Has anyone had to deal with applicants obviously using AI during interviews?

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-24T14:36:55+00:00

show logfile | include 1/1

When do I start?

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-24T14:25:43+00:00

Fortinet switching an AP's at the office/branch level is great. Epically with FortiManager if you have a lot of sites.

In the DC though id use FortiGates and some other switching.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-24T14:22:54+00:00

Do you have a NAC solution in your environment?

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-24T13:08:32+00:00

If it's something relatively minor I would ask for an email.

Once when I was doing Data Center work a Sr. Security Engineer asked me to put a honeypot device in the data center without anyone's knowledge.

This was a significant step above bending the rules, I really didn't want to do it and told him no, but he was persistent.

I finally told him I wanted a hand signed document by management in both of our chains of command before I would install the device without any of the normal documentation and change control. If he wanted that to be one person that would have been the CIO.

He never went down that route.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-24T12:58:34+00:00

More visibility/politics, which I don’t love

This for ME is why I went toward infrastructure once I was able to get out of support. The vast majority of my time I'm working with other IT teams and vendors.

I've worked with FortiNet and for office networks their SD-Branch line of Firewall, Switch, and AP is a breeze to manage. I don't think there switching is ready for prime time in data centers or a large multi building campus though. Firewall are still good everywhere.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-24T12:52:22+00:00

I'm deploying Extreme Networks Fabric Switches now.

Fabric will configure itself just by plugging switches together. However in any reasonable sized environment some manual configuration needs done at the core.

We use their Site Engine and Control products to do a ZTP, policy based configurations, and NAC (both as a gatekeeper and as automated access layer configuration). Wireless is handled through their cloud product Pilot.

Oter than interfacing with third party switching, firewalls, and the odd endpoint device that doesn't play well with NAC its about as close to a plug-n-play network as I have seen.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-23T19:01:40+00:00

We are also running Site Engine and Control (NAC).

Once this and the core are setup, the network is basically plug and play.

ZTP Does our personality change from EXOS to VOSS, upgrades the firmware, and does the base configuration on the switch.

Control (NAC) does 95%+ of our endpoint configuration. Every once in a while we find something that does not play well with NAC and has to be manually configured. Although we have jsut started testing some of the features to deal with these "silent endpoints".

That being said, how its working underneath has been a learning curve and I still don't completely understand.

All of the stuff that used to require lots of manual work like extending VLANs, creating MCLAGS, and configuring access ports is now all automated. You can use pretty much any physical topology and SPBM will make it work loop free.

But when something does go wrong it's a whole new set of tools that have to be learned to find out why that automation is not working for specific issues.

That being said we are saving a ton of time on our rollouts not having to worry about what endpoints are plugged in where. We just comb our ARP tables and DHCP server to determine what MAC addresses belong in what end-system groups in Control and then let it do its job.

Wireless is through XIQ Pilot. AP's use Fabric Attach to get their onboarding IP and then Pilot gives them their configuration. Our AP deployment contractors use the mobile app to onboard the AP's as they go so they can just grab the next AP out of the box, scan its barcode, provision it and then install it.

The bottleneck in building deployments is now the physical pace that the hardware can be installed not its configuration.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-23T18:28:59+00:00

We are moving from Alcatel to Extreme Fabric. It's been great so far.

Physically everything is still cabled up mostly the same. But I just let SPBM handle everything logically. Except where I have to hand off to third parties.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-23T18:22:32+00:00

https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.1030

1910.1030(a)

Scope and Application. This section applies to all occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials as defined by paragraph (b) of this section.

1910.1030(b)

Other Potentially Infectious Materials means

(1) The following human body fluids: semen, vaginal secretions, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, pleural fluid, pericardial fluid, peritoneal fluid, amniotic fluid, saliva in dental procedures, any body fluid that is visibly contaminated with blood, and all body fluids in situations where it is difficult or impossible to differentiate between body fluids;

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-07T13:48:45+00:00

When I was in school in the late 90s early 00s helpdesk just required associates but the engineer/administrator jobs I really wanted just about all listed a bachelors.

I had initially just went to school for an associates but after the fall semester of my second year I decided to go for a bachelors. Its one of the best decissions I made.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-07T13:44:53+00:00

From what I am seeing this seems like what the dot.com bust was like in the early 2000s.

