This week I have been working with Brian and Merritt. Merritt and I have had to go out and reconnect the digital signage in founder hall that keeps being cut off by someone.  We had to reinstall the HDMI cable and reconnect the power supply
To add to last week I met Brian and Merritt here Friday night to switch over the internet service providers from MCNC at 100 MBS to Duke net at 200 MPS. Once we switched over I walk around campuss with a laptop streaming video to ensure there were no outages. This week I removed the old 100MPS switch that was providing the campus the internet connection.
I had to go and find an wireless access point that was failing and switched the access point from a switch located in the closet on the first floor of Frank to the closet located closest to it in Bryan J.R. auditorium.
Tonight I am going to be helping Chafic by monitoring his Operating Systems class while they take their midterm exam.

15hr

On Tuesday I sat in on training with Brian and Merritt for the packet shaper that we recently installed. This device is very interesting, it allows the administrator control to the amount of bandwidth that each process is allowed. We cut down the peer to peer web site to 16 kb per second where before they were up to 3 megs per second. This freed up some of our bandwidth and also stopped illegal downloads. We are looking at limiting Netflix since it is a large user of our bandwidth. I also did some testing with Brian on the new internet connection that we are getting that will increase our bandwidth from 100 meg per second to 200 meg per second.
On Wednesday I help Merritt with some issues that the digital signage on the second floor of founders was having and I worked on the network map.
I had to cut Wednesday short due to studying for an exam in Forensic Science.


10.5

This week I had been doing all kinds of jobs. I have worked on the network map for a long time on Tuesday to come back to it on Thursday and find everything that I had did was lost because the file was corrupted. Luckily I had good notes and was able to reproduce everything that was lost. I have also helped Merritt find 2 exterior access points and patch them into the closet. I also was given the task to locate several HP printers on campus. I got with Ron and found all of the ones that were connected to the network and physically tracked down the rest.


21

This week Brian was out of town so I helped other people in the department.
On Tuesday I helped Sonya, I cleaned and arranged the desk top support station. I removed the switch and the cabling that had been used over the summer to deploy computer on the campus. After lunch I went with Sonya to deploy two i Mac computer to the Mims lab in Hege Cox.
On Wednesday I Helped with some desk top support by repairing a machine that needed a new hard drive and helping to re-image an i Mac.
On Thursday I helped Ron with some of the tickets he had in his queue I went out to confirm that they had been taken care of. Then I helped Merritt with the digital sign that needed to be switched over to cable, and that afternoon I cleaned the MDF room where all of the network cables and equipment is stored, it had gotten cluttered over the summer (mostly by me).

16

September 6th

Today the Procera Packet Tracer was put on line. Over the past few weeks we have been getting ready for this. I have made the cables to the exact length, tested them to ensure they worked and labeled them. We un packaged the packet tracer and placed it in the rack and powered it up. We sent out an outage message to the campus the internet will be down this morning at 6:00 am. We came in started a ping session and removed the first cable going to the firewall. Once we did that the switch automatically rolled over to the second connection then we swapped over the redundant connection. During the swap over we monitored the ping session and the internet was down for less than 5 seconds. Now that we have the Packet Shaper in place we can monitor where all of the traffic is going and what is taking up our bandwidth. This is a great investment for the college to improve the reliability of the network. During the rest of the day wil be I working on the network map.

September 4th

Today I began with hardware support on 2 desk tops that were being returned. I found the hard drive in one was bad, and the DVD drive in the other was bad. I contacted Dell to get a replacement part. It should be here tomorrow for me to replace it. I have also started back on the network map. I finished the Frank building and now have had a chance to get a good start mapping out the Bauman building.

7

August 29th

Today I performed hardware support on 8 Dell PC's that were going back on the lease return. I had several issues from power supply, hard drive and dvd drive replacement also I had one that the ram needed to be remounted.

4

August 23rd

Brian and I went to the bookstore we ran the cable from the port on the wall up the wall and into the ceiling. We then installed the wireless access port in the drop ceiling. After that I worked on the net work map.
7

August 24th
Teresa and I went out to move the wireless access point that the student in Bryan Hall had complained about. It was located too close to the wall and Brian told me that sometimes if an access point is to close to a wall it blocks the signal. Once we moved the access point the students were able to connect to it.
After that I worked more on the network map.

