SSH is a tool that anyone who has any business being in IT should know about. I don't really care if you're just a Windows guy, you should at least be familiar with using an SSH client. Moreover, anyone claiming to be in Information Security should have a clue when it comes to SSH. It's not like you have a choice, after all: most security appliances run some flavor of *nix. SSH runs on port 22.
So imagine my complete and utter facepalm when I got this from a customer:
"I'm using putty* to try to connect, and I put in the IP, and port 443, but it won't connect..."
* - putty is an SSH client. Good! At least he's not trying to use his browser!
So I shoot him an email to correct him, trying very hard not to ask him why he deliberately changed the port from 22 to 443 -- putty auto-populates the port number when you choose SSH after all -- and including the next steps he must take after successfully logging in.
So what's he do?
He ignores half my message. That half being the part where I tell him what he needs to do after logging in. The steps I emailed him are required before you can run any other commands. Admittedly, this part is specific to our product, but still...basic stuff he should've known. (For my fellow techies, basically you have to run a command that functions as a cross between sudo and su that elevates you to root privileges. You run it, it prompts you for YOUR password--like sudo--then you're permanently root--like su--for that session)
I ended up getting on a webex with him to walk him through basic stuff that is documented in multiple places, including my previous emails to him. Otherwise, I never would've gotten the files I needed from him.
His excuse? He was new to the system. Bullshit dude, I've seen your name on cases dating back to when I joined the company, so I know you should know these things by now.
So imagine my complete and utter facepalm when I got this from a customer:
"I'm using putty* to try to connect, and I put in the IP, and port 443, but it won't connect..."
* - putty is an SSH client. Good! At least he's not trying to use his browser!
So I shoot him an email to correct him, trying very hard not to ask him why he deliberately changed the port from 22 to 443 -- putty auto-populates the port number when you choose SSH after all -- and including the next steps he must take after successfully logging in.
So what's he do?
He ignores half my message. That half being the part where I tell him what he needs to do after logging in. The steps I emailed him are required before you can run any other commands. Admittedly, this part is specific to our product, but still...basic stuff he should've known. (For my fellow techies, basically you have to run a command that functions as a cross between sudo and su that elevates you to root privileges. You run it, it prompts you for YOUR password--like sudo--then you're permanently root--like su--for that session)
I ended up getting on a webex with him to walk him through basic stuff that is documented in multiple places, including my previous emails to him. Otherwise, I never would've gotten the files I needed from him.
His excuse? He was new to the system. Bullshit dude, I've seen your name on cases dating back to when I joined the company, so I know you should know these things by now.
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