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Slightly off topic, but I'm dealing with the man and wondered:

For all you engineers who work on large Cisco networks (including 24x7
field calls and design) running Windows Active Directory, do you think
you can be effective with only one lap top computer?

We now report to the CFO, and although we've had dedicated laptop and
desktop machines for 10 years, they don't see why we can't just get
buy with a single laptop per engineer for all of our work. Maybe we
can but it seems like it would be a real PITA. Do I need that second
computer or am I just being a spoiled baby?

thanks,
jk

On Jun 1, 7:48 am, jdki...@bluebunny.com wrote:
> Slightly off topic, but I'm dealing with the man and wondered:
>
> For all you engineers who work on large Cisco networks (including 24x7
> field calls and design) running Windows Active Directory, do you think
> you can be effective with only one lap top computer?
>
> We now report to the CFO, and although we've had dedicated laptop and
> desktop machines for 10 years, they don't see why we can't just get
> buy with a single laptop per engineer for all of our work. Maybe we
> can but it seems like it would be a real PITA. Do I need that second
> computer or am I just being a spoiled baby?
>
> thanks,
> jk

I have always used a laptop and a desktop. Allows me to VNC or do a
few things at once. Plus allows me someplace to put monitoring or
trial software and not worry about not being able to take my laptop
home and stuff. Don't know why you would need 2 laptops though?
Unless you want one for work, and one for home/travel/etc...which IMO
is a waste...

On Jun 1, 6:55 am, Trendkill <jpma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jun 1, 7:48 am, jdki...@bluebunny.com wrote:
>
> > Slightly off topic, but I'm dealing with the man and wondered:
>
> > For all you engineers who work on large Cisco networks (including 24x7
> > field calls and design) running Windows Active Directory, do you think
> > you can be effective with only one lap top computer?
>
> > We now report to the CFO, and although we've had dedicated laptop and
> > desktop machines for 10 years, they don't see why we can't just get
> > buy with a single laptop per engineer for all of our work. Maybe we
> > can but it seems like it would be a real PITA. Do I need that second
> > computer or am I just being a spoiled baby?
>
> > thanks,
> > jk
>
> I have always used a laptop and a desktop. Allows me to VNC or do a
> few things at once. Plus allows me someplace to put monitoring or
> trial software and not worry about not being able to take my laptop
> home and stuff. Don't know why you would need 2 laptops though?
> Unless you want one for work, and one for home/travel/etc...which IMO
> is a waste...

Ok, I'm not insane yet. All we're asking for is one desktop and one
laptop for exactly the reasons you state. But apparently I'm full of
BS and "why do you need that when no one else does and what do you
guys really do over there anyway?", etc. I'm hoping some response
from here will help fuel my argument.
jk

On Jun 1, 8:04 am, jdki...@bluebunny.com wrote:
> On Jun 1, 6:55 am, Trendkill <jpma...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Jun 1, 7:48 am, jdki...@bluebunny.com wrote:
>
> > > Slightly off topic, but I'm dealing with the man and wondered:
>
> > > For all you engineers who work on large Cisco networks (including 24x7
> > > field calls and design) running Windows Active Directory, do you think
> > > you can be effective with only one lap top computer?
>
> > > We now report to the CFO, and although we've had dedicated laptop and
> > > desktop machines for 10 years, they don't see why we can't just get
> > > buy with a single laptop per engineer for all of our work. Maybe we
> > > can but it seems like it would be a real PITA. Do I need that second
> > > computer or am I just being a spoiled baby?
>
> > > thanks,
> > > jk
>
> > I have always used a laptop and a desktop. Allows me to VNC or do a
> > few things at once. Plus allows me someplace to put monitoring or
> > trial software and not worry about not being able to take my laptop
> > home and stuff. Don't know why you would need 2 laptops though?
> > Unless you want one for work, and one for home/travel/etc...which IMO
> > is a waste...
>
> Ok, I'm not insane yet. All we're asking for is one desktop and one
> laptop for exactly the reasons you state. But apparently I'm full of
> BS and "why do you need that when no one else does and what do you
> guys really do over there anyway?", etc. I'm hoping some response
> from here will help fuel my argument.
> jk

You could probably get away with one shared linux/windows box or
whatever that allows multiple client VNC at the same time. That way
you can run what you need from local but avoid spending money for each
engineer you have (if you have more than one ). The bottom line
is a lot of times I need to run nightly bandwidth/utilization reports,
and I can't do this if my laptop needs to go home with me.
Additionally, and not the case with me since I work for a very large
financial institution, but if you don't have money for sniffers and
rely on ethereal on your laptop, you are out of pocket on email or
whatever while your laptop is tied up with console connections, lab
work, or sniffing.

