churchill

pond lilly opening and closing contacam and outdoor ip camera

I always like to provide alternatives to everyday tasks. I get a lot of requests to spend some time showing people how to do as much as possible from the command line. Unfortunately people soon realize that if you don’t do it often enough the command line options and syntax quickly slips out of your memory and it becomes a frustrating exercise. I while ago I introduced people to this neat little utility called dumpcapui (https://www.netskillz.com/dumpcapui/) it simply creates the command line syntax based on what you want dumpcap to do. FYI. many of the dumpcap options are the same as tshark, so feel free to experiment.

taken 2023 06 26

taken 2023 06 26 using contacam windows software and outdoor ip camera

I’ve worked on many projects and I am always surprised when a Network Analyst tells me that they have never crimped an RJ45, mounted a switch, or even unboxed network equipment. In my humble opinion, I think a Network Analyst should be ‘familiar’ with ALL facets of networking. Just to be clear, I said ‘familiar’ which means that I am not expecting you to be an electrician, HVAC specialist, etc, but you should know enough about whatever equipment, install,ation or support call that you are assigned. I good second option is to have a specialist in those areas available in case you have questions or issues. In this example, I show you how I added an RJ45 jack outside using these cool couplers that I ordered from Amazon.

360 video from my deck - Lake Huron

Another video and article in my direct, practical style. In this case, I cover using the proper outdoor enclosure. It may sound obvious to some but unfortunately, I see way too many examples of people getting creative installing equipment outside. I’ve seen technicians put equipment in plastic bags (yup), pails, cardboard boxes, cardboard boxes within a plastic bag, plastic coffee containers, oh I could easily go on… In the video, I show you what happens when you leave a square plastic pail (you will have to watch the video to see where it's from) outside for 9 months.

Well here we go again another install. I was asked to help with a VOIP migration and the first thing I asked was, “Do you have documentation? “ I was assured by the client that they had all the documentation and it would be there on the day of the install. I asked if they mind sharing it and they said they’re too busy right now. In my experience that raises a big red flag but I had to let that go. I get there for the install and find out the documentation is out of date, and incorrect. I suggested that the first thing we do is determine which lines were using which phone number. Since the old lines were standard of pots lines, I took the old analog phone, called my cell phone, and documented which line had which phone number. I then used some folder labels that I always carry around and labeled the physical lines with the respective phone number. To me it seemed like a fairly obvious thing, but to my client they thought it was black magic LOL. Needless to say, that I took the time to document the install with drawings, downloaded manuals, and some photos. I will post more details as you go through the migration with my trials and tribulations and hope you enjoy it

Iperf vs iperf One of the biggest mistakes I see out there when I observe analysts conducting performance tests is that they get paralyzed with way too much detail. Then they feel so overwhelmed that they don’t test. I say ‘Just start measuring’. If you see an anomaly or something out of place, then start digging in and documenting. For example, if I thought my Wifi performance was terrible, I would look into my WiFi details and access point configuration like channel selection, channel width, etc.. I would say that about 75% of the time clients do not have a baseline, trace files or current documentation. In this example I am comparing iPerf3 on various devices and network topologies to illustrate that the results will always be different. Iperf vs iperf One of the biggest mistakes I see out there when I observe analysts conducting performance tests is that they get paralyzed with way too much detail. Then they feel so overwhelmed that they don’t test. I say ‘Just start measuring’. If you see an anomaly or something out of place, then start digging in and documenting. For example, if I thought my Wifi performance was terrible, I would look into my WiFi details and access point configuration like channel selection, channel width, etc.. I would say that about 75% of the time clients do not have a baseline, trace files or current documentation. In this example I am comparing iPerf3 on various devices and network topologies to illustrate that the results will always be different.

nmap Output Options nmap is a popular tool used by technical people across all I.T. disciplines, so I won’t bore you with the background on nmap (www.nmap.org) in this video I spend a few minutes going over the various output options you can use and an additional ‘-packet-trace’ option you might consider. -------------------------------------------------------------- Tony Fortunato Sr Network Performance Specialist The Technology Firm https://www.thetechfirm.com Getting things to work better - bit by bit- Linkedin Profile https://ca.linkedin.com/in/fortunat Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thetechfirm NetworkDataPedia: https://www.networkdatapedia.com/blog/author/Tony-Fortunato Twitter https://twitter.com/therealtechfirm

I come across networks that have one SSID for multiple access points and frequencies which makes troubleshooting a real challenge. In past videos, I have shown how to test specific BSSID’s with some of my handheld WiFi troubleshooting tools. In one of my videos I commented that there wasn’t an easy way to do this in windows. I was pleasantly surprised when one of my subscribers, asked if I had tried Nirsofts Wifiinfoview https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wifi_information_view.html. I replied that I have but the utility didn’t work when I tried to select a specific BSSID, but that was one to two years ago. They suggested I give it another try and was pleased to see that it did work!! So here is a quickstart video on using this cool WiFi troubleshooting utility. Tony Fortunato Sr Network Performance Specialist The Technology Firm https://www.thetechfirm.com Getting things to work better - bit by bit- Linkedin Profile https://ca.linkedin.com/in/fortunat Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thetechfirm NetworkDataPedia: https://www.networkdatapedia.com/blog/author/Tony-Fortunato Twitter https://twitter.com/therealtechfirm

