So, a customer asks me how to install a patch. Pretty simple question right? Well....you know what they say about horses and water...
For clarity, this exchange took place over several emails. For a normal customer, it takes just one.
SC: How do I apply a patch?
Me: *working on deal-breaker case, not exactly wanting to type out instructions* Patch instructions are at the bottom of the changelog found with the patch.
SC: Excuse me (yep, she--at least I think it's a she--really put that in her email) but what am I looking at the bottom of?
Me: The change log. *gives exact path to find it on our FTP, which incidentally, is the same path to the patch itself!* (Also, I noticed that there was also a separate file containing just the patch installation instructions there!)
SC: The patch is already applied to Management Server.
SC: What are the instructions to apply a patch to gateways?
SC: Do I just SSH in and run it from the root?
Me: (I did not respond, I hope that tomorrow, I see an email saying she figured it out. Well bless my heart.)
You uh, didn't even connect to the FTP much less read the directions, did you? Hey, can I have the email address of your HR guy? I hear your company might have a InfoSec position available soon.
And she's not the only customer I dealt with recently that couldn't think their way out of an unlocked car. How do these people get IT much less IS jobs? How do they not drown in a rainstorm staring up slack-jawed at the sky?
This isn't even excusable by saying "oh I'm a Windows guy" (our product runs linux--as most security appliances do!) since the instructions are quite explicit. Not to mention that due to the ubiquity of linux in security applications, familiarity with it ought to be a requirement for an IS position.
Edit:
And in the morning, I find the same question.
So I give in and tell her. And she's still having problems. She sent me a screenshot of her SSH session. The problem is staring her in the face--she pasted in the filename twice. How can she not see that?
At this point I am wondering if I'm talking to the same person who handled the rest of the case--this case wasn't opened as a "how do I install the patch" question, that came up as a side question--because the rest of the case went very smooth and easy.
For clarity, this exchange took place over several emails. For a normal customer, it takes just one.
SC: How do I apply a patch?
Me: *working on deal-breaker case, not exactly wanting to type out instructions* Patch instructions are at the bottom of the changelog found with the patch.
SC: Excuse me (yep, she--at least I think it's a she--really put that in her email) but what am I looking at the bottom of?
Me: The change log. *gives exact path to find it on our FTP, which incidentally, is the same path to the patch itself!* (Also, I noticed that there was also a separate file containing just the patch installation instructions there!)
SC: The patch is already applied to Management Server.
SC: What are the instructions to apply a patch to gateways?
SC: Do I just SSH in and run it from the root?
Me: (I did not respond, I hope that tomorrow, I see an email saying she figured it out. Well bless my heart.)
You uh, didn't even connect to the FTP much less read the directions, did you? Hey, can I have the email address of your HR guy? I hear your company might have a InfoSec position available soon.
And she's not the only customer I dealt with recently that couldn't think their way out of an unlocked car. How do these people get IT much less IS jobs? How do they not drown in a rainstorm staring up slack-jawed at the sky?
This isn't even excusable by saying "oh I'm a Windows guy" (our product runs linux--as most security appliances do!) since the instructions are quite explicit. Not to mention that due to the ubiquity of linux in security applications, familiarity with it ought to be a requirement for an IS position.
Edit:
And in the morning, I find the same question.
So I give in and tell her. And she's still having problems. She sent me a screenshot of her SSH session. The problem is staring her in the face--she pasted in the filename twice. How can she not see that?
At this point I am wondering if I'm talking to the same person who handled the rest of the case--this case wasn't opened as a "how do I install the patch" question, that came up as a side question--because the rest of the case went very smooth and easy.
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