Over the last couple of months I have really encountered the impact of changes outside my control.  Naively, many years ago, I registered my own domain, implemented a Dynamic Domain Name Service, created some web sites, added application servers like mail and such.

Then I sat back thinking I would enjoy the fruits of my labours for years to come.  Not so.  Over the years the hours of support needed to maintain my technology has been very significant.  Not because I changed anything first, my changes were to keep up with the changes all around me.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

A recent example of this, just one of many over the last 20 plus years, was a change to the the way “Lets Encrypt” (a free certificate authority service) , validated the ssl certificate they issued.

As a result my renewal at the end of April failed and since I was on a trip out of the country, even with my remote access I could not fix it until my return ho e.  Frustrating.

As a result, it was very difficult to access my websites as encrypted requests via ssl got errors.  Also the self signed certificate on my router, which I used for remote access stymied me form correcting the renewal.

Nothing New

Of course this constant change in technical environments, software and hardware, is not new and over the years I have asked myself many times “Why did this stop working?”

For the most part the answer has been, something I do not control changed.  With today’s technology it is not possible to function in isolation but mores the pity.  So much effort required just to keep up with the status quo.