D-Dawgz Internship

Today, I started by typing info we had from looking around the IDF in Ford Hall into an Excel spreadsheet again for the E911 project. After that, we went back into the IDF, traced some more cables from switches to patch panels, and made notes of what was turned on, off, or empty ports. After that, we started to verify that these patch panels and things connected to them were in the room our info said. Then, to finish off the day, we had another meeting with electricians and HVAC managers about a metering project and about how the network configuration is going to be set up.

Today, I started out by fixing a laptop with a printer issue. The problem was that the Ethernet drivers were out of date and needed to be updated, so after updating them, I was able to make a connection with the network printer. I then stayed busy by looking for a PC that needed to be put aside for a project, and then I was trying to remove storage from an Apple MacBook that is going to recycling.

     This week was good; I felt very productive. On top of that, I realized and had this thought that sometimes IT feels like organized chaos. One day, you are working on the same thing for the whole day, and the next, you are bouncing from job to job. Overall, I like the ebbs and flows of the IT workday, the shifting patterns of the work I tend to really enjoy.     Another thing I thought about this week is that within IT communication is vital, like any job. But when changing configurations like subnets, labels on patch panels, names of switches, and servers, for example, everyone has to be on board or have some idea if said change affects a system you are managing, because changes like this could cause systems to break. Overall, I am excited to keep learning and improving my skills as someone starting out in the IT career field.

Today, I started out by helping another tech with a setup for a meeting in the boardroom. What was set up in that room was a local printer connected via USB and an account that cannot access certain network features for the meeting, so people do not have to log in to their staff account. Then, I finished up the images that were started yesterday. Finally, I repaired a laptop that was not able to turn on. I first replaced the battery with a known good which did not fix it, so then I replaced the motherboard with a spare known good one, and that fixed it.

Today, I spent the first part of my day replacing a projector bulb because it was dim, but the glare from the sun also did not help. Then I replaced the PC that I was going to do on Tuesday, I just need the license for the special software but to get that, we have to remove it from the allotted licenses from the manufacturer. Then I fixed a monitor issue; the fix was replacing the DVI with a DP cable. Then, to finish the day I helped someone who was having issues with an Excel password-protected sheet because the person who made it originally did not give them the password. To get around this, I copied all the Excel sheets and put them into a new spreadsheet that was not password-protected.

Today, I started by joining a walk around campus with an HVAC worker, an electrical worker, someone from maintenance, and the network admin I am interning with. The point of the walk around was to identify access for electrical and network wires for meters that will go into the boiler rooms all around the campus. Then, for the rest of the day, I was inputting more phone info about the VoIP system for the E911 system that will be implemented later. Still have to work out a few of the mystery phones in the Excel spreadsheet by tracking them down, but I inputted every VoIP phone from every building on campus in this Excel sheet, and the new names for the interfaces on the switches are based on the room they are found in.

Today, I started off by assisting an instructor on an overlay which is called "ZoomText", which zooms in on their screen. They wanted it configured so that their monitor on the podium is zoomed in, and the projector is not zoomed in for the students. This took me a bit, but I finally got it. Then I went to set up a computer in a classroom, but when I needed to install special software, which is "Rhino 6", but software center decided not to cooperate. I tried everything, so we ended up reimaging it. I am going to finish the upgrade for the podium in that room on Thursday. Then, to finish the day, I fixed a monitor that was not working. The problem was that the power cord on the back of the monitor was pulled out because of the range of motion of the monitor arm, so I plugged it back in, and it worked.

     This week started as a busy week and progressively got less busy, but it was still good. I feel like I was learning a lot, like making a virtual switch with Hyper-V to be able to access network switches, to check for VoIP phones on the switches in the network. I also learned you have to have patience and persistence with some tickets, like a ticket involving someone saving their shortcuts on their old device on a thumb drive and putting it on their new device, which didn't work because there is no reference for the files. Anyways, it has been tricky trying to get a hold of them to set up a time to resolve this, but sometimes you just have to be patient and persistent because sometimes they forget the issue. After all, they are also trying to perform their own job functions. All in all, I am excited for my internship next week.

Today was a slow day. I ended up doing two classroom calls, one of which had a speaker issue, which was not being able to hear audio out of the speaker. To fix this, I noticed the Extron was stuck in a reboot, so I unplugged it and plugged it back in then it appeared to work like normal. The next classroom call was an Elmo video display issue, for which the fix was to replace the VGA cord, and it worked after this. Then the rest of the day I spent imaging laptops and organizing the tech workroom.

