A Mind Lost

Why is it that whenever we try to fix something, we always break at least one other? I setup a DMZ on my Netgear FVX538 Firewall at home to put my PS3 into so that I could reduce lag as much as possible by opening the NAT to it.  No problem, configured the PS3, configured the DMZ, activated it, checked that web and email incoming were still working. Great.

Errrr, yeah, except that I get to work this morning and the VPN from my desk via the work FVX538 to home isn’t working.  I suspect that the VPN requires some WAN-LAN rules setting up so that it knows that the VPN needs routing to the LAN, instead of the DMZ becoming the default.  I think I need to open UDP port 500 for the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) traffic and UDP port 1701 for L2TP traffic (not sure if I need that one).  Question is, what address do I forward them to?  The router itself?

Of course, I could configure this and test it from work, except that my VPN is working and remote access to the router isn’t working either, so it’ll have to wait until tonight.

All this just so I don’t suck quite as much at COD: MW2!

Update 29/04/10 09:52

Not so easy, it seems.  Setting up forwarding for the VPN ports gave me a connection which showed as connected at both ends but unable to route any traffic through at all.  Traceroute from either end only got as far the local firewall.  I have the inbound VPN ports forwarded to the firewall LAN address, maybe it has to be forwarded to somewhere else?  For now, I’ll have to undo the DMZ configuration to get my VPN working again for now and play with it some more when I have more time.

My fiancee and I are getting pretty pissed off with the antics at a neighboring property.  When we moved into our home, there was an empty shop next door which had been empty for years and had plans submitted for conversion back to a 4 bedroom detached house.  The recession came along and the developer was over-ambitious with his plans and ended up withdrawing them.  A year and a half later, a guy decided, with immense stupidity that it would make a good convenience store and off-license.  Bearing in mind that the shop was formerly a co-op, a Dillons and a One-Stop, none of which were able to make it work, this new venture was and is destined for failure.  The list of errors he has made and underhand tactics he has used is huge:

Continue reading ‘Home Hassles.’

I’ve been so busy in recent weeks with work that I’ve had little chance to post here.  The finance side of my job is taking front seat at the moment with financial and tax year ends to sort out, financial account audits being carried out and general cashflow pressures as the businesses show some signs of improvement.  I have some IT-related projects coming up which will be some relief as I find accounting extremely tedious.  It justifies a chunk of my salary but I have no passion for it at all.  Every accountant I have met is great at providing figures and they’re very accurate, but they are incapable of making a practical decision.  I would much rather have less tedious accuracy and more business and market acumen.

Still, onwards and upwards!  The UK should have a nice weekend this week so nice time at home with my fiancee.  I don’t care what your attitude to work is but you should always work to live not live to work.  If you’re living to work, you have something missing from your life!