RE: Operational impact of filtering SMB/NETBIOS traffic?

[Roeland Meyer <rmeyer () mhsc com>]

> From: woods () weird com [mailto:woods () weird com]
> Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2000 12:19 PM
> To: nanog () nanog org
> Subject: RE: Operational impact of filtering SMB/NETBIOS traffic?

> [ On Sunday, November 19, 2000 at 10:56:03 (-0800), Roeland 
> Meyer wrote: ]
> > Subject: RE: Operational impact of filtering SMB/NETBIOS traffic?

> I have, finally, started to encounter access providers who filter
> spoofed source addresses though (and three cheers to them!).

Yes, I join your cheers.

> > Say that to a dot-com VP and manage to keep your business 
> relationship
> > (paycheck). If you can do that, I want you on my sales force.
>
> I think you're looking at this the wrong way around.  If the 
> dot-com VP
> who pays you isn't in fear of your superior technical capabilities and
> your control over his or her network then you need to remind 
> that person
> just how much they depend on you and just how little they 
> want to anger
> you and that they'd better do things your way or they'll not have a
> dot-com business to be VP of.

Customer retention via fear mechanism has always been abhorent to me. They
usually are intelligent enough to realize that removing the source of the
fear is a good-thing<tm>.

> Of course if you're just "selling" to the dot-com VP then yes, you're
> not exactly going to be able to tell them to do things your way unless
> you're able to present it as a solution to even more problems 
> than they percieve it will present to them.

Exactly the case, most of the time. What many techies don't understand that
a fearful customer is one whom will not be a repeat customer.