Today, I spent the first half backing up a profile of the person who saved their shortcuts and not the actual files, but I still need them to log in because I do not have access to the specific file they want saved to a thumb drive. So I left them a voicemail, and hopefully they will respond. Then, to finish my day, I fixed a noisy fan on a laptop, unplugged the battery, and blew out all of the dust. After that, I helped take inventory of the PCs that are going to be removed.

Today, I was working on creating Excel spreadsheets by cross-referencing our phone database and the ports they are on the switch, along with recording the MAC addresses, IP addresses, the VLANs they are in, which switch they are connected to, the building, and the rooms they are located in. Then I set up my workstation to use a virtual switch through Hyper-V to gain access to the other VLANs, and I needed to access other switches on campus to continue inputting the same info described above, but for other buildings. The purpose of all this data entry is to have a good record of these phones and to make the transition to VoIP with an E911 gateway easier when the time comes, because they will need to purchase new phones that are compatible with the E911 gateway.

Today, when I arrived at work, I started by clearing users on another podium PC in a classroom because there was no storage available.  After that, I met with someone having trouble accessing files from a thumb drive. When talking to them, they said they saved it from their previous PC assigned to them. Upon further investigation, they saved the shortcuts they had on their desktop and not the actual files to the thumb drive, so I went back to the workroom and found the old PC, which was not reimaged, so it was all there to my knowledge. I am now just setting up a time for them to come and retrieve the files they need. Finally, I was trying to figure out why a student's camera on their laptop was not turning on. I started out by checking for drivers and installing drivers, but then they said they were on a time crunch because of a class, and they had to leave, so I wasn't able to finish troubleshooting it. Hopefully they come back.

     This week was a good, busy week. I am feeling that I am gaining more knowledge of the systems in place and, more specifically, getting an idea of how the network devices interact. I see how my employer uses information technology practically for most things, everything from VoIP phones, Canvas, AV setups in classrooms, printers, and the list can go on, but my point is that now IT is foundational to most businesses, schools, governments, and hospitals to run said place. From my understanding, how my internship employer manages their resources and staff is that it seems to be a group effort from everyone, but people have their specialties, like some are specialized in packaging software, some in managing servers and maintaining them, and others deal with network devices like switches, routers, and firewalls, and etc. but everyone has a general idea and they encourage learning other jobs to make a well rounded IT department. This week, I mentioned that my employer wante...

Today, I started my day by replacing a set of fans and a power supply on a switch in the library. At first, we heard a clicking noise like a bad fan, but after replacing the fan, it was still present. So we used SSH from Putty to see if we could verify that one of the power supplies was down, and sure enough, it was. We went back and replaced the power supply, and no more clicking noise. Then we went back and did some research for an E911 system that automatically populates a database and doesn't require us to manually input when phones get moved to another room, but instead recognizes what room it is in, essentially. We think we found what we needed but we are still going to talk to Intrado's tech support and see if this is gonna be a good solution. Finally, to finish out the day, I went to the IDFs on floors 2 and 3 in Lewis Hall and removed some more of the Cat cables for the unused digital and analog lines. After removing the lines, I made it all look tidy with velcro strap...

Today, I spent the first few hours doing classroom calls, one of the calls I had stated that they were hearing an echoing sound and did not know how to make it stop. The issue was that the projector's volume was up, creating an echo effect with the ceiling speakers. So to fix it, I just turned down the speaker on the projector. Then I went to another classroom where the instructor said that the PC had a critical issue and that the OS was incompatible with the current version. I updated it, and it fixed the problem, but I am going to keep my eye on it to make sure that it did fix it. Finally, I have been waiting to solve a problem for someone not able to access their files through a shared drive and their OneDrive. I reached out, and still no response, so while waiting for a response, I was cleaning up the workroom.

Today, I first started by imagining a few library laptops because they were having some issues or got missed, but I'm not really sure.  I then went to a classroom call, and a teacher was complaining that she wasn't able to load anything, download anything, and was being slow. The cause of this was that she had no storage space left. I cleared up storage space by removing users on that device because it is a podium PC and not a personal so nothing gets saved to it.  Then I had another classroom call, the teacher said the projector was not projecting, the fix was restarting the Extron, and then it displayed. He asked, "Why did this happen?" I said it is most likely that Extron is starting to die, as they are old AV equipment. Then I went to another call and installed a dock and fixed a monitor issue, the dock sent an error message saying it had a fan that failed, and the monitor issue was a bad HDMI cord. Finally, to end the day, I fixed the laptop that was having issue...