6

August 28th

Today i mostly worked on the network map. However, about mid day Brian asked me to perform a Dell chat to get 4 computers covered under the factory warranty. I chatted with Dell and got them to ship the parts to us.

7

After my 2 week break from classes where I took my family on vacation to Disney I came back to work at IT&S on August 6th. The department was gearing up for students to return so there was a lot of work to be done and a lot of projects still in the works.

August 6th
On my first day back Brian explained that the schools network map was out of date and it needed to be updated. He showed me how to telnet in to the core and from there I could use the "show cdp neighbors" command and it would show me every switch that was connect to the core. Each switch had been named using the building code which made it easy to know which switch I was connecting to. Once I connected into a switch in a building I could then see its cisco neighbors and make out the map of how the switches were connected. One of the reasons we are updating the map is there are a lot of VLANs on the network that are not needed so we are going to document them then remove the unneeded ones.
7.5

August 7th
Today Brain needed some help on some printing issues. I went out and powered down and restarted the printers that were having issues which solved problem for the users. After this Brian let me work on the network map. I started by tracing down the switches from the core and drawing them out in a map to later be placed in Microsoft Visio.
7.5

August 8th
Today the library needed to have their new Mac Books re-imaged with the college's image. After completing the re-imaging I continued working on the network map.
7

August 9th
Today I got my first look at the remodeled  Founders Hall. Brian, Merritt, and me went over to make a list of items needed for Friday when we will work on mounting the switches and patching the ports in the new data closet. Afterwards we moved over the equipment and tools we are going to need to complete the job.
7.5

August 10th
Today we start on installing the switches and patching in the cables. I also went and made a list of all of the ports that we needed to patch to. We also check the location of where all of the wireless access point are going to be placed.
7

August 13th
Brian showed me how to go in and rename all of the wireless access points which I went in and did.
7.5

August 14th
Today Brian and I assisted Merritt in hanging all of the digital signage. We had to use an HD to Ethernet converter to tie in all of the signs with the data that the school wanted to display.
7

August 15th
Today we continued installing the rest of the digital signage. Once that was done Brian and I installed the NAC server into the rack in the data center.
7

August 16th
Today we ran the cables from the server to the NAC.
7

August 17th
Today I went over to Frank L7 and assessed the new class room that had been remodeled to find out if we had cables to install wireless access points. While I was there I had to light up the port at the teachers station so the instructors would have network access.
7.5

August 18th
This was the Saturday before classes started. They needed extra help in the help desk since the majority of the helpdesk employees were going to be teaching a class for new students.
5.5

August 21st
Today we named the wireless access points that are going to be installed in Milner Hall. I went to L7 of Frank and terminated 2 cables and installed 2 new wireless access point. Afterwards I went into the data closet and patched them in.
At 5:00 we received a call that the switch in Facilities was down. I went out with Brian and took a spare switch to replace the failed one with until a replacement could arrive.
8

August 22nd
Today was a busy day the library loaner laptops would not connect to the network. I went out and found the Mac Books had an issue that they had to be connected to the network with an ethernet cable while the student logs on to their account. Once they have logged on they can disconnect and use to machine wirelessly. I checked the ports and found an easily assessable port for the library staff to use during check outs. The Dell laptops had another problem. They had to have the settings configured for single log in and set up on the wireless network correctly. Once I completed the set up they work fine now.
I then went over the Founders found the ports in the Pub Suite that needed internet access and connected them.
After lunch there was a ticket about a dorm suite that was having wireless issues. I went over with Teresa and checked the wired ports in the dorm rooms for proper connection and provided the students with ethernet cables til the wireless issue is corrected.
I had an opportunity then to start back on the network map. I was able to start the Bryan Hall portion and get 3 switches added to the map. Then Brian called me and needed my help installing a switch that we had just received from Cisco that went down last night. I went over with him and racked the switch but we did not switch the network over to it yet so we would not interrupt activity during the middle of the day.
I then went to the bookstore and check on an area that they wanted a wireless access port. I found the port lit it up and came back and made a cable to connect the access port tomorrow morning.
7

This is my last post for my Summer 2012 internship blog. I have enjoyed my time spent in the network department and I have learned a lot. I really appreciate the time that Brian has spent with me and the training he has given me. I would also like to thank Chafic for being my faculty adviser during the internship and his idea to do a blog instead of a journal. Finally I would like to thank Craig for giving me the opportunity to work at the network department in IT&S.

