Ramblings of a Technology Addict

Thursday, January 16, 2003

Tired.

What a day.
12 hours trying to put together a not-so-simple network. And we ended up confounded by the stupidest of boxen.
So the network should look like this. DSL Modem, PIX router, Airport, Computer. It was supposed to be a static IP DSL. It wasn't. Worse yet, it was dynamically assigned via PPPoE. So, the modem was authenticating the connection. From there, the modem was acting as a DHCP/NAT box, providing the PIX box with an internal IP address. From there, the PIX was providing the Airport with a connection, providing the end user with a connection.
Awesome, right? No. Still with me? Read on.
So, the idea of the PIX router is that it serves as VPN tunnel for your network. Should be a piece of cake. We leave SSH and telnet open for addresses that originate in our DC office and we're done. Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma'am. So here's where it gets funny. DC office can't see the router. Uh oh.
So we call the earthlink guys. We suddenly are getting funky messages from the router that suggests the hostname is changing, and we can't get in anymore. Bad news, huh? Yeah. It gets worse. Our IP isn't static at all. It's dynamic. 30 minutes later, it's static. Or it should be. It's not. We call back. Two hours later we come up with the answer. Their LDAP server is fucked up. It can't take the password/email combo and assign it the proper IP address.
Back to the original part of the problem: The lack of a connection between the DC office and the router.
Turns out, the Broadmax router has a non-configureable firewall. D'oh. It's not handling port-forwarding. Double d'oh. So, frustrated and exhausted, I packed it in. Judy's got DSL, I've got a headache and a return trip to plan.
*sigh* The Trials of a Network Engineer.
10:00:41 PM comment []