On the Job

So far, so good. I'm really liking my first impressions of this company. I feel like the 5000 lb. Symyx gorilla has been lifted off my back. Good thing, that.

For all the geeks out there (Tom, David, etc) I received the firewalls for my home lab this morning. After unpacking them, I took a couple of pictures. The keys are in the picture to provide scale.

Aren't they adorable?

More to post later. I've got a full day ahead of me.

It turns out I was right.  During the evening on October 1, the deal between Symyx and Elsevier was finalized, and they took ownership of MDL.  On October 2nd, they laid off 30% of MDL's workforce.  My co-workers who were affected include:  Brad Clark, John Bonifacio, Sam Gonzalez, Li Zhang, Matt Mooningham, and finally, Howard Abels.  This represents a significant portion of the mind-share in our department, especially the loss of Howard.  When they let him go, they let go the one guy with the vision to enable the company's growth in the online business space, which is where the market is growing.  Frankly, that was a poor decision.

So, where does this leave me?  As of right now, I have a job as a network admin with Symyx and am part of thier global IT team.  I was retained in my current position at my current salary.  The IT group at Symyx is is largely a good group of folks, but the environment is very different.  We'll see...

I'm thankful that I get to continue to earn a paycheck, but I also realize that if I become un-happy (er), then my recourse is to go elsewhere WITHOUT the severance package.  That makes me kind of wish that I had been part of that lay-off.

The sale is final, but all options for me are on the table.

So, I created a whole new category just for this post. That's how irritated I am.

WARNING: Technical Jargon Ahead.

So, a few years ago I installed a Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution from a company called NetScaler. This solution uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) in order to enact the VPN tunnel, instead of the traditional IPSec or PPTP technologies before this. the benefits included a client-less user interface and the ability to launch a vpn from a machine that wasn't necessarily yours (Internet kiosk, etc.). All they needed was an Internet browser.

We have had problems with this technology, especially since we were early adopters. Those problems included lack of support for certain applications in the beginning, and continued issues with Micrsoft Outlook connections.

About a year ago, NetScaler was purchased by Citrix. This hasn't been good for us. Technical support for the product has taken a turn for the worse, with some queries going completely ignored. The Outlook client issue was never resolved, no matter what version of code we were running. The only way to fix the error when it occurred was to reboot the NetScaler device.

Having said all of that, I remain, as ever, the optimist. Yesterday, I upgraded to the latest version of code on the NetScalers. Prior to doing this, I had been having discussions with technical support about expectations, if there were any gotchas, etc. I was assured that this was a very straightforward upgrade.

The upgrade on the appliances went very smoothly. I upgraded the backup device first, then the primary. I installed the new license files. No error messages, no burps. The documentation was clear and concise: my favorite kind.

So, imagine my surprise when I launched the client to test a connection and everything had changed. The user interface was different, and the connection now requires the user to install an agent that runs in the system tray all the time now. Frantically, I cobbled together a document that outlined the new user experience and made sure I could connect to SSL VPN from the Internet, just like a normal user. It worked, but it worked very differently. I sent off the doc I wrote up, I talked to our Helpdesk and other key colleagues and hoped for the best. I needed to leave the office since Teresa had a Partylite meeting and I needed to get home and play Dad.

As I was driving home, I felt mostly okay. Sure it was different, but maybe different = good. Maybe this will finally resolve the Outlook issue that has plagued us for months. If that's the case, I can live with these changes.

As I approached Fairfield, my cell phone rang. Fantastic. It was my friend and coworker, Mr. David Mostardi (known affectionately in irc as D-dog). Our Helpdesk personnel could not connect to the service from outside. I pulled over at the next available parking stop (this happened to be a McDonalds parking lot), got out my laptop and my cell card and began to test. I was able to connect without a problem, but I only saw 4-5 people connected. This seemed low to me, as most times there are 20+ users connected at any given moment. I immediately thought there were problems with the license file, so I called Citrix.

While I was on hold for 35 minutes, I re-installed the license files and reconnected without problem. I still saw only 4-5 users online, so I waited. Just as I was about to pack it in and head home, Citrix answered the phone. I have to say, the tech I talked to was very helpful and knowledgable (a rarity, in my experience). He re-issued new license files, just in case mine were bad. We went through a battery of tests to check our current license and could find no issue. While I was on the phone with him, I saw a couple of more users connect, pushing us past that 5 user mark, so my initial summation about a bad license proved to be incorrect. I then packed it up and headed home.

That was one and a half very pleasant hours in a McDonalds parking lot...

So, when I did get home, I spent another hour or so trying to duplicate user experiences. I could not duplicate failure, no matter how hard I tried. Sure, it was different, but it didn't outright break.

So here I am this morning. I am connected to work via SSL VPN and working fine. I see six other users online with me currently, that number creeping as high as ten. I am anxiously awaiting the onslaught of user calls from the helpdesk. Currently I have one user who reports he can connect but cannot do anything. I have another user who says he can read email, but cannot access a windows file share. I can't duplicate either of these problems, and it is frustrating.

This should JUST WORK. I have had it up to eyeball level with this, and am ready to replace these devices with another vendor. If only MDL would spend the money...