Much like opinions or certain body parts

In today’s modern infrastructure we all have a router, let’s see what we can find out.

Backstory

I’m always thinking of ways to keep ransomware away from my customers and while I was pondering this article I thought why not ask my router some questions. Since that’s the first place our outside internet connection comes from.

The Interview

ME:
Hey, Router what do you do for me?

ROUTER: I take your single internet connection and share it among your devices so everyone can have internet access.

ME:
Since you’re my first link to the outside world why don’t you do more to protect me? Wouldn’t that make sense and save me from having a million things about security to remember?

ROUTER: That does sound logical, but I’ve been a loyal member of your infrastructure for years. Remember? I was there back in 2015 when the power was out. I was lonely, but when it was over, I was there. How about in 2013 when we first met? You were so happy to have WiFi and me an “all-in-one router”, we loved each other.

ME:
Sure, I remember some good times. But, criminals have gotten smarter and I must have modern protection to keep up with modern threats, so how about protecting me better?

ROUTER: I’m doing my best here, it’s not easy keeping a steady flow, keeping the data conversations going to the right device. You don’t need anything else, we’re family.

ME:
Let’s face it, you don’t have the right skills. I need a modern solution to keep up with modern threats.

ROUTER: Could we Talk about something else, I really don’t understand what you’re talking about. Besides, I have other things to do right now.

Even the router agrees, it cannot protect us in the modern workplace. We need much better protection.

So, I researched. Here’s the thought process…

My considerations:

Easy to manage
Provides immediate protection
Provides ongoing protection
Is easy for customers to obtain, and has a great ROI

Product Comparison — Comparison List (click to download)

My choice

I chose WatchGuard because they not only check all the boxes but allow customers to obtain the device and pay monthly for service protection and subscription. This allows customers to get the right device at a reduced cost that could otherwise be cost-prohibitive. Plus, ongoing protection is included (one of the most important parts of ongoing protection). Skip keeping the subscription active and that could leave you inadvertently unprotected.

Besides, WatchGuard devices come in a variety of solutions. This means a device can be uniquely configured specifically for customers’ network needs.

Layers of protection

We need Unified Threat Management for modern threats and layered protection. My job is offering the best solutions for keeping your business continuity protected.

Call me and let’s replace your router with a firewall

Want more information? Give me a call. I’m always happy to help. 972.571.4808

The Other Options Didn’t Solve the Problem

When I had the problem of being able to see a shared drive on the file server only by using the IP address and not the name I began searching the internet for answers, some workstations would see it by name and some wouldn’t. There is a mixture of XP, Windows 7, and Windows 10 machines on the network and some of each different type would connect while others wouldn’t. When I searched the Internet I found solutions about going to ‘Credential Manager’ (Control Panel, Credential Manager, Windows Credentials) and removing the saved credentials and that seemed to solve the problem for a lot of people, but not for me.

Back Story / How I got in this Mess

The machine that the file server was on crashed. The drive was fine, but the system itself stopped working. After tracing it to the motherboard I knew there wasn’t going to be a quick fix. This is a small company and they only have one other machine that is used as the SQL server, there old machines, but were pretty good when they were purchased years ago. Anyway, I needed to get this drive up as soon as possible, so not having time to get a new machine and do a bare metal restore, I took down the SQL machine long enough to install the file server drive into it. Then installed Virtualbox, and having the virtual computer use the physical hard drive of the server computer. Whala (voila if your french), file server is back online inside the SQL server box. (They both had similar hardware that aided in making this possible).

As we move ahead in time a few weeks, I built a new machine and kept the old server drive as a virtual drive except converted the physical drive to an actual virtual drive. My thought here was that later I can virtualize both of them (file server and SQL server) and come up with a clustering solution spread over a couple physical machines. So, after putting it all together on a new machine and firing it up suddenly not all workstations see the shared folder on the file server. This is where the trauma begins…

The Solution

I used Windows 10 for the pictorial solution, but, if your familiar with things, just un-check IP version 6 from the list of protocols from the workstations that are having the problem and things should work for you too.

1. First, right click on you network taskbar icon

2. Then when the settings window opens select “Ethernet”

3. Next Select “Change Adapter Options”

4. On the next window “Right Click” on the “network adapter” and select “properties”

5. Next, Un-check the IP Version 6 protocol and select “OK”

Conclusion

You can’t make this stuff up. Anytime when you least expect it something will happen. I handled this with very little user disruption. Even when the server crashed, the time back up was under 3 hours and when the IPv6 problem happened it was intermittent and I could handle most of that over the weekend. Need expert help with your network? In the Dallas / Ft. Worth Area, call me. 972.571.4808.

Tag: Network

We all have one, I’ll show you mine