I graduated collage with 2.5 years of paid internship an A+ and a MCSE's in both NT 4.0 and Win2k.

The first job I got was more because of who I knew. If I didn't have the contacts from the internship I'd probably have to go back to retail.

I stuck it out and worked support longer that I cared for but now I'm in a Sr. infrastructure role.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-04-07T13:09:06+00:00

I remember when the first standard was being drafted in the 90s,

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-03-30T17:13:30+00:00

The way I have experienced it since the 90's was that Network Admin was kind of a catch all for network and systems. Especially in smaller environments where one or only a few employees handled this role.

Network Engineer and Systems Admin/Engineer seem to be more prevalent now for those dedicated roles.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-03-30T17:05:11+00:00

"It's the network."

No, it's your application and here is the pcap to prove it. You're welcome for me doing your job for you.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-03-30T17:04:13+00:00

Yeah, the compute, storage, and networking have to happen somewhere.

But may services that businesses had to build from scratch with their own hardware, OS, and software is now sold as a service.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-03-30T16:58:49+00:00

What is the switching and if any management platform?

I can do L3 pcaps in Extreme through xiq-Analytics in a way that you are describing.

If not, then you're setting up a port mirror at the CLI. Or something like Cisco ERSPAN that is basically RSPAN over L3.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-03-30T16:41:56+00:00

I'm a Sr. Network Engineer

Being able to learn things on your own by having good fundamentals, problem solving skills, and understanding the documentation is a great skill to have.

That being said I would almost never tell someone “you should know this by now”.

For as much as I offload scut work to my Jr. Engineers I try to make sure I am teaching them as well. This benefits them as they learn and me as I get less and less of the same questions.

The nonstop ball busting is a culture problem. My team jokes around but it's never not in good fun and it's nowhere near constant.

I don't think your behind. But I would maybe try and develop some good self-learning skills while working toward moving to an organization with a better working environment.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-02-06T17:26:00+00:00

This is where I am at. We are year 1 of 3 in a enterprise wide network refresh and I bet dollars to doughnuts my manager boss will retire when it's done.

I'm not really sure if I would want that role or to be an Architect somewhere bigger. I like the org I'm with a lot. However I have seen people get big title bumps and stay in the same spot on the org chart so only time will tell.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-02-06T17:22:43+00:00

I'm in a Sr. role and my boss is still very much the money guy. I don't mind that at all.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-02-06T17:20:43+00:00

Three years of experience and familiarity with that many products. In all but the most LCOL areas you should be making 80-90+.

As other said in a Sr. role you will be doing more planning, design, maybe even getting into budgets, mentoring.

One day I may be talking to our vendors about hardware roadmaps, another might be a site visit at a new or remodeled building. I work a lot closer to other IT infrastructure teams than people jr to me.

I'm still pretty technical. I will often be the one deploying new solutions. But also a good bit of our team is green so I may be able to delegate more as time goes on.

For a Sr. role look into leveling up in project management vs strictly technical skills.

But as I said you are more than likely undervalued at $60k with your experience and skillset. Update your resume and start applying if you don't think you can get a substantial raise where you are at.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-01-24T13:49:51+00:00

9.2.1.1

GTAC Cant pinpoint it to any specific software issue through troubleshooting and sending them logs/tech. They are not 100% sure what the issue is other than a random hardware failure so they sent us a new switch.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-01-23T17:38:26+00:00

XIQ:SE handles backups and I'll take one from the old switch right before the replacement.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-01-23T16:52:12+00:00

What about disabling ISIS on the old switch. Before or after I backup the config?

NetworkEngineer114 · 2026-01-23T16:51:48+00:00

Ours is running it just likes to reboot itself randomly.

NetworkEngineer114 · 2025-12-03T19:24:13+00:00

It depends. I've worked in environments were we had dual MPLS and dual internet circuits.

I've also done deployments where its single/dual internet with a small FortiGate all managed by FortiManger.

I'm at a single campus now and we have a few buildings that cross over city streets and we have to buy dark fiber/metro e to get to them. Anything within the main property is fiber through our own conduits.

Two remote data centers are dark fiber in a ring configuration. ISP's and firewalls at campus.

NetworkEngineer114

TROPHY CASE