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| I'm a BSc (Computer Science) from The University Of Dar ES Salaam in 1994-1997 period. Immediately after my graduation in June 1997 I joined Africa Online (TANZANIA)as Systems Administrator/Webmaster. Africa Online is a "leading" Internet Service Provide as of now (July 2002) in Africa. By then Afol was entering Tanzania market after aquiring larger share in the former Tanzania Online. The customer base was extremely high, comparing to other ISP's, we had about 400 Dialup Users. Our office was situated in Ursino Street in a MD's backyard. The working environments were very tough, one of the very many problems I do correctly remember was the power rationing: We had to manually turn on the generator at six in the morning and turn it off at tweleve midnight.!! We were just four of us, including the MD (Mr. Ashak Kabani). Others were Mr. Egidi Gerald Burreta and Mr.Hussein Kitambi. We had three servers: Mail Server running Red Hat Linux and a Web Server running Apache and Windows NT 3.5 File Server. We started with 8 MODEMS plus a very simple LAN. We were linked to Internet through DATEL @ 19.2 Speed. Our "Coporate" Client was GTZ - A Germany NGO, who had about 20 Dialup users using Pegasus,Mediteranian Shipping Company and International School of Tanganyika. The Internet or Computers for that matter were just entering into Tanzania, which means, to get any user connected to us, you first had to start training him/her/them "HOW TO" use a computer, and then how to access Internet.!!! It was something you have to enjoy to get it done. One of the "culprit" customers were Anglo America - A mining Company. After six month of all those troubles we managed to move to a decent office-- 50 Mirambo Street, 4th Floor. In thsi new office we pulled a 50pair telephone lines cable and purchased a NetServer (60 Modems in -one-rack), we also managed to get a Sun machines, a faster link to Internet @ 64K, more stuff and more prominet customers. We officially started to Design, develop and publish Internet Sites. The few I remember were : RAI and Express Newspaper, Rickshaw Travel & Tours Agents, National Development Corp.(NDC) and Epic (An NGO dealing with Enviroment Care). That was my favourite exercise -- I love putting up Internet sites. In the new office I learned a lot of things, among them are, Installing Mail Servers (Red Hat Linux) and WebServer (Apache+IIS) from the scratch, Registration of Domains, Setting up Virtual Website, Confinguration of Routers and NetServer, Installation and Configuration of MS Back Office (esp. MS Exchange), configuration of zone files, creating backup/automation scripts, "a touch" of SendMail, Installing devices on a Linux boxes e.g MODEMS and NIC, UTP Cabling, CGI programming,and many many other..It was a lot of fun!!! and I really enjoyed the stuffs. Next I wanted to apply this knowlegde in a real business environment. And in the search I got a Coca-Cola Bottling Company called Coca-Cola Kwanza situated in Mikocheni Industrial Area. I started working with Coca-Cola Kwanza on 15th June 1998 - Todate. At Coke I had to start Novel-ing (Not my favourite NOS), thanks God they phased it out within three months of my stay: We moved to the easiest NOS (Windows New Technology) and installed all the "services" together with my Manager and other Techie from Head Office (RSA). Then we took on Lotus Notes/Domino as our groupware. Then we have to configure it, I thought it was like Exchange/Outlook, kumbe I was totally wrong, Installation - very easy, configuration - very tricky: You have to learn the following properly before you start setting up Domino/Notes: Naming Convetion, Public Name and Address Book Domain Structure,Public Name and Address Book Forms and Views, Creating ID/Certifier ID File, Windows NT Intergration,Notes Application and Security, lastly but not least: Internet and Web Applications Servers,. Then I have to touch AS400/JDE and BASIS,Setting up AS400 clients, Installation of OFA and OSA clients, a lot of hardware repair and maintance, a lot of User Training, a lot of Reading/research. |
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