Network Misconfigurations Abound

There are so many improperly configured firewalls and routers out there. Being the editor of several categories at DMOZ I see a lot of submissions. Each submission lists the IP address where the submission originated. Sometimes you’ll see three or four IPs strung together as the originating IP. You can trace a visit right through their company firewall, router, gateway, proxy etc. Amazing. Networks aren’t supposed to “leak” IP addresses. They are supposed to go out with a publicly routable IP and nothing more. I continue to be confounded by the lack of IT skill in the professional world. I recently worked with an “IT guy” that didn’t know how to configure a server to allow remote desktop so I could get in and make some adjustments. Come-on… really? Six clicks. That’s what it takes to turn on Remote Desktop in Server 2003. Also couldn’t setup a secondary admin account to give me access. I had to use GoToMeeting to get access to the server. The stuff I did on the server was like complete magic to him. I’m glad because nowI don’t feel bad about charging so much for a 30 minute consult.