IP address conflicts

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matthew Seaman [mailto:m.seaman at infracaninophile.co.uk]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 12:52 AM
> To: Ted Mittelstaedt
> Cc: Tim Aslat; freebsd-questions at FreeBSD.ORG
> Subject: Re: IP address conflicts
>
>
> Please do not ascribe such motives to me in such an insulting manner.
> You have a point, but you need to learn how to be less inflammatory in
> making it.
>

Alright, alright, I'm sorry now quit taking it personally.  My advice is
worth exactly what you paid for it.  How much was that, again?

>
> Yes, you are quite right.  I missed that.  However the OP is stuck
> between a rock and a hard place.  He (or his school) is saying they
> can't afford the correct equipment to really solve the problem.

Wellll, from my viewpoint, HE is saying that his school doesen't have the
money.  I didn't read anywhere that he was actually told flat out that
they didn't have the money.  fine line there.

My suspicions are that his school has done an excellent job of giving him
the IMPRESSION that they have no money, so don't bother asking for any.
It is an impression that schools carefully cultivate.  I'm so broke, we
are so broke, wahhh wahhh wahhh.  poor us.  Schools cultivate this because
it
gets more alumni donations.

But, if you look under the covers, schools always seem to have plenty
of money to renovate buildings, and as a student, every time you turn
around there's someone from the school with their hand out asking for
another fee to be paid.

For the last 20 years (since I left college) I've heard the same crying
and pissing every fall from them.  But they haven't dried up and blown
away and always seem to have plenty of new programs going on.  So, pardon
me if it gets old after a while.

Now, the elementary and secondary schools, that's an entirely different
matter.

>
> On consideration, it strikes me that the thing to realise is that this
> has gone beyond a technical argument.  This is now also a political
> argument and a financial argument.

I would say "discussion" not argument here.  And your absolutely correct.

> His bosses do not either see the
> justification for investing in equipment to make the network proof
> against such attacks, neither do they have the incentive to come down
> like a ton of bricks on the malefactors.  It's counter-intuitive I
> know, and goes against all of the best instincts of any good systems
> administrator, but the OPs arguments would be strengthened if the
> problem was or /appeared to be/ *worse* than it is currently.
>

Of course.  But, the only people that do that are grotty old nasty
systems administrators that have a resume that stretches into next
week, and command 6 figure salaries.  The people that run schools are
scared to death of those people and run away from them as fast as
they can, because they know that those folks can topple the system.

Systems aren't toppled by young, green, wet behind
the ears system admins that work for peanuts and are enormously
grateful to their employers for getting the chance to gain work
experience, little realizing that their employers couldn't give a
fig how grateful they are, and only hire them because they work cheap.

Every once in a while you get that rare combination of a young, green
wet behind the ears system admin that works for peanuts and also
knows that peanut jobs are a dime a dozen, and knows his employer
is taking advantage of him, and is clever enough to make it -seem-
like he isn't doing anything to topple the system - yet somehow the
system seems to topple by itself.  Amazing, how that happens. Heh Heh Heh.

Ted