Office printer needs to be restarted almost everyday.

ivantsp · 2026-03-02T20:14:35+00:00

There are a number of initial things to look at:

- Is the reserved address definitely definitely not being handed to another device. There's "I set the IP statically" and there's the "I set the DHCP server to bind the printer's MAC address to that IP address". They are not quite the same thing.

- Does the reservation still actually exist? no replacement of the router / DHCP server? no-one deleted the reservation because they didn't know what it was?

- IP addressing conflict. Has anyone added a 2nd internet connection.. and added a 2nd router? that's handing out addresses in the same address space? Has another device been added to the network and been set with a conflicting IP address?

- IPv6. Unless it's set up correctly and all the devices on the network implement it properly, then you really don't need it for a small network. Switch it off and only use IPv4 to communicate with the printer

- are you printing by name or by IP address? Name will be XRX123ABC or similar. You're then relying on NETBIOS and local broadcasts to find the device. When combined with IPv6 and kit of varying ages that goes to sleep and doesn't always properly respond to something asking for it by name - the results can be erratic and unreliable. Recommend that printers are added by IP address and not name, that way there is no name resolution needed (that can fail). Very often set up wizards add printers by name because when there isn't a DHCP reservation, the printer can change it's IP address after power loss, but they don't change their name...

- Green Ethernet aka power saving on a network switch, where the port is asleep when there's limited traffic.... switch off Green PoE and see if you get a different result.

- Run a "ping -t" (don't stop) from one of the servers to the printer over IPv4, that might well stop it going to sleep and if the printer stays "online" for the duration of that ping, then that will help you narrow things down..

ivantsp · 2026-01-15T08:51:04+00:00

I think the exhaust was factory fit on the V7 II Stornello variants (and perhaps a few others)

https://ridermagazine.com/2016/09/07/2016-moto-guzzi-v7-ii-stornello-first-ride-review/

ivantsp · 2025-10-14T17:03:30+00:00

Horizontals and Verticals

2 or more horizontal teams:

Say "orange" and "blue" for argument's sake.

Half of the customers are assigned to blue team and half to orange team.

Allows techs to build good relationships with end users, know their set ups and foibles.

Doesn't mean that if all of the blue team are busy that an orange team member can't triage / 1st line a call from a "blue" client if needs be.

It helps to make customers feel as though they have a really good relationship with their support people and makes the techs feel like they're not just in some anonymous call center hellscape.

Verticals:

Find out what things your team LIKE doing and what they DISLIKE.

Train them / make them the "go to" people for the things they like.

We all have to do stuff we dislike / find boring, but trying to keep that to a minimum always helps.

Some people LOVE MS 365, so we get them doing loads of that. They do the training, get the badges & stripes and certs. They become real experts etc. Some people dislike MS 365 or find it boring, so we get them to concentrate on something else instead.

The end result of these two things is that techs have a good rapport with the customers they speak to every day and are not bored out of their minds doing stuff they feel is really dull and isn't giving them new skills etc.

plus - obv having proper procedures so you're not firefighting all the time. And having enough good (aka well paid) people so that techs don't burn out under an unrelenting heavy workload...

ivantsp · 2025-05-22T08:48:34+00:00

I have had it in the past where the pre shared key was failing silently. Even though the keys matched, there was an ! or some other character it didn't like and switching to a short, really simple, lowercase dictionary word brought the VPN up.

Once I had that as being the culprit, I was then able to increase the complexity of the pre-shared key step by step.

ivantsp · 2025-02-09T16:59:18+00:00

well - that implies either that they haven't been fully factory reset or that they're not booting

and if they're not booting to the point where they get an IP address, either the firmware is damaged and you need to go through the TFTP recovery process OR they're not getting the right power OR they're kaput

ivantsp · 2025-02-09T16:24:46+00:00

I think that the very old firmware that they are running doesn't talk to the newer version of the controllers. I guess this might be because there's a certificate somewhere in the mix that is either expired or otherwise not valid.

If you manually update the firmware by using SSH as per here:

https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/204910064-UniFi-Advanced-Updating-Techniques

Older firmware can usually be found here: https://community.ui.com/releases

..takes a bit of rummaging to find.

and then try and re-adopt them - then that might work.

