Ryan Is Rambling On Again

Our project just got flushed today!  We’ve been planning, with the encouragement of our instructor I might add, to build our Capstone project around an MPLS network.  However, the routers available to us at ITT-Tech are older than the MPLS technology so we can’t configure them for our needs.  I also learned that Packet Tracer 5.2 STILL doesn’t support MPLS so we can’t even build the MPLS network in a virtual environment.  What this all boils down to is WE CAN’T SHOW A DEMONSTRATION OF A MODERN NETWORK ARCHITECTURE AT A NATIONALLY ACCREDITED TECHNICAL SCHOOL WITH A COMPUTER NETWORKING DEGREE PROGRAM.  HOW PATHETIC!!!

Now, 4 weeks into this project, we have to start over with our network design.  It seems that the best we can do is demonstrate a VPN as long as we bring in our own computers.  Yes folks, the wonderful “suits” at ITT-Tech don’t see the need to give us a few computers in each lab that are configured with 2 NIC CARDS.  AND, they don’t allow us to open the existing computers up and install a second NIC card because we will VOID THE WARRANTY!!!  So, for the privilege of paying them $40k+ I get to work on outdated equipment, demonstrate decade old technology,  and I am still forced to bring my own personal equipment from home in order to properly demonstrate this decade old “secure” network technology.  Oh, yeah, and the computers in the labs the CNS students use are only 32 bit.

I know next to nothing about setting up a VPN so I’m seriously stressing out.  We have to research the technology and implementation of a VPN, come up with an IP scheme, and figure out what equipment and pricing will be for this.  My group now has to scramble to get anything put together in time.

Wish me luck…lots and lots of it.

I am entering into my final quarter of the Associates Degree program at ITT-Tech.  In the final quarter all students take a class called Capstone.  This class is a 12 week long project that forces you to use all of the knowledge and skills you have learned during your time at the school.  Since I’m a Computer Networking Systems student my project is all about building a big, nasty network.

We were handed a 35 page document that is actually a mock-RFP.  It details the requirements of a fictitious company’s new network needs and includes building layouts and existing hardware.  We are supposed to use this information to create a network solution that meets their needs and present it to the clients (in this case the clients are the school’s instructors and any other students who want to come).  In this particular project we are responding to a request from 5 doctors that have formed a new partnership and are trying to update their own internal LANs and also link all 5 locations in to a single WAN.  Seems easy, right?  NOT EVEN KINDA in reality!

My group decided to go with an MPLS design for connecting the 5 locations. This seems to be the most secure and robust way of handling their data sharing needs while maintaining HIPAA compliance.  This type of network is something that was mentioned to us but never really taught.  So, we are trying to learn how to build and deploy an MPLS network from scratch in the next few weeks.  We realize that the ISP typically configures this type of network for the client, but we still have to know how it works, give IP/subnet schemes for it and demo it in our presentation.  We have racks of Cisco routers and switches at the school to configure this on, but we have no idea what the IOS commands are to configure this type of network.  So, I’m grabbing my laptop this weekend, heading to Barnes & Noble to look for books on the topic, and then sitting in their cafe (I’m a poor student that can’t afford to buy these books).  I’ll fire up Packet Tracer to see if I can stumble my way through it on the simulator before spending hours in the school’s labs in a tangle of ethernet and rollover cables trying to figure it out on the live routers.  We also have to configure all of the Servers, MS Exchange, DNS, etc., and produce a working demo of what their network will look/behave like.  Twelve weeks seemed like a lot of time but in reality it’s not nearly enough.

I have a fantastic group for this project.  Al, Tom and Trisha are probably the the most dedicated and capable students in my graduating class (besides myself, of course).  I have no doubt that we will put together a solid solution and a strong presentation.  I just hope we don’t have to drop the MPLS idea.

I’m putting out a call for help from all of you wonderful people in internet land.  If you have any knowledge or resources that you can share or point me to about configuring this type of network, please post in the comments.  Any help will be greatly appreciated!  I’ll post updates as I stumble through this project

Wish me luck!

What is going on at ITT-Tech Bensalem?  Our severs have been infected with the Conficker worm now for at least two weeks!  The school’s “higher powers” are aware of it but nothing has been done.  We are a tech school with a strong CNS program, but we can’t seem to eliminate this worm. However, we do have two really cool flat screen TV’s (that have been playing the exact same videos for months now)!  So, I guess all is good.

It’s just sad!!!

The Conficker worm infects any data storage device it comes in contact with.  That is how it spreads!  So, if you’ve attached any storage device (flash drive, school issued hard drive, cell phone, mp3 player, etc.) to ANY of the school’s computers, you are now probably infected with this worm.  I personally found it on all of my flash drives (which means that it spread to any computer that I used those flash drives in), the TWO hard drives that I use at the school, my laptop, and my desktop.  If you have saved any document to a flash drive from a school’s computer then went home and finished it on your own PC, you quite possibly have the Conficker worm on your flash drive and probably on your PC.  If you do find it, ask the CNS students and they will give you a tool that scans for and removes the worm.

There are numerous websites that provide documentation of the effects of this worm and removal/prevention methods for it.  It seems that our school doesn’t consider it a high enough priority to force someone to read those documents and follow the instructions.  Here are the first two that show up on Google:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962007

Let me hear from you if you’ve had any problems or contact with this annoying little worm.

***UPDATE (10/9/2009)***

It appears that the the school’s equipment has had this worm removed.  This has not helped any of the student’s whose equipment was infected.  Last night for example, in my IT321 class, three students and their school-issued hard drives were still showing signs of this worm.  Following are a few websites offering free antivirus programs for download that can detect this annoying worm:

Avira

Malwarebytes

AVG

If you can’t access these sites or complete the installation of the above antivirus programs, you are most likely using an infected system.  Try to find an uninfected system and download the following removal tool that will scan your entire system, including any connected flash drives, and remove the conficker worm: 

Symantec Removal Tool

After running this tool and rebooting your system, you should be able to install any of the antivirus programs listed above.

Good luck.