Yesterday was a little crazy. There was a big storm that hit campus the night before when I got in Brian was out working on a bad switch, so I went to update SharePoint and web help desk. When He got back he sent me out to look at two wireless access points in Dana. I went out and found one switch in the closet of the moon room. It did not have a power light on so I switched it with a known good switch and still did not have power. I then hooked up t remote tester and took the other end down to the data closet. I found the port for the switch ran a test back to the tested and the Ethernet cable was fine. So I switched ports and test the access port and the good switch came up. I retried the original switch and it would still not power up. I took it back to Brian so we could reconfigure a new wireless access point to replace it with. I also tested another wireless access point in Dana on the second floor this one came back on after I disconnected it and reconnected it. While I was leaving Brian text me to let me know the Access points in the basement of New Garden were down. I went over there disconnected and reconnected them and they came back up. Today Brian is going to show me how to configure wireless access points again and I have a stack of them to replace for him.

5 Hours

Yesterday I work on the closet on the first floor of Bauman some more. While working on it I realized that I needed some more mounting hardware so I went to some of the other closets to gather some the only thing I found was some vertical cable concealers. What I was really needing were horizontal one. I am making due with what I have but still have not finished this closet yet I expect it will be done next week.



5.5 Hours

On todays project I was to bring my drill. I place the battery on charge a couple days ago and when I checked it would not hold a charge. So before class yesterday I went to purchase a new battery and found out that you can buy a drill for almost the same amount. So today I brought out my new drill and John and I went to Bonner and Alumni House to mount the switches to the wall. The one in Alumni house went well it mounted on the right side wall out of the way. When we went to the Bonner house the only place to mount the switch was the upper part of the closet wall that was made of dry wall. We went to facilities to get sheet rock anchors and after attempting to install them I realized that they were not going to be secure. So we decided to mount the switch rack on the inner top door frame so the rack could be attached to wood and secure. Once it was mounted we finished the closet clean up and checked that both switches were in web help desk.

Alumni House Before

Alumni House After

Bonner House Before

Bonner House After

Close up of Bonner House Switch

5.5 Hours

Today I went and cleaned up the data closet in the Armfield Press Box. It was not in bad shape and since not one was in there I was able to rout the cables very neatly. After that I started on a larger closet the one on the first floor of Bauman. I got a good start on it but I was unable to finish it today. I will start on it next week when I get back.

Armfield Press Box Before

Armfield Press Box After

5.5 Hours

Today John and I cleaned and inventoried the data closet in the Regan-Brown Field House. Once that was complete I had some paper work from last week I needed to complete. Once that was done John and I went to The North Apartments to confirm some serial numbers that did not look correct then went to New Garden to inventory the switches in to web help desk from in there and replace on ethernet cable. The project is moving along well and hopefully we will have all of the data closets on campus cleaned.

Regan_Brown Field House Before

 Regan_Brown Field House After

5 Hours

Today John has been with me most of the day and we have visited several closets. I finally finished the closet on the 3rd floor of Frank. Then I went to Hendrix and cleaned that closet. At this point John joined me and we went to Dana and we found that closet under the building and cleaned it. Next we went to Hege Cox where the switch was mounted side ways to fit it in a closet that was only 6 inches deep. We were unable to improve that closet but we did get it inventoried. Next we went to the North Apartments the switches there were mounted on a piece of plywood sideways. We were unable to improve those closets but did inventory all of the switches in the six buildings. Once this was done we came back to Bauman and updated web help desk and share point.

Frank 318 Before

Frank 318 After

Hendrix Before

Hendrix After

Dana Before

Dana After

The Shallow Closet in Hege Cox

8.25 Hours

Today Alex and John started out checking the closets to find out what supplies we need to complete this project. While they completed that I started at English Hall. That closet was not in bad shape and did not take long to complete. Once I completed that I moved to the South  Apartments. I started on Apartment 78 which was not in bad shape. Once I finished that one John met up with me and we worked on Apartment 79 and 80. After those were completed we went to the Community Center and  that closet did not need anything. At that point John had a couple more closets he needed to go and look at to see if and supplies are needed for them so I went to Frank 318 to finish work on that closet. Today we accomplished a lot. Most of it was due to the majority of the closets were not in that bad shape, except for Frank 318 which I am still working on.

