Where are the IT guys at?

**jmw_man** · 06-24-11, 08:47 AM

I need a crash course on everything an IT guy would need to know to work as an IT without the certification. What are my options?

Things I'm looking to learn about:

The basics of setting up networks for a work environment. I'm looking for software requirements, hardware requirements, installation steps, understanding the settings, managing the server, etc.

Communication between a PC and a CNC control. In this respect I was told that I need to learn about IP networking, although, I can't imagine why you wouldn't see a cnc control from a pc automatically once you physically connect the CNC to the network. We hired a company called Shop Floor Automations who will be coming in to setup their automation software at our business.

Anyways, if a few people can give me some pointers or some good links it would be a great help.

Thanks!

jmw

**Warprosper** · 06-24-11, 09:28 AM

I dont know exactly what your wanting to learn about.. IT is a huge field.... and I mean HUGE!!!

The first thing you want to learn is the OSI model.... This will assist not only in troubleshooting but understanding concepts too.

The best things to start off learning are the OS and their role within network communication.
Then move on to general network navigation... Things like Routing, TCP VS UDP, DNS, DHCP, Printing services, File Services, and other things like that..

Once you get into all that stuff you can dive into the more complex world of WAN topology consisting of Zones, Trusts, VPN, NAT, PAT, Access rules, and Packet flow..

Let me know what other questions you have.... Also feel free to PM me if you want to talk via phone or something..

**enf** · 06-24-11, 09:34 AM

I would say a lot of it is more experience than anything. Tinkering and setting stuff up. Hell, even a _____ For Dummies is a great way to get the basics.

**Phyrelight** · 06-24-11, 09:54 AM

You can't know everything there is to know about IT, its too diverse. We have people that specialize in hardware (me), I also dabble in networking and Active directory. We have a guy whose main role is AD, file share and print servers. We have a whole team that is nothing but telecom and network infrastructure. If you want to know if something they tell you is BS that is much easier then thinking we can put everything there is to know about IT onto this forum let alone that you could absorb it all. There is an interesting saying "know what you don't know" meaning you can't possibly know all of IT, its more important to know the areas you aren't proficient in, accept it and surround yourself (build your team) with those that will fill in those areas.

**Phyrelight** · 06-24-11, 09:57 AM

check out a book called "The Adventures of an IT Leader" (Austin, Nolan, O'Donnell) Its a great read and gave me a great understanding of the CIO role in an organization. Its required reading for my masters. Its commonly know as "the spider-man book" in the IT world as the cover looks like a spider man comic book.

**Alundil** · 06-24-11, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by Phyrelight

You can't know everything there is to know about IT, its too diverse. We have people that specialize in hardware (me), I also dabble in networking and Active directory. We have a guy whose main role is AD, file share and print servers. We have a whole team that is nothing but telecom and network infrastructure. If you want to know if something they tell you is BS that is much easier then thinking we can put everything there is to know about IT onto this forum let alone that you could absorb it all. There is an interesting saying "know what you don't know" meaning you can't possibly know all of IT, its more important to know the areas you aren't proficient in, accept it and surround yourself (build your team) with those that will fill in those areas.

Excellent advice Phyre just gave.

Sent via highly charged bolt of electricity.

**WileECyte** · 06-24-11, 02:32 PM

It's not uncommon in small shops for there to be someone who is a jack of all trades (master of none), but more times than not, things are cobbled together and don't always done 'the right way'. Cost is usually a limiting factor (or they'd have more IT staff, and better solutions). Other small IT shops bring in a company to do all that. Companies like Time Warner have business divisions that can provide you with a 'canned' solution for internet, phone and network.

As for your solution, you likely just need a fairly basic network to communicate from a PC to a network-attached CNC machine. I would imagine the manufacturer of the CNC machine has some sort of software suite that can be installed on the PCs and the rest is just physical networking stuff (Ethernet switch and ethernet cabling or wireless). You wouldn't need to worry about DNS per se, as you can use the IP address.

**jmw_man** · 06-24-11, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by WileECyte

It's not uncommon in small shops for there to be someone who is a jack of all trades (master of none), but more times than not, things are cobbled together and don't always done 'the right way'. Cost is usually a limiting factor (or they'd have more IT staff, and better solutions). Other small IT shops bring in a company to do all that. Companies like Time Warner have business divisions that can provide you with a 'canned' solution for internet, phone and network.

As for your solution, you likely just need a fairly basic network to communicate from a PC to a network-attached CNC machine. I would imagine the manufacturer of the CNC machine has some sort of software suite that can be installed on the PCs and the rest is just physical networking stuff (Ethernet switch and ethernet cabling or wireless). You wouldn't need to worry about DNS per se, as you can use the IP address.

Is there a standard method for checking IP addresses and ensuring that a PC and a CNC machine will be able to communicate. I need to understand IP addresses better...

**Warprosper** · 06-24-11, 03:15 PM

Both devices if hooked together through a switch need to be on the same subnet/network.

You can check the subnet of the computer with ipconfig run at the command prompt.

as far as the cnc machine im not exactly sure how you would check the current ip... check the manual or talk to some IT folks there and see if there is a dhcp reservation / lease for that device.

**jmw_man** · 06-24-11, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by Warprosper

Both devices if hooked together through a switch need to be on the same subnet/network.

You can check the subnet of the computer with ipconfig run at the command prompt.

as far as the cnc machine im not exactly sure how you would check the current ip... check the manual or talk to some IT folks there and see if there is a dhcp reservation / lease for that device.

is it normal for the subnet mask to be a bunch of 255's?

I actually have hand written notes for setting the IP of the machine. Written by the dealer... I'll tell you what, getting a hold of manuals or any kind of instructions involving machines like these have proven to be major challenges of mine.

Anyways, the hand written notes instruct me to set the CNC's IP close to the PC's address but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Specifically the "close" part doesn't make sense to me. The next step says "set mask = PC subnet mask." Seems redundant....

So while in IPconfig, what's the difference between IPv4, Subnet Mask, and the Default Gateway IP addresses? That's just under the ethernet adapter local area connection configuration, I also have a configuration for two separate Tunnel adapters. These IP addresses are also in a different format which I would like to understand as well.