Jonny9781
Technical User
- Oct 16, 2007
- 1
Hello guys, and thanks in advance for any useful info : )
I'm not an idiot, but networks just aren't my forte! I've worked for a MASSIVE company for 5 years and FINALLY!!!! I've got a really meaningful role as, amongst other things, a web developer.
Disorganisation is the problem here. I've worked in the North East in customer service for ever, but now I'm usually in Bristol (technical HQ if you will) between spells at airports and train stations etc.
I need a company laptop, but a] they're shit (total software mess ridiculously slow loading my user profile, another iceberg. I digress) and b] resourcing issues mean it'll take months before I can get one. I won't bore you with the rest of the alphabet because... I have a lovely little Vaio (my most prized possession perhaps, simply because, you know, my LIFE is on it!) Anyway, I've been happily working away through my "LAN" at the office, using the proxy server settings? I have to upload and amend content via Contribute because one of the few intranet developers we have, my "Tech Support" hasn't gave me FTP logins yet, and I don't see how else I can do webdev stuff via Dreamweaver...
ANYWAY! I'm also the soul collator of system issues being reported through our main customer feedback tool. I get an email when each issue is reported, but to respond/use the reporting tools etc I need to log in to the tool that probably lives on "the" company intranet. Does that sound likely?
So, being a positive mental attitude kinda guy, I thought, "Well, how hard can it be, really? To, like, emulate the access, providing I have whatever hardware and software and blah blah". So! I now have:
A wireless office card (3g, rubbish!)
VPN logins which APPEAR to work (I'll elaborate in a mo')
Most of the software I "need" (ditto to the above)
So, I can get on the internet, "anywhere" (coverage dependent), AND I can use my laptop to login to the intranet at work, through my LAN or "probably" through my office card (haven't tried that yet, cause it's soooo slow, and there's wifi and fixed link, so kinda defeats the purpose, but perhaps not... (Thought’s welcome)). But I can only do that at the office. If I use someone else's laptop, I can login using MY logins, as if I were on any other work computer (I think! Bit late/unwell). But my question is HOW?! I understand that I need a VPN to use real programs like our customer account management tools, but, if there's no signal, how does a laptop, or any other work computer know which username and password is not only a valid one, but more importantly load the relevant "roaming(?) User profile" and continue to attempt to install some programs, and ?map a network drive? (My U: drive at work, where my "work life" lives).
I've had to resort to a few backdoor routes to get to where I'm at. I've had VPN logins requested (f****** nightmare by the way! Anyone familiar with RSA passcodes, tokencodes, authentication codes and STDID tokens blah?!) and I got to the point today, before my taxi to the airport arrived, where I'd not only managed to install the SecurId token software onto "my" desktop at work (very slow to load , hotdesking environment, most of you if not all probably know of many reasons why this is the case. I have a few theories, but I'm digressing again. Sorry) and run it, and access the rsawhatever.mycompany.co.uk site, and use a token that I received and done something to before, and after half an hour today got the tokencode, set a pin, and (here's where I got stuck I think) got the "next tokencode" and completed the pin bit, but got Cisco systems VPN client installed on my laptop... and that's where I'm stuck.
Yeah, of course I understand the reasons behind only allowing secure and restricted access and that, but I have access (at work) and I have a laptop (my own), just can't get the two together. I've heard reports that there's a team somewhere that "take your laptop, open it up (eek!) And 'clean it' and probably set you up so you can login with your work loins". Or something.
So, what's the crack guys?! Do I need to log on to some kind of virtual remote work domain? Can this be done without formatting my life or waiting 6 months? Do I even need VPN to just access a site on my work's intranet? If anyone can help with any of these, I'd totally love ya to bits!
THANK YOU!
Jonny.
I'm not an idiot, but networks just aren't my forte! I've worked for a MASSIVE company for 5 years and FINALLY!!!! I've got a really meaningful role as, amongst other things, a web developer.
Disorganisation is the problem here. I've worked in the North East in customer service for ever, but now I'm usually in Bristol (technical HQ if you will) between spells at airports and train stations etc.
I need a company laptop, but a] they're shit (total software mess ridiculously slow loading my user profile, another iceberg. I digress) and b] resourcing issues mean it'll take months before I can get one. I won't bore you with the rest of the alphabet because... I have a lovely little Vaio (my most prized possession perhaps, simply because, you know, my LIFE is on it!) Anyway, I've been happily working away through my "LAN" at the office, using the proxy server settings? I have to upload and amend content via Contribute because one of the few intranet developers we have, my "Tech Support" hasn't gave me FTP logins yet, and I don't see how else I can do webdev stuff via Dreamweaver...
ANYWAY! I'm also the soul collator of system issues being reported through our main customer feedback tool. I get an email when each issue is reported, but to respond/use the reporting tools etc I need to log in to the tool that probably lives on "the" company intranet. Does that sound likely?
So, being a positive mental attitude kinda guy, I thought, "Well, how hard can it be, really? To, like, emulate the access, providing I have whatever hardware and software and blah blah". So! I now have:
A wireless office card (3g, rubbish!)
VPN logins which APPEAR to work (I'll elaborate in a mo')
Most of the software I "need" (ditto to the above)
So, I can get on the internet, "anywhere" (coverage dependent), AND I can use my laptop to login to the intranet at work, through my LAN or "probably" through my office card (haven't tried that yet, cause it's soooo slow, and there's wifi and fixed link, so kinda defeats the purpose, but perhaps not... (Thought’s welcome)). But I can only do that at the office. If I use someone else's laptop, I can login using MY logins, as if I were on any other work computer (I think! Bit late/unwell). But my question is HOW?! I understand that I need a VPN to use real programs like our customer account management tools, but, if there's no signal, how does a laptop, or any other work computer know which username and password is not only a valid one, but more importantly load the relevant "roaming(?) User profile" and continue to attempt to install some programs, and ?map a network drive? (My U: drive at work, where my "work life" lives).
I've had to resort to a few backdoor routes to get to where I'm at. I've had VPN logins requested (f****** nightmare by the way! Anyone familiar with RSA passcodes, tokencodes, authentication codes and STDID tokens blah?!) and I got to the point today, before my taxi to the airport arrived, where I'd not only managed to install the SecurId token software onto "my" desktop at work (very slow to load , hotdesking environment, most of you if not all probably know of many reasons why this is the case. I have a few theories, but I'm digressing again. Sorry) and run it, and access the rsawhatever.mycompany.co.uk site, and use a token that I received and done something to before, and after half an hour today got the tokencode, set a pin, and (here's where I got stuck I think) got the "next tokencode" and completed the pin bit, but got Cisco systems VPN client installed on my laptop... and that's where I'm stuck.
Yeah, of course I understand the reasons behind only allowing secure and restricted access and that, but I have access (at work) and I have a laptop (my own), just can't get the two together. I've heard reports that there's a team somewhere that "take your laptop, open it up (eek!) And 'clean it' and probably set you up so you can login with your work loins". Or something.
So, what's the crack guys?! Do I need to log on to some kind of virtual remote work domain? Can this be done without formatting my life or waiting 6 months? Do I even need VPN to just access a site on my work's intranet? If anyone can help with any of these, I'd totally love ya to bits!
THANK YOU!
Jonny.