Ping. It is the most important tool in your networking troubleshooting kit. It had helped me more times than I can count.
The Lockergnome Tech newsletter today has a link to the site of the man who wrote Ping. He, sadly, is no longer with us. His website has been preserved and includes this hilarious adecdote.
The best ping story I've ever heard was told to me at a USENIX conference, where a network administrator with an intermittent Ethernet had linked the ping program to his vocoder program, in essence writing:
ping goodhost | sed -e 's/.*/ping/' | vocoder
He wired the vocoder's output into his office stereo and turned up the volume as loud as he could stand. The computer sat there shouting "Ping, ping, ping..." once a second, and he wandered through the building wiggling Ethernet connectors until the sound stopped. And that's how he found the intermittent failure.
I have found it helpful to do the stretching exercises my physical therapist recommends. Do some core strengthening exercises, such as the ones highlighted at The Mayo Clinic. By keeping your core strong, your back won't put itself in a position to cause that sciatica pain you are having.
"To say my country, right or wrong, is something no patriot would say except in dire emergency; it is like saying, 'my mother, drunk or sober.'" - G.K. Chesterton
You were sick, but now you're well again, and there's work to do.
I am all hopped up on goofballs. Powered by Blogger Pro!
"... I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a
paranoid little weirdo... in morse code..."