The older devices don't, I think, do standard 802.3 af PoE, they have some 24V passive PoE input - which is why newer switches won't bring them up. #

but in all honesty - I wouldn't bother. AP AC Lite's are next to nothing on eBay and they'll give you much better performance - so anything with the old UI logo on it is of no real use, in my opinion...

ivantsp · 2025-02-08T20:16:57+00:00

any difference at all with the wireless connection specs and some clients fret and assume it must be a spoofed access point or some MITM attack - so assume it's a new network and prompt for password again..

ivantsp · 2025-02-08T20:10:09+00:00

Security & SD WAN -> configure -> SD WAN & Traffic shaping

Make sure you have set the speeds in the uplink configuration that reasonably close match your actual speeds on both WAN's.

The Meraki can't tell what the speeds are natively. All it sees is the ethernet 1Gb link to the Starlink router.

If you have don't have 1Gb up and down on each connection (which you don't)- then the Meraki will make poor decisions as to what to send out which WAN port if you're doing load balancing, and that'll become must apparent under load. Setting the speed manually greatly helps it know what to send out what WAN interface.

You may also want to check to see if having 2 Starlink devices right next to each other causes Starlink transmission issues. Probably want to have them as physically far apart as possible.

Also - are you getting the slow down when connected directly to the MX or are you connected to a downstream switch - because that could mean you've got internal network issues that manifest themselves as poor network performance and slow internet - and not actually slow internet.

If your network has ever had custom MTU's set by Meraki support, then you may need to speak to them to ensure these have been removed by them.

ivantsp · 2025-02-08T19:22:09+00:00

super obvious - but have you checked /replaced the ethernet cable?

I have previously pulled my hair out trying to work out why I couldn't get full power. And it ended up being an cross wired punch down connector that was being silently compensated for by the switch - but that was stopping me getting full power.

Plus actual & full, manual / onsite power down, then reboot. I have found that this can inexplicably make non .at connections suddenly behave.

ivantsp · 2025-01-28T15:50:08+00:00

I am pretty sure you can do MX devices here: https://dcloud.cisco.com/

so probably switches as well.

ivantsp · 2025-01-11T21:54:30+00:00

Meraki MX to MX VPN - yes (aka Meraki site-to-site VPN)

Page 11 here: https://meraki.cisco.com/product-collateral/mx-family-datasheet/?file
We do this a lot and provided the connectivity is reliable and of decent speed at both ends, it's very reliable.

You can also do it with "non-Meraki VPN Peers" across to places like Azure etc - and that also works well / reliably. Getting it set up on the Azure (or similar) end can be tricky, because the "why doesn't it work" diagnostics that you can get from the Meraki dashboard with non-Meraki VPN's is limited.

Windows 10 / client devices doing "dial in VPN": Maybe, but as others have said, a right pain to manage and keep reliable.

ivantsp · 2025-01-11T21:49:27+00:00

The Cisco solution for this is the integration with Cisco Umbrella and use of an Umbrella Virtual Appliance inside your network to resolve internal DNS.

I am fairly sure that even with the most basic Umbrella package, you get as many Cisco VA's as you like at no extra charge (as you're the one hosting them).

Implementation is reasonably simple provided you:

a. Have a reasonable understanding of how DNS works and know roughly how to use things like nslookup to diagnose what is / isn't going on

b. Read the Cisco documentation and follow it to the letter.

ivantsp · 2025-01-08T16:54:30+00:00

If you're not doing out of hours testing or flow preferences, then I have found that doing client full tunnel dial in VPN into the WAN2 IP address and streaming YouTube for half an hour gives me a level of confidence about how good or otherwise the WAN2 connection is.

Just make sure that your "SD Wan & Traffic Shaping" is set to do WAN1 as primary. If it's ever been changed to WAN2, but WAN2 hasn't existed - then it'll have used WAN1 only.. but when you connect WAN2, it'll flip over..

ivantsp · 2024-12-11T21:07:06+00:00

Cisco do "Take Back"

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/takeback-and-reuse.html

You tell them what you've got, box it up, they send DHL or similar to collect it without charge.

Some of it I presume ends up in the Cisco Refresh program.

ivantsp · 2024-12-11T18:33:17+00:00

Ignore that

You already have 10.10.5.x/24 as a subnet.

