Holy Father
It is 23 years and 7 months since my last confession. Since then, I have
downloaded Ethereal and started to sniff
packets off the network. I know it was wrong but we had worked for a
week on this problem. We had all exhaustively checked everything (twice)
and we were tired, hungry and increasingly desperate.
I fervently wished this was a conventional database problem or even an
unconventional Siebel problem but the symptoms, the controlled tests and
all the hard evidence increasingly pointed to 'the network'.
Initially, I was swamped by gigabytes of meaningless data until I
discovered all about the powerful filters with an esoteric syntax (that
sometimes even worked). Then I could trace a complete 'conversation'
between the browser and Web server. I was so excited when I could
actually examine HTTP requests and the associated response. Why I can
even look at the packet sizes and the actual contents with timestamps to
the nearest microsecond.
I am desperately resisting the urge to examine the detailed effects of
content expiry and static file compression and publish a whitepaper.
Worse still, I am feeling increasingly lured by '/etc/services' to find
interesting ports to sniff on.
Please have mercy on this wretched, miserable, pitiful sinner kneeling
before you.
Yours faithfully
Norman Brightside