Two weeks summary

The event is closing up fast! Our network were tested in Finlandia Hiihto and of course - it worked perfectly. Only issues were caused by outdated Win7 images which were easily fixed by updating them.

Last week we started building extra network group. It was requested by Datalatu Oy and since we had time, we took it under our wings. In two week we have the basics ready for it and only physical installation left. Unbelievable how fast everything is when people know exactly what to do.

Even cables match the theme color!

We also finished building SMC backbone and Wifi access points are up and running. So basically SMC is only waiting for tables and physical installation of switches and then SMC is fully ready. Unfortunately the situation with MMC is not that good.. We are still not sure which day we get there to do all installations.

This project truly teaches you how to work without knowing everything. It makes this even more exciting.

Oh, and we are finally accredited! Look how awesome the passes are.

//Mira

Life is fluid.

Everything changes extremely fast. I should have gotten use to it, but it still sometimes surprises me. We are part of such a big organization. It means that slight change somewhere might mean bigger change for us. It has been interesting to work without exact timetable. It will train all of us for real work, since what I have seen - new things can come up out of nowhere. Life and work is like liquid and you need to be flexible to keep up.

What have changed lately? Well, we got information about mandatory training for all the volunteers. It was a surprise and with such a late notice some have problems to fit it in their schedule. Luckily, we got permission to have few representatives who go for training and then next week shares the info with rest. I am gonna one of the representatives.

And once again - we changed the whole on-call shift system. This time it should be the final version. We will have two persons in Main Media Center (MMC) and two in Sub Media Center (SMC). Second year students will be taking care of that. Third and fourth year students will be available as a technical support and there will always be three of them in the area. Sounds fair, right?

33 days to go!

//Mira

Introducing: New teams

This is getting exciting! Whole autumn we were getting known to all systems and software, preparing ourselves for real work and now it is the time to actually implement all of it.

We have five main teams:

1. Wifi Access Points
2. Network Monitoring System
3. LAN services
4. Cable sets for tables
5. Switches for tables

Well, you can guess the theme of every team. It is kinda obvious. The teams are actually only for building days. It makes sure that every task will be done. Each team have at least five members, even though most have more. Since we have two media centers, Main Media Center and Sub Media Center, every group will eventually split in two. 

Teams have been chosen and everyone is working so hard!

//Mira

ps. I have been away, so it will be a bliss to see everyone next week. Can't wait!

Kick-start for spring semester!

Holidays are over and the whole team is getting ready for real work. Today's classes were mostly about getting orientated. New course information, creating new groups and making sure everyone is on same page about what needs to be done. We decided to add one more tool for keeping track of our progress. Soon we will see how well it actually works.

Most important task for today was creating a timetable for on-call shifts. Main responsibility is for second year students, but 3rd and 4th year students will be around all the time to support them. I have a feeling that most of us will be on stand-by mode somewhere in the area, always ready to step in if needed. That is the beauty of a big group - we will always have enough hands on deck.

48 days to go.

//Mira

Google it.

Things are surely speeding up. This week we finally started putting wireless network together and testing it.

Three of us spent Wednesday evening by trying to figure why pfsense didn't work as it should. Some issues occured... Even installing pfsense was difficult! Luckily we had music. As my usual style - I was dancing around and trying to help the guys, light the room up with my smile. But when pfsense started to give screens like below, we decided it's time to go home.

Our setup on Wednesday evening.

Thursday was also fun. We had the same playlist, but way more people around. One of our teachers were leading the second year students with testing wireless access points. It was amazing to see how he encouraged them to look things up from internet, google things. It's surprising how many issues can be fixed just by googling the solution. You just need to know what to look for. And that is one of the things this school teaches us - how to find relevant information on our own.

IT field is changing fast and the things you learn in school are probably useless when you graduate. It's kinda sad, but there is also potential. School is not supposed to give you direct answers, it's teaching you how to survive later. It took me over 3 years to realized and accept that.

//Mira

Weekly report

Once again it's Thursday which means project day. Planning for MainMediaCenter is on and most of the day went with it. Our proposal wasn't approved as it was, but after some changes we finally came to agreement. Compromising with all parties is the key to success.

After lunch we slit up and started to work with different tasks. This weeks tasks included making changes to pfsense, measuring fibers and getting know to other parts of the area. Besides these tasks, some of us concentrated on documentation and making sure everything is properly written down.

//Mira

Road so far..

There's kinda much to catch up. Like I said earlier, the planning has started long time ago. This autumn we started in August by going through last year's setups. We created a new co-operative workplace for our files and divided everyone in the small groups.

Kuva, jonka Mira Järvenpää (@mirraje) julkaisi 20. 10ta 2016 klo 7.14 PDT

If picture isn't showing, you can check it here.

October just flew by. We tested differences between Cisco and HP switches, made sure they are stable and had little bit fun with configuration. One of the most amusing things in beginning of October was getting our new monitor. You should have seen how everyone was thrilled. Playing with the new toy and messing with music. It's important to have fun while working.

Preparing for #lahti2017. We finally got new monitoring screen, everyone is enjoying it! #studying #project #video #worldchampionship #lamk #mikämuumuka #lahtiuas #teku

Video, jonka Mira Järvenpää (@mirraje) julkaisi 13. 10ta 2016 klo 2.45 PDT

If video isn't showing, you can check it here.

We have made suggestions for network layout of SubMediaCenter and Grandstand Central. Also plans from printers were created. Documenting every plan is surprisingly important thing to do, but luckily at least I like doing it. So far we have at least documents for configurations, printers, VLANs and laptops. I have to say, updating and preparing laptops was bigger operation than anyone thought, but we managed to do it!

//Mira