Linux in the IT Dept

Ok, so I thought I’d post my usage of my Linux system. I actually use two systems in my day-to-day job. I have a Windows XP Tablet laptop, so I can do my network layouts, drawings, meeting notes, brainstorming, etc. I also use it as my primary Windows workstation, since some companies (blehhh) only develop windows programs.

I also have a Linux laptop, which I do all my troubleshooting and general day-to-day tasks. Below, you’ll see a screenshot. I have split the screen into 4 types of programs, and 2 other items.

• Office Tools
  • OpenOffice 2.x, which does my Excel,
    Word, and PowerPoint files. No one in the office knows I use this
    instead of MS Office. Sneaky, huh? Which proves it works.
  • Internet Explorer – Ughhh. Some websites still require IE 5.x
  • Dia – My Diagramming tool. It doesn’t hold a candle to Visio, but it works in a pinch
  • Blender – This is really for my more fancy diagrams, when I want to WOW someone with my 3D diagrams and flowcharts.
• Development and Reporting
  • Redhat
    Developer Studio (built on Eclipse) – This gives me my reporting
    studio, and few other items, such as JBoss application developement.
  • NetBeans
    6 Beta 1 – This is where the majority of my java application
    development resides. Both desktop applications, as well as, web
    applications.
• Usability Tools
  • Gimp – Photoshop for Linux. I used Gimp to create the desktop screenshot you see.
  • Kontact – This is basically Outlook for KDE. It does my email, calendar, to-do, news feeds, etc
  • Kate – Advanced Text editor
  • Konversation – IRC client. Nice to have, when I need some extra brainpower on some difficult troubleshooting challenges.
  • Wink – Used to create my screencasts, which I import into my videos for training.
  • Kopete – MSN, Jabber, AIM..etc
• Administration Tools
  • Remote Desktop and VNC
  • RTMT – Cisco’s Real Time Monitor Tool for Cisco Call Manager (yep… it runs on Linux!)
  • Nessus
    Scanner – I haven’t used this much, but plan to in the future. It
    allows me to scan for known vulnerabilities beit, Cisco or Windows. It
    also automatically downloads new vulnerability definitions regularly.
  • NMap – Security Auditing, inventory, etc.
  • Wireshark – Network Traffic Analyzer

I
also have two other items to show. On the left side, you can see I
have access to my remote files located on servers. I also am using the
Cisco VPN Client to work from anywhere. Pretty snazzy?

Okay,
well, it’s not THAT exciting, but it does show that Linux is slowly
creeping to be a good desktop tool for the business, though, I do not
believe it’s ready for the end-users yet.

UPDATE:  I forgot to add, that I’m also running Google Desktop.  That’s a lifesaver, when I’m searching through over 2GB worth of PDF files!

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Netscout is acquiring Network General

Wow. Okay, this news is a little old, but I’ve been so busy, I’m just now getting around to blog about it. Netscout is acquiring Network General.

I remember the days, when the Network Sniffer (aka Network Associates Sniffer) ruled the network analyzer market. Now, over the last 5 years, it has changed hands 3 times? From Network Associates to Network General, and from Network General to NetScout. Okay, so it changed 2 times, 3 companies. I was close. Many of you are wondering, why did I even type that, and not just backspace…. moving on…

So, I was really huge into the Network Sniffer Investigator years ago. But, now that Wireshark (aka Ethereal) has gotten so mature, who needs it? Don’t get me wrong…. there are items where Wireshark wouldn’t even hold a candle to Sniffer, such as it’s monitoring and thresholds, but nowadays, most people just want to look at the traffic for troubleshooting, not monitoring.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting. I’ve never used NetScout products, but they seem to be decent products. Maybe in the future……

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