all devices and also has location descriptions for most devices.
The RMM has no serial numbers. It has only one MAC address. It has IP addresses that don't match the IPs from the photos or from the vendor.
It is showing two devices offline, they are not the same two devices that the vendor showed as offline. Some of the devices that show as last connected a year ago in the RMM show online from the vendor.
My ears start ringing.
The RMM shows one device created in 2015. The vendor serial number from that device indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
I require documentation. I go to the documentation platform.
The documentation platform has twelve configuration items labeled as UPSs.
Each item has a linked server room and a unique identifier that is synced from our PSA.
The document for LSF has a note that it was edited in 2018. The serial number for LSF indicates that it was manufactured in 2022. The ticket I have for installing it is from 2023.
The document for another device has no name, in place of the name is an IP address that doesn't match any of the other IPs that I've collected thus far.
The documentation platform has three ID documents for S1-UPS, each of them has a different unique ID (which is supposed to correspond to the unique ID from our PSA). One of the unique IDs includes the vendor MAC address of the device with the same name as part of the unique ID. All three documents have different create dates, on of which is from 2017. The vendor serial number indicates this UPS was manufactured in 2023. The document from six years before the hardware was manufactured is the only one that lists a physical location.
I need to check the documentation platform against the PSA, so I have to search the unique IDs in the PSA.
Okay so my actual assigned-by-my-boss potentially revenue generating job for today was supposed to be updating a simple quote and sending it to the client.
LSF - Another server room but with a different name
PSA - Software that includes client management and hardware management tools, plus ticket tracking and history
RMM - Software that includes remote management tools
Documentation Platform (DP) - software that hosts documentation about client passwords and other information
IP address - location of a device on a network
Serial Number - Unique hardware ID, in this case it must be noted that the manufacturer serial number includes the device production date.
There are seven UPSs, SR1-UPS, SR2-UPS, SR3-UPS, SR4-UPS, SR5-UPS, SR6-UPS, and LSF-UPS. The names should, in theory, correspond to the Server Rooms they are placed in and the documentation in the PSA, RMM, and Documentation platform should match.
We need to quote replacement batteries for any devices that are reaching about three years of age.
We don't have a documented inventory of UPSs for this client (bad). SR6-UPS, SR2-UPS, and LSF-UPS are not visible in our RMM or on the network, but have records on the PSA and the DP.
We have been attempting to define a "source of truth" for our equipment (this has been a very big part of my job recently due to lifecycle management) and the way this is SUPPOSED to work is that the RMM gathers information from a device, which syncs with the PSA to create a Configuration Item (CI), which syncs with the DP to create a record. The PSA is supposed to be the source of truth, because it can be updated from muliple RMMs but we can manually create CIs if we have to.
The PSA can *only* be updated via the RMM if something called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is enabled on the devices. It has, historically, not been standard for us to enable SNMP on most devices.
Because we weren't able to see everything about these devices via the RMM, I sent a tech to the site to find all of these a few months ago.
Immediate, instantaneous problem: the first UPS is showing an assigned name that doesn't match any of the other devices, and is displaying two serial numbers. One serial number indicates that the device was manufactured in 2017 and the other indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
This is NOT the device I'd sent the tech to document - the device I'd sent the tech to document was not connected to the network.
The device that has two serial numbers is supposed to be LSF-UPS. Instead the device shows "NND-1" as its description.
The device not connected to the network is SR6-UPS, it appears to be functional and plugged in but does not have SNMP enabled. It is also nine years old at a minimum, and (according to the tickets in our PSA) had the battery replaced in 2020. This is, as far as I know, the only actual device that is in the network that was manufactured in 2017.
The next device is SR2-UPS, which is not showing as connected to the network in our RMM, but is visible from other management devices.
The tech takes photos of:
The serial number
The product number
The MAC address
The IP Address
He does not photograph each of these identifiers for each machine. It's sort of a grab bag of what he documented for each one.
The tech documents spotty information on SR1-6 and LSF-UPS.
I find this information unsatisfactory. I go to the manufacturer management portal and export the list of devices we've got registered on the portal. That list includes:
SR1-SR5 UPS.
It does not include LSF-UPS
It DOES include Stand-55 UPS. Which I do not have documented by the tech.
Neat. It also says that SR2 and Stand-55 have lost connection, but provides IP addresses for all devices and also has location descriptions for most devices.
The RMM has no serial numbers. It has only one MAC address. It has IP addresses that don't match the IPs from the photos or from the vendor.