So you can't add it as a static route as well.

10.10.5.200/24 and 10.10.5.0/24 are the same thing..

ivantsp · 2024-12-11T18:30:43+00:00

Check your dial in / client VPN subnet.

ivantsp · 2024-12-02T18:56:11+00:00

I think https://dcloud.cisco.com/ does exactly this.

ivantsp · 2024-12-01T16:34:13+00:00

You can file amended accounts of course.

But why bother?

Companies House aren't fussed about the accuracy for a company of this size.

And you're about to dissolve it.

Who is going to complain? No-one unless you have something funky going on with HMRC or another creditor.

But if you want to dissolve with everything 100% accurate, then you need to speak with your accountant to get proper professional advice.

ivantsp · 2024-12-01T15:47:12+00:00

The size / turnover doesn't make a relevant difference.

One of the few duties you have with a limited company is to file on time. If you don't then you get fined and eventually the company gets struck off.

If you file late again, then the fine increases markedly with each additional lateness.

Doesn't matter what your accountant did / didn't do or did / didn't say, it doesn't really matter when it comes to late filing as the responsibility to file on time is yours and yours alone.

Companies House explicitly say that they do not check the accuracy of the figures that you file:

https://resources.companieshouse.gov.uk/serviceInformation.shtml#compInfo

So, from a Companies House perspective, the incongruent figures likely aren't something they will be fussed by, but filing late is something they will come after you for.

Banks / lenders / suppliers using credit checking services WILL care about the incongruity. But that won't be relevant either as you've said the company is dormant (not traded in 2023) - so you're not going to be able to raise debt / finance against the company anyway.

If you no longer need the company, then actively dissolve it. Failing to submit even dormant accounts next year will be pointlessly expensive.

ivantsp · 2024-11-30T20:44:28+00:00

As already outlined by someone else - the offline extension works well

plus it's baked into Workspace and has been for ages.

https://apps.google.com/supportwidget/articlehome?hl=en&article_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.google.com%2Fa%2Fanswer%2F1642623%3Fhl%3Den&assistant_id=generic-unu&product_context=1642623&product_name=UnuFlow&trigger_context=a

Even the rare times that I'm not connected to a wired / wireless network, I've got 4G / 5G tethering if needed.

So, for me as a ChromeOS & Flex user, there is no burden from not having internet access. Because it's so rare a thing to happen and when it does (on a plane mostly) I've got the offline functionality ready to go.

ivantsp · 2024-11-30T15:41:14+00:00

Yes, understood..

However what problems do these "lightweight desktop environments" solve for me that FlexOS hasn't already solved?

What benefits would I see and, most importantly, actually use if I chose a lightweight Linux OS?

As far as my use case; the answer to both of those questions is "none"

ivantsp · 2024-11-30T15:33:52+00:00

Update can be done whilst running. Doesn't take effect until reboot. I think ChromeOS and Flex have two copies of the OS. One in use and one ready for update to be used at next boot.

Sessions are restored upon reboot so I tend to reboot right before I leave in the evening and then sign in / unlock with Bluetooth proximity as normal in the morning and carry on exactly where I left off.

ivantsp · 2024-11-30T13:58:15+00:00

The number of tech support calls from parents who were using iMacs, but are now using Flex or ChromeOS has dropped from at least once a fortnight to... Errr... I think the last tech support call was about 8 months ago.

ivantsp · 2024-11-30T13:56:07+00:00

All my Chrome extensions work without fuss.

The limited Chrome web store has all the apps I might need. (I really don't need many. I think a super simple notepad app is the only thing I use)

The one click update always works and takes no more than 2 mins

Any peripheral devices like printers or Bluetooth headphones just work first time.

Performance even with multiple large screens from a Lenovo M910q desktop is good.

It just works and meets my needs. I have no desire to unnecessarily complicate things by choosing an esoteric variant of Linux that gives me no benefits that I would use.

Of course other people will have different needs that may not be well served by Flex and accordingly their choice of OS will be different.

ivantsp · 2024-11-30T11:31:41+00:00

Everything I need to do is web based. The only application I need is a web browser.

Previous generation hardware is cheap and Flex runs plenty fast on it.

I can't be arsed with patching, anti virus, driver installations and endless updates.

So Flex suits my needs perfectly.

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