English Before

English After

South Apartment  78 Before

South Apartment 78 After

South Apartment 80 Before

South Apartment 80 After

7 Hours

Thursday 6-6-2012
Yesterday I had to come in a little later than normal due to my son's 1st grade picnic. Once I got in I went out to check on the closet in Archadale and check the wireless patch cables and confirm they were all yellow. They were so after that John and I went to start on Frank 1st and 3rd floor. We began on the first floor. we were able to get a good start on that closet but had to stop due to my class schedule.

Today I came in early at 9:00 to make up for coming in at 1:30 yesterday. Alex and I started on Frank 118. A couple hours later John got off of the help desk and came out to see what was needed. At that point Alex and John went to Binford to start on that closet which they completed. I finished Frank 118 and started on Frank 318. My plans are to start on the dorms next week due since the Eastern Music Festival kids are coming in on the 18th and right now they are unoccupied.

Frank 118 before

Frank 118 after

Tuesday 3.5 Hours

Wednesday 8 Hours

Today I am catching up on paper work from what I did on Thursday of last week. To start with John and I and later joined by Alex cleaned out the closet in Milner Hall. This one was not to bad it had several 3Com switches that needed to be removed since that dorm was now totally wireless. We traced down all of the cables from the switches to the patch panel and removed them first and followed by removing the switches. Once that was completed we moved on switch up level with the patch panel it was connected to and rerouted all of the cables. Unfortunately we did not have any extra cables channels that would hide the cables like in the other closets so they are exposed here. However it still looks neat. Once that was done we inventoried the equipment so it could b put in web help desk. We also went back to the library to take pictures of the APC for Merritt to determine if they had any errors or not. Then we went to Alumni Gym, Archdale, and Bryan Hall to inventory closets that had already been cleaned in the past.

Milner Before

Milner After

Library Lower APC

 Notice it is off

Library 1st floor APC

Notice one light is red an error is detected

Library 2nd floor APC

No red lights working properly

7 Hours

Yesterday John and I organized the data closets in the library. Those closets were not in to bad shape so we were able to get all 3 done in one day. The lower level closet needs an APC to be replaced and today I have to go back and check the APC in the closets on the 1st and 2nd floor. We inventoried all of the equipment in the closets and put it into web help desk. I did recommend getting better AC service in the closets because they are hotter than the rooms that the closets were in. 

Library Lower Level After

Library Lower Level Before

Library 1st Floor After

Library 1st Floor Before

Library 2nd Floor Before

Library 2nd Floor After

7 Hours

Today John and I worked on the closet in Duke. The cabling was routed a little different than the ones before. It had switch at the top going to 3 patch panels one above it and two below it. Then it had two switches at the bottom going to the other patch panels. We rerouted the cables so they are now in a neat order. Once we finished that I confirmed that they were in web help desk.

Before

After

Once that was done Brian had a wireless access point in Bryan Jr. that was down so we went out and test the cable from the switch to the access point. It tested fine. then tested it from where it ran through another closet it still test fine. Brian rerouted the cable then we reinstalled the access point and confirm that it was working correctly.

5.5 Hours

Today Alex and I worked on the closet in King 121. We rerouted the cables and installed an APC.
Once installed we connected it to the UPS and powered the switches through it. Afterwards I confirmed that the switches had been placed in web helpdesk.




King 121 Before

 King 121 After

7 Hours

5-13-2012
Today I started work on the data closet in Frank 218. This one was different from the last. Since the last one was a simple remove and clean out the closet while no one was using the network. This required arranging the data cables neatly while the network stayed up so users would not experience down time.
After arranging the data cables I replaced the wireless points with yellow cable and replaced the 3 non red cables with red. Once the arrangement was complete I removed the mounting hardware that was not being used so we could use it in an other location. I will upload pictures shortly.

Frank 218 Before

Frank 218 After

5.5 hours

Today was my first day as a network intern. I started by cleaning out the data closet in Bryan Jr. The data closet contained a couple switches that were no longer being used since they were designed for ethernet connection and the building has been updated to wireless connections. I removed the switches and the extra ethernet cables. Afterwards, I installed shorter patch cables for the remaining switch after I moved it closer .
5.5 Hours

Here is a picture of the closet before.

Here is a picture of the closet after.

5 Hours

Starting my internship tomorrow

I am starting the internship at Guilford College tomorrow. I have purchased some tools to use for my internship. I bought a networking tool kit which includes a crimper, stripper, and punch down tool. I also purchased a tool bag, screw driver pliers and flashlight to use while working on the data closets.