I don't think you necessarily will have a fool-proof argument, but you
should have some kind of ground to argue on. Worst case, buy a refurb
pentium 4 with a gig of ram, should do you fine. My laptop is where I
need the computing power, the desktop is for crash and burn trial/
monitoring apps, a place to VNC into and run some stuff from, etc.
Just try to come to some solid ground between your basic requirements
and cost analysis. No reason why you can't spend a few hundred bucks
and meet them half way.

Trendkill wrote:
> On Jun 1, 8:04 am, jdki...@bluebunny.com wrote:
>> On Jun 1, 6:55 am, Trendkill <jpma...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Jun 1, 7:48 am, jdki...@bluebunny.com wrote:
>>>> Slightly off topic, but I'm dealing with the man and wondered:
>>>> For all you engineers who work on large Cisco networks (including 24x7
>>>> field calls and design) running Windows Active Directory, do you think
>>>> you can be effective with only one lap top computer?
>>>> We now report to the CFO, and although we've had dedicated laptop and
>>>> desktop machines for 10 years, they don't see why we can't just get
>>>> buy with a single laptop per engineer for all of our work. Maybe we
>>>> can but it seems like it would be a real PITA. Do I need that second
>>>> computer or am I just being a spoiled baby?
>>>> thanks,
>>>> jk
>>> I have always used a laptop and a desktop. Allows me to VNC or do a
>>> few things at once. Plus allows me someplace to put monitoring or
>>> trial software and not worry about not being able to take my laptop
>>> home and stuff. Don't know why you would need 2 laptops though?
>>> Unless you want one for work, and one for home/travel/etc...which IMO
>>> is a waste...
>> Ok, I'm not insane yet. All we're asking for is one desktop and one
>> laptop for exactly the reasons you state. But apparently I'm full of
>> BS and "why do you need that when no one else does and what do you
>> guys really do over there anyway?", etc. I'm hoping some response
>> from here will help fuel my argument.
>> jk
>
> You could probably get away with one shared linux/windows box or
> whatever that allows multiple client VNC at the same time. That way
> you can run what you need from local but avoid spending money for each
> engineer you have (if you have more than one ). The bottom line
> is a lot of times I need to run nightly bandwidth/utilization reports,
> and I can't do this if my laptop needs to go home with me.
> Additionally, and not the case with me since I work for a very large
> financial institution, but if you don't have money for sniffers and
> rely on ethereal on your laptop, you are out of pocket on email or
> whatever while your laptop is tied up with console connections, lab
> work, or sniffing.
>
> I don't think you necessarily will have a fool-proof argument, but you
> should have some kind of ground to argue on. Worst case, buy a refurb
> pentium 4 with a gig of ram, should do you fine. My laptop is where I
> need the computing power, the desktop is for crash and burn trial/
> monitoring apps, a place to VNC into and run some stuff from, etc.
> Just try to come to some solid ground between your basic requirements
> and cost analysis. No reason why you can't spend a few hundred bucks
> and meet them half way.
>
I architect solutions at my company. I use a dual monitor linux box
running vmware for multiple windows VM,s. once VM for office work, one
for network administration and other tools and one for testing and I
have a standalone desktop running windows as a backup and other PC can
run tasks on that take a while and leave it running. I also have another
older desk top running linux for testing, running dedicated tools for on
the spot troubleshooting. I have a linux laptop that has a vm windows as
the one I have with me when not in the office and another laptop
dedicated for just testing, packet captures, auditing.

I only work as well as the resources available and do not mind not
working at all when they are not available (Mostly depends on managers
attitudes). Last time I only had one machine and it broke, I got to BS
around the water cooler for an entire day without having to do anything,
the idea of only having one machine per person for the top engineers did
not last long after that.

Greetings,

> For all you engineers who work on large Cisco networks (including 24x7
> field calls and design) running Windows Active Directory, do you think
> you can be effective with only one lap top computer?

To put it simply... Yes.

I work in a Global Corporate and for over 25 years have supported
Networking environments from IBM SNA down to 100bps Async channels,
and have only ever had 1 PERSONAL machine (the last 12 years its been
a laptop). However I have always had corporate SHARED Resources
(Servers) also available to me. I guess it comes down to what type of
environment that you need to operate in, and in my case there are
almost zero parts of our network that are standalone, so where there
is an isolated segment, 2 machines can be a great help. If 2 machines
are needed in that case then 2 people can attend.........

I can see scenarios where 2 machines may allow for more efficient use
of my time, however I guess thats weighed against the cost of support
for 2 machines.


--
Peter from Auckland.

MC wrote:

> I architect solutions at my company. I use a dual monitor linux box
> running vmware

I'm with MC: I have one laptop, but it has a virtual machine on it to
aid network troubleshooting. For example, inside the VM, I test new
dialup or IPSec connections, with default route pointed through the VPN
or modem connection. But my productivity environment's routing table
doesn't change.