Today, I started off by diagnosing and troubleshooting an issue with a laptop that intermittently turns the caps lock on and off. After driver updates, BIOS updates, physical inspection, and attaching a USB keyboard to it that it is a bad motherboard because the USB keyboard also gets an intermittent caps lock on and off. The last thing I did today was set up 3 monitors to be used for a docking station and remove an old monitor that had no association with anyone still currently working there.

This week, I learned how the management of an IDF can make finding ports on switches so much easier or worse, depending on how well and often it is managed. This IDF was not as bad as the pictures my mentor has shown me of the previous management of these IDFs and MDFs, but it still needed some tidying up, and after we were done tidying it up, it made a huge difference in how much easier it was to access these ports. And another thing I learned is that some projects can have a dual purpose, what I mean is that digital and analog phones are on the way out in this systems environment to bring in VoIP. So that gets rid of some of the work for removing those and cleaning them up for installing new VoIP phones in Lewis Hall. One of the challenges in this project, I can see for both the future and now, is that it is a lot of work to reorganize these cat cables when they get out of hand. How do I, as an intern network tech, think about managing these in the future, and now for when the instal...

Today was the day we put the plan we made on March 21st into use for Lewis Hall. We first started in the data center, where the analog and digital phone lines are located on a 50-pair punch-down block for phones, and where they plug into switches that reach the other building on campus. We started by verifying which phones are in use for both digital and analog in Lewis Hall. Once we verified the ones in use for Lewis Hall, we then removed them from the punch downblocks in the data center. Then we went into the first floor IDF of Lewis Hall and removed the cat cables going from the punch down block to the switches. I have not seen that many cat cables in my life, and once we removed the unnecessary cables, we reorganized the IDF to look neat and tidy. 

This week was definitely less fast-paced than the previous week, but I saw how planning and working around a schedule can make a huge difference when executing a project. On top of that, they take security very seriously for obvious reasons, such as student and faculty information that doesn't need to be accessed, like ID numbers, social security numbers, and other important information. One challenge I could see for my future self is that I noticed the network admin I am working with has to balance a lot of big projects at once, but going back to what I first said, this is the way to mitigate this overwhelming amount of projects and meetings.

The network admin and I today just made a game plan on how we were going to verify and then remove phone lines not in use all over campus, but really focusing on Lewis Hall, because this was going to be the first round of cleaning up the phone lines that are digital and analog.

Today, I hardened the switch further while using the network admin's insight and using a hardening guide for Aruba switches using AOS-CX 10.13.1. One thing I made sure of was that the console port couldn't be used to change any configuration on all three switches, and I made sure to turn off all other ports not going to be in use on the three switches I have been working on.

This first week interning felt like jumping straight into it, which is normal but still comes as a bit of a shock to the system. With my time working in IT in general, it seems to be a very team-focused profession. For example, the network admin and I got stuck on how to properly configure VLANs and how to give access to said VLANs on the switches, because they were all Aruba switches and not HP, which is what he is used to. But thank goodness for online forums, resources, and working as a team. What I learned this week about how my employer manages their IT resources is that they use a lot of segmentation, and how it can keep certain responsibilities and access to resources depending on where an end user's machine is placed in a VLAN/ subnet. For example, a podium PC shouldn't have access to printing, and a faculty's personal machine is allowed to print, which is due to network segmentation of the device.

What I worked on today was physically installing the switches I set up with the VLANs and trunking configuration yesterday. Before I could do that, I had to remove the old switches and any unnecessary cat 6 cables. Then, after that, I started hardening the switches. I was able to disable the Telnet port access to the switches before I had to go for the day.

This was my first day of the internship! It was exciting and very engaging. What I mainly did this day was to focus on setting up trunk ports and VLANs for a switch that connects to two stand-alone switches in the tech workroom. One of the stand-alone switches is in the tech workstation and imaging VLAN, and another is in just the imaging VLAN. The one switch connecting to the two stand-alone switches has workstations attached, making part of the tech workstations VLAN and trunking the necessary VLANs to the stand-alone switches. I learned a lot today about how to trunk and allow access to VLANS on Aruba switches.