Of course, now that everything on the server seems to be going smoothly, our network administrators want to toss a wrench into the works.
Word has come down from on high that “Lo! The Network is Unstable!” and as a solution they’re going to turn off incoming internet access for all but a select few IP addresses. Naturally, the machine hosting our office web development server (ie: this machine) wasn’t on the list.
Granted, there are some good reasons to restrict access to the network. Every so often some spammer exploits the Windows broadcast alert message thingy and the PC users in the hospital find that their desktop has been hidden behind advertisements for generic herbal supplements guaranteed to increase ‘stamina’. Unfortunately their ‘lock everyone out’ solution will cause more problems than it will solve. It’s as if the network administrator is the same Vietnam era general who famously said that “it was necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.”
So what does this mean for you, the reader? Well, if we can’t get this server on their list by the 19th, I’ll have to move it to a different address. If you suddenly find yourself facing broken links, try replacing all the 141.214.etc. gibberish in your location bar with ‘surgery-graphics.med.umich.edu’. I’ll try to keep you posted before I make any sudden moves, but the whims of Network Administrators are fickle and things could happen without much warning.