I have gone on about equipment testing, verification and validation since 2000 and never surprised when I come across the same issue. In this case I have an old Linksys router configured as my lab router with WiFi and DHCP disabled. This router is connected to a backup link that is much slower than the main link for the office. Every so often, the router forgets its settings and DHCP wakes up. I immediately notice that internet response isn’t as good, etc. I always consider these scenarios a great opportunity to test my tools, knowledge and troubleshooting skills. Since I’m not a fan of rebooting, in this example I found by simply checking DHCP on/back off and saving the changes, the router remembers that DHCP is disabled. As I mention in the video, I see this with a lot of consumer grade equipment, but must admit that I have seen this in enterprise level equipment as well.

I’ve been talking about ‘Offloading’ since the introduction of Windows 7 and never surprised when the topic pops back up. I thought this would be a good opportunity to review the impact offloading has on troubleshooting as well as share some of the behind the scenes set up information. I start with how I configured my Network Critical SMARTNA-XL TAP/Packet Broker https://www.networkcritical.com/smartna-xl which is very important since we don’t want “garbage in”. After the capture we have 2 traces, one from the client’s laptop and one from the SmartNA-XL monitor port that I will review. I cover why the client has huge packet sizes and the difference from the tap’s capture. So in a nutshell this video has Packet Broker configuration, packet capture and some packet analysis, all under 10 minutes.

taken using outdoor ip camera and contacam software

I firmly believe that network analysts should have that MacGyver type work trait and know a bit of other disciplines like programming, wiring, server, desktop, etc. The key word here being ‘a bit’. I’m not asking you to go get certified in every IT discipline, just know enough to be aware of its benefits and high level stuff. Over the years I find myself writing code, snippets, batch files and anything to automate or help me troubleshoot. The other day I thought I would ask Chatgpt to provide a simple bit of python code that I can use to measure TCP response time. I wanted a command line tool that I would provide the ip address, port number and number of tests. Within seconds, there it was. I tested it, and it worked flawlessly. Then I thought I should take a trace and examine its behavior as well that I will save in the same folder as the python script.

Part of knowing your tool involves playing around and finding ways of using the product more efficiently. In this simple and quick example, I show you the relatively new Wireshark’s appearance setting and how I use it. For those of you who have worked with me or taken my training classes, I love the good old screen capture when reporting or explaining a trace to someone. FYI. this is an actual tip from my Wireshark class. Enjoy www.thetechfirm.com

I can’t count the number of times I wish I had a tool that just ……. Many times, the tool exists, but part of a network management suite or solution which is not practical to install and configure for a simple test or the odd troubleshooting task. In this video I will show you a small piece of code that I wrote to record DNS response time. Here is the code below for you to simply cut and paste. import csv import datetime import time import dns.resolver # DNS name to resolve domain_name = "thetechfirm.com" # Number of times to measure DNS response time num_measurements = 100 counter = 0 delay = 1 print("Tonys DNS response time utility") print("Performing name lookups for", domain_name, num_measurements, "times with a ", delay, "second delay") # Create CSV file and write header row with open('dns_response_times.csv', mode='w') as csv_file: fieldnames = ['Date', 'Response Time (ms)'] writer = csv.DictWriter(csv_file, fieldnames=fieldnames) writer.writeheader() # Measure DNS response time multiple times and write results to CSV file for i in range(num_measurements): counter = counter+1 start_time = time.time() # Perform DNS resolution resolver = dns.resolver.Resolver() resolver.nameservers = ['8.8.8.8'] # Google DNS server answer = dns.resolver.resolve(domain_name) end_time = time.time() response_time_ms = (end_time - start_time) * 1000 # Write result to CSV file writer.writerow({'Date': datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"), 'Response Time (ms)': response_time_ms}) print("Testing", domain_name, "#", counter,response_time_ms,"ms") time.sleep(delay)

made this video in the summer to share with my friends who loved it. i find the bluetooth remotes lag, re-pairing a bit of a hassle and a cabled trigger fool proof. let me know if you like this and i will post more tips and tricks.. perfect use for an older phone with a headphone jack..

Debunking the official C.O.V.I.D.19 narrative - Prof. Dolores Cahill

A couple of storms blew through the afternoon check out how the clouds disappear at 5 pm cool watching a few spots of open water and ice forming southampton, ontario, canada

A couple of storms blew through the afternoon check out how the clouds disappear at 5 pm cool watching a few spots of open water and ice forming southampton, ontario, canada

looks like most of the water near the shore is frozen. and much to my surprise. heres Mr.Fox passing by southampton, ontario, canada

A couple of storms blew through the afternoon cool watching a few spots of open water and ice forming southampton, ontario, canada

A couple of storms blew through afternoon more ice is starting to build up southampton, ontario, canada

A couple of storms blew through afternoon and the ice is starting to build-up southampton, ontario, canada