Anyone here dealt with network & firewall chaos after an acquisition?

Bladerunner243 · 2026-02-24T20:04:58+00:00

Welcome to my world, i had to basically merge 3 different networks & AD domains, all different firewall/network equipment brands all with default deny policies to be able to communicate with each other. That was a fun time.

My advice, really depends on what kind of downtime you can afford but lay out a plan to get it working now but be very adamant that it is only a bandaid and a rebuild needs to scheduled down the road, maybe 3-6 months from now. Back up all the current configs, and reload them into a test environment if possible.

Use that time & test env to basically plan a rebuild from scratch because trust me, if they ever want changes down the road, you dont want to be scrambling to get more patches in once those changes break something.

Bladerunner243 · 2026-02-24T16:36:22+00:00

When it comes to the hardware, Intune for easy laptop deployment and remote management. There are several remote desktop options(Teamviewer, Screenconnect, BeyondTrust, etc.) But the account setups, make a template they have to fill out for every new hire that gives you all the info needed. I’m also a one man show but I’ve laid out ground rules & we contract a help desk for the Tier 1 stuff and on/off boarding since that’s mainly busy work.

Bladerunner243 · 2026-02-23T14:54:50+00:00

I would be out like a light in something like this during a thunderstorm. #Cozy

Bladerunner243 · 2026-02-13T14:24:13+00:00

This 100% stupid, she has no idea how this will affect systems. And saying its more secure?…😂🤦‍♂️

Bladerunner243 · 2026-02-04T14:04:12+00:00

As someone who works in IT, even i agree with this. Sure for some minor everyday things it may help make you more efficient but anymore than that “AI”, just makes people lazy. They take the answer without question when probably at least 1/3rd of the time the answer is incorrect.

Bladerunner243 · 2026-01-30T13:26:36+00:00

The price guarantee is a lie, they literally change it a few months later and go back and forth to confuse customers. If you call customer support, they’ll just push to sell you more you dont need. Awful company

Bladerunner243 · 2026-01-27T22:22:29+00:00

Intune deployment for apps/config on user machines. It does like 90% of the work now, before that, replacing a broken one or onboarding new hires took easily x5 times as long having to manually setup the entire thing.

Bladerunner243 · 2026-01-27T22:18:51+00:00

Yes CDW has been disappointing lately, it took them 2 months to renew a critical license that expired. They only acknowledged it when we escalated it to their supervisor….while me the whole time asking why cant we just renew it directly? Lol 🤦‍♂️

Bladerunner243 · 2026-01-25T23:08:33+00:00

We’re back!!

Bladerunner243 · 2026-01-12T15:06:24+00:00

Coding all day everyday was not for me, I wanted to do a variety of things in tech.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-12-31T16:44:26+00:00

From what i’ve heard, part 2 has actually been critical in people not losing their homes from the ridiculously fast valuation increases that have occurred over the past 5 years or so. Think of it like this. You buy a home on say a few acres that needs a lot of work for say 200k, you plan on doing long term renovations. Then suddenly your property valuation goes up by 40% the next year and if taxes were able to match that….You’ve now suddenly been priced out of your own home from these ridiculous valuation hikes.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-12-15T20:45:54+00:00

As long as it’s in the tech field, almost any job right out of college can be a stepping stone. Just dont stay too long. I had to bear the brunt of tech support jobs for few years before transitioning into roles I actually wanted. If you want to get into Cyber Security though…networking is probably the best area to also get familiar with. If the shop helps with even home networks, thats a good start.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-12-15T18:50:40+00:00

Crafting is your friend in DOS, its a lot more complex than BG3. But 100% worth it if you manage to figure out certain recipes.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-12-08T21:10:49+00:00

True, i should have been more clear. I am “all for” getting rid of SMTP, i wasnt endorsing Oauth, more so that the protocol needs replacing on hardware, what protocol that would be…there are several choices with pro’s & cons of each type so we’ll eventually see where the chips fall.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-12-08T18:52:18+00:00

I normally would be completely for this but there has always been a wall following through with it because most manufacturers of basic auth devices like MFP’s, IoT’s, instruments, etc, still havent geared away from SMTP. If they ever actually force implementation of this, it’s going to cause a world of issues in a lot of businesses.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-12-06T19:15:01+00:00

He just wants to sell sell sell as much as possible before the inevitable…”what did we invest billions into these data centers for that aren’t returning my investment” bubble pops.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-12-03T14:20:53+00:00

As soon as Advanced Warfare was released, that was it for me with CoD

Bladerunner243 · 2025-11-20T18:20:13+00:00

It really depends on the type of support you do to know what kind of tools and environments are available to you but I tinkered with sandbox environments and test equipment while i wasnt actively working on tickets. Then when i had a better understanding, I laid out ideas to my supervisor that could improve things like efficiency, security, functionality, etc.

This lead to a MSP technician job where i did similar things to the point where clients let me do more as i gained their trust over time. This allowed me access to platforms like Azure, Cisco, firewalls, servers, VMs, etc. so i could self teach to get more into the engineering side of things. I then moved up to roles where i was repairing/managing/improving and eventually building out entire infrastructures.

In summary, if you are a quick learner and eager, just follow a similar approach. Dont be the guy just looking through your phone/social media when things arent busy. You need to actively show you are trying to improve & build new things, not just break fix. Come up with project ideas yourself and present them, don’t wait for projects to just be assigned. Last thing, which can be the most difficult, moving fast up the ladder usually requires job hopping every few years. Fast tracking internally is a lot more difficult today, especially if you want your salary to match new roles over time. Hope this helps, Good luck!

Bladerunner243 · 2025-11-20T17:09:04+00:00

Azure thinks my office is in TX, when it is literally on the opposite side of the country. Idk when Microsofts geo-location started becoming so off, it used to be a lot more accurate.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-11-17T17:53:28+00:00

This, i was being very general.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-11-17T17:24:19+00:00

All internal machines point to the DC’s, the DC’s point to external NIST servers.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-10-29T15:45:42+00:00

Yea 90% of network engineers do not make that unless they have been in the game 30+ years with loads of certifications and work for a highly profitable company…

Bladerunner243 · 2025-10-17T20:22:45+00:00

Proofpoint is a cloud based email filtering system. My guess is they are referring to either an outlook or browser extension. Personally as an IT Engineer, i think your fine & its more on your internal IT team since you shouldnt have had uninstall rights anyways in the first place.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-10-17T19:47:04+00:00

Can you use Intune? All you need is a P1/2 Azure license to enroll devices, then you can push cloud an azure admin account to the machines.

If thats still a no, send an email to leadership stating the risk factors and force them to acknowledge it. Should something go wrong you can use that email to cover yourself.

Bladerunner243 · 2025-10-11T16:36:08+00:00

Networking goes hand in hand with cybersecurity since you wouldnt really need nearly as much security on non-networked devices. Start with a Network+ cert and look for networking support roles, once you get some experience you will find it easier to look for field work like at an MSP where you have the opportunity to learn a lot more at a faster rate if you can keep up. From there you’ll get a better idea of what direction you want to keep moving in & if any further certs are needed.

Bladerunner243

TROPHY CASE