It is showing two devices offline, they are not the same two devices that the vendor showed as offline. Some of the devices that show as last connected a year ago in the RMM show online from the vendor.
My ears start ringing.
The RMM shows one device created in 2015. The vendor serial number from that device indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
I require documentation. I go to the documentation platform.
The documentation platform has twelve configuration items labeled as UPSs.
Each item has a linked server room and a unique identifier that is synced from our PSA.
The document for LSF has a note that it was edited in 2018. The serial number for LSF indicates that it was manufactured in 2022. The ticket I have for installing it is from 2023.
The document for another device has no name, in place of the name is an IP address that doesn't match any of the other IPs that I've collected thus far.
Okay so my actual assigned-by-my-boss potentially revenue generating job for today was supposed to be updating a simple quote and sending it to the client.
LSF - Another server room but with a different name
PSA - Software that includes client management and hardware management tools, plus ticket tracking and history
RMM - Software that includes remote management tools
Documentation Platform (DP) - software that hosts documentation about client passwords and other information
IP address - location of a device on a network
Serial Number - Unique hardware ID, in this case it must be noted that the manufacturer serial number includes the device production date.
There are seven UPSs, SR1-UPS, SR2-UPS, SR3-UPS, SR4-UPS, SR5-UPS, SR6-UPS, and LSF-UPS. The names should, in theory, correspond to the Server Rooms they are placed in and the documentation in the PSA, RMM, and Documentation platform should match.
We need to quote replacement batteries for any devices that are reaching about three years of age.
We don't have a documented inventory of UPSs for this client (bad). SR6-UPS, SR2-UPS, and LSF-UPS are not visible in our RMM or on the network, but have records on the PSA and the DP.
We have been attempting to define a "source of truth" for our equipment (this has been a very big part of my job recently due to lifecycle management) and the way this is SUPPOSED to work is that the RMM gathers information from a device, which syncs with the PSA to create a Configuration Item (CI), which syncs with the DP to create a record. The PSA is supposed to be the source of truth, because it can be updated from muliple RMMs but we can manually create CIs if we have to.
The PSA can *only* be updated via the RMM if something called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is enabled on the devices. It has, historically, not been standard for us to enable SNMP on most devices.
Because we weren't able to see everything about these devices via the RMM, I sent a tech to the site to find all of these a few months ago.
Immediate, instantaneous problem: the first UPS is showing an assigned name that doesn't match any of the other devices, and is displaying two serial numbers. One serial number indicates that the device was manufactured in 2017 and the other indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
This is NOT the device I'd sent the tech to document - the device I'd sent the tech to document was not connected to the network.
The device that has two serial numbers is supposed to be LSF-UPS. Instead the device shows "NND-1" as its description.
The device not connected to the network is SR6-UPS, it appears to be functional and plugged in but does not have SNMP enabled. It is also nine years old at a minimum, and (according to the tickets in our PSA) had the battery replaced in 2020. This is, as far as I know, the only actual device that is in the network that was manufactured in 2017.
The next device is SR2-UPS, which is not showing as connected to the network in our RMM, but is visible from other management devices.
The tech takes photos of:
The serial number
The product number
The MAC address
The IP Address
He does not photograph each of these identifiers for each machine. It's sort of a grab bag of what he documented for each one.
The tech documents spotty information on SR1-6 and LSF-UPS.
I find this information unsatisfactory. I go to the manufacturer management portal and export the list of devices we've got registered on the portal. That list includes:
SR1-SR5 UPS.
It does not include LSF-UPS
It DOES include Stand-55 UPS. Which I do not have documented by the tech.
Neat. It also says that SR2 and Stand-55 have lost connection, but provides IP addresses for all devices and also has location descriptions for most devices.
The RMM has no serial numbers. It has only one MAC address. It has IP addresses that don't match the IPs from the photos or from the vendor.
It is showing two devices offline, they are not the same two devices that the vendor showed as offline. Some of the devices that show as last connected a year ago in the RMM show online from the vendor.
My ears start ringing.
The RMM shows one device created in 2015. The vendor serial number from that device indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.
I require documentation. I go to the documentation platform.
The documentation platform has twelve configuration items labeled as UPSs.
Each item has a linked server room and a unique identifier that is synced from our PSA.
The document for LSF has a note that it was edited in 2018. The serial number for LSF indicates that it was manufactured in 2022. The ticket I have for installing it is from 2023.
In which I have strong opinions @ms-demeanor - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
