Discussion on:

Beware: The seven most dangerous types of network administrators

#2 describes me precisely!

Seeing yourself in print hurts..haha. I promise to change my ways.

Because I've been watching you...

I fit all of these

no, what I mean is I encounter all of these types on a weekly basis but never before have I seen them all being described so accurately.
a good thing about these extreme characters is that you can learn very handy tricks from all of them
just because they go that far they discovered ways of doing something you would never of thought of yourself
also, they are my best clients in times of troubles

grtz

I don't know what the species latin name is, but the jest seems to be that since any safety measures you take won't work when you really need them, there's no sense even bothering. This is the netAdmin who doesn't see a need to review Event Logs because they don't contain any 'real' information. Oh, and backups to tape are a waste because as soon as you try to restore, the tape will be bad. (Yes, he has actually said this, and will not put a tape in the machine for backup.)

Are we just lucky(?) to have this new species, or has anyone experienced them?

NetopsiaEeyoreia -
"Pooh, don't bother installing the operating system, it'll just go right to Blue Screen anyway... "

Sounds just right!

That would be Stupidus Unemployedius. This species is often wiped out totally in the event of a disaster. Can often be found in fossil remains with Walter Mondale for President bumper stickers, Frito Bandito Finger Puppers and I Like Ike lapel buttons.

I do see his point. Out of the dozen or so restores (necessary restores, I am not including the regular test restores, which generally work). I have done or seen done, only a few have actually worked. I have very little faith in tape as a result, and I have thought that it seemed pointless to waste time and money on something so hit and miss. (But I still do faithfully run and check my tape backups).

We have a netadmin in South Australian governement that is so tight that you can't use a USB drive, even though it is very very useful but you can burn CD's - so it's not about data security. Field offices need to do creative things too and may entail adding fonts - can't do this. Can't alter the time and date even though the appli / security logs don't get audited - system not setup for local security logging etc. Destroys critical settings for our field databases by remotely overwriting configuration files. Kills advertising on Web-sites which kills some needed resourced sites being viewed (child offending resources etc). Stuffs up image for PC's where settings not relevant to our region like US English Dic for Word etc. A few loose Administrator level machines - Could use LC4 in 40 mins to crack Local accounts - not logged. Case intrusion switches not used. Ego dent when someone knowledgeable comes up against him - and goes beserk. Lack of switching hubs to prevent rogue machines sniffing. Network so slow in some locations (yes this is a government department!) a cup of coffee and a smoke before windows screen is ready - stuffs up terribly some programs because of the wait on the network. Treats people like they are silly little gutter scum individuals if he feels threatened. Not using IP addressing for our hundreds of printers - causing multitude EIO BAD TRANSMISSION errors which results in loss of printing data. Laptops with no sep account so you can't add the remote mouse unit and drivers etc for presentation thru a projector - no admin priv. Doesn't respond to network queries until a week later for some people. Does a 8 to 4pm work day - goes off to the pub many times afterwards and there is no Network fixing after that time. Doesn't have a license to quickly respond to field networking issues - has to instruct other IT in the field to do his dirty work...

I could go on but there is only so much room 8-). So what category does this person fit into...

As a former Sth Australian I didn't believe anyone in SA gov't used the computers anyway. But perhaps it was that the Netties had everything locked up so they couldn't!

I am a medical specialist in private practice who also runs a computer consultancy and reseller company, and I'll admit that I am more at home with the hardware than the software. The GPs I rent an office from in Victoria have found an interesting species of Nettie employed through the local Division of GPs [ a semigovernment organisation] - he never actually finishes setting anything up and keeps having to come back - Nettius Soakuopthegovtsubsidius? I finally fixed the thing for them myself free just to sabotage the little b******.

Obviously related to Ziggy of Telstra whose ADSL rates for business are also just enough higher than for individuals [for the same service] to soak the govt subsidies too - so the incentives for medico's to computerise the feds offer don't actually give the medico's any incentive at all!!

in my work we have sone net nuts: Tightwadious Legaciaum (uses still the v-old win95, and win 3.1; and still uses the ancient apple2-plus) Mono-Brandious Loyalityfreakium (insists (demands) that one brand of solution be used (could be brain-washed from the vendor)) and my big rub: Noodle-Spaghetti-mixedup mal-organisedium (you know him by the way he cables his LAN-all a mess and all ONE colour; and the nerdy-geek Brainius- wordium Beyondthecodeium (his I.Q. is sooooo off the charts that any one meets with his *will* get brain-fried just from tooooo much informations. have fun !!!

Everything except the gluing of the USB ports is understandable if you have a network with sensitive data that you are held accountable for.

While I agree that calling it YOUR network is a bit much, you have to protect it as if it is. If this means keeping users from accidentally infecting the network with the latest 0 day virus by disabling programs that they don't need, then so be it. They're not there to do anything other than work, anyways.

I'd swear you were my boss! The supercilious attitude is perfect while looking down the nose she talks through.

We are only drones (underpaid at that) to work 12hrs a day and on call at home. But heaven forbid we try to communicate with one another while we're "on call"! NO messaging allowed!

Your seven most dangerous types are not exclusive. Our boy is a match for #1-Mr. Safety, #4-Jobsworth, #5-Test bed man AND #6-My Personal Property! He loves announcing, "If you computer acts funny, I've just shut down the server!"

Angent Smith.
This admin makes a Standards and Guidelines rule that all servers must have documentation.
Of course, network flow chart and a network diagram are a must in industry standards.
Then, when that information is requested... Justification is needed... ...to which he does not reply.
Agent Smith is a "shoot myself in the foot" kinda man, with his department's priorities in mind.
This further undermines his network, as he is doomed to let significant network resources suffer [in comparison to his].
When Agent Smith is asked about a contract for off-site archival... ...again, the silence; as if all e-mails were now stone pebbles to a large mountain.
Agent Smith's concern is with the matrix, his world. There's so much more than his department's network needs.

Lovely write up.
Haven't laughed this much in a while.