Ever since being in this team with this company, it has been a necessity for me to operate a machine remotely through different networks. Here I say network, not only Internet, since there are some intranet.
If everything is based on Internet, then I have two choices: 1. directly connect using Remote Desktop; 2. connect to the remote machine via TeamViewer. But it is not. So we are required to connect to an intranet via VPN so that Remote Desktop can reach the workstation. This happens quite often. However, one day, our customer decided to stop providing VPN access so that we have to go to the client site in person to operate the machine.
The other scenario is our company’s network. There are two parts in that: Internet and intranet. The Internet is what you think as usual. The intranet is not accessible from outside as usual as well. However, the intranet itself can access outside easily. There are several things on the intranet: 1. email; 2. net drive; 3. HR system. However, everything about development is not on the intranet, including SVN. The email is quite strange here. From outside, it is only accessible via Web mail while all ports for other protocols are blocked unless you are connected to the intranet. And it is not accessible from most of the working machines inside our company except those thin clients.
One other thing that is attached to the intranet is the printer. You have to use the thin clients, which are not USB-accessible, in order to print. Then one thing ridiculous is that, in order to print, we have to use some outside tools, i.e. Google Drive, Dropbox, to transfer files from working machines to the thin clients.
Then what is the purpose of using thin clients? Security?
But anyway, by these applications, I know more about how network works than those I learned